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periyAzhwAr thirumozhi >> Third Centum >> Third decad
avathArikai
In this last pAsuram of the decad, AzhwAr mentions the benefit which will accrue to one who recites all the pAsurams of this thirumozhi [divine verses] and brings the decad to its end.
puRRaravu algul asOdhai nallAychchi than puththiran gOvindhanaik
kaRRinam mEyththu varak kaNdu ugandhavaL kaRpiththa mARRam ellAm
seRRam ilAdhavar vAzh tharu thenpudhuvai vittu chiththan sol
kaRRu ivai pAda vallAr kadal vaNNan kazhal iNai kANbargaLE
Word-by-Word Meanings
puRRu – growing inside an ant-hill
aravu – matching the hood of a snake
algul – waist
asOdhai – having the name of yAsOdhA
nal – having deep affection towards her son
Aychchi – herd-woman
than – her
puththiran – son
gOvindhanai – one who has the divine name gOvindha resulting from his act of protecting cows
kanRu – calves’
inam – herd
mEyththu – grazing, till their stomachs became full
vara – and returning
kaNdu – looking to her eyes’ satisfaction
ugandhu – feeling joyous in her mind
avaL – she
kaRpiththa – telling him to “Do like this”, “Do like that” etc
mARRam ellAm – all the words
seRRam ilAdhavar – those who do not have any jealousy in periyAzhwAr’s activities
vAzh tharu – inhabiting
then – being beautiful
pudhuvai – being the controller of SrI villibuththUr
vittu chiththan – mercifully composed by periyAzhwAr
sol ivai – these verses
kaRRu – learning from an AchAryan [preceptor]
pAda vallAr – those who are capable of reciting [due to its sweetness, to get the benefit of having been provided tongue]
kadal – like an ocean
vaNNan – krishNa, who has a divine complexion, his
iNai – matching each other
kazhal – divine feet
kANbargaL – they will get to see and enjoy
Simple Translation
yaSOdhAp pirAtti has a waist which is similar to the hood of a snake inhabiting an ant-hill. She has deep affection towards her son, gOvindhan [krishNa]. Looking at krishNa, returning from grazing calves, which have had their stomachs full due to grazing, she joyously told him words such as “Do like this” “Do like that”. periyAzhwAr is the controller of beautiful SrI villibuththUr, inhabited by those who do not have any jealousy in his activities. He composed yaSOdhAp pirAtti’s words into these pAsurams. Those who learn these from their AchAryan and recite them, will get to see and enjoy the divine feet, which are match for each other, of krishNa, who has a divine complexion similar to an ocean.
vyAkhyAnam (Commentary)
puRRara …– herd-woman, who has the name, yaSOdhAp pirAtti, who has deep affection towards her son and who has a waist similar to the spread hood of a snake, which lives in its regular land [ant-hill], due to which it has a splendour and richness.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai, in his svApadhESam, says that yaSOdhAp pirAtti is referred to as nal Aychchi, not only because of the affection that she had towards krishNa, as one belonging to the same clan, but because of her overflowing affection towards him.
than puththiran gOvindhanai – her son, gOvindhan [protector of cows]. It is because he was born as her son that he got the divine name, gOvindhan.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that krishNa is referred to as her son, just like it has been mentioned in periya thirumozhi 2.2.4 “nandhan maindhan Agum nambi” (placing himself as SrI nandhagOpar’s divine son, with completeness in auspicious qualities).
kaRRinam mEyththu varak kaNdu ugandhavaL – krishNa would feel happy if the calves, without missing even one, ate to the fullness their stomachs. yaSOdhAp pirAtti would feel happy looking at such joyous krishNa.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that kaRRiNam refers to the herd of calves. krishNa made himself as one among the herd, being always with them with his heart, just as they do not separate from one another. mEyththu – it is not only when grown-up calves eat to the fullness of their stomachs, even for the young calves, which do not know how to graze, krishNa would pluck the grass, squeeze the grass in his hands and feed that to the young ones; he would feel joyous when they eat to the fullness of their stomachs. Only then would he feel that he has grazed them well. mEyththu varak kaNdu – even if he had not grazed them in this manner, his mere returning would make yaSOdhAp pirAtti happy.
