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periyAzhwAr thirumozhi >> Fourth Centum >> Sixth decad
avathArikai
There are lowly people who are representatives of a village or of a small assembly of people, calling themselves as such and such nambi and are famous within a small group of people. AzhwAr mercifully tells people, who keep names of such nambi for their children, desiring lowly benefits.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai, in his svApadhESam, says the following: In prolepsis of samsAris asking him “If we keep the names of those, who are complete with wealth, for our children and earn our livelihood from them, what is wrong about it? Only if we engage in activities which are the reason for going to narakam [hell], would we go to hell”, AzhwAr says “After I had told you not to keep the names of lowly people for your children, if you keep their names, it will lead to a series of misfortunes”. They respond, saying “If we had kept the names, before you had told us not to, what is the purpose in asking us as to why we have kept the names? How do we live? Is it not that we could avoid in future such mistakes?” AzhwAr says “That is not correct. Even if you have to take to alms, you could do that to survive. Take efforts to change the name that you have kept for your children and keep the divine name of emperumAn”. They then ask him “If that were the case, what should we do?” Even in a condition when something has not been clearly banned, using the concept of avadhAraNam [also called as EvakAram or emphasis], on certain occasions, names are changed – such as when a person changes his ASramam [stage in life] from a samsAri to sanyAsam, or when a person undertakes a yAgam [nurturing a sacred activity] when the name is changed, even if temporarily, or when the status of one’s wealth changes [such as when the person acquires more land], since names are changed even in the middle of one’s life, AzhwAr says emphatically not to keep names such as “nambi, bimbi”
nambi bimbi enRu nAttu mAnidap pEr ittAl
nambum bimbum ellAm nAlu nALil azhungip pOm
sem perum thAmaraikkaNNan pEr ittu azhaiththakkAl
nambigAL! nAraNan tham annai naragam pugAL
Word-by-Word Meanings
nambi bimbi enRu – saying “nambi” “bimbi”
nAdu – living in the place
mAnidar – people’s
pEr ittAl – if you keep the names [for your children]
nambum bimbum ellAm – all the prominence, which is the root for such “nambi, bimbi”
nAlu nALil – within four occasions
azhungip pOm – will get crushed
nambigAL – oh, those who are complete!
sem – being reddish
peru – being large
thAmarai – like a lotus flower
kaNNan – one, who has divine eyes
pEr ittu – keeping his divine name
azhaiththakkAl – if you call your children
nAraNan – nArAyaNan
tham annai – the mother of that child
naragam pugAL – will not enter hell
Simple Translation
There are people, who keep the names of people, who live in a place, calling themselves as “nambi” “bimbi”; the prominence, which is the root for these names such as “nambi, bimbi” would get crushed inside of four occasions [an occasion is a part of a day]. Oh, those who are complete in your knowledge! Instead of keeping such names for your children, keep the divine name of one, who has divine eyes, which are like a reddish, huge lotus flower. If you call your children with that name, the mother of the child will not enter narakam.
vyAkhyAnam
nambi bimbi enRu nAttu mAnida pEr ittAl – only If there is a meaning for the name “bimbi”, will there be a meaning for the name “nambi”, which you are talking about. With dejection, AzhwAr is mercifully bringing a name bimbi to oppose the name nambi. If you keep such names of lowly people, who inhabit a place, all the nambum and bimbum will get destroyed within four days. The prominence, with which these names get attached, too will get crushed within four occasions. In other words, since these people have come here [samsAram] as a consequence of their karma [past deeds], their lives will get destroyed, as mentioned in thiruvAimozhi 4.1.6 “vAzhndhArgaL vAzhndhE niRpar enbadhillai” (the principle that a person, who had lived with eminence, will live forever in the same manner, does not exist). When asked “If this is so, by joining with whom could we survive, earning our livelihood?”, AzhwAr says …
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that even if you imply a meaning for words such as bimbi etc, it would not stand on account of yOga rUdi concept [for any word, there are two concepts – the word will have a meaning from etymology [yOgam]; or, the word will be widely known to all [rUdi]]. If you say that due to the nature of the existence of a word which is known widely in the world, there is a meaning to words such as nambi, bimbi etc, by the same nature of the world, such concepts will get crushed in a few days. There is no point in naming your children as nambi, bimbi etc, since these names will not get established for long. Hence, do not keep such names.
sem perum … – if you keep the divine name of the one, who has divine eyes which are reddish and large like a lotus flower. In other words, if you keep the divine name of one who has his divine eyes with which he showers his mercy on those who recite his divine names with all the wealth, you could get your desires fulfilled.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that since mere mention of thAmaraik kaNNan will not suffice to describe the divine eyes of emperumAn, AzhwAr adds sem perum to describe the divine eyes better. azhaiththakkAl – when AzhwAr said that there is none who will oppose you when you keep the name after emperumAn, some people, who had a distinction in carrying out deeds as mentioned in vEdhams, asked him as to whether one will come under the control of yama merely because of a name given by the parents. There are verses in vEdhams, as mentioned in thaiththirIya upanishadh “mAthru dhEvO bhava – pithru dhEvO bhava” [mother is to be considered as god, father is to be considered as god]. When these people came up with such opposition, AzhwAr says …
nambigAL – Oh, those, who ae complete with your knowledge!
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that they are complete in their knowledge. If you carry out activities which are ordained in vEdhams, it will lead to repeated births. The deeds carried out in previous births will determine the livelihood in this birth. The repeated activities of previous births will make one to engage with such activities in this birth too, which will lead to accumulation of vices and virtues for subsequent births. Apart from that, there are also certain words in vEdhams, which will impel you to carryout certain deeds [called as kAmya karma, a deed which is carried out to fulfil a desire]. When all these deeds are carried out, due to any imperfection in carrying out such deeds, there will be a situation when you will come under the control of yama too. Moreover, you people will keep quoting from bhagavath gIthA 2.42 “nAnyasthIthi vAdhina:” [there is no other way than to keep doing karma], without looking at what has been said subsequently [where krishNa says that these concepts are meant for those with three guNas of sathva, rajas and thamas [noble, aggressive and ignorance, respectively], while for those, who rise up to attain emperumAn, through him as the means, this does not apply].
nAraNan tham annai naragam pugAL – thus, the mother of the child will not come under the control of yama and will not enter narakam [hell]
We shall next consider the 9th pAsuram of this thirumozhi.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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