SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: Sri varavaramunayE nama:
periyAzhwAr thirumozhi >> Fourth Centum
pravESam
AzhwAr, having a deep propensity towards krishNAvathAram, enjoyed the flavour of that incarnation right from the time of krishNa’s divine incarnation. He had a desire to enjoy the flavour of both krishNAvathAram and Sri rAmAvathAram at the same time. Since that was not possible with a single form, he created two sets of people and enjoyed the flavour of the two incarnations through them [with each set of persons singing about one incarnation and egging the other to sing about their leader]. sIthAp pirAtti incarnated when SrI rAma incarnated, in order to follow him. Using the event of rAvaNa separating them as a pretext, she mercifully went to lankA and imprisoned herself, in order to bring out explicitly, her quality of compassion which is the primary quality for her performing her role of purushakAram (recommending the jIvAthmAs to emperumAn for granting refuge). In order to be true to his incarnation as a human species, perumAL [SrI rAma] went searching for her, without knowing as to where she had been taken. He met sugrIva, the king of monkeys, made a pact with him for locating pirAtti. When sugrIva sent his troops of monkeys in all directions to find out the whereabouts of pirAtti, looking at the intelligence and capabilities of hanuman, perumAL decided in his divine mind that he alone was capable of carrying out the task. He shared certain events with hanuman to convince pirAtti of his identity [that he is SrI rAma’s servitor] and gave hanuman his divine ring too. hanuman went to lankA, located pirAtti, worshipped her divine feet, shared the identifications which SrI rAma had told him to remove pirAtti’s doubts as to whether he was rAvaNa who has come in disguise, gave her perumAL’s divine ring and made her much pleased. AzhwAr meditated on all these and enjoyed those events – of hanuman sharing the identifications, giving her perumAL’s divine ring and making pirAtti happy, in the earlier thirumozhi [divine verses, in 3.10.10].
Incarnations of SrI rAma, krishNa, along with other incarnations, as well as various divine activities in all these incarnations are all from the same divine form, on account of dharmi aikyam [all are different manifestations of SrIman nArAyaNa, at different points of time]. AzhwAr wanted to see dharmi [emperumAn] with his eyes. He realised that this searching for emperumAn was telling him a method; he recalled that some entities, due to overflowing affection for emperumAn, had indeed seen emperumAn clearly, through their divine minds. He made himself into two sets of entities, with one set trying to search out and see with their eyes, emperumAn, who is together with various incarnations, and another set of entities telling the first set of entities “If you are searching for him, please know that there are people who have seen him”. He meditates on the events brought about by these two sets of people and becomes happy, in this thirumozhi. The reason for creating two sets of people instead of two single entities is that there are many entities who have actually seen emperumAn with their [external] eyes, through their knowledge of desire and there are also many entities who have seen him through their mind [internal eyes], and through the earnestness of that experience, they had the experience of seeing him with external eyes too.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai, in his svApadhESam, says the following: An AchArya [teacher], through the words of emperumAn [as in bhagavath gIthA etc] as well as through his instructions on manthrams [the three esoteric meanings derived from thirumanthram, dhvaya mahAmanthram and charama SlOkam, which are the three basic tenets of our sampradhAyam], creates flavour in the disciple regarding emperumAn, until the level of svarUpa gyAnam [knowledge that the disciple is totally dependent on emperumAn and his followers and that he is their servitor]. periyAzhwAr described this, in the earlier thirumozhi, through the pretext of thiruvadi [hanuman] speaking to sIthAp pirAtti, when he told her to look at the divine ring and later, when he told perumAL, on returning from lankA to kishkindhA, that he had seen pirAtti there.
