srI:
srImathE satakOpAya nama:
srImathE rAmAnujAya nama:
srImadh varavaramunayE nama:
This is the 6th pAsuram in thiruppAvai.
‘In ay ayndhum ayndhum (5*5 + 5) aRiyAdha mAnidarai..’, this is the start of the 2nd 5 pAsurams.
The first pAsuram of thiruppAvai (mArgazhi thingaL) is like an introduction to all the 30 pAsurams. The first five pAsurams of thiruppAvai are also like an introduction, talking about nArAyaNan as our only savior, that the goal of every being is to reach Him, what one would do and not do while living here, what good will happen to the world, how the rain would help, and so on.
Summary of the first 5 pAsurams :
In the 1st pAsuram, goal is to be with emperumAn; He can be reached only by His help (He is the means); those who are interested in that destiny are the eligible ones to be involved in that ‘means’; so it showed the nature of destiny, goal, and the people eligible for it.
In the 2nd pAsuram – for such people, it shows the activities that can be performed by them who have got the karaNams (body, indhriyas, etc.,) that are always inclined to do some activity; and for spending time meaningfully (kAlakshEpam), and what we should do based on our interest in Him;
In the 3rd pAsuram – they wanted good things to happen to those who helped them in their bhagavath anubhavam;
In the 4th song – it says that even dhEvathAs would help us who are dhEvathAnthara-sparsa-rahithar (not having any association with demigods), ananya-prayOjanars (not asking for any other things from Him, other than Himself), bhagavathEka pravaNar (belonging only to Him), and involved in the items related to bhagavath anubhavam.
In the 5th pAsuram – it says that the bhagavath anubhavam of ours itself would prevent the enemies of such anubhavam.
So, (ஆக,), in the last 5 pAsurams, she talked about the ways and means of getting immersed in the krishNa anubhavam; then in the next 10 pAsurams coming up, she sings about those who use these ways and means for getting krishNa anubhavam.
In the next ten starting with this puLLum silambina-kAN pAsuram, ANdAL has written the pAsurams as if she is waking up 10 gOpikAs of thiruvAyppAdi who wish to go and do nOnbu with krishNan’s help.
Previous day evening, krishNan had asked all the gOpikAs to go to their homes and sleep and then meet early in the morning to start the nOnbu; he had also gone home (nappinnai pirAtti thirumALigai) to sleep. ANdAL is pretending that some of those gOpikAs who woke up very early next day are trying to wake up the remaining gOpikAs to go with them. These gOpikAs who are inside their houses were just not able to sleep as they have been eagerly waiting to go to krishNan, thinking about how that experience would be, finally they are just lying down in their bed and dreaming about it.
(ANdAL would have wished to wake up all the 5 lakh girls to go with Her to be with krishNan, and would have written 5 lakh pAsurams too! We consider the Ten girls to represent all of us) .
When anything is related to enjoying about emperumAn, and doing kainkaryam to Him to make Him happy, it is much better to go with all other people who have also accepted the fact that they are the sEshans (devotees/slaves/subservient) of emperumAn.
~~~
When each one has got the main requirement of love for Him, and the means for doing the activities/kainkaryam, and having access to krishNan for enjoying, and the time being suitable and private, having permission from the elder gOpars, why should they not just go alone and enjoy with krishNan? why are they waking up each other?
— Like one needs company when stuck in cyclone, they are immersed in the anubhavam of krishNan (similar to AzhwArs singing: kAlAzhum nenju azhiyum – [periya thiruvandhAdhi-34]), uyir kAththu Atcheymmin [thiruvAimozhi 10-7-1], and Azhiyodum ponnAr-sArngam-udaiya adigaLai innAr-enRu-aRiyEn [periya thirumozhi 10-10-9]), so they are looking for help by waking up each other;
— even for nithya sUris it is hard to enjoy Him without the company of others when they see His greatness and simplicity – so it goes without saying that the gOpikAs, who don’t know their left hand from the right, would need the company of other adiyArs for enjoying Him;
— moreover, like it says in ‘Eka: svAthu na bhunjItha’, they wake up others because they are not of the nature of enjoying such a nectar alone by themselves;
— moreover, they wake up others because of their attitude that others should not lose such a great opportunity to enjoy Him;
— moreover, when having bhagavath anubhavam they think that one should not directly do that but only with the recommendation of other bhAgavathAs.
