kooRai sORu

[Guest guest]

srImathE saTakOpAya namah

srImathE rAmAnujAya namah

srImathE anatArya mahAguravE namah

sIman vara vara munayE namah

 

 

dear bhAgavathAs,

 

smt. lakshmi had raised a wonderful question about "kooRai sORu"

and what is the significance behind periyAzhvAr not wanting it

and kaliyan wanting it -

 

adiyEn, thanks to smt.Lakshmi, had the great fortune of going

through pUrvAchArya vyAkhyAnams of both the pAsurams -

adiyEn will attempt to, with all mistakes and misrepresentations

being adiyEn's alone, share the anubhavams of our pUrvAchAryAs

on these pAsurams in this email -

 

periyAzhvAr's anubhavam comes in vAkkuth thUymai pathigam -

5th paththu, 1st thirumozhi of periyAzhvAr thirumozhi - This

pathigam is very moving and is also important for another reason-

svAmi periyavAchchAn piLLai's vyAkhyAnam on periyAzhvAr thirumozhi

was lost right from the beginning to the part of the first pAsuram

of vAkkuth thUymai - In order to ensure that we have the fortune

of pUrvAchArya vyAkhyAnams, elders during vishadavAksigAmaNi svAmi

maNavALa mAmuni's time requested svAmi to write a vyAkhyAnam on

periyAzhvAr thirumozhi - svAmi did so - So, the vyAkhyAnam that

we currently have on periyAzhvAr thirumozhi till 5th paththu is

svAmi maNavALa mAmuni's only. svAmi maNavALA mAmuni had, as we all

know, great respect for previous AchAryAs and lived and practiced

that respect to the utmost perfection - So perfect was he that

his vyAkhyAnam ends at the line where svAmi periyavAccAn piLLai's

vyAkhyAnam begins - in fact, we can just read through the

combined vyAkhyAnam and we will never know where svAmi maNAvALa

mAmuni's commentary ends and where svAmi periyavAccAn piLLai's

commentary begins - in fact here is how the vyAkhyAnam for the

first pAsuram starts - "mutharpAttu - vAk ithyAdhi - vAkkukku

asuththiyaavadhu - bhagavadsannidhiyilE asathyanchollukaiyum,

prayOjanaththai kaNisikkaiyum, parastOtram paNNukaiyum ......"

and continues - In the above, svAmi mANAvALa mAmuni's commentary

ends with the word prayOjanaththai - and svAmi periyavAchchAn

piLLai's commentary starts with the word kaNisikkaiyum! He did not

want to say even a word that duplicates what svAmi periyavAccAn piLLai

had said. Such is the reluctance of our AchAryAs, even of the

AchArya who is svAmi emperumAnAr himself reicarnated, to comment

on something that an earlier AchArya has commented upon! -

Such is their humility and bhakti towards AchAryAs and the respect

they had for vyAkhyAnams -

 

adiyEn will attempt to translate the relevant portions of

vyAkhyanam concerned relevant to smt. laksmi's question -

 

the pAsuram is

nedumayaal ulagu Ezhum aLandhaay ninmalaa nediyaay adiyEnai

kudimai koLvathaRku aiyuRa vENdaa kURai sORu ivai vENduvathillai

adimay ennum akkOyinmayaalE angangE avai pOdharunkaNdaai

kodumaik kanjanaik konRu nin thaathai kOththavanthalaikOl viduththanE

 

The concerned portions are "kURai sORu ivai vENduvathillai

adimai ennum akkOyinmayaalE angangE avai pOdharun kaNdaai" -

 

the rough translation of the padavurai is as follows -

 

adiyenai - me, who is a sEshabhUtha

kudimai kOLvathaRku - to take as a slave/sEshabhUthan

aiyuRavENdaa - do not have any sandEhams/hesitation

 

kooRai sORu ivai - kURaiyum sORum - shelter and food

vENduvadhu illai - I do not want them from you

adimai ennum akkOyinmayaalE - since I am going to enter your kingdom

as a dAsyan/adimai

avai - that kooRai and sORu

angangE - in those janmAs at that time

pOtharum kaNdaay - will automatically come

 

i.e. since I am going to enter Your kingdom as Your servant, I

do not need food and shelter -

 

There are many meanings, each deeper than the other given by

svAmi periyavAccAn piLLAi. adiyEn's rough paraphrasing follows -

 

1. whatever one thinks as his svarUpam leads to what ones needs

are - (eg - human being - immediate needs are food and shelter)

- in this case, periyAzhvAr knows that his svarUpam is kainkaryam

to perumAL all the time - So, food and shelter are NOT his

wants - sEshavritti is the purushArththam/want -

 

