SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
Full series >> Tenth Centum >> Tenth decad
Introduction for this pAsuram
Highlights from thirukkurukaippirAn piLLAn‘s introduction
No specific introduction.
Highlights from nanjIyar‘s introduction
In the end – emperumAn who is opposite to all defects, abode of all auspicious qualities, identified by gyAnam and Anandham, having the best of qualities, wearing innumerable divine ornaments, having all weapons, the divine lord of lakshmi, bhUmi dhEvi and nILA dhEvi, having the divine feet which are always served by anantha, vainathEya et al who are fearing unnecessarily for him, residing in SrIvaikuNtam, lord of all, antharAthmA (in-dwelling soul) of brahmA and rudhra who are his properties, having the nature to unite with those who crave to see him and eliminate their cravings – AzhwAr cried out for such emperumAn and attained him and became free from sorrow and free from all hurdles; among the thousand pAsurams which came into existence due to AzhwAr’s forceful devotion, this decad is born in the form of anthAdhi (ending word in one pAsuram relating to beginning word of next pAsuram) due to AzhwAr‘s paramabhakthi which makes him unsustainable in separation from emperumAn; such AzhwAr says “those who are well-versed in this decad, being born in this samsAra, are at par with ayarvaRum amarargaL (nithyasUris)”.
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
avAvaRachchUzh ariyai ayanai aranai alaRRi
avAvaRRu vIdu peRRa kurugUrch chatakOpan sonna
avAvil andhAdhigaLAl ivai Ayiramum mudindha
avAvil andhAdhi ippaththaRindhAr piRandhAr uyarndhE
Listen
Word-by-Word meanings (based on vAdhi kEsari azhagiya maNavALa jIyar‘s 12000 padi)
avA – deep affection (of devotees)
aRa – to be satisfied
sUzh – due to engaging in endless union
ariyai – having the nature to destroy (the sorrow of separation)
ayanai – being antharAthmA (for hiraNyagarbha (brahmA), as per the understanding in “kAryam jaimini:” [identify the root cause for the result], as expounded by pUrva pakshi (one with opposing view) and to be attained by mukthAthmAs)
aranai – being the ultimate goal and antharAthmA of rudhra who is the goal for followers of pASupatha school of thought
alaRRi – crying out (due to the urge in attaining him)
(due to attaining the goal)
avA aRRu vIdu peRRa kurugUrch chatakOpan – nammAzhwAr of AzhwArthriunagari whose desire was fulfilled and who got liberated
sonna avAvil andhAdhigaLAl ivai Ayiramum – these thousand pAsurams which are mercifully spoken in anthAdhi form
mudindha – ended (in the form of great parabhakthi (stage of full visualisation))
avAvil – in the desire
andhAdhi – anthAdhi poems
ippaththu – this decad too
aRindhAr – those who meditated [some portion missing here in the original text]
piRandhAr uyarndhE – born great [some portion missing here in the original text].
Simple translation (based on vAdhi kEsari azhagiya maNavALa jIyar‘s 12000 padi)
nammAzhwAr of AzhwArthirunagari cried out with deep affection and became satisfied by the endless union of hari who is having the nature to destroy, antharAthmA for brahmA and the ultimate goal and antharAthmA of rudhra who is the goal for followers of pASupatha school of thought; his desire was fulfilled and he got liberated; he mercifully spoke these thousand pAsurams in anthAdhi form; those who meditated upon this decad of anthAdhi poems, in the state of having his desire fulfilled, among those thousand pAsurams, are born great. “avAvaRach chUzh ari” is also explained as “one who fulfills the [devotees’] desire which captivates him by surrounding [the devotee] with his qualities, and accepts [the devotee]”.
[A beautiful summary by vAdhi kEsari azhagiya maNavALa jIyar in the end]
In this manner, AzhwAr mercifully explains the mahA vAkyam (the great prophecy) of the prabandham – “Sriya:pathiyAna nArAyaNanukku prakAra bhUthanAna chEthananukku upAyathvEna pravruththanAykkoNdu anishta nivruththiyaiyum ishta prApthiyaiyum paNNum” (For the chEthana (sentient being) who is a prakAra bhUtha (attribute) of nArAyaNa who is Sriya:pathi, emperumAn will remain the means and will perform anishta nivruththi (elimination of unfavourable aspects) and ishta prApthi (fulfilment of favourable aspects) along with the principle inside this mahA vAkyam, that is artha panchakam (five principles) such as brahmam which is to be attained etc) and completes the prabandham showing everything to be bhagavAn’s prakAram (form).
