SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
avathArikai (Introduction)
Due to the craving arising out of the desire of obtaining the garland of thuLasi which had been worn by SrIvaikuNanAthan [sarvESvaran], this pAsuram narrates the difficulty in spending time.
Let us go through the pAsuram and its meanings:
vaLaivAyth thiruchchakkaraththu engaL vAnavanAr mudimEl
thaLaivAy narungaNNith thaNNandhuzhAykku vaNNam payalai
viLaivAn miga vandhu nAL thingaL ANdu Uzhi niRka emmai
uLaivAn pugundhu idhuvOr kangul Ayiram UzhigaLE
Word-by-Word Meanings
vaLai – being bent
vAy – having mouth
thiruchchakaraththu – having the divine disc
engaL – being our swAmy
vAnavanAr – sarvESvaran, who is the controller of paramapadham, his
mudimEl – donned atop his divine crown
thaLaivAy – having the opportunity
naRu – having fragrance
thaN – being cool
am – being beautiful
kaNNI – strung as a garland
thuzhAykku – for the divine thuLasi
(desired by me, but feeling sad since it is not available)
vaNNam – colour
payalai viLaivAn – to make it become pale (losing colour)
idhu – this
Or – one
kangul – night
nAL – as a day
thingaL – as a month
ANdu – as a year
Uzhi niRka – as a kalpam (life time of brahmA), apart from transforming
emmai – us
uLaivAN – to trouble
migavandhu – increasing repeatedly
pugundhu – entering
Ayiram – many
UzhigaL – increased as kalpams
Simple Translation
I desired the cool, beautiful thuLasi garland which is fragrant and has the nice opportunity of decorating the divine crown of our lord sarvESvaran, who has the divine discus which has curved mouth and who is the controller of paramapadham. As a result of this, in order for the complexion in my form to lose its colour and become pale, this one night appears to extend beyond one day, one month, one year and many kalpams, troubling me.
vyAkyAnam
vaLaivAy thiruchchakaraththu – divine disc which has a bent mouth. Alternatively, one who has vaLai – SrI pAnchajanyam (divine conch) and vAy – divine disc which has mouth. Reference is made to SrI rAmAyaNa SlOkam yudhdha kANdam “thamasa: paramOdhAthA Sanka chakra gadhAdhara:” (one who is beyond the darkness of ignorance, one who is supreme and who adorns the divne weapons of conch, disc, mace etc).
engaL vAnavanAr mudimEl – having the opportunity of donning the divine crown of SrIvaikuNtanAthan who is having divine weapons, divine garlands and who is the lord of thripAdhvibhUthi (nithyavibhUthi, the spiritual realm) which is three times larger than leelA vibhUthi (materialistic realm); the garland has been strung by nithyasUris such as AdhiSEshan, garudan et al.
naRungaNNith thaNNandhuzhAykku – the divine garland of divine thuLasi which is fresh.
vaNNam . . . – desiring that divine garland, and becoming pale since it has not been obtained; losing colour.
miga vandhu . . . – the night which came, first became a day; that day then became a month; that month became a year; that year became a kalpam. Thus a single night extended to several kalpams, in order to torment me.
miga vandhu – each part came, getting worse than the previous. Thus, several nights came this way. How one night turned out to be!
svApadhESam (distinguished meaning): this pAsuram explains the benefit that AzhwAr desired similar to the benefit which sIthAppirAtti attained in SrI rAmAyaNam as mentioned in ayOdhyA kANdam 16-21 “pathi sammAnithA sIthA” (sIthAppirAtti who was given a happy message by her husband) and how it became extremely difficult to spend time on not attaining that benefit.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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