SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImadh varavaramunayE nama:
pAsuram 4
avathArikai (introduction)
(maNavALa mAmunigaL’s introduction) Even as you praised the mind, would there not be some problem to your devotion (nishtai) because of mind going back to old ways due to their lasting impressions of bad deeds (dhur vAsanai)? amudhanAr replies – there would not be any such problem to me who has been accepted by emperumAnAr due to his own mercy. (In the previous pAsuram I wondered how this happened, but not to imply that it is due to my own efforts).
(piLLai lOkam jIyar’s introduction) In the earlier three pAsurams as the mind was praised, it might seem that emperumAnAr’s divine feet was attained using one’s own efforts; would that be apt for our nature / sath sampradhAyam? Or, even if it was attained by emperumAnAr’s grace, how would you be sure that your mind would not move away from it later? To this, amudhanAr replies as this pAsuram.
ennaip puviyil oru poruL Akki maruL surandha
munnaip pazhavinai vEr aRuththu Uzhi mudhalvanaiyE
pannap paNiththa irAmAnusan paran pAdhamum en
chennith tharikka vaiththAn enakku Edhum chidhaivu illaiyE – 4
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Word by word meaning (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)
Uzhi – For all the things (sentient and non-sentient) present during the time of annihilation
mudhalvanaiyE – the sarvEshwaran who is the cause of such things
panna – for everyone (who are eligible to follow vEdhAntham), to analyse and distinguish emperumAn and follow Him
paNiththa – (emperumAnAr) provided such knowledge through srI bHAshyam
paran – regarded as above everyone (including Iswaran as emperumAnAr showed Him to us)
irAmAnusan – emperumAnAr
ennai – me who is a nobody / insignificant entity
puviyil – in this world
oru poruL Akki – made me to be somebody (oru vasthuvAmpadi paNNi)
vEr aRuththu – (and) removed without trace
munnaip pazha vinai – all eternally existing old karmas
maruL surandha – generated by the lack of knowledge (avidhyA);
en chennith tharikka vaiththAn – (he) graced in my head
pAdhamum – his divine feet as well (implies emperumAn’s divine feet as well)
(so)
enakku Edhum sidhaivu illai – there is no trouble for my achievement (of having surrendered to emperumAnAr’s divine feet along with my mind).
(or)
paran pAdhamum en chennith tharikka vaiththAn – Here paran can be taken as perumAn, so in addition to his divine feet, emperumAnAr made amudhanAr’s head to be set at perumAn’s divine feet as well.
vyAkyAnam (given by piLLai lOkam jIyar)
ennai – me; who, before this time, was like ‘na namEyam’ (rAvaNan said: I will not fall at His feet (even though I know fully well the greatness of srI rAman)); was like – ‘asannEva sa bhavathi asadhbrahmEthi vEdha chEth’ [thaiththirIyOpanishath] – was as if non-existent when not having knowledge of emperumAn; like in ‘poruL allAdha ennai’ [thiruvAimozhi 5.7.3] (I was not significant/existing).
puviyil – in this world that feeds ignorance – iruL tharumA gyAlam [upadhEsa raththina mAlai – 72]
oru poruL Akki – As said in ‘asthi brahmEthi chEdhvEdha – santhamEnam thathO vidhu:’, made me somebody. ‘poruL Akki adimai koNdAi’ [thiruvAimozhi 5.7.3] (made me something and engaged me in your service). oru – Not just some body, but made me the most distinguished among the most learned (of brahmam). (AzhwAr said ‘poruL Akki’ only, indicating prathama parvam; amudhanAr said ‘oru pOrul Akki’ indicating charama parvam).