In this thirumozhi, unlike the earlier one where he had seen them [perumAL and pirAtti] separately, he wishes to see them together. For this, he has a few entities, who are friendly towards him, and who, through the words of emperumAn as well as through the instructions of AchAryan, affirm that emperumAn alone is the means to attain him and that he is the purushArtham [ultimate benefit, for whom we have to carry out servitude]. In the first term of thirumanthram [the first term is praNavam, which says that jIvAthmA is a servitor to mithunam, the togetherness of pirAtti and perumAL], the meaning that jIvAthmA is servitor to both pirAtti and perumAL is derived only indirectly [since pirAtti never separates from perumAL, the first syllable “a” in praNavam includes pirAtti too and hence it is concluded that jIvAthmA is servitor to them both]. The philosophies of EkAyanam [only emperumAn exists, there is no pirAtti] and anISa dharSanam [there is no concept of emperumAn] discount mithunam. Unlike these, through the second and first lines of dhvaya mahAmanthram [where mithunam is explicitly mentioned through Sabdham, words], when the AchAryan tells the disciple about this and clarifies his doubt, not satisfied with this, with overflowing desire, just as periya mudhaliyAr [in our sampradhAyam, ALavandhAr is referred to by this title], asked his AchAryan, maNakkAl nambi “Could this [supremenentity] be shown to those who believe in authentic texts?” [it is said that when maNakkAl nambi explained the details of bhagavath gIthA to ALavandhAr, ALavandhAr wanted maNakkAl nambi to show him emperumAn explicitly and maNakkAl nambi took him to periya perumAL at SrI rangam and requested periya perumAL to manifest his form just as he had done to thiruppANAzhwAr], the disciple asks the AchAryan to show him the mithunam. The AchAryan quotes the following to the disciple, to make him realise this: (1) thiruvAimozhi 4.9.10 “oNdodiyAL thirumagaLum nIyumE nilAniRpa” (I have seen you [emperumAn], and SrI mahALakshmi who wears curved bangles on her divine arm); (2) periya thirumozhi 4.3.6 “malaiyAl aNai seydhu … ilangai kalanga Or vALi thottAnai … nAngai nannaduvuL sem pon sey kOyilin uLLE alli mAmalarAL thannodum adiyEn kaNdu koNdu allal thIrndhEn” (building a bridge through rocks…one who touched and shot off an arrow to agitate lankA… I saw him together with periya pirAtti who resides on a huge lotus flower, in the divine abode named sem pon sey kOyil, in the good, central location of thirunAngUr and got to eliminate my sorrow); (3) periya thirumozhi 2.10.2 “sandhaNi men mulai malarAL dharaNi mangai thAm iruvarum adi varudum thanmaiyAnaith thirukkOvaluR adhanuL kaNdEn” (I got to see in the divine abode of thirukkOvalUr, periya pirAttiyAr, who resides on a huge lotus flower and who has decorated her bosoms with sandalwood paste, as well as SrI bhUmip pirAtti, gently massaging your divine feet); (4) mudhal thiruvandhAdhi 86 “nIyum thirumagaLum niRAyAl” (didn’t you and SrI mahAlakshmi not shower your mercy, by standing together!) Apart from seeing with their external eyes, emperumAn’s states in paramapadham and incarnations, there are those who see, through the inner eyes [mind] even in his forms as archai [divine forms in various divine abodes on earth] and carry out mangaLASAsanam. Feeling happy with this, through the words of others such as the girls in thiruvAyppAdi, where they engaged in undhi paRaththal through the divine activities of SrI rAma and krishNa, as well as through the words of those, who, in other births had indulged in various noble deeds, carried out devotion to emperumAn and seen him, AzhwAr desires through his divine mind, mercifully states the words and feels happy.
- pAsuram 4.1.1 – kadhir Ayiram
- pAsuram 4.1.2 – nAndhagam sangu
- pAsuram 4.1.3 – kolai yAnai
- pAsuram 4.1.4 – thOyam parandha
- pAsuram 4.1.5 – nIr ERu
- pAsuram 4.1.6 – pollA vadivu
- pAsuram 4.1.7 – veLLai viLisangu
- pAsuram 4.1.8 – nAzhigai kURittu
- pAsuram 4.1.9 – maNNum malaiyum
- pAsuram 4.1.10 – kariya mugil
We shall next consider the 1st pAsuram of this thirumozhi.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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