SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
avathArikai (Introduction)
In this pAsuram too, the nAyakan keeps talking about the beauty of her eyes.
Let us go through the pAsuram and its meanings:
kAviyum neelamum vElum kayalum palapalavenRu
Aviyin thanmai aLavalla pArippu asuraichcheRRa
mAviyam puL valla mAdhavan gOvindhan vEngadam sEr
thUviyam pEdai annAL kaNgaLAya thuNai malarE
Word-by-Word Meanings
asurai – demons
seRRa – one who annihilated
mA – having greatness
viyam – having amazing activities
puL – garuda
valla – capable of conducting (as his vehicle)
mAdhavan – Sriya:pathi (consort of SrI mahAlakshmi)
gOvindhan – sarvESvaran, who tends to cows, his
vEngadam – in his divine abode of thiruvEngadam
sEr – living permanently
am – beautiful
thUvi – having wings
pEdai annAL – nAyaki who is like a female swan
kaNgaLAya – called as eyes
thuNai – together
malar – like flowers (these)
pArippu – spread
kAviyum – red lily
neelamum – blue lily
vElum – spear
kayalum – fish
palapala – and various other entities
venRu – emerging victorious
Aviyin – AthmA’s
thanmai – svabhAvam (true nature)
aLavalla – cannot be contained (it will go beyond)
Simple Translation
This nAyaki is like a female swan which is permanently residing in thiruvEngadam. This is the abode of sarvESvaran, who conducts garuda who annihilates demons. He has great eminence and has amazing activities, who has SrI mahAlakshmi constantly on his chest and who tends to cows. Such nAyaki’s eyes are like flowers which match each other well. Their expansive nature wins over many entities such as red lily, blue lily, spear, fish etc and are beyond the nature of AthmA.
vyAkyAnam
kAviyum . . . – If one were to look for an entity which matches her eyes, one has to refer to SrI rAmAyaNam bAla kANdam 1-18 “vishNunA sadhruSA: vIryE sOmavath priya dharSana: kAla agni sadhruSA: krOdha kshamayA prithvI samA:” (matching SrI mahAvishNu in valour, chandhiran (chandhra – moon) in attracting others, agni in anger, bhUmi (earth) in patience); as mentioned in this SlOkam, in each attribute, one has to compare with several entities and even then, one will have a doubt whether these would be an exact match for that attribute. In this SlOkam, in the verse vishNunA sadhrusO vIryE he compared parathvam (supreme) only to the quality of valour. Here, it is not so. By its [eye’s] reddish colour it was superior to red lily, by its dark colour it was superior to blue lily, by its sharpness it was superior to a spear and by its innocence it was superior to fish; thus it was superior to several entities.
Aviyin thanmai aLavalla pArippu – is destroying entities such as flowers etc, which will in any case get destroyed in course of time, a sign of victory? The eyes are capable of destroying even AthmA which is indestructible.
Aviyin thanmai aLavalla – not stopping merely with the entity of AthmA, going towards the entity which is the sustaining force for it – in other words, her limbs are capable of bewildering even sarvESvaran.
asurai . . . – one who is capable of conducting garuda who destroys the demons along with their clan, who is great and is equivalent to emperumAn himself, having amazing activities.
mAdhavan – more than the greatness of being the conductor of garuda, sarvESvaran has the greatness of being the consort of SrI mahAlakshmi.
gOvindhan – due to that union with SrI mahAlakshmi, he is simple to attain; that simplicity made him come down to thirumalai and be easily approachable to his followers, making that easy approachability as a sign of supremacy. The nAyaki is like thUviyampEdai – the female swan which has beautiful wings, which will live only in that thiruvEngadam, belonging to gOvindhan and not in any other place. Alternatively, thUviyampEdai could refer to SrI mahAlakshmi, and in this case, nAyaki is similar to SrI mahAlakshmi. What is the necessity to speak about garudavAhanan, lakshminAthan et al? He wanted to talk about sarvESvaran’s easy approachability, spoke about supremacy which is the basis for the quality of easy approachability and finally he came into the boundary of simplicity.
kaNgaLAya thuNai malarE – being referred to as eyes, they became two flowers which matched each other.
svApadhESam (distinguished meaning): AzhwAr is enjoying the pAsuram of SrivaishNavAs who say that as per AzhwAr there is no limit to those who enjoy the simplicity of one who stands in thirumalai [sarvESvaran].
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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