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pAsuram 9
Introduction (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)
Says that those who talk about the auspicious qualities of emperumAnAr who enjoys by placing in his divine heart the divine feet of bhUthaththAzhvAr, are those who protect and establish the vEdhas in this world.
Introduction (given by piLLailOkam jIyar)
In the previous pAsuram – said that emperumAnAr who got ever wonderful due to the association of poigai AzhvAr, is our swAmi; in this pAsuram – the heart which could have helped in seeing the sarvEswaran who is the swAmi of every one, got attracted into the darkness that is ignorance; and so to destroy such darkness bhUthaththAzhvar lighted the divine lamp that is the knowledge about the paran (emperumAn); those who think about the auspicious qualities of emperumAnAr (who keeps such bhUthaththAzhvAr’s divine feet in his heart), such noble people can protect and establish the vEdhas (samskritha and dhrAvida vEdhas) from those who do not accept vEdhas and from those who give improper meanings to vEdhas.
iRaivanaik kANum idhayaththu iruL keda gyAnamennum
niRai viLakkERRiya bhUthath thiruvadith thALgaL nenjaththu
uRaiya vaiththALum irAmAnusan pugazh Odhum nallOr
maRaiyinaik kAththu indha maNNagaththE manna vaippavarE 9
Listen
Word by word meaning (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)
idhayaththu – our heart
kANum – that can help see
iRavainai – the established master
iruL – (but its) darkness of ignorance (prevents that);
keda – to destroy such darkness (starting from ‘anbE thagaLiyA’ to ‘gyAnach chudar viLakku ERRinEn’ [iraNdAm thiruvanthAdhi – 1])
gyAnam ennum – (gave the) knowledge about the external one (the emperumAn) – para gyAnam;
niRAi viLakku – (with the) lamp that is complete in all aspects
ERRiya – one who lighted it bright;
bhUtham thiruvadi – the swAmi, who is bhUthaththAzhvAr
thALgaL nenjaththu uRaiya vaiththu – (emperumAnAr) keeps the divine of AzhvAr in his mind as ever present
ALum – and enjoys / experiences it;
nallOr – noble people who
Odhum – always recite
iRAmAnusan – such emperumAnAr’s
pugazh – auspicious qualities
maRaiyinaik kAththu – are those who save the vEdhAs from others and from those who give wrong meanings
manna vaippavar – and would strongly establish (the vEdhas and its true meanings).
indha maNNagaththE – in this world.
(Inner meaning of vEdhas is emperumAnAr, and the people who always recite emperumAnAr’s divine names have strongly established that name in this world; vEdhas say that AchAryan’s affection towards us is what would deliver us to emperumAn; such AchAryan is emperumAnAr – so he is the inner meaning).
vyAkyAnam
[
Consider the states of: gyAna (knowledge), dharisana (realize/see), prApthi (reach/attain).
gyAthum, dhrashtum, pravEshtum – krishNan also said in bhagavath gIthA.
mudhal thiruvanthAdhi – para bhakthi (knowledge/devotion towards emperumAn)
iraNdAm thiruvanthAdhi – para gyAnam (realizing/seeing emperumAn) (also said in this pAsuram as iRaivanaik kANum);
mUnRAm thiruvanthAdhi – parama bhakthi (attaining emperumAn)
Similarly, in case of nammAzhvAr‘s prabandhams, starting from thiruviruththam through thiruvAimozhi 10.8 – para bhakthi;
thiruvAimozhi – 10.9 – para gyAnam
thiruvAimozhi – 10.10 – parama bhakthi
]
iRaivanai – the swAmi (owner of all the worlds)
idhayaththu – our heart;
kANum – which helps in seeing Him;
iruL keda – As said in “sarvasya chAham hrudhi sannivishta: maththa: smrithir gyAnam apOhanam cha [bhagavath gIthA 15.15]”, (~I am sitting in the heart which is the source for such aspects as one’s knowing, understanding, or forgetting – these are under my control;) and as said in “Isvarah sarva-bhUthAnam hrud-dhEsE arjuna thisthathi [bhagavath gIthA 18.61])” (~ sarvEswaran is present in the lotus that is the heart), and as said in “guhAm pravishtAvAtmAnau hi thadh dharsanAth [brahma sUthra – I.2.11 (42)]” (~ in the cavity of the heart, the two who have entered are the souls of self and of paramAthmA; because it is so said by the sAsthrAs);
to destroy the darkness that is attached to such heart; it is the abode of sarvEswaran; that heart is the gateway to understand about Him; (it is blocked due to karmA)
“hrudhA manIshA manasA abhiklupthO”, and “ya yEvam vidhuram amruthAsthE bHavanthi [mahA nArAyaNOpanishad – manthram 1.11 ]” (one who realizes emperumAn would get the nectar that is mOksham);
for such knowledge of the heart, there is ignorance due to the obstacle due to the scent/trace of karmAs of previous births; “agyAnEna Avrutham gyAnam thEna muhyanthi janthava:” [bhagavath gIthA 5.15] (these beings surrounded by lack of knowledge stay ignorant);
keda – to make that (agyAnam) to be destroyed; that is, “hrut-stham gyAnasinAthmana:
chithvainam samsayam [bhagavath gIthA 4.42]”, and, “aham agyAna-jam thama: nasayAmyAthma bhAvasthO gyAna dhIpEna bhAsvathA [bhagavath gIthA – 10.11]” (destroys the agyAnam using the sword/light of gyAnam),;
for that hurdle to get destroyed which prevents from attaining the true inner knowledge; for that hurdle to be destroyed fully including any scent/trace of it,
gyAnam ennum niRai viLakku – (lighted the lamp of knowledge) – As said in “yathA na kriyathE jyOthsnA mala prakshALanAth maNe: yathA udhapAna karaNath kriyathEna jalAmbaram” (like how the sparkle of the gem is not created when the dirt covering it is removed; like how water cannot be created just by digging the well (they are brought out, but not created anew)” – as the obstacle that is ignorance is removed, immediately the knowledge would brighten up; such a lamp that is complete in all aspects; “gyAnEna thu thadh agyAnam yEshAm nAsitham AthmanA: thEshAm Adithya-vath gyAnam prakAsayathi thath param [bhagavath gIthA – 5.16]”, (as the ignorance is cut by me with the sword that is knowledge/truth, the knowledge (in you) would brighten up after that”, so said gIthOpanishad AchAryan.
