nAcciyAr tirumozhi X - kArkkODal pUkkAL 5

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SrI:

SrI ANDAL samEta SrI rangamannAr tiruvaDigaLE

SaraNam

 

nAcciyAr tirumozhi X - kArkkODal pUkkAL

pASuram 10.5 (tenth tirumozhi - pAsuram 5

pADum kuyilgAL)

 

pADum kuyilgAL! Idenna pADal? nal vEnkaTa

nADar namakkoru vAzhvu tandAl vandu pADumin

Adum garuLak koDi uDaiyAr vandu aruL Seidu

kUduvarAyiDil kUvi num pATTugaL kETTume

 

 

A. Meaning from SrImAn SaDagOpan's tamizh treatise:

 

In the fifth pASuram, ANDAL looks at a cuckoo singing

happily on top a tree in tirumAlirum cOlai malai. The

cuckoo’s song sounds horrible to godai because of her

state of mind. So, she gets mad at the cuckoo and

says: “Why do you make such a noise? What kind of song

are you singing? Is this a song? If emperumAn, who is

the Lord of tiruvEnkaTam comes and gives me a life,

then, you can come and sing. If my

tiruvEnkaTamuDaiyAn, who is having garuDan in His

flag, comes and unites with me out of compassion, then

I shall call you and both of us will listen to your

melodious music together and thus honor you.

 

B. Additional thoughts from SrI PVP :

 

pADum kuyilgAL! Idenna pADal?: You sang when He and

I were together once. You have been singing ever

since. But, from where did you choose this song today

that falls in my ears like fire?

 

kuyilgAL: The plural here suggests that every one of

the cuckoos is singing without exception. Even in

rAvaNa’s goshThi, there was one exception who was a

dharmAtmA viz. vibhIshaNa -

“vibhIshaNastu dharmAtma na tu rAkshasa ceshTita: “

(rAmAyaNam AryaNya kANDam 17-24). But in the goshThi

of the cuckoos, there is not a single cuckoo which is

good, and takes pity on godai by not singing while she

is suffering.

 

Idenna pADal: “Why are you singing the same song that

you sang when I was together with Him earlier? Is this

for torturing me even more intensely by reminding me

of the time when I was united with Him? This is like

applying sandalwood paste after setting fire on either

side. In the previous pASuram, the sight of the

mullai flowers was like fire being setting on one side

of godai. In the next pASUram, she will be tortured

by the sight of the beautiful peacocks which will be

like setting fire on the other side of godai. The

song of the cuckoos in this pASuram is like trying to

apply sandalwood on her body to appease her after

setting fire on both sides of her.

 

Idenna pADAl: “Am I in a position to hear this song

now? I am suffering from the pangs of separation from

my beloved emperumAn. Just as fire will destroy the

place it is in, in addition to anything else that is

in that place, your song will destroy you also in

addition to destroying me. You wicked birds! The fact

that you are not yet destroyed suggests that you are

short of hearing”.

 

nal vEnkaTa nADar namakku oru vAzhvu tandAl vandu

pADumin: If they cannot sing this song now, when can

they sing? Godai gives the answer:

Just as small streamlets appear before full-fledged

flooding occurs in a river, there are good signs that

suggest that He is going to come; He has already left

the hard-to-reach paramapadam and arrived at the

easy-to-access tiruvE’nkaTam with His flying

garuDakkoDi. This must be just a stop-over before He

arrives at SrIvilliputtUr to bless ANDAL. So, when He

comes and gives me the life with Him that I seek,

then you can come and sing”.

 

namakku oru vAzhvu tandAl: “My indriya-s are not in a

position to enjoy music or any such entertainment at

this time - (en aimpulanum ezhilum koNDu - periya

tirumozhi 7.5.9 – He has taken away the power of my

indriya-s). If He gives me a life such that my ears

can bear to hear music, then you can sing at that

time.

 

vandu pADumin: “I cannot even stand your presence now;

just get out of here. You can come back later when

needed”. Remember how godai threatened to drive the

cuckoo out of her grove earlier if the ‘kuyil’ does

not get Her vEnkaTavan (mannu perum pugazh pASuram

5.9.]

 

ADum garuLak koDi uDaiyAr: ADum refers to both a

joyous mood and motion. GaruDa is moving with

emperumAn all the time, and is happy to be united with

Him all the time in his nitya vibhUti. Unlike this,

godai feels that all His other creations around her

and including her are His leelA vibhUti-s, which are

meant to suffer because of separation from Him.

 

SrI kRshNasvAmi aiye’ngAr observes that this is

similar to nammAzhvAr’s feeling that all the other

things in this world (like the nArai etc.)., are also

pining for Him and suffering like Him –

vAyuntiraiyugaL (tiruvAimozhi 2.1.1).

 

ADum garuLak koDi: In places where water is kept for

public drinking, sometimes there will be a device (SAi

karam) which brings water within the range of the

mouth of the thirsty person. Similarly emperumAn has

His garuDan who brings Him to those who thirst for

Him.

