SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImadh varavara munayE nama:
avathArikai (Introduction) – they tell him in this pAsuram “Do not destroy the beautiful toy houses which we have built painstakingly”
inRumuRRum mudhugunOva irundhu izhaiththa ichchiRRilai
nanRum kaNNuRa nOkki nAngaLum Arvam thannaith thaNi kidAy
anRu bAlaganAgi Alilai mEl thuyinRa em AdhiyAy!
enRum unRanakku engaL mEl irakkam ezhAdhadhu em pAvamE
Word-by-Word Meanings
inRu muRRum – throughout the day
mudhugu nOva – with the back hurting
irundhu – remaining like a stationary statue
izhaiththa – carried out painstakingly
i – this
siRRilai – toy-house [made of sand]
nAngaLum – we
nanRu – well
kaN – eyes
uRa nOkki – seeing such that they [eyes] reach the target
Arvam thanai – our eagerness
thaNi kidAy – you should fulfil [our desire]
anRu – during the time of great deluge
bAlaganAgi – as an infant
Alilai mEl – on a tender banyan leaf
thuyinRa – one who mercifully reclined
em – for us
AdhiyAy – Oh, the causative factor!
unRanakku – for you
engal mEl – in our matters
enRum – at any time
irakkam ezhAdhadhu – reason for not having sympathy
em – our
pAvamE – only ill-deeds
Simple Translation
Throughout the day, with our backs hurting, we had remained like a statue and painstakingly created these toy-houses. You should fulfil our desire of seeing these well, with our eyes. Oh, our causative factor who lay down on a tender banyan leaf, as an infant, at the time of the great deluge! The reason for your not having any sympathy towards us is only our ill-deeds.
vyAkyAnam (Commentary)
inRu muRRum – Just as nammAzhwAr had said in thiruvAimozhi 10-3-1 “oru pagal Ayiram UzhiyAlo” (it appeared to the cowherd girls that the noon-time when kaNNan had gone out for grazing the cows was a great length of time), while they were building the toy houses only for a day, it appeared to extend to a thousand kalpams [one kalpam is the equivalent of brahmA’s one day, which in terms of our earth-years will be 4.32 billion years].
mudhugu nOva – chAndhOgya upanishath 6-2-3 says “thadhaikshatha bahusyAm prajAyEyEthi thaththEjo’Srutha” (that supreme entity took a sankalpam (vow) ‘Let me multiply manifold’; it created radiance). The underlying meaning is: if we had created the toy houses just as you created the universe through your vow, we would have consoled ourselves saying “What effort did we take to create these? Let them get destroyed; it is alright”. However, since we laboured through the day with our physical forms, we cannot keep quiet when you destroy our toy houses.
mudhugu nOva – if they tell him about the pain which they endured in their backs when building the toy houses, they thought that he will stop destroying their houses and instead, he will massage their backs. Instead of standing at a distance and kicking their sand houses, they thought that he will come close to them and stroke their backs gently, to relieve them of their pain. Initially, they were born as abalai (weak) girls. Further, on getting separated from emperumAn, they became wizened. Along with that, just as it has been mentioned in nAchchiyAr thirumozhi 13-3 “nenjUduruva EvuNdu nilaiyum thaLarndhu” (with the heart burnt fully and reaching a state of ruin), they have reached the stage of despair. Moreover, since they have been eating butter etc, due to their soft nature, they could not tolerate the hard work. Hence, they say mudhugu nOva.
irundhu – these people are wandering aimlessly, due to separation from kaNNan. Keeping them in one place is similar to holding wind and keeping it in one place.
izhaiththa – when their hearts have gone out to kaNNan, is it not a stupendous job that they could build toy houses!
ichchiRRilai – did you see the beauty of these toy houses? Should you destroy them after seeing them? The wise people will not destroy such toy houses, once they see them. Hence, you, having great knowledge, will not destroy them.
Considering that kaNNan is asking them “If I destroy these houses, how will you be affected?”, they say
nanRum kaNNuRa nOkki – Are these houses not built painstakingly with our backs aching? They say that if you destroy them, we could not see them properly, with our eyes. When kaNNan asks them “How is it that when you were building them, you did not see them?” they respond, saying “When we were building them, we saw them only part by part. After building them fully, we have not seen them in full. You should shower your mercy such that we could see them”; kannan says “I have seen them fully and am happy. Is that not enough?” They reply, saying …
nAngaLum Arvam thannaith thaNikidAy – Will you not fulfil our desire of looking at them once and satisfying our eagerness? kaNNan says “I am a small child. I do not have the knowledge which will tell me that helping others is the greatest benefit”. To this, they respond saying …
anRu bAlanAgi Alilai mEl thuyinRa em AdhiyAy – They say that even when you were a child, it was your wont to indulge in activities which will increase our fear. When there was deluge, you reclined on a tender leaf, after swallowing all the worlds and carried out all the activities which you would do, lying in the cradle made by yaSOdhAp pirAtti. While there was a mother to protect you when you were in the cradle, there was none when you reclined on the banyan leaf. You created fear in us by that posture, when, if you had moved a bit, you would have got drowned in the deluge.
AdhiyAy – You tried to destroy yourself, when you are the reason for our existence. Adhi – reason for existence. The opinion here is that when he was an infant, he had created fear in them; now, when he is a child, it is no surprise that he was trying to destroy their houses.
enRum ….. em pAvamE – on that day, when you were reclining on the banyan leaf, you tried to destroy us by creating fear in us. Now, you are destroying our toy houses, like this. Thus, in our matters, you have always been without any compassion.
irakkam ezhAdhadhu em pAvamE – it cannot be said that you lack in compassion when you have taken a vow to protect the entire world. It is because of our bad deeds that it [your compassion] is not active in our matter. This is similar to sIthAp pirAtti blaming herself in SrI rAmAyaNam sundhara kANdam SlOkam 38-48 “mamaiva dhushkrutham kinchinmahadhasthi na samSaya: | samarthAvapi thau yanmAm nAvEkshEthE paranthapau ll” (From the way SrI rAma and lakshmaNa, who are intelligent and who are capable of hurting their enemies, are not bothered about me, there is no doubt that I have committed a huge sin)
Next, we will consider the 3rd pAsuram of this decad.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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