avaL kaRpiththa mARRam ellAm – All the words, with which she told him “Do this” “Do that”
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that all the words through which she had ordered him many times not to go behind the calves for grazing.
seRRam … – periyAzhwAr, who carries out mangaLASAsanam, taking in favourable people with him and leaving out unfavourable ones, is the controller of the attractive SrI villibuththUr, which is inhabited by those who do not have any jealousy in the activities of periyAzhwAr.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that the people in SrI villibuththUr will not feel jealous of the activities of periyAzhwAr when he carries out mangaLASAsanam, in line with all the pramANams [authentic texts], leaving out some people with detachment, just as he had said in thiruppallANdu 3 “engaL kuzhuvinil pugudhal ottOm” (we will not allow those who serve others for food etc to enter our assembly). They will be like mentioned in bhagavath gIthA 9.1 as “anasUyavE” (I will instruct those who do not feel jealous). Since these people, who do not have the quality of intolerance towards AzhwAr, live there, the abode of SrI villibuththUr itself got uplifted. AzhwAr says this verse, thinking of his pAsuram, as said in periyAzhwAr thirumozhi 4.4 “irundha Uril irukkum mAnidar” (the noble people who inhabit divine abodes) and as mentioned in perumAL thirumozhi 10.5 “thiridhalAl – thavamudaiththu” (since noble people keep moving from place to place, this word is fortunate). Since the term tharu (as in vAzh tharu) is in the present tense, just as the verb of the first person in the first line of dhvaya mahAmanthram [which is prapadhyE, which means “I take refuge”, which is also in the present tense] this indicates that with maturity, the people reach higher and higher levels of knowledge and gain appropriateness for that. It is this quality which uplifts that divine abode. This is the reason that AzhwAr says then pudhuvai vittu chiththan. The divine mansion [of the presiding deity vataperum kOyil udaiyAn there] is the prominent place in the southern direction. Since it is the abode where nAchchiyAr [ANdAL], who is the divine daughter of all the AzhwArs, incarnated and since it is the abode where vataperum kOyil udaiyAn, who had taken AzhwAr under his refuge and mercifully showered AzhwAr with knowledge and devotion without any shortcoming, reclines, it is the prominent place in the southern direction, just as periya perumAL had looked at, with affection, the divine place [of ANdAL]. The term vittuchiththan refers to one who keeps vishNu in his divine mind. This is due to the fact that AzhwAr carries out mangaLASAsanam constantly to various distinguished archchA vigrahams [forms of emperumAn in divine abodes], to the distinguished and auspicious qualities of emperumAn, to nithya vibhUthi (SrI vaikuNtam) which is superior to taking residence as antharyAmi (indwelling soul) in all entities and to emperumAn’s svarUpa vyApthi (pervading everywhere through his basic nature).
kaRRu – pAdavallAr – learning from an AchAryan, and reciting these pAsurams, induced by the sweetness of the pAsurams.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that for those who approach an AchAryan, learn from his divine feet these words of mangaLASAsanam [divine verses of periyAzhwAr], know the inner meanings of these verses due to that learning from AchAryan, and recite the pAsurams with the pathos of periyAzhwAr…
kadal vaNNan kazhal iNai kANbargaLE – krishNa’s divine complexion matches the colour of ocean, just as it has been mentioned in the 1st pAsuram of this thirumozhi “kAlippinnE varuginRa kadal vaNNan” (one who comes behind the calves, with the complexion of ocean]. Those who recite these pAsurams will get to see the divine feet of krishNa, which match each other, and enjoy them, just as periyAzhwAr had enjoyed.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that the term kadal vaNNan refers to emperumAn who has the complexion of his divine form, similar to the ocean; it also refers to emperumAn who has the nature of ocean [unfathomable, inestimable]. vaNNam – nature. They will get to see the divine feet of emperumAn, just as AzhwAr had seen and recited mangaLASAsanam for those divine feet in thiruppallANdu 1 “sEvadi sevvith thirukkAppu” [protection for the beautiful, reddish divine feet].
We shall next consider the pravEsam of the next thirumozhi.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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