SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
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Introduction
She said those words in previous pAsuram indicating that she agreed to her daughter’s state, after the daughter did not heed her words of advice, by saying “idhu anRO niRaivu azhindhAr niRkum ARu”. Those who came to inquire, said, “Even though she did not behave suiting her womanliness, you could have told her that the one she loves is interested in periya pirAttiyAr. Such One would not consider you”. Mother replies, “I have even told her that. That gave only the opposite result. That He is the husband of SrIdhEvi became the reason for her to go to the place of His residence” – this is in this pAsuram.
muRRArA vanamulaiyAL pAvai mAyan
moyyagalaththuLLiruppAL ahdhum kaNdum
aRRAL than niRaivazhindhAL AvikkinRAL
aNiyarangam AdudhumO thOzhee! ennum
peRREn vAychchol iRaiyum pEsak kELAL
pEr pAdith thaN kudanthai nagarum pAdi
poRRAmaraik kayam neerAdap pOnAL
poruvaRRAL en magaL um ponnum ahdhE 19
Word by word meaning
ahdhu kaNdum – Even after having seen
muRRu ArA vanam mulaiyAL – One who is having beautiful not fully-grown-out bosom and being the woman having the nature of womanliness, that is, periya pirAttiyAr to be
moy agalaththuL iruppAL – living well set in the beautiful divine chest
mAyan – of emperumAn who is marvellous,
poru aRRAL en magaL – my daughter who is matchless
aRRAL – has set herself up to be for Him and only for Him.
than niRaivu azhindhAL – She ignored the completeness (of womanliness of waiting for Him to show up);
AvikkinRAL – she is sighing;
thOzhee! aNi arangam AduthumO ennum – Oh friend! shall we mingle with and enjoy the grand city of thiruvarangam! she says.
peRREn – I, the mother, who gave birth to her,
vAy sol pEsa – told a few words of advice,
kELAL iRaiyum – does not listen even a little by lending her ears.
pEr pAdi – singing about the city of thiruppEr,
thaN kudanthai nagar pAdiyum – and singing about the pleasant city of thirukkudanthai
pOnAL – she got up and went
neer Ada – to immerse and experience in the water
pon thAmarai kayam – of tank full of golden lotus flowers;
um ponnum agdhE? – Is the nature your daughter too is of this way?
vyAkyAnam
muRRArA vana mulaiyAL – This is talking about the beauty of pirAtti that makes emperumAn engage in Her.
muRRArA-mulai – The divine bosom that is not full grown by breaking the barrier. Growing by breaking the barrier is – about not having a barrier in the inner/bottom part of the place where it grows. By this it says that she is having the right age for the age of emperumAn. As said in “yuvAkumAra: [Ruk. ash.2-2-25]” (vishNu is of the age of youth, and just above the childish stage), emperumAn’s age would be such that He has just reached the state of youth. As said in ‘yuvathiScha kumAriNee’ (pirAtti is of the age of youth, but not crossed the childish stage as well), thus being just about a bit younger to His stage. Considering that She is a bit younger, AzhvAr says muRRArA vanamulai.
As said in ‘sadhaikarUpa rUpAya [vishNu purANam 1-2-1]”, their age would always be of this stage. Even after ruling the kingdom for eleven thousand years, for pirAtti and perumAL (SrI rAmar) this was the stage of their age. If so, were they not of small form in childhood, and also would their form deteriorate later due to old age? Their form was smaller in their childhood state in order to be obedient to parents, but not because they would undergo changes in their true form. When their age (in this world) grew, they did not become old in form because they did not wish so, and none of their people were interested in seeing them in such form.
That their form was small during childhood, and then after reaching the initial state of youth, their form stayed so – is seen in SrI rAmAyaNam – as said in “unnaiyum okkalaiyil [periyAzhvAr thirumozhi 1.5.8]” by periyAzhvAr that even when kaNNan was a baby, both the childhood stage and the stage of youth (thangaL karuththAyina seydhu varum, in the same pAsuram), were experienced in him by periyAzhvAR.
vana mulaiyAL – That is, She who is having beautiful bosom. Reason for highlighting only this beauty as ‘vana mulai’ is – as said in ‘malarAL thanaththuLLAn [mUnRam thiruvanthAdhi – 3], is to show its greatness of sweetness such that emperumAn would be involved in this part and so not focus on other parts of Her beauty. He who is having qualities like gyAnam, Sakthi using which He rules nithya viBhUthi (SrI vaikuNtam), leelA viBhUthi (other worlds), is not able to measure the beauty of this one part of His dear pirAtti. He who is independent by nature, and who does not have any needs by nature, due to love towards Her, is being loving towards this one part of Her and being expectant about it.
