SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
avathArikai (Introduction)
Looking at the uncontrolled engagement and unflinching love which the nAyaki (leading lady) had for the nAyakan (leading man), her mother gets worried as to what will happen to the nAyaki.
Let us go through the pAsuram and its meanings:
iyalvAyina vanjanOy koNdu ulAvum OrO kudangai
kayalpAyvana perunIrkkaNgaL thammodum kunRam onRAl
puyalvAyina niraikAththa puLLUrdhi kaLLUrum thuzhAyk
koyalvAy malar mEl manaththodu ennAngol em kOl vaLaikkE
Word-by-Word Meanings
iyalvAyina – being of one’s nature
vanjam – caused by (emperumAn’s) deception
nOy – disease
koNdu – having
ulAvum – moving about
perunIr – in huge water body
pAyvana – those which dart
kayal – being like fish
OrO kudangai – size of one’s palm
kaNgaL thammodum – being with such eyes
oru kunRAl – with a (gOvardhana) hill
puyalvAy – in rains
inanirai – clan of herds
kAththa – one who protected
puL – garuda
Urdhi – the rider, that is, SrIya:pathi, consort of SrI mahAlakshmi
kaL – honey
Urum – generating abundantly
koyalvAy – round in shape
thuzhAy malar mEl – on the garland strung with thuLasi
manaththodu – with (desirous) mind
em – as our daughter
kOl – one who is beautiful
vaLaikku – for her who is having bangles
ennAngol – what will happen?
Simple Translation
Her eyes are darting here and there due to the disease of love which occurs naturally and which is difficult to be seen by others. Each of her eyes is the size of a palm and is like a fish darting in water. The eyes seem to hold plenty of water. What will happen to my daughter who has such eyes and who desires the thuLasi garland, dripping with honey, and which belongs to krishNa who had protected from rain, the herd and herd-people in an earlier time with gOvardhana hill and who conducts garuda?
vyAkyAnam
iyalvAyina – something that is natural, and not assumed. Just as it has been mentioned in thiruvAimozhi 2-3-3 “aRiyAkkAlaththuLLE adimaikkaN anbu seyviththu” (you engaged me in servitude towards you at an age when I did not know anything) and in SrI rAmAyaNam bAlakANdam SlOkam “bAlyath prabhruthi susnigdha:” (lakshmaNa was affectionate towards SrI rAma from very young age itself), this too has been there from the beginning and did not come up in between.
vanja nOy – by manifesting his beautiful divine form to her, sarvESvaran deceitfully removed her engagement with worldly pursuits and created the disease called as bhakthi (devotion). Just as it has been mentioned in thiruvAimozhi 6-7-2 “Urum nAdum ulagamum thannippOl” (making everyone in the town, country and world, like herself) and in thiruvAimozhi 6-5-9 “marangaLum irangum vagai” (even the trees grieved for her), he deceitfully made everyone who saw him to be like himself.
