SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
avathArikai
In the previous pAsuram, AzhwAr said that many people (in samsAram, the materialistic realm) get into the muddle of samsAram repeatedly. Instead of suffering like that, AzhwAr asks people to know that emperumAn is the apt entity to be attained. Many deities, who are attained by samsAris, carry out kainkaryam (service) to him and there are some people who carry out such kainkaryam directly to emperumAn. AzhwAr tells samsAris to be like these people and carry out kainkaryam directly to emperumAn.
Let us go through the pAsuram and its meanings:
pala dhEvar Eththap padi kadandhAn pAdham
malarERa vittiRainji vAzhththa valar Agil
mArkkaNdan kaNda vagaiyE varum kaNdIr
nIrkkaNdan kaNda nilai
Word for Word Meanings
pala dhEvar – many dhEvathAs (deities who are attained by samsAris)
Eththa – to be praised
padi – earth
kadandhAn – emperumAn who measured, his
pAdham – divine feet
malar – flowers
Era vittu – offering
iRainji – worshipping
vAzhththa valar Agil – if you are able to praise him
nIrkkaNdan kaNda nilai – the position of rudhra who has poisoned neck
mArkkaNdan kaNda vagaiyE – the way (sage) mArkkaNdEya saw directly
varum kaNdIr – you would see that this happens
vyAkyAnam
pala dhEvar Eththap padi kadandhAn – emperumAn measured the worlds in such a way that all the celestial entities praised him. Hasn’t it been celebrated in the mAngaLyasthavam of SrI vishNu dharmam “Sanghais surANAm dhivi bhUthalasthais thathA manushyair kaganE cha kEcharai: I sthutha: kramAn ya: prachkAra sarvadhA mamAsthu mAngaLya vivruthdhayE hari: II ” (let that hari (emperumAn) who was praised when he kept his divine feet (during thrivikrama incarnation) by the celestial entities in heaven, by the people on earth and by those who keep wandering in the skies, enlarge my auspiciousness)!
pala dhEvar Eththa – when pithAmaha (grandfather) brahmA himself praised emperumAn with apt hymns from vEdhas and washed the divine feet of emperumAn when he took the incarnation of thrivikrama, is it required to tell about other celestial entities!
pala dhEvar Eththap padi kadandhAn – even those who considered themselves as ISvarOham (they were the Lords), praised emperumAn after coming under his divine feet.
pAdham malar ERa vittiRainji vAzhththa valarAgil – if you are capable of praising him after offering thuLasi, water lily, lotus, bael (a type of citrus flower) etc on his divine lotus feet.
padi kadandhAN pAdham ….. vAzhththa valarAgil – AzhwAr says “you are doing this even now, but not at the divine feet of emperumAn”. You are doing this at the feet of those celestial entities who praised emperumAn earlier (during his thrivikrama incarnation). Instead of praising SarIri (one who dwells inside the soul), you are praising other SarIrabhUthas (those who are a part of his divine body).
pala dhEvar Eththap padikadandhAn pAdham vAzhththa valarAgil – why don’t you people carry out the service at the divine feet of emperumAn instead of at the feet of those entities who are serving emperumAn?
valar Agil – AzhwAr feels that people of this type are rare. While in the previous pAsuram he said AzhwAr palar (those who repeatedly get entrenched in samsAram are many), here he says that those who carry out service directly to emperumAn are very few.
mArkkaNdan….. – the words should be rephrased as nIrkkaNdan kaNda nilai mArkkaNdan kaNda vagaiyE varum kaNdIr – you can also see the way that mArkkaNdEya (sage) saw in rudhra’s position. When mArkkaNdEya asked rudhra for lengthy longevity and mOksham thereafter, rudhra showed him that it is only janArdhana (emperumAn) who is capable of granting mOksha. AzhwAr says that we can also see the same situation that mArkkandEya saw in rudhra.
This narrative (the discourse between rudhra and mArkkaNdEya) is explained in the 12th skandha (volume) of Srimadh bhAgavatham (treatise on the incarnations of emperumAn) as well as in the AraNya parvam of mahAbhAratham. It has been widely quoted by many AzhwArs, in praise of emperumAn.
We will take up the 16th pAsuram next.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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