thiruk kaNNan kudi - part 7

[Guest guest]

Sri Sampath Rengarajan's eloquent insights on thiru-neer aNi vizha

were thoroughly enjoyable. Particularly striking was his exposition

on the term "neermai" and how this word encapsulates myriad kalyana

guNas of the lord.

>

> Neermai - an explanation: The tamil word neermai has no parallel

> in sanskrit as this one word replaces many kalyAna gunAs of the

> Lord that are addressed by many single words. i.e., Neermai is a

> composite in nature of many kalyAna gunAs of the Lord put

> together. Neermai means "neeraip pOnRa thaNmai". That is "the

> charecteristics of water". There are so many charecteristics that

> water has. Of which five important are adaptability to fill in

> any form or shape (the wearing of thiru neer here symbolize that),

> cooling nature (i.e., the mercy or compassion to ease the pains of

> the sufferings of the bhakthALs and make their life comfortable)

> easy availability everywhere, life saving, and life supporting,

>

 

The beauty of our languages, Tamil and sanskrit, as vehicles to

express difficult-to-represent, experiential, emotional concepts is

quite compelling. Sri Rengarajan's words bring to mind Sri Parasara

Bhattar's eloquence in Sri Ranga Raja Stavam:

 

Ekaikasmin parama avayavE

anantha soundarya magnam

sarvam drakshe kathamithi matha

mAmatha manda chakshuhu

thAm sou bhraathra vyathikarakarA rangarAjAngakaanaam

thallAvaNyam pariNamayitha vishwa pAreeNa vruthi

 

Bhattar says that the lord's beauty is so entrancing that his senses

become immersed in the infinite beauty (anantha soundarya magnam)

of each of the lord's avayavas (features) that there is no hope for

him to enjoy and experience, to consummation, the lord's avayava

soundarya. Bhattar chides his eyes for this state of ineptness

(maamatha manda chakshuhu) and then suggests a way out: Let us get

on to the boat that is Lord's laavaNyam (lavaNam in sanskrit is

salt; lavaNyam is that aspect of Lord's beauty that is pervasive

and omni-present, akin to how salt in water spreads so as to engender

and make prominent the salty characteristic throughout the solution)

- Lords samudaaya shobha. Since laavaNyam represents the pervasive

aspect of Lord's beauty, Bhattar says, once we jump aboard this boat,

we can traverse from one avayava (rangaraajangakaanaam) to another

entrancing aspect without loss of continuity and yet beget that sense

of fulfillment of having enjoyed multifarious aspects of lord's

avayava shobha.

 

Aazhwaar Emberumaanaar Jeeyar ThiruvadigaLe sharaNam

 

Sridhar