nAcciyAr tirumozhi X - kArkkODal pUkkAL 10

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SrI:

SrI ANDAL samEta SrI rangamannAr tiruvaDigaLE

SaraNam

 

nAcciyAr tirumozhi X - kArkkODal pUkkAL

 

pASuram 10.10 (tenth tirumozhi - pAsuram 10 nalla en

tozhi!)

 

viTTucittar azhagarai varuvippArO?

 

nalla en tozhi! nAgaNai miSai nam parar

Selvar periyar Siru mAniDavar nAm Seivadu en

villi puduvai viTTucittar ta'ngaL dEvarai

valla pariSu varuvipparEl adu kANDumE

 

A. Meaning from SrImAn SaDagOpan's tamizh treatise:

 

ANDAL concludes the final pASuram of this tirumozhi by

declaring that with AcArya kaTAksham alone, the Sishya

will get to the Feet of emperumAn. She tells her

friend: "emperumAn who has for His bed tiru

anantAzhvAn, is the Supreme Lord of all, One who is

great in every respect; on the other side, we are

the measly little creatures who are totally powerless.

There is nothing we can do by ourselves to reach Him.

But if periAzhvAr who is dear to emperumAn intercedes

and invites Him, then we will get to have His sevA

definitely". (The inner meaning is that to reach

sarvEsvaran, one needs AcAryan's blessing).

 

B. Additional thoughts from SrImAn SaDagOpan:

 

Where is pAmbaNaiyAn, whom my forefathers extolled as

"kAyAm pU malar piRangal anna mAlaik kaDi arangattu

aravaNaiyil paLLi koLLum mAyOn"? Where is an ordinary

woman like me? Where is the kOmaLak karumaNi, who is

sleeping in kShIrAbdi while His tiruppAadams are being

massaged by periya pirATTi? Where is a small girl

like me, who is unfortunate enough not to be blessed

by Him? We are worlds apart. So, let us ask our

periAzhvAr, who has a close relation with Him, to call

Him here.

 

C. Additional thoughts from SrI PVP:

 

gOdai's tOzhi is even more sad than gOdai. There were

only two things that gave some hope to gOdai: 1. Being

born as periyAzhvAr's daughter and 2. The words of

emperumAn that "He will not forsake those who love

Him" - "anbu uDaiyArai viDen". gOdai is constantly

worrying : "kumaranAr Sollum poi AnAl nAnum piRandamai

poi anRE" (NT 10.4). So the tOzhi is trying to think

of some way to make gOdai live. gOdai realizes her

tOzhi's sadness and consoles her: "Don't worry; there

is a way out for us; periyAzhvAr who is our AcAryar

will somehow get Him for us".

 

nalla en tOzhi: "Oh good friend, who feels sadder at

my plight than even I do".

 

nAgaNai miSai nam parar Selvar periyar Siru mAniDavar

nAm Seivadu en:

What can lowly creatures like us do to that great

emperumAn, tiru's nAyakan, who is lying on His serpent

bed ? nammAvAr who did SaraNAgati with the words

"aDik kIzh amarndu pugundEnE" (tiruvAimozhi 6-10-10),

first sought the purushakAratvam from pirATTi and

anantAzhvAn before His SaraNAgati to emperumAn:

("agalagillEn iRaiyum enRu alarmEl mangai uRai mArbA!"

- tiruvAimozhi 6-10-10, and "nAgaNai miSai nampirAn

SaraNE SaraN namakku" - tiruvAimozhi 5-10-11. But,

gOdai feels that pirATTi and tiru anantAzhvAn, who

were sought by nammAzhvAr as purushakAra bhUta-s, are

both responsible for her not getting Him. She is in a

coma with viraha tApam, and is at the point of

slipping away from bhagavad vishayam.

 

nam parar: only our great emperumAn and no one else is

referred to us para brahmam, param poruL, param jyoti

and paramAtmA:

 

"nArAyaNa param brahma tatvam nArAyaNah parah |

nArAyaNa parO jyOtir_AtmA nArAyaNah parah ||

(taittirIya upanishad)

 

nam Selvar: He is tiruvin nAyakar: "aNaivadu aravaNai

mEl pUmpAvai Agam puNarvadu" (tiruvAimozhi 2-8-1).

purusha sUktam declares: "hrIsca te lakshmIsca

patnyau" (Oh parama purshA! You have bhUmidEvI and

lakshmidEvI as your consorts).

 

periyar: Because of the above-mentioned reasons, He

is "periyavar" - a great personality. We are like the

small atoms, and He is like a huge mountain.

 

Siru mAniDavar: We are not from dEva jAti to stand

somewhere in His vicinity; we are not jn~Ani-s to be

close to Him; we are not like the great anantAzhvAn,

who is all-knowing, yet acting as acit and laying down

as His bed and thus getting to embrace Him; and we are

not like the innocent AyarpADi girls who did not even

know the difference between right hand and left hand,

yet, were blessed enough to be embraced by Him. We are

none of the above, but just lowly, worthless humans.

 

nAm Seyvadu en? : Even though He gave His word: "I

shall protect ASrita-s", we are powerless to force Him

to keep His word. Does that mean we have give up

seeking Him? Not so, says godai.