In this, in the first and second centums, bhagavAn’s SEshithvam (lordship) along with rakshakathva (saviourship) and bhOgyathva (enjoyability) are explained; in the third and fourth centums, SEshathva (servitude) in the form of being enjoyed by him only and being dear to him only are explained; following these four aspects, as the exclusive nature of this lordship and servitude is explained, praNavam, where the first letter explains the lordship, the third letter explains the abode of servitude [that is, AthmA], ukAra which highlights exclusivity and which explains the service which connects the lord and the servitor, is explained.
In the fifth centum, upAya svarUpam (true nature of means) is explained; in the sixth centum, the upAya varaNam (pursuit of the means) is explained; in the seventh centum, virOdhi svarUpam (true nature of hurdles) is explained; in the eighth centum, the method to eliminate the hurdles is explained; ISvara is known both by the word and its meanings of nama:; as ISvara’s upAya bhAvam (being the means), the nature of SaraNAgathi, the nature of hurdles in the form AthmA and AthmIyam (belongings of AthmA) in the form of ahankAra (considering body to be self) and mamakAra (considering bhagavAn’s belongings to be one’s own) and the elimination of hurdles are explained, the word nama: is explained.
In the ninth and tenth centums, the meanings of the last word (nArAyaNAya) are explained since these two centums explain bhagavAn’s sarvavidha bandhuthva (being all types of relationships), and attainment of the result where bhagavAn has kainkarya prathisambandhithva (being the recipient of service).
The meaning of mUla manthram (ashtAkshara manthram) which is the essence of all SAsthram, which was briefly explained in the first pAsuram, is explained elaborately in the rest of this prabandham.
Further, first explaining emperumAn’s Sriya:pathithva (being the lord of SrI mahAlakshmi), nArAyaNathva (being nArAyaNa the abode of all and the antharyAmi of all), explaining the many auspicious qualities of nArAyaNa such as Seela (simplicity), saulabhya (easy approachability) etc and gyAna (knowledge) etc, explaining [(some portion missing in original text) surrender at the divine feet] by the verb, and due to explaining the attainment of bhagavath kainkaryam which is the purushArtham (goal) after being freed from hurdles, the nature of SaraNAgathi (dhvaya mahA manthram) which has two sentences, are also explained in detail.
Further, by explaining that this pursuit of the means will be supported by abandonment of all other efforts, explaining that emperumAn remains as the distinguished means, explaining the elimination of all hurdles as a result of pursuit of the means, explaining the attainment of the goal, charama SlOkam is also explained.
Thus, as this prabandham reveals in detail, rahasya thrayam (the three secrets) which are to be known by the servitor of bhagavAn, who has no expectation other than kainkaryam and has no means other than bhagavAn, this prabandham should be recited and meditated upon every day by the best among the noble devotees.
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
- avA aRach chUzh ariyai – AzhwAr is calling sarvESvaran who is the benefactor of all desires, with the name hari (which means one who takes away) without any other adjective, since he came and united to eliminate [fulfil] AzhwAr’s deep affection.
- ayanai aranai – One who is the antharAthmA for brahmA and rudhra who are part of his wealth. avA aRach chUzh means – uniting to eliminate the craving of those devotees who crave to see him. By saying “ayanai, aranai” in the context of sAmAnAdhikaraNyam (multiple aspects/forms having one common substraum), AzhwAr decimates the doubt of lordship on brahmA and rudhra. Since their nature, existence, activities and inaction are at the disposal of ISvara, their true nature is pArathanthriyam (total dependence) only; their control [over materialistic aspects in this world] were granted by bhagavAn based on their karma. There is another way to explain this to those who cannot understand this principle of sAmAnAdhikaraNyam. That is – “ayanai – aranai – avA aRRu – ariyai alaRRi – vIdu peRRA” (abandoning the desire for brahmA and rudhra, crying out for hari and got liberated), or “ayanai aranai – avA aRach chUzh ariyai alaRRi, avA aRRu vIdu peRRa” (Crying out to hari who fulfils the desire of brahmA and rudhra by surrounding them, got liberated after having his desire fulfilled).
- alaRRi avA aRRu vIdu peRRu – Mercifully spoken by AzhwAr, cried out for him, attained him, had all the hurdles eliminated and became free from sorrow.
