periyAzhwAr thirumozhi – 1.4 – than mugaththuch chutti

SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: Sri varavaramunayE nama:

In the previous decad, AzhwAr had assumed the pathos of yaSOdhAp pirAtti when she sang lullabies to put to sleep krishNa who was crying, in line with that age. Now, krishNa has crossed the stage of thottil paruvam (age when he is laid in the cradle) and started crawling on all fours. He goes to the nilAmuRRam (courtyard where shining moon is seen), plays with the dirt and sand there and calls out to chandhran (moon). AzhwAr recalls the manner in which yaSOdhAp pirAtti would enjoy all these activities of krishNa’s, feeling happy and calling chandhran several times over, and he too experiences her emotions and becomes joyous.

In paramapadham, just as it has been mentioned in chAndhOgya upanishath “avAkyanAdhara:” (emperumAn does not speak to anyone and is indifferent), emperumAn does not speak to anyone and since there is no entity who would speak a word to him, looking at his face, he is indifferent. In leelA vibhUthi (materialistic realm), he incarnates of his own volition, in order to protect his followers, in various species. Once he incarnates in a specific species, in line with the activities of that species, he too follows all the activities, right from birth. Since AzhwArs have been mercifully granted knowledge and devotion, without any shortcoming, by emperumAn himself, they will enjoy every activity of his, which could be either due to his eminence or his simplicity, immersing themselves in such activities. Unlike the other AzhwArs, this AzhwAr [periyAzhwAr], due to his overflowing affection for emperumAn, takes on the pathos of herd-people, without missing on any of his divine activities. As a result, he enjoys his activities of playing with dirt, calling out to chandhran etc, just as yaSOdhAp pirAtti had done, at the same time that she had enjoyed.

thiruvAimozhip piLLai, in his svApadhESam, says the following: in the previous decad, even after telling krishNa not to cry, since he continued crying, she carried him to the courtyard and showed him chandhran. Upon seeing him, when little krishNa, after stopping his crying, asked her to get him chandhran, she told him, so that he would not feel let down, “I will get you chandhran, now itself”. She then called out to chandhran many times “ambulee, vA [oh, chandhran, come]” Looking at the way that krishNa was enjoying this play-out, in line with his incarnation in the human species, AzhwAr thinks “If I tell him that there is no need to call out to chandhran, he [krishNa] will get upset. I have to ensure that he is happy; only then would his activities of eminence and simplicity be manifested”. Thus, he allows krishNa to carry out his activities and calls out to mangaLASAsanaparars (those who carry out mangaLASAsanam [praising emperumAn and wishing him well] to emperumAn) as “viN thanil manniya mAmadhI” (Oh, chandhran, who is dwelling in the sky).

Will the term “mAmadhi” refer to people who have knowledge? [mathi refers to knowledge; thus, how could knowledge be considered as a person / persons?]. Just as it has been mentioned in thaiththirIya upanishath Anadhavalli “vigyAnam yagyam thanuthE” (knowledge is carrying out ritual), the term vigyAnam refers to the person who has knowledge. In the same way, madhi or mAmadhi would refer to the person who has that knowledge, in line with the axiom “thathguNasArathvAth thathvyapadhESa:” [the one identified by a quality is referred to by that quality itself] [mathi would refer to people who think that emperumAn is the protector and we are all, the protected; mAmadhi would refer to people who think that emperumAn has to be protected and we are the protectors, like AzhwAr himself]. In SrI rAmAyaNam, after SrI rAma observed SaraNAgathi and carried out penance for three days, when samudhra rAjan [king of oceans] did not turn up, thiruvadi [hanuman], who is also a mangaLASAsanaparar, knowing the divine mind of SrI rAma, told him “Is it not running in the mind of your highness, that this entity [samudhra rAjan] should come? Please call him out at once”. The underlying principle behind mangaLASAsanam is that when emperumAn desires something, we should enjoy that and assist him in that. If he does not like something, we should also ignore that. It is not correct to tell him “This is not correct”, since emperumAn desires in engaging in an activity which is true to the species in which he has incarnated.

Since krishNa has asked yaSOdhAp pirAtti for “manniya mAmadhiyaip pidiththuth thA” (give me chandhran, who is in the sky), it is clearly shown that it is only through an AchAryan (guru, teacher) that knowledge could be obtained for any disciple [here, yaSOdhAp pirAtti is in the position of an AchAryan, krishNa is in our [disciples’] position and chandhran is in the position of those with knowledge]. An AchAryan will call out to those with knowledge and ask the disciples to follow them, just as yaSOdhAp pirAtti called out to chandhran to make krishNa happy.

We shall next consider the 1^st pAsuram of this thirumozhi.

adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan

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