Thirumaalai(41)

Sri Parthasarathi thunai,

Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

 

“ Mattrondrum vEinda Maname Madhilarangar

  Kattrinum meitha kazhalinai keezh- uttra

  Thirumaalai paadum seer Thondaradipodi Emperumaanai

  Eppozhudum peesu”

 

“ Srimat Krishna samahvaya Namo yaamuna soonave

  yetkadAkshai kalakshyAnAm sulabha: Sridara: sadaa”

 

Pranams,

 
Paasuram-24
 

“vellaneer parandhu pAyum viripozhilarangam thannul

  kalvanAr kidandha vArum kamala nan mugamum kandum

  vullamE! ValiyaipOlum oruvan endru vunaramAttAi

  kallamE kAdal sEidhu vunkallaththE kazhikkindrAyE.”

 

vellaneer parandhu pAyum viripozhilarangam thannul:  Alwar is so deeply
immersed in the natural beauty of Srirangam, which gives so much peace
to mind that he repeats it often in many of his paasurams.  Here he
says, the water of kaveri is very pure and it is flowing with great force
and due to this abundance of water the land in that area is very
fertile and hence there are number of beautiful flora all around.  Such is
the beauty of Srirangam.  Among this beautiful scenario lies the kalvan. 

kalvanAr kidandha vArum kamala nan mugamum kandum:  Alwar calls periya
perumal to be kalvan since he steals all our minds.  Generally thiefs
steal in the night when no one sees them.  But beauty of this thief is
that hesteals in clear day light and he steals everyone who sees him. 
Once if a person sees him then he totally loses his mind and thoughts to
emperuman.  Sri PVP says this thief periya perumal steals all who look
at him and puts them into his pockets.

“kittinArudaiya Athma vasthuvai apahariththu chatti puraikullE ettu
kolvArai pole thOttri errukum”

Our elders sarcastically say, never go near pandaripuram or Srirangam. 
Since there is a big thief over there.  What does he steal? He steals
our Athma.  Actually the Athma belongs to him only.  But we have taken
possession of it and think it to be ours and so when he takes his
property we name him to be the thief.  We are the actual thiefs but we
refrain from accepting it.  The jitanthe Strotram says jithanthe! To
bhagavan, which is the most apt for him alone.  Sri PVP in his vyakhyanam to
this strotra gives a good analogy.  There was a race between a mother and
a child.  The mother is trying to catch the child but the child keeps
on escaping.  But at one point the child gets caught due to the
supremacy of the mother.  Similarly the jeevatma and paramAtma are having a
race for many janmas.  Till now the jeevatma kept on escaping from the
clutches of the paramatma.  But now the final day has come that the
jeevatma has lost all his powers and has no other go than to surrender to the
lord.  It is not difficult for the lord to catch us but he wants us to
realize our incapabilities and his everlasting power.  So ultimately
emperuman has won and now it is time to say JithanthE! (congratualations)
to him.   Till now emperuman felt bad that the jeevatma didn’t reach
him but now that he has caught us he locks us into his pockets and never
lets us go.  With that happiness he lies to steal more jeevatmas in
Srirangam with blossoming face. 

vullamE! ValiyaipOlum oruvan endru vunaramAttAi:  Alwar explained all
these to his mind.  Still his mind didn’t accept the supremacy of the
bhagavan.  So now he got vexed and says, inspite of me telling you all
these and showing you the bhagavan lying down inbetween the two rivers
with his smiling face how can you still not believe that he alone is the
supreme?  Is my heart so hard that even a little bit of bhakthi will
not seep inside?  Again, alwar does possess a huge amount of bhakthi but
he feels it not enough and hence says these words.  It is more apt to
consider this as a advice to we people who go visit perumal and come
back to our own routines without much change or actual bhakthi. 

kallamE kAdal sEidhu vunkallaththE kazhikkindrAyE:  Alwar is not
satisfied with his bhakthi.  He says he is cheating bhagavan and others,
saying that he is great bhakthan but actually he is a cheat.  He is acting
to have deep love towards the bhagavan.  All these do not suite alwar
but aptly suites we samsaris who consider us to be great bhakthas and
even if a small problem sprouts out we start cursing bhagavan for it.  In
this way we do not have real devotion but act to be great bhakthas. 

AzhwAr emberumAnAr jeeyar thiruvadigaLE saraNam

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasyai