ThiruppavaiPart2- Pasuram6to10
Pasuram-6-PuLLumsilambinakaaN
PuLLum silambina kaaN puLLraiyan kOyilil
vellaivili sangin pEraravam kettilaiyO
piLLaai ezundhiraai
pEymulainanjundu
kaLLcchagadam kalakkaziya kaalOcchi
veLLatthu aravil thuyilamarndhavitthinai
uLLatthu kondu munivargaLum yogigaLum
meLLa ezundhu hari
enrapEraravam
uLLam pugundhu
kulirndhelO rempaavaai
Translation:
Oh young one, wake up. Don't you hear the chirping of birds and
the loud sound of conch blown at the temple of the Lord.
The sages and yogis get up slowly and chant the name of Hari, who is in their
heart and who is resting in the bed of Seshnag in the middle of the ocean, the
same Hari who killed poothana and sakatasura. The namasankirtana sounds is
tumultuous on account of the intensity of devotion.
Commentary:
In the first five
pasurams the pavainonbu was extolled . In the next
five describe the arousal of the girls who are devotees of
Why should one go in a goshti or group to worship the Lord?
1.An ardent devotee
will forget himself in the presence of the Lord and will even lose the power of
speech and so to have both feet on the ground they wish to go in groups.
2.Moreover any experience
of joy is doubled when shared.
3.Also anything
delicious should not be enjoyed alone.Bharatha, among the sins he enumerates
that would befall to him if he had any suspicion of the intention of his
mother,cites the sin of eating a delicious sweet without sharing with others in
the house.
4.It is always
appropriate to approach the Lord preceded by bhagavathas.
5.Women by nature are
softhearted and want to share their joy with others.
PuLLum silambina - Birds have
better sense of time that humans and wake up before them.
It may have been argued by the girl whom Andal
tries to awaken that the birds woke up hearing the churning of the curd by the
gopis, who perhaps being old could not sleep.So the next sign of dawn is cited.
Pullaraiyan kovilil veLLaiviLi
sangin pEraravam - PuLLaraiyan may mean Garuda in the
sense of his being the king, araiyan of the birds,puLL.It
could also mean the Lord Himself as He is the ko , master of the puLLaraiyan,
that is, Garuda.Koil means the il,abode of the ko.
The reason why
the word puLLaraiyan is used maybe due to the auspiciousnessof the garudadwani,
the sound made by garuda and the darsana of garuda.
The worship of
Garuda is extolled as being the antidote for diseases, troubles from enemies
and all misfortunes. It is said that when Garuda flaps his wings the planets
are moved.
VeLLaiviLi sangu
is white conch used in the temples. The white colour stands for suddhasatthva.
PEraravam - The
sound of the conch calling the devotees for worship sounds magnificent to them
as it rouses the Lord in their hearts.
PiLLai -
The word may refer to a young girl or one who is new in the group of devotees.Commentators
see a reference to Periazvar by this term as he was like a child,piLLai,
in forgetting the glory of the Lord and sang Pallandu for Him as though
fearing for the casting of evil eye on
Him.PuLLumsilambina may refer to the garden in which Periazvar reared
for worship.
Pey mulai
najundu refers to Poothana and kaLLa chagadam, to sakatasura.Krishna
feigned sleep when Poothana was feeding Him because she should not get His
kataaksha.Inspite of that through His sparsa, body contact itself she went to
better loka. Desika says in his Yadhavabhyudhaya that for those who even think about
this episode will not be born again
When
veLLatthu aravil thuyilamarndhavitthinai uLLatthu kondu- The
Lord is the vitthu , the seed or origin
of the world, reclining on Adisesha in the milky ocean, whom the sages and yogis preserve in their hearts.So they
are getting up from their sleep slowly meLLa ezundhu in order not
to disturb Him.
The idea that
this pasuram refers to Periazvar conforms to the expression veLLatthu
aravil-----uLLatthu kondu as per his pasuram in which he says'aravttha
maliyinodum azagiyapaarkadalodumaravindhappavaiyum thaanumagampadi vandhu
pugundhu,' (Periazvar thirumozi-452)describing how
the Lord entered his heart along with adiseah ,parkadal and Lakshmi.
Hari enra pEraravam
- When all the sages and yogis in all thhe worlds chant 'Hari' it becomes a
tumultous sound.
ULLam pugundhu kuLirndhelO rempavai - the hari nama enters through the ear and reaches the heart and
like cool showers bring solace to the devotee freeing him from the woes of the
world.Rukmini says in the bhagavatha in her letter to krishna, ' sruthvaa
gunaan bhuvansundhara srnvathaam the nivisya karnavivaraih haratho angathaapam.'
