SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImadh varavara munayE nama:
avathArikai (Introduction)
emperumAn asks AzhwAr in his divine mind “While you should have asked me ‘Please remove all the hurdles which prevent me from enjoying you, grant all which facilitate that enjoyment and conduct it such that there is no break in that enjoyment’, you are merely asking me to have mercy on you. Is that enough?” AzhwAr says “Since there is no entity which is not an attribute to you and since there is no entity which is fully independent of you, once you take mercy on me, whatever you had told me at the beginning will happen to me”
Unin mEya Avi nI uRakkamOdu uNarchchi nI
Anin mEya aindhum nI avaRRuL ninRa thUymai nI
vAninOdu maNNu nI vaLam kadaRpayanu nI
yAnu nI adhanRi empirAnum nI irAmanE
Word-by-Word Meanings
uRakkamOdu – along with sleep
uNarchchi – being awake
nI – under your control
vaLam – being beautiful
kadal – the ocean’s
payanum – nectar and rubies [wealth of the ocean] which are beneficial
nI – under your control
Anil mEya – derived from cow
aindhum – five materials
nI – under your control
avaRRuL – among those entities
ninRa – remaining
thUymai – the sacredness too
nI – under your control
Unil mEya – present inside the body
Avi – the five types of vital airs
nI – under your control
vAninOdu – along with the ethereal layer
maNNum – earth too
nI – under your control
yAnum – I too (bound to this samsAram)
nI – am your attribute
irAmanE – Oh, the divine son of emperor [dhaSarathan]!
adhanRi – apart from those
empirAnum nI – you are the controller for us too, who do not have any means with us.
Simple Translation
Sleep, along with wakefulness, is under your control. Nectar, rubies etc, which are present in the beautiful ocean, are under your control. The five materials which are derived from the cow are under your control. The sanctity within those five materials is also under your control. The five types of vital airs, present inside the body, are under your control. Ethereal layer, along with earth, is under your control. I too, bound to this samsAram, am your attribute. Oh, the divine son of emperor [dhaSaratha], apart from that, you are the controller of us too, who do not have any means with us.
vyAkyAnam (Commentary)
The pAsuram has to be rearranged as uRakkamOdu uNarchchi nI – vaLangadal payanum nI – Anil mEya aindhum nI, avaRRuL ninRa thUymai nI – Unil mEya Avi nI – vAninOdu maNNum nI – yAnum nI adhanRi empirAnum nI irAmanE to get the cogent meaning.
uRakkamOdu uNarchchi nI – Due to excessive level of thamO guNam (quality of ignorance, laziness, sleep etc) the minds of people, since time immemorial, have been in a state of sleep when the brain becomes blunt. When the sathva guNam (noble quality) is in excess, knowledge manifests itself. These two states [of ignorance and wakefulness] are under your [emperumAn’s] control. Through this, it is implied that since you control ignorance, which is the reason for getting involved with worldly pursuits such as Sabdham (sound) etc and knowledgeable state, which is the reason for engagement with you, your mercy alone is the means [to attain you]. This has been mentioned in mANdUkya kArikai too “anAdhi mAyayA supthO yadhA jIva: prabudhyathE” (when jIvAthmA, who is sleeping due to the timeless illusion of samsAram, awakens); since those who do not have knowledge resemble those who sleep, the act of sleeping is considered as being ignorant, in this context.
vaLam kadal payanum nI – ocean, which attracts those who see it, has materials such as ambrosia, rubies etc; these materials were formed due to your sankalpam (resolution; oath). Symbolically, this example extends to all benefits. Thus, since it says that materials which are bound to samsAram and which are hurdles in reaching you are under your control, if you show mercy on me, these hurdles will disappear.
Anil mEya aindhum nI – SAsthrams (sacred texts] say that there are five materials which are obtained from the cow, and which purify people: (1) cow’s dung, (2) cow’s urine, (3) cow’s milk, (4) curd from its milk and (5) ghee obtained from that curd [through churning and clarifying the resultant butter]. These five materials, called as pancha gavyam, are under your control.
avaRRuL ninRa thUymai nI – the sanctity, associated with those five materials [obtained from cow] resulted due to your sankalpam. Sacredness to any entity comes due to its association with you. Since brAhmaNas and cow are instrumental for worshipping emperumAn, they are cited as cause for sanctity. It is pertinent to recall the pramANam (authentic text) here “brAhmaNAnAm gavAnchaiva kulamEkam dhvidhAkrutham l anyathra manthrAs thishtanthi havir anyathra thishtathi ll” (brAhmaNas and cows are two subdivisions of the same class (of the clan of rituals). In one subdivision, of brAhmaNas, manthrams (which are used in rituals) are present; in the other subdivision, of cows, havis (such as ghee etc which are used in the rituals) are present). Since karmas (rituals) are part of the worship of emperumAn, they are considered to purify jIvAthmAs (souls). Just as it has been said in yAgyavalkya smruthi 3-34 “kshEthragyasyESvaragyAnAth viSudhdhi: paramA mathA” (It has been thought that distinguished sanctity happens to samsAri chEthana by knowing about emperumAn), knowledge too, due to being associated with emperumAn, purifies jIvas. Haven’t SlOkams in SrI rAmAyaNam uththara kANdam 82-9 “pAvanas sarvalOkAnAm thvamEva raghunandhana” (Oh raghunandhana (SrI rAma)! You are the one who purifies all the worlds) and in mahAbhAratham vanaparvam 88-27 “pavithrANAm hi gOvindha: pavithram paramuchayathE l puNyAnAmapi puNyO’sau mangaLAnAncha mangaLam ll” (Among all the sacred entities, gOvindhan (emperumAn) is said to be the most sacred entity; among the virtuous entities, he is the most virtuous; among the auspicious entities, he is the most auspicious) too manifested emperumAn’s quality of sanctity? Thus, it is implied that all the sacred materials, which remove the impurities which result from engagement with worldly pursuits, are under your control.
