SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: Sri varavaramunayE nama:
periyAzhwAr thirumozhi >> Fourth Centum >> First decad
avathArikai
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says, in his svApadhESam, that AzhwAr reminisces about the manner in which krishNa became the charioteer.
veLLai viLisangu venjudarth thiruchchakaram Endhu thirukkaiyan
uLLa idam vinavil umakku iRai vammin suvadu uraikkEn
veLLaip puravik kurakku vel kodith thEr misai munbu ninRu
kaLLap padaith thuNaiyAgi bAradham kaiseyyak kaNdAr uLar
Word-by-Word Meanings
veLLai – having white colour
viLi – calling people, through its sound, saying “Those who have the taste for carrying out servitude and enjoying, come”
sangu – SrI pAnchajanyam [divine conch]
vem – being severe
sudar – having splendour
thiruchchakkaram – divine disc
Endhu – sustaining
kaiyan – having divine hands
uLLa idam – the place where he dwells
vinavil – if you ask
umakku – for you
iRai suvadu – a little bit of sign
uraikkEn – I will tell you
veLLai – being white
puravi – drawn by horses
kurakku – monkey
vel kodi – having the victorious flag
thEr misai – on top of [arjuna’s] chariot
munbu ninRu – standing in front of him, as his charioteer
padai – for the army
kaLLam thuNai Agi – assisting, with deceit
bAradham – the mahAbhAratha war
kai seyya – there are people who had seen him, conducting the army
Simple Translation
If you ask me as to where the entity, who holds the white, divine conch which calls out to people who have the desire to carry out servitude and enjoy, and who holds the divine disc, which is hot and splendorous, is present, I will tell you a few identifications. There are people who have seen krishNa, standing on the chariot, in the front, drawn by horses and having a victorious flag with hanuman in it, assisting deceitfully the army, conducting it.
vyAkhyAnam (Commentary)
veLLai viLisangu – Having SrI pAnchajanyam, which has a white complexion, complementing krishNa’s dark, divine form, and calling people through its resounding noise to carry out servitude and enjoy emperumAn.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that krishNa has the divine hands holding the white-coloured SrI pAnchajanyam, which also makes a loud noise, and the divine disc, which spits fire on the enemies of his followers.
venjudar thiruchchakkaram – having a harsh heat, which will make laukAgni [fire seen in samsAram] and narakAgni [fire seen in narakam, hell] appear to be cold like water.
Endhu kaiyan – one who has divine hands with which he holds these, which serve the purposes of both beauty and annihilation of enemies, as if holding a flower.
uLLa idam vinavil – if you ask for his dwelling place …
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here, the following: if you want to see the place where he is standing as a svathanthran [totally independent entity], manifesting his quality of pArathanthryam [dependence on his followers (pANdavas)].
umakku iRai vammin suvadu uraikkEn – please come. I will tell you a little bit about the place where he dwells.
veLLai … – standing in the front part of the chariot of arjuna, who has taken refuge under him and who is very close to him, as his charioteer. The chariot is drawn by white-coloured horses and has a flag with hanuman in it.
kaLLap padaith thuNaiyAgi – assisting the army, with deceit. In other words, while assisting one side, instead of the honesty of having both sides getting punished, indulging in activities such as changing noon time as night time, taking up weapon after taking a pledge that he will not take up weapons, pointing out the vulnerable spot of enemy for killing etc.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here, the following: krishNa stood to assist the people on the deceitful dhuryOdhana’s side, releasing them from their sins. While dhritharAshtra et al knew the principles of ruling a kingdom, due to their arrogance, they were carrying out activities with ahambhAvam [ego]. There is no robbery worse than not following the principle of righteousness and stealing the AthmA [considering the soul as one’s own instead of accepting that the soul belongs to emperumAn] and considering the belongings of soul as one’s own. This fault is seen with arjuna et al, too. While dhritharAshtran et al said that they knew dharmam [principles of righteousness], arjuna did not carry out what krishNa asked him to do [krishNa told him that as a warrior, it was arjuna’s duty to fight; but, he dropped his bow and sat down, in sorrow, since his relatives will get killed]. arjuna asked krishNa to ascertain what is correct for him and to tell him. However, krishNa’s words did not have the desired effect initially. krishNa told arjuna that he was sorrowful for matters which were not apt to feel sad for. He also told arjuna that he was talking like a person who knew the principles of righteousness. He mercifully told arjuna that those who are capable of knowing the distinction between soul and body would know that however much one tries, the body, which is slated to get destroyed, could not be saved by anyone while the soul, which is indestructible, could not be destroyed even if all the people try at the same time.
bAradham kai seyyak kaNdAr uLar – There are people who had seen him, conducting the mahAbhAratha war, by assisting through army formations etc.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that during the mahAbhAratha war, many saw krishNa, with deep urge, conducting the army and making all the inimical persons to fall down dead. While both the sides [pANdavas and Kauravas] had the deceit of stealing AthmA and the belongings of AthmA, due to the differences in their following the path of righteousness and not following that path, krishNa had to carry out certain activities like these. After both the sides agreed to fight, he had pledged support to both the sides [giving his army of one crore persons to kauravas, and he himself stood on the side of pANdavas, without taking up arms]. When he is there to assist, there is no necessity of further assistance [from weapons].
We shall next consider the 8th 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