To those who hear His gunas they enter the ears and relieves the torment of the
body due to the ills of samsara. The angathapa here is the viraha or separation
from the Lord for the devotee.
The spiritual
meaning of this pasuram is explained thus: PuLL refers to Hamsavathara when the
Lord took the form of the Hamsa, swan to teach the sanakadhi the Brahmathathva.
silambanam is th speech of the Lord. Since this
pasuram has reference to Periazvar it reminds us of his verses in the
sengeeraipparuvam whrer he gives importance to the hamsavathara by saying,'annamum
meenurumaaLariyum kuraLumaamaiyumaanavane, ennavalam kalaivai aaduga
sengeersai,' thus mentioning the hamsavathara before matsya,and other avatharas.(Periazvar thrumozi-74)
PuLLraiyan can also mean that He is the master of all of us who
are termed as puL in the sense of beibngs like birds and animals without jnana.
Kovil is
the ashtakshar mantra while the sangu,onch is praNavasvarupa.
Poothan stands for avidya, ignorance giving rise to ahamkara mamakara.
KaLLAcchgadam
refers to the indriyas which takes
the sarira,the cart to evil path while
veLLattharavu is the sea of samsara and the Lord isfeigning sleep inside our
heart ready to wake up the moment we call Him.Hari enra
peraravam is the call for
help of the devotee to the Lord to come and destroy,haraNath Harih, the duhkha.
PASURAM
7-Keesu keesenRengum
KeesukeesenRengum AnaicchAtthan kalandhu
pesina
peccharavam kEttilaiyo pEyppeNNE
KAsum piRappum kalkalppa kai pErtthu
vAsa narumkuzal
Aycchiyar matthinAl
Osaippaduttha thiyiraravam kEttilaiyo
nAyagappeNpillai nArAyaNan moortthi
kesavanaippAdavum nee kEtte kidatthiyO
thEsam udaiyai
thiravelorempAvai
Oh girl with devilish nature (one having satvik qualities will
not sleep till the dawn), do you not hear the birds of the kind known as
AnaicchaAtthan chirping and the sound of the neck ornament of the gopis who
have started churning milk?You are the prominant
member of our group and how can you be lying in your bed after hearing us
singing about the Kesava who is none other than NarayaNa?oh lustrous one come
and open the door.
The sleeping girl
is woken up by citing three signs for the advent of morning.
1.The chirping of the
birds.
2. The sound of the churning of milk.
3.NarayaNa nama
sankirtana.
KeesukeesenRengum - The bird are chirping everywhere-engum. The girl might say that
you have only awakened the birds by your singing or tey might have awakened by
the sound of churnong milk by old ladies who could not get sleep. So Andal says
'engum,'everywhere.
AnaicchAtthan kalandhu pesina pEccharavam-The birds seem to converse with their mates.
KEttilaiyo PEyppeNNe- Have you not heard? She is called as
pEYppeNNbecause only rakshasis will sleep in the daybreak as they roam around
in the night.
KAsum piRappum kalakalappa -Refers to kAsumalai and thirumAngalyam
which denotes samsAra and hence gives birth,piRappu.
KaipErtthu- the curd in Ayarpadi is so thick after the birth of
VAsa naRumkuzal Aicchiyar- The hair of natural fragrance is
present only to the ladies of devaloka and they are supposed to have been born
as gopis. So their hair is by nature fragrant,vAsanaRumkuzal.
MatthinAl osaippaduttha- the sound of the churning rod reminds
one of that of churning the manthara mountain for
amrtha.
NAyagappeNNpiLlaI- She is of so
prominant a family that many women are employed to churn the milk which
creates considerable noise.After callin her pEippeNN she is now called
nAYagappeNN piLLai and pacified.
KEsavanaippAdavum- The name kEsava is an exalted one because it
includes Brahma and Isvara. The word is derived as 'kascha eesascha kEsou , thou vasyathayA santhi asya ithi kEsavah.' 'ka' denotes Brahma while 'eesa' is Siva
and both are in His
power and hence He is called KEsava.Moreover KEsava is theLordof the month of
Margazi. The word NArAyaNan moorthi used as an adjective to kEsava is to affirm
that He is none other than NAraAyaNa.