 

villi puduvai viTTucittar tangaL dEvarai: When we

have the same Sesha-Seshi sambandam with emperumAn

that the AcAryan has, why do we need the AcAryan in

the middle? Even though our relation to Him is just

the same as our AcArya's relation to Him, viz. we are

sesha-s to Him who is the SeshI, and our relation to

bhagavAn is thus an ever-existing one, ANDAL is

pointing out to us that we won't reach Him until there

is the anugraham of the AcArya. The SAstrArtha that

is being conveyed is that the role of the AcArya is

absolutely essential in our effort to reach Him.

ParamAtmA just will be subservient to whatever the

AcArya wishes, and we need the AvArya's

purushakAratvam in our SaraNAgati to Him. There are

of course those like madhurakavi who declare that they

consider the AcArya as their God, and there is no

other God they will ever seek - devu maRRu aRiyEn

(kaNNinuN - 2).

 

ANDAL is indicating that she is not seeking Him

directly any more, but she will seek her AcArya's

blessing instead, and she is firmly establishing the

AcArya in between her and Him - "tangaL dEvarai" -

she is now referring to Him as periyAzhvAr's devar,

who will listen to what periAzhvAr says. In fact, the

only reason why she is running after emperumAn is

because periyAzhvAr is fond of Him.

 

(SrI PVP reminds us here of an anecdote about tripurA

dEviyAr, a disciple of emperumAnAr. Once she was

asked why she is not worshiping anya devata-s and she

replied: "because emperumAnAr is not doing so. If He

worships Sivan, then we will also worship Him".)

 

valla pariSu varuvipparEl: periyAzhvAr has several

ways of making Him come. He might get Him here by

attracting Him with "SeNbagap pU SUTTa vArAi"

(periyazhvAr tirumozhi 2-7-1) or by singing "paLLANDu

paLLANDu" (tirupppalANDu) or by "vENDiya OdangaL Odi

viraindu kiHi aRuttu". Or He might call "nAraNA

nIrADa vArAi" (2-4-1) or for 'kuzhal vAra". When he

calls "andiyam pOdidu Agum azhaganE! kAppiDa vArAi "

(2-8-1), He cannot refuse the invitation. He made Him

come for nIrADal by "veNNai aLainda kuNungum" (2-4),

for adorning flowers by "Anirai mEykka nI pOdi" (2-8)

and or kAppiDal by "indiranODu piraman" (2-8). Since

he has so many ways of getting Him, gOdai calls it

"valla pariSu".

 

Another reason why it is called "valla pariSu": just

as gOdai is trying to have periyAzhvAr as

purushAkAram, periyAzhvAr might have his AcAryAr as

his purushAkAram and get Him.

 

SrI PVP gives another instance to bring out the

importance of the purushakAratvam of AcArya in

prapatti. In stotra ratnam Slokam 22, AlavandAr first

does prapatti directly to perumAL:

 

"na dharma nishThosmi na cAtmavedI,

na bhaktimAmstavac caraNAravinde |

akincano'nyagati: SaraNya!

tvatpAda mUlam SaraNam prapadye ||"

 

(I am not steady in performing karma yOgam as

prescribed, nor do I have Atma j~nAnam; I do not have

bhakti towards your tiruvaDit tAmaraigaL; I do not

have any means nor do I have any place to go; I

consider your tiruvaDit tAmaraigaL as my only refuge).

 

Probably because he felt that this surrender directly

to bhagavAn without the involvement of AcArya will not

fructify, in the last Slokam (65), he pleads to

bhagavAn to bless him because of his connection with

his grandfather nAthamuni, who of course is

AlavandAr's parama AcArya and also dear to emperumAn:

 

 

"akRtrimat-tvac caraNAravinda

prEmaprakarshAvadhimAtmavantam |

pitAmaham nAthamunim vilokya

prasIda madvRttam acintayitvA || "

 

"Without taking into account my behavior (which will

disqualify me from your Grace right away), please

bestow Your blessings on me just because of my

relation to my grandfather nAthamuni, who had utmost

attachment to Your tiruvaDitAmaraigaL and who has

realized the AtamsvarUpam".

 

ANDAL's approach is just the same as that of

ALavandAr.

 

D. Additional thoughts from SrI PBA:

 

"ammAn Azhip pirAn avan avviDattAn yAnAr?" There is a

world of difference between His greatness and our

smallness. That periyavar (emperumAn) will behave like

a kORkIzhk kanRu (a calf subdued by a kOl or kambu)

with periyAzhvAr.

 

gOdai did not give a phalaSruti for this tirumozhi;

the current pAsuram stands in the place of phalaSruti,

namely, bhAgavata sambandham can lead to the

realization of emperumAn.

 

E. Additional thoughts from SrI UV:

 

This pASuram is considered by svAmi deSikan as a great

illustration of AcArya nishThA, which is one form of

prapatti, where the AcArya performs the prapatti on

behalf of the disciple.

 

 

Abbreviations:

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

PVP= SrI periyavAccAn piLLai

PBA= SrI prativAdi bhayankaram aNNangarAcAriyAr

UV = SrI uttamUr vIrarAghavAcAriyAr

 

sarvam SrIman nArAyaNAyeti samarpayAmi.

 

adiyEn,

kalyANi kRshNamAcAri

 

 

 

 

 

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