 

vandu aruL Seidu kUDuvarAyil: Even though godai is

longing for Him passionately, in godai’s case the only

appropriate event is that He should bless her by

coming to her Himself, not the other way. Consistent

with her paratantra svarUpam, she cannot be the one to

initiate this union. He has to come out of great

love and unite with godai. [Compare nammAzhvAr’s

tiruvAimozhi 8-8-3 “en uNarvin uLLE iruttinEn aduvum

avanadu innaruLE”] If she initiates this union against

His will, it is bound to not materialize anyway. Her

initiating a union with Him against His Will is like

someone who accepts a dAnam of gold whose purpose is

to reduce the recipient’s lifetime, and then making a

gold ring out of it and enjoying this while the person

is going to die soon anyway.

 

The proper way to reach Him is by performing

kainkaryam to Him no matter what state we are in.

This is what bhagavad rAmAnuja prays to Lord in

SaraNAgati gadyam – that ultimately He wants the

bhAgyam to do nitya kainkaryam to Him after doing

prapatti and reaching paramapadam. Kainkaryam to

perumAL is like the sweet sugarcane juice for a

prapanna. Some may argue that SiSupAla committed lot

of sins, and still ended up in paramapadam. But our

AcAryas have clearly pointed out that this is not the

way to get to paramapadam. SrI AlavandAr’s

aruLicceyal is that SiSupAlan was “thrown” to the

gates of paramapadam with His cakrAyudham just so

SiSupAlan will be removed forever from this world and

would not have the chance to ruin others by making

them kRshNa-dveshi’s. This is not the way to reach

paramapadam; it should be because of our genuine and

intense desire to reach Him and for Him to cause it by

His Will and His Blessing.

 

Here SrI PVP gives another episode to show that our

AcArya-s have indirectly blessed their Sishya-s

sometimes to just avoid their causing harm to others.

SrI bhaTTar had a student named ‘periya dEvap piLLai’,

who was constantly chiding everyone in his house.

Once SrI bhaTTar sent him to a nearby village on an

errand. SrI nanjIyar remarked: “Now that he has left

the house for some time, the people in his house do

not have to listen to his chidings any more for a

while”. SrI bhaTTar’s aruLic ceyal was: “On second

thoughts, rather than letting him loose and giving him

a chance to chide everyone in the town under the guise

of being our Sishyan and thus bringing dishonor to us,

it is better to keep him with us here even though he

belittles us through his actions”. From then on, he

kept this Sishya with him permanently.

 

kUvi: ANDAL says she will call these cuckoos when she

needs them – viz. when she is together with emperumAn.

 

C. Additional thoughts from SrI PBA:

 

Wherever ANDAL turned, she saw the flowers or fruits

(kArrkoDal, mEl tOnRi,kOvai, mullai); so, she closed

her eyes to avoid their himsai. But, now, she is

hearing the sound of the cuckoos and she is asking

them to stop singing because she cannot close her

ears.

 

ADum garuLak koDi uDaiyAr vandu kUDuvar Agil: The

cuckoos may ask how they will know when vEnkaTanAthan

will come and give her life and when they can come and

sing. For this godai’s response is that they can know

that just by looking at the dancing garuLak koDi

indicating His arrival.

 

kUvi num pATTugaL kETTumE: Even if they do not

recognize it, she will invite them and listen to their

music.

 

D. Additional thoughts from SrI UV:

 

ANDAL had encountered flowers and fruits so far in

this tirumozhi. She could not ask them to cease

existing, nor could she tell them not to flower or

grow. But she could tell these cuckoos to stop

singing, and so this is what she is doing.

 

pADal: SrI UV continues to develop the anubhavam that

ANDAL is becoming more and more friendly with

everything around her. By the use of the word pADal,

she is praising the cuckoos for their melodious voice.

 

 

Idenna pADal: Even though the cuckoo is singing, in

ANDAL’s state of mind, it does not appeal to her, and

so she is asking “What kind of song is this?”

 

SrI UV paints a beautiful picture here, playing with

the word “ADum”. “My emperumAN, vEnkaTanAthan is a

very good Lord; His abode, vEnkaTam is also a good

place. He has acknowledged me somehow and I am sure

to get some good life because of His grace. Then, you

can come here and sing for us. For now, you can go

there and sing for Him. He has come to vEnkaTam only

to come to me in SrIvilliputUr; He will listen to your

song and start dancing and faltering. garuDan will

also be surprised at that and start dancing; he will

make Him get on top of him and happily bring Him here;

when He comes, He will definitely bless me and unite

with me; then, you can come here to sing; you can try

to make Him come faster by your singing when He is

coming. Even if you don’t come, I will invite you to

come and sing for us. We will listen to your song,

enjoy and dance with delight”.

 

Abbreviations:

------------------

PVP= SrI periyavAccAn piLLai

PBA= SrI prativAdi bhayankaram aNNangarAcAriyAr

UV= SrI uttamUr vIra rAghavAcAriyAr

 

sarvam SrIman nArAyaNAyEti samarpayAmi.

 

adiyEn,

kalyANi kRshNamAcAri

 

 

 

 

 

 

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