srI:
srImathE satakOpAya nama:
srImathE rAmAnujAya nama:
srImadh varavaramunayE nama:
1-2-3-2-1 (1-2)
oru muRai iru sudar mIdhinil iyangA
mummadhiL ilangai irukAl vaLaiya
oru silai onRiya IreyiRRazhalvAi
vALiyin attanai
After the above (first phrase), next, AzhwAr says, like how a farmer would plant and he himself would remove the weeds, emperumAn destroys the rAkshasAs who destroy the world He created.
Word by word meaning
iru sudar – moon and sun
mIdhinil iyangA – would not span above
ilangai – lankApuri
oru muRai – even once (due to fear)
mum madhiL – (lankA) that is covered by three kinds of protection, by water, mountain, and forest,
attanai – (you) burned and destroyed (such lankA),
oru silai – (using your) unparalleled bow (sArngam)
iru kAl vaLaiya – with its two ends curved,
vALiyin – using the arrows
onRiya Ir eyiRu – that are fit into the bow, and having 2 teeth
azhal vAi – and which have got the mouth that spits fire.
Simple translation
Using the unparalleled bow that is curved on both ends, you shot arrows that have two teeth and with the mouth the spits fire, and destroyed lankA, where even the sun and moon were afraid to go above of it.
Unlike your creation of brahmA which you did with just your sankalpam (ayanai InRanai), you physically stood in front of the enemy in the battle ground and destroyed him using your bow and arrows.
It was not pirAtti (sIthA) who destroyed the demon who separated Her from You, it is you who fought and destroyed such demon. Likewise, I cannot remove the ones that separate me from You, that are, this samsAram and my avidhyA, karma, vAchanA, ruchi (lack of knowledge about nature of self, etc., long lasting impressions of my pApams, and the taste for other things, which I still have got left in me); only You please remove such demons that separate me from You.
vyAkyAnam
‘bhIshO dhEthi sUrya:’ (sun rises because of his fear (obedience) of paramAthmA). But when rAvaNan was there in lankA the sun was afraid of Him and did not show his strength in that place (nainam sUrya: prathapathi – srI rAmAyaNam).
Same can be applied to the moon also, so AzhwAr describes rAvaNan in this way.
ilangai – like a wasp’s nest all these rAkshasas were having a ball in this place (ammaNa kUththadikkum / அம்மணக்கூத்தடிக்கும்), the rAkshasas who were a terror to anyone who would even just think of them – isn’t this the kind of place that He destroyed?
How did He do that?
iru kAl vaLaiya oru silai onRiya ireyiRRu azhal vAi vALiyin attanai – using the unparalleled bow that is curved on the two ends, using the arrows that is fixed on such a bow, the arrows having two teeth and which spit fire, you destroyed the place.
azhal vAi vALi – when placing it in the bow it would look like an arrow, and when it strikes the enemy it would be like a fire.
vALiyin attanai – as opposed to ‘ayanai InRanai’ above, where You created brahmA by your sankalpam, here you stood on the battlefield with your bow and arrows and tormented rAvAnan.
oru muRai … attanai – you are the one who destroyed the demon who separated pirAtti from you, not she. Likewise it is you who has to destroy the samsAram and karma, etc., that separate me from you.
Here it gives a detailed explanation of how this neatly fits with mudhal thiruvanthAdhi’s 59th pAsuram of poigai AzhwAr,
adaindha aruvinaiyOdu allal nOi pAvam
midaindhavai mINdozhiya vENdil – nudangidaiyai
mun ilangai vaiththAn muraN azhiya mun oru nAL
than vil am kai vaiththAn saraN. [mudhal thiruvanthAdhi 59]
in which he describes that for the AthmA it is not in-built with these karmAs and its effects; like how iron would get the heat and color when it gets in contact with fire, AthmA due to contact with achith (nonsentient, this body), makes us believe that this body is us, that is the avidhyA, and this is all due to karmam (accumulated good and bad effects), vAsana (trace of previously acquired bad karmas), ruchi (continued interest in such things). These are ‘aru vinai’ – very hard for us to destroy.
mINdu ozhiya vENdil – If you wish to destroy these with all its trace, in one sweep, what do you need to do? Surrender to the one who can destroy such hard things very easily :
nudangidaiyai – having waist that is tired and suffering due to separation from perumAL.
mun ilangai vaiththAn muraN azhiya – once upon a time rAvaNan jailed such a pirAtti; and perumAL destroyed him,
mun oru nAL than vil angai vaiththAN charaN – by touching his bow; he is the means for us for destroying our hard-to-destroy connection with this samsAram, etc.
muraN azhiya vil angai vaiththAn – ((angai = am kai : beautiful hand)) – to destroy the enemies he does not even have to set the arrow in the bow and shoot it – just his touching the bow with his beautiful hands would make the enemies lose their strength and get destroyed.
nudangidaiyai mun ilangai vaiththAn – that is, our thinking that this AthmA is ours, whereas it is subservient to emperumAn, is equivalent to rAvaNan’s act of separating pirAtti from emperumAn.
Also means that those who decided that emperumAn is the means for destroying their hurdles, emperumAn would take care of that, like how he took care of the enemy of pirAtti.
Also to let us know that we hold relationship with emperumAn that is equal to pirAtti’s relationship with emperumAn.
Also to imply to us that when we go with emperumAn as the means, we must get pirAtti as the mediator/connector (purushakAram), so the mudhal thiruvanthAdhi pAsuram uses the phrase starting nudangidaiyai that refers to pirAtti.
So far in thiruvezhukURRirukkai, thirumangai AzhwAr shows us the following:
Starting with oru pEr undhi in this prabandham (first phrase): you created everything from the stage of ‘non-existent’, so it is not difficult for you to help me who am in the stage of existing.
Starting from oru muRai in this prabandham (second phrase which we are enjoying now): you destroyed rAvaNan who was the hurdle for Your being together with pirAtti, so it is not difficult for you to remove my hurdles for reaching you.
Translation by raghurAm srInivAsa dAsan
archived in https://divyaprabandham.koyil.org
pramEyam (goal) – https://koyil.org
pramANam (scriptures) – http://granthams.koyil.org/
pramAthA (preceptors) – https://acharyas.koyil.org/
srIvaishNava education/kids portal – http://pillai.koyil.org
0 thoughts on “thiruvezhukURRirukkai – 2”