SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: Sri varavaramunayE nama:
periyAzhwAr thirumozhi >> Third Centum >> Sixth decad
avathArikai
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says, in his svApadhESam, that it is not only the ladies in celestial words, who did not have any strength in them, who were attracted to the sweet music played on his flute by krishNa. This pAsuram speaks about the firmness of entities [in a satirical manner] who were experts in dancing and singing, who were capable of attracting all the worlds through their music and who were celebrated for their music.
mun narasingam adhAgi avuNan mukkiyaththai mudippAn mUvulagil
mannar anjum madhusUdhan vAyil kuzhalin Osai seviyaip paRRi vAnga
nannarambu udaiya thumburuvOdu nAradhanum tham tham vINai maRandhu
kinnara midhunangaL tham tham kinnaram thodugilOm enRanarE
Word-by-Word Meanings
mun – in an earlier point in time
narasaingam adhu Agi – taking the form of narasimha [half-man, half-lion]
avuNan – the monster, hiraNya’s
mukkiyaththai – eminence
mudippAn – as one who destroyed
mU ulagil mannar – kings in all the three worlds
anjum – trembling in their hearts on looking at his eminence
madhusUdhan – kaNNan, who annihilated the monster, madhu
vAyil – played, keeping on his divine mouth
kuzhalin – divine flute’s
Osai – sound
seviyai – ears
paRRi vAnga – as it pulled
nal narambu udaiya – having good strings in their musical instrument, vINai
thumburuvOdu – along with the sage, named thumburu
nAradhanum – the great sage, nAradha too
tham tham – their individual
vINai maRandhu – forgetting
(apart from that)
kinnara midhunangaLum – those who are known as ‘kinnara mithunams’
tham tham – their individual
kinnaram – kinnaram [a type of vINai]
thodugilOm enRanar – they stopped playing, saying that they will not touch their musical instruments.
Simple Translation
emperumAn had earlier incarnated as narasimha, and destroyed the eminence of monster hiraNya. He had annihilated the monster madhu, who was such that kings in all the three words were frightened of. The sound from the divine flute, kept on the divine mouth of such krishNa, pulled the ears of those who listened to it, towards it. Sage thumburu and the great sage, nAradha, after hearing the music from krishNa’s flute, said that they had forgotten about their respective musical instrument, vINai. Even kinnara mithunams [celestial entities], who play on kinnaram, a type of vINai, said that they will not touch their kinnarams anymore, after listening to krishNa’s music.
vyAkhyAnam (Commentary)
mun narasingam adhAgi – in an earlier time, when the monster hiraNyan had obtained boons by which “I shall not be killed by anyone among the four species of dhEvas [celestial entities], manushyas [human entities], thiryak [animals] and sthAvara [botanical species]” in order to kill him without being in conflict with the boons, emperumAn had incarnated with half-human/half-animal form, as mentioned in the mahAbhAratham SlOkam “narasyArdha thanum kruthvA simhasyArdha thanum thathA” [with a form composed of half-human and half-lion]. The term adhAgi refers to the amazing result that when the two halves were united, instead of appearing grotesque, due to the combination of two dissimilar forms, it appeared beautiful, as mentioned in nAnmugan thiruvandhAdhi 22 “azhagiyAn thAnE ari uruvan thAnE” [emperumAn, who is the boundary for beauty, took the form of narasimha, who looked beautiful).
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that this term [mun] refers to the very beginning of emperumAn’s incarnations. Even here, it is anachronistic in terms of the sequence of incarnations [viz., annihilation of monster madhu happened first and it was later that emperumAn incarnated as narasimha; however, in this pAsuram, incarnation of narasimha has been mentioned first while annihilation of madhu has been mentioned later]. [Since AzhwArs tend to mention incarnations in the way in which emperumAn had manifested these to them, they mention in an anachronistic manner], just as thirumangai AzhwAr had mentioned in periya thirumozhi 4.10.10 “paNdu mun EnamAgi” (in the beginning of varAha kalpam, emperumAn took the form of a mahAvarAham, great boar) and thirumazhisai AzhwAr in thiruchchandha viruththam 22 “paNdum inRum mElum” (during the time prior to creation, during the time of creation and later, during the time of deluge [emperumAn protects all]). Hence, this pAsuram also mentions mun, to refer to the earlier time. adhAgi – this emphasises that even when emperumAn incarnates in lower species [such as humans and animals], he does so without any deficiency in his knowledge [omniscient] and power [omnipotent].
avuNan mukkiyaththai mudippAn – hiraNyan, the monster, due to the [boons of his] unlimited, huge penance, had carried out many cruel acts; he had harmed the celestial entities; he considered himself as the most prominent entity in all the worlds; he could not tolerate hearing the names of emperumAn; since prahlAdhan recited the names of emperumAn, not considering that he was his son, he brought unspeakable misery on prahlAdhan. emperumAn destroyed the eminence of that hiraNyAsuran.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that hiraNyan, having taken birth in the clan of monsters, thought that he had lot of power due to his boons; this was actually his ignorance. He also thought that he was very powerful. That was his lack of power. In order to destroy these [which hiraNyan considered as his eminence], emperumAn incarnated.
