SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImadh varavara munayE nama:
avathArikai (Introduction)
emperumAn asks AzhwAr “How did you know the secrets about my incarnations?” AzhwAr says “While I cannot estimate your qualities of simplicity etc with which you had incarnated as a tortoise in order to help celestial entities who always desire other benefits only, I learnt that the divine beauty of that incarnation can be known only through vEdhas”
thUymai yOgamAyinAy thuzhAyalangal mAlaiyAy!
AmaiyAgi Azhkadal thuyinRa Adhi dhEva! nin
nAmadhEyam innadhenna vallam alla Agilum
sAmavEdha gIdhanAya chakrapANi allaiyE
Word-by-Word Meanings
thUymai – purity (of samsAris)
yOgamAyinAy – Oh one who creates!
thuyAzhalangal – made with the petals of divine thuLasi
mAlaiyAy – Oh one who has the garland!
AmaiyAgi – in the form of tortoise
Azh – deep
kadal – in the ocean
thuyinRa – mercifully resting
Adhi – being the causative factor
dhEva – Oh, the lord!
nin – your highness’
nAmadhEyam – the auspicious qualities and activities revealed by your divine names
innadhenna – to say that they are like this
vallam – we do not have the capability
allavAgilum – despite that
sAmavEdha – in chAndhOgya upanishath
gIdhanAya – mercifully spoken of
chakrapANi allaiyE – are you not the one who is with the divine disc, residing in the solar galaxy!
Simple Translation
Oh one who brings about purity in samsAris! Oh one who wears the garland made with petals of divine thuLasi! Oh the lord and the causative factor, who is mercifully resting as a tortoise in the deep ocean! We do not have the capability to say that you are like this, after knowing the auspicious qualities and activities, as revealed by your divine names. However, are you not the one who is mercifully spoken of in chAndhOgya upanishath and residing in the solar galaxy, with the divine disc!
vyAkyAnam (Commentary)
thUymai yOgamAyinAy – due to connection, since time immemorial, with the physical form which is achith (without knowledge), the samsAri jIvan (AthmA, the soul) has become impure. Oh one who is together with purity, who, through your mercy, removes the physical form and liberates the jIvan to be with nithyasUris and to enjoy you! This implies that emperumAn is the means for the samsAri to cross the ocean of samsAram and attain him. Not only does emperumAn remain pure, but he also brings in purity in others (samsAris) since he is the opposite of everything which is lowly. Next, AzhwAr says that emperumAn remains as the goal to be attained.
thuzhAy alangal mAlaiyAy – Oh one who is decorated with the garland of divine thuLasi, as a symbol of supreme being! thuLasi garland has been mentioned as the symbol for the supreme entity in SAsthrams (sacred texts); it also distinguishes him from those who wear bones, ash etc and hence he is the one to be attained.
AmaiyAgi – you had taken the form of a tortoise in order to churn the ocean to get nectar, for the sake of celestial entities, who desire only worldly pursuits and not you.
Azh kadal thuyinRa – Oh one who mercifully took rest in the ocean such that the manthara mountain would not get immersed in the unfathomable ocean [during the time of churning of ocean]! Hasn’t parASara maharishi too mentioned in SrI vishNu purANam 1-9-99 “kshIrOdhamadhyE bhagavAn kUrmarUpI svayam hari: l mantharAdhrEr adhishtAnam bhramathO’bhUn mahAmunE ll” (bhagavAn hari (SrIman nArAyaNan), in the form of divine tortoise, was the support for manthara mountain which was rotating in the middle of milky ocean)!
Adhi dhEva – Oh one who revealed that you alone are the causative factor for the world through this divine activity! The implied meaning is that unless he were the causative factor, emperumAn would not have had to transform himself as a tortoise, disregarding his greatness as well as disregarding the lowliness of the celestial entities who desired only worldly pursuits.
nin nAmadhEyam innadhenna vallam alla Agilum – even though I do not have the capability to estimate your highness’ auspicious qualities and activities and say that “They are like this”, after seeing the way that your highness had transformed into a [lowly] tortoise. Since it is not apt to say that, for emperumAn, who has thousands of names, it is not possible to say that this is his name, we consider that here, the term nAmadhEyam would refer to his auspicious qualities and divine activities.
sAma vEdha gIdhanAya chakrapANi allaiyE – I learnt that your divine form of tortoise, which you took on, disregarding your greatness, is the golden hued aprAkrutha (not belonging to this materialistic realm) divine form, from chAndhOgya upanishath, which forms part of sAma vEdham. chAndhOgya upanishath 1-6 and 1-7 say “ya EshO’ntharAdhithyE hiraNmaya: purushO dhruSyathE hiraNyaSmaSrur hiraNya kESa ApraNakhAth sarva Eva suvarNa: l thasya yathA kapyAsam puNdarIkam EvamakshiNI ll (This supreme entity who is seen amidst sUrya (solar galaxy) with a beautiful, golden hued form, has a beautiful, golden moustache and golden hair; he has two divine eyes which are like lotus, blossomed by sun). nArasimha purANam says “dhyEyas sadhA savithru maNdala madhyavarththI nArAyaNas sarasijAsana sannivishta: l kEyUravAn makara kuNdalavAn kiritI hArI hiraNyamayavapur dhrutha Sankha chakra: ll
(nArAyaNa, who is in the middle of solar galaxy, who is sitting on a lotus flower, who is wearing shoulder amulets, fish-like ear rings, crown and chain, who has a golden divine form, who has divine conch and disc, is apt to be meditated upon always), to bring out this understanding.
We will next take up the 15th pAsuram of this prabandham.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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