SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImadh varavara munayE nama:
perumAL thirumozhi >> 7th Decad
avathArikai (Introduction)
dhEvaki says in this pAsuram that it is only yaSOdhAp pirAtti, who had enjoyed all the activities of krishNa in his childhood days, which she could not see and enjoy, and who is the most fortunate one.
muzhudhum veNNey aLaindhu thottuNNum mugizh iLam siRuththAmaraik kaiyum
ezhil koL thAmbu koNdadippadhaRk(u) eLgu nilaiyum veN thayir thOyndha sevvAyum
azhugaiyum anji nOkkum annOkkum aNikoL senjiRu vAy nELippadhuvum
thozhugaiyum ivai kaNda asOdhai thollai inbaththiRudhi kaNdALE
Word-by-Word Meanings
veNNey – butter
muzhudhum – whatever was inside the pot
aLaindhu – playing (with hand)
thottu uNNum – stealing and eating
iLa mugizh thAmarai siRu kaiyum – small divine hands which were like tender leaves and like lotus flower
ezhil koL thAmbu koNdu – with a beautiful rope
adippadhaRku – to beat (for that)
eLgum nilaiyum – standing in a scared manner
veN thayir thOyndha – together with white curd
sem vAyum – and reddish mouth
azhugaiyum – crying
anji nOkkum annOkkum – that scared look
aNi koL sem siRu vAy neLippadhuvum – twisting the beautiful reddish mouth
thozhugaiyum – performing anjali (cupping the palms together) (all these)
kaNda asOdhai – yaSOdhAp pirAtti, who saw and enjoyed
thollai inbaththu – unbounded pleasures
iRudhi kaNdAL – saw the boundary
Simple Translation
yaSOdhAp pirAtti saw and enjoyed the boundary of unbounded pleasures when you [krishNa], as a child, played with your small, divine hands which were like tender leaves as well as a lotus flower, inside the pot containing butter, stealing and eating it; when she beat you with a beautiful rope (for stealing that butter), you stood in a scared manner; when you were crying after being caught, with your reddish mouth smeared with white curd; when you twisted your beautiful reddish mouth, performed anjali with your hands and stood with that scared look on your face.
vyAkyAnam
muzhudhum veNNey aLaindhu – this refers to his act of putting in his entire hand instead of only the forehand inside the pot of butter, in order to take out the butter due to his desire for it; he was playing with the butter with his hand, before taking it.
thottu uNNum – he probably thought that since he was going to steal the butter, only if he inserted his entire hand, would he be able to take out the butter. Just as poygai AzhwAr, the first among the first three AzhwArs, had said in his mudhal thiruvandhAdhi pAsuram 24 “viralodu vAy thOyndha veNNey kaNdu Aychchi uralOdu uRappiNiththa nAnRu kural OvAdhu Engi ninaindhu ayalAr kANa irundhilaiyE OngOdhavaNNA urai” (Oh one with the complexion of ocean with rising waves! Please tell the truth yourself. Were others not looking at you in amusement when [your mother] yaSOdhAp pirAtti tied you securely to a mortar after seeing butter on your divine fingers and divine mouth? Did you not cry out without stopping, even as you were yearning to steal butter, even then?), did he not cry with a loud voice so that everyone would know that he had stolen and eaten butter!
mugizh iLam siRu thAmaraik kaiyum – in the previous pAsuram, AzhwAr had cited a tender leaf as an allegory for the complexion of his hand “iLanjiRu thaLir pOl oru kaiyAl”. Here, he cites a lotus flower which has just blossomed as an allegory for the beauty of his hand which appeared blossomed.
ezhil koL thAmbu – AzhwAr describes the rope in a distinguished manner as “ezhil koL thAmbu” (beautiful rope) since it is touching the divine form of emperumAn which he desires to touch. In the fourth decad of this prabandham, did he not say “Even this status of a king is not needed; if we could get the feel of emperumAn’s divine form, we could even be an achEthana entity (one without knowledge)”!
koNdu adippadhaRku eLgu nilaiyum – AzhwAr had said “ezhil koL thAmbu” considering that it was touching the divine form of emperumAn. Yet, when she [yaSOdhA] beat kaNNan with a rope which she could lay her hand on, AzhwAr is involved with that status of kaNNan too, as he stood, trembling in fear of that rope.
veN thayir thOyndha sevvAyum – once yaSOdhA tells him “You have stolen curd” and attempts to beat him for that, he will smear the curd on his face in order to hide the curd that he had stolen. AzhwAr engages with the white curd and reddish mouth in that stage.
azhugaiyum – he cried because despite telling her that he had not stolen, she had caught him for stealing.
anji nOkkum annOkkum – as soon as he started crying, would she not tell him “Shut your mouth”? Fearing that, manifesting that fear on his face, he would look at her.
aNi koL senjiRu vAy neLippadhuvum – he could not help crying since she accused him of stealing. He could not cry too, since she threatened him not to cry. Hence, he twists his beautiful, reddish small mouth. AzhwAr experiences that and says this.
thozhugaiyum – in order to prevent her from beating him, he did what anyone would when they had no other option – performing anjali (cupping the palms together). Since he knows that the way to remove the offence of someone who has committed an offence is to perform an anjali, in order to get rid of his offence [of stealing], he performs an anjali towards yaSOdhAp pirAtti.
ivai kaNda asOdhai – yaSOdhAp pirAtti, who saw all these, in person
thollai inbaththu iRudhi kaNdALE – she experienced the boundary of experiencing paramapadham which is without any boundary. paramapadham is cited as without any boundary in authentic texts; in the ecstasy experienced by nithyars [permanent dwellers of paramapadham] and mukthars [those who attained paramapadham after being liberated from samsAram] in paramapadham, since they would not be able to see his acts of crying and performing anjali, the opinion here is that even that paramapadham appeared to have a boundary. There is no shortcoming in saying that while everyone goes there to worship him, he has come here to perform the act of worshipping here itself and hence, there was a boundary to that experience too.
Next, we will consider the 9th pAsuram of this decad.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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