As said in ‘guNAnurUpENa vilAsachEshtithai: [sthOthra rathnam – 38]” (with SrIdhEvi who is always experienced in Her full form, and who gives you wonder like new using Her qualities, beautiful form, and beautiful acts, and who is fit only for you in all states (of param, vyUham, vibhavam, etc), and being your treasure), all these qualities, form, beautiful actions are all becoming needless as He is involved in this one part of Her. By ‘uLLAn’ in this pEyazhvAr pasuram, it indicates emperumAn who is viBhu (omnipresent), is henpecked into this part of Her who is aNu (smallest form without any parts).
pAvai – She having natural womanliness. Her womanliness is such that even His greatness of being purushOththaman cannot change it.
mAyan – He who is of wonder. The wonder of Him who is naturally independent losing Himself to the part of Her, the wonder of Him who is naturally having all wishes fulfilled is expectant about one part of Her, the wonder of Him who is all-knowing and who can do anything is not being able to measure the extent of beauty of one part of Her – this word shows these wonders.
moy agalaththuL iruppAL – By ‘moy’, it means beauty. emperumAn having beautiful chest. pirAtti is well set in His divine chest, is the meaning. By previous phrase it talked about the greatness of Her bosom which He would not move away from even for a moment. In this phrase, it talks about His divine chest which She would not separate even for a moment, as said in “agalagillEn iRaiyum [thiruvAimozhi – 6.10.10]”. Like how He does not go for any other parts of Her than Her bosom, She too does not go anywhere except His divine chest.
She who is naturally having gyAnam and Sakthi like Him is One who is not able to consider any other part than His divine chest. She who is such that He the omnipresent is caught in one part of Her and is desperate like a thirsty person saying ‘water, water!’, is One who is not able to consider any other part than His divine chest. These can be said for Him too. His other attributes of form, and attributes of qualities are of no use to Her as She is focussed on His divine chest only. Him embracing Her divine bosom and staying enchanted, and Her embracing His divine chest and staying enchanted, Oh what a great enchanting togetherness this is!
iruppAL – Like how the lord is subservient to one part, the utmost servant is subservient to one part of Her lord. For the ever-auspicious divine form it is She who enables identification of Him as the lord. As said in “SrIvathsavakShA-nithyaSrI: [SrI rAmAyaNam – yudhDha kANdam – 114-15]” (perumAL having the maRu (mole) mark in His divine chest, having SrI dhEvi who never separates from Him), having Her set in His divine chest, and being Her husband is the factor that identifies Him, as the sarvESvaran. Saying that the other deities are of lower status is because they are not the husband of Her. (thirumazhisaip pirAn too divined the others as “thiruvillAth thEvarai [nAnmugan thiruvanthAdhi – 52]”).
uLLiruppAL – Being not only the identifying factor for His divine form, being the identifying factor for the true nature of divine paramAthmA that is inside that divine form. These two are the reasons for saying that their togetherness is our preference whether at the time of surrendering, doing services, or at the time experiencing and enjoying His true nature. Other pirAttis are together with Him as part of His vibhUthi (property/ownership). But SrIdhEvi is together in cases of svarUpam (His true nature / giving Him identity), rUpam (His form, in His divine chest), and vibhavam (during His incarnations).
ahdhum kaNdum aRRAL – When I told her that both of them behave like they have consumed thorn-apple (UmaththankAy) that they are crazily in love with each other, (so there is no use in your wishing to be with Him), my words brought the opposite effect in my daughter. Even after she saw that He and She don’t focus on anything other than each other.
Even after seeing Her nature as said in ‘na kaSchin nAparADhyathi [SrI rAmayaNam – yudhDha kANdam – 116-44]” (There is no one who have not committed sins), and even after seeing His nature of considering even the mistakes as good attributes as said in ‘kunRanaiya kuRRam seyyinum guNam koLLum [mudhal thiruvanthAdhi – 41]”, she became dedicated to none other than them. Even after seeing His stature she became dedicated to Him; even after seeing Her stature she became dedicated to Her; even after seeing the nature of their togetherness she became dedicated to that togetherness. Seeing His ways of “seydhArEl nanRu seydhAr [periyAzhvAr thirumozhi 4.9.2]”, she became fully dedicated to Him.
As said in “rAja-samSraya-vaSyanAm [SrI rAmAyaNam – yudhDha kaNdam – 113-36]“ ((who would get angry at) … servants of kings..?(no one would)), seeing His nature of considering mistakes as positive attributes, she became dedicated to Him.
Seeing their togetherness, seeing that both have consumed UmaththangAy fruit (~thorn-apple) (madly in love with each other that they behave like mad), she thought that there needs to be one person with them who is having clear mind, and so became dedicated to that togetherness.
ahdhum kaNdum aRRAL – (My) complaint about them to get her rid of her state, became the reason for dedication toward Him. He gave his divine chest for Her to rest, I said, and she said that is the reason for dedication toward Him (because it is clear that His divine chest is for His devotees), and said it is as per “en thirumagaL sEr mArvanE ennum ennudai AviyE [thiruvAimozhi – 7.2.9]” (Oh One having divine chest which SridhEvi resides in, Oh my love). Fulfilment of our enjoyment is in emperumAn and thAyAr’s togetherness only. So she got fully dedicated to that togetherness.
than niRaivu azhindhAL – Not only that she became dedicated to them, her unique nature of femininity got destroyed too, says mother. Either pirAtti’s attributes of joining us with Him, or emperumAn’s attributes of being the means to reach Him, is enough to destroy her completeness. Does it need to be told that both these attributes together would definitely destroy her status of completeness? Completeness is – given any situation, keeping her state intact and making Him lose His state and be madly in love with her. That completeness is now destroyed, says mother.
than niRaivu – The ocean has dried up, says she.
