Thiruvaaimozhi 4.1- Transitory lives! momentary pleasures! Terrible sufferings!

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SRI:

 

Dearest Sisters and Brothers,

 

In the last three hundreds of Thiruvaaimozhi, NammAzhwAr blessed us with

the essence of the second line of dwayam i.e "SrimathE NarayaNaya

Namah:". The next three hundreds (4,5, &6) are going to bless us with

the first line of dwaya manthram : "Sriman NarayaNa saraNau saraNam

prapadyE". He has enjoyed to the fullest extent the darshan and bliss of

Emperumaan Sriya: Pathih Sriman NarayaNan.

 

In this decad of Thiruvaaimozhi 4.1, he explains and narrates the

non-permanence of wealth, power (that we think we have in this world).

He describes the triviality of these so-called wealths and its

lowliness, and asserts the importance and necessity for us to catch hold

of Emperumaan’s Lotus Feet as the Purushaartham. (Dear Sisters and

Brothers, this decad is my favourite for its very explanation of "alpam"

of material benefits that we get from our lives and running AMUCK after

such pursuits. They are simply great narration by AzhwAr- Please be

blessed and let us try to give it a thought now at least, dear ones!)

 

1. Even the great king and the ruler, with enormous powers to capture

and rule the entire world, if he gets beaten and lost in a battle(which

is more likely as is seen in the history), he has to beg in the streets

ultimately to even survive. Such chakravarthis after having lost their

kingdoms, have suffered holding a small broken mud pot as a vessel to

beg in the streets and gets bitten by the black street dog (which they

step on due to poor vision due to their hunger). The ones who used to

give other small lands for them to rule (under their powers) are now in

the utter lowest position of begging in the streets. Hence, if you

raelise the non-permanence of ones’ power/position, you will not bother

to run after the positions/powers and catch hold of the Lotus Feet of

Sriman NarayaNan and be saved for ever for a Beautiful future. Go right

ahead and catch the Biggest Wealth;

 

2. If you want to live, you should pay me some fief (or tax)

("kappam")- like that the king brings the entire world under his kingdom

(bringing all local small rulers under him by fighting and winning over

them in battles); The same great king very soon loses in some other

battle and loses his kingdom to some others and loses his darling wives

to another. They then suffer in the hot son looking for some water and

fruits hiding themselves in the forests for their survival. There also,

they get caught by his enemies and undergo suffering. Hence, Realise

this and right now, pay obeisance to the Lotus Feet of Emperumaan and be

saved.

 

3. Chakravarthis, once were ruling the entire world with the other

kings at their feet paying fief; they were sitting on the throne with

the drums sounding like thunder; the same chakravarthis, later, lose all

their kingdoms and become pulverised like dust and are not even in the

scene; Hence, right now, think of the Lotus Feet of KaNNan, who wears

the Most Fragrant garland of thuLasi on His Head.

 

4. the kings who ruled the world for ages have also gone to dust; such

numbers, if you try to count, they will be more than the sands that you

can see at the beach. Not only were they lost in the sands of time, also

were their kingdoms. Nothing of theirs is seen today. No remains at all

is seen. Hence, prostrate at the Lotus Feet of KaNNan, who killed the

kuvalayaapeetam (the big elephant which was sent by kamsa to kill

kaNnan).

 

5. Even the great, big, chakravarthis were slaves of their beautiful

damsels in the harem; Inside the room, on their cool beds, they were at

the feet of those damsels and were begging them for their mercy for

mating them. The same kings, later after losing to another king, are

standing on the streets like a beggar, with the small loin cloth hanging

in the front and are laughed at by the same damsels with whom they had

enjoyed. (Please do not believe such "useless", transitory,

non-permanent lives!). Hence, please utter His thirunaamam "NarayanA"

right now and save yourselves; He is My Emperumaan, who has got the Most

Beautiful Divine Body, glittering like the Blue Emerald stone.

 

6. From time immemorial, there is no one who has lived like a king for

ever; They all have lived like the rain droplets and die like them; None

has been in a wealthy good position from the beginning to the end. (let

us not attribute this to one life; this includes all births of ours). If

you need PERMANENT Purushaartham, then immediately servant of

SarvEshwaran, who is having His Yoga NithrA in the deep, Big Milk Ocean.

 

7. The ugly, filthily rich people eat their stomach filled food of

various tastes and roll down trying to make it get digested. While doing

so, their soft spoken, beloved damsels used to request them with their

sweet voices asking them to eat more food and even used to feed them

with their hands. These idiots used to eat them too in addition to their

stomachfuls. Such days are only short-lived! Later, they lose all their

money and wealth and to fill their stomach, they used to beg in front of

the same beloved’s’ houses and were even chased away by them for want of

money. They beg them "please give me at least a handful of old remains

of your yesterday’s food" . What a shameful life! Is it worth all the

trouble? Hence, RIGHT NOW, It is best for our own sake to involve

yourself in the enjoyment of the Most Auspicious attributes (kalyANa

guNAs) of Emperumaan, the Primordial Chief and the eternal jOthi, who

wears the lovely Thuzhaay maalai on His head. Enjoy His beauty ( and get

out of HERE! (from these shameful lives!))

 

8. The virtuous kings, as a dharmA, rule the world selflessly (like

Janaka MahArAjA) and protects the people as their duties, knowing fully

well all the times, that the kingdom which they are granted with is the

grace and mercy of the Lord Sriman NarayaNan, the Emperumaan. If they do

not know that and think that it is they who own them and it is due to

their efforts and powers they are what they are, they may be happy for

some years; but alas! It will definitely GO! They will lose them

soonest. Hence, read the names of the Lord who sleeps on AdhisEshA. You

can get the wealth that you will NEVER LOSE. (By doing duties for

material benefits, then it is all likely that it will be lost sooner.