(so) since the matter is hard to be enjoyed alone, and these gOpikAs are not capable of enjoying Him by themselves alone, and since they think that those who are interested in Him should not lose such opportunity, and since they would not go to him without the help of other bhAgavathAs, they are waking up others.
If all the gOpikas would be having equal and indistinguishable motivation for enjoyment of krishNa anubhavam, then does it mean those who are sleeping are having lesser motivation? The enjoyable characteristics of krishNan would make some of the gOpikAs be in a state like those who drank poison, while it would make some gOpikAs restless and not able to stay in their place; so there is motivation of enjoyment in every gOpikA; so it is acceptable that some are awake and they are waking up others.
~~~
==> The inner meaning in these 10 pAsurams – she is referring to other AzhwArs as those 10 gOpikAs whom she is calling to go and get krishNan’s thiruvadi, and to do kainkaryam to Him.
புள்ளும் சிலம்பினகாண் புள்ளரையன் கோயிலில்
வெள்ளை விளிசங்கின் பேரரவம் கேட்டிலையோ
பிள்ளாய் எழுந்திராய் பேய்முலை நஞ்சுண்டு
கள்ளச் சகடம் கலக்கழியக் காலோச்சி
வெள்ளத்தரவில் துயிலமர்ந்த வித்தினை
உள்ளத்துக் கொண்டு முனிவர்களும் யோகிகளும்
மெள்ள எழுந்து அரி என்ற பேரரவம்
உள்ளம் புகுந்து குளிர்ந்தேலோர் எம்பாவாய்.
puLLum silambina-kAN puLLaraiyan koyilil
veLLai viLi-sangin pEr-aravam kEttilaiyO
piLLAi ezhundhirAi pEi mulai nanjuNdu
kaLLa chakatam kalakkazhiya kAlOchchi
veLLaththaravil thuyil amarndha viththinai
uLLaththu kONdu munivargaLum yOgigaLum
meLLa ezhundhu ari enRa pEr aravam
uLLam pugundhu kuLirndhElO rempAvAi
Word by Word Meaning
puLLum silambina-kAN – birds are calling while going (after waking up), and
kEttilaiyO – are you not hearing
pEr-aravam – the big sound
veLLai viLi-sangin – of white conch which is doing thirupaLLi-ezhuchchi (waking up emperumAn)
puLLaraiyan koyilil – in the temple of perumAn who is garudan‘s leader, [garudan who is the head of birds]
piLLAi – you young gOpikA who is new to bhagavath vishayam,
ezhundhirAi – get rid of sleep and get up;
munivargaLum – adiyArs who meditate him
yOgigaLum – and adiyArs who do yogAbhyAsam
meLLa ezhundhu – (they) get up slowly without disturbing the emperumAn in their hearts
uLLaththu koNdu – they have placed in their hearts through thoughts about
pEi mulai nanju-uNdu – perumAn who drank phUthanai’s poisonous milk from her nipples, (and killed her),
kaLLach chakatam – (who made the) the cunning cart
kalakku azhiya – go out of shape and get destroyed
kAl Ochchi – by kicking with thiruvadi (and finish it),
thuyil amarndha – (who is) gracefully lying down
veLLaththu – in the liquid of milky ocean
aravil – on thiruvananthAzhvAn (Adhi SEshan)
viththinai – one who is root of the world
ari enRa pEr aravam – (munis and yOgis are thinking about such emperumAn and) making big sound, chanting ‘hari’;
uLLam pugundhu kuLirndhu – (please get up so that) we get that sound into our minds and become happy.
