SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
periya thirumozhi >> Eighth centum >> First decad
Highlights from avathArikai (Introduction)
Since the divine mother enjoyed the words of her daughter parakAla nAyaki, she is repeating those words herself and enjoying it.
pAsuram
silai ilangu ponnAzhi thiN padai thaNdu oNsangam enginRALAl
malai ilangu thOL nAngE maRRavanukku eRRE kAN enginRALAl
mulai ilangu pUm payalai munbOda anbOdi irukkinRALAl
kalai ilangu mozhiyALar kaNNapuraththu ammAnaik kaNdAL kolO?
Word-by-Word meanings
silai – (my daughter is saying) SrI SArngam
ilangu – shining
pon – attractive
Azhi – divine chakra
thiN – strong
padai – divine sword
thaNdu – divine mace
oN – beautiful
sangam – SrI pAnchajanyam
enginRAL – is saying;
Al – Alas!
avanukku – for such emperumAn
maRRu – further (as ornament)
malai – like a mountain
ilangu – shining (in an unbreakable manner)
nAngu thOLE – he is having four divine shoulders
enginRALAl – is saying; alas!
eRRE – How amazing
kAN – see (this);
mulai – on the bosom
ilangu – shining
pU – beautiful
payalai – paleness (due to separation)
munbu – in front
Oda – as it goes (chasing it)
anbu – love
Odi – to go
irukkinRAL – she is present;
kalai – SAsthrams
ilangu – shining
mozhiyALar – having words (residing)
kaNNa puraththu – mercifully present in thirukkaNNapuram
ammAnai – the lord, SaurirAjan
kaNdAL kolO – did she see to the satisfaction of her eyes and worship him?
Simple translation
My daughter is saying “He is having SrI SArngam, shining and attractive divine chakra, strong divine sword, divine mace and beautiful SrI pAnchajanyam”; alas! Further, she is saying “He is having mountain-like four shining, divine shoulders”; alas! See, how amazing it is! She is present in the manner that the shining, beautiful paleness of her bosom is going in front and her love is chasing it to follow it; did she see to the satisfaction of her eyes and worship the lord, SaurirAjan who is mercifully present in thirukkaNNapuram where those who are having words which are shining with SAsthrams are residing? In this, the term “Al” indicates sorrow.
Highlights from vyAkyAnam (Commentary)
Continued from previous article …
mulai ilangu … – The love towards bhagavAn will not be the same as love towards worldly things. This is the difference between those who see bhagavAn by his mercy and those who have love towards bhagavAn by their own efforts in eliminating their sins. For those who have developed love towards bhagavAn by their own efforts, the love will be first and then paleness in separation; unlike that, here, paleness in separation occurs first [very quickly] and the love follows that. Alternatively – the paleness which is shining on the bosom. The paleness is said as “pIrkku pUththadhu” (the flower of pIrkkangAy, which is known as sponge gourd or luffa, has blossomed). thamizh people would relate paleness with the pIrkkam flower. Alternatively – pU indicates beauty, the paleness shining on bosom indicating paleness to be a decoration for the bosom. That is – when the girl is young, they would not have pearl necklace etc, paleness will be the decoration for the bosoms. When in separation from the beloved hero, if a girl’s bosom is not becoming pale, it will be as good as a wooden bosom [which is worn by male actors while dressing up as a woman]. Even after separation, if she does not become pale, there would be no difference between a man and a woman [a woman will usually feel more sorrow in separation]; hence let us bow down for her love.
payalai munbOda anbOdi irukkinRALAl – Her state is not the same as in the state of worldly people. While for worldly people, due to non-attainment of the beloved person, one attains paleness, here, for her, paleness leads the way and love is following it. That which immediately precedes kAryam (effect) is known as kAraNam (cause); here – there is no scope for such understanding. Why is it said like that? Is paleness acquired by the non-attainment of something which is loved? Since these are spoken by the divine mother of parakAla nAyaki, she only speaks about what she saw and experienced. Though love comes first and then comes paleness, the mother sees the paleness only first. Only based on the paleness in her body and her speech, the mother has determined her sorrow in separation. Since the mother first grasped the paleness, she speaks about that first. [On the other hand, as explained previously] Based on bhagavAn’s greatness, the sequence will also be reversed.
When asked “How did you know about this?” The mother says
kalai ilangu mozhiyALar … – It is possible to consider that the reason for her paleness is something else; but to not think that way, her words are proving that she is caught in his matter. That is – she is always reciting the names of his divine weapons. [Here, parakAla nAyaki herself is highlighted as “kalai ilangu mozhiyALar“]
kalai ilangu mozhiyALar – Even in the words spoken by the residents of thirukkaNNapuram, for their worldly livelihood such as “eat, dress up”, we can count all of the different SAsthrams which they have learnt as in “They have learnt so and so SAsthrams”. kalai – all of the vidhyAsthalams (SAsthrams). In their speech, SAsthram will be shining. They speak in a manner where SAsthram shines in it.