Hence, DO NOT look for benefits and perform the duties unattached to its

fruits as if we are performing ThiruvaarAdhanam for Him, that will fetch

us the mOksham. )

 

9. (The above eight pAsurams narrate the non-permanence of these

materialstic lives / benefits; now, in this pAsuram, azhwAr says that

the power one gets with the penance (thapas) is also His grace only.)

those who like to do penance, renounce all their desires and attachments

to the materialistic fruits and to their kith and kin. They shed all

their attractions to the various ornaments and win all their sensual

desires; They do penance for years together and accumulate lot of sands

and dust over their bodies while doing so; Even such tapaswis, if they

do not hold the feet of Emperumaan firmly (and are after some other

benefits), then they can not get into the Swargam (heaven). They will

come back to the earth again and be born in these worlds and suffer;

Hence, Please hold the Feet of Emperumaan, (who comes on GarudA) firmly

and be blessed to get into THE PERMANENT ABODE OF HIS HOME.

 

10. (In the above 9 pAsurams, AzhwAr says both aishwaryam and

swargAnubhavam are NOT PERMANENT. Even though the kaivalyam of

AthmAnubhavam is good and yields benefits to us, it is nothing compared

to the eternal happiness and bliss one gets by rendering service to

Emperumaan - so says AzhwAr in this last pAsuram of this decad). The

person who desires kaivalya anubhavam controls the mind, renounces the

desires and unites the mind with the Athman (the form of jnAnA) and

enjoys the bliss of such unity. The jnAnis who think of such enjoyment

(the AthmAnubhavam ) as mOksham- if they do not consider Emperumaan as

the means (upaayam) then their karmAs will not go off; they will remain

and bring them back to the earth. There is no moksham if they can not

think of Emperumaan (even if they try to hold their minds under control

for some other benefits); Holding the Blemishless faultless Emperumaan’s

Feet and rendering service to Him is the only Purushaartham and is the

means for mOksham.

 

11. What was told above is the only way for redemption and mOksham- i.e

Holding firmly the Lotus Feet of KaNNan is the above 1000 pAsurams of

NammAzhwAr as a bhAgawatha kaimkaryam. Out of those 1000, these ten

pAsurams talk about the necessity of taking refuge at His Feet. Those

who read and learn them will NOT GET ANY SORROWS / PAINS / GRIEVANCES.

(means: They will REALISE that running after materialistic / sensual

pleasures is of transitory nature and will overcome the small (little)

value purushaarthams of aishwaryam and kaivalyam. They will consider

only rendering eternal service to Emperumaan (kaimkaryam) as the only

PURUSHAARTHAM and will hence, thereafter have NO SORROWS. Any other

pleasure is associated with pains and sorrows.

 

Sisters and Brothers - an excellent decad - all about the transitory

life! The momentary pleasures and associated terrible pains! - the

non-permanence of wealth (or money!). how nicely azhwAr (disgustingly)

narrates all these! (On the same token, There are nice such poems of

Pattinatthaar , a Tamil poet who had written lot of philosophical poems

in Tamil; Though a shaivite, his poems talk well about the transitory

nature of our lives. There is at least one that I remember: "vittu

vidapOguthu uyir- vitta vudan, udalaich chuttu vidap pOginRaar

suRRatthaar"- Look at the tamil. The meaning is : the uyir (life) has to

go; and immediately the dear ones are going to burn your body; (so why

to run after bodily pleasures?))

 

NammAzhwAr thiruvadigaLE saraNam

 

 

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[Guest guest]

At 08:47 PM 3/16/98 PST, you wrote:

>SRI:

>

 

 

Dear madhava kannan,

 

I really enjoy madhava kannan's alwar pasurams. Particularly for folks

with less tamil knowledge this wonderful translation is divine to read. It

reminds us to not run after pleasures. Probably this is one of the major

ailments for some folks , particularly for me than anyone else. We have to

remind ourselves of this statement :

 

paramatmani yo raktaha viraktaha aparamatmani

aparamatmani yo raktaha viraktaha paramatmani

 

" one who is attached to God is naturally unattached to other than God

(matter)

one who is attached to matter is without doubt detached from God"

 

ie. Matter and God are far away (literally not philosophically) from each

other. One closer to one of these two entities is far away from the other.

This rule cannot be broken. This is verily why lord Krishna in Bhagawadgita

states :

 

Bhogaisvarya prasaktanam taya apahrita chetasam vyavasayatmika buddhih

samadhaou na vidhiyate

 

One who is attached to wealth, power etc. and whose intellect is stolen by

pursuit of wealth etc., his mind cannot concentrate on the spirit.

 

No wonder Lord Krishna states to Sudhama in Bhagawatam -

 

niskinchana vayam nishkinchana jana priyah -

 

O sudhama, we (ie. I and probably Lakshmi) do not have anything (ie. are

the nature of asamsaritvam) ie. we are not attached to this world and

wealth; and we like folks who do not have anything ie. as poor as you!;

meaning "non-materialistic" folks .

 

The idea here is that Sudhama was poor no doubt but had the greatest trust

and bhakti in Krishna. He did not even want to ask Krishna anything

eventhough his wife suggested that he should take the help of Krishna to

get out of the terrible poverty they were experiencing.

 

By this instance Lord Krishna is reminding us that we should have least

attachment to matter to be liked by HIM.

 

adiyen Krishna Kalale