gyAna sAram 9 – Asil aruLAl

gyAna sAram

Previous pAsuram

                                                                           9^th pAsuram

thamizh:

English:

“Asil aruLAl anaiththulagum kAththaLikkum
vAsa malarAL maNavALan – thEsu poli
viNNAttil sAla virumbumE vERonRai
eNNAdhAr nenjchaththu iruppu”

Verbatim Meanings:
Asil = The faultless one (the fault that a person makes when he expects something in return of something he does to a person).

aruLAl = out of compassion

anaiththulagum kAththu = protects all of the worlds

aLikkum = to yield to requests or to grant wishes,

vAsa malarAL maNavALan = is the consort of pirAtti, who was born in a Lotus flower and it is this Emperuman

thEsu poli viNNAttil  = who is resplendent in srIvaikuntam

nenjchaththu iruppu = and stays in the heart of the people

sAla virumbum = who very much like

vERonRai eNNAdhAR = to keep nothing apart from sriman nArAyaNaN and ask for nothing other than HIM

Preface:

 In the previous pAsuram, swami aruLALa perumAL emberumAnAr talked about the happiness that perumAL gets when HIS devotee does not yearn for a thing apart from being a servant to his Master forever. In this pAsuram, swami aruLALa perumAL emberumAnAr goes one step further and describes an even more happy state of perumAL who lives in the hearts of HIS devotees. However, before entering his heart, perumAL looks at the heart of HIS devotee first. He looks to see if the heart thinks only about HIM or other things as well. HE checks for HIMSELF “Does this heart think about ME for some material benefits or does it want to enjoy ME completely and nothing else”?. If perumAL is convinced that the heart does not think about anything else apart from only HIMSELF, then HE happily stays there forever and enjoys being there.

Explanation:

Asil aruLAl :    When someone does something expecting a favor in return, the very act of doing (even if it is a help) becomes faulty. aruL, in this pAsuram denotes the compassion of the Lord, blessing someone without expecting something in return. parimeElazhagar, when explaining the basics of “aruL” (blessing out of compassion), described that a person should have compassion on all beings not for any particular reason. He should have it just for its very basic existence. We usually love our children, parents, wife, siblings and relatives because they are related. We do not share the same love with some passerby. There is a vast difference in the love that we show between these two people. In case of our family, relatives and friend, the love is born out of the relationship that we share with them. It is the lack of the same relationship with a passerby that we do not show love towards them. However, for perumAL and HIS true devotees, the ability of showing unbiased love and compassion towards one and all is a very important quality. They do not find anything good in a person to show love or find some fault to show hatred against that same person. If they find good / bad credits, then that act of showing love or compassion itself becomes faulty. This kind of faulty love or compassion is what we jIvAthamAs can show and not the real one that our perumAL shows on us. He does not expect anything in return from us.

anaiththulagum:   There  are 14 worlds, seven above, including the earth and seven below earth. The seven worlds above us are: bhur lOkam (earth), bhuvar lOkam, suvar lOkam, mahar lOkam, jana lOkam, tapO lOkam and sathya lOkam. The seven worlds below us includes atala lOkam, suthala lOkam, vithala lOkam, talAtala lOkam, mahAtala lOkam, rasAtala  lOkam and pAthAla lOkam. The collection of these 14 lOkas are known as “aNdam”. perumAL shows HIS unbiased love towards everyone in all these 14 worlds. If perumAL shows HIS love based on a reason, then there might be disparity in the love itself. However, perumaAL is common for all of us and HE does not discriminate among us.

kAththaLikkum:   perumAL protects us. We should be very careful what is meant by protection because this is normally misconstrued. It is not giving all that we want and all that we love irrespective of knowing if it is really good for us. Protection is giving what is really needed and destroying what is not needed totally. The thing one may need is not the one that he may like and vice versa. This is very common. We try to see Perumal as “non-protective” as HE does not yield to our requests. However, we do not look in the longer scheme of things in which all that we wished may not really be what we need. This is why our ancestors say that we should be happy for whatever Perumal has given us right now and should be thankful for giving it. He knows how to protect us more than anyone else.

vAsa malarAL maNavALan:  swAmi nammAzhvAr says “VEri mArAadha pU mEl iruppAL”. perumAL is the consort of pirAati who sits on a cool, beautiful and fragrant lotus that does not fade in beauty even for a spilt second. When perumAL protects us, pirAti is also involved. To go a step further, it is fair to say only if pirAti is with perumAL, HE protects us, else does not. So, pirAti plays an equally important role of protecting the jIvAthmAs as much as perumAL does. She serves as a catalyst and triggers perumAL’s quality known as “compassion” towards us. In addition to doing this, she is the first person to be happy when perumAL protects us.

thEsu poli viNNAttil This place refers to “paramapadham” or “srivaikuNtam”. All souls who are liberated go there. People who are there forever continue to enjoy their stay, that is destined to be forever. There is nothing called time, no one becomes old, sick. Everyone can do whatever they desire to do as kainkaryam. There will not be any obstacle to any task from whatever means. To put it short, it is the quintessence of everything.

sAla virumbumE*:   perumAL likes very much a place and place it at a even higher pedestal than HIS paramapadham that was described above. He relishes HIS stay in this place more than paramapadham. There is an “EkAram” attached to the phrase “virumbumE”. Please see footnote for grammatical details of it. The “EkAram” here finds context in the following lines “vERonRai eNNAdhAR nenjchaththu iruppu”.

ERonRai eNNAdhAR nenjchaththu iruppu   The place that was referred by “sAla virumbumE” above, is the heart of HIS devotees, namely prapannas who does not think/ask about anything apart from the Lord HIMSELF. As swAmi nammAzhvAr put “uNNum sORu, parugum nIr, thinnum vetRilai ellAm kaNNan”. Translated loosely it means that Krishna is AzhvAr’s food, his water, his beetal leaves (to denote other luxuries). In the heart of such a person, perumAL absolutely rejoices being here ,even more than being in HIS own celestial srivaikuntam. perumAL, who does not expect anything from HIS devotees, if HE finds a person who does not expect anything other than perumAL, becomes extremely joyful and ecstatic to stay in his heart.

Footnote (*) – There are two types of “ekAram” in thamizh grammar. The first one is “thEtrathu ekAram”. This signifies “urudhi” or “certainty” or “unanimousness”. Example – thirupAvai 1st pAsuram where AndAL nails it beautifully than any other AzhvArs or perumAL. In “nArAyaNaNE”, andAL uses “EkAram” to mean that only nArAyaNaN can give parai and no body else. This is used to mean certainty about who can give mOksham and the fact that no one else can give it. This is “thEtrathu EkAram”. The second type is “pirinilai EkAram”. This means something like “even it”. That is in this example “namakE”, andAL uses to mean that nArAyaNaN will give parai to people like even us. Who are we? We are the ordinary (alpa) humans who go after food and other worldly pleasures thinking that is the highest form of pleasure.  We are the most dumbest and stupidest people and to even people like us (namakE), nArAyaNaN will give. This connotation is known as “piri nilai EkAram”. In the phrase “sAla virumbumE”, the “thEtrathu EkAram” is being used.