nAcciyAr tirumozhi X - kArkkODal pUkkAL 6

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SrI:

SrI ANDAL samEta SrI rangamannAr tiruvaDigaLE

SaraNam

 

nAcciyAr tirumozhi X - kArkkODal pUkkAL

pASuram 10.6 (tenth tirumozhi - pAsuram 6 gaNa

mAmayilgAL)

 

gaNa mA-mayilgAL! kaNNapirAn triukkOlam pOnRu

aNimA naDam payinRu ADuginrIrkku aDi vIzhginREn

paNam ADu aravu aNaip paRpala kAlamum paLLi koL

maNavALar nammai vaitta pariSu idu kANminE

 

 

A. Meaning from SrImAn SaDagOpan's tamizh treatise:

 

ANDAL next looks at a collection of peacocks, which

are enjoying the water-laden clouds and dancing in the

forests of tirumAlirum SOlai. She tells the peacocks:

“You have the vaDivazhagu that reminds me of

kaNNapirAN both because of your beautiful appearance

and your blue complexion. Here you are, dancing

beautifully as if you have learned dancing for a long

time and practiced for a long time. But because it

only reminds of my separation from Him, it is

unbearable for me to watch you and your dance. I fall

at your feet and beg you to stop this merry-making.

How sad it is that I have been “blessed” with this

gift of having to fall at your feet by the “Grace” of

my azhagiya maNavALap perumAL who is forever resting

on tiru anantAzhvAn.”

 

B. Additional thoughts from SrImAn SaDagOpan:

 

SrImad bhAgavatam describes kaNNan’s beautiful dance

on the heads of kALeeyan. ANDAL is surmising that

these peacocks must have learned their dancing from

Him as He danced on the heads of kAleeyan, and that

these peacocks are now paying their homage to their

teacher by showing their dancing skills. But since

ANDAL is in no position to enjoy their dancing, she is

telling them that their great teacher is the one who

has now caused her to fall at their feet - such is

the blessing that her AdiSesha Sayana nAyakan has

given her. godai is making fun of kaNNan by doing a

“nindAstuti” here.

 

C. Additional thoughts from SrI PVP :

 

gaNa mA-mayilgAL: godai really wanted to join

“mARROlai paTTavar kUTTam” (kArkkODal 2), namely the

kUTTam or gathering that consists of only good souls,

but now she is in a kUTTam that is totally fully of

her enemies – kArkkODal, kOvai, mullai, kuyil and

mayil (peacock). Why are these peacocks her enemies?

periyAzhvAr says (in periyAzhvAr tirumozhi 4-8-9),

“ninRADu kaNa mayil pOl niRam uDaiya neDumAl”; these

peacocks remind her of His hue and make her suffer.

 

kaNNapirAn tirukkOlam pOnRu: “mangala nal vana mAlai

mArbil ila’nga mayil tazhaip pIli SUDi, po’ngiLa ADai

araiyil Satti, pUm kottuk kAdil puNarap peidu”

(perumAL tirumozhi 6-9) – kaNNan decorated Himself

with vana mAlai, peacock feather, beautiful garments

around His waist and colorful flowers in His ears.

These peacocks look well decorated and this reminds

one of kaNNapirAn decorating Himself well.

 

aNi mA naDam payinRu - bharata Sastra deals with the

complete set of all dances that are known to mankind.

These peacocks seem to have exhausted all those, seem

to have surpassed all that is known, and seem to now

be dancing dances that are special and unknown

hitherto to anyone.

 

aDi vIzhginREn: ANDAL is telling these peacocks that

she is falling at their feet and requesting them to

stop their dancing. But the peacocks can tell her in

return: “We are the ones who should be falling at our

pirATTi’s (your) feet; it is not appropriate that you

fall at our feet instead”. She responds to this in

the latter half of the pASuram: “Everyone has to

follow His wishes. Normally He protects those who

surrender to Him. He gave the pleasure of the contact

with His Body to anantAzhvAn, but refuses to give me

the same privilege. In my case, it is His wish that I

fall at your feet, and so it shall be ”.

 

nammai vaitta pariSu: “In the name of being with me,

He held my foot first (and then left me; now He has

made me hold your feet. What can I do? This is what

He has done: you, who is supposed to be subservient to

me, has to give your feet to me and I, who am your

svAmini, have to hold your feet”.

 

The peacocks, which are in Sishya sthAnam to godai,

have to give their feet for her to hold because of

their pAratantriyam (lack of independence) – because

it is His Will.

