SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
periya thirumozhi >> Fifth centum >> Eighth decad
Highlights from avathArikai (Introduction)
In the previous pAsurams, bhagavAn’s acceptance and kainkaryam, which is the result of such acceptance, were spoken about; here, Azhwar is saying “Just like you eliminated the hurdles for kainkaryam for SrI gajEndhrAzhwAn and engaged him in kainkaryam, you should eliminate my hurdles and engage me in kainkaryam”. Since lowliness should be announced for acceptance and kainkaryam, he did that before; to eliminate the hurdles, one’s lowliness need not be announced; acceptance will occur if one reaches out to the upAyam (means, that is bhagavAn); as bhagavAn becomes the upAyam, he will engage the servitor in his kainkaryam; now, the only thing which remains is the elimination of hurdles; the hurdles are in two forms – indhriya vaSyathA (bound by senses) and yama vaSyathA (bound by yama, the deity for death); in the subsequent pAsurams, yama vaSyathA is explained; here indhriya vaSyathA is explained. How is this done? AzhwAr is saying “Just as you eliminated the crocodile which was the hurdle for SrI gajEndhrAzhwAn, you should mercifully eliminate the senses which are my hurdles”. For a prapanna (surrendered person), indhriya vaSyathA starts from attachment towards worldly pleasures and goes up to having pride and possessiveness in kainkaryam.
pAsuram
kadigoL pUmbozhil kAmaru poygai
vaigu thAmarai vAngiya vEzham
mudiyum vaNNam Or muzhuvali mudhalai
paRRa * maRRadhu nin charaN ninaippak
kodiya vAy vilanginnuyir malangak
koNda sIRRam onRuNduLadhu aRindhu un
adiyanEnum vandhu adiyiNai adaindhEn
aNipozhil thiruvarangaththammAnE!
Word-by-Word meanings
kadi koL – having fragrance
pU – filled with flowers
pozhil – surrounded by orchards
kAmaru – desirable
poygai – in the pond
vaigu – present
thAmarai – lotus flower
vAngiya – plucked
vEzham – SrI gajEndhran [elephant]
mudiyum vaNNam – to terminate (its curse)
Or – contemplating
muzhuvali – having complete strength
mudhalai – crocodile
paRRa – as it tightly clutched
maRRu – further
adhu – that elephant
nin saraN – your divine feet
ninaippa – as it meditated upon (at that time)
kodiya – cruel
vAy – having mouth
vilangin – crocodile’s
uyir – life
malanga – to suffer
koNda – assumed
onRu – unique (for the sake of his devotee)
sIRRam – anger
uNdu – occurred
uLadhu – the anger which was present (to destroy the enemy of the devotee)
aRindhu – knowing
un – for you
adiyanEn – I, who am your servitor
vandhu – came helplessly
aNi – decorative
pozhil – surrounded by orchards
thiruvarangaththu – mercifully reclining in SrIrangam
ammAnE – Oh lord!
nin adiyiNai – your pair of divine feet
adaindhEn – I surrender unto
Simple translation
SrI gajEndhran (the elephant) plucked the lotus flower which was present in the desirable pond which was surrounded by orchards which are filled with fragrant flowers; the completely strong crocodile which was contemplating the means to terminate its curse, tightly clutched the elephant; as the elephant meditated on your divine feet, you assumed a unique anger to make the crocodile with cruel mouth, suffer. Oh lord who is mercifully reclining in SrIrangam which is surrounded by decorative orchards! I, who am your servitor and have come helplessly, surrender unto your pair of divine feet, considering the anger you had (towards the enemy of your devotee).
Highlights from vyAkyAnam (Commentary)
kadi koL … – It would have been enough to say “poygai vaigu thAmarai” (lotus in a pond) for the task taken up by SrI gajEndhrAzhwAn, i.e., to find a flower to offer to bhagavAn. Why is the pond described in this manner? Due to lack of rain, the whole world was tormented and there were no flowers anywhere; at that time, he observes this orchard in front of him; as he observes that the orchard is well grown, he assumed that he will find a pond inside.
kadi koL pUm pozhil – The orchard which has lots of fragrance and flowers. As he went towards the orchard, he was hit by the fragrance and understood that there is flower inside.
kAmaru poygai – Attractive pond. Being attractive means being very deep and making one jump into it without thinking “Would there be any dangerous entities inside?”
vaigu thAmarai – Due to lack of rain, the lotus flowers will leave everywhere else and will be present in the pond on the mountain top.
vAngiya vEzham – By its strength and eagerness, the elephant plucked it as if plucking something which was placed by self.
mudiyum vaNNam … – As it entered eagerly in this manner and plucked the flower, the crocodile which was contemplating “Will I see an elephant’s foot?” caught the elephant’s foot.
vEzham mudiyum vaNNam – The crocodile did not got hold of the elephant’s foot to kill it; but to be free from the curse, it had. AzhwAr is using these words out of his sorrow on thinking about the elephant’s situation.
