SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
avathArikai
AzhwAr says “Is it that I saw only that beautiful form?”. In this pAsuram he says that he also saw pirAtti, who has a matching form for emperumAn, along with him. In the previous pAsuram he said that he got to see nArAyaNa. In this pAsuram he says that he saw him together with thirumagaL (mahAlakshmi). It is not the brahmachAri (bachelor) nArAyaNa, but thirunArAyaNa (SrIman nArAyaNa) that he saw. Just as radiance is to sun, pirAtti is for emperumAn and hence he says that he saw emperumAn with radiance.
Let us go through the pAsuram and its meanings:
vadikkOla vAL nedungaN mAmalarAL sevvip
padikkOlam kaNdagalAL pannAL adikkOli
gyAlaththAL pinnum nalam purindhadhu enkolO
kOlaththAl illai kuRai
Word by Word Meaning
vadikkOlam – having filtered (pure) beauty
vAl nedum kaN – having divine sweet eyes which are shining
mA malarAL – periya pirAttiyAr (SrI mahAlakshmi) who was born in a great lotus flower
sevvi padik kOlam – having a natural beauty which is appropriate [referring to emperumAn]
kaNdu – enjoying with her divine eyes
pal nAL agalAL – is always together with emperumAn, without separating from him even for a moment
pinnum – even after seeing periya pirAttiyAr being engaged with the beautiful form of emperumAn
gyAlaththAL – bhUmippirAtti (bhUdhEvi)
adikkOli – being ecstatic
nalam purindhadhu enkolO – why is she nurturing her desire for emperumAn?
kOlaththAl kuRai illai – (despite many people enjoying) there is no shortcoming in the beauty (since emperumAn has unlimited beauty, there is no embargo on many persons desiring his beauty at the same time)
vyAkyAnam
vadikkOlam – pirAtti’s beauty is such that it is fully filtered so that there is no fault in it and only the pure form of beauty is present. nanjIyar (preceptor of the commentator nampiLLai) will ask as to whose beauty is the one which is made from the residue (of pirAtti’s beauty) (The opinion here is that it is emperumAn’s beauty which is made from the residual beauty of pirAtti’s). emperumAn’s beauty is such that all the other beautiful forms in the world are faulty in comparison with his while pirAtti’s beauty is such that emperumAn’s beauty is faulty in comparison with hers.
vAL negungaN mAmalarAL – pirAtti is such that she has this faultless beauty, is radiant and has wide, expansive divine eyes (vAL here means radiance). She is the personification of sweetness. Her eyes have one target and one person. Even those who enjoy this cannot see the boundary for this beauty. Has it not been said in SrI rAmAyaNam sundhara kANdam 16-14 “thrailOkyarAjyam sakalam sIthAyA: nApnuyAth kalAm” (even the entire three worlds cannot match a part of sIthA pirAtti’s beauty)! The term vAL nedungaN implies that her eyes have the filtered portion out of the filtered beauty of her divine form.
mA malarAL – pirAtti has fragrance as her causative factor. She has the softness and fragrance of lotus flower.
sevvip padikkOlam kaNdu agalAL pannAL – looking at the divine form of emperumAn which is beauty personified, she will not leave him even for a moment.
sevvi refers to the freshness of the flower which has just blossomed.
padikkOlam refers to his beauty which is referred to as “arumbinai alarai ” (budding flower, about to blossom) in thriuvAimozhi 7-10-1 and as “sadhaika rUparUpAya” (having unchanging form) in SrI vishNu purANam. Even as periya pirAtti is constantly enjoying his beautiful form, she will not leave him even for a moment as mentioned in thiruvAimozhi 6-10-10 “iRaiyum agalagillEn”(cannot separate even for a moment). She will not feel satisfied even after seeing and enjoying emperumAn for a very long time and will not leave him. Is it because she has no other alternative? No, it is because she cannot take her eyes off him and cannot move away from him and will continue to enjoy him.
Even while periya pirAttiyAr is like this
adikkOli gyAlaththAL – bhUmip pirAtti (bhUdhEvi), with lot of desire, got in to enjoy emperumAn. While periya pirAtti enjoys only emperumAn, bhUmip pirAtti enjoys both emperumAn and periya pirAtti. Consistent with this, she enters with lot of expectation. For periya pirAtti’s eyes, the target is only emperumAn while for bhUmip pirAtti, since the target is double with the union of emperumAn and periya pirAtti, her longing is twice as much.
gyAlaththAL – epitome of patience.
pinnum nalam purindhadhu enkolO – In a deep water body [lake or river or ocean] when an expert in swimming struggles to stay afloat, the person in the shore should not enter that place and instead, plan to move away. periya pirAtti, unable to enjoy emperumAn fully, struggles but bhUmip pirAtti decides to enter the fray. When periya pirAtti, who is far superior to everyone else, herself struggles to enjoy emperumAn, bhUmip pirAtti, instead of moving away from the place, engages with emperumAn. What is the reason for this?
kOlaththAl illai kuRai – For the people in the world, the beauty will be such that even two people will be one too many to enjoy that beauty. But emperumAn’s beauty which is without any shortcoming is such that, unlike the former case, anyone who comes to him will immerse in it. The beauty of his divine form will attract even those who are on the shores. Even when her nose and ears were cut off, did not sUrpaNakA describe the beauty of rAma and lakshmaNa, as in SrI rAmAyaNam AraNya kANdam 19-14 “tharuNau rUpa sampannau” (they are young and beautiful)! Due to her ill thoughts, she went the wrong way. People will be caught in emperumAn’s divine form in whatever state they are in. In samsAram, there isn’t enough beauty for one person to enjoy another. Thus if there are many people, it leads to fight. However, in the case of emperumAn, his greatness is such that many people can enter the river [of emperumAn] to enjoy him. All that is required is a sense of longing to enjoy him.
We shall take up the 83rd pAsuram next.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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