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periyAzhwAr thirumozhi >> Third Centum >> Seventh decad
avathArikai
thiruvAimozhip piLLai, in his svApadhESam, says the following: The daughter, due to her overflowing affection for krishNa, was certain that he would come [to see her]. Thinking “He is one who likes to look at auspicious features. He should not look at my wizened state”, she decorates herself. What would happen if he had seen her pitiable state? He would have felt ashamed and sorrowful, taking responsibility for her condition, thinking “It is due to our thinking that she has not attained the state of maturity that we delayed coming to her and that has led to this condition for her”. As a remedial measure for that as well as to make her apt to be enjoyed by him, she decorated herself like this [as mentioned in this pAsuram]. In case he had not come, what would have happened to her decoration, which she made desirously? AchchAn piLLai, quoting nAlUrp piLLai, would say “She would have thought that this auspicious decoration is one which had been carried out for a corpse”
kARai pUNum kaNNAdi kANum than kaiyil vaLai kulukkum
kURai udukkum ayarkkum than kOvaich chevvAy thiruththum
thERith thERi ninRu Ayiram pErth thEvan thiRam pidhaRRum
mARil mAmaNi vaNNan mEl ivaL mAl uRuginRALE
Word-by-Word Meanings
kARai – necklet made of gold [necklet is similar to a bracelet, but worn on the neck]
pUNum – she wore on her neck
kaNNAdi – in the mirror
kANum – she saw (her beauty of the necklet and her neck)
than kaiyil – on her hands
vaLai – bangles
kulukkum – she shook
kURai – sari
udukkum – she wore, properly
(after decorating herself like these, expecting his arrival, since he did not come)
ayarkkum – she became forgetful
(again, starting to decorate herself further)
kOvai – like kOvaikkani [a type of fruit, with reddish inner part)
sem – being reddish
than vAy – her lips
thiruththum – made it to appear deep red
thERith thERi – becoming clearer
ninRu – sustaining herself
Ayiram pEr – one who has a thousand divine names
dhEvan – supreme entity’s
thiRam – regarding him
pidhaRRum – she recited in a disorderly manner
(Hence)
mARu il – unmatched
mAmaNi – like a bluish gem
vaNNan mEl – regarding kaNNan [krishNa] who has a complexion like that
ivaL mAl uRuginRAL – she became infatuated
Simple Translation
She donned a golden necklet, on her neck. She looked into the mirror to check the beauty of her neck and the necklet. She shook the bangles on her hands. She wore a sari, in a proper manner. Despite carrying out all these decorations, anticipating his arrival, since he did not come, she became forgetful. Gathering herself, starting to decorate herself further, she made her already reddish lips, to look further deep reddish. Becoming clearer [in her mind], she recited the thousand names of emperumAn, in a disorderly manner. She became completely infatuated with krishNa, who has the complexion of a bluish gem, without a match.
vyAkhyAnam (Commentary)
kARai pUNum – Due to her distress, thinking “I must attain him, by doing whatever it takes”, she started decorating herself, believing “If I decorate myself to attract him, he will come, head over heels”. She started with her neck since that is the first limb which he will hug upon seeing her. She wore a necklet. This is the ornament which will shine on the limb, which is between her top part [head] and the lower part [body].
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that if her neck were compared before and after donning the necklet, the necklet would appear to be superfluous [her neck was that beautiful, even otherwise].
kaNNAdi kANum – Since the ornament worn on the neck, the necklet, could not be seen by her [directly with her eyes], in order to confirm “Is this apt for him or not?”, she would see the union of her neck and the necklet in a mirror. This ornament is representative of all the ornaments donned by her on her limbs.