Or mudhalai – Unique crocodile. This is not a crocodile which got hold of a favourable person’s (devotee’s) foot, for getting uplifted.
muzhu vali – Since the pond is not the natural habitat of the elephant, it lost its strength; but the crocodile became stronger since it was its natural habitat.
paRRa – As said in SrI rAmAyaNam ayOdhyA kANdam 31.2 “sa bhrAthuScharaNau gAdam nipIdya” (lakshmaNa, who brings joy to the clan of raghu and who is highly renowned, getting hold of his elder brother’s divine feet firmly), to have its desire fulfilled, it held the elephant’s foot tightly. Since the crocodile does not have any other faculty, it can only hold on with its mind.
maRRadhu – The elephant, subsequently. As said in vishNu dharmam 69-46 says “gaja AkarshathE dhIrE grAham AkarshathE jalE l thayOr dhvandhvasamam yudhdham dhivyam varshasahasrakam ll” (gajEndhran was pulling the crocodile towards land; crocodile was pulling the elephant towards water. This equal fight between them went on for thousand years by dhEvamAnam (one dhEvamAnam is equivalent to 360 earth years), for a long time, the crocodile pulled the elephant inside the pond and the elephant pulled the crocodile outside the pond, and the elephant finally lost its strength. ahankAram (pride) is the cause for non-attainment of the goal; if one drops that and surrenders to bhagavAn, he will accomplish his goal.
nin saraN ninaippa – While SrI gajEndhrAzhwAn was suffering in this manner, he did not call out for bhagavAn [initially]; the reason for that – he thought “Why should I disturb sarvESvaran for this small worm in water? let me defeat it”. bhagavAn is not unaware of his suffering; he thought “let me help him when he gives up his pride”.
saraN ninaippa – [vishNu dharmam “paramApadham Apanna:” SlOkam is explained] As SrI gajEndhrAzhwAn became weak and started meditating upon bhagavAn’s divine feet as said in vishNu dharmam “manasA chinthayan harIm” (thought about hari in his mind), he could have thought “I have been suffering for long, but he has not come to my rescue”, but did not think like that; “paramApadham Apanna:” The greatness of the danger is – it made sarvESvaran to come and help; the danger has become valuable. “nArAyaNa parAyaNa:” – Unlike brahmA et al who surrender unto bhagavAn for worldly benefits, SrI gajEndhrAzhwAn is surrendering to attain bhagavAn only. The body which tried for a long time, had become weak. Even the act of speech as said in siRiya thirumadal “nArAyaNA! Oh maNivaNNA!” (Oh nArAyaNa! Oh maNivaNNa!) became subdued and got to a state where he could only meditate in his mind as said in chAndhOgya upanishath “vAng manasi sampadhyathE” (speech dissolved into mind).
kodiya vAy vilangu – Crocodile clutched the elephant’s foot only; but AzhwAr’s divine heart is paining. One should think that – when a vaishNava is in danger, if one does not consider it to be danger for self, one is not having vaishNava quality. Just like when one’s son has enmity with someone, one should consider that to be one’s own; otherwise there will be shortcoming in the bodily affection. [Similarly, when a SrIvaishNava suffers, we should feel the pain.]
uyir malanga – Not just the body and senses, but the life which is the abode of prANa (vital air), to be tormented.
koNda sIRRam – Since it is said in SrI rAmAyaNam ayOdhyA kANdam 1.10 “sa cha nithyam prASAnthAthmA mrudhupUrvam cha bhAshathE uchyamAnOpi parusham nOththaram prathipadhyathE ” (always having a soft heart, he talks softly. Even if others use harsh words, he does not respond to that), not having anger in him, assuming the anger on himself as said in SrI rAmAyaNam yudhdha kANdam 24.34 “krOdhamAhArayath thIvram” (SrI rAma made himself very angry). SrI rAmAyaNam yudhdha kANdam 59.136 “kOpasya vaSamEyivAn” (he comes under the influence of anger). If the body gets hurt, the AthmA in the body will not remain quiet, just as the AthmA will go behind the body which is incidentally acquired for him. Just as the AthmA is bound by karma, bhagavAn is bound by his anugraham (mercy).
onRuNdu – Just as an impoverished person will hold on to a generous and rich person, AzhwAr is holding on to bhagavAn considering that bhagavAn has anger. sauSeelyam etc are qualities which facilitate surrender. But for eliminating the hurdles, anger is required.
un adiyanEnum vandhu adiyiNai adaindhEn – As one acquires svarUpa gyAnam (knowledge about true nature of the self), one should pursue the means which is appropriate for that true nature [i.e. surrender].
aNi pozhil … – As said in SrI rangarAja sthavam 2.57 “athanthritha chamUpathi prahithahastham asvIkrutha-praNItha maNi pAdhukam kimithi chAkulAntha:puram l avAhana parishkriyam pathagarAjamArOhatha: karipravarabrumhithE bhavathas thvarAyai nama: ll” (I offer my salutations to the speed of emperumAn, who, upon hearing the cry of gajEndhAn, disregarded the helping hand offered by sEnai mudhaliyAr [vishvaksEnar], did not accept the divine gemstone-studded sandals, with the divine consorts getting startled, wondering “What is this? What happened?”, without any decoration for the vehicle [garuda], mounted the divine garuda), you need not travel all the way up to the pond, since you are already reclining in the same water-body (samsAra) where I am caught. There was one crocodile; here we have five crocodiles (five senses). There the duration was limited as said in vishNu dharmam 69.46 “dhivyam varsha sahasrakam” (For thousand celestial years); here, duration is anAdhi (without a beginning). There the pond is limited in size; here it is samsArArNavam (the ocean of nescience) [without any limit].
In the next article we will enjoy the next pAsuram.
adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan
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