sOmbar & thondaradippodi aazhwaar

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Sri Sadagopan wrote

> Tondaradipodhi describes the parama hitam aspect of SaraNAgathi

> done in a trice (KshaNa Karthavyam ) by PrapannAs this way in one of

> the Paasurams of ThirumAlai : " kadaitthalai irundhu vaazhum Sombarai

> uhatthi pOlum " ( O Ranganaatha! You take great interest even in those

> lazy ones living around your ramparts at Srirangam. They were lazy in that

> they did not make the effort to practise difficult Bhakthi and Jnaana Yogams.

> They too the easy route appropriate to their limited strength and performed

> Prapatthi at Your lotus feet. You accepted those Prapannaas and treated them

> as though they were superior to all the others) .

 

 

 

I tend to disagree with the above interpretation of the paasuram.

I think that the word sOmbar in the paasuram DOES NOT refer to

the 'lazy ones who did not make the effort to practise the difficult bhakti

and Jnaana yOgas and took the easy way appropriate to their limited strength'.

 

On the other hand, 'vaazhum sOmbar' here refers to those aasthikaas who

have surrendered everything to the Lord including the way to the goal,

realising that the Lord Himself is the siddhOpaayam and

thereby do not attempt to undertake any 'saadhanaas' towards the goal.

sOmbal here refers to the 'laziness' of these

bhaagavathaas in not pursuing any saadhanaas towards their own hitam .

( the 'laziness' of those who

do not even think about their hitam, leaving everything to Him).

 

 

The first 3 lines of the paasuram in fact describes the 'vaazhum

sOmbar'. Here is the whole paasuram .

 

mEmporuL pOga vittu meymmaiyai miga uNarndhu

aamparisaRindhukoNdu aiympulan agathadakki

kaambaRath thalaisiRaiththu un kadaiththalai irundhu vaazhum

sOmbarai ugaththi pOlum soozh punal aranGaththaanE!

 

 

 

mEmporuL here refers to three things here -

(i) mElezhunNdha poruL

(ii) mEvina poruL

(iii) mEmpaattai viLaikkum poruL

 

mElezhuNdha poruL are those things that go away when one gets bhagavath vishaya

uNarchchi (uNarchchi = feeling) - in this case, samsaara sambhandham

 

mEvina poruL are those things that the chetana has difficulty in separating

- eg.. dhEhasambhandham, confusion between aatma & dhEham (body)

 

mEmpaattai viLaikkum poruL - things that make the chetana feel that those

associated with it are 'its'. i.e. prakriti praakruta padhaarththa sambhandham.

i.e. thinking that all things associated with us in this world are 'ours' -

 

 

mEmporuL pOgavittu = letting go of mEmporuL - i.e.letting go of

samsaara sambhandham, dhEhasambhandham & prakriti

praakruta sambhandham

 

meymmayai miga uNarndhu = understanding the aatma swaroopam (meymmai = truth)

 

aam parisu aRindhu koNdu = realising that kainkaryam is the purushaarththam

(actually, relising things associated with

our swaroopaanuroopam)

 

aiympulan agathadakki = controlling the five indriyaas (to not go to the

mEmporuL again)

 

 

kaambu aRa thalai siraiththu = letting go of all the saadhanas &

upaayaandharaas completely (kaambu ara)

 

un kadaiththalai irundhu vaazhum sOmbar = those people (who do the above and)

who live in the entrances (As guards)

to Your temple

 

 

sOmbarai ugaththi pOlum soozh

punal arangaththaanE = Oh Ranganaatha - You show great liking

(ugaththal) towards these sOmbars.

 

 

 

Aazhwaar emperumaanaar jeeyar thiruvadigaLE saranam.

 

Varadhan