SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImadh varavara munayE nama:
avathArikai (Introduction) – she tells the clouds to convey her desire to thiruvEngadaththAn (the lord of thiruvEngadam), keeping periya pirAttiyAr (SrI mahAlakshmi) as the purushakAra bhUthai (recommending entity).
minnAgaththu ezhuginRa mEgangAL! vEngadaththuth
thannAgath thirumangai thangiya sIr mArvarkku
ennAgaththu iLam kongai virumbiththAm nAL thORum
ponnAgam pulgudhaRku en purivudaimai seppuminE
Word-by-Word Meanings
Agaththu min ezhuginRa mEgangAL – Oh, clouds, which have lightning formed in your form!
en Agaththu – present on my chest
iLam kongai – youthful bosoms
thAm virumbi – that emperumAn desiring
pon Agam pulgudhaRku – in the matter of embracing with his beautiful chest
nAL thORum – permanently
en purivudaimai – the desire which I have
vEngadaththu – in thirumalai
than Agam – on his divine form
thirumangai thangiya sIr mArvarkku – to the one who has the distinction of having a divine chest on which pirAtti has mercifully taken residence
sepumin – tell him
Simple Translation
Oh, clouds, which have lightning striking in your form! emperumAn is residing in thirumalai, carrying the distinction of having pirAtti on his divine form. Tell him my desire that he should embrace my youthful bosoms, which are present on my chest, permanently, with his beautiful chest, desirously.
vyAkyAnam (Commentary)
minnAgaththezhuginRa mEgangAL – the meaning hinted by ANdAL here is: Oh, clouds, you resemble his divine form, which was said as in thaiththirIya upanishath nArAyaNavalli 11 “neelathOyadha madhyasthA vidhyullEkEva bhAsvarA” (the divine form of emperumAn is radiant like the lightning imbibed by the bluish clouds) and in thiruchchandha viruththam 28 “neelamuNda minnanna mEnip perumAn” (the divine form of emperumAn is like a bluish cloud which has swallowed lightning), in both the samskrutha vEdham and dhrAvida vEdham. During the time of separation from him, you manifest your forms, which match his form, to me, reminding me about him. If it is possible, you should make attempts to unite me with him. Isn’t lightning formed when clouds collide with each other? She refers to this through the term AgaththezhuginRa. Alternatively, by splitting the verse as min nAgaththu ezhuginRa where the word nAgam would refer to sky, we can construe the meaning for this verse to be – Oh clouds which rise up such that lightning appears in the sky. Just as emperumAn has periya pirAtti, who is like lightning, on his divine chest, these clouds too have lightning formed on their divine forms. Just as periya pirAttiyAr, who is like a lamp, shows the divine, dark form of emperumAn, these clouds too roam around, manifesting their dark forms with the help of lightning.
mEgangAL – the opinion is that seeing the clouds for her was similar to periya udaiyAr (jatAyu, the king of vultures) appearing in the sky during the calamitous time when rAvaNa was abducting sIthAp pirAtti.
vEngadaththu – you do not have to cross the ocean or to annihilate enemies, like hanuman did. I am not sending you to SrIvaikuNtam, which was described in mUnRAm thiruvandhAdhi 51 as ”kalangAp perunagaram” (the great place which is without any bewilderment), as my messenger. Am I not sending you to thiruvEngadam, which is easily accessible for you!
thannAgath thirumangai thangiya sIr mArbarkku – she says that she is sending them as her messenger since his divine form is such that unless embraced by him, she cannot sustain herself. Even as periya pirAttiyAr is dwelling on his divine chest, just as it has been mentioned in thiruvAimozhi 6-10-10 “agalagillEn iRaiyum enRu” (I cannot leave [the divine chest] even for a moment]), she would get bewildered as to what harm will befall him and hence dwells permanently on his divine chest. One who has such a divine chest. The opinion is that he has the divine chest in which periya pirAttiyAr dwells constantly so that she could recommend ANdAL and other consorts who desire to embrace his divine chest such that they would be able to sustain themselves and such that she too could get her existence (through her role of purushakAra bhUthai). She tells the clouds to inform emperumAn “Could I bear it when I, who am new to this experience, am denied the opportunity to embrace the divine chest, if periya pirAtti herself cannot sustain without embracing that chest?” When periya pirAtti is residing on his divine chest as the purushakAra bhUthai, how could I lose him and not attain him? The opinion is that since periya pirAtti is constantly embracing him, residing on his chest, there is no need for anyone to teach him about literature on love.
