SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImadh varavara munayE nama:
avathArikai (Introduction)
emperumAn tells AzhwAr in his divine mind “In the previous pAsuram, the devotion which you had towards me appeared similar to the devotion exhibited by those who think of me always, through their efforts, who desire to attain me through reciting my names always, just as I had mentioned in bhagavath gIthA SlOkam 9-14 ‘sathatham kIrthayanthO mAm yathanthaScha dhrudavruthA: l namasyanthaScha mAm bhakthyA nithyuykthA upAsathE ll’ (They constantly worship me, reciting my names constantly with devotion, taking efforts (in activities such as worshipping me etc)! In the 101st pAsuram ‘nirandharam ninaippadhAga nI ninaikka vENdumE’ you had desired to think of me constantly! In the 103rd pAsuram ‘nin peyar urukkalandhu ozhivilAdhu uraikkumARu urai sey‘, you had desired to recite the divine names continuously. In the previous pAsuram kUdum Asaiyalladhu onRu koLvanO you had desired devotion. Do you desire devotion which is the means to attain mOksham?” AzhwAr says in this pAsuram “It is not like that. Your amazing qualities and activities impel me to speak that way, treating that itself as the benefit [and not expecting any benefit out of speaking like that]. I spoke that way only after seeing vEdhams and those who follow vEdhams, speak like that. I did not speak like an upAsakan [one who worships emperumAn and is devoted to him in order to attain emperumAn through that means] using it as a means”
surukkuvArai inRiyE surunginAy surungiyum
perukkuvArai inRiyE perukkam eydhu peRRiyOy
serukkuvArgaL thIkkuNangaL thIrththa dhEvadhEvan enRu
irukkuvAy munikkaNangaL Eththa yAnum EththinEn
Word-by-Word Meanings
surukkuvAai inRiyE – without a reason for shortening [your divine form]
surunginAy – you became a vAmana (dwarf)
surungiyum – even when you had shortened yourself like that
perukkuvArai inRiyE – without a reason for enlarging
perukkam eydhu – one who grew huge
peRRiyOy – Oh one who has the nature!
serukkuvArgaL – like mahAbali et al, who harass (indhran et al)
thIkkuNangaL – evil qualities (such as ego etc)
thIrththa – one who removed
dhEvadhEvan – Oh sarvESvara!
enRu – like this
irukkuvAy – vEdhams
munikkaNangaL – multitude of sages
Eththa – as they praised
yAnum – I too
EththinEn – praised
Simple Translation
Without any reason, you shortened your physical form and became a vAmana. Without any reason, having shortened yourself earlier, you grew huge. Oh, one who has this as your nature! Oh, sarvESvara who removed evil qualities of entities such as mahAbali et al! Just as multitude of sages praised you like this, I too praised.
vyAkyAnam (Commentary)
surukkuvArai inRiyE surunginAy – unlike shortening due to karmas (past deeds) or due to time or due to the urging of another entity, you shortened yourself as vAmana impelled by your mercy towards your followers. samsAri jIvas (those who live in samsAram) are born as worms or insects due to their past deeds and due to the jIvas who gave birth to them. purANams say that those who were with huge form in earlier epochs, become shorter in kaliyugam (present epoch) and towards the end of kaliyugam, they will be just the size of a thumb. In order to remain invisible to demons when he entered lankA, hanuman, for carrying out SrI rAma’s work, took a short form, as we have read in SrI rAmAyaNam. The indication is that your dwarfing is unlike these.
surungiyum – even as you shortened yourself
perukkuvArai inRiyE perukkam eydhu peRRiyOy – Oh one who has the nature of enlarging yourself, merely due to your mercy, unlike samsAri jIvas who enlarge themselves due to their karma or due to time or impelled by another entity! peRRi – nature; natural quality. Through these two lines, it is described that it is natural for emperumAn to take an appropriate form for taking alms, to seek alms and, once the water, symbolic of giving alms fell on his palm, due to the ecstasy of achieving what he had desired, he took a huge form, keeping his divine feet on the heads of everyone in the fourteen worlds without looking at differences among them.
Now, through the third line, AzhwAr speaks about emperumAn destroying the ego of entities such as mahAbali, carrying out beneficial act for them too and carrying out the task for indhran.
serukkuvArgaL – SrI vishNu purANam 1-13-14 says “na yashtavyam na dhAthavyam na hOthavyam kathanchana l bhOkthA yagyasya kasthvanyO hyaham yagyapathi: prabhu: ll”
(yAgam (ritual) should never be carried out; charity should never be given; hOmam (another type of ritual) should not be done. More than me (vEna maharAja) who can be the enjoyer of yagyam? Am I not the lord for yagyam and one who gives the benefit for the yagyam?) Entities such as mahAbali, like vEna maharAjA seen just now in the above mentioned SlOkam, were living with their ego, transgressing the command of emperumAn and not regretting that they had transgressed.
thIkkuNangaL thIrththa dhEva dhEvanE – Oh the lord of all celestial entities who removed the faults such as ego and possessiveness, which remove the basic nature of entities, by transforming yourself as a mendicant and who returned the lands of celestial entities such as indhran et al which they had lost.
enRu irukkuvAy munikkaNangaL Eththa – through this pAsuram, vEdhams and, multitude of sages treating vEdhams as pramANams, praised the action of thrivikrama who measured the three worlds, just as it has been mentioned in vishNu sUktham “vichakramE pruthvImEsha EthAm – thrir dhEva: pruthvImEsha EthAm” (this emperumAn measured the earth – the lord measured the three worlds through three steps [of his divine foot]) and in vishNu dharmam 43-33 “sanghais surANAm dhivi bhUthalasthais thathA manushyair gaganE cha khEsarai: l
sthutha: kramAn ya:prachakAra sarvadhA mamAsthu mAngalya vivrudhdhayE hari: ll” (Through the multitude of celestial entities in the ethereal layer, through human beings likewise from the earth, and through those who roam in the ethereal layer, bhagavAn was worshipped. Let that bhagavAn hari (who incarnated as thrivikraman) remain for me, for bringing auspiciousness, in abundance). In these instances, after seeing sages such as saunaka praising you…
yAnum EththinEn – since I cannot sustain myself without speaking about such activities [of yours] for passing time purposefully, I too praised your affableness and simplicity of keeping your divine feet on the heads of all the people, without seeing any distinction, and your quality of destroying enemies. The indication is that I did not praise you like an upAsakan with the thought of utilising this as a means to attain mOksham.
Next, we will take up the 110th pAsuram of this prabandham.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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