nAcciyAr tirumozhi VIII - viNNIla mElAppu 3

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kkrishnamachari (Kalyani Krishnamachari)

Tue, 11 May 1999 23:12:43 -0500 (CDT)

Original-kaly (Kalyani Krishnamachari)

kkrishnamachari

vinnilam3

SrI:

SrI ANDAL samEta SrI rangamannAr tiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

 

nAcciyAr tirumozhi VIII - viNNIla mElAppu

pASuram 8.3 (eighth tirumozhi - pAsuram 3 oLi vaNNam vaLai Sindai)

 

oLi vaNNam vaLai Sindai uRakkattODu ivai ellAm

eLimaiyAl iTTu ennai IDazhiyap pOyinavAl

kuLir aruvi vE~nkaTattu en gOvindan guNam pADi

aLiyatta mEga~ngAL! Avi kAttu iruppEne

 

A. Translation (meaning) from SrImAn SaDagOpan's tamizh treatise:

 

Oh compassionate clouds! My tEjas, my color, my bangles (which

keep falling because of my becoming thin with kAmam), my sleep

etc. have all forsaken me because of my being away from Him, and

this has made me very weak. In this state, can I cling to my

life just by singing the praise of kaNNapirAn of tiruvE~nkaTam?

(I don't think this alone can keep me alive).

 

B. Additional thoughts from SrimAn SaDagopan:

 

gOvindan guNam pADi: ANDAL is wondering - Can singing the praise of

emperumAn through words like "kaDiyAr pozhil vEnkaTava, karum pOrERe,

SenniyOn~gu taN tiruvEnkaTam uDaiyAi, ulagu tannai vAzha ninRa nambi,

dAmOdhara, acyuta, ananta, gOvinda, Ayar tam kozhunde, veLLai

viLi San~gu iDangaiyil koNDa vimala", be sufficient to keep me alive

alone without Him?

 

C. Additional thoughts from SrI PVP:

 

oLi vaNNam vaLai Sindai uRakkattODu ivai ellAm pOyina:

All the tejas, color, etc. that she got because of her earlier

association with Him have now abruptly left her. Not only the

external things (removable decorations) that were her

characteristics such as her bangles are leaving her, but also

the internal attributes (non-removable things) such as her thinking

faculty, sleep etc., are leaving her. The choice of

the word "ellAm" means that these were not the only things that left

her, but everything that can be conceived of have left her.

 

eLimaiyAl ennai iTTu: May be they left her because she was in a

deplorable state (eLimaiyAl); or may be they left her because of

their lowly nature of forsaking one who is in a deplorable state,

mercilessly.

 

iTTu: Just discarding her as if she was a mere lifeless object

(acetana). They did not consider for a moment that they were an

integral part of her all this time, and they now forsake her with

no concern whatsoever. Luster, color and bangles left her not

even thinking that they had mixed with her hand and her body

intimately all this time. Sleep left her without even remembering

that it associated itself with her eyes. That too, when they left,

they left without any compassion (kaNNaRRup-pOittu).

 

Idazhiyap pOyinavAl: they drained her of all her strength when

they left her. Unlike this, when kaNNan leaves her, He tells her

that He is going to leave her, embraces her, tries to console

her with His smile and lets her know that He really does not

want to be separated from her. Unlike that, it looks like the

vaLai, sleep, etc. were just looking for an opportunity to leave

her, and abruptly left her.

 

In vishNu purANam 5.18.29, we have:

 

anurAgeNa SaithilyamamAsu vrajitE harau |

Saithilyam upayAntyASu karEshu valayAnyapi ||

 

(When kaNNan leaves us, we become thin because of our love for

Him; our bangles slip out of our hands).

 

kuLir aruvi vE~nkaTattu - This is in praise of the sacred tiruvE~nkaTa

Hills, the mere thought of which can remove the greatest of our tApa-s.

 

en gOvindan - The stress is on "en" - my own gOvindan. Even though

He has not blessed ANDAL yet with His presence in response to her

prayers, it is an undeniable fact that He exists for His devotees.

 

guNam pADi Avi kAttu iruppEne: A mukta indulges in the anubhavam

of His kalyANa guna-s when he is united with bhagavAn in

meditation - sOsnutE sarvAn kAmAn saha brahmaNA vipascitA (taittirIya

upanishad A..1-2). ANDAL is wondering aloud whether bhagavAn

now thinks that those who meditate about Him and are one with Him

enjoying His guNAnubhavam, will get to live by just gunagn~Anam and

guNa sankIrtanam when separated from Him? Does He think she is

like sItA who survived by just guNa jn~Anam:

 

"AsamsEyam hariSrEshTa mAm prApsyatE pati: |

antarAtmA hi mE Sudhastasmimsca bahavO guNA: || "

(rAmAyaNam sundra kANDam 37-14 - "My mind is very clear now;

I am sure He will come and get me; He has innumerable,

good qualities")

 

aLiyatta mEga~ngAL: Unlike Him who has left her in despair, and

unlike her tEjas, color and bangles which have left her at this

time, these clouds are so full of compassion that they at least

came to see her.

 

Avi kAttu iruppEne: ANDAL knows that as a devotee, she should have

His guNAnubhavam as the sole objective of her life. It now looks

like bhagavAn wants her to be responsible for sustaining her AtmA

also. That is His responsibility, not hers. She is not her

own prANa-nAthan. Protecting her life is the responsibility

of the Sarva-Saktan, not hers.

 

SrI aNNa~ngarAcArya svAmi points out that it is the nature of

bhagavata-s that they have great enjoyment and happiness when they

have bhagavad-anubhavam, and they feel very weak and desperate when

they are separated from Him - "en ma~ngai izhandadu mAmai niRamE".

 

sarvam SrIman nArAyaNAyEti samarpayAmi.

 

adiyEn,

Kalyani Krishnamachari