SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: Sri varavaramunayE nama:
periyAzhwAr thirumozhi >> Fourth Centum
pravESam
In the earlier two thirumozhis (4.8 and 4.9), AzhwAr had spoken with great desire about the eminence of periya perumAL and of SrIrangam which has periya kOyil (the huge temple) inside it, and he became blissful. Just as it has been mentioned in periyAzhwAr thirumozhi 4.9.2 “thannadiyAr” etc, even if pirAtti, who is the purushakArabhUthai [one who recommends the jIvAthmAs to perumAL for accepting them] had found faults in the followers of perumAL, he had countered her, protecting the followers, with his auspicious quality of vAthsalyam [motherly forbearance; treating fault as a good quality]. emperumAn lifted his followers, who do not desire any other benefit and who have taken refuge under his divine feet, through the path of archis [light], as mentioned in periyAzhwAr thirumozhi 4.9.3 “iruL agaRRum eRi kadhirOn maNdalaththUdu ERRi” (lifting them through the orbit of sun, whose rays are striking at darkness), to paramapadham, which has the identification of never returning anyone who reaches there, to samsAram [leelA vibhUthi], showering his grace on them to carry out servitude to him. Since for periya perumAL the desire is to correct the ways of chEthanas [entities with thinking power] and take them to paramapadham to accept kainkaryam [servitude] from them, and since periyAzhwAr has meditated on the auspicious qualities of periya perumAL, AzhwAr developed a desire to go to paramapadham and to carry out kainkaryam. For that, the connection with the physical form has to get severed. In this context, he thinks about the harm which comes to samsAris, during the time of separation from the physical form, from the servitors of yama [the lord of righteousness] and with a firm belief “When that time comes for us, that hurdle [harm from yama’s messengers] should be removed by sarvESvaran”. He decided “Let us worship at his divine feet and pray to him to make that happen”. Thus, in this thirumozhi, he tells emperumAn “In the final stages, due to the result of karma [past deeds], when the servitors of yama come and torture, due to that torture, I will be incapable of thinking of the divine feet of your highness in any manner; I will be unable to say anything then. In line with that, I am appealing to your highness now itself. Hence, your highness will have to protect me to ensure that they do not torture me”. He carries out SaraNAgathi at the divine feet of emperumAn and appeals to him, in this thirumozhi.
How is this possible? [maNavALa mAmunigaL is raising this question here in order to find out why AzhwAr fears from yama when he had all along been carrying out mangaLASAsanam to emperumAn] It is very well known that followers of emperumAn will not come under the control of yama on account of various statements and pAsurams such as (1) Sruthi, which says “na kalu bhAgavatha yama vishayam gachchanthi” (yama does not go towards emperumAn’s followers, ever); (2) periya thirumozhi 10.6.5, in which emperumAn says “vENdAmai naman thamar en thamarai vinavap peRuvAr alar” (Since emperumAn has negated his rule [that yama’s servitors are allowed to analyse all], he ordained that yama’s servitors will not analyse his followers); (3) thirumangai AzhwAr had said in periya thirumozhi 8.10.7 “un thamarkku enRum naman thamar kaLLar pOl” (For your devotees, yama’s servitors are always like thieves, who are living in hiding); (4) yama himself tells his servitors, as mentioned in SrI vishNu purANam 3.7.14 “parihara madhusUdhana na prapannAn” (Oh, messenger! Stay away from those who have surrendered to madhusUdhana). When such is the case, does his stand “In my last days, the servitors of yama will come and torture” and his prayer to emperumAn, appear to be incongruent with the statements and pAsurams seen here? While AzhwArs have been showered with devotion and knowledge, without any trace of doubt, by emperumAn, and they experience him truly as he is, during a few moments, reminiscing about their karma on account of repeated births in samsAram, and that emperumAn conducts the chEthanas in line with their karma, and also recalling his strength regarding absolute independence in consigning the chEthanas to either samsAram or mOksham, they wonder “Why is the one, who has unbridled independence still keeping us in samsAram?” As result, they appeal through pAsurams such as (1) periya thirumozhi 11.8.1 “makkaL thORRak kuzhi thORRuvippAy kol” (I wonder whether you will keep me inside a womb again, which is the origin for people, who do not surrender to you, to take births repeatedly); (2) periya thirumozhi 11.8.1 “innum ARRangarai vAzh maram pOl anjuginREn” (I am forever fearful of the impending danger, just like a tree which is growing on the bank of a river); (3) thiruchchandha viruththam 85 “vaiththa sindhai vAnguviththu nInguvikka nI innam meyththan vallai AdhalAl aRIndhanan nin mAyamE uyththu nin mayakkinil mayakkal ennai mAyanE” (Oh, one who has amazing activities! Do not make me, who has surrendered to you, to be bewildered by making me, who is together with your divine nature, to be involved with worldly pursuits such as Sabdham etc, which are also yours and which make one to be bewildered). In the same manner, periyAzhwAr too reminisces about the absolute independence of sarvESvaran, the fruits of karma which have kept him away from the divine feet of emperumAn over a very long period of time, thinking “If the one, who is completely independent is indifferent towards us due to our karma, if harm comes our way from the servitors of yama, like before, what should we do?” Hence, he surrenders at the divine feet of emperumAn and prays to him to protect him during his last stage. Thus, since his fear and prayer have risen due to his bewilderment on account of his overflowing doubt, there is no contrariety with the earlier mentioned opinions.
In the svApadhESam, the following has been mentioned: In the earlier thirumozhi, AzhwAr had said emphatically that without purushakAram [recommendation from pirAtti], it is not possible to attain emperumAn and that it is only mangaLASAsanam which is the firm benefit, aligned with the basic nature of AthmAs, irrespective of the time, place and status. He appeals to emperumAn’s divine mind about his soft nature which cannot tolerate even for a moment, when he is unable to carry out mangaLASAsanam. Is this on account of anthimasmruthi [the need to think of emperumAn during the last stages]? This is not correct for AzhwAr since he is a prapanna [one who has surrendered to emperumAn] and the thought in final stages rests with emperumAn, who is the upAyabhUthan [one, who is the means for granting refuge]. It is pertinent to recall varAha charama SlOkam “aham smarAmi” [in the final stages of one, who has surrendered to me, I shall think of him and uplift him to a noble state]. AzhwAr says that in his final stages, he may not be able to perform mangaLASAsanam due to non-functioning of his limbs. Hence, he prays to emperumAn that there should be no interruption in his carrying out mangaLASAsanam and that emperumAn should mercifully shower his grace on him. Will mangaLASAsanam be congruent with one’s basic nature? [normally, one at a higher level will protect one at a lower level] When one’s affection is overflowing, the concept of protector-protected gets interchanged. Thus, while emperumAn is the protector and we are the protected in normal times, when one engages with emperumAn with deep affection [as in the case with periyAzhwAr], this role gets reversed. AzhwAr is the protector and emperumAn is the protected entity. Hence, this is congruent with AzhwAr’s basic nature.
- pAsuram 4.10.1 – thuppu udaiyArai
- pAsuram 4.10.2 – sAmidaththu ennai
- pAsuram 4.10.3 – ellaiyil vAsal
- pAsuram 4.10.4 – oRRai vidaiyanum
- pAsuram 4.10.5 – paiyaravin aNai
- pAsuram 4.10.6 – thaNNana illai
- pAsuram 4.10.7 – senjol maRai
- pAsuram 4.10.8 – nAn Edhum
- pAsuram 4.10.9 – kunRu eduththu
- pAsuram 4.10.10 – mAyavanai madhusUdhananai
We shall next consider the 1st pAsuram of this thirumozhi.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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