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periyAzhwAr thirumozhi >> Third Centum >> Sixth decad
avathArikai
There is no specific avathArikai for this pAsuram.
thiraNdu ezhu thazhai mazhai mugil vaNNan sengamala malar sUzh vaNdu inam pOlE
suruNdu iruNda kuzhal thAzhndha mugaththAn UdhuginRa kuzhal Osai vazhiyE
maruNdu mAn kaNangaL mEygai maRandhu mEyndha pullum kadai vAy vazhi sOra
iraNdu pAdum thulungAp pudai peyarA ezhudhu chiththirangaL pOla ninRanavE
Word-by-Word Meanings
(during the time of monsoon)
thiraNdu – gathering densely
ezhu – rising up
thazhai – flourishing
mazhai mugil – like rain-bearing clouds
vaNNan – one, who has a divine complexion
sem kamalam malar – reddish lotus flowers
sUzh – surrounding and settling
vaNdu inam pOlE – like a swarm of beetles
suruNdu iruNda– having curliness and darkness
kuzhal – the divine locks
thAzhndha – reaching lower levels
mugaththAn – one, who has a divine face
UdhuginRa – playing
kuzhal Osai vazhiyE – through the path of the sound falling on their ears
mAn kaNangaL – herds of deer
maruNdu – losing their knowledge
mEygai maRandhu – forgetting even to graze
mEyndha – grabbed
pullum – grass too
kadai vAy – through the corner of the mouth
sOra – to slip by
iraNdu pAdum – either forward or backward
thulungA – without moving
pudai – sideways too
peyarA – not stepping
ezhudhu – drawn (on a wall)
chiththirangaL pOla – like paintings
ninRana – they stood, without any activity
Simple Translation
krishNa has the divine complexion of dense clouds during the time of monsoon, which are densely packed, flourishing and rising up. He has a divine face, on which divine locks, which are curled and dark, have got lowered, looking like a swarm of beetles surrounding and settling on reddish lotus flowers. When the music, played by him on his flute, reached their ears, herds of deer, losing their knowledge, forgot to graze, let the grass already plucked and grabbed from the ground, to slip through the corners of their mouths and stood like paintings drawn on a wall, moving neither forward nor backward, and not stepping on the sideways either.
vyAkhyAnam (Commentary)
thiraNdu ezhu thazhai mazhai mugil vaNNan – During monsoon time, clouds have gathered densely, rising up; since they are full of water inside, they are flourishing. krishNa has the divine complexion of such clouds.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that krishNa has the divine complexion of fresh leaves which have risen, in a dense manner and like monsoon clouds, which have risen, fully with water.
sengamalam … – his divine locks, which are dark and curled, have lowered on his divine face and appear like swarms of beetles which have surrounded and settled on reddish lotus flowers.
UdhuginRa kuzhal Osai vazhiyE – through the path of music blown from flute, which fell on the ears
maruNdu … – herds of deer have lost their knowledge to distinguish between animals belonging to their species and animals belonging to different species. Apart from grazing on grass, which is their sustenance, and which they indulge in, in a routine manner, feeling dazed, they are not swallowing or spitting out grass which they have seized from grazing lands, allowing the grass to slip by from the corners of their mouths, since they are under the control of the music [from krishNa’s flute].
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that herds of deer have become dazed, forgetting to graze. They have lost their knowledge, unable to distinguish between animals from” their species and from other species, what is to be eaten and what is not to be eaten, what is harmful for them and what is not harmful”. They will suckle their fawns, they will then graze, they will forget to graze and allow the grass, already plucked from the ground, to slip by through the corners of their mouths.
iraNdu pAdum … – they are not moving either in the front or back; they are not moving sideways, either. They stand, without indulging in any activity, like a painting.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that even the deer, painted on a sketch, may move, but these deer will not move; they may roam here and there, following the path of music emanating from krishNa’s flute. [but, once they trace the origin of he music, hey will remain still]’
He says at the end that those who attain their AchAryas [guru; teacher] and go in the path shown by the AchAryas, will lose their knowledge regarding the differences which they had entertained in their previous states [before attaining their AchAryas] with respect to any superiority in their jAthi [species] or in their varNam [their occupation, determined by their species] etc [This is similar to the deer forgetting to distinguish between animals from its species and those from other species]. They will forget about enjoying [worldly pursuits] through their efforts [similar to the deer forgetting to graze]. They will be indifferent to enjoying anything attained through their efforts. They will know that whatever benefits which they had attained in the past, were not due to their efforts and that whatever benefits which they will attain in the future too, would not be due to their efforts. This is the knowledge and the resultant which they get. While analysing the vEdhas for the causative factor, there will be many contexts with contradictory statements [somewhere it will say that it is nArAyaNa who existed before all; somewhere else it will say that it was rudhra who existed before all. It will use different words such as sath, AthmA and brahmam for the same entity; then it will say that brahmA was born from nArAyaNa and that rudhra was born from nArAyaNa]. Without knowing directly from an AchAryan, one would be ignorant of these. SAsthram will ordain certain activities to be carried out and will forbid certain activities from being carried out. While carrying out these activities, one should not get into the webs of svasvAthanthryam [dependent on oneself; in other words, the thought “I am doing this karma”] and anyaSEshathvam [being a servitor to an entity other than emperumAn] are not to be entertained. While these thoughts would get destroyed through namas and praNavam [these are syllables in thirumanthram, which determine the relationship between AthmA and paramAthmA; “nama:” confirms that I am not independent and “praNavam” confirms that I am a servitor exclusively to emperumAn]. These two features are similar to the deer not moving [forward and back or sideways], as mentioned in the pAsuram. Even if these [svasvAthanthryam and anyaSEshathvam] get removed, the desire to have food to nurture the body will be difficult to overcome. However, the deer had overcome even this, by not going in for grazing, not swallowing what had already been plucked from the ground and allowing it to slip out through the corners of its mouth. periyavAchchAn piLLai [one of our preceptors] would mercifully say “How did this servitude towards others get negated!” and vadakkuth thiruvIdhip piLLai [another preceptor] would mercifully say “It is amazing that this thought of not being servile to one’s own senses has come properly!” Even if entities, which have been created without the ability to think [like botanical entities etc] could move when breeze wafts through them, for those disciples, who are firmly engaging with the instructions from an AchAryan through their knowledge and actions that they are completely dependent on the AchAryan, there will be no movement on their own, towards worldly pursuits, just like these deer, which were only focussed on emperumAn’s music from the flute and were not interested in grazing or moving. Such disciples think of their AchAryan as “You made me to be of some value when I was without any value”.
We shall next consider the 10th pAsuram of this thirumozhi.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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