Thirumaalai(32)

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-17
“virumbi nindrEththa mAttEn vidhiyilen madhi ondrillai

  irumbhupOl valiya nenjam eraierai vurugum vannam

  surumbhamar sOlai soozhindha arangamAkoyil konda

  karumbhinaikkandu kondu yenkanninai kalikkumArE!”

 

virumbi nindrEththa mAttEn vidhiyilen madhi ondrillai:  Initially,
alwar says, I was not at all interested in bhagavat vishayam.  Whenever we
want to go for bhagavat vishayam there is always some hindrance.  As we
consider many more things more important in our life we have bhagavat
vishayam as a last option.  We all think that we can reserve bhagavat
vishayam for the later days but cannot forgo the lowkika matters at this
time.  Whenever we sit to do thiruvArAdhanam or pooja or some
pArAyanam, there is one devil inside us which keeps on telling,’isn’t this
enough for today? haven’t we done enough? etc etc’.  But such thoughts never
appear when we are involved in the lowkika pleasures.  We want more and
more without any end.  This is bhagavan mAyai which puts us into this
vicious circle of life and death.  We go to the temple to meditate on
the god atleast for sometime.  But the pitiable part is that after going
there our mind starts wondering here and there and we assume as if the
whole world will stop if we are not present in the office or at home
and least concentrate on the divine lord.  There is no use in doing
bhajanai or pooja just for the sake of doing it or for punyam.  It should be
done for the joy of doing it and with atmost concentration on the
supreme lord.  Here alwar says “virumbi nindrEththa mAttEn” that is, I will
not sing the praise of the lord, due to my interest or deep love for
him, instead I do it because it is my fate and I even don’t have the
intellect to really understand my mistake.

Sri PVP in his vyakhyanam says, “bhagavat vishayaththai pEsavendrAl vAk
indriyaththikku sakthi ellai. Vyathiriktha vishayangalai pesavendrAl
Adaravum vundai sakthiyum vundAyirukkum”

When it comes to bhagavat vishayam our mouth pains and we feel tired
and disinterested.  But when it comes to lowkikam we gain all the
strength and interest to do a big lecture.  We don’t mind straining ourselves
for lowkika pleasures but in case of bhagavat vishayam even a small
hindrance is enough to demoralize us.  As the saying goes, “where there is
a will there is a way”.  If we have deep love and bhakthi towards
bhagavan we will always find time and energy to do bhagavat kainkaryam and
gunAnubhavam.  If not we can find umteem number of reasons not to do the
same.  If we are not capable to talk about emperuman or do kainkaryam
to him atleast we can listen to those who do the same but we refrain and
get away from such people thinking that they are mad and unproductive. 
Sri PVP says, “Nee oruvan vundu endru ariyum arivum kooda ellai”  We
are all so blindfolded due to the kAmika enjoyment that we do not even
have the intellect to realize that there is one supreme bhagavan.

“vunnai ozhiya sakala padharthangaludaiya svaroopa svabhAvangalai ariya
kshamanAi errukkum”  Other than the lord we want to understand the
qualities of all other objects, living or non living, which exists in this
world.  Svaroopam is the inherent quality and svabhAvam is the habit. 
We try to analyse so many things in this world and consider ourselves
to be very knowledgeable but we hardly think that there is one thing
which is beyond our thinking and analyzing capacity.  We do not even know
that such a thing exists and we refuse to accept it too.  There are so
many people who are so updated that they can say within a second the
price of onion to price of diamonds and can give as many data or news up
to date.  But when we ask them about bhagavan they say there is no such
thing in their dictionary.  What a pity!

 

  irumbhupOl valiya nenjam eraierai vurugum vannam:  Alwar says I used
to be one among the above said hard core people.  But then even my hard
heart, which is like a piece of hard iron now melts.  What made alwar’s
heart melt?

 

surumbhamar sOlai soozhindha arangamAkoyil konda:  My heart melts on
seeing the bhagavan who resides in the temple at Srirangam, which is
surrounded by number of beautiful gardens filled with number of bees.  The
temple atmosphere is so peaceful and pleasant to our minds and the
beauty of namperumal residing over there even makes a nastika, hard at
heart lose himself.

 

 karumbhinaikkandu kondu yenkanninai kalikkumArE!:  Emperuman is sweet
like a sugarcane.  So alwar calls him to be a ‘karumbu’(sugarcane). 
But there is a difference between a sugarcane and the emberuman.  We can
enjoy the sweetness of a sugarcane only after drinking the juice.  But
the sugarcane, by the name namperumal makes us enjoy the sweetness just
as we look at it.  That’s why alwar says karumbhinai kandu kondu
instead of, after eating he says on seeing, yenkanninai-my eyes
kalillumArE-enjoys, experiences the height of ecstacy.  Why does alwar say yen
kanninai?  Alwar feels proud that only his eyes are fortunate to have the
darshan of emperuman and enjoy and those who have missed this opportunity
are unfortunate.  Not only the eyes, the ears which listen to bhagavat
gunam are lucky, the mouth which sings his praise are fortunate and
each and every part of our body which is involved in bhagavat vishayam are
fortunate and they are supposed to get the palan(result) of their
creation.

 

AzhwAr emberumAnAr jeeyar thiruvadigaLE saraNam

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasyai

Sumithra Varadarajan