SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
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Introduction (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)
When asked – Your highness said ‘maRai nAlum vaLarththanan’, that what emperumAnAr divined to the sentient is based on vEdhAntham as way for liberation as means in the form of devotion, and, prapaththi. Between these, is your dedication focused towards the easy to do prapaththi (surrendering)?
amudhanAr divines that it is not that either, and that he is devoted to the love (of emperumAnAr’s devotees).
Introduction (given by piLLailOkam jIyar)
In the previous pAsuram – Compared to the lord of all, who is neutral to punishment and kindness, that is, the sarvESvaran who is a punisher, it is emperumAnAr who removes ignorance, and who came down from SrIvaikuNtam with a vow to protect the sentient, is of causeless mercy, so, for saving the sentient he nurtured vEdha vEdhAnthams
– hearing amudhanAr divining so, some people nearby who heard this, ask – in those vEdhAnthams, are you devoted to the path of SaraNAgathi that is talked about for those wishing mOksham, as said in mumukshurvai SaraNam aham prapadhyE” (I am surrendering unto that brahmam)?
amudhanAr replies – due to the dangerous karmas that are hindrance to performing SaraNAgathi, I am not having complete faith in SaraNAgathi, and for me who is not helpful and who is involved in the experience of happiness and sadness till the end of this body that is of bad smell, flesh, etc., I am having faith that the helpers in my journey and protectors of me are those noble souls who are easier than emperumAnAr, the ultimate means, and are my lords, and who consider only my lord emperumAnAr as all kind of their relationships as said in ‘thandhai nal thAy thAram [Arththi prabandham – 3]’ ((Oh emperumAnAr!) good father, mother, spouse, (children, wealth is all you for me)), and are in the state of ‘thEvu maRRaRiyEn [kaNNinuN chiruth thAmbu – 2]’ (~ do not know any other god); so my dedication is in the path of love towards such devotees of emperumAnAr.
vaLarum piNi koNda val vinaiyAl mikka nal vinaiyil
kiLarum thuNivu kadaiththu aRiyAdhu mudaiththalaiyUn
thaLarum aLavum thariththum vizhundhum thani thirivERku
uLar em iRaivar irAmAnusan thannai uRRavarE – 96
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Word by word meaning (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)
vaLarum piNi koNda – Being of boundless sorrow
val vinaiyAl – due to dangerous karmas that cannot be gotten rid of by experiencing its effects or by amends,
kidaiththu aRiyAdhu – not getting directly (in a straight forward manner)
kiLarum thuNivu – utmost faith
mikka nal vinaiyil – in the highest dharma, that is SaraNAgathi;
mudaiththalai – being of bad smell
Un – and in form of flesh, etc., – such body;
as said in ‘thaLarA udalam [thiruvAimozhi – 5.8.8]’ (~body that becomes weak), till the time of last breath,
thaLarum aLavum – till the time of getting weak
as said in ‘van sERRu aLLal poyn nilam [thiruviruththam – 100]’ (world of falsities, that is a dense sludge), ‘podhumbinil veezhndhu vazhukki [periyAzhvAr thirumozhi – 5.2.7]’ (falling into pit), ‘kUdi azhungik kuzhiyil veezhndhu vazhukkAdhE [periyAzhvAr thirumozhi – 4.6.6]’ (not get slipped and get immersed into the pit (of worldly affairs / pull of senses)), in the place of worldly affairs that is of recovering from using the holding stick that is about what are to be followed and what are to rejected, that is given due to help of pious ones, (but later again) falling down, and repeat this,
thariththum – managing to stay afloat
vizhundhum – and falling into the cruel pit of senses like sound, form, etc.,
thani thirivERku – to me who was flailing without having any one with me as an accompaniment to end my loneliness, and preventing me from falling into pit holding me and guiding me to save me,
em – for us
iRaivan – lord
irAmAnusan thannai – emperumAnAr
those being ‘thEvu maRRaRiyEn [kaNNinuN chiruth thAmbu – 2]’ (~ do not know any other god),
uRRavar uLar – they are there who are dedicated to (emperumAnAr).
Their love towards me only is my life savior, is the thought.
