SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
avathArikai
After AzhwAr prayed in the previous pAsuram “eRRaikkum kaNdukoL kaNdAy kadal vaNNa yAn unnaik kaNdukoLkirkumARu”, emperumAn blessed him significantly, saying let it be so. Some people who heard about AzhwAr’s prayer asked him “Is it enough if you are always a vaishNava? Is it not required to reach mOksha?”. AzhwAr says “Oh ignorant people! When emperumAn who usually remains in mOksha discards that and enters my heart, is there any possibility for my desiring anything other than my heart?”.
Let us go through the pAsuram and its meanings:
mAl thAn pugundha mada nenjam maRRadhuvum
pERAgak koLvanO pEdhaigAL nIRAdi
thAn kANa mAttAdha thAragalach chEvadiyai
yAn kANa vallERkidhu
Word for Word Meanings
pEdhaigAL – Oh foolish people!
nIRAdi thAn – rudhra who has his body covered with ash
kANa mAttAdha – not worshipped
thAr – donned with garland
agalam – being expansive
sEvadiyai – the divine foot
kANa vallERku – for me who is fortunate to worship that
mAl – emperumAn
thAn pugundha – that which he entered on his volition
mada nenjam idhu – more than this obedient heart (of mine)
maRRadhuvum – anything else
pERu Aga – as a benefit
yAn koLvanO – will I accept? [ No. I will not]
vyAkyAnam
mAl thAn pugundha mada nenjam – just as it is mentioned in pramANams such as in thaiththirIya upanishath bhruguvalli “yath …..abhisam visanthi thath vijijyAsasva thath brahmEthi” (know that as brahmam (supreme being) into which those who attain liberation enter), in SrI bhagavath gIthA 11.54 “bhakthyA thavananyayA Sakya: ahamEvam vidhOrjuna I gyAthum dhrashtum cha thathvEna pravEshtuncha paranthapa II” (Oh arjuna who singes enemies in battlefield! Only with totally focussed bhakthi could I be known, seen and entered upon), “Esha brahmA pravishtOsmi grIshmE SIthamiva hradham” (I enter brahmam just as one enters a cool, comfortable pond in hot summer time), emperumAn is such an entity who is apt to be entered into by all. AzhwAr says that such an entity has entered his heart on his [emperumAn’s] own volition!
mAl thAn pugundha – did not the great supreme being enter my heart! mAl – great person.
mAl thAn pugundha – did not one who is the epitome of affection enter my heart! mAl – one with affection.
maRRadhuvum pERAgak koLvanO pEdhaigAL – leaving this [heart, which he has entered] could I consider anything else [SrIvaikuNtam] as a benefit? Don’t the words of great persons reflect this opinion – thiruppANAzhwAr’s amalanAdhipirAn 10 “en amudhinikaik kaNda kaNgaL maRRonRinai kANAvE” (my eyes which have seen the divine form of periya perumAL will not see anything else), thoNdaradippodi AzhwAr’s thirumAlai 2 “achchuvai perinum vENdEn” (I will not desire even if offered SrIvaikuNtam, after seeing periya perumAL), thiruvadi’s saying in SrI rAmAyaNam “bhAvO nAnyathra gachchthi” (I will not relish any other benefit elsewhere)?
madanenjam maRRadhuvum pERAgak koLvanO – hasn’t nammAzhwAr mercifully stated similar meaning in his periya thiruvandhAdhi 53 “nin pugazhil vaigum tham sindhaiyilummaRRinidhO nIyavarkku vaigundham enRaLum vAn ” (is your offering of SrIvaikuNtam [to your followers] greater than your being in their minds) and in thiruvAsiriyam 2 “mAyAp peruviRalulagam mUnRinodu nalveedu perinum koLvadheNNumO theLLiyOr kuRippE ” (will the knowledgeable ones desire even mOksham apart from the three worlds…..)?
mAlthAn pugundha mada nenjam maRRadhuvum pERAgak koLvanO pEdhaigAL – Just as mercifully mentioned by periyAzhwAr in his periyAzhwAr thirumozhi 5-4-10 “vadathadamum vaikunthamum madhiL thuvarApadhiyum idavagaigaL igazhndhitttu enpAl idavagai koNdanaiyE” (discarding your great dwelling places of banyan leaf, SrIvaikuNtam, dhwArakA etc, you took residence inside my heart), when emperumAn has discarded SrIvaikuNtam in favour of my heart, should I discard my heart and go to SrIvaikuNtam?
pEdahigAL – you people who don’t know this, are indeed fools only.
When asked as how he got such firm faith, AzhwAr says…..
nIRAdi thAn kANamAttAdha thAragalachchEvadiyai yAnkANa vallERkidhu – am I not the one who has been able to see the divine foot which is expansive and which is donned with garland, and which could not be seen by rudhra who has smeared ash all over his physical body! What is surprising in my having firm faith in such supreme being!
nIRAdi thAn kANa mAttAdha – it is the divine foot which rudhra who is claimed to bestow knowledge on others as per the saying “ISvarAth gyAnamanvichchEdh” (let the chEthana obtain knowledge from rudhra), could not see. It is something which the one who is claimed to be omniscient could not know.
nIRAdi thAn kANamAttAdha – just as mentioned by brahmA in mahAbhAratham brahmarudhra samvAdham “na sa Sakyas thvayA dhrashtum mayAnyair vApi saththama ” (that supreme being cannot be seen by me (brahmA) or by you (rudhra)), and in SrI vishNu purANam “yanna dhEvA na munaya: na chAham na cha Sankara: I jAnanthi paramESasya thadh vishNO: paramam padham II” (that which the dhEvas, sages, I (brahmA), Sankara do not know, that is the supreme dwelling place of vishNu), this is not known to many celestial entities.
nIRAdi thAn kANAmAttAdha thAr – it is not that rudhra does not know the divine foot. He does not know even the garland which is decorating that divine foot.
thAralagalach chEvadiyai – nammAzhwAr has mercifully mentioned in thiruvAimozhi 1-9-7 “thALiNaimElum punaindha thaNNandhuzhAyudai ammAn” (emperumAn has the cool and comfortable thuLasi garland on his divine foot).
nIRAdi thAn kANamAttAdha thAragalach chEvadiyai – when emperumAn incarnated as thrivikrama, brahmA washed emeprumAn’s divine foot which reached sathyalOkam (brahmA’s dwelling place) with water and rudhra took that purified water (which had the connection with emperumAn’s divine foot) on his head. Thus, rudhra saw only the water but not emperumAn’s divine foot. It was the divine foot that even brahmA hadn’t seen as mentioned by poygai AzhwAr in mudhal thiruvandhAdhi 56 “kadikkamalaththuLLirundhum kANgilAn kaNNan adikkamalandhannai ayan” (through residing in the fragrant lotus emanating from emperumAn’s navel, brahmA has not seen the divine foot of emperumAn). Thus, when brahmA, who resides in such close proximity to emperumAn has not seen his divine foot, is there any surprise that rudhra has not seen the divine foot?
kANavallERku – with causeless mercy, when emperumAn displays his divine foot, I am able to see it, says AzhwAr. Thus, AzhwAr says that he cannot discard the heart in which emperumAn has taken residence and go elsewhere.
We will take up the 28th pAsuram next.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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