SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
avathArikai
AzhwAr says that emperumAn, who is like this, gives whatever is asked of to those who ask for them. He says that emperumAn’s possessions are all only for others.
Let us go through the pAsuram and its meanings.
pAlaganAy Alilai mEl paiya ulagellAm
mEloru nAL uNdavanE meymmaiyE mAlavanE
mandharaththAl mAnIrkkadal kadaindhu vAnamudham
andharaththArkkIndhAy nI anRu
Word by Word Meanings
mEl oru nAL – once upon a time
pAlaganAy – in the form of an infant
Al ilai mEl – on top of a tender banyan leaf
ulagu ellAm – all the worlds
paiya – slowly
meymmaiyE – truly
uNdavanE – Oh one who ate and reclined!
mAlavanE – Oh the great one!
nI – you, who are like these
anRu – on that day
mandharaththAl – with the manthara hill [a celestial hill]
mA nIr kadal kadaindhu – churning the ocean which has huge quantity of water
vAn amudham – the great nectar
andharaththArkku – to dhEvas (celestial entities)
IndhAy – you offered
vyAkyanam
pAlaganAy – taking the form of an infant so that some people will have sympathy on him
Alilai mEl – atop a tender banyan leaf which had just then sprouted
mEl orun nAL uNdavanE – when deluge showed itself, you kept all the worlds inside your stomach and protected so that the worlds would not face hurdles from the deluge
ulagellAm paiya uNdu – keeping the worlds in the divine stomach slowly so that they would not hit against each other
meymmaiyE – AzhwAr says that truly there was no fault in this activity. Unlike clairvoyants who carry out some magical acts [with the sleight of their hands], did not emperumAn truly carry out this deed [of keeping the worlds in his divine stomach]!
mAlavanE – mAl refers to greatness. Oh supreme being! No one can estimate the extent of activities carried out by you
mandharaththAL mA nIr kadal kadaindhu – churning the huge ocean with the [celestial] mountain manthara as the staff.
vAn amudham – the potent nectar; in other words, the nectar which has the power to provide permanency to the physical form; the nectar which would give life to dhEvas (celestial entities) so that they would not face old age, death etc.
andharaththArkku IndhAy nI anRu – you gave nectar to dhEvas who dwell in suvargam (heaven). dhEvas are referred to as andharaththAr since they are neither in samsAram which is down below nor in SrivaikuNtam which is far above, but somewhere in between the two, like a loft for samsAram fastening themselves to samsAram (remaining in samsAram by taking nectar, without having to face death).
meymmaiyE – AzhwAr is amazed that emperumAn truly swallowed the worlds during the time of deluge, protecting them, and churned the oceans to offer nectar to dhEvas, without any trace of magic.
We will take up the 34th pAsuram next.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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