{"id":60173,"date":"2026-05-03T23:40:25","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T23:40:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/divyaprabandham.koyil.org\/?p=60173"},"modified":"2026-05-03T23:40:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T23:40:26","slug":"periyazhwar-thirumozhi-3-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/divyaprabandham.koyil.org\/index.php\/2026\/05\/periyazhwar-thirumozhi-3-6\/","title":{"rendered":"periyAzhwAr thirumozhi \u2013 3.6 \u2013 nAvalam periya"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: Sri varavaramunayE nama:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

periyAzhwAr thirumozhi<\/a> >> Third Centum<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Previous<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

pravESam<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

emperumAn [krishNa] thought \u201cIn the place where we live, how could the people offer food to another dhEvathA [deity]?\u201d Hence, he stopped the herd-folk from offering food to indhra and made them to offer instead to gOvardhana mountain. Since he consumed the entire food [taking the form of gOvardhana], indhra became angry and ordered clouds such as pushkalavarthakam<\/em> etc, to rain hailstorm on thiruvAyppAdi. Just as it has been mentioned in thirunedundhANdagam 13<\/a> \u201ckal eduththuk kal mAri kAththAy<\/em>\u201d (you lifted the gOvardhana mountain and protected the herd and herd-folk from hailstorm), he had lifted the mountain itself and protected the entities to be protected such that not a drop of rain fell on any of them. AzhwAr enjoyed this divine activity in the earlier thirumozhi [divine verses].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just as it has been mentioned in thiruviruththam 3<\/a> \u201ckuzhal kOvalar<\/em>\u201d (herd folk who play on the flute), since playing on the flute is an appropriate activity for the herd-folk, and since he [krishNa] is the son of SrI nandhagOpar, he was engaged in that activity many times. One day, at SrI brindhAvanam, krishNa played on the flute. Upon hearing the sweet tune played by krishNa, some of the young girls from the herd-clan went past the hurdles put up by relatives in their respective house, came to the place where krishNa was playing the flute, and stood, surrounding him [1st<\/sup> pAsuram in this thirumozhi]. Some others came hurriedly, with their dresses and locks dishevelled. Since they remembered their femininity, they held their loosened dresses with one hand and stood, looking at him [2nd<\/sup> pAsuram]. Celestial women, roaming around in the skies, heard this sweet music. They came down and stood, with their hearts melting and their eyes welling up with tears [3rd<\/sup> pAsuram]. Distinguished celestial women such as mEnakA, thilOththamA et al, who are good at dancing and singing, heard krishNa\u2019s music, came down, saw the beauty of his divine form and his music, felt ashamed and avoided dancing and singing [4th<\/sup> pAsuram]. Celestial entities such as nAradhar, kinnarar<\/em> et al, who roam around with musical instruments such as thumburu, vINA<\/em> etc [stringed instruments], heard the sweet music from krishNa\u2019s flute, became involved with the flavour of that music and said that they will forget about their vINA<\/em>, they will not touch their kinnaram<\/em> [5th<\/sup> pAsuram]. Entities such as gandharvas<\/em>, who inhabit the skies, heard this nectar-like music, got caught in its net, folded their hands and said that they will not engage in anything, from that time [6th<\/sup> pAsuram]. dhEvas [celestial entities], forgetting their havis<\/em> [offering made by people on earth when they carry out rituals with agni (fire), came to thiruvAyppAdi as a huge congregation, consumed the flavour of his music and followed him, without leaving him ever [7th<\/sup> pAsuram]. Birds, coming out of their nests, heard the music and fell, forgetting everything [8th<\/sup> pAsuram]. Herds of cows, hearing his music, spread their front legs wide, went into a trance, not moving their ears too [8th<\/sup> pAsuram]. Herds of deer, hearing the music, forgot grazing grass, and stood, like a painting [9th<\/sup> pAsuram]. Trees, which are achEthana<\/em> entities [without the ability to think], got involved amazingly with his music, more than even chEthana<\/em> entities [those who could think] [10th<\/sup> pAsuram]. AzhwAr speaks about all these events, individually, and enjoys the wonderfulness of krishNa\u2019s music, in this thirumozhi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