mUvulagil mannar anja – when the kings of the world looked at the eminence of his [emperumAn’s] activities which were beyond the realm of human possibilities, they were trembling in their minds.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that emperumAn annihilated the monster madhu, who made the kings of all the three worlds to get scared of him. Since the kings surrendered to emperumAn with their pride removed, as mentioned in thiruppAvai 22 “abimAna bangamAy” [with their pride removed], it could be said that they were frightened of him. Also, it was emperumAn who incarnated through AvESam [pervading an entity with his characteristics], as paraSurAma, and killed kings for twenty-one generations, with his weapon of axe. Thus, the kings were frightened of emperumAn. When such paraSurAma confronted emperor dhaSaratha, it was emperumAn, as SrI rAma, who gave abhayapradhAnam [granting protection]. Is krishNa, SrI rAma too? On account of dharmi aikyam [both are incarnations of the same emperumAn], they are the same. Just as it has been mentioned in thiruvAimozhi 7.3.11 “vaiyam kAkkum uruvum pErum seygaiyum Uzhi dhORUzhi vERavan engiRa …” (emperumAn is the origin in every epoch for the forms, names and activities, protecting the worlds), since these incarnations are cyclic in nature, in every epoch, it is possible that there will be anachronism while describing the events, either with respect to different epochs or with respect to the activities taking place in the same incarnation [sometimes, AzhwArs would speak of krishNa killing kamsan, then the wrestlers and then the elephant kuvalayApeedam, while in texts, the reverse order would be mentioned].
madhusUdhan vAyil kuzhalin Osai seviyaip paRRi vAnga – the sound of music emanating from the flute, kept on the divine mouth of one who annihilated madhu, the enemy of his followers, pulled the ears.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that emperumAn had mercifully and wholeheartedly instructed SAsthras [sacred texts] such as bhagavath gIthA and abhaya pradhAnam [SrI rAma giving refuge to vibhIshaNAzhwAn in thiruppullANi seashore], instead of remaining quiet, as mentioned in chAndhOgya upanishad 3.14.2 “avAkyanAdhara:” [emperumAn, in SrI vaikuNtam, does not speak to anyone or sustain anyone]. When he plays the flute from such divine mouth, is it possible for anyone not to get attracted to his music? [when he speaks from his mouth, it is directly instructing jIvAthmAs; when he plays the flute, it is giving instructions through an AchArya. Instruction given by AchArya has a higher eminence than instruction given directly by emperumAn, in our sampradhAyam]. Even if one remains without being attracted to the music, when the music comes on its own and occupies the ears, is it possible for anyone to sustain that and remain unmoved? [No].
nannarambu … – thumburu [a sage] and nAradha [another sage] considered the strings on their vINA, which were capable of attracting those who had been provided with ears, as their benefit. They were famous throughout the worlds as “They are the people to listen to for their music”. Even these entities …
thiruvAimozhip piLLai adds here that it is the vINA that thumburu and nAradha consider as their possession and have overflowing pride towards it.
tham tham vINai maRandhu – not only did they not take their vINAs, which were forever prideful for them, they even forgot all about their vINAs.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that even though thumburu and nAradha are dear friends, since each claims the vINA as “This is mine; this is mine”, the pAsuram says tham tham.
kinnaram … – these entities were called as kinnara midhunangaL on account of singing with their kinnarams [a stringed instrument, looking similar to vINA]. They too said that they will not get to touch their kinnarams [after listening to the music from krishNa].
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says additionally here that even if someone reminds them about their kinnarams, they will say that they will never get to touch them and would go behind the music from the flute, being pulled by it. Alternatively, it could be said that they went on their own, desirously, behind that music. They will go to the source of that music [krishNa himself] and will not return in between. Even if the one [vibhIshaNAzhwAn] who had said, as in SrI rAmAyaNam yudhdha kANdam 19.5 “parithyakthAm mayA lankA” (lankA has been given up by me), as in SrI rAmAyaNam yudhdha kANdam 17.10 “rAvanO nAma dhurvruththa:” ([I am the younger brother of] rAvaNa, who is of bad conduct) and as in SrI rAmAyaNam yudhdha kANdam 14.17 “anthariksha gatha: SrImAn” (the one, who is a servitor, who went through the path of sky), returns midway, these entities will never return, until the time that they have ears. If they return at all, it will be due to rearing of their karma bhAvanai [pathos of carrying out routine deeds, as opposed to brahma bhAvanai when one will be engaged with the supreme entity].
We shall next consider the 6th pAsuram of this thirumozhi.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
archived in https://divyaprabandham.koyil.org
pramEyam (goal) – http://koyil.org
pramANam (scriptures) – http://granthams.koyil.org
pramAthA (preceptors) – http://acharyas.koyil.org
SrIvaishNava education/kids portal – http://pillai.koyil.org