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periyAzhwAr thirumozhi >> Third Centum >> Fifth decad
avathArikai
There is no specific avathArikai for this pAsuram.
salamA mugil palgaNap pOrkkaLaththuch charamAri pozhindhu engum pUsal ittu
nalivAn uRak kEdagam kOppavan pOl nArAyaNan mun mugam kAththa malai
ilaivEy kurambaith thavamA munivar irundhAr naduvE senRu aNAr soRiya
kolaivAych china vEngai ninRu uRangum gOvarththanam ennum koRRak kudaiyE
Word-by-Word Meanings
salam – imbibing water and rising
mA mugil – monsoon clouds’
pal gaNam – many groups
pOr kaLaththu – in the battlefield
saram mAri pozhindhu – pouring, as if raining arrows
engum – throughout thiruvAyppAdi village
pUsal ittu – thundering and battling
nalivAn – harming
uRa – in a focussed manner
kEdagam kOppavan pOl – as if holding a shield
nArAyaNan – one who is nArAyaNan (holding [the mountain] in the divine hand)
mun – coming, opposing
mugam – from the face of rains
kAththa – protected
malai – mountain
ilai vEy kurambai – dwelling in hermitage
thavam mA munivar inrundhAr naduvE senRu – going amidst sages who are carrying out penance
aNAr soRiya – as they rub their necks
kolai – killing
vAy – having mouth
sinam – having anger
vEngai – tigers
ninRu uRangum – it is on the victorious gOvardhana mountain where the tigers stand and sleep.
Simple Translation
Groups of monsoon clouds, carrying water fully and rising, went all over thiruvAyppAdi village, creating a thunderous noise as if they were in a battlefield, and poured out rains, as if arrows were raining in a battlefield. While they were focussed on harming [herd and herd-folk], nArAyaNan held the mountain [gOvardhana] like a shield against the rains which were coming opposite and protected [the herd and herd-folk]. It is the mountain where tigers, which have anger and have mouths which kill, go amidst sages, who dwell in their hermitages carrying out penance, stand and sleep, even as the sages rub their necks.
vyAkhyAnam (Commentary)
salamAmugil … – Huge clouds, in a large group, went to the ocean, drank up all the water in the ocean and rose up the sky. Just like arrows rain in a battle field, these clouds started pouring out water contained in them throughout thiruvAyppAdi, without making any distinction between the place and the grazing lands. They thundered with a huge sound, engaging in a battle, focussed on harming everyone in their way, as if asking “Is there anyone who could escape from us?” When they did this, nArAyaNan who is the protector of everyone, held up the mountain in his divine hand, just like one holds a shield to protect from the arrows raining in a battlefield.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai, in his svApadhESam, says that warriors such as arjuna et al, shoot arrows which will multiply themselves to many. In the same way, the water drops from clouds multiplied into many and started raining heavily. Just as a capable person holds up his shield to protect from such arrows, krishNa held up the mountain such that the pouring rain did not affect anyone. Each droplet of water in that rainfall was like an arrow in the battlefield. When the clouds were focussed on harming him and the entities who were to be protected by him, nArAyaNan, who is the meaning of the root of the syllable ‘a’ in praNavam [root of the syllable a signifies that emperumAn is the protector], looking for the desire of the entities to be protected as an excuse, held the mountain such that the face of clouds darkened in shame since they could not cause any harm to anyone, despite pouring both fire and rain on them.
ilai vEy kurambai – hut, built with dried leaves. This refers to a hermitage. Great sages, who carry out penance, have made this as their dwelling place.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that the sages are those who keep constantly meditating on emperumAn.
thava mAmunivar – Great sages, who are fully immersed in carrying out penance.
irundhAr naduvE senRu – going amidst such sages who had assembled together at one place for carrying out penance.
aNAr soRiya – Going to such people for getting their necks scratched. They [sages] are people who do not have any fear about anything, since they see every entity as sarvamum bhagavath Athmakam – every entity has emperumAn as the in-dwelling soul.
kolai vAych china vEngaigaL ninRu uRangum – Tigers, which have mouths which are accustomed to killing, and which are angry, will sleep due to the comfort of that rubbing.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that the entities which look for footprints of elephants through the gaps between bamboo trees, will go amidst the sages in order to get their necks to be rubbed such that they could sleep. Would those, who are engaged in carrying out penance, stroke the necks of tigers? Sages carry out an experiment here to see if wild animals will exhibit their natural fury when they are with them and if they [the sages] will get attacked, in order to test whether they have reached a stage where they are able to look at anything with equanimity. Hence, it is possible that the tigers will settle down near them and that the sages will stroke their necks. aNAr – neck. malai – the victorious mountain, which is like an umbrella. The sages do not know that krishNa would uproot the mountain and hold it upside down. If during the course of their penance, if the mountain is to be held upside down, they may fall down, along with the animals. In that case, they would have heard the sweet music emanating from krishNa’s flute and see krishNa’s divine form, as a fruit of their penance. But they had to fall down. After they fell down, whether they stood like the animals which heard krishNa’s divine music from the flute or whether they closed their ears and eyes [thus preventing the sweet music from krishNa’s divine flute from reaching their ears and the great sight of his divine form from reaching their eyes] resulting from the shock of falling down, wondering whether this is the fruit of their penance, we do not know, says thiruvAimozhip piLLai, at the end.
gOvarththanam ennum koRRak kudaiyE – since the mountain had grass and water with it all the time, it was nurturing cattle, leading to plentiful of cattle. Hence, it was called “gOvardhanam” [that which nurtures and multiplies cattle]. Since it inverted fully and prevented any drop of water to fall on anyone, when it rained heavily [due to indhra’s anger], it is referred to as gOvardhanam ennum koRRak kudai [victorious umbrella called as gOvardhanam].
We shall next consider the 9th pAsuram of this thirumozhi.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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