Thirumaalai(25)

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(contd)

 

seruvilE arakkarkOnai settra nam sEvakanAr:  seruvu means war and
Ravana was the arakkarkOn(king of asuras).  Though Ravana was an asura king
still rAma’s one single arrow will kill him.  Even that is not
necessary.  Perumal’s sankalpam alone is enough to kill ravana.  But it was
leela of emperuman to have fought a war with ravana and then killing him. 
Emperuman had sympathy even towards ravana.  When vibheeshana came and
surrendered to perumal there were so many people in rama sena who
objected in accepting his saranagathi.  But emperuman sent sugreeva to fetch
vibheeshana and added even if ravana turned up after second thought do
get him to my feet.  This stayed in emperuman’s mind till the last.  So
he didn’t want to kill ravana in a second but instead he gave him many
chances.  On the first day of the war, ravana was abandoned without any
weapons.  Perumal didn’t kill him instead he asked him to go today and
come the next day thinking that atleast tomorrow ravana will feel for
his mistake and beg pardon.  But then the next day ravana returned with
all the weapons again since he was a arakkan, who will never change and
hence perumal had no other option than to kill him.  Ravana was a ten
headed asura.  Emperuman could have chopped off all his ten heads at a
time.  But again he didn’t do it.  He chopped his head one after the
other again giving ravana a chance to change, atleast by seeing his heads
fall to the ground.  No one will be able to see their head fall to the
ground but ravana saw his nine heads fall one after the other on the
ground.  This was the result of his great penance.  He did penance for
his selfish motives and he got the fruit of it.  Sri PVP says this is his
vyakhyanam as follows: “than thalai tharaiyilE purala kannAlE kAnbar
ellaiyampadi erukka thAn kAnum padi OrOr thalaiyAga aruththirE avanai
azhiya seithathu”.  Sevagar actually means one who does service. 
Emperuman who is our protector does service too.  In early days police were
called as Sevagar in tamil only now they are called as kAvalar.  Emperuman
acts both as a protector and also does service to his devotees
willingly.

 

maruviya periya kOil madhil thiruvarangamennA:  We may think,  but
ramanyanam took place long back in thretha yuga where to find that perumal
now?  Alwar immediately answers.  He now stays in srirangam.  In the
big temple surrounded by huge walls.  The rishis and Vedas always hided
emperuman but the beauty of alwars and their prabhandams is that they
clearly showed emperuman and where he can be seen now at this time with
our eyes.  Here alwar says madhil thiruvarangam(srirangam with big walls
around).  According to historians the big walls of the srirangam temple
was built only in the chola, pandiya regimes but looking into the alwar
paasurams we find that the walls were there from ancient times. 
Probably the kings only renovated the already existing walls.  Even before
the alwars, the agamas existed and were pramanas and in the pancharartra
agama it is said that the temple has seven prakarAs and rituals
prescribed accordingly.  The last day of the brahmotsavam is hence celebrated
as sapthAvaranam(seven Avaranas).  So just by seeing the inscriptions
we cannot conclude anything probably the kings renovated the old seven
prakara madhils.  Alwar from the beginning of the prabhandam has always
insisted nAma keertanam.  Even here he didn’t say that a person has to
go to periya koil but he says one has to think of the emperuman who
killed the ten headed demon, ravana with his one arrow who now stays in
thiruvarangam and say ranganatha once.  That is why alwar says
‘thiruvarangam ennA’. 

 

karuvilE thiruvilAtheer! KAlaththai kazhikkindreerE:  KaruvillE
thiruvullavargal are those who are blessed with bhagavat bhakthi and jnanam
from the womb of their mother.  Prahladan was such a child who was
blessed by  saint naradha when he was in his mother’s womb.  Even today we
see kids who from their childhood have attraction towards the lord.  They
play with small idols decorating it with flowers and trying to imitate
the pooja procedures done in temples and by their elders at home to
their small perumal.  They conduct various utsavams to their perumal and
that is their mode of play.  We see some children in our families who
has satsangam asking their mother’s, if the sweet she was making was for
perumal.  The child at the back of the mind is very fond of having the
sweet but it very well knows that the mother will give him the sweet
only after offering to perumal and hence it waits for the mother to give
the sweet rather than grabbing it.  These habits of offering anything
to bhagavan before having it ourselves should be brought into practice
from childhood.  There lies the role of the elders who are pious in the
family.  If the parents are not orderly then the kid also grows without
bhagavat bhakthi.  After some age it is very difficult to develop good
things.  As the saying in thamil goes, ‘Indil vilayAthathu Iinbhadhil
vilayumA?’  But unfortunately nowadays parents do not pay much interest
in developing these disciplines in their kids.  They are more
materialistic and the TV and other medias teach the children what they should
not learn at that age.  And hence the kids are totally spoilt.  Nowadays
satsangam has to be searched for whereas dussangam is easily got.  But
inspite of all these if a kid grows with bhagavat bhakthi then it is
due to his poova janma sukrutham or what other than bhagavat-bhAgavata
ashirvAdam.  Even if a bhagavathan wishes a pregnant lady to have a pious
child then the child will be born as a srivaishnava and he becomes a
garbha sreeman like prahladan.  Here alwar is talking about the bhakya
heenas, karuvilE thiruvilAtheer(those who do not have the knowledge and
bhakthi from childhood).  Alwar pities these people who are just wasting
their time without any use.

 

Some people even feel ashamed to say the bhagavan nAma in a crowd. 
Alwar says the way out for these people in the next paasuram which we will
see in the next posting.

 

AzhwAr emberumAnAr jeeyar thiruvadigaLE saraNam

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasyai

Sumithra Varadarajan