Thirumaalai(24)

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-11
 

“oru villAl Ongu munneeradaiththu vulagangal uyya

  seruvilE arakkarkOnai settra nam sEvakanAr

  maruviya periya kOil madhil thiruvarangamennA

  karuvilE thiruvilAtheer! KAlaththai kazhikkindreerE.”

 

oru villAl Ongu munneeradaiththu vulagangal uyya:  In this paasuram
alwar talks about the rAmAvataram of Emperuman.  The word ‘oru’ in tamil
can be used in two ways.  It can denote both the meaning of one and only
or a thing which has nothing equal to it.  Here alwar says that there
is no bow equal to Sri rAma’s bow.  It is equal to only itself.  In
Ramayana, Sri rAma kept his kodandam(his special bow) down only once.  That
was when he did saranagathi to the samudhra rajan in darpa sayanam. 
Now a doubt will arise in all our minds.  We are able to accept
srivaishnavas doing saraganathi to emperuman because he is our sole refuge and
we are incapable to saving ourselves and all other devatas are incapable
of giving us the final purushartha, the moksha.  But why should the
emperuman do saranagathi?  In Rama Avatara emperuman stayed like a man. 
He didn’t show his divine powers.  That is why the alwars say
“manisarukkai padAdhanapattu”.  He suffered so as to lift us up.  When the issue
of how to the build the bridge across the sea to go to lanka came,
vibheshana who had just joined the rama parivar gave the idea of Sri rAma
surrendering to the samudra raja.  Though vibheshana joined only then,
still rAma gave him the due respects and obliged to his words.  But why
did vibheshana suggest this method of saranAgathi?  That’s because he
did saranAgathi in the feet of Sri rAma and was saved from rAvana and
assured lanka rajyam.  So he thought the saranagathi at any place will
give the best fruit and hence suggested this.  Though there were many
others in the side of rAma like hanuman and sugreeva, hanuman talked
always at the last after hearing to the others opinion and perumal also
listened to all the suggestions and then only gave his decision.  But since
vibheshana put forward his opinion immediately after rAma’s question,
“samudram rAghavO raja sharanam ganthumarhathi”, and since even perumal
felt it to be a good idea he accepted to do saranAgathi on the darpa
sayanam.  But even after 3 days of fasting the samudra raja never turned
up so emperuman who has no experience in doing saranAgathi since he is
used to only others doing saranAgathi in his feet lost his patience and
called for lakshmana to bring his bow  to dry the ocean(“sApmAnAya
sowmithrE!”).  This is not a saranAgatha lakshana since a saranAgathan
should never get impatient with the master’s silence.  But emperuman didn’t
have the experience to wait for others to accept his saranagathi and
hence couldn’t tolerate samudra rajan’s silence.  But then lakshmana knew
very well that Sri rAmar was capable of drying the ocean and that it
should not occur since it is harmful to the whole world.  Sri PVP clearly
says in his Thanisloki vyakhyanam how lakshmana reacted to this
situation.  First he got a ordinary bow alone and perumal then ordered him to
get his kOdandam and then lakshmana got only the  bow after which
emperuman ordered him to get the bow and the arrow.  Seeing perumal’s anger
samudra raja came running and surrendered unto the feet of the
emperuman.  So alwar here says emperuman for the benefit of the whole world
built the bridge across the ocean with the help of his great bow(seeing
which in perumal’s hand made samudra raja surrender to emperuman’s feet).

 

In his vyakhyanam Sri PVP explains this in the simple way.  “upAdhyAyan
kaiyilE kasai kandu siru prajaigal kAlilE vizhumA pole Thiruvadigal
alavum vandhu vellam kOththAr pOl Ayittru”  When a teacher calls a boy
with a stick in his hand the boy gets afraid and falls in his feet even
before the teacher could beat him.  Similarly when perumal got angry with
samudra rajan and got ready to hit him with his bow and arrow samudra
rajan came running and surrendered to the feet of emperuman.

 

We will continue the next half of the paasuram in the next posting.

 

AzhwAr emberumAnAr jeeyar thiruvadigaLE saraNam

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasyai

Sumithra Varadarajan