SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
avathArikai
It has been mentioned in the previous pAsurams that emperumAn transforms himself and is capable of carrying out the tasks for the sake of his followers. To the query where he did like this, AzhwAr says in this pAsuram that he made himself as one asking for alms for the sake of indhra (head of celestials).
Let us go through the pAsuram and its meanings:
koNdArai allAl koduththArai yAr pazhippAr
maN thA ena irandhu mAvaliyai oN thArai
nIr am kai thOya nimirndhilaiyE nIL visumbil
Ar am kai thOya aduththu
Word by Word Meanings
“maN thA” ena – give (three footsteps of) earth
mAvaliyai irandhu – begging mahAbali
oN thArai nIr – radiant stream of water (poured by him)
am kai thOya – once it fell on (your) beautiful hands
nIL visumbilAr – the dhEvas (celestial entities) in the expansive sky
am kai – beautiful hands
thOya – to wash (your) divine feet
aduththu nimirndhilaiyE – did you not grow immediately?
koNdAnai – one who made (his property) as his own
(pazhippAr) allAl – blaming only him
koduththArai – one who gave (what was not his, but presumed to be his)
yAr pazhippAr – there is no one to blame!
vyAkyAnam
AzhwAr is asking emperumAn whether he carried out an activity which the people of this world praised (the people are blaming emperumAn). This world is full of people who consider virtue as vice and vice as virtue! While this world already belonged to emperumAn, mahAbali thought that it belonged to him. While he thought that he was giving it to emperumAn as a gift, emperumAn also agreed with his perception and accepted it as a gift. But, the people are blaming emperumAn for pushing mahAbali into pAthALam (nether world).
koNdAnai allAl koduththArai yAr pazhippAr – the demon mahAbali seized the wealth of emperumAn as if it were his. He had the quality of being a magnanimous person, as a result of which he could not be killed. If the world became his, emperumAn‘s followers will suffer. If he became happy because he was gifting it, emperumAn did not mind taking it from him by begging for it and hence begged mahAbali. Instead of thinking on these lines, the people of the world would blame emperumAn and say that he cheated mahAbali and got the three worlds from him. In reality, mahAbali should have been punished (like a weed is plucked along with paddy grain)! Just as rAvaNa, who abducted sIthAppirAtti, was killed, mahAbali, who seized the three worlds should have been killed. Could a person who does not own a property, gift that property to another! Did not ALavandhAr say in sthOthra rathnam 53 “athavA kinnu samarppayAmi thE” (what could I offer to you!) upon submitting his AthmA to emperumAn and then realising that the AthmA is emperumAn’s property only and felt remorseful! But mahAbali gifted the worlds belonging to emperumAn to emperumAn himself and even after that thought that he had gifted his own properties to emperumAn. There is a variation in this verse, with the word koNdArai used instead of koNdAnai. In this case, the meaning could be construed as referring to the benefit.
maN thA ena irandhu mAvaliyai – did emperumAn not go to mahAbali and begged him for gifting the world, which is a part of his properties!
oNthArai nIr angai thOya nimirndhilaiyE – emperumAn rose rapidly into the skies the moment that stream of water poured by mahAbali touched his hand, wondering what if mahAbali changes his mind. It appeared as if emperumAn got something which he had never before obtained. In SrI rAmAyaNam sundhara kANdam 29-6, it is said “varshENa bIjam prathisanjaharsha” (the seed feels happy due to rains). In the same way, emperumAn grew as soon as the stream of water touched his hands.
nIL visumbil Arangai thOya aduththu – this could be construed as either (1) reaching up to the sky so that his [emperumAn‘s] necklace and beautiful hands touched each other or (2) reaching so that dhEvas (celestial entities) could touch him with their hands. Did not bhUdhaththAzhwAr mention in his iraNdAm thiruvandhAdhi 78 “dharaNi nivandhaLappa nIttiya poRpAdham sivandha than kai anaiththum Arak kazhuvinAn” (when emperumAn stretched his divine feet at the time of measuring the worlds, brahmA washed his divine feet with his hands). Another explanation – did you not rise up so that the sky could touch your divine hands!
nIr angai thOya nimirndhilaiyE – the water which mahAbali poured on emperumAn’s hands and the water that brahmA poured to wash emperumAn’s divine feet when he stretched them in the sky, fell onto the earth together (he grew up that fast). We may not have our svarUpa gyAnam (the knowledge of our true selves [which is that we are servitors to emperumAn]) but we would benefit from our sensory perceptions if we could see or hear about such divine activities of emperumAn‘s.
We shall next consider the 80th pAsuram.
adiyEn krishNa ramanuja dhAsan
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