nOy koNdu ulAvum – she behaved the way the disease made her to. SrI rAmAyam AraNya kANdam SlOkam 16-29 says “vrutha: prakruthibhir nithyam prayAthi sarayUm nadhIm” – lakshmaNa tells SrI rAma that bharatha would go every day to the river sarayu, surrounded by the ministers, to take a bath. Unable to tolerate the separation from SrI rAma, bharatha was going to the river to take bath in the cold water. Would he go with others when separated from SrI rAma? The opinion here is that he did not walk on his own, but due to the disease of separation, they carried him to the river. Being deceived by sarvESvaran would mean being united with him initially and then being separated from him. In the next SlOkam 16-30, lakshmaNa tells SrI rAma “athyantha sukham samvrudhdha sukumArO himArdhitha: | katham thu apara rAthrEshu sarayUm avagAhathE ||” (how bharatha, who grew up in comfort and who had a delicate form, became very distressed towards the last part of the night to take a bath in the cold waters of the river sarayu?) The commentator explains here the meaning of this SlOkam: athyantha sukham – After dhaSaratha had completed sixty thousand years, you, rAma, were born to him so that he could rid himself of the stigma of being without a progeny. Thus, you were brought up in total comfort by the emperor. bharatha derived the same comfort with which you were brought up. sukumAra: – how delicate was his form? Even if you were to look at his form intently, his form would wither; it was that delicate. sukhOchitha: – he was apt to live, being united with you and not in separation from you. kathannu – lakshmaNa thinks that bharatha too would feel the water to be cold, just as he had felt. Since lakshmaNa was always with SrI rAma, he had not suffered due to separation from him. He thought that the water, which was very cold for him while having a bath in the early hours of the morning, would have been cold for bharatha too. However, since bharatha was suffering in separation from SrI rAma, the water felt hot for him [separation brings about excessive heat in the body] and lakshmaNa was not aware of this. apararAthrEshu – early hours of the morning. Why did bharatha go to the river in the early hours? Just as a newly widowed lady would go for her bath very early in the morning so that other people in the place would not see her, bharatha felt that if he went for his bath in daylight, others would scoff at him saying “He is the son of kaikEyi; did not SrI rAma have to go the forest, only because of him?”; hence he went for his bath while it was still very dark. sarayUm avagAhathE – if he were drowned in the river sarayU, people would have to feel for him in the water to bring him out [since it was very dark].
OrO kudangai – this does not imply that the eyes were small, just sufficient to fill out one’s palm. The eyes were large enough to be enjoyed fully by the nAyakan.
kayal pAyvana – they were beautiful and motionless.
pAyvana perunIr – her eyes were such that it appeared as if the water of entire ocean had entered them.
kayal pAyvana perunIr – just like fish would dart from one place to another in the ocean, foraging for food.
kangaL thammodum – along with the eyes, the mind and other senses too went
kunRamonRAl – he [sarvESvaran as krishNa] wanted to protect the herd and herd-folk. He lifted what was near his hand so that they could take shelter under it. It so happened that what was near his hand was a hill and hence he lifted it.
puyalvAy – in the hurricane. It was not any ordinary rain. Just as it is mentioned in thiruvAimozhi 7-4-10 “thImazhai”(rain which caused disaster), it was torrential rain.
inanirai kAththa – while protecting, one should have the determination to protect, come what may. One should not distinguish between the sentient and insentient entities at that time. Everyone and everything has to be protected. This word only talks about protecting the cows. Were the cowherds not protected? Since the herd-folk are identified only through their cows, the term cow would include the cowherd too. Hence the herd-people were protected too.
puLLUrdhi – one who controls everything.
kaLLUrum thuzhAy – thuLasi from which honey is dripping. The thuLasi garland is reaching down from sarvESvaran’s shoulders to garuda. She [nAyaki] wants to embrace him with that garland. It is the garland desired by sarvESvaran too! Is there any precedence for him to offer the garland to someone who desires it? The commentator quotes from SrI rAmAyaNam ayOdhyA kANdam 16-21 “pathi sammAnithA sIthA” (sIthA, who has black eyes and who was given a happy message by her husband). Emperor dhaSaratha’s minister sumanthran had come to fetch SrI rAma as he was called by his father. Before leaving, SrI rAma adorned sIthA with the garland which he was wearing Our preceptors would say that Sri rAma was telling her “until I return keep remembering about our beauty”; SrI parAsara bhattar would say that SrI rAma felt ashamed that he was giving her the garland which he was wearing and caught hold of her legs while getting up, to indicate that he felt sorry. asithEkshaNa – while SrI rAma offered her his thuLasi garland, SithA garlanded him with her eyes.
koyal vAy malar mEl – the mind went after the beautiful, circular garland.
engOlvaLaikkE – I do not know as to what will happen to her [nAyaki], who is wearing beautiful bangles.
malar mEl manaththodu – along with her eyes, her mind to went to him, obediently.
svApadhESam (distinguished meaning): SrIvaishNavas took comfort with the presence of nammAzhwAr in samsAram; however, on seeing his excessive involvement with matters related to emperumAn, they were worried as to what will happen to him.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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