thiruvAimozhip piLLai says the following in his svApadhESam: In the earlier thirumozhi, AzhwAr said that if any fault arises due to not worshipping dhEvathAntharams [deities other than emperumAn], emperumAn himself would remove those faults, since he had created those. How does he create the faults? By being the antharyAmi <\/em>[indwelling soul] of those dhEvathAs<\/em>, as mentioned in nAnmugan thiruvandhAdhi 38<\/a> \u201cagaippil manisarai<\/em>\u201d [people who do not have high level of knowledge], he creates confusion in the minds of people about who they should worship. It is due to his firmness of mind that people such as king ambarIsha et al could not be confused [the narration goes that king ambarIsha, a predecessor of SrI rAma] was totally devoted to emperumAn. In order to check the firmness of ambarIsha\u2019s devotion towards him, emperumAn came in the guise of indhra and asked ambarIsha to ask whatever he wanted. ambarIsha refused to seek anything. emperumAn revealed himself to ambarIsha and implored him to seek any boon. ambarIsha said that he did not want anything more, after having had emperumAn\u2019s dharSan]. If ambarIsha\u2019s firmness of mind was like that, do we need to mention about AzhwArs who were granted devotion with knowledge, without any fault, by emperumAn himself! thiruvAimozhip piLLai quotes from (1) nammAzhwAr\u2019s thiruvAsiriyam 7th<\/sup> pAsuram<\/a> \u201coru mAth theyvam maRRu udaiyamO?<\/em>\u201d (Do we have any other great deity, than emperumAn, to attain?), (2) thirumangai AzhwAr\u2019s periya thirumozhi 6.3.6<\/a> \u201cdheyvam piRidhu aRiyEn<\/em>\u201d (I will not consider any dhEvathA as a refuge, other than emperuAn), (3) thirumazhisai AzhwAr in nAnmugan thiruvandhAdhi 53 <\/a>\u201cthiruvillAth thEvarai thERElmin dhEvu<\/em>\u201d (Do not consider any dhEvathA who is not associated with periya pirAtti [SrI mahAlakshmi] as the lord) and (4) thirumangai AzhwAr in periya thirumozhi 8.10.3 \u201cmaRRum Or dheyvam uLadhu enRu iruppArOdu uRRilEn<\/em>\u201d (I will not be together with those who think that there is a dhEvathA, other than you, fit to be attained).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

thiruvAimozhip piLLai further says that emperumAn remains as the antharyAmi of other dhEvathAs, that he is the angi<\/em> [substrate] and that the other dhEvathAs are his angam<\/em> [limbs of the substrate], that vEdhas equate other dhEvathAs with him on occasions, that he manifests himself as the dhEvathAs such as Adhithyan [sun] as desired by the upAsaka<\/em> [one who is carrying out upAsanam<\/em>, the mode of devotion in order to attain emperumAn], that he remains as the antharyAmi of everyone, in general. People could perceive and seek from him directly what they desire or through the dhEvathA, who they worship. They could perceive him directly as the distinguished entity or through other dhEvat4hAs, who are attributes for him. They could perceive other dhEvathAs as the resource-giver or fear them in case they carry out actions against those dhEvathAs. He says that when the jIvAthmA realises that he does not have any independence and submits himself completely to emperumAn, he will stop perceiving other dhEvathAs as equal to emperumAn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He further says that this knowledge [that he is not independent] will occur in knowing and putting that knowledge in practice, that jIvAthmA is fully subservient to emperumAn [as seen in thirumanthram<\/em>, the first of the three esoteric enunciations of our sampradhAyam<\/em>], through the ultimate nama<\/em>: [I do not belong to me, but to emperumAn], as seen in the second line of dhvaya mahAmanthram<\/em> [second of the three esoteric enunciations] and as seen in aham thvA<\/em> [as seen in the second line of charama SlOkam<\/em>, the third of the three esoteric enunciations]. Through playing on his flute such that all four species of dhEva<\/em> [celestial], manushya<\/em> [human], thiryak<\/em> [animals] and sthAvara<\/em> [botanical] came under his control, with their hearts melting, emperumAn demonstrated that one could realise this knowledge [as seen in the previous passage] only through an AchAryan [when emperumAn speaks directly, as in bhagavath gIthai, he is said to instruct directly; when he plays the flute and brings others under his control, he is said to instruct through an AchAryan]. He had to create the hurdle [by pouring rain] for the herd-folk and he removed that hurdle himself [by lifting gOvardhana mountain]; since people may still have doubt about his supreme nature and say, as said in the SlOkam [by parASara bhattar] \u201cthvam mE aham mE<\/em>\u201d [when emperumAn tells the jIvAthmA that the latter is under the former\u2019s control, the jIvAthmA says that he is fully independent of emperumAn and that he is under his own control], he decided to play on the flute and instruct the jIvAthmAs through an AchAryan about his supremacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n