Thirumaalai(19)
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-6
maramsuvarmadhileduthtu marumaikkE verumaipoondu
puramsuvar Ottai mAdam puralumpOdu ariyamAtteer
aramsuvarAgi nindra aranganArkku AtsaiyAdhe
puramsuvar kOlamsaidhu putkavvakedakkindreerE
maramsuvarmadhileduthtu marumaikkE verumaipoondu: We all like to
have
relation with anyone only when that person is useful to us but
then do
we ever think in what way we could be useful to the other person?
Like
kamsan who wanted to kill his own sister(just after her wedding),
after
knowing that her eighth child will kill him, we all also act
selfishly
thinking about only our welfare. But vasudeva was just married to
devaki a couple of hours before but still he begged kamsa to
spare her
life. That is how a srivaishnava should be. We should try to be
helpful
to others without being selfish. Why should we be like that, will
be
the common doubt? It is to earn some credits for the other world.
After so many births kEnAbhi bhakya visheshesEna(due
to a lot of bhakyam
due to the punyams earned in various births) we have now got a
human
birth. Even now if we stay like trees and animals then there is
no use.
With a human body we act like dogs and monkeys then the lord
gives us
the same body in the next birth. Only the humans has six senses
so we
have to use it accordingly and try to realise the relation
between the
lord and the jeevatmas and try to go to his feet and do
kainkaryam. In
this line, alwar says people never realise these facts and hence
they
stay like a wall or a tree and they gain no credits(verumai) for
marumai(moksha logam).
puramsuvar Ottai mAdam puralumpOdu ariyamAtteer: when the body
which is
a house with holes is shed down you will not know what to do says
alwar. Alwar here attributes the body to be a house which has a
wall
outside but with number of holes(puramsuvar Ottai mAdam). Even
thirumangai
alwar describes a human body as a 9 holed house. The soul stays
in this
house. Again it is not a permanent house for the soul. We do not
know
from where we came and where we will go. But in the intermediate
time
we consider the house to be ours and we take upmost care of it.
Like a
house built of cement, this body is a house built of flesh.
Thirumangai alwar explains this excellently. Oonidaisuvarvaiththu
enbhuthoon
nAtti orOmam vaidhu onbhadhu vAsal thAnudai kurumbhai(periya
thirumozhi
1-6-9). The house(body) is made of flesh, to give a shape to the
structure the flesh is supported by pillars of bones and to
protect the
flesh it is covered with hair and the house has 9 holes. When we
know that
we are supposed to vacate the house in which we are living in the
month
end then we prepare ourselves to move into another house. We book
a
house in advance which is more suitable for us. We look into many
factors before actually selecting the apartment in which we are
going to
live. Similarly, all of us have to leave this body at the end of
this
janma(after death). Shouldnt we think of booking another
house for the
next? Again there are two options. We can either get a new body
in the
next janma(select the body to our choice by doing respective
papam or
punyam) else we can surrender to the emperuman and get housed in
his
palace in the divine mokshApuri(moksham). There are actually four
purusharthas which we call aram, porul, enbam and veedu. The
first three we
attain over here in this world and the last is the moksha. Veedu
in
tamil means a house. So the house that actually ours
and which is only
THE house is the paramapadam or moksham. The owner of the house
lives
in naimisaranyam to whom thirumangai alwar surrenders to attain
moksham. Only emperuman Sriman Narayanan can grant us moksham.
When our
house is very old we try to renew or reconstruct it. If it is in
a very
bad condition then we prefer to go to a new house. Similarly we
have
taken birth after births and lived very long in this bhoolokam so
it is
high time that we shift over to the new sweet home the vaikundam,
which
never becomes worn out or old.
Alwar says that when we are in the last bed we will not know who
to
call for help.
Even our very close relatives or friends cannot help us, they
will
rather cry due to inability. The doctors who have tried their
level best
will say, rest left to god. But all through the life we havent
believed
in him and we have never gone to his temple with a small tulasi
garland. Then how will the belief suddenly come in the last
moment and how
can a person think of him in his death bed? That is why we have
to do it
now itself(when we are young and capable of worshipping him).
Think
the perumai of the bhagavan and meditate on his nAmas. But what
we
actually do? Alwar continues saying.
aramsuvarAgi nindra aranganArkku AtsaiyAdhe: Emperuman is dharma
swarropan.Dharma yoni janardhanaha: rAmam
dharma sanAthanam Dharma
samstappanaya Dharmasya prabhu: achutaha: are
various verses which say
that emperuman is a symbol of dharma. He has been our saviour
always.
When we help our fellow people they forget it very soon. But
emperuman
never forgets when we do a dharma and look for the enjoyment in
his
face. Even though whatever service we do to the lord is not at
all
necessary for him still he adds one credit to us for each good
deed. Even
though he is filled with so much karunyam and is waiting to be
called to
help us out still we prefer to call the less capable persons and
suffer
rather than calling him and enjoying the divine bliss. That is
why
alwar says aranganArkku AtsaiyAdhe. Only for the sake of we
humans he
came from his divine aboard the srivaikundam and settled in Sri
rangam to
come to our call without any delay but then we never go near him
or
call him inspite of innumerable miseries we are undergoing today.
puramsuvar kOlamsaidhu putkavvakedakkindreerE: we do not
surrender to
the lord but we are busy decorating our body. We put on so many
cosmetics and scent ourselves to make our body appealing to
others. But we
lack to think that one day this body will fall and no one will
want to
come near it. We put so much make-up and then we wear a variety
of
dresses and jewels to make us beautiful. Then the youth passes
and then
comes old age when all our beauty vanishes and the same persons
who
appreciated the beauty once, now criticize it. Finally comes
death. Can
the person who admired our body now keep it for more than a day
or two?
No. Even our closest of the closest now get ready to bury or burn
the
body. The father gets ready to burn the body of the son, the wife
sees
the body of her husband burn down. This is the sad state of any
body.
But still for this temporary period we want to decorate it and
spend
money and time for its beautification. If we think a little bit
we will
know what a waste of time and energy it is. We have to think and
spend
money and time for more dharmic causes so that we can attain
moksham.
Azhvar says putkavvakedakkindreerE meaning at the end,
the body is
eaten by predators like eagle( symbalising that at the end the
body is
either buried(the soil eats it), or burnt(eaten by the fire and
burnt to
ashes) or if we leave it open then the birds eat it). Here alwar
says
kavva(bites) instead of sappida(to eat).
Sri PVP explains why?
Considering the body which has never gone to the temple or done
any
kainkaryam to the supreme lord or surrendered to him, even the
bird doesnt
want to eat this body. These birds, belonging to the same species
of
garudan who is the vahana to bhagavan like to eat only bhagavat
prasAdam
so they eat only the body which has been submitted to the lord
under
the name of saranAgathi (surrendering to the lord,doing
kainkaryam and
uttering bhagavan nAma always). This explanation is given just to
show
the importance of the bhagavat kainkaryam and bhagavan nAma
sankeertanam(shouldnt be analysed taking in the actual
sense).
One should realise the temporary nature of the body and should
know the
only thing which can beautify our body is bhagavan nAma
sankeertanam
and bhagavat kainkaryam.
To be continued in the next posting.
AzhwAr emberumAnAr jeeyar thiruvadigaLE saraNam
Adiyen Ramanuja Dasyai
Sumithra Varadarajan