thiruvAimozhi – 10.3.1 – vEy maru thOL iNai

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Full series >> Tenth Centum >> Third decad

Introduction for this pAsuram

Highlights from thirukkurukaippirAn piLLAn‘s introduction

No specific introduction.

Highlights from nanjIyar‘s introduction

In the first pAsuram, parAnguSa nAyaki is in pain of separation thinking that emperumAn is leaving and further becomes anguished by the sounds of birds such as cuckoo etc and by the glance of emperumAn; she informs this state to him as if informing it to her friends.

Highlights from vAdhi kEsari azhagiya maNavALa jIyar‘s introduction

See nanjIyar‘s introduction.

Highlights from periyavAchchAn piLLai‘s introduction

See nanjIyar‘s introduction.

Highlights from nampiLLai‘s introduction as documented by vadakkuth thiruvIdhip piLLai

See nanjIyar‘s introduction.

pAsuram

vEy maru thOL iNai meliyumAlO! melivum en thanimaiyum yAdhum nOkkAk
kAmaru kuyilgaLum kUvumAlO! kaNa mayil avai kalandhAlumAlO!
Amaru ina nirai mEykka nI pOkku oru pagal Ayiram UzhiyAlO!
thAmaraik kaNgaL koNdu IrdhiyAlO! thagavilai thagavilaiyE nI kaNNA!

Listen

Word-by-Word meanings (based on vAdhi kEsari azhagiya maNavALa jIyar‘s 12000 padi)

(Unable to bear the sorrow of separation)
vEy maru – Like bamboo
thOL iNai – pair of shoulders
meliyum – became lean (to reveal the inside)

(not just that)
en melivum – the weakness of my body (which is the abode)
en thanimaiyum – my loneliness (where I cannot bear the separation)
yAdhum – anything
nOkkA – ignoring
kAmaru – attractive
kuyilgaLum – cuckoos

(instead of thinking “we should not torment those who are separated”)
kUvum – making sounds (to unite among themselves);
kaNa mayil avai – muster of peacocks
kalandhu – uniting (among themselves)
Alum – are dancing;
A – cows
maruvu inam – abundantly available matching their species
nirai – herds
mEykka – to tend them
nI – you
pOkku – going for a leelA (sport)
oru pagal – the day time
Ayiram Uzhi – felt like thousand yugas (as said in “thrudi yugAyathE“);

(further, to make me think that cuckoos, peacocks and your leaving are good)
thAmarai – attractive like lotus
kaNgaL koNdu – with the eyes
Irdhi – you are piercing me;
kaNNA – Oh krishNa (who is here to hurt the hearts of girls)!
nI thagavilai – You don’t have the common mercy not to torment (the girls);
thagavilai – Also, you don’t have the specific mercy (of not tormenting the already suffering ones).

Simple translation (based on vAdhi kEsari azhagiya maNavALa jIyar‘s 12000 padi)

Pair of shoulders which resemble bamboo, became lean; ignoring the weakness of my body and my loneliness, the attractive cuckoos are making sounds; the muster of peacocks is uniting and dancing; in the day time, when you go for the leelA of tending the herds of cows which are abundantly available matching their species, it feels like thousand yugas; you are piercing me with your eyes which are attractive like lotus. Oh krishNa! You neither have the common mercy not to torment the girls nor the specific mercy of not tormenting the already suffering ones. Implies that this cruelty has become a natural quality for him. She is saying “vEy maru thOL iNai” just as he would praise her beauty. kAmaru kuyil – beautiful cuckoo or cuckoo which is in the garden. “AlO” indicates the overwhelming sorrow.

vyAkyAnams (commentaries)

Highlights from thirukkurukaippirAn piLLAn‘s vyAkyAnam

See vAdhi kEsari azhagiya maNavALa jIyar‘s translation.

Highlights from nanjIyar‘s vyAkyAnam

See nampiLLai‘s vyAkyAnam.

Highlights from periyavAchchAn piLLai‘s vyAkyAnam

See nampiLLai‘s vyAkyAnam.

Highlights from nampiLLai‘s vyAkyAnam as documented by vadakkuth thiruvIdhip piLLai

