SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
SrI ranganAtha with ubhaya nAchchiyArs – thiruvallikkENi
avathArikai
In the 31st pAsuram, AzhwAr despised people who do not praise emperumAn as perumAnai EththAdha pEygAL. The subsequent pAsurams until the previous one were corollaries of that. In this pAsuram he says “When I do not have enough time to feel for the great activities that emperumAn undertook, what is the point in despising others for their nature?” and takes efforts to sympathise with emperumAn.
Let us go through the pAsuram and its meanings:
thALAl ulagam aLandha asaivE kol
vALA kidandharuLum vAy thiRavAn nILOdham
vandhalaikkum mAmayilai mAvallikkENiyAn
aindhalai vAy nAgaththaNai
Word for Word Meanings
nIL Odham vandhu alaikkum mAmayilai mAvallikkEniyAn – one who has taken residence at the great thiruvallikkENi which is near the great thirumayilai where waves come and lap
aindhalai vAy nAgaththu aNai vALA kidandharuLum – lying still atop the bed of serpent which has five heads and mouths
vAy thiRavAn – he is not even speaking
thALAl ulagam aLandha asaivE kol – (is this) because of the tiredness after measuring the worlds?
vyAkyAnam
thALAl ulagam aLandha asaivE kol – Oh emperumAn! Are you lying down without moving or speaking because your divine form is tired, having to measure forests, tall peaks, pits, rocks etc with your divine feet, the feet which would turn red the moment SrI mahAlakshmi touches them [in order to carry out kainkaryam to you] as mentioned in thiruvAimozhi 9.2.10 “vadiviNaiyillA malarmagaL maRRai nilamagaL pidikkum melladiyAi”? (the soft divine feet which is gently stroked by SrI mahAlakshmi who has unparalleled beauty and SrI bhUmippirAtti who is also like that)?
thALAl – it appears that you saw only the connection (between you and the jIvAthmAs, the sentient entities in materialistic realm) when you stroked them with your divine foot in order to uplift them! Did you have to physically carry out this deed (of stroking them) in order to uplift them? Were you not all alone at one point of time [carrying all the worlds in your divine stomach] as mentioned in the pramANam “EkO ha vai nArAyaNa AsIth I na brahmA nESAna: nEmE dhyAvAprithivI II” (only nArAyaNa was present; not brahmA; not Siva; not the lower or higher worlds) when all these entities were without a form or name, lying inside your stomach, when you decided to create the world with your sankalpa (divine vow) “bahusyAm ….” (let me multiply….)? Could you not have made another sankalpa in order to uplift these jIvAthmAs? Did you have to exert yourself by physically measuring the worlds and in the process, uplifting these jIvAthmAs?
ulagam – did you have to make such efforts for the sake of this cruel world?
aLandha asaivE kol – AzhwAr, out of his deep affection for emperumAn, thinks that emperumAn, who is the lord of the indefatigable nithyasUris, has become tired on measuring the worlds. And, emperumAn has the quality of avikAra (does not undergo transformation) as per pramANas. This is termed as asthAnE bhayaSanka (misplaced fear).
vALA kidandhu aruLum vAy thirRavAn – he is remaining motionless, not even turning from left to right…. For us, who have seen the beauty of his reclining posture, in order to enable us to get rid of our deep desire for seeing the beauty of his measuring the worlds, he is displaying the beauty of being motionless.
vAy thiRavAn – just as sumanthra, minister of emperor dhaSaratha mentioned in SrI rAmAyaNam ayOdhyA kANdam “ASayA yadhi vA rAma: puna: SabdhAyayEdhithi” (I was waiting there for a long time in the hope that SrI rAma will come there and call me again…), emperumAn is not pronouncing one word which will enslave his followers.
nILOdham vandhalaikkum mAmayilai mAvallikkENiyAn – emperumAn has taken permanent residence in thiruvallikkENi, which is a part of the thirumayilai region, a place where the waves from the ocean will gently lap on the thighs of people who are lying there, putting them to sleep. The waves are doing this because ocean and shore are places which are very much pleasing to emperumAn and the waves come on their own to touch emperumAn with tiny droplets.
nILOdham – AzhwAr thinks that just as those who have toiled in a day come to the shore in order to get a fresh breath of air, emperumAn has also come to the ocean-side in order to rid himself of the tiredness of having measured the world.
aindhalaivAy nAgaththaNai – it appeared that emperumAn was lying on the soft mattress of AdhiSEshan, who, with his five heads, protects emperumAn like an umbrella from wind and sun, and praises emperumAn with his five mouths, in such a way that emperumAn could overcome the tiredness of having to walk across rough terrain and forests, while measuring the worlds.
We will move on to the 36th pAsuram next.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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