SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
avathArikai (Introduction)
In the previous pAsuram AzhwAr was lamenting “egyAnRu thalaippeyvanE” (when will I attain you?) sarvESvaran asked him “Why cannot you remain with the belief that connection with sarvESvaran will yield the result of uniting with him?” AzhwAr says “I could remain like that If I do not have any desire in you, like the samsAris” He says that it is impossible for him to spend time without thinking of sarvESvaran. What is he saying in this pAsuram? If I think about the facts that I have obtained a physical form which is capable of attaining you and that it is uncertain, due to the unbearability of not being with you, the time to attain you seems to extend forever. Alternatively, since I have obtained a nature by which I cannot sustain myself through any entity other than you, and since this nature came about because of my presence in samsAram, time is not sufficient to think about the fact that this is not uniform.
Let us go through the pAsuram and its meanings:
thalaippeydhu yAn un thiruvadhich chUdhum thagaimaiyinAl
nilaippeydha Akkaikku nORRa immAyamum mAyam sevvE
nilaippeydhilAdha nilaimaiyum kANdORasurar kuzhAm
tholaippeydha nEmi endhAy thollai Uzhi surungaladhE
Word-by-Word Meanings
asurar – demons’
kuzhAm – for their clan
tholai – destruction
peydha – one who made
nEmi – one who has the divine disc
endhAy – Oh my swAmy (lord)!
yAn – I
thalaippeydhu – attaining
un thiruvadi – your divine feet
sUdum – donning on my head
thagaimaiyinAl – due to the nature
nilaippu eydha – having firmness
Akkaikku – to get the form
nORRa – carrying out good deeds (for many thousands of births)
i – this
mAyamum – amazement
mAyam – amazing form
sevvE – very well (uniform)
nilaippeydhu ilAdha – not having firmness
nilaimaiyum – position
kAN dhORu – whenever I think of
thollai – being ancient
Uzhi – kalpam (brahmA’s lifetime)
surungaladhu – is not shrinking
Simple Translation
Oh my swAmy who has the divine disc and who destroys the clan of demons! I have obtained a form by carrying out some good deeds in the past many thousands of births due to which I could attain you and don your divine feet on my head. When I think of these amazing activities as well as the condition of not reaching you soon enough, I realise that the time to reach you and experience you is extending without any shrinkage.
vyAkyAnam
thalaippeydhu – attaining you
yAn – I who am remaining without any means
un thiruvadi . . . – the amazement that I have obtained a form due to good deeds carried out in many thousands of births earlier; as a result I could sustain that form by attaining your divine feet
mAyam sevvE nilaippeydhilAdha nilaimaiyum – due to the amazing nature of this prakruthi (samsAram), that nature cannot be taken as being firm.
Alternatively,
thalaippeydhu . . . – I approached you and attained the nature of sustaining myself only with nothing else other than your divine feet and the amazement attained due to that.
Akkaikku nORRa immAyamum – Just as SrI vishNu dharmam says “janmAnthara sahasrEshu” (after taking thousands of births), wouldn’t this nature come in only with carrying out good deeds over several thousands of births? Wouldn’t this nature result only after obtaining such a form? Thus, getting such a form is also a part of bhakthi (devotion)
In this thought process, while it appears that carrying out good deeds in the past births is the reason for the present situation, the distinguished nature of donning your divine feet on my head (thiruvadichchUdum thagaimaiyinAl nilaippeydha) can be a nature primarily only because of the distinction of having sathva guNam (only purely good quality) [the form which the human beings acquire is made of three qualities, viz. sathva, rajas and thamas (purely good, passion and ignorance respectively)].
mAyam sevvE . . . – since this form is under the control of three qualities [as seen above], the nature spoken of earlier will not come to the surface when the body is under the control of rajas or thamas component, but will be true only if sathva component is predominant. Thus, the form is not uniform always and is a cause of amazement.
kAN dhORu – whenever this [feature of three qualities] is thought of. In other words, it could be said that he keeps thinking of this continuously.
asurar . . . – Oh my swAmy who destroyed the clan of demons and who has the divine disc! Am I consoling myself that you are without ability, that you cannot be attained or that I am suffering due to my deeds?
thollai . . . – this time which is ancient is not shrinking [viz., it is not reducing in terms of its length]; it is extending further. Alternatively, if I keep thinking about this amazing nature, time does not seem to shrink; time is not passing.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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