SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
avathArikai
AzhwAr says “Let emperumAn’s sankalpa, the words and their meanings etc remain. After seeing how he showered his distinguished grace on me, who is the epitome of all the faults, how can I praise the human beings with my tongue?”
Let us go through the pAsuram and its meanings:
thaRpennaith thAnaRIyAnElum thadangadalaik
kaRkoNdu thUrththa kadal vaNNan eRkoNda
vevvinaiyum nInga vilangA manam vaiththAn
evvinaiyum mAyumAl kaNdu
Word for Word Meanings
thadam kaladai – expansive ocean
kal koNdu – with mountains
thUrththa – one who built a dam and blocked it
kadal vaNNan thAn – emperumAn who has a dark complexion similar to the ocean
ennai – me (who is the epitome of all faults)
thaRpu – real nature
aRiyAnElum – even if (he is) not aware of
en koNda – having stolen me
vevvinaiyum – all the cruel sins
nInga – to leave
kaNdu – thinking with his heart
manam – his divine mind
vilangA – not going elsewhere
vaiththAn – mercifully kept (in a focussed way)
(Hence)
evvinaiyum – all those which are known as sins
mAyum – will be destroyed
Al – how wonderful
vyAkyAnam
thaRpennaith thAnaRIyAnElum – even if he did not know me, as I am [ i.e. my true nature]. This AzhwAr has said of himself in thiruchchandha viruththam 90 “kulangaLAya IriraNdil onRilum piRandhilEn, nalangalAya naRkalaigaL nAlilum navinRilEn pulangaLaindhum venRilEn poRiyilEn” (I am not born in any of the four varNas (classification of society based on qualities and activities), I have not learnt any of the four vEdhas which show correct path to all, I have not won over the five senses and I am trapped in worldly pursuits such as Sabdham (sound) etc ). Even if emperumAn does not know that I have such faults…..
thAnaRiyAnElum – Just as mentioned in “yassarvagya: sarvavith” even if he, who is the omniscient, does not know my faults. ennaith thAnaRIyAnElum – Instead of saying ‘my faults’ why is AzhwAr saying ‘me’? Since AzhwAr feels that he is the epitome of all faults, he says ‘me’ instead of ‘my faults’. aRiyAnElum – has it not been mentioned “avigyAtha hi bhakthAnAm Agassu kamalEkshaNa:” (when it comes to the faults of his devotees, the lotus-eyed (emperumAn) remains ignorant)?
thadangadalaik kaRkoNdu thUrththa kadal vaNNan – he built a dam in the huge ocean with stones; he has dark and cool form, just like the ocean; he has qualities such as profundity etc similar to the ocean. He built a dam across the ocean with stones which would normally sink in the ocean, and achieved a feat which no one else can, in line with his quality of having agadithagatanA skill (achieving the impossible).
AzhwAr says that emperumAn achieved such feats not only for pirAtti (sIthAppirAtti, for rescuing whom he built the dam) but also for me . . . .
eRkoNda vevvinaiyum nIngak kaNdu – when I was fully transformed like an insentient entity being enveloped by all the sins, he graced me such that all the sins ran helter skelter, just as mercifully mentioned by nammAzhwAr in periya thiruvandhAdhi “vAnO maRi kadalO mArudhamO thIyagamO kAnO orungiRRum kaNdilamAl” (How strange! After attaining emperumAn, we have not seen where the sins covering us went. Did they disappear in the sky or in the ocean or in the wind or in fire or in the forest?) vevvinai – cruel sins; some people split this as ev vinay – all the sins.
vilangA manam kaNdu vaiththAn – he kept me in his mind through his sankalpa (divine will) and did not look at anything else. Just as nammAzhwAr has mercifully mentioned in periya thiruvandhAdhi 68 “kallum kanaikadalum vaigundha vAnAdum pullenRozhindhana” and periyAzhwAr in periyAzhwAr thirumozhi 5-4-9 “panikkadalil paLLigOLaip pazhagavittu Odivandhu ” emperumAn left everything else and thought only of me.
aRiyAnElum – manam vaiththAn – even if emperumAn did not know my faults, he kept his mind on me. One who did not know, started knowing. One, who did not know my faults, multiplied my qualities ten times or hundred times and started engaging with me. One who is avigyAthA (one who does not know faults) became sahasrAmsu (knowing (qualities) thousand times) [from SrI vishNu sahasranAmam].
eEvvinaiyum mAyumAl – once he keeps his mind on me, is there any way by which the sins will not be destroyed? Thus, all sins such as bhagavathapachAram (disrespectful acts towards emperumAn), bhAgavathapachAram (disrespetful acts against emperumAn’s followers) and asahyApachAram (disrespectful acts against anyone without any reason) will get destroyed. The pathos behind this is that this is the agadithagatanA (doing the impossible) act carried out by emperumAn towards me.
We will take up the 78th pAsuram next.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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