How do you know that her completeness has been destroyed? –
AvikkinRAL – She who (had the strength and) was trying to go to His place by asking ‘emperumAn thiruvarangam engE’, is now letting out a long sigh when He did not show up as soon as she thought about emperumAn and pirAtti’s togetherness.
aNi-arangam etc. – The daughter’s friend came near her after seeing her state, and after seeing her thinking as “He did not show up (even) after seeing my state; since mother would say words that are good for herself, she would not calm me down who is desperate to get Him”. Even though separated from him, she manages to stay strong by seeing her friend. This daughter, considering her desperation itself as a strong reason that she would not miss the opportunity of getting Him, gained strength, and says ‘Oh friend! We shall go to kOyil (thiruvarangam) and experience Him”, and thus prepares for going.
Adudhum – Let us bathe. For both those who suffer from the there types of difficulties in this world (ADhyAthmika, AdhiBaudhika, Adhidhaivika), and for those suffering due to separation, that divine place is their saviour. So she is talking about that place as a pond. Oh thOzhee! is addressing of her friend.
peRREn etc. – If I said a few words, she would not listen even if it is sweet to her.
peRREn vAychchol kELAL – Would listen to the words of His, and would listen to the words of her friend, but considering my giving birth to her as a reason, she would not listen to my words.
iRaiyum pEsak kELAL – She would not listen even if I talked words that are based on her state, nor would she listen even if i talked about the place she likes, that is, thiruvarangam periya kOyil.
kELAL – even if she is not doing what I asked of her, can’t she not at least listen to my words with ears? She did not do even that. When one decides that a person is not needed for them, then whatever valuable words that person says, they would not listen and follow.
pEr pAdi, etc. – What were the words of her who would not heed your words? She is talking about the food for the journey to periya kOyil, that is, other dhivya dhESams (present on the way). Those who lost their full sense would go in proper route also sometimes.
pEr pAdi – Due to her excess of interest in going to thiruvarangam, she is saying thiruppEr first instead of thirukkudanthai. when there is no hurdle (by mother), then it is but natural to be fully indulgent in experiencing Him, similar to saying ‘EthathsAmagAyannAsthE [thaiththirIyOpanishath, bRuguvalli 10-5]” ((those who got hurdles removed due to karmams and reached SrIvaikuNtam) would sing songs of vEdhas).
poRRAmaraik kayam neerAdap pOnAL – By adjectives “poRRAmraik kayam”, it talks about the nature of emperumAn that is experienced. Experts in thamizh say ‘sunaiyAdal’, ‘neerAttu’ to imply union of two. That is, she went to experience this.
pOnAL – In previous pAsuram – she asked for directions in ‘emperumAn thiruvarangam engE’, now how do you say pOnAL (she went)? – Only the body is present here. Her heart has gone there, says the mother. Daughter said about the place in “aNi arangam AduthumO”; Now mother is saying ‘poRRAmaraik kayam’ to imply periya perumAL. As said in “thayarathan peRRa maradhaka maNith thadam [thiruvAimozhi – 10.1.8]”, and “vAsath thadam pOl varuvAnE [thiruvAimozhi 8.5.1]”, He is referred as thadam (water tank/pond).
Are you not a stopper of her going?
poru aRRAL – She crossed that state. poru – togetherness. After getting that togetherness with Him, she lost that connectedness with me. Or,
poru aRRAL en magaL – poru – comparable. She became incomparable. Even the One talked about earlier (SrIdhEvi) is not an equal to her. This is said too in “pinnai kol, nilamAmagaL kol thirumagaL kol piRanthittAL [thiruvAimozhi 6.5.10]”, (to imply that there is a small chance if the three dhEvis put together that they might equal nammAzhvAr).
um ponnum ahdhE? – Mother asks those who came to inquire – do those who are born from you have also got in to such state as that of my daughter?. Inner meaning of ‘um pon’ indicates the other AzhvArs. Saying “maththuRu kadai veNNai kaLavinil uravidai AppuNdu [thiruvAimozhi 1.3.1]” (In stealing the butter churned with great difficulty using the churning staff, ending in being tied in the chest) they fell in love thinking about vibhavAvathAram, whereas it is this daughter who melted to the archAvathAram. (So even she is not her equal is the thought). “nangaimeer” etc. (Even parAnkuSa nAyaki’s mother asked those who came to inquire – “nagaimeer neerum Or peN peRRu nalgineer..[thiruvAimozhi 4.2.9]”.
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Translation by raghurAm SrInivAsa dhAsan.
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