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periyAzhwAr thirumozhi >> Second Centum >> Eighth decad
avathArikai (Introduction)
There is no specific avathArikai for this pAsuram.
kanRugaL illam pugundhu kadhaRuginRa pasu ellAm
ninRu ozhindhEn unnaik kUvi nEsamEl onRum ilAdhAy!
manRil nillEl andhippOdhu madhiL thiruveLLaRai ninRAy!
nanRu kaNdAy endhan sollu nAn unnaik kAppida vArAy
Word-by-Word Meanings
pasu ellAm – all the cows
kanRugaL illam – in the place where calves stand
pugundhu – entering
kadhaRuginRa – were mooing aloud, since they [owners of the cows] neither let the calves to drink their milk nor let them be milked, leading to pain in the udder due to excessive secretion
of milk
unnaik kUvi – calling out to you
ninRu ozhindhEn – I stood
(since I was focussed on calling out to you, there was none to let the calves to drink milk from the cows; hence, the cows were crying out; the purpose of saying this is that krishNa should come at once to enable her to carry out kAppu)
nEsam onRum – not even a little bit of affection towards me (the syllable El in nEsamEl is for poetic metric; it does not have a meaning)
ilAdhAy! – oh, one who is without [that affection]!
andhip pOdhu – at dusk
manRil – at the junction of four streets
nillEl – do not stand
madhiL – having fortified walls
thiruveLLaRai – in thiruveLLaRai
ninRAy – oh, one who is standing and showering your mercy!
en than – your mother, my
sollu – word
nanRu kaNdAy – will be good for you, you will see
Simple Translation
Calling out to you repeatedly, I have stood, doing nothing else. Cows have entered the area where calves are standing and are crying out, since they have pain in their udders due to excessive secretion of milk, which has not been removed either through the calves drinking or the cows being milked. Oh, one who is without even an iota of affection towards me! During the time of dusk, do not stand at the junction of four streets. Oh, one who is mercifully standing at thiruveLLaRai! You would see that my, your mother’s, words are apt for you.
vyAkhyAnam (Commentary)
kanRu … – Cows entered the place where calves have been kept; since there was none to let the calves to drink their milk or to milk them [the cows], with excessive secretion of milk, their udders became painful for them and they started mooing loudly. Alternatively, the term kadhaRuginRa could be added to both the calves and the cows. In this case, the meaning would be: the calves entered the cattle-shed, and since they were not allowed to drink milk from the cows, were mooing loudly; the cows, standing outside, not able to nurse their calves or none to milk them, were mooing loudly due to pain in their udders. When krishNa asked her “They are mooing aloud since you have not let the calves to go and drink their milk. Why didn’t you do it?” yaSOdhAp pirAtti says …
thiruvAimozhip piLLai, in his svApadhESam, says additionally that yaSOdhAp pirAtti asks krishNa “If they do not give milk, how will you eat?
ninRozhindhEn unnaik kUvi – I have stood here, calling out to you. Who will look after them there? Just as the cows keep mooing, thinking of their calves, I am standing here, calling out to you.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here: yaSOdhAp pirAtti tells krishNa “You are not coming when I call you” Is it only this much?
nEsamEl onRum ilAdhAy – Oh, one who is without any affection towards me! Shouldn’t you have the affection towards me, which the calves have towards their mothers who are mooing for them? You are without even a little bit of that affection. When krishNa responds saying “Am I without any affection towards you? Is it not for playing, that I stood outside?” she tells him …
thiruvAimozhip piLLai continues here, from the previous verse: yaSOdhAp pirAtti further tells krishNa “It is not that you do not have any affection towards me, thinking ‘We will not go to the place where she is calling me’. Apart from the affection that I should control you and make you carry out what I tell you, you do not have any affection for me. Beyond this, you do not have any affection for me”
manRil nillEl andhippOdhu – Do not stand at the junction of four streets during dusk time when lowly deities roam around there. This is neither the place nor the time for playing.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says additionally here: The other boys, who were playing with you, have gone to their respective house. You may not know about yourself; should you remain without any care, not knowing about me too?
madhiL thiruveLLaRai ninRAy – Oh, one who is mercifully standing in thiruveLLaRai, which has fortified walls such that those who carry out mangaLASAsanam for you, do not need to fear for you! Instead of going out repeatedly, if you stay within that protection, there is no need for me to fear for your well-being.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here: yaSOdhAp pirAtti thinks that if krishNa were to come inside the protective walls, she could, without any stress on her, look after the calves, ask the herd-men to milk the cows and look after her house chores. The protective walls in thiruveLLaRai are such that the mangaLASAsanaparars [those who wish well for emperumAn and praise him] could sleep without any care in the world.
nanRu kaNdAy endhan sollu – Despite her saying these worlds, since krishNa did not heed her, she tells him “You would see that my words would do good for you. Heed them”. This is similar to her words, as mentioned in periyAzhwAr thirumozhi 2.2.5 “thAyar vAychchol karumam kaNdAy” (children should necessarily listen to their mothers’ words).