Simple Translation
The first gOpikA that ANdAL is waking up in this pAsuram is new to bhagavath vishayam (matter related to perumAn kainkaryam) and does not know any details about doing nOnbu.
In the first 4 pAsurams she talked about para, vyUha, vibhava, and antharyamithvams. 5th was out of pattern; and in this 6th pAsuram they sing about archAvatharam (in statue form) as in ‘puL araiyan kOil’
puLLum silambina-kAN
The gOpikAs who have woken up early go to the first gOpikA’s house to wake her up. They tell her to wake up.
The girl from inside asks, “Shouldn’t the day first dawn for waking up?”.
They reply, “The day has dawned, so please get up”.
The girl asks, “What is the sign that the day has already dawned?”.
“We are here, isn’t that enough to tell that it is dawn?”.
“If someone has slept the previous night then you can say that their getting up is the sign of dawn. You gOpikas did not sleep at all, so I cannot take it as a sign”.
Then they reply with the first words of this pAsuram, “puLLum silambina kAN” – the birds have woken up and they are going for gathering food (you come and see that)”.
She replies, “Is that a sign that the day has dawned?”,
“Is it not?”
“No” (ஓம், அல்லவீ)
“How come?”
“You did not let those birds sleep, so they are also going without sleep. In the place where you are born, even the birds are thinking about krishNan and they don’t sleep. So, that is also not a sign of dawn. Tell me some other sign”. She keeps lying down on her bed.
In this context, piLLai piLLaiAzhvAn would say that for this AthmA there is no good time other than when we hear the bird that marks us the amicable time to do bhagavath samAsrayaNam. Here the sound of bird implies AchAryan’s word, and his waking up those sleeping in ignorance.
Inner meaning for puL (bird) – the bhAgavatha bhakthas who have woken up early in the morning, wanting to get dharshan of blackness of krishNan.
In the place where ANdAL was born, would there be sleep for the birds, said nAlUrAchAn piLLai – based on ANdAL’s ‘kAlai ezhundhirundhu kuruvik kaNangaL mAlin varavu solli maruL pAdudhal meimmai kolO [nAchiyar thirumozhi 9-8]’.
puL-araiyan kOyilil
The king of birds periya thiruvadi (garudAzhvAn) is there, his “kO” (king) sarvEshwaran is there, ‘il’ His house (that is, kO’s house, that is, temple), koyilil – in the temple of garudan’s king (that is, perumAn).
(When krishNan is here, and when everyone is immersed in His beauty and behave as His bhakthas, can there be a perumAL temple in thiruvAyyppAdi? yes, similar to how chakravarthy thiurmagan (rAman), along with his dharma pathni (as wife who helps rAmar conduct the dharmas of living) and family had done pUjAs to periya perumAL (srIranganAthan) when perumAn was in ayOdhDhi; similarly, for krishNan also there is a perumAL kOyil here.)
puL-araiyan – His identity is based on those people who depend on Him; lakshmaNa pUrvajam cha – sIta pirAtti also said that Her being was in danger by yama in the form of a deer as soon as She sent away lakshmaNan and his elder brother chakravarthy thirumagan. She refers to srI rAman as related to lakshmaNan.
They are referring to perumAn through the name of periya thiruvadi (garudan) – one generally goes to perumAn through the support of thiruvadigaL (AnjanEyar, garudan), AchArayan, AzhwArs, and thAyAr.
veLLai viLi sangin pEr aravam
The gOpikAs are saying that the sangu (conch) is white. The gOpikA inside says, ‘Conch is always white, it is not a good argument for saying that the day has dawned’.
She continues, ‘Every sAmam (every certain number of hours) they sound the conch in the temple, so the sound of conch is not a sign of dawn.’
The gOpikAs reply, ‘pEr aravam’ (bigger sound) – the conch is being sounded with higher volume, which they would do only at dawn.
viLi – calling. Calling at the auspicious time of brAhma muhuUrtham to do kainkaryam to perumAL.