- avAvil andhAdhigaLAl ivai ayiramum – The thousand pAsurams resulted from AzhwAr’s forceful devotion. AzhwAr’s SrI maithrEya bhagavAn is his avA (desire/affection) [maithrEya rishi raised questions to parASara rishi which resulted in SrIvishNu purANam]. The thousand pAsurams which were conducted by the teacher, avA. There have been hundred thousand poets after the time of AzhwAr; to consider their poems as good as the sound of the ocean and to ignore those poems and to pursue AzhwAr’s pAsurams is due to these pAsurams being an outcome of AzhwAr’s overwhelming devotion.
- mudindha avAvil andhAdhi ippaththu – This decad is the result of AzhwAr’s paramabhakthi which makes him unsustainable [in separation from bhagavAn]. If ISvaran does not help AzhwAr at this stage, his consciousness will be of no use. Up to the previous decad of thiruvAimozhi 10.9 “sUzh visumbaNi mugil”, the pAsurams were conducted by AzhwAr’s parabhakth [clear knowledge about bhagavAn]; sUzh visumbaNi mugil decad was conducted by AzhwAr’s paragyAnam [visualisation of bhagavAn]; this final decad was conducted by AzhwAr’s paramabhakthi [unsustainable in separation]. For those who are having both bhagavAn’s grace and their own effort, at the end of the final body, these parabhakthi, paragyAnam and paramabhakthi will occur; since AzhwAr was divinely blessed with “mayarvaRa madhinalam” (unblemished knowledge and devotion) [thiruvAimozhi 1.1.1], AzhwAr experienced these in his lifetime itself. AzhwAr’s parabhakthi etc were acquired by sarvESvaran’s mercy which stood in place of bhakthi acquired through karma and gyAna.
- aRindhAr piRandhAr uyarndhE – Those who are well versed in this decad, are at par with nithyasUris, even while being born in this samsAra.
- piRandhE uyarndhAr – The birth of such persons is the same as the incarnation of sarvESvaran.
AzhwAr thiruvadigaLE SaraNam
emperumAnAr thiruvadigaLE SaraNam
piLLAn thiruvadigaLE SaraNam
nanjIyar thiruvadigaLE SaraNam
nampiLLai thiruvadigaLE SaraNam
vadakkuth thiruvIdhip piLLai thiruvadigaLE SaraNam
periyavAchchAn piLLai thiruvadigaLE SaraNam
vAdhi kEsari azhagiya maNavALa jIyar thiruvadigaLE SaraNam
jIyar thiruvadigaLE SaraNam
With this, the English translation to most beautiful thiruvAimozhi of the most exalted nammAzhwAr, comes to an end.
My heart-felt gratitude to SrIman nArAyaNan, AzhwArs and AchAryas for using me as an instrument in this enormous task.
This translation effort would not have been possible without the knowledge acquired from gOmatam SrI u vE sampathkumArAchAryar’s bhagavath vishaya kAlakshEpam. It is also important to recollect vELukkudi SrI u vE krishNan swamy’s kAlakshEpam (CDs) which were very helpful in times of need for clarity.
Special gratitude to puththUr SrI u vE krishNaswAmy iyengAr’s publications with arumpadha urai (notes) which were very helpful during translation. The value of arumpadham is mostly underrated – but they greatly help in understanding complex aspects in the vyAkyAnams.
prapanna vidhvAn SrImAn purushOththama nAidu’s eettin thamizhAkkam (thamizh translation of eedu) played a significant role in this translation effort. All the pramANams are well gathered and explained in thamizh, which makes it easier to translate them in to English.
SrI vAlmeeki rAmAyaNam translation site (http://www.valmikiramayan.net/) and our own bhagavath gIthA site (http://githa.koyil.org/) were of significant use.
Finally, I am very thankful to SrI T N krishNan swamy for his proof-reading which eliminated several typos and grammatical errors and his constant support in improving the translations.
Also, I am greatly elated that, by bhagavath sankalpam, this translation effort completed on panguni bharaNi, on the monthly thirunakshathram of asmadhAchAryan, SrImath paramahamsEthyAdhi pattarpirAn vAnamAmalai rAmAnuja jIyar, exactly one month before his annual thirunakshathram, chithrai bharaNi. Without his blessings, this would not have been possible.
Praying to emperumAn, AzhwArs and AchAryas for more such kainkaryams.
adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan
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