Her words are such that she has more bonding towards those residents of thirukkaNNapuram who can reveal what is not seen by eyes, than me who gave birth to her and raised for a long time – that is how her words are. SrI rAmAyaNam bAla kANdam 6.8 “dhrashtum SakyamayOdhyAyAm nAvidhvAn na cha nAsthika: | sarvE narAScha nAryaScha dharmaSeelA: susamyathA: ||” (There was none who was immoral in ayOdhyA. There was neither anyone ignorant nor was there any person who did not believe in the SAsthram. All men and women with controlled senses were always engaged in dharmic actions). For 60,000 years king dhaSaratha protected his people of ayOdhyA from enemies and took care of the welfare of his kingdom. But he was unable to produce two things – an ignorant person and an atheistic person who would reject the meanings of vEdham. The residents of that town would not think “Let any one of the princes be coronated”. If perumAL (SrI rAma) was not coronated, they would say that we will not live in this capital city where SrI rAma is not coronated and let wherever we fall down become our cremation ground as said in SrI rAmAyaNam ayOdhyA kANdam 47-7 “ihaiva nidhanam yAmO mahAprasthAnamEva vA I rAmENa rahithAnAm thu kimarththam jIvitham hi na:” (There is no life for us without SrI rAma; we will die here or go on a yAthra without a plan to return). As said in SrI rAmAyaNam ayOdhyA kANdam 48.27 “rAmamEvAnugachchathvam aSruthim vApi gachchatha” (The women expressed to their men, “we do not want to even hear your names if you do not follow and go behind SrI rAma”), when the men returned home after being unable to follow SrI rAma into the forest, the women of ayOdhyA slammed the doors on their faces and pushed them away. dharmaSeelA: – They consider following SrI rAma to be the ultimate dharmam. susamyathA: – Their hearts will not think about benefit for self. The residents of this town are also like that.
kaNNapuraththu ammAnaik kaNdAL kolO – In SrIvaikuNtam, he remains greater than all; in vibhavam (incarnations), he will manifest supremacy in human forms; unlike that, it looks like she has understood that supremacy is present in archAvathAram even more than in vibhavAvathAram. In SrIvaikuNtam, he presents himself for the enjoyment of nithyasUris; in vibhavams, occasionally, he will let a few like vidhura, Sabhari et al enjoy him; but archAvathAram is the place for even those who are from subsequent times as said in thirunedundhANdagam 10 “pinnAnAr vaNangum sOdhi thirumUzhikkaLam” (The radiant light who is present in thirumUzhikkaLam to be worshipped by all, even from the future). An entity is praised by its quality. Only in archAvathAram, such greatness of manifesting many auspicious qualities is present. For upAsakas (bhakthi yOga followers) there is a lengthy process of first meditating upon bhagavAn here in this world, and then subsequently multiple levels of upAsana; but in archAvathAram, for those who surrender fully to archAvathAram, everything is complete in this form. If a person goes to the seashore and looks at the sea to his vicinity and thinks “the sea is only as big as it is visible”, the sea does not shrink because of his thought; similarly, if he eliminates the shortcomings in his understanding and thinks “everything is complete in archAvathAram”, that will be the case. If he thinks inferior about archAvathAram thinking “I have made him come close to me and mercifully remain here”, then he will be the loser. Judging the archA form based on the raw material it is made of, would be similar to doubting one’s own mother’s chastity.
kaNNapuraththu ammAnai – The lord who is standing there, revealing the full greatness of archAvathAra dhivyadhESams.
kaNdAL kolO – Does not appear to be knowledge acquired just by hearing. For us who have heard her words, we will know as those who know by seeing directly.
kaNdAL kolO – While she should hide what she knows in front of me, who gave birth to her after a lengthy penance, if she is revealing this in front of me, she must have had a unique vision. Only bhagavAn can make people forget all their past impressions on just being seen once. The residents of the town have SAsthram shining in their speech; similarly observing her speech, we can say that she has entered into thirukkaNNapuram and has directly seen Saurip perumAL. The thoughts of the heart will be visible in her words. Here, AzhwAr himself is enjoying as thiruththAyAr (divine mother) and peNpiLLai (parakAla nAyaki, the daughter). Just as rivers flood, they will spread out through big canals, small canals, channels etc, but would still join into the ocean without any loss of water, AzhwAr is assuming the moods of different personalities. Otherwise, he would not conclude “kaNNapuraththu ammAnaik kaliyan sonna” (The lord of thirukkaNNapuram spoken by AzhwAr) in the final pAsuram.
silai … – Just as she abandoned everything related to her [mother], she cannot abandon anything related to her beloved lord. [His features] Will make both favourable and unfavourable to keep speaking about him. thiruvAimozhi 4.2.9 “sangennum chakkaramennum” (says “Sankha, chakra”).
In the next article we will enjoy the next pAsuram.
adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan
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