maruL surandha munnaip pazhavinai – (a long explanation for this is given by piLLai lOkam jIyar, perhaps to encourage us to develop disliking towards the samsAram) As said in ‘samsAra sAgaram gOram anantha klEsa bhAjanam [jithanthE sthotram 4]; (life here that is connected to non-sentient things, karmA, kAma, krOdha, etc., is like an ocean that is endless and deep in sorrows, its effects on us, and so on), and where we do not know how to get out of it (dhik bhramam), incessant pouring of sadness (dhukka varshini), puthra, dhAra, gruha, kshEthra’ (children, spouse, house, land, etc., which are also under the influence of the samsAram) are like mruga thrshNikA (a deer would keep going forward thinking that it sees water afar – mirage); lures us into thinking that this is all pleasant and desirable; and due to karmAs based on eternal mistakes of kruthya akaraNa (doing prohibited acts), akruthya karaNa (not doing ordered acts), bhagavatha apachAram (doing mistakes on matters related to emperumAn), bhAgavatha apachAram (doing mistakes related to His devotees), and more such mistakes, such lowly earth in which we commit these mistakes; karmas: anAdhi (eternally) avidhyA (ignorant,) karma (we do undesirable things) vAsanA (and keep influenced by such earlier misdeeds) ruchI (and develop taste for repeating them); so we get into the loop of having relation to this prakruthi, and do karmas of good and bad deeds;
vEr aRuththu – vEr – root of a tree; if that is left out when cutting the tree, it might flourish back up; so (emperumAnAr) removed all my karmAs like cutting all the way from the root. ‘nIr numadhu enRu ivai vEr mudhal mAiththu’ [thiruvAimozhi 1.2.3] (destroy ahankAram mamakAram including roots)
The following match: munnaip pazha vinai vEr aRuththu – sarva dharmAn parithyajya (part of gIthA charama slOkam) – purambu uNdAna paRRukkaLai adaiya vAsanaiyOdE vidugaiyum (mumukshuppadi – dhvaya prakaraNam – 1).
Uzhi mudhalvanaiyE – sarvEshwaran whose sanklapam (~vow) is the cause of all sentient and non-sentients – (Uzhi mudhal) upAdhAna kAraNam; (Uzhi mudhalvan) nimiththa kAraNam; and sahakAri are implied in this phrase. ‘kAraNam thu dhyEya:‘ [chAndhOgya upanishadh] – (meditate of the one who is the root cause of everything) – such perumAn. The ‘E’ in mudhalvanaiyE implies that He is the only one of such characteristics (anya yOga vyavachchEdham). Similar to ‘nArayaNanE namakkE’ [thiruppAvai 1], ‘mAm Ekam charaNam vraja’, ‘mAmEvayE prapadhyanthE’, ‘thamEva chAdhyam’, ‘thvamEva upAya bhUthO mE bhava’, ‘ARu enakku nin pAdhamE charaNagath thandhu ozhindhAi’ [thiruvAimozhi 5.7.10] ((only)your feet is the (only) way), etc.
The following match: Uzhi mudhalvanaiyE panna – mAm Ekam saraNam vraja (2nd part of gIthA charama slOkam) – emperumAnaiyE thanjam enRu paRRugaiyum (mumukshuppadi – dhvaya prakaraNam – 1)
emperumAnAr getting the name of srI bhAshyakArar
pannap paNiththa – Combining with previous phrase, this says that srI bhAshyakArar showed that it is only emperumAn who is the root cause of everything – without athivyApthi – that is, emperumAnAr clearly showed the definition of emperumAn as specified by the vEdhas, brahma sUthram; rAmanujar provided such srI bhAshyam and gItha bhAshyam for everyone to love, enjoy, and distinguish emperumAn from others.
irAmAnusan – emperumAnAr. ‘sadhAchArya mUla: manthra rathna: [dhvayOpanishad] (AchAryan who gave the manthram that talks about emperumAn), is my paran – perumAn’; ‘yasmAth thadh upadhEshtAsau thasmAdh guru tharO guru:’ (who teaches us about bhagavAn is higher than that bhagavAn) [mahAbhAratham]; such emperumAnAr made me surrender to bhagavAn who is the source of the creation of worlds.
paran pAdhamum en chennith tharikka – emperumAnAr made me bear(tharikka) his feet in my head; He is saying ‘paran pAdham’ (perumAn’s foot), since he is considering ‘gururEva param brahma’ (guru himself is the god), and so considering emperumAnAr as his god; or, emperumAnAr made sarvEswaran’s feet to be held in my head.