PAdavumnee kEttEkidatthiyo- Here the
reference is to NAMMazvAr, who once vowed that he willnever utter the name of
the Lord or think about Him, not because of loss of faith but only due to his awareness of his
own worthlessness. But he could not remain so for long and as soon as he heard
a passerby utter the name his resolution was thrown to the winds. Here the girl
is chided that even after hearing the Lord's name she is not reponding.
The word AnaicchAtthan
may mean the
Lord Himself as He killed one elephant,
kuvalayaApeedam set against Him by Kamsa and protected another, GajEndhra, from
the jaws of the crocodile. Kalandhu pEsina pEccharavam may then refer to both the Lord and
His consort , Sri, talking with each
other
KAsumpiRappum
kalakalappa implies the sruthi and smrthi proclaiming about the glory of
the Lord and kaipErtthu may mean the deep study and contemplation of
them by vAsanarumkuzal Aicchiyar, the acharyas who exude the
natural frgrance of the Lord.Having delved deep into the vedanta sasthra they
acclaim loudly His glory, KaipErtthu, with upraised arms, uddhrthabujAh.
KAsu, piRappu and
thayir are taken
to mean ashtaAkshara, dhvayamanthra and charamasloka respectively and th
epithet pEyppeNN has reference to
KulasEkhara azvar who calls himself a madman in one of his pAsurams.
pasuram-8
keezvAnam veLLenru
erumaicchiruveedu
meivAn parandhanakAnn
mikkuLLa piLLaigaLum
pOvAn pOginrArai
pOgAmal kAtthunnai
koovuvAn vandhu ninrOm
kOdhu kalmudaiya
pAvAi ezundhirai
pAdipparai konda
mAvAi pilandhAnai
mallarai mAttiya
dEvAdhidEvanai chenru nAm sEvitthAl
AvAvenrArAindhu aruLElO rempAvai.
The eastern sky has become bright and the buffaloes are going to
graze and the girls in the Ayarpadi started going to perform the vratha and we
have stopped them in order to wake you up.Awake , you , who is of pure form
that destroys all sins.Let us sing the glory of Him who killed the demon Kesi
and the wrestlers. He is the Lord of the devas who
when approached and prayed, will shower His grace on us after judging our
fitness.
Andal is waking up another girl by citing the signs of daybreak.
Keez vAnam veLLenru, erumai siru veedu- The eastern sky is lighting up before dawn. The buffaloes are
sent for grazing the dew covered grass in the early morning, as it makes them
yield more milk whereas the cows are allowed to graze later as they cannot
digest the wet grass.
pOvAnpOginrArai pOgAmal kAtthunnai- The rest of the girls have already started for
the nonbu and Andal says that she has stopped them to wait for this girl.
kOdhukalmudaiyapAvai- this girl is pure by which she is capable of breaking,udaiya,
the sins kOdhukalam. she is called pAvai because
she is pretty like an idol.
mAvAi piLandhAn - one who killed the demon Kesi who came in the form of horse
to kill
mallarai mAttiya - one who destroyed the
wrestlers of the court of Kamsa.
dhevAdhidhEvanai- He is the Lord of the
celestials.The commentators find reference here to the expression 'ayarvarum
amarargaL adhipathi,' the Lord of the immortals, in the first pAsuram of the
thiruvaimozi of nammAzvAr, who is implied by this pASuram.
For the individual soul it is night till the awareness of the
Lord dawns, only
when, the day breaks. The knowledge dawns through the instruction of the
Acharyas like Ramanuja and Desika who are described by the epithets 'mAvAi
piLandhAn,' as they break the influence of the senses whcih are compared
to the horse that runs hither and thither drawn by the sense objects, and mallarai
mAttiya,because
they win over the arguments of the opponents to establish thier views firmly.They
are the dhEvas who have performed the above said feats and the Lord is the
dhEvAdhidhEva.
AvAvenru ArAindhu arulElO
-,If we go and sing His glory He will shower His grace
on us after ascertaining our worth.
This pasuram is considered as a reference to nammAzvAr for the
following reasons.
He refers himself as pAvai in thiruvaimozi.
The word ezundhirai, get up, may apply to him as he alone is seated among the
AzvArs in idol form. .
He rose as the sun in kaliyuga to dispel the darkness of
ignorance and his light was visible to Madhurakavi AzVar in kAsi which attracted
him to the place where NammAZvAr was and he became the disciple of NammAZvAr..KeezvAnam veLLenru denotes the light of the AzvAr.
