thiruvAimozhi – 5.5 – enganEyO

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SrI:  SrImathE SatakOpAya nama:  SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama:  SrImath varavaramunayE nama:

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Highlights from thirukkurukaippirAn piLLAn‘s introduction

See nampiLLai‘s introduction.

Highlights from nanjIyar‘s introduction

See nampiLLai‘s introduction.

Highlights from vAdhi kEsari azhagiya maNavALa jIyar‘s introduction

In the fifth decad – previously, AzhwAr became comforted thinking about emperumAn‘s thoughts on the protection of his devotees as said in thiruvAimozhi 5.4.11 “uRanguvAn pOl yOgu seydha perumAn” (emperumAn who is meditating, while pretending to be sleeping); as said in thiruvAimozhi 1.10.8 “nalgi ennai vidAn” (he will not let me go), being reminded by the divine beauty of thirukkuRungudi nambi who will never let him go, he developed the taste for external expression of such love, and started suffering again due to not having physical experience of nambi emperumAn; he then highlights the following aspects of nambi emperumAn:

  1. his specially distinguished symbols and features
  2. his beautiful decorations
  3. his completeness of weapons which helps in protecting and sustaining his devotees
  4. his decorations which highlight his supremacy
  5. his ultimately enjoyable beautiful face
  6. his distinguished form, shoulders etc which match his divine face
  7. his being together with radiant divine form
  8. his collective physical beauty
  9. his great enjoyability with countless divine ornaments
  10. his being the form of our target, with greatly radiant form which is incomprehensible

Meditating upon these aspects, with AzhwAr going through both the pleasing internal experience and anguish due to not having external experience , he started expressing his condition towards those friends and well-wishers who tried to console him; he is speaking in the mood of a kAmini (a loving woman) who is separated from her nAyaka (beloved consort), who is both joyful and sorrowful at the same time due to remembering his beauty etc and not getting to experience such beauty etc respectively; she is explaining to her friends and mothers who are trying to help her, on how she got captivated in emperumAn and refusing to give up on him. This is explained in the poetic variety named “kazhaRRedhir maRai” in thamizh literature.

Highlights from periyavAchchAn piLLai‘s introduction

See nampiLLai‘s introduction.

Highlights from nampiLLai‘s introduction

In thiruvAimozhi 5.3 “mAsaRu sOdhi“, parAnguSa nAyaki showed her intent to engage in madal saying “nAdum iraikkavE … yAmadalUrndhum” (I will engage in madal, and agitate the whole world); subsequently in thiruvAimozhi 5.4 “UrellAm thunji“, she became dismayed as everyone was sleeping in the town and the whole world plunged into darkness, and there was no purpose to engage in madal, since even those who hurl accusations were sleeping; she also became dismayed thinking  that there is no sign of the sun rise, saying in thiruvAimozhi 5.4.9 “anjudara veyyOn aN nedunthEr thOnRAdhAl” (the tall chariot of sun with beautiful rays, is not in sight); she also became dismayed thinking she can’t even sustain herself by remembering something, saying in thiruvAimozhi 5.4.3 “nIyum pAngallai kAN nenjamE” (Oh heart! you are not supportive either).

In mAsaRu sOdhi, due to prApya thvarai (urge in attaining the goal), her upAya adhyavasAyam (firm faith in bhagavAn as the means) became shaken; in UrellAm thunji, even that urge became shaken. Here [in this decad], even though there is clarity that emperumAn is the saviour, the taste in attaining the goal (emperumAn) is tormenting her. To eliminate all these problems, the day dawned, and all those who feel happy for her (friends), those who hurl accusations (neighbours) and those who give good advice (mothers)  were all present. [Explained further] Subsequently, as all the relatives too woke up, her friends who rejoice seeing her firm determination as said in “thIrndha en thOzhi” (my dear dedicated friend) and those who give good advice and make her say “thOzhimIr ennai ini umakkAsai illai” (Oh friends! I don’t have to fulfil your desires) were also present; in this manner, they keep reminding her about emperumAn [since she starts having everyone speak, her bhakthi develops again, as their accusations etc are the manure for her bhakthi]. As the sun rose, and she starts seeing all objects [as the darkness is removed], her anguish subdued. As she became pacified, she was able to remember emperumAn and sustain herself.

As she sustained herself when the day dawned eliminating her sufferings in the night, yet she was still suffering in anguish due to not experiencing emperumAn [physically], the relatives who woke up told her “It is a disgrace for you to be so engrossed in this matter and this neither matches your sthrIthvam (femininity) nor matches his supremacy” to withdraw her; she remained “they don’t understand the greatness of ugandharuLina nilangaL (divine abodes which emperumAn made his residence himself)”; she tells them “since no one has shown you, you have not understood him truthfully; but unlike you all, I have seen him since he himself has shown the truth to me by giving flawless knowledge and devotion; hence, I am captivated by nambi’s divine physical beauty, the beauty of his decorations, the divine ornaments on him and his greatness, and will never retract from him ever even after hearing your advice”; while explaining about her own state, she concludes with joy “we have attained this great fortune which can never be attained by self-effort; let us attain the full benefit whenever it comes to us; at least we have attained that which cannot be even imagined by others [on their own]”.

Thus, now parAnguSa nAyaki is going through joyful and sorrowful emotions together.

  • Joy due to sunrise and the presence of those who give advice which makes her sustain herself; sorrow due to not having fully attained her desire.
  • Joy due to being able to remember him; sorrow due to such remembrance not leading to actual experience.
  • Joy due to sunrise which makes her see everything; sorrow due to not seeing him.

[This decad explains a concept called uruveLippAdu – parAnguSa nAyaki visualising emperumAn fully] While both this decad and thiruvAimozhi 7.7 “Ezhaiyar Avi” are similar in this concept, the difference is, in there, the visualisation leads to pain as in “iNaik kURRangolO” (two eyes are tormentors), “uyvidam Ezhaiyarkkum asurarkkum arakkarkkum evvidam” (for women and rAkshasas, emperumAn’s beautiful ears instill fear in them, making them think “how can we escape?”); but here, such remembrance eliminates the sorrow which occurred before, and makes her sustain herself and still causes anguish due to not having real experience – thus leading to mixed joy and sorrow.

[Few examples cited here for having both joy and sorrow at the same time]

  • Even when jAbAli bhagavAn [one of the ministers of dhaSaratha] instructed SrI rAma and SrI vaSishta bhagavAn [the chief of the ministers of dhaSaratha] too explains to SrI rAma about the many ancestors of SrI rAma and tells him “Please return and accept the throne”, SrI rAma stood his ground firmly and rejected the proposal. Seeing this, the citizens who had come there [hoping that SrI rAma will return to the kingdom] were both pleased and anguished at the same time; they became pleased thinking “if our protector is firm on the task he has taken up, he will surely protect us too” and became anguished thinking “but what did we gain out of that, we still need to be without him for 14 years”.
  • When thiruvadi (hanuman) worshipped sithAp pirAtti [in lankA] he was both pleased and anguished at the same time. He became pleased that he got the powers to reach lankA and became anguished that pirAtti is suffering in separation from SrI rAma.
  • pirAtti too on hearing hanuman’s words said in SrI rAmAyaNam sundhara kANdam 37.2 “amrutham visha samsrushtam thvayAvAnarabhAshitham” (Oh monkey! your words felt like nectar mixed with poison), saying she was pleased that perumAL (SrI rAma) was only thinking about her in separation and did not think about anything else; and she felt anguished that he had become weakened in separation.

Similarly for AzhwAr too, joy and sorrow are occurring repeatedly.

Each pAsuram is discussed subsequently.

adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan

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