SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
Introduction
SrI rAmAnuja thought to himself, “what a great fortune for me to have got a person like mAmunigaL who stands by the facets of “Akinchanyam (lack of any principal to offer)” and “ananyagadhithvam (lack of place to go as refuge)”. SrI rAmAnuja was pleased and was thinking of the list of things that mAmunigaL should be blessed with. He was involved in blessing mAmunigaL who had a pleasant and lovable character. At this juncture, mAmunigaL expressed his “ananyagadhithvam” even more by briefly describing the “uNNilAviya (thiruvaimozhi 7.1)” padhigam (decad), where the wrecking effects of one’ senses is explained graphically. Listening to this from mAmunigaL, srI rAmAnuja went to a state wherein he felt he could not live anymore if he does not protect mAmunigaL right away.
pAsuram 42
aimpulangaL mElittu adarumpozhudhu adiyEn
un padhangaL thammai ninaiththu OlamittAl
pinbu avaithAm ennai adarAmal irangAy ethirAsa
unnai allAl enakku uNdo?
Word-Word Meanings
aimpulangaL – (My) five senses
mElittu – are so overwhelming and overpowering on me that
adarumpozhudhu – each one of them asks to feed their respective channels when they pounce on me.
adiyEn – (at that time) me, who is the eternal servant of you, my master SrI rAmAnuja
ninaiththu – will meditate upon (just like how the elephant gajEndhran thought about emperumAn. The crocodile pulled elephant by its leg into the river and elephant started to rebel and tried to push itself back to the land. This happened for like 1,000 dhEva years (one human year is one dhEva day). After such a long time, when the crocodile started to gain strength, elephant started to lose its grip on the land. Water is home for crocodile where its power gets multiplied. Similarly land is home for elephant where it can show its might. But now, since crocodile had the upper hand in the tug of war, it pulled the elephant more and more into the water that at one stage, all but the trunk of elephant was under water. At this point in time, the elephant gajEndra reazlied that there is no other one to protect him except SrIman nArAyaNan, who removes the enemies and saves people. gajEndhra let out a huge cry of help in “nArAyanAvO” to ask SrIman nArAyaNan to come and rescue him immediately. Just like how the elephant called out for help, mAmunigaL realizes his helplessness and calls out SrI rAmAnuja who is the sole refuge.)
un – your
padhangaL thammai – lotus feet.
OlamittAl – (and at the same time of thinking about your lotus feet) If I call you loudly by your name “rAmAnuja”
ethirAsa – Oh!!! The leader of yathis
pinbu – After this (crying out your name loudly while thinking about your lotus feet)
irangAy – Please bless
ennai – me
avaithAm – that those senses that has high degree of harm in it
adarAmal – does not pounce on me.
uNdo? – Is there another protector (you are the sole protector as there are no one else)
enakku – for me
unnai allAl – except you?
The phrase “un padhangaL thammai ninaindhOlamittAl” – this means that if one calls out loudly the phrase “emperumAnAr thiruvadigaLE SaraNam” while simultaneously thinking about him in his mind.
Simple Translation
In this pAsuram, mAmunigaL says that SrI rAmAnuja is his sole protector. He is the protector for all people who are suffering from a multitude of difficulties. mAmunigaL establishes his “ananyagadhithvam” by comparing himself to the elephant gajEndhra who realized its helplessness and believed SrIman nArAyaNan as his only protector. Likewise, mAmunigaL, thought about SrI rAmAnuja’s lotus feet and uttered his name loudly that was a “save the soul” call.
Explanation
mAmunigal says that his five senses are pouncing on him and pulls him in different directions. Each one of them is making me its servant and is asking me to satisfy it needs, as seen in the phrase ‘kOvai aivar en mey kudiyERi (periya thirumozhi 7.7.9)”. During that time, me, who is the eternal servant of you, my master SrI rAmAnuja, let out a loud cry for help, uttering your name. This is similar to how the elephant gajEndhrAzhvAn, who was bitten and dragged by the crocodile in the pond, called out SrIman nArAyaNan loudly. The crocodile gains power in its home territory that is water, as revealed by the phrase “grAham AkarshathE jalE”. When it dragged the feet of gajEndhran into the pond, the latter thought about SrIman nArAyaNan in his mind as per “manasA chinthayan harIm (vishNu dharmam)”. While it exclaimed “nArAyaNAvO”, I called out you who protects everyone from all sorts of danger”.
I request you to not let my five senses conquer and control me which has proved to be utterly detrimental to the soul. Hey the leader of yathis (ascetics)!!! Is there any one apart from you who can protect me? There is no one. Hence, you should protect me”. For the phrase “un padhangaL thannai ninaindhOlamittAl”, it is to be construed that mAmunigaL thought within his mind that “SrI rAmAnuja’s lotus feet is the sole refuge” and uttered the name of “SrI rAmAnuja” loudly while thinking about him and his lotus feet.
adiyEn santhAnam ramanuja dasan
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