Pasuram-9 - thoomaNi mAdatthu
thoomaNimAdatthu suttrum viLakkeriya
dhoopamkamaZa thuyilaNai mEl kaNvaLarum
maAmanmagalE maNIkkadhavam thAl thiravai
mAmeer avaLai ezuppeerO nummagaLthAn
oomaiyO anri sevidO ananthalO
EmApperunthuyil mandhirappattALO
mAmAyan mAdhavan
vaikunthan enrenrum
nAmam palavum
navinrElOrempAvai
Oh my uncle's daughter, who is sleeping in a couch in a mansion
lighted by lamps all around,with fragrant incense around please open your door.Oh
my aunt, wake her up. is your daughter dumb or deaf or proud ? Is she under the influence of long
sleep? Come and say with us the names of Madhava, Vaikunta and the great
enchanter of all.
In this world, some come forward to do good things
voluntarily.Some will join at the end. Others will only come when called and
some others will not come even when called. This girl is of the third category.
suttrum vilakkeriya- All the
mansions in Gokula are embedded with jewels and it is bright always with the
light of the gems but still they light lamps for the sake of tradition.So it
looks as though there are lamps all around,
mAman magale- Andal imagines herself to be the resident of Gokula where
everyone is related to the others.
manikkadhavm thAl thirvai- the doors are full of gems
and the girls outside were not able to
make out where the opening is and asks the girl inside to come and open
it.
Ummagal thAn oomaiyo----The elders
came out hearing the call but the girl did not and hence they call her dumb,
deaf etc.
ananthalo- pride due to wealth, beauty etc.
Emapperumthuyil mandhirappattALO- A long sleep perhaps induced by the chanting of some manthra.
mAmAyan mAdhavan
vaikunthan enrenru -namam palavum- tells the
elders to wake the girl up by repeating the sahahranama of the Lord.
The reason of putting the term 'mAman magal 'is
to indicate that the real realtives are those who are the devotees of the Lord.
The Lord is called mAmAyan which denotes His
soulabhya,easy accessibility, and also
may mean ma+Ayan, associated with Lakshmi, mAdhavan to indicate
His assciation with Sri, hence He is full of mercy, and vaikunthan which implies His
swamithva, being the Lord of the universe.
The maya of the Lord conceals Him to the world but does not
conceal us from Him like those inside the dark glass window. Viradha says to
Rama the 'cows know their calves and vice versa but you know us but we do not
know you.' Ramanuja calls the maya 'bhagavatsvrupa thirO DHAna karee,'
the one that conceals the svarupa of the Lord.Yamunacharya terms the maya as 'yavanikA
jaganmohinee,' the veil that deludes the world.
Indra and others eventhough aware of the identity of Krishna
were deluded into believing that he was a cowherd lad, which shows the power of
His maya.NammAzvAr says, 'amaivudai nAraNan mAyaiyai arivAr yAre,' who
can understand the maya of the Lord! Desika says in his yadhavAbhyudhaya 'yadhgarbhE
jagadhakhilam sa Eva garbhO dhEvakyAh samajani
dhEvadhEva vandhyah,' The one who has the whole universe in Him and who is
worshipped by the devensdhra, was born from the womb of Dhevaki.
In Varahavathara the ocean was said to cover only the
ankle of the Lord while in Krishnavathara Yasodha was able to bathe him with
handful of water! that is the maya of the Lord! Not
only that. The one who told all to bow down to His feet in the charam sloka, 'mAmEkam saranam vraja,'
grasped both the feet of Yasodha while she bathed Him!
The central idea of the pasuram is that one should not be
deluded into believing that the house and other possessions, indicated by
thoomaNi mAdam etc., are real and should acquire knowledge about the Lord who
is the only reality behind all.
Chith, achith and Isvara are the three reals of which achith is
everchanging, chith does not change in form
but only in nature and Isvara is changeless and the real of the reals, 'sathyasya
sathyam.' Therefore He is the 'thoomaNi,' pure gem. The upanishad
tells about this 'thoomaNi' and the veda which houses it is the 'mAdam,' the
mansion.The lamps that show the meaning of veda are the purANam, smrthi and
brahmasuthram. One who has the knowledge of these is said to sleep in the
'thuliaNai,' bed which is the Lord. He is our bed because every night we are
sleeping in Him but we do not know it because of our ignorance.
The lock of the door ,'manikkadhavam
thAL,' is our karma which has to be opened in order to get the knowledge for
which we need the favour of Acharya and the Lord who is the paramAchArya..If
one succeeds in acquiring all this he
joins the group of bhAgavathas when the dumbness, deafness and pride ,meaning
that one becomes deaf and dumb to all talk except of Him,and becomes proud of
doing His kainkarya,. opens his mouth only to sing the
glory of the Lord thus engage all his
senses in the service of the Lord.
