SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
avathArikai
AzhwAr, who was thinking of the danger from iraNiyan (hiraNya kashyap) [in the previous pAsuram] now thinks of the danger from dhuryOdhana’s group. In this pAsuram, AzhwAr is mercifully saying about the viSvarUpam that emperumAn manifested before mahAbhAratha war to bhIshma and others or as an alternative explanation, how he showed to rishi (sage) mArkaNdEya, the worlds that he had swallowed during deluge. It would be appropriate to consider the first two words in this pAsuram “seRRezhundhu thIvizhiththu” together with the incarnation as narasimha in the previous pAsuram or with emperumAn’s act as in this pAsuram.
Let us go through the pAsuram and its meanings:
seRRezhundhu thIvizhiththuch chenRa indha Ezhulagum
maRRivaiyA enRu vAy angAndhu muRRum
maRaiyavarkkuk kAttiya mAmEniyanai allAl
iRaiyEnum EththAdhu en nA
Word by Word Meanings
- first explanation when he showed his viSvarUpam to bhIshma and others
seRRu ezhundhu – getting up angrily
thI vizhiththu – looking with fiery eyes (at dhuryOdhana and others)
senRa indha Ezhu ulagaum maRRu ivai – these are the seven worlds which keep going about
(saying so)
A enRu vAy angAndhu – opening his divine mouth wide open
muRRUm – all the worlds
maRaiyavarkku – to bhIshma, dhrONa and other vaidhikas (those who believe in vEdhams)
kAttiya – showed (in his mouth)
mAyavanai allAl – other than krishNa who showed amazing power (no one else)
en Na – my tongue
iRaiyEnum – even a little bit
EththAdhu – will not praise
- second explanation when he showed the worlds that he had swallowed to mArkaNdEya
ezhundhu – getting up angrily (to destroy the worlds)
thI vizhiththu – looking with fiery eyes
seRRu – destroying (all the worlds)
senRa indha Ezh ulagum maRRu ivai – (saying) these are the seven worlds that went (inside my stomach)
AvenRu vAy angAndhu – opening his divine mouth wide open
muRRum – all the worlds
maRaiyavarkku – to mArkaNdEya rishi (sage), a vaidhika (one who believes in vEdhams)
kAttiya – one who showed mercifully
mAyavanai allAl – other than emperumAn who has agatithagatanA sAmarthyam (the ability to bind together those which cannot be bound)
(another person)
en nA – my tongue
iRaiyEnum – even a little bit
EththAdhu – will not praise
vyAkyAnam
When the reference is to dhuryOdhana and others
[Just before the mahAbhAratha war, krishNa had gone to the court of dhritharAshtra as a messenger from yudhishtra and other pANdavas. dhuryOdhana, desiring to kill krishNa, had put a false seated throne for him when he visited the court. As soon as krishNa sat on that throne, the throne got pulled down and krishNa went down where dhuryOdhana had arranged for wrestlers to kill krishNa. But krishNa took his viSwarUpam (a form which encompasses the whole universe with all its galaxies) and showed it to bhIshma, dhrONa and such other vaidhikas, who follow vEdhams (sacred texts)]
seRRezhundhu thIvizhiththu – getting angry on dhuryOdhana et al who said “your coming here as a messenger is a mistake; pANdavas sending you as a messenger is mistake”, who laid out a false throne for him, who abused vidhura and who carried out contemptuous deeds to emperumAn and his followers, and looking at them with fiery eyes.
senRa indha Ezhulagum maRRivai A enRu vAy angAndhu – opening his divine mouth widely and telling them to see the worlds which are in the universe, inside his divine mouth
muRRum maRaiyvaRku kAttiya mAyavanai – the amazing entity [emperumAn] who showed all the worlds to vaidhikas such as bhIshma, dhrONa et al.
mAyavanai – this indicates the agatithagatanA Sakthi (the ability to bind entities which cannot be bound) of emperumAn, when he showed inside his mouth, the worlds which are floating in the universe outside.
mAyavanai allAl iRaiyEnum eththAdhu en nA – my tongue will not praise anyone other than that amazing benefactor vatathaLasAyi (one who lies on the banyan leaf). Here the reference [to not praising others is not to other dhEvathas, but] is to the other forms of emperumAn such as param (supreme being in SrIvaikuNtam), vyUha (his form in milky ocean) and other vibhava forms (incarnations).
en nA – my tongue which is unable to eat because it is not praising emperumAn.
en Na EththAdhu – since AzhwAr has said in the 64th pAsuram of this prabandham ‘thirumAlai alladhu dheyvam enrEththEn” (I will not worship anyone other than the consort of SrI mahAlakshmi) he has already confirmed that he will not praise other deities. Hence there is no need for him to convey the same message here. Instead, he is saying that he will not praise other forms of emperumAn [as mentioned above].
When the reference is to mArkaNdEya maharishi
ezhundhu – just as a mother throws out a stick that her child is playing with when the child tries to poke itself with that stick, emperumAn, desiring to put an end to the world when he sees the samsAris (dwellers of materialistic realm) utilising the sensory perceptions that he had given them in the wrong ways as this would disable them from harming themselves more and more, gets up angrily.
thI vizhiththu – looking at the samsAris with fiery eyes such that they will get annihilated by his mere look, manifesting in his eyes, the anger in his heart, at their improper deeds.
senRa indha Ezhulagum seRRu – destroying the seven worlds such that they (the inhabitants of these worlds) will be without a form and name, and keeping them within himself
Ezh ulagum – mentioning seven worlds implies all the worlds
maRRu – more than that
ivaiyAvenRu – aren’t the destroyed entities these
vAyangAndhu – opening his divine mouth widely
muRRum – as mentioned in mahAbhAratham AraNya kANdam 191-123 “yachcha kinchin mayA lOkE dhrushtam sthAvarajangamam, thatha: paSyamaham sarvam thasya kukshau mahAthmana:” (whatever entities in the world which were seen seen by me, whether mobile or immobile, I have seen them in that supreme being’s divine stomach), all the destroyed worlds
maRaiyavaRkuk kAttiya mAyavanani – the amazing emperumAn who showed to mArkaNdEya bhagavAn (great sage mArkaNdEya) all the worlds as they were before [annihilation].
mAyavanai – how amazing is this! It is amazing that even after destroying all the entities leaving them as they were for mArkaNdEya to see! It is amazing that even after removing their names and forms, leaving them as before, for mArkaNdEya to see! The opinion here is that no one else can demonstrate such an agatithagatanA Sakthi (power to bind those entities which cannot be bound together)
mAyavanai allAl iRaiyEnum EththAdhu en nA – my tongue will not praise anyone other than that amazing benefactor vatathaLasAyi (one who lies on the banyan leaf). Here the reference is to the other forms of emperumAn such as param (supreme being in SrIvaikuNtam), vyUha (his form in milky ocean) and other vibhava forms(incarnations).
en nA – my tongue which is unable to eat because it is not praising emperumAn.
en Na EththAdhu – since AzhwAr has said in the 64th pAsuram of this prabandham ‘thirumAlai alladhu dheyvam enrEththEn” (I will not worship anyone other than the consort of SrI mahAlakshmi) he has already confirmed that he will not praise other deities. Hence there is no need for him to convey the same message here. Instead, he is saying that he will not praise other forms of emperumAn [as mentioned above].
We shall take up the 95th pAsuram next.
adiyEn krishNa ramanuja dhAsan
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