Inner meaning: the sound of praNavam coming from the temple, calling (viLi) the ‘உ’ (devotees) of the praNavam to come there.
pEr aravam – loud enough for you to get up; when talking about lakshmaNan going to mahArAjar’s (sukrIvan) place and making loud sound with his bow (because mahArAjar was delaying in joining rAma lakshmaNA for finding sItha), ananthAzhwAn said ‘mahArAjar who was holding on to the breast of thArai, his blindness (to the need of rAmA) was lost when lakshmaNan made the sound.
kEttilaiyO – are you not hearing that sound (of conch). Are you going to lose the bhAgyam of hearing that sound that is calling you to go to krishNan?
The gOpikA inside is not convinced.
piLLAi ezhundhirAi: piLLAi – ignorant
The gOpikAs ask, “O girl, you who are new in bhagavath vishayam (related to perumAL), who are new to the sweetness of doing kainkaryam to perumAL, without continued experience in bhagavath vishayam you have not reached the level to understand the beauty of being with other bhAgavathAs (devotees); should you not be interested in seeing us like how we are interested in seeing you?”
==> The inner meaning of the 10 gOpikAs woken up in this and the next total 10 pAsurams – the gOpikAs being woken up refer to AzhvArs. In this pAsuram, ‘piLLAi‘ refers to ‘poigai AzhwAr‘. In his prabhandham, mudhal thiruvanthAdhi, poigai AzhvAr says ‘onRum adhanai uNarEn nAn‘ as if like the girl who is new to bhagavath vishayam; in various pAsurams of mudhal thiruvanthAdhi he uses words similar to ‘pEi mulai nanju uNdu‘, ‘kaLLa chakatam kAl Ochchi‘, ‘veLLaththaravil thuyil amardha viththu‘, to enjoy krishNan’s amAnusha seshtithangaL (actions beyond human). ANdAL is using similar words in this pAsuram, and referring to a similar gOpikA.
==> Another way this is seen is as follows: This pAsuram is about periyAzhvAr her beloved father and AchAryan, and then the seven pAsurams including this go in reverse order of AzhvArs from periyAzhvAr to poigai AzhvAr, them being elders; then remaining three of ten pAsurams are about future AzhvArs – thoNdaraippodi Azhvar, thiruppANAzhvAr, and seerk kaliyan.
So, as this pAsuram talks about garudan, periyAzhvAr is amsam (characteristic) of garudan. So this pAsuram indicates periyAzhvAr.
piLLAi – new in these matters; bhattar said ‘chinthayanthi was new to krishna gAnam, otherwise she would have been used to the in-laws’ trying to stop her and she would have gone ahead out of the house anyway’.
The gOpikA inside asks back, “Who woke you up, you who know all the sweetness of kainkaryam?”
They reply, “Nobody woke us up; we woke up hearing others doing their own chores” as follows:
pEi mulai nanju uNdu
When He was alone when even His mother could not help, that phUthanai came near krishNan to kill Him, but she got killed.
Inner meaning: ahankAram, mamakAram are related to svAthanthriyam – that is, our (wrong) feeling that we are independent of perumAn; because of our AthmA getting into our body (pEi uNdu) we get the ahankAram and mamakAram (mulai uNdu) which are poisonous (nanju) for our AthmA, and we pray perumAn to get rid of these things from us.
kaLLa chakatam
If it is someone like phUthanai, then it may be possible to identify as a devil and protect oneself; but His mother had kept a toy as protection, into which the asuran got into for killing krishNan. (so ‘kaLLa‘ chakatam).
kalakkazhiya kAl Ochchi
He kicked His legs because of delay in getting milk from His mother, and His lotus feet hit the toy and killed the asuran who went inside that toy;
==> The girls are talking about phUthanai and the chakatAsuran so that the girl who is sleeping will get a jolt thinking about the dangers that came to her krishNan, and so would wake up.