vaiththAn – emperumAnAr by himself made this help for me (nirhEthukam). He helped me get this boon that matches my true nature (of subservience). nammAzhvAr too said in thiruvAimozhi 2.9.1, ‘emmA vIttu .. semmA pAdha parputh thalai sErththu … amma adiyEn vENduvadu IdhE’ (~ I request your feet in my head)
This being the case,
enakkEdhum sidhaivu illaiyE – being the receiver of such grace by emperumAnAr due to his own mercy, there would be no harm for my current state.
amudhanAr has been repeatedly raving in each pAsuram about divine feet, ‘charaNAravindham’, ‘kamala padhangaL’, ‘pAdham’, ‘adi’. Just because he has got excess buttermilk would someone keep providing him rice prasAdham?, asks piLLai lOkam jIyar; there are only two feet of emperumAnAr, but he is asking for feet in each pAsuram, just due to his eagerness towards emperumAnAr.
From srI u.vE. thirumalai nallAn chakravarthy rAmakrishNa iyengAr’s ‘amudha virundhu’:
srI bhAshyam’s four adhyAyams (~chapters) contain the following three: Uzhi mudhalvan; Uzhi mudhalvanayE; Uzhi mudhalvanaiyE panna. Instead of ‘mudhalinaiyE’ he says ‘mudhalvanaiyE’ to imply emperumAn is sentient – as emperumAn said ‘shall become many things’ for creating everything, which does not go with a non-sentient; So, ‘being the cause of it’ is applicable for brahmam – this is said in ‘samanvaya adhyAyam’ of srI bhAshyam.
‘panna’ – to meditate/understand/upAsanam of only the mudhalvan is established, so brahmam not being affected by any shortcomings that others might say – this is what is explained in 2nd adhyAyam – avirOdhAdhyAyam. Also since ‘panni’ is to distinguish and understand brahmam, it implies brahmam as the means to be meditated upon, that is explained in 3rd adhyAyam, sAdhanAdhyAyam of srI bhAshyam; now, panni also implies reaching, that is reaching the brahmam, so it also implies 4th adhyAyam, palAdhyAyam of srI bhAshyam.
My holding emperumAnAr’s feet in my head is not by seeing his divine characteristics, but because it is the use of my being, says amudhanAr.
Like how the earlier preceptors AzhwAr, ALavandhAr, and such others got paran’s divine feet in their divine head, due to the grace of emperumAnAr amudhanAr also got the divine feet in his divine head.
aruLALap perumAL emperumAnAr also sang after experiencing it, ‘maruLAm iruL Oda maththagaththu than thAL, aruLAlE vaiththa avar’ [gyAna sAram 36] (after removing my ignorance, he due to his grace, kept his feet (in my head)).
tharikka – it seems he did not want to remove the feet that was placed on the head, so kept it for a long time.
emperumAnAr showing his divine feet as the destiny to a dumb
tharikka vaiththAn – (it is always the owner who would be restless until he gets his property); emperumAnAr due to his compassion towards me could not wait to keep his feet in my head; for him to relax (for him to tharikka) from that, he kept his feet on my head; if emperumAnAr’s compassion becomes overwhelming for himself, it seems he would look for some devotee’s head to keep it on and save him. At this point one must see the vyAkyAnam of thirunedunthANdakam – 1, ‘thaLir puraiyum thiruvadi en thalai mElavE’ – “after touching his (thirumangai AzhvAr’s) head, His feet became alive and budding; before that it was like dry leaves”.
Or, another meaning is – after reforming me, emperumAnAr wanted me to avoid going to other places and go to old ways, so he kept me under his feet. Here too, an interesting vyAkyAnam in eedu for thiruvAimozhi 9.8.8, ‘aruL seidhu adiyEnaip poruL Akk un pon adi keezh puga vaippAi’, is “the position/place to keep those who are reformed seems to be under the divine feet”.
sidhaivu illaiyE – since emperumAnAr by himself accepted me, there is no going back from my current state; only if I had tried would there have been such a problem.
– – – – –
Translation: raghuram srInivAsa dhAsan
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