• vEy … – Due to having nice circumference and freshness, the shoulders can be compared to bamboo – such shoulders are becoming lean – says parAnguSa nAyaki, just as informing to a prideful prince “your garden is getting destroyed”. Her becoming weak is directly being witnessed by krishNa instead of hearing from others (like before), by looking at her shoulders. Thinking about her bewilderment, just as one would step into a flood, the shoulders became lean even while he was present there. Even his physical presence is of no use, when there is separation in the heart; the weakness which is a result of such separation, cannot be stopped from occurring. She is informing about the weakening of her shoulders as if saying “your shoulders are becoming weak”! This AthmA remains a prakAra (attribute) for bhagavAn to not differentiate between dhEvadhaththa (a jIvAthmA) and vAsudhEva (paramAthmA). When you unite with me where will you relax yourself? Usually he will rest on her shoulders and relax as said in thirunedundhaNdagam 13 “melliyal thOL thOyndhAy” (drowned in the shoulder of tender sIthA).
• iNai – See the torment undergone by the pair of shoulders which are praised by your for their beautiful togetherness! She is of the nature of praising her own beauty; she is repeating what she heard from him. Now, they are as good as achit (matter) even if you arrive.
• AlO! – The great sorrow is revealed by AlO.
• melivum en thanimaiyum – My weakness and loneliness are unlike those of the worldly people. They are unlike your weakness and loneliness; this is the loneliness when you are with me and the weakness when we are together. This is much beyond what is explained in thiruvAimozhi 4.2.10 “pon sey pUN men mulaikkenRu meliyumE” (She desires such thuLasi to decorate her withered bosom which has pale complexion; since her desire is not fulfilled, she has become weak), thiruvAimozhi 9.7.10 “miga mEni meliveydhi” (body greatly wizened) and thiruvAimozhi 9.9.2 “thamiyamAlO” (lonely us). They were all felt in his absence; now, the sorrow is felt in his presence. For the one who says as in thiruvAimozhi 9.7.9 “thAm thammaik koNdagaldhal thagavanRu” (moving away from me does not match his mercy after knowing himself) that if he leaves he has to place himself there and leave [which is impossible], due to her loving attitude towards him, she can say that he has left, while he is present there with her. Neither has he left to return nor is he thinking to leave; it is not possible for him to leave her. Even he starts wondering “Have we really separated from her?” looking at her body truly becoming weak. As, both of them are crazy for each other as if eating UmaththangAy (a plant product, which causes hallucination), there is no scope for either of them to acquire clarity. This is his great fortune. He had not seen her sufferings previously; he has only heard from her friends and others; SrI rAmAyaNam yudhdha kANdam 5.6 “vAhivAtha …” (Oh wind!) etc; now he is seeing it with his own eyes. Now, she is telling whatever she would share with her friends usually.
• yAdhum nOkkA – Not considering anything. Not seeing the weakness in the shoulders, her loneliness etc.
• kAmaru kuyilgaLum – kAmarudhal – desire. Since their union will not lead to separation, such unions are desirous. They don’t have the fear of their union ending in separation.
• kuyilgaLum – Not only you, even these cuckoos have become harmful. You seem good when compared to the entities you send to harm me.
• kUvumAlO – Should they not shut their mouth seeing my state? Seeing my sorrow in separation, should they not avoid making sounds thinking “our sound will be like poison for her”? SrI rAmAyaNam kishkindhA kANdam 3.33 “kasya nArAdhayathE chiththam” (whose heart does not become enchanted) – her state is such that one will place the sword back in its pouch on seeing her.
• kaNa mayil – Unlike those [like rAma] would remain alone in suffering and torment others by keeping them lonely, these peacocks are together.
• avai – Since they appear like dhrushtivisham (like a snake’s poison which harms on being seen), she is saying “those” by keeping her face away, since she is not able to tolerate seeing them. They are tormenting her being in a group.
• kalandhu – They are not retracting thinking “at this stage, if we unite that will kill that girl”.
• AlumAlO – After physically observing the peacocks dancing as a result of the bliss of their union, she is turning her face away and saying “avai“. First part of SrI rAmAyaNam kishkindhA kANdam 1.40 is explained here. mayUrasya – AzhwAr is thinking that rAvaNa is separating anything seen in pairs. Did he not carry away the spouse of the peacock? vanE – He did not separate them in SrI ayOdhyA! He separated them in the secluded forest where they are meant to enjoy with each other. rakshasA na hruthA priyA – Only these were spared from separation by this cruel killer!
• Amaruvu … – At this stage, he should have been thinking as in SrI rAmAyaNam kishkindhA kANdam 30.10 “katham EshA bhavishyathi” (how is she doing now), instead of doing that, he is setting out to protect his dependents. There are herds of cattle which move around with you – they are cows; to tend them. As said in periyAzhwAr thirumozhi 3.6.9 “mEyndha pullum kadaivAy vazhi sOra” (to let the gazed grass slip out of the mouth), the cattle sustain themselves by being with krishNa and nothing else.
• inam – Even if we are in the group which is protected by him, he will only think about protecting everyone together; he protects only those who are in groups.
• nI pOkku oru pagal – The daytime in which you go; or the daytime when you are away; another explanation – the daytime in which you stay away from me to go and protect the cows.

When asked “Isn’t it just one daytime!” she says,

• Ayiram … – Don’t think about us to be like you. For those who are always craving for your togetherness, there is no separate desire for night time and day time. SrIvishNu purANam 5.13.59 “yathAbdha kOti prathima: kshaNasthEna vinAbavath” (When separated from krishNa, a moment will feel like millions of years).

emperumAn thought “We did not leave; we did not think about leaving as well; while we are here, she is thinking that I have left and is being tormented by these entities! What an amazing love she has for me?” and mercifully glanced at her. She says,

• thAmaraik kaNgaL koNdIrdhiyAlO – It is better if you go to tend the cows rather than glancing at me like this. Some explain this as parAnkuSa nAyaki explaining emperumAn’s glance from previous occasions; but “Irdhi” (piercing, in present tense) indicates that she is talking about present only.

Even after parAnkuSa nAyaki says this, he does not take his eyes off her. She says,

• thagavilai – You have no mercy towards the world; there is none who can stop his mercy. While emperumAn is tormenting us, why is she upset towards those who are inimical towards us? One has annadhOsham (defect in the food consumed) and the other has samsarga dhOsham (defect in friendship); hence, isn’t it natural that they will be inimical towards us? Peacock, being subrahmaNya’s vehicle, has defect in friendship; cuckoo, due to consuming crow’s food, has defect in its food.
• nI thagavu ilai – You have no mercy. She who called him in thiruvAimozhi 2.4.6 “thagavudaiyavanE” (oh merciful one!), is now saying thagavilai in his presence. You are merciless. The first thagavilai says that he is merciless and the second indicates that he has mercy for worldly people; alternatively – both thagavilai mean he is merciless. The reason for the repetition is to indicate that she is working to establish that emperumAn is merciless as said in SrIvishNu purANam 5.18.30 “Evam ArthAsu yOshithsu krupA kasya na jAyathE” (If the girls are suffering like this, who will not have mercy?)

In the next article we will enjoy the next pAsuram.

adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan

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