When some recite as ‘em iRaivar irAmAnusan thannai uRRAvar’ – those who are dedicated only to emperumAnAr, who are our lords – shall be the meaning.
piNi – sorrow;
nal vinai – sukrutham – fortune/virtue;
kiLarum thuNivu – growing faith/courage;
mudai – bad smell
Some also recite as ‘mikka nal vinaiyin kiLarum thuNivu’ – then, great faith that is required for the very high dharma of SaraNAgathi.
kUraththAzhwAn, a dear disciple of emperumAnAr
vyAkyAnam
vaLarum piNi koNda val vinaiyAl – As said in ‘adhana dhOshENa bhavEth dharidhraha, dharidhra dhOshENa karOthi pApam, pApAth avaSyam narakam prayAthi, punar dharidhra: punarEva pApi’ (One who never donated become poor, then they would commit sin, sin leads to hell, again they would be born as poor and sinful), and,
‘dhyAyathO vishayAn pumsa: sangasthEshU pajAyathE – sangAth sanjaAyathE kAma: kAmAth krOdhObhijAyathE – krOdhAdh bhavathi sammOha: sammOhAth amruthi vibhrama: – smruthi bramSAdh bhudhdhi nASa: bhudhdhi nASAth praNaSyathi [SrI bhagavath gIthA – Chapter 2 – SlOkas 62, 63]’ (Involving on the targets of senses, sentient develops attachment to them; attachment -> desire -> anger -> delusion -> confused memory -> loss of reason -> sentient perishes from that),
the one growing more and more, is the sickness – that is disease – and sadness from it.
koNda val vinaiyAl – that which creates such sadness all the time, due to the bad karmas which cannot be rid of by experiencing its effects or by amends;
mikka nal vinaiyil kiLarum thuNivu kidaiththaRiyAdhu – As said in ‘thasmAn nyAsamEshAm thapasAmathiriktha mAhu:’ (SaraNAgathi is supreme among the thapas), and
‘sathkarma nirathASSudhdhA: sAnkyayOgavidhasthadhA – nArhanthi SaraNa: thasyakalAm kOti thameemabhi’ (the pure ones who are interested in good karmas, and who do know sAnkyam yOgam,etc., they understand that those ways do not equal even in a small way to SaraNAgathy),
being the supreme among all the means, unlike other means which are detrimental to true nature (of AthmA), having the goodness of being amicable to true nature, the action in the form of anjali (venerate) (that is, SaraNAgathi), as said in,
‘mahA viSvAsa pUrvakam’ (~ based on utmost faith), and
‘thadhEkOpAyathA yAchnA’, and, ‘viSvAsa:prArthanApUrvam Athma rakShAbharam’ (~AthmA is protected as prayer is done with atmost faith),
what is said as great faith that is related to and goes up to the level of para bhakthi, para gyAnam, and, parama bhakthi – no such faith is attained, being absent in such knowledge;
nal vinai – fortune/virtue; that is, prapaththi;
kiLarum thuNivu – ebbing faith/courage;
Some also recite as ‘mikka nal vinaiyin kiLarum thuNivu’ – then, great faith that is required for the very high dharma of SaraNAgathi.
mudaith thalai Un thaLarum aLavum – As said in ‘amEdhya pUrNam krimi janthu sangulam’ (fully impure, it contains germs, etc.,), and ‘svabhAva dhurgandham asoucham adhruvam kaLEbaram mUthra pureesha bajanam’ (smells bad by nature, impure, unstable, this body is the holder of urine, etc.),
being the place of bad smell by nature, the body that is in the form of flesh, etc., urine, muscles, etc.;
till the time such body becomes weak;
mudai – bad smell; mudai, and Un refers to body that is of flesh; it is said too as ‘Una udal siRai [gyAna sAram – 1]’ (~prison that is this body made of flesh (etc));
thariththum vizhundhum – In such time, as said in ‘samsAra visha vrukshasya dhvE palE hyamruthOpamE | kadhAchith kESvavE bhakthis thadhbhakthairvA samAgama: (in the poisonous tree of this material realm, there are only two nectarian fruits; devotion towards krishNa which happens rarely, and being together with his devotees only), and,
‘kUdi azhungik kuzhiyil veezhndhu vazhukkAdhE [periyAzhvAr thirumozhi – 4.6.6]’ (not get slipped and get immersed into the pit (of pull of senses)),
‘mAya van sERRu aLLal poyn nilam [thiruviruththam – 100]’ (world of falsities, that is a dense sludge)
in the place that is this material world, having ups and downs,
some noble ones who are present here by His grace, as I was immersed in the affinity towards this material world, helped me to be lifted up,