ennAgaththu iLam kongai virumbi – the implied meaning is that she, being a young person, would have much younger bosoms than periya pirAttiyAr, who is much older. Could my bosoms wait just like sIthAp pirAtti did, as it has been said in SrI rAmAyaNam sundhara kANdam 39-30 “Saraisthu sankulAm kruthvA lankAm parabalArthdhana: l mAm nayEdh yadhi kAkuthsthas that thasya sadhruSam bhavEth ll” (If SrI rAmapirAn, who annihilates the strength of his enemies, bewilders lankA with his arrows and takes me with him, it will be apt for him)?
iLam kongai – my bosoms are like children who will not listen to their mothers. They will not be patient if I tell them “We could embrace his divine chest, after a while”. Has she herself not mentioned in nAchchiyAr thirumozhi 5-7 “en kongai kiLarndhu kumaiththuk kudhukaliththu Aviyai Agulam seyyum” (my bosoms will swell, become joyful, melt and make my life distressed)?
iLam kongai virumbithth thAm – just as sIthAp pirAtti had told hanuman in SrI rAmAyaNam sundhara kANdam 40-3 “yathA tham purushavyAgram gAthrai: SOkAbhikarSithai: l samsrupSEyam sakAmA’ham thathA kuru dhayAm mayi :” (you should mercifully shower your grace on me such that I, who am withering due to my sorrow, would be able to touch desirously SrI rAma, who is like a tiger among men, with my limbs), she tells the clouds “My bosoms are desirous of embracing him, they should be made to embrace him. Just as when one is hungry, another has a feast, if this body were to fall down without embracing him, it should not happen that I have to take another birth to fulfil the desire. Make sure that I am able to embrace him with my bosoms which desire to embrace him”.
nAL thORum – at all times. The desire [to embrace emperumAn] is such that even as it desires, the enjoyment should be forever. For the verse iLam kongai thAm virumbi it could also be construed as – the bosoms which emperumAn desired.
thannAgath thirumangai thangiya sIr marvarkku ennAgathu iLam kongai thAm virumbi nAL thORum ponnAgam pulgudhaRku en purivudaimai – Here, the term ponnAgam would refer to distinguished chest. Since she has said “Tell him my desire to embrace his distinguished chest”, it is clear that she is not one who could sustain herself by recalling that time when she had united with him.
en purivudaimai – when she was united with him, since he was purushOththaman (best among men), when he expressed his desire, she did that, in line with her femineity. As one who was totally dependent on him and as one who was his distinguished consort, she listened to him, who was totally independent. Now, due to the distress of having separated from him, since she has reached the stage where she is indulging in activities such as sending messengers etc, which are inappropriate for her femineity, she is telling the clouds “Convey my desire to him”. It is appropriate for an owner to desire the owned, but not the converse. Now, since the owned has started to desire to attain the owner, she says “The rakshya-rakshaka bhAvam (the concept of protected and protector) has got interchanged” and “Both our svarUpams (basic nature) have got destroyed”. Isn’t she thinking “It is not appropriate for my svarUpam to indulge in activities such as send+-ing messenger to him and attempting to attain him”?
seppuminE – the opinion is that she wants him to hear from them [clouds] that she has the deep affection towards him which he does not have. thAthparyarathnAvaLi 3 says “dhESikAsthathra dhUthA:” (in svApadhESam (distinguished meaning), clouds etc which are sent as messengers refer to AchAryas (preceptors)). As mentioned in this, she is telling purushakAra bhUthars (those who recommend to emperumAn regarding chEthanas) “In order to remove the deficiency of our not uniting with him, convey to him our present status”
Next, we will consider the 5th pAsuram of this decad.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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