2. yet another meaning given is the essence of our sampradAyam

- adimai ennum kOyinmayE aasaippaduvathum apEkshippadhum

ennudhal - here, kOyinmai means vENdappaadu or want; angangE

will mean wherever/whenever in whatever janmAs he takes -

i.e. periyAzhvAr wants kainkaryam and servitude in every

janma he takes - (i.e. adimai ennum kOyinmayE angangE pOdharum)

 

svAmi thirumangai AzhvAr's anubhavam -

 

kaliyan's anubhavam is in the thiruvukkum thiruvAgiya selvaa

padhigam of periya thirumozhi - 7th decade, 7th thirumozhi -

there are two pAsurams where kooRai sORu comes - the first

one is the one referred to by smt. Lakshmi - here is the pAsuram

 

nediyAnE! kadiyaar kali nambI ninnayE ninaindhu ingu iruppEnai

kadiyAr kALaiyar aivar pugundu kAval seidha akkAvalaip pizhaiththu

kudi pOndhu un adikkeezh vandhu pugundhEn kURai sOrivai thandhu

enakkaruLi

adiyEnaip paNiyANdukoL enthaay azundUrmEl dhisai ninRa ammAnE!

 

adiyEn will quote and paraphrase from svAmi prativAdi bayankaram

aNNangarAchAriAr's divyArththa dIpikai -

 

kURai sORu ivai vENduvathillai, "uNNum sORu, parugu neer, thinnum

veththilai ellaam kaNNAn" , enRum sollumaapOLE kooRai sORu

mudhaliya bhOgyabhOgOpakaraNangaLil virumbi maRRirukkinRa

indha AzhvAr kooRai sORugaLai virumba prasakthi illaamayaale

"enakku kooRaiyum sORumaaga irukkinRa iththiruvadigaLaith

thandhu aruLi" enRu uraikkappattadhu - vAsudEvas sarvamithi

sa mahAtmA sa durlabha: enRa gItAchAryanudaiya kuRai theeraviRE

AzhvArgaL thiru avathariththadhu -

 

Since this AzhvAr will not ask for annapaanaadigaL {as he wants

perumAL kainkaryam/perumAL only and nothing else similar to nammAzhvar

when he says uNNum sORu... and periyAzhvAr when he says

kooRai sORu ivai vENduvathillai}, in this case, he asks for the

lotus feet of the Lord which is kURai and sORu for him (kaliyan) -

AzhvArs' thiru avathAram is to take care of the want (kuRai) of

perumaL as He said in gIta that it is very rare to find a soul that

relies on perumAL for everything -

 

before adiyEn ends this email, one things comes to adiyEn's mind

again - the reasons that our pUrvAchAryAs ascribe to vAkku being

not thUyadhu - bhagavadsannadhiyilE asathyam sollugai - i.e.

lying in front of perumaL ; prayOjanaththai kaNisikkaiyum -

asking perumAL for some prayOjanam {other than Him}; parastOtram

paNNugaiyum - praising others other then perumAL

 

also, adiyEn would like to quote directly from svAmi periyavAchchAn

piLLai's vyAkhyAnam on the periyAzhvAr pAsuram - nothing can ever

come ever close to describing pAsurams than the original

vyAkhyAnams of our pUrvAchAryAs -

 

kooRai sORivai vENduvadhillai - naan raajakulam pugugaiyaalE,

enakku, avvava kainkarya rasathukkuLLE ellaa rasangaLumuNdu -

than svarUpaththai yAthonRaaka ninaiththaan, adhukku eedaakaviRE

thaaraka pOshakaadhigaL iruppadhu - dhEhaadhi vilakshaNan

aakaiyaale sabdhaadhigaL purushaarththamaaga maattaadhu;

paratantran aakaiyaale svAnubhavam purushaarththamaaga maattaadhu;

svarUpam nityamaakaiyaalE svarUpavichchEdham purushaarththam

aagamaattaadhu - nithyagnyAna guNakan aagaiyAlE guNanaasam

purushaarththam aagamaattaadhu; ini sEshabhUthanukku sEshavrttiyE

purushaarththam enkirAr-

 

 

AzhvAr emperumAnAr jIyar thiruvadigaLE saraNam

 

adiyEn madhurakavi dAsan,

thirumalai anandAnpiLLai varadhan

[Guest guest]

Sri:

Srimathe Gopaladesika Mahadesikaya Namah:

Dear Sri Varadhan,

 

You have again excelled in your most beautiful and sweet explanations.

Thanks for the lovely post. Thanks to Smt Lakshmi for raisng such scholarly

queries. It appears as if you both had talked to each other before; the

question and answers are so well written. That is the anubhavam and devout

of you and Smt Lakshmi's.

 

Regards

Narayana Narayana

adiyEn

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