 

SrIvaikuNTha stavam 77 talks about the kind of company

one should desire:

 

“kaimkarya nitya niratair bhavadEka bhOgair

nityairanukshaNa navIna rasArdra bhAvai: |

nityAbhivAnchita paraspara nIcabhAvair

maddaivatai: parijanais tava sangasIya ||”

 

“Please bless me with the company of those nitya-s

who are worthy of being worshipped by me and who are

in constant association with you and doing constant

kaimkaryam to You, consider You as their only object

of enjoyment, enjoy You through ever-new

bhagavad-anubhavams, and consider themselves always

subservient to each other (paraspara nIca bhAvaih)”.

 

It is SrIvaishNava svarUpam that all SrIvaishNava’s

feel mutually subservient to all SrIvaishNava’s. If a

cetana gives oneself to the paramacetanan (emperumAn)

unconditionally, then His aDiyar-s can use that cetana

anyway they like. It is not uncommon for an AcAryan to

hold the foot of his Sishyan. ammaNi AzhvAn used to

prostrate at his Sishyan’s feet. His triuvuLLam was:

“I prostrate to him because he is a SrIvaishNavan; he

is one who knows my heart exactly”. The bhAvam here

is that the Sishya understands that he is just to be

used by his guru as the guru pleases, and if this is

what the guru wants to do, it is the Sishya’s duty to

accept it.

 

An instance where tiruma’ngai AzhvAr worshipped the

parrot he created in his pASuram is comparable to

ANDAL falling at the feet of her peacocks.

vehkAvil tirumAlaip pADakkETTu vaLarttadanAl payan

peRRen varuga enRu maDak kiLiyaik kai kUppi

vaNanginAL” (tiruneDumtAnDagam 14), because he felt

that the parrot had grown listening to the praise of

emperumAn all its life, and was devoid of any

ahamkAram.

 

Yet another illustration of this concept that

SrIvaishNava-s consider themselves to be the aDiyAr’s

of other SrIvaishNava-s irrespective of age etc., is

given by SrI PVP. Once SrI BhaTTar was discussing sat

vishayam with SrI tirunaRaiyUr araiyar who was his

elder by age, and quoted some of the above instances

to araiyar. araiyar in turn parised him saying he had

never heard such kind of words from any AcAryan

before. bhaTTar was feeling uncomfortable with the

praise coming from a great man like tirunaRaiyUr

araiyar. The latter comforted him saying that it was

quite acceptable in our tradition for anyone to praise

another SrIvaishNava irrespective of age etc., and

quoted the instance of tiruma’ngai AzhvAr (parakAla

nAyaki) who first taught his parrot the nAmam of

emperumAn, and then fell at its feet when it uttered

the name of emperumAn that he himself had taught.

 

D. Additional thoughts from SrI UV:

 

It is unique for kaNNan that He decorates Himself with

the peacock feathers; so no wonder that He resembles

the peacock in beauty.

 

paRpala kAlamum: always, that is, irrespective of

whether He is in yOga nidrA, or when He is with His

periya pirATTi or when He is with His other consorts

or during His avatAram-s.

 

How can godai fall at the feet of the peacocks? It is

her maNALan’s (Semmai uDaiya tirukkaiyAl tAL

piDittavan) present to her. When He is away from her,

He makes them look exactly like Him in appearance and

is now testing if she is paying respects to Him by

falling at their feet. periya pirATTi drove Him to a

state where He had to surrender to SugrIva. godai is

not doing any such thing to Him, but still He is still

showing her that He is capable of the same thing that

sItA pirATTi did to Him”.

 

nammai: Instead of showing His “skills” to sIta

pirATTi, He is showing them to godai instead.

 

If it is proper for Him to touch godai’s feet

(tirukkaiyAl tAL paRRi), then there is nothing wrong

with godai falling at the peacock’s feet. It is true

that there are Sastric injunctions against who can

prostrate to whom etc. But no harm can come to the

peacocks by ANDAL falling at their feet, since: a)

the birds are not subject to these Sastra-s; b)

emperumAn, ANDAL, pirATTi etc. are not bound by these

injunctions; c) she is falling at their feet for her

benefit, and d) He is the one who forced it to happen

this way. So in all ways, ANDAL does not see

anything wrong with this.

 

E. Additional thoughts from SrI PBA:

 

parpala kAlamum: SrI PBA gives the reference to

“SenrAl kuDaiyAm, irunDal SingAsanamAm ninRal

maravADiyAm” – mudal tiruvantAdi (53), in this

context.

 

Both SrI UV and SrI PBA give an alternate version

“phaNa vAL aravaNai” in place of “phaNam ADaravaNai”.

In this case, the meaning becomes “The dancing Adi

Seshan with his hoods shining and spread” instead of

just “The dancing Adi Seshan with his hoods spread”.

 

F. Additional thoughts from SrI T. S. rAjagopAlan:

 

SrI T. S. rAjagopAlan gives yet another anubhavam of

“phaNam ADu aravu” – Adi Seshan is dancing with joy

with his hoods spread, because he has been blessed

with the sparSam of bhagavAn.

 

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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