than kaiyil vaLai kulukkum – since her desire [to see krishNa] results in a filling up of her form [due to that happiness], to confirm that it is indeed true, she would shake the bangles on her hands. Due to slimming down of the body on account of separation [from krishNa], if the bangles fall down, it is she who picks them up and wears them again. Even when she wears them again, they will not stay on her hands [since she has become that thin]. Now that her form has filled up, anticipating krishNa’s arrival, she would check if the bangles are in place, without falling down, by shaking the bangles.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that when the bangles, which by themselves would fall down on their own, are shaken, it would be natural for them to fall down. `The ones which fell down, had indeed fallen down. The rest would stay put on her hands due to the filling up of her form [in anticipation of krishNa’s arrival]. Due to her thinking of his auspicious qualities, the bangles filled up as they were shaken up repeatedly. It would not do justice to her tenderness, if they fell down.
kURai udukkum– even her dress now fits aptly on her waist, since her body has got filled up. In normal times, part of the sari would be on her hand and the other part would be on her feet / on the ground. Both the bangles and the dress, like those who keep conversing with each other intimately, will stay in their respective place, together or will fall down from their respective place, together. She wore the sari only in order to search for a suitable, unmatched material beyond the necklet. In other words, to attract him only, did she wear the sari properly. He engages in her beauty only. Hence, she will keep removing and wearing the sari until the opportunity presents itself for him to come to her.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that it appears that her activities such as removing the bangles, wearing them, removing the necklet, wearing them, removing her sari, wearing it etc would continue until he comes.
ayarkkum – Thus, despite decorating herself for his arrival, since he did not come, she lost her thinking ability.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that due to the eminence of these decorations, she would even forget the time when she had called out to him as “kEsavA” [as in the previous pAsuram] and her desire of uniting with him. Alternatively, her desire would make her get bewildered; she would check whether she had worn the necklet and touch it to confirm it; she would look in the mirror, and touch the image of the necklet in the mirror and touch that to confirm whether she has worn it [she was that bewildered]. Thus, for every activity that she had indulged in [while decorating herself], this term ayarkkum [to forget] could be applied.
than kOvaich chevvAy thiruththum – She regains her knowledge and says “Let me make myself more attractive for him, by further adding to my decorations”. Hence, in order to make her lips, which, by their nature, are already reddish, to appear deeper in red colour, she will add a few materials which are reddish in colour. Unlike the other limbs, this limb [her mouth] is one which feeds him his food, just as it has been mentioned in periya thirumozhi 3.7.2 “thoNdaiyam sengani vAy nugarndhAn” (drank the nectar from her beautiful lips, which are like kOvai fruit).
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that by repeatedly looking at her lips in the mirror, her lips would become darker [they are such soft that if someone were to look at them, including herself, they would become deeper in their reddish colour]. piLLai [this could be nampiLLai or periyavAchchAn piLLai or nAlUr AchchAn piLLai (our preceptors)] would say that she would keep correcting his amudhu padi, sARRup padi [amudhu padi refers to the food proffered to emperumAn; here, it refers to the nectar from her lips; sARRup padi refers to the dress donned for emperumAn; for him, her sari is his sARRup padi].
thERith thERi ninRu – due to the benefit of her decorations and just as it has been mentioned in SrI rAmAyaNam sundhara kANdam 37.12 “thasmin cha bahavO guNA:” (he has countless auspicious qualities), since she has firm faith in his qualities due to which he will come and help her, she avoids her forgetfulness, regaining clarity; due to that clarity, she sustains herself.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that just as she was earlier forgetting [ayarkkum] on account of not seeing krishNa, she would regain clarity too. The desire in her mind was such that bewilderment and clarity would appear to take place when she is awake, and when she is asleep and getting dreams, respectively. Just as one, who is dreaming, does not realise that it is a dream, her desire in her mind too was unknown to her. ninRu – that desire in her mind made her to regain composure.