Inner meaning: pray perumAn to remove from us the kAmam (our interest in non-living things (that is materials, body, fame, gadgets,..) and krOdham (the anger when we don’t get those things).
veLLathu aravil thuyil amarndha viththinai
They are happy that without all such dangers (from bhUthanai and others), perumAn is safely lying on thiru ananthAzhvAn (Adhi SEshan) in thiru pArkadal (milky ocean).
veLLam – to indicate that perumAL with his gentle thirumEni is comfortably sleeping on Adhi SEshan
aravil – on the snake – thiru ananthAzhvAn (Adhi SEshan); soft; his breath killed the madhukaidavas, so there is no need to worry about any danger for perumAn;
thuyil – sleep – perumAn lying down on Adhi SEshan and deeply thinking about what avathAram to take next for saving us; one who can come and comfortably live in a bhaktha’s heart.
amarndha – as He wants to deeply think about ways of helping and saving us, He is not getting distracted even if thAyArs hug him tightly on their divine chests.
viththinai – viththu – the source/reason for everything; kshIrAbdhi nAthan (perumAn in the ocean) getting ready for the next avathAram, as if all the avathArams so far are not enough.
uLLaththu-k koNdu
Keeping them in their minds and hearts (them = perumAn lying down on Adhi sEshan in the ocean, and along with the thAyArs), where there is no danger of asurAs;
munivargaLum yOgigaLum
the munis (who do deep thinking about perumAn), and yOgis (who do physical kainkaryam to perumAn) [similar to the gOpikA inside who is lying down thinking about perumAn, and the gOpikAs outside who are wanting to do kainkaryam to perumAn],
meLLa ezhundhu – the munis and yOgs get up very slowly
the munis and yOgis are getting up from their bed very slowly, like how a pregnant woman would get up slowly and carefully, they are getting up without even disturbing the garland in their heads; they get up very carefully so that the perumAn inside them (antharAthma) would not be disturbed; (are there munis and yOgis in thiruvAippAdi? – after krishNan has done the avathAram here, the munis and yOgis come to this place that is full of cows, and labor themselves to enjoy krishNan).
ari enRa
ari – hari – nArAyaNan.
The munis and yOgis then say hari 7 times as soon as they get up; (when we wake up we could say hari 7 times, and take about 4 steps in the direction towards srIrangam, before carrying on with our morning activities).
Saying ‘ari’ would get rid of all the hindrances in doing perumAL kainkaryam. It would get rid of all our fears – what is our fear? that some danger would happen to perumAn. So they pray that He himself should get rid of such dangers, that He saves Himself for us. Once He does that, we are again afraid that someone will see that greatness and He will get kaN echchil (கண் பட்டு விடும்) and we will start singing pallANdu for Him.
Before one gets the gyAnam of bhagavath sambandham one is afraid about dangers to self; after getting the gyAnam of bhagavath sambandham one is afraid of dangers to perumAn.
pEr aravam (big sound (of chanting hari))
Not only the munis and yOgis, but all the 5 lakhs houses are saying ‘hari’.
uLLam pugundhu kuLirndhu –
“As we are feeling so much viraha thApam (suffering due to missing krishNan), the sound of hari nAmam went into our minds and hearts and helped us cool it down, so we are feeling wonderful, so you wake up now.”.
That gOpikA finally gets up and joins other gOpikAs to go to the next house to wake up another gOpikA.
English translation raghurAm srInivAsa dhAsan
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heart touching comentary
“Before one gets the gyAnam of bhagavath sambandham we are afraid about dangers to themselves; after getting the gyAnam of bhagavath sambandham one is afraid of dangers to perumAn” – superb statement !
Hari Om! “Pei mulai nanju undu” Importance of removal of Ahankaram & Mamakaram well explained.
Adiyen Ramanuja Dasan – Jai Sriman Narayana!
Swami,pasuram precisely& beautifully posted, great effort. Pranams