Unil mEya Avi nI – the five types of vital airs, viz. prANa, apAna, vyAna, udhAna and samAna, which sustain the body, are under your control. The implied meaning is that the physical form, sustaining itself or perishing, is under your control.
vAninOdu maNNum nI – visible ethereal layer does not hold on to anything for its support; wind etc roam around in that ethereal layer. Earth, which is in water, does not dissolve in it, and is supporting many materials. These two sustain themselves because of you. Here, the term vAn refers to ethereal layer and maN refers to this samsAra vibhUthi (materialistic realm). Alternatively, vAn could be taken to mean parama padham which is attained by muktha jIvAthmAs (those who have got liberated and have attained mOksham) and the meaning for this term would be – samsAram, which binds jivAthmAs and nithya vibhUthi, which they attain when they get liberated, are under your control.
yAnum nI – I, who am bound to samsAram, am your attribute, never separating from you. Thus, even during the time when I was not involved with you, just as it has been said in bhagavath gIthA SlOkam 10-10 “thEshAm sathathayukthAnAm bhajathAm prIthi pUrvakam l
dhadhAmi budhdhi yOgam tham yEna mAmupayAnthi thE ||” (I affectionately shower intelligence to those who desire to be with me all the time and who worship me such that they can use it as a path to attain me) it was only you who created an involvement in me, towards you. Thus, even the involvement which you created in me towards you, is under your control.
empirAnum ni irAmanE – the etymology for the word rAma is “ramayathi ithi rAma:” – you grant the wishes of those who desire them and make them happy. You are the one who is my benefactor by granting my wish, when I have nothing in me as my means. Just as it has been said in SrI rAmAyaNam ayOdhyA kANdam 59-4 “vishyE thE mahArAja rAmavyasanakarSithA: l
api vrukshA: parimlAnA: sapushpAnkurakOrakA: ll” (Oh mahArAja! In your kingdom, even trees which are with flowers, buds etc, have withered away due to separation from SrI rAma) you are the lord for all the creations, including down to plants, which are stationary, who cannot sustain themselves in separation from you, due to your beauty and qualities. Just as it has been seen in the pramAnAm SrI rAmAyaNam ayOdhyA kANdam 17-11 “Alamadhya hi bhukthEna paramArthairalam cha na: l yathA paSyEma niryAntham rAmam rAjyE prathishtitham ll
thathO hi na: priyatharam nAnyath kinchith bhavishyathi ll” (Today, we do not need food; we do not need any good material too; there is nothing dearer to us than seeing rAma who mercifully comes after his coronation) weren’t the people in ayodhyA such that they could not sustain themselves in separation from SrI rAma? nammAzhwAr too mercifully expressed this meaning in his thiruvAimozhi 7-5-1 “puRpAmudhalAp pul eRumbAdhi onRinRiyE naRpAl ayOththiyil vAzhum charAcharam muRRavum naRpAlukku uyththanan nAnmuganAr peRRa nAttuLE” (He made all the entities starting with grass, ants etc including plant and animal lives, who live in the great kingdom of ayOdhyA (where SrI rAma’s auspicious qualities flourish) to be with eminent nature, in this world created by brahmA). Just as it has been said in SrI rAmAyaNam AraNya kANdam 68-30 “yA gathir yagyaSeelAnAm AhidhAgnEScha yA gathi: l apArAvarthinAm yA cha yA cha bhUmiprAdhAyinAm ll mayA thvam samanugyAthO gachcha lOkAn anuththamAn ll” ((Oh, the king of vultures!) You are allowed by me to go to those unique places which are the abodes for those who observe rituals, for brAhmaNas who nurture three types of fire rituals and for those who attain mOksham, from which none returns), only he who gave mOksham to a bird, jatAyu, is the one who conducts our deeds too. Just as it has been said in perumAL thirumozhi 10-10 “anRu charAcharangaLai vaigundhaththERRi” (On that day, when you made all the mobile and stationary creations to ascend to parama padham), only he who granted parama padham to all the jIvAthmAs in ayOdhyA, is the one who will grant us too, our end goal [of carrying out kainkaryam to emperumAn and enjoying his resultant happiness]. The implied meaning is that it is enough if emperumAn showers his mercy on us.
Next, we will take up the 95th pAsuram of this prabandham.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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