Ayiram pErth thEvan thiRam pidhaRRum – emperumAn has a thousand divine names, reflecting his auspicious qualities and activities, as mentioned in mahAbhAratham sabhA parvam 38.11 “dhEvO nAma sahasravAn”. She will recite those divine names, in a disorderly manner, being bewildered with the beauty of his form which usurps her mind and due to the involvement with those names.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that she recited his countless names, which reflected his splendorous, auspicious qualities, born out of his eminence and his simplicity, as well as the names of his divine servitors.
mARil … – Thus, she became infatuated with the one who has an unmatched beautiful form, like a bluish gemstone.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that his divine form was similar to a unique, priceless bluish gemstone. The mother says that her daughter became infatuated regarding him.
In the end, he says the following: (1) bhakthi [devotion] and prapaththi [surrendering, considering the act of surrendering as having been performed as a means to attain emperumAn, called in our sampradhAyam as upAya prapaththi], which are ordained in SAsthrams, and which illuminate on what is to be given up and what is to be accepted [every entity other than emperumAn is to be given up and emperumAn alone is to be accepted], are not considered as significant in our sampradhAyam. On the other hand, both bhakthi and prapaththi, which are adhikAra viSEshaNam [attributes of one who has surrendered to emperumAn and who does not consider that act of surrendering as a means to attain emperumAn; bhakthi is a prerequisite for carrying out kainkaryam [servitude] to emperumAn and prapaththi is the activity required by emperumAn to shower his grace on the entity, who surrenders through an AchAryan] and which lead to bowing down of the head, are considered as Athma bhUshaNam [decorations for the AthmA]. It is this which is referred to by the term kARai, in the pAsuram [when one bows down the head, it comes to the neck; kARai is an ornament for the neck]. (2) Comparing this to the words and activities of pUrvAchAyars [preceptors] is identified with the term kaNNAdi kANum [just as the daughter checks with the mirror regarding her necklet, the Sishya would check his qualities and activities of bhakthi and prapaththi with the words and actions of his AchAryan]. (3) Due to the affection arising out of the words of AchAryan, desire towards other entities would disappear. The resultant affection towards the entity to be attained [emperumAn] cannot be shaken either by her or by the AchAryan [her mother]. This is brought out by the term kaiyil vaLai kulukkum [just like the filling which she felt, in anticipation of the arrival of krishNa, due to which the bangles will not fall, the instructions received from the AchAryan will create a fulfilment in us, due to which we will be strongly bonded with emperumAn, and this bonding can never be shaken]. (4) When we look at our svarUpam [our basic nature, which is that we are servitors of emperumAn], in line with that, we should wait till we get approval from emperumAn [or AchAryan] to carry out kainkaryam to emperumAn. But, when we look at the vishayam (emperumAn), we cannot wait and we will rush to carry out kainkaryam. Thus, we get caught between svarUpAnurUpa prApyam [attaining emperumAn based on our svarUpam] and vishayAnurUpa prApyam [attaining emperumAn, based on emperumAn’s distinction]. This alternating thought is brought out by the term kURai udukkum ayarkkum [when she waits for emperumAn to come, she will wear the sari; when she wants to rush towards him, she will remove it]. (5) The bhakthi [devotion], which one should have just prior to carrying out kainkaryam, would take the person to dhivyadhESam to carry out kainkaryam. That devotion should gradually grow further, and it has to be tested for determining one’s level of maturity [in carrying out kainkaryam]. This is referred to by the term kOvaich chevvAy thiruththum [one should test whether one has matured to the level of bhakthi required to carry out kainkaryam]. (6) More than carrying out kainkaryam to him, reciting his divine names which manifest his auspicious qualities, and to his followers is brought out by the term dhEvan thiRam pidhaRRum [the term thiRam refers to his followers], just as it has been mentioned in thiruvAimozhi 6.5.7 “ivaL vAyanagaL thirundhavE” (emperumAn’s symbols [such as his divine ornaments etc] and his divine names are becoming more glorious, on being spoken of by parAnkuSa nAyaki). (7) These divine names will reveal the distinction of his divine form and enable her to engage with bhakthi towards him. This is brought out by the term ivaL mAl uRuginRALE.
We shall next consider the 9th pAsuram of this thirumozhi.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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