Thirumaalai(50)

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-31
 

“tavaththulAr tammil allEn dhanam padaiththAril allEn

  vuvaththaneer pOla enthan vuttravarkku ondrum allEn

  tuvarththa sevvAyinArkkE tuvakkara turisanAnEn

  avaththamE piravi thandhai arangamAnagarulAnE!”

 

tavaththulAr tammil allEn dhanam padaiththAril allEn :  Even the rishis
like durvyasa got angry quite often and uttered harsh words.  But do
you have any tapas like them?  Alwar answers, I have never done any tapas
like that.  I do not have tapas like druvan, or brahmacharyam like
bheeshma; or have I done any vrattam like rukmangatha or ambareesha; or
yagna-yAgas like manu; or do I see Brahman everywhere like prahlada.  Only
due to kOdi janma punyam do we get to do such karma yogam and bhakthi
which is not so easy.  But sometimes if we have some money we may do
some kainkaryam or dAna darmam.  Sri PVP says,  “artha lAbhaththaiyum
purushArtha sadhanamAgha solla kadavadhu”.  Though artha is not the main
purushartha it helps us to light a lamp in a temple, renovate a temple in
poor state, do service to bhagavan and bhagavatas.  So alwar here says
I do not even have that money with which I can do bhagavat/bhAgavata
kainkaryam.  Thirumangai alwar even went to the extent of stealing the
money for the sake of kainkaryam.  That doesn’t mean we all have to do
the same.  Only two persons thirumangai alwar and bhadrachala ramadass
had the courage to build and develop temples with others money.  They
didn’t feel it as a mistake since they considered everything in this world
to belong to emperuman alone.  Here one has to remember that
bhadrachala ramadass didn’t start constructing the temple at bhadrachalam with
the muslim’s money he spent what all he had including his wife’s
jewellery, only after that for the storage he used the tax money which had to
be sent to the government.  Since he felt the money should be actually
used only for the welfare of the public and since the public in that
area wanted the temple to be renovated he did the same.   He did it
without the permission of the king since he knew that being a muslim king
permission for renovation of a temple will not be granted.  Similarly
thirumangai alwar spent all what he had and since he needed more he used
the Buddha vigraha made of gold.  He felt that since the Buddhist anyway
declare everything to be soonyam then why this vigraham that too out of
gold(EyaththAl AgadhO! erumbhinAl AgAdhO! says alwar).  Thirumangai
alwar did a good thing of converting the avaidhika dhanam to vaidhika
dhanam says parasara bhattar.  This will give punyam to both the owner of
the dhanam and thirumangai mannan.  So we cannot say artham or wealth is
not totally necessary.  But it should be spent in kainkaryams to
bhagavan and bhagavatas.  Whatever we earn we should have a small amount to
our livelihood(bare minimum) and rest used for kainkaryams.  Do we all
do that today?  Alwar says I do not even possess that money to do
kainkaryam. 

vuvaththaneer pOla enthan vuttravarkku ondrum allEn:  When splashing
salty water in our face we feel the pain similarly I hurt the feelings of
my relatives whenever they think of me.  Here alwar considers atma
bandhus has his relatives as he has totally forgotten about his sareera
bandhus.  Since he has no good deeds and has only bad deeds his atma
bandhus feel bad whenever they think of him. 

tuvarththa sevvAyinArkkE tuvakkara turisanAnEn:  Alwar did forget his
sareera bandhus and came to Srirangam leaving his birth place mandangudi
but then he got trapped in love of deva dEvi, now he says he has even
cheated such ladies who talk so sweetly but all their words are sugar in
a pill.  Hence even they don’t like to even see him now. 

avaththamE piravi thandhai arangamAnagarulAnE:  Why did you give me
such a lowly birth? asks alwar to perumal.  Instead of making me a garbha
sreeman you have created me like this useless for bhagavan and
bhagavatas.  Is it not cruel for alwar to criticize perumal saying ‘piravi
thandhai’ instead of saying ‘piravi eduththEn’ questions Sri PVP in his
vyakhyanam and gives the answer himself.  Emperuman gives birth to the
jeevatma according to his previous karmas.  He gives the jeevan
karnakalebarangal and leaves the jeevan to choose either the lowkikam or
vaidheekam.   Whatever the jeevan chooses the paramatma leaves it to go in the
same way without intervening into it.  Why does the bhagavan remain
indifferent to what we choose?  If he starts stopping us from choosing the
wrong thing then he has to do it to all, since all jeevatmas are equal
to him.  In that case all the jeevatmas will do only the good and reach
the lord thereby there will be no purpose for the creation at all.  So
he initially gives us an independence to choose what we want, the good
or bad.   For instance, for a tree to grow we need a fertile soil and
water etc but does this determine what tree is going to grow in that
place.  Can a mango tree grow into a neem tree just because we have
planted in a particular place?  No.  Only the seed determines what tree it is
going to be.  Land, water etc are called common factors but seed is a
specific reason for the tree to grow.  Similarly emperuman is a common
factor responsible for the sareeram and our birth but how our life is
going to be is determined by our karma.  Though emperuman is behind
everything he remains silent and lets our karma take the due course due to
his nirangusa svathantrayam.   So emperuman is reason for everything but
we shouldn’t say he is the cause for all our bad deeds.  Then why is
alwar blaming perumal for giving him such a birth?  Sri PVP answers,

“kinattril vizhundha prajaiyai kandu thAi pEsAmal erundhAl thAi
thallinAl enna kadavudhirE”

If a kid playing near a well accidentally falls into it and if the
mother keeps quiet without rescuing it then we can as well say that the
mother pushed the child to death.  If a child fails in his exam and the
father questions him why he has failed?  The child replies, why didn’t
you scold me earlier when I was playing instead of reading and make me
pass.  Instead you made more sophistication for me to play so you only
spoilt me.  This the son says with the right he has with his father
similarly alwar talks over here.  Is it not your duty Oh! Ranganatha to
change me and prevent me from going in the wrong path since I am your son? 

Whatever emperuman has told in the sastras to be done is punyam
(“Sruthi smrithi: mamai Agjna yaha sa vullanga varthathE; Agjna chEbhi mama
drOhi-Pancharatram) and anything against it is papam.  When we do
something against his orders he gets angry which puts us to miseries.  If
perumal pardons us then he doesn’t get angry and hence we do not suffer. 
So emperuman becomes indirectly responsible for our suffering so alwar
says only perumal is responsible for his sufferings. 

AzhwAr emberumAnAr jeeyar thiruvadigaLE saraNam

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasyai

Sumithra Varadarajan