SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
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Introduction (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)
You said ‘irAmAnusan thannaik kaNdu koNdEn, avan thoNdar pon thALil thoNdu koNdEn’ (in previous pAsuram); what are you more interested in out of the two (emperumAnAr or his devotees)? I don’t have interest in anything other than the divine feet of those who consider only emperumAnAr as their shelter – says amudhanAr.
Introduction (given by piLLailOkam jIyar)
In the previous pAsuram – You said ‘irAmAnusan thannaik kaNdu koNdEn, avan thoNdar pon thALil thoNdu koNdEn’, and involved in the matter of emperumAnAr and also his devotees. But among these two, in which matter do you have more interest? To those who were nearby and asking this, amudhanAr replies – as the meaning of vEdhas that is learned, and the fore front of it being vEdhAnthams, show that emperumAn is our lord; not knowing this, those who served unwanted matters, and suffered in unnecessary things – emperumAnAr got them to rid of such foolishness; there is nothing else to consider in my mind than the divine feet of those who consider only emperumAnAr as their shelter, says amudhanAr.
Odhiya vEdhaththin utporuLAy adhan uchchi mikka
sOdhiyai nAthan ena aRiyAdhu uzhalginRa thoNdar
pEdhaimai theerththa irAmAnusanaith thozum periyOr
pAdham allAl endhan Ar uyirkku yAdhonRum paRRu illaiyE – 85
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Word by word meaning (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)
As said in ‘Sruthi Sirasi vidheepthE’ (being most distinguished as the head of vEdhas),
ut poruLAy – being the inner meaning
vEdhaththin – of vEdham
Odhiya – that is learned,
mikka sOdhiyai – He who is present with unbounded glory
adhan uchchi – is shown as the head of that vEdham as said in ‘Sruthi SirasividheepthE’,
nAthan ena aRiyAdhu – not knowing that He is our lord,
uzhalginRa thoNdar – they get involved in other matters and languish,
pEdhaimai – such lowly knowledge which is the reason for worship of unwanted matters
theerththa – (was) removed (by)
irAmAnusanai – emperumAnAr;
thozhum – worship of (such emperumAnAr) itself as their identity,
periyOr – those having such greatness,
pAdham allAl – other than their divine feet,
enthan Ar uyirkku – to my AthmA
paRRu illai – hold is not there for
yAdhonRum – something else.
Some recite also as ‘pEdhaimai theerkkum’.
Based on thamizh grammar, ‘Ar uyirkku yAdhonRum’ is combined written and recited as ‘Ar uyirkkiyAdhonRum’.
vyAkyAnam
Odhiya vEdhaththin ut poruLAy – As said in ‘ashta varsham brAhmaNa upanayeetha, tham adhyApayEth’ (do sacred thread ceremony (pUNUl/janEu) for the seven year old (eight including the time in mother’s womb), and send him to learn vEdhas), ‘svAdhyAya adhyE thavya: (he should practice reciting of vEdham)’, “vEdham anUchyAchAryO’nthE vAsinamanu SAsthi” (repeat the words of vEdham after AchAryan, being with AchAryan till the end), ‘svAdhyAyAnmA pramadha:’ (without missing, recite vEdhas at appropriate times), following the procedures of recitation/learning by following AchAryan, the vEdhas that he has learned, – being the inner meaning of that vEdham, and being important as said in ‘bhajEth sArathamam SAsthram’ (take up the most valuable essence from SAsthram (surrendering to emperumAn)), and in ‘sarvathassAramAdhadhyAth’ (Learning vEdham is to take up the most valuable essence from SAsthram).
adhan uchchi mikka sOdhiyai nAthan ena aRiyAdhu – As said in ‘vEdhaiScha sarvai: ahamEva vEdhya: [SrI bhagavath gIthA 15.15]’ (I am the one talked about in all the vEdhas), and, ‘vEdha vEdhyE parE pumSi’ (emperumAn is the one talked about in vEdham), and, ‘vEdhE rAmAyaNE puNyE’ (emperumAn is talked about in rAmAyaNam which is vEdham), and, ‘Adhau madhyEthadhAnthE vishNussarvathra geeyathE’ (vishNu emperumAn is talked about from beginning through middle through the end), and, ‘uLan sudar migu suruthiyuL [thiruvAimozhi – 1.1.7]’ (He is present as the essence in vEdham which is abundantly radiant due to being svatha:prAmANyam (self-evident)), and ‘Sruthi Sirasi vidheepthE [SrI bhAshyam]’, at the top of vEdhas He is being shown as the one, and as said in ‘jyOthishAm jyOthi:’ (He is the light for lights (being so bright)), and, ‘thEjasAm rASimUrjitham’ (all the lights held together would look dark in the presence of brightness of emperumAn) such sarvESvaran who is of boundless glory; not understanding that He is the lord for us as said in ‘pathim viSvasya’ (emperumAn is our lord/husband);
uzhalginRa thoNdar – As said in ‘kalau jagath pathim vishNum sarvasrashtAram achyutham, nArchayishyanthi maithrEya pAshaNdOpahadhAjanA: [SrI vishNu purANam]’ (In kali yugam, vishNu emperumAn who is the lord of the world who does not let down anyone who surrenders to Him would not be worshiped and they would be affected by lowly pAshaNdis (fake spiritualists)), and,
‘namAm dhushkruthinO mUdA: prapadhyanthE narAdhamA:, kAmai sthaisthair hrutha gyAnA: prapadhyanthE anya dhEvathA: [SrI bhagavath gIthA 7.15]’ (Fools, lowest among men, those with knowledge which was destroyed by mAyA (illogical reasonings etc) and the demoniac are the four types of sinners (who are greater sinners in the order of their mentioning) who do not surrender unto me.), and,
‘nAthE na: purushOththamE thri jagathAm EkAdhipE chEthasA – sEvyE svasya padhasya dhAthari surE nArAyaNE thishtathi – yam kanchith purushAdhamam gathipaya grAmESam alpArthadham sEvAyaimrugayAmahEnaram ahO mUkAvarAkAvayam’ (when there is emperumAn lord nArAyaNan the only one, He who would give Himself to those who surrender to Him, is present, they go to some one who is said to be head of a village, Oh what do I say about their unfortunate situation), due to trace of sins eternal, being subservient to demi-gods, to lowly people, and to themselves; and due to growth of/commitment in such subservience),
as said in ‘adhaScha Urdhvancha prasruthA:, thasya SakhA: guNapravuththAvishayE pravaNA:’ (going horizontally vertically (in all directions) towards lowly matters, growth of branches of such matters, activities due to characteristics of sathva rajas thamas, interest in other (lowly) matters), and,
‘gathAgatham kAmakAmA labanthE’ (he goes, comes, tries to satisfy his wishes, goes to hell/heaven, comes back, and so on), those people go through the cycle of womb, birth, going in dark and smokey path (to hell, etc.,), as said in panchAgni vidhyai, being born in the clans of dhEvas, (humans, etc.) many times and in many types; people who are in to such cycle;
pEdhaimai therththa – Like geethAchAryan who says ‘thEshAmEvAnukam pArtham aham agyAnatham thama: – nASayAmi [SrI bhagavath gIthA]’ (I show mercy and remove the thamas that is ignorance, towards those who suffer due to lowly matters),
since he removes the darkness that is ignorance as said in ‘pApadhvAntha kShayAyacha’ (removed the sins), and, ‘SrImAn Avira bhUdhbhUmau rAmAnuja dhivAkara:’ (ramAnuja came to this world like the sun rose (to remove our ignorance)), the ignorance being the reason for going after inappropriate things, he removed such ignorance completely, without trace – says amudhanAr.
irAmAnusanaith thozhum periyOr pAdham allAl – Other than the most attainable divine feet of those mAhAthmAs who have the faith that the divine feet of emperumAnAr is the one that would lift them up from this material world; periyOr – noble ones – AzhvAn, ANdAn, piLLAn, and such.
Divine feet of those who worship emperumAnAr
thozhum periyOr – pANdavas, who are mentioned as ‘adiyaith thodarndhu ezhum aivarkatkAy’, ended up being ‘siRiyA’ (not noble), and were with inferior knowledge (since they did not surrender unto Him and reach paramapadham – instead they were interested in heaven and went there) ; (but), those who surrendered to emperumAnAr, did not have such shortcomings, and due to that they got this greatness first (of being subservient to emperumAnAr);
enthan Ar uyirkku – to the distinguished AthmA of mine who am having the faith of being subservient to emperumAnAr’s devotees as I said in ‘avan thoNdar pon thALil thoNdu koNdEn’ (in previous pAsuram);
yAdhonRum paRRu illaiyE – there is no other hold; jeeyar also divined this meaning in the SlOkam of ‘vAchA yathIndhra [yathirAja vimSathi 3]’.
From AzhwAr thirunagari SrI u.vE. vidhwAn thirumalai nallAn chakravarththi rAmakrishNa iyengAr’s ‘amudha virundhu’ :
The name vEdham is based on showing to the one who is learning it, about the ways of worship, and about the One to be worshiped. Since this pAsuram then says ‘adhan uchchi’, thus identifying the latter part that is vEdhAntham which mainly talks about acts that are for worshiping emperumAn, amudhanAr is specifically talking about that using the word vEdham.
Even though fire, indhra, etc., demi-gods are mentioned as part of worship, the one residing in them as antharyAmi is emperumAn, is identified in the pAsuram as ‘utporuLAy’.
nAthan ena aRiyAdhu uzhalginRa thoNdar – even though the experts of vEdhas have learned about who is identified inside vEdhas, and about the glorious One present as the head of such vEdhas, they are being ignorant and go after other things and beings, opines amudhanAr.
Due to not knowing the He is the owner of sentient and non-sentient, their mind is involved in the things outside, and for that they are having to serve other strangers, and be in that cycle; so their learning of vEdhas become useless;
As said in ‘chathur vEdha dharO viprO vAsudhEvam na vindhathi | vEdhabhAra bharAkrAntha: sa vai brAhmaNa kardhabha: || (a brAhmaNa who may be holding in his heart all the four vEdhas, but not knowing vAsudhEvan [as the lord], would be nothing more than a donkey carrying the weight of such vEdhas), like ‘kunkumam sumandha kazhudhaiyO pAdhi [SrI vachana bhUshaNam]’ (like a donkey that does not know the importance/fragrance of saffron buds that it carries in its back).
amudhanAr says – Oh! what an ignorance this is!
thoNdar – those devoted to the acts of lowly matters; since such desired things for them are many, one has to fall on many indivduals’ feet (serve them) to acquire those things, so amudhanAr says ‘uzhalgainRa’ thoNdar.
irAmAnusanaith thozhum periyOr – It is easy to worship emperumAn; but it is rare/difficult effort to worship emperumAnAr; one needs strength of mind to do that; there is no other name for them. Their only name is ‘irAmAnusanaith thozhum periyOr’ – worshiping emperumAnAr is their identity. Those having such greatness. Those like AzhvAn, ANdAn.
pAdhamAllAl .. paRRillai – Since his devotion did not stop with emperumAnAr but went to the extent of his disciples, amudhanAr mentions his AthmA as ‘Ar’ uyir.
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Translation: raghurAm SrInivAsa dasan
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