Thirumaalai(54)

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-35
 

“thAvi andru vulagamellAm thalaivilA konda endhAi!

  SeviyEn vunnai allAl sikkana senganmAlE!

  AviyE! amudhE! enthanAruyir anaiya endhAi!

  pAviyEn vunnai allAl pAviyEn pAviyEnE.”

 

thAvi andru vulagamellAm thalaivilA konda endhAi!:  Alwar now talks
about the thiruvikramAvataram emperuman did.  Emperuman placed his feet on
each one of our heads due to his apAra kArunyam.  He showed to the
world that everything belongs only to him including each one of us.  Still
not realizing the truth we fight among each other for land and
property, saying this is mine that is yours.  But the emperuman who is the
owner of all these things is sitting quite smiling.  This is like the sons
of a father fighting over the father’s wealth.  Though everything
belongs only to the father still the sons fight for their share even
neglecting the father who becomes a helpless spectator.  The unfortunate part
is people claim even the so called temple property to be theirs today.

 

Aalavandaar in his strotra ratnam says,

“katha punas sanga rathAnga kalpaga dvajAra vindhangusa vajra lAnchanam
thrivikrama! Dvath charanAm bhujathvayam madheeya moorththAnam
alankarishyathi” 

 

Here Alavandaar requests perumal to keep his feet once again on his
head.  Once again implies that there was already one time.  When was that? 
Yes during the thrivikramAvataram all of us were present and at that
time emperuman placed his feet on our heads.  But if we have considered
it to be our bhakyam at that time and cherished emperuman’s feet being
placed on our head then we wouldn’t stay here now.  But then we didn’t
realize the same.  Now alavandaar says at that time you placed only one
of your feets on my head now give adiyen the bhakyam of having both
your feets on my head.

 

  SeviyEn vunnai allAl sikkana senganmAlE!:  Even if we have to fall
under the feet of emperuman it occurs only due to bhagavat sankalpam. 
Alwar says you wished to make me fall in your feet and hence came in
front of me so without any hesitation I immediately fall into your feet. 
And since you are my sole protector who cares about me I will never go
to any other sannadhi other than yours.   Emperuman is always awaiting
his devotees to come to him and hence his eyes are strained, since we
always try to go away from him.  So alwar here shows the eagerness of
emperuman to get us all by referring to him as senganmAl.  In Ramayana,
there is one beautiful place which shows that even the sangam of bhagavan
is obtained only due to his sankalpam. 

 

Ramalakshmanas came to the mountain were sugreeva was staying.  For
quite sometime both were very close but sugreeva never noticed them but
was looking at something else in the other direction.  Then perumal told
lakshmana to look for the king sugreeva who could help them out as told
by kabhandan.  At that instant sugreeva noticed these two men and sent
hanuman as dhoothan to enquire who they were.  So even to notice
perumal, bhagavat sankalpam is absolutely necessary.  So alwar here says,
that only because of your nirheduka krupai I even fall under your feet oh!
My lord.

 

AviyE! amudhE! enthanAruyir anaiya endhAi!:  Emperuman is our soul and
as long as he is inside us we all have no end.  Devas wanted to get the
amudhu from the pArkadal to become chiranjeevees.  But our alwars and
acharyas feel for perumal, who had to undergo all the hardship of taking
koormAvataram to hold the mountain on his back and also churn the ocean
himself for the sake of the dEvas.  But then this was not a selfless
act of emperuman but he did all these to get the “penamudhu” which came
out of the ocean (periya piratti).  But here alwar says, in our case we
are not interested either in the amudhu which the dEvas wanted or the
penamudhu emperuman wanted instead we are all enjoying the amudhu which
is lying as koormam and also churning the ocean with all vigour for the
sake of his devotees.  Thondaradi podi alwar says emperuman is my life;
he is my father, who stays always inside me.

 

  pAviyEn vunnai allAl pAviyEn pAviyEnE:  After we realize that we
belong to emperuman we should be proud to be his property and never
consider us to be low because it will degrade the magimai of emperuman.  But
alwar repeatedly calls him as pAviyEn and EzhaiyEn just to show his
naichyAnusanthAnam which is one of the angAs of saranAgathi(kArpanyam). 
When we say emperuman pardoned me and accepted me it doesn’t give much
effect but when we tell all our mistakes and say inspite of all these,
perumal overlooked my mistakes and accepted me as his bhaktha then it
surely gives a great effect on the krupai of emperuman.  That is why alwar
insistently says that bhagavan has such kArunyam that he will forgive
anything and everything and will protect even a lowly person like me. 
This will make others approach emperuman inspite of their innumerable
mistakes.

 

 Here alwar’s words can be interpreted in two ways.  One way is Oh!
Lord in the absence of you, adiyen who is a papi would have always
remained as a great sinner.  But due to your krupai all my sins have been
washed away.  So Oh! My lord it is only your nirheduka krupai, which has
removed all my sins.  Sri PVP interprets this in one another way.  The
vyakhyAnam goes as follows: 

“vunnai vozhiya purambhu oruvaraiyum nenjAl ninaiyEn” 

In tamil we do not have any different lettering for pA and bhA.  So we
can also read this line as ‘pAviyEn vunnai allAl pAviyEn bhAviyEnE”
meaning I am a great sinner but I will never think about anyone else in my
minds other than you.  This shows that alwar was a paramaikanthi who
considered emperuman, Sriranganatha alone as his sole refuge. 

AzhwAr emberumAnAr jeeyar thiruvadigaLE saraNam

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasyai

Sumithra Varadarajan