nAcciyAr tirumozhi VIII - viNNIla mElAppu 4

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SrI:

SrI ANDAL samEta SrI rangamannAr tiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

 

nAcciyAr tirumozhi VIII - viNNIla mElAppu

pASuram 8.4 (eighth tirumozhi - pAsuram 4 minnAgattu ezhuginRa)

 

minnAgattu ezhuginRa mEga~ngAL! vEnkaTattut

tannAgat tiruman~gai ta~ngiya SIr mArvarkku

ennAgattu iLam ko~ngai virumbittAm nAL tORum

ponnAgam pulgudaRkku en purivuDaimai SeppuminE

 

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

 

Godai decides that it might not be enough if she does gOvindanAma

sa~nkirtam and pleads with the clouds: "Oh clouds, who have

lightning as part of your bodies! My emperumAn has periya

pirATTi seated on His chest and hence named SrInivAsan.

Please tell Him this: godai is waiting with her heart and soul

to be embraced by you and is waiting for your arrival with

the greatest love".

 

B. Additional thoughts from SrimAn SaDagopan:

 

Agattu min ezhuginRa mEga~ngAL: periya pirATTi, who

looks radiant like a lightning, is seated on the chest of

emperumAn, who is dark-hued. This can be compared to the lightning

that the dard-hued clouds bear. So, He has a lot of liking for them.

 

C. Additional thoughts from SrI PVP:

 

Agattu min ezhuginRa mEgangAL: Literally, Agattu -

from your body or chest, min - lightning. Because periya

pirATTi is seated on bhagavAn's chest and shines like a

lightning, ANDAL is reminded of Him when she sees the

lightning in the dark clouds. The clouds resemble His

tirumEni just as ubhaya vEdams point out:

 

"nIlatOyada madhyastA vidyullekheva bhAsvarA"

(taittrEya upanishad nA. 11 - paramAtmA's tirumEni is radiant

like the lightning adopted by the blue clouds).

 

"nIlam uNDa minnanna mEnip perumAn" (tiruviruttam 29).

 

When ANDAL is separated from Him, the clouds are making sure

that she doesn't forget Him. Now she is appealing to the

clouds to unite them together.

 

Another way of interpreting minnAgattu ezuginRa mega~ngAL

is: min -lightening, nAgam - sky; and so the reference is

to the clouds which rise in the sky with lightening, or

the clouds which reveal their existence because of the

lightning in the sky. Similarly, bhagavAn's tirumEni gets

its importance because of the presence of periya pirATTi

in His vaksha sthalam. It is as if bhagavAn's dark hued

tirumEni is revealed by the lantern in the form of

mahAlakshmi, just as the dark clouds are revealed by

the lightning.

 

vEnkaTattutu: Unlike HanumAn who had to cross the

Ocean to give Lord rAma's message to sItA, or fight with

enemies in the process, these clouds don't have to go

through any of these ordeals in delivering ANDAL's

message to tiruvE~nkaTamuDaiyAn. She is not asking the clouds

to go to SrIvaikuNTham ("kalan~gApperunagaram" mUnRam

TiruvandAdi 51) to deliver her message. All she is asking

them to do is to go to the easily-reachable, mangul tOi Senni

vaDa vE~nkaTam.

 

tannAgat tiruman~gai ta~ngiya SIr mArvarkku:

BhagavAn's vaksha sthalam has the greatness in several ways:

 

- This is the place chosen by maA lakshmi to reside, without

which she can't bear to live.

- Periya pirATTi resides there, and even then She emphatically

declares, lest She has to leave this place for some reason

at some time - agalagillen iRaiyum - There is no way I will

leave this place to go back to the lotus flower (SrI V. N.

vedAnta deSikan in his vyAkhyAnam for nammAzhvAr's tiruvAimozhi).

- Periya PirATTi permanently resides on His vaksha sthalam

just so She is within reach whenever She is needed for the

purushakAratvam for His devotees.

 

ANDAL is rhetorically asking the clouds - If peria pirATTi

who always resides on His vaksha sthalam can't live away from

it, how can anyone expect ANDAL who is new to this experience

to survive and cling to life being away from this tirumEni?

 

en Agattu iLam ko~ngai virumbi - ANDAL wants to be united

with Him just as periyAa pirATTI is, permanently united with

Him inseparably, so that she does not have anything of herself

except for Him.

 

SItAppirATTi tells hanumAn :

"yathA tam purushavyAghram gAtrai: SokAbhikarSitai: |

samspr*Seyam sakAmA'ham tathA kuru dayAm mayi"

(rAmAyanam sundara kANDam 40-3 )

"Do whatever is needed so that I will be able to

embrace my Lord with my body which has become weak because

of separation from Him".

 

godai does not want to have another birth to get this union

with emperumAn; She wants to get this desire fulfilled in this

birth itself.

 

nAL tORum - This bhagavad-anubhavam that ANDAL so

intensely desires is not something that is a one-time

incident; she wants this anubhavam to be permanent,

irreversible, and forever.

 

pon Agam - The Golden tirumEni of emperumAn.

 

purivuDaimai: puri means desire. purvuDaimai here refers to

ANDAL's having the desire to be united with Him. When godai and

kaNNan were together, it was natural for Him to tell her how

much He loved her, and as a woman she naturally listened to

all this and enjoyed it. But as is consistent with feminine

nature, she did not express outwardly that she was equally

desirous of union with Him. But now He has forced her

into this state where she has to send a messenger to Him.

 

It is normal for the owner to desire to have something he

owns; but it is not normal for the "something" to desire

to belong the owner. Godai is in such an awkward situation

here; she is sending a messenger to let Him know of her pangs

of separation. So, she says: "tell Him that both our svarUpams

have become destroyed". This is contrary to rakshya-rakshaka

bhAvam. This why ANDAL is asking the clouds to "go and tell

Him" - SeppuminE, since He does not seem to understand this

obvious situation.

 

D. From SrI Kr*shNasvAmi aiyengAr:

 

The purport of this pASuram is that godai is sending her plea

to tiruvEnkaTam uDaiyAn with due respect to pirATTi, who is

our purushAkAram.

 

SeppuminE: According to tAtparya ratnAvaLi 3, ("dESikAstatra dUtA:"),

clouds etc. that are sent as messengers denote AcArya-s in

svApadESam. So, godai tells the pururshAkAra bhUta-s, " please

rectify my separation from Him by telling Him what my state of

affairs is".

 

E. Additional Thoughts:

 

Note the beautiful poetic use of the word Agam here in all

four lines of the pASuram: min Agam - the sky with

lightning; tan Agam - bhagavAn's tirumEni; en Agam - my

SarIram; pon Agam - either BhagavAn's golden tirumEni,

or ANDAL's beautiful tirumEni.

 

sarvam SrIman nArAyaNAyEti samarpayAmi.

 

adiyEn,

Kalyani Krishnamachari

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