This pasuram is supposed to refer to Thirumazisai azvAr to whom the terms 'mAmAyan,
mAdhavan and vakunthan are favourite expressions and he used to sing about the
Lord in reclining position 'ThulaNai---' The word 'suttrum vilakkeriya' refers to his profound knowledge of the vedas
and he was dumb and deaf when he was insulted on receiving agrapuja in a yaga
by brahmins. He was under the influence of Peyazvar 'mandhirappattALO' and
sleep for a paramaikanthin is to turn away from worldly pleasures.
Pasuram-10-nOttrucchuvargam
nOtrucchuvargam puguginra ammanai
mAtramum thArArO vAsal thiravAdhAr
nAtratthuzAimudinarAyanan nammAl
pOtrapparai tharum puNNiyanAl pandorunAl
kootratthin vai veezndha kumbakaruNanum
thOtrum unakkE perumthuyildhAn thandhAnO
Atraananthal udaiyAi arunkalamE
thEtrmAi vandhu thiravElOrempAvAi
You who said we should observe the pAvainOnbu and attain
the Lord is sleeping now and not even give reply when we call you and do not
open the door Had the Kumbakarna, who met his death at the hands of the Lord
Rama who is none other than our Lord Narayana adorned with fragrant thulsi
garland and bestows His grace on those who worship Him, accepting defeat,gave
you his long sleep!We know you are feigning sleep, come and open the door, you
who are a jewel among all.
nOtru cchuvargam-This girl told everybody about the vrata and now she herself is
sleeping.
mAtram- reply
nAtratthuzai-----nammAl- thuzai is thulasi which is most pleasing to
the Lord. Thulasi will maintain its fragrance and can be used even when faded
and it can be reused unlike other flowers.Moreover thulasi is exclusively used
for Narayana.
nArAyanan- transcendent and imminent
nammAl- He loves us and loved by us because He expects only bhakthi and
sees no differences due to caste ,age etc.So He uis nam mAl our Lord.
It can also be explauined as nammAl potrapparaitharum
punniyan- the sacred one who will grae us when we praise Him.
PuNniyan means Rama who is embodiment
of dharma, 'rAmO vigrahavAn dharmah.'
kootratthin vai veezndha- who fell into the jaws of
death.Kootram is Yama the lord of death called so because he separates, kooru
seibavan,the soul from the body.
Kumbakarna went to the battle on the day he woke up from his
long sleep and died he same day.So Andakl says that he lost his sleep to this
girl.
Atra ananthal - she is feigning sleep and hence cannot be
awakened unless she herself decides to come out because one can be awakened
only when really sleeping,
Notrucchuvargam,vAsal thiravAdhAr,
mAtramum thArAr, pugugunra ammanai in this order
means that one who surrenders to the Lord gets the highest fruit, moksha
without any obstacles (mAtramum thArar) even without doing the
karma (vAsal thiravAdhAr) which serves as the opening to moksha,
namely the observance of austerities(nOtru cchuvargam) and this
refers to a prapanna.
The obstacleas to Moksha are the ognorance about the glory of
the Lord and desire towards the sensuel pleasures. These are like death (kootram)
Such a soul is said to have defeated even Kumbakarna
who was engrossed in sleeping only at which time he was not engaged in sensual
pleasures. Sleep is only ognorance without desiring for sensual objects, which
is another kind of sleep and hence it is referred to as perumthuyil,long sleep.
Through the mention of Kumbakarne reference has been made to
Ramavathatra because Rama was saranagatha rakshaka, one who has taken the vow
of giving refuge to any one who surrenders to him ' abhayam sarvabhoothAnAm
dhadhAmi ithyEthadvratham mama,' even if it were Ravana himself.'yadhi
vAA rAvanassvayam.'
Thispasuram refers to Peyazvar who enjoyed the presence of the
Lord through the lamp lighted by the other two, poigaiazvar and bhoothatthazvar
and sang thirukkandEn ponmenikandeEn and hence he is the arumkalam.
Vasal thiravAdhAr refers to the fact that when he came the door was open as he
was the last to take refuge in the small entrance in the house where the other
two were already there and the LOrd came as the fourth and gave darsan to them
all.Peyazvar was the acharya of Thirumazisai azvar and hence he is referredto
as Atra anathal meaning the special qualification of being a paramaikanthin.