SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
avathArikai
When told that we should attain emperumAn who has such greatness, we told AzhwAr “we can hold on to him only if we see him”. AzhwAr responds saying that he has taken residence in thirumalai so that we can see him.
Let us go through the pAsuram and its meanings:
theLindha silAdhalaththin mEl irundha mandhi
aLindha kaduvanaiyE nOkki viLangiya
veN madhiyam thAvennum vEngadamE mElorunAL
maN madhiyil koNdugandhAn vAzhvu
Word by Word Meanings
theLindha – being clear
silAdhalaththin mEl irundha mandhi – the female monkey sitting on the crystalline rock
aLindha karudanaiyE nOkki – looking at the affectionate male monkey
viLangiya veN madhiyam thA ennum vEngadam – thiruvEngadam (thirumalai) which appears such that the female monkey will ask the male monkey to catch hold of and give the bright moon
mEl oru nAL – at an earlier point of time
maN – earth
madhiyin – through cleverness
koNdu – obtaining (from mahAbali)
ugandhAn – emperumAn who was happy in his divine mind
vAzhvu – the place of residence
vyAkyanam
theLindha silAdhalaththin mEl irundha mandhi – female monkey sitting on a black rock which appeared pure like a crystal. These monkeys are much like SrI rAma and sIthAppirAtti who were residing in the divine chithrakUtam during their time of dwelling in forest.
silAdhalaththin mEl irundha – this implies that the female monkey was sitting on the black rock already.
irundha – the female monkey was sitting on the rock, manifesting its greatness. This monkey is sitting on the rock just like sIthAppirAtti was sitting on a rock on the banks of river gOdhAvari. Just as SrI rAma told lakshmaNa as in SrI rAmAyaNam AraNya kANdam 63-12 “asminmayA sArdhamuthAraSeelA SilAthalE pUrvamupOpavishtA, kAnthasmithA lakshmaNa jAthahAsA thvAmAha sIthA bahuvAkyajAtham” (Oh lakshmaNa! sIthA, who has a deep nature and a beautiful smile, was sitting close to me on this rock earlier and said many words to you with a banter), this monkey is also doing the same.
aLindha kaduvanaiyE nOkki – looking at the male monkey, which was very affectionate towards the female monkey and expecting the next command from the female monkey.
aLindha – just like servitors who look for signs from knitting of the brow. This implies an expectation from the male monkey as to when the female monkey is going to order it to carry out a specific task.
aLindha kaduvan – don’t love quarrels take place due to excessive affection!
kaduvanaiyE nOkki – when there is a love quarrel, without the need for a mediator, the female monkey directly talks to the male. When there was a love quarrel between SrI rAma and sIthA, lakshmaNa was present to be a mediator but here there is none like that.
nOkki – by its mere look, the female monkey gives out everything that it wanted to covey.
viLangiya veN madhiyam thA ennum – the female monkey wants the male to bring the brightly shining moon. Just as asking for a mirror to see its face, it is asking for the moon. Since thirumalai hills are taller than the lunar region, the other side of moon is visible to the female monkey. Since there is no fault on the other side of moon, it is asking the male monkey to give the faultless moon.
thA ennum – since the female monkey is sitting on top of the rock and the male monkey below, it is stretching its hand to offer it the moon.
vEngadamE – thiruvEngadam hills like this
mEl oru nAL maN madhiyil koNdu ugandhAn vAzhvu – this is the place which is considered as his wealth by emperumAn, who by his cleverness, lowered himself in the presence of mahAbali and obtained the earth by asking for alms from him, and became very delighted.
maN madhiyil koNdu ugnadhAn – by having the knowledge that (mahAbali) will give if asked for as alms, emperumAn asked for as alms.
ugandhAn – he was delighted as if he had got something which was not his.
vAzhvu – the place of residence. It can also be considered as his wealth.
maN madhiyil koNdu – it appears that when the monkey asked for moon, AzhwAr was reminded of vAmana asking for three steps of land!
We will consider the 59th pAsuram next.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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