SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImadh varavara munayE nama:
avathArikai (Introduction)
In line with the etymology “vEdhayithIthi vEdha:” vEdhams explain all the meanings which are to be known. emperumAn had manifested both the vEdhams and the manthra rahasyams (esoteric meanings of manthrams or hymns). AzhwAr says in this pAsuram “Instead of allowing me to carry out devotion, by knowing about you in line with those vEdhams and manthra rahasyams, you had come into my mind on your own. What a great quality is this deed!”
mUnRu muppadhARinOdu Or aindhum aindhum aindhumAy
mUnRu mUrthiyAgi mUnRu mUnRu mUnRu mUnRumAy
thOnRu sOdhi mUnRumAyth thuLakkamil viLakkamAy
EnRen AviyuL pugundhadhu enkolO em IsanE
Word-by-Word Meanings
mUnRu muppadhu – thirty-three compound letters (vowel consonant)
ARinOdu Or aindhum aindhum – sixteen vowels
aindhumAy – five letters starting with the letter La
mUnRu mUrthiyAgi – being mentioned by the three vEdhams of rig, yajur and sAmam
mUnRu mUnRu mUnRu mUnRumAy – being the meaning of dhwAdhaSAksharam, which is composed of four times three, viz. twelve letters
mUnRu – in praNavam which has three letters
thOnRu sOdhiyAy – shining resplendently
(or)
mUnRu – in the three vEdhams
thOnRu – shining
sOdhiyAy – being spoken of by the resplendent letter of praNavam
thuLakkam – perturbation
il – without
viLakkamAy – being the meaning of akAram (the syllable, a) which shines
em – to us
IsanE – Oh one who is the absolute controller, my lord!
EnRu – considering (as your deed)
en AviyuL – my mind
pugundhadhu – entering, and manifesting yourself in a radiant manner
en kolO – What sort of simplicity is this!
Simple Translation
emperumAn manifests himself as the fifty-four alphabets [in the dhEvanAgari script], composed of thirty-three letters of vowel-consonants, sixteen letters of vowels, and the five special letters starting with La. You are mentioned by the three vEdhams of rig, yajur and sAmam, and you are the meaning of dhwAdhaSAksharam, which has twelve letters. You are shining resplendently in praNavam, which has three letters (Alternatively, you are shining resplendently in the letter of praNavam which is spoken of by the three vEdhams). You are the meaning of the syllable ‘a’ which shines without any perturbation. Oh my lord, who is the absolute controller to us! You entered my mind, considering it as your deed, and manifested yourself in a radiant manner. What sort of simplicity is this!
vyAkyAnam (Commentary)
mUnRU muppadhARinOdu Or aindhum aindhum aindhumAy – being the controller of the fifty four letters which are the starting point for vEdhams. mUnRu muppadhu – thirty-three compound vowel-consonant letters of ka, kha, ga, gha, nga, ca, cha, ja, jha, gna, ta1, ta2, da3, da4, na, tha1,tha2, dha3, dha4, Na, pa1, pa2, ba3, bha4, ma, ya, ra, la va, Sa, sha, sa, ha (also called as 33 hallu letters in samaskrutham)
ARinOdu Or aindhum aindhum – the sixteen vowel letters of a, A, i, I, u, U, ru, rU, lu, lU, E, ai, O, au, am, aha, which are termed in samskrutham as achchu letters.
aindhumAy – five letters which are not included in the above-mentioned classifications, namely La, ksha, jgna, :ka and :pa. Thus, these three classifications, together, sum up to 54 letters.
mUnRu mUrthiyAgi – being manifested in rig vEdham, yajur vEdham and sAma vEdham. Based on their importance, vEdhams are classified as thrayI (three), leaving aside atharvaNa vEdham. The fifty-four letters which were mentioned at the beginning, would make sense only if they combine to form building blocks and become vEdham. Hence, AzhwAr is referring to this. Alternatively, we could consider that these refer to the three classifications of the letters as mentioned earlier, as hallu, achchu and five letters beginning with La. Then, we could construe this to mean the three classifications of letters and the vEdhams.
mUnRu mUnRu mUnRu mUnRumAy – being spoken of by dhwAdhaSa aksharams (twelve syllables) as seen in Om namO bhagavathE vAsudhEvAya, which is the meaning of the vEdhams.
thOnRu sOdhi mUnRumAy – the words are to be rearranged as mUnRu thOnRum sOdhiyAy – praNavam is a combination of the syllables a, u and m. Thus, emperumAn is spoken of by the splendorous praNavam (OnkAram). vEdham says OnkArO bhagavAn vishNu: (bhagavAn vishNu is revealed by OnkAram).
thuLakkamil viLakkamAy – emperumAn is the cause for OmkAram which is the cause for all the vEdhams and he does not have a causative factor for himself. thaiththirIya upanishath nArAyaNavalli 10 says “yath vEdhAdhau svara: prOktha: vEdhAnthE cha prathishtitha: l thasya prakruthi leenasya ya: para: sa mahEsvara: ll” (sarvESvaran (lord of all) is the meaning of akAram (the syllable ‘a’ which is the causative factor for OnkAram which is recited at the beginning and end of vEdham). This is the authentic proof for this surmise. thiruvaLLuvar, who composed thirukkRaL, also said agara mudhala ezhuththellAm Adhibhagavan mudhaRRE ulagu (the syllable a is the causative factor for all the syllables just as bhagavAn is the causative factor for all the worlds). emperumAn himself said in bhagavath gIthA akshArANAm akArO’smi (among all the syllables I remain as the syllable ‘a’). Since he is the causative factor for all the rest and does not have a causative factor for himself, the syllable ‘a’ is said to be without any perturbation.
EnRu ennAviyuL pugundhadhu enkolO – Though you had created vEdhas, manthra rahasyams etc for me to know about you and to worship you, you entered my mind, taking it as your responsibility, and revealed yourself to me as you are, so that I did not go the way of knowing about you through vEdhams. What a great quality is this!
em IsanE – the way which emperumAn revealed to AzhwAr is that emperumAn is the swAmy (one who is the lord or owner) and AzhwAr is the SEshan (servitor or possession). Alternatively, we can construe this to mean that emperumAn considered AzhwAr’s benefits and losses as his own (emperumAn’s) and revealed that relationship to AzhwAr.
We will next take up the 5th pAsuram of this prabandham.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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