ERRiya – “anbE thagaLiyA ArvamE neyyAga, inburugu sindhai idu thiriyA, nanburugi, gyAnach chudar viLakku ERRinEn nAraNarkku” [iraNdAm thiruvanthAdhi – 1] – that is, AzhvAr made his bhakthi as the lamp, his devotion as the ghee, made his mind – which melts due to immersion the experience of bhagavAn – as the cotton thread, and lighted for nAraNan the light that is complete in all aspects; and gave us the prabandham starting with this pAsuram;
bhUthath thiruvadith thALgaL – the divine feet of such bhUthaththAzhvAr who is our owner/lord.
jIyar too said “am thamizhAl narkalaigaL Ayndhu uraiththa AzhvArgaL indha ulagil iruL nInga” [upadhEsa raththina mAlai – 5] (with sweet thamizh the Azhvars gave us the prabandhams, for the darkness to be destroyed in this world);
nenjaththu uRaiya vaiththu ALum – (emperumAnAr) always thinks about and keeps in his heart (the divine feet of the AzhvAr), and involves in that experience; ALum – emperumAnAr enjoys AzhvAr’s divine feet and names in whichever and many ways (yadhEshta viniyOgArham).
pugazh Odhum – (those nobles ones who are) always reciting the divine names
irAmAnusan – of such emperumAnAr
nallOr – noble people; such as nammAzhvAr who said ‘kaliyum kedum kaNdu koNmin’ [thiruvAimozhi 5.2.1] (~ watch out – the kali would be destroyed (due to emperumAnAr)); such as sriman nAthamunigaL who, by the grace of nammAzhvAr, had minded the bhavishayadhAchArya vigraham (the statue of emperumAnAr who was going to incarnate in the future) the rest of his life; ALavandhAr who, after he (emperumAnAr) incarnated, after hearing about his auspicious qualities and becoming delightful, had graced iLaiyAzhvar (Amudhalvan) who was at kariyamANikkap perumAL sannidhi; such noble people.
maRaiyinaik kAththu – (saved the vEdas) – As said in “pipEdhyalpashruthAth vEdha:”, from the lowly ones that follow other sruthis – that is bAhya (who do not accept vEdhas), kudhrushti (who interpret vEdhas wrongly) – saved vEdhas from these people; who saved? – who made shruthi get the nAthan (husband)? – those great ones like AzhvAn, as said in “yadhukthayas thrayIkaNtE yAnthi mangaLa sUthrathAm“; maRaiyinai – and those who gave the true meanings (wrote vyAkyAnam) later for dhramida vEdhas (dhivya prabandhams), that is those starting from piLLAn, such that these prabandhams don’t get misinterpreted by kudhrushtis in the future; you see, the noble ones did not do just that much…
indha maNNagaththE manna vaippavarE – … they continued to establish, and strengthened the established meanings of these two (vedhAs and thamizh prabandhams) in this world that was filled with such enemies, says amudhanAr.
From srI u.vE. thirumalai nallAn chakravarthy rAmakrishNa iyengAr’s ‘amudha virundhu’:
keda – since the light is complete in all aspects, there is no chance of darkness returning, so amudhanAr says ‘keda’ (destroyed).
niRai viLakku – para gyAnam – sAkshAthkAram – realize the truth of jIvAthma and paramAthmA.
bhUthath thiruvadi – the word thiruvadi is used in the sense of respect. This is done in many other prabandhams too.
bhUtham has the meaning of having fulfillment of knowledge about brahmam, and thus being a being (saththai). Also it has the meaning of those who roam around in the world (for spreading such gyAnam), for the sake of betterment of the world, even though they would not have to get any personal benefit. Azhvar also was going around places;
thALgaL nenjaththu uRaiya vaiththu ALum – emperumAnAr froze in his mind such divine feet of bhUthathAzhvar (who was roaming around in the world), and nourished those divine feet. Also since emperumAnAr started carrying out the wishes of Azhvar (spreading the truth), there was not any more need for AzhvAr to roam around;
indha maNNagaththE – in ‘this’ world – since it is hard to spread goodness in this world, amudhanAr is stressing ‘indha’.
Noble AchAryas of our sampradhayam consider that emperumAnAr is the AchAryan who is complete in all respects; so he is the inner meaning of vEdhas. For us, following him would be the path shown by vEdhas (vEdha mArggam), and making others to firmly do the same is the establishment of the path of vEdhas (prathishtApanam). That is why even today we refer to the AchAryas related to emperumAnAr as ‘vEdha mArgga prathishtApanAchAryar”. amudhanAr also has used the same meaning by saying in this pAsuram, “nallOr maRaiyinaik kAththu’.
– – – – –
Translation: raghurAm srInivAsa dAsan
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