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here: AzhwAr tells krishNa that these words are good for her, for him, for the calves which krishNa desires and for the cows, which give milk.
nAn unnaik kAppu ida vArAy – You should come such that I, who am having plenty of affection towards you, would be able to carry out kAppu [protection] continuously for you, when you have such saukumAryam (tenderness) etc.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that AzhwAr’s nAn [as in I will carry out kappU for you] is as follows: he [thiruvAimozhi piLLai] explains the terms nAn and unnai with reference to rahasya thrayam [three esoteric manthrams]. [nAn would refer to one who has ego, while adiyEn would refer to one who is a servitor. thiruvAimozhip piLLai explains the background for AzhwAr using the term nAn]. In thirumanthram, the first word Om has three syllables, a, u, and ma, with a hidden case Aya over the first syllable, a. Here, the syllable a refers to emperumAn (1) who is kAraNam, [the cause of everything], (2) who is rakshakan [the protector] and (3) who is SEshi [lord of all], the syllable ma refers to jIvAthmA [soul], u refers to exclusive servitude of jIvAthmA towards emperumAn, and Aya, the case hidden over a, refers to ‘for’. Thus, the meaning here is that jIvAthmA is a servitor, exclusively for emperumAn. In the third word of this rahasyam, there is a term Aya [nArAyaNAya], which refers to prArthanA [praying to emperumAn to accept service from jIvAthmA for emperumAn who is together with pirAtti]. The person who says nAn, thus starts with knowing that he carries out servitude exclusively for emperumAn [as denoted by the third syllable ma, in Om, moves on to know that he is praying to emperumAn to grant him that servitude, through Aya, in the last syllable of thirumanthram. Thus, AzhwAr says that he is a servitor, exclusively to emperumAn, constantly praying to him to grant him the opportunity to carry out mangaLASAsanam to both emperumAn and pirAtti [Hence, there is nothing egoistic here, when AzhwAr uses the term nAn]. Similarly, the term unnai [krishNa] refers to a, the first syllable in the first rahasyam denoting emperumAn as the causative entity, protector and lord of all. In the third rahasyam, charama SlOkam [ultimate hymn], there is a term aham, which emperumAn speaks of himself as one who is (1) sarvagyan [omniscient], (2) sarva Sakthan [omnipotent], (3) prApthan [one who is to be attained] and (4) pUrNan [one who is complete in all aspects]. Through the term unnai, the servitor starts with knowing that emperumAn is the cause, he is the protector and is the lord, gradually going on to understand in the charama SlOkam that emperumAn is the omniscient, omnipotent, goal to be reached and complete in all aspects. Thus, AzhwAr refers to krishNa as the entity who is the causative factor for all, who is the protector and who is the lord of all. He also says that krishNa is the omniscient, omnipotent entity, who is to be attained and who is complete in all aspects. Thus, we can see here that even when AzhwAr says nAn, he knows that emperumAn is the lord and that he [AzhwAr] is the servitor. Also, he is an eminent entity [emperumAn, who denotes all the meanings as seen above in the syllables a and aham] who is standing mercifully in thiruveLLaRai.
Now, unnai should be transformed as unakku, ‘for you’ [Hence, AzhwAr says nAn unakkuk kAppida vArAy,viz., come such that I could perform kAppu for you]. This is similar to periya thirumozhi 8.9.3 “kaNNapuram onRu udaiyAnukku” (for the one who has thirukkaNNapuram as his distinguished divine abode).
thiruvAimozhip piLLai further says that the term manRu (as in manRil) refers to the intersection of four streets, where many people will meet and go about their ways. He says that this is also the place where those who have predominance of rajO guNam (with qualities of desire, passion, aggression etc), who follow the rituals mentioned in the first part of vEdham [karma kANdam, carrying out rituals which are ordained and also those which are done towards fulfilment of a desire {kAmya karmam)] visit frequently. Since they desire other purushArthams instead of emperumAn, AzhwAr too does not think about them. The term kanRu refers to those who follow what has been ordained and who are incapable of protecting themselves. The term pasukkaL refers to those whose sorrow will not be removed unless they call those who are incapable of protecting themselves [who are like calves] and protect them.
We shall next consider the 3rd pAsuram of this thirumozhi.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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