amalanAthipirAn - 5

[Guest guest]

srI:

srImathE rAmAnujAya nama:

 

--

 

amalanAthipirAn ainthAm pAsuram

 

pAramAya pazhavinai paRRaRuththu ennaiththan

vAramAkkivaiththAn vaiththathanRi yennuLpukunthAn

kOramAthavam seythanan kolaRiyEnarangaththammAn thiru

AramArpathanRO adiyEnai yAtkoNdathE

 

--

 

Meaning:

He who removed my association with unbearable and

ancient sins, who not only made me a person who is

in love with Him but also entered my mind, for which

I do not know when I performed real hard penances,

such a Ranganatha's chest which holds Lakshmi

and an ornament made me a slave to itself.

 

pArmAya: unbearable

pazha vinai: ancient karmAs/sins

paRRu aRuththu: remove attachment

ennai: Myself (who is the holder of such sins)

than vAramAkki vaiththAn: He made as one who is in

love with Him

vaiththathu anRi: not only did He do that

ennuL pukunthAn: He entered my heart

kOram mA thavam: tough large penance

seythanan kol: have I done (in a previous life)?

aRiyEn: I do not know

arangaththu ammAn: srI ranganAthan

thiru Aram: (having) Lakshmi and mukthAhAram

(ornament)

mArpu athu anRO: that chest

adiyEnai: myself who is a dhAsa

AL koNdathu: enslaved

 

--

 

Essence:

 

The chest of SriRanganatha which is the home of

periya pirAtti has taken over thiruppANAzhvAr.

In the previous song, His stomach showed that it

holds everything in the universe, and pulled

AzhvAr's mind to the ornament surrounding it. His

stomach only has the importance of holding

everything once upon a time; and also, the beauty

of having been tied by Yasoda. Unlike that, His

chest is always is the home of periya pirAtti,

holds the garland that He is the Lord of both

worlds and possesses the srIvathsa ornament. Such

a chest shows itself as more important than His

stomach and is enslaving AzhvAr's mind.

 

--

 

pAramAya pazhavinai paRRaRuththu ennaiththan

vAramAkkivaiththAn: In the previous song,

AzhvAr talked about removing the source of

the dhOshAs in his mind using the vivEkagnyAnam

given by Him. That gnyAnam is tied to karmA.

And the karmA is tied to being born. So, how

were these removed? AzhvAr says He Himself

removed them.

He removed the sins and karmAs that last

forever and which do not get removed even when

prAyaciththams are done for them.

 

pAramAya:

As nammAzhvAr said "thonmAval vinaith thodar",

so does thiruppANAzhvAr say "pAramAya".

Because of our weakness the karmAs do not leave

us. Even when He removes them, they do not

entirely leave us.

The load of being born and dying.

 

pazhavinai:

Time is endless; the AthmA is forever. These

karmAs started at an ancient time and will

continue till the end.

 

paRRaRuththu:

Like a person who has renounced material things

and has cut everything from its roots.

Even nithyasooris might have some association

with karmAs; but that is not so for AzhvAr any

more.

He has removed these three for AzhvArs: agnyAnam

(lacking knowledge), karmam, and thEhasambantham

(association with a body). He has removed them,

their smell and their taste.

 

ennai:

The person who sins and who always has karmAs.

 

than vAramAkki vaiththAn:

He will come and be with AzhvAr and He will make

AzhvAr be with Him.

He made AzhvAr renounce everything and seek Him

alone.

 

vaiththAn:

He made AzhvAr know that AzhvAr's love for Him

happened because of Him.

 

vaithathanRi:

Above and beyond these good things (removing

the bad karmAs and making Himself the goal of

the gnyAnam He provided).

 

ennuL pukunthAn:

It is possible that due to the prior association

(having smelt and tasted it), the mind might go

back to the dushkarMas; to prevent that, He has

entered AzhvAr's mind and with that destroyed

that possibility.

 

kOramAthavam seythanan kol:

AhvArs wonders, to attain this great a prize, did

he perform phenomenal penance for a long time.

In order to regain what has been lost for a long

time, did he do a severe penance on ranganAtha.

 

aRiyEn:

AzhvAr says he does not know.

What he obtained is only obtained by great souls

performing such penances and he does not know if

he ever did that.

AzhvAr is wondering, because he has not seen

anything within himself to prove that.

He has done all that for His devotee and yet He

is present as if He did nothing.

 

arangaththammAn:

The means for this prize is severe penance at

the banks of the Cauvery river on periya perumAL.

AzhvAr searched for the reason and said he did

not find it in him, but now he has found the

reason.

 

thiruvAramArpathanRO:

The chest that has both srI and the hAram.

His chest is periya pirAtti's temple and the hAram

is like the temple walls.

AzhvAr is putting himself in the shade of his

mother.

Wherever She is She will help us reach Him; if

She is in His chest, do we even have to say that

She is going to help us.

An ornament for His beautiful chest.

His chest is providing the beauty to the ornament.

 

adiyEnai:

Previously AzhvAr had been enslaved by His beauty.

Here AzhvAr is enslaved by His removing the karmAs

associated with birth.

 

AtkoNdathu:

He has returned the purity that AzhvAr had lost.

 

adiyEnaiyAtkoNdathE:

Like restoring the crown to a prince who had lost

his kingdom, He has saved AzhvAr who had sunk in

His beauty.

 

--

 

thiruppANAzhvAr thiruvadigaLE saraNam

srI periyavAccAn piLLai, srI azhagiya maNavALap

perumAL nAyanAr, srI vEdAntha dEsikar thiruvadigaLE

saraNam

 

--

 

adiyEn madhurakavi dhAsan

T.C.A. Venkatesan

 

 

 

Send instant messages & get email alerts with Messenger.

http://im./

[Guest guest]

Dear bhakthAs,

 

A question was raised based on one of adiyEn's

comments on thiruppANAzhvAr's pAsuram, by a young

devotee. She had asked it in a direct email, but I

thought it made sense to reply to the forum for a

number of reasons, the foremost being that adiyEn's

ramblings can be corrected, if they need to be, by

the many learned members of this group.

 

>> pAramAya:

>> As nammAzhvAr said thonmAval vinaith thodar,

>> so does thiruppANAzhvAr say