and holding to the pole they gave, that is ability to discern between what should be followed and what should be rejected, and due to that getting temporary peace of removal of sorrows, and recovering from it;
and then due to carelessness/inadvertence, falling (again) into the cruel and hard pit that is interest in worldly matters like sound, taste, etc., (SabdhAdhi),
thani thirivErkku – As said in ‘jeerNAtharissarith atheeva gabeera neerA bAlAvayam sakala miththam anarththa hEthu:’ (~we are not knowing the direction, gotten lost in the ocean), and,
‘nORRa nOnbilEn nuN aRivilEn [thiruvAmozhi – 5.7.1]’ (~ Did not undertake any penance, not having knowledge gained), and,
‘na dharma nishtOsmi’ (~am not following dharmas properly), and,
‘bhavadhurdhinE padha skalitham’ (~without knowing the direction to go in, Oh emperumAn! I have lost the way),
for me who does not have any accompaniment whether in the form of sentient or non-sentient,
irAmAnusan thannai uRRavar – As they said in ‘rAmAnujasya charaNau SaraNam prapadhyE’ (surrendered to only the divine feet of emperumAnAr), and, ‘rAmAnujArya vaSaka: parivarththisheeya [sundhara bAhu sthavam?]’ (we want to be under the shadow of divine feet of emperumAnAr?), and, ‘nachEth rAmAnujEth yEshA (Oh! If there was no ‘rAmAnujA’ the most prudent four lettered manthra (what (terrible) state would worms like me would have ended up in!)), etc., those who are having dedication towards emperumAnAr;
em iRaivar uLar – being a companion to remove our loneliness, preventing us from falling into the deep pit that is the worldly existence, they themselves hold me and direct me to lift me up – they are my lords;
Saying em iRaivar is referring to kUraththAzhvAn. amudhanAr himself divined earlier too, ‘vanja mukkuRumbAm nam kuzhiyaik kadaththum nam kUraththAzhvAn’.
Or,
it is adjective to emperumAnAr when read as ‘em iRavar-irAmAnusan’.
When some recite as ‘em iRaiyavan – irAmAnusan thannai uRRavarE’ – the meaning is to be taken as – those who stay dedicated to emperumAnAr and not know anything else, are my lords;
abhiyukthar (kOil kandhAdai aNNan?) too divined the noble ones are those who are dedicated to charama parvam (AchAryan), as ‘karmEdhikEchith aparE mathi mithya thAnyE bhakthimparE prapadhanam prvadhanthyupAyam, AmnAya sAra rasikAsthvamidhAnu bhAvAs thvAmEvayAnthi SaraNam Satajin muneendhra [parAnguSa pancha vimSathi]’ (some say karma yOgam, some say no – gyAnam yOgam, but some other may say bhakthi yOgam as the means; but those who truly understood SAsthram, would only consider you as the shelter, Oh SatakOpa! (nammAzhvAr) );
jeeyar too prayed for subservience to devotees, as ‘thvath dhAsa dhAsa gaNanA charamAva dhauya: thath dhAsa dhAsaika rasathA avirathA mamAsthu [yathirAja vimSathi – 16]’ (~ wish to be always interested in serving the last of series of hierarchy of servants of your devotees).
From AzhwAr thirunagari SrI u.vE. vidhwAn thirumalai nallAn chakravarththi rAmakrishNa iyengAr’s ‘amudha virundhu’ :
mikka nal vinai – vinai : karma yOgam, gyAna yOgam; nal vinai : bhakthi yOgam; mikka nal vinai : prapaththi.
kiLarum thuNivu – Since prapaththi is praying as ‘you please be the means and protect me’, it requires high level of faith; since I don’t have that, how would I get the path of prapaththi , asks amudhanAr.
mudaith thalai Un … thani thirivERku – ‘vENdA nARRam migu udal [thiruvarangak kalampakam]’ (~do not want body which is of bad smell), said piLLaip perumAL aiyangAr in thiruvarangak kalambakam.
Un thaLarum aLavum ..vizhundhum – By this, he shows that even if the body (of meat, etc.) may become weak, interest in other matters is not becoming weak, and it pushes us into the pit – thus showing the strength of interest in such matters.
It is the love of those dedicated to emperumAnAr, as ‘thEvu maRRu aRiyEn’, who are my associations, that would prevent us from falling into the pit that is worldly existence and can protect us – is the meaning of this pAsuram.
– – – – –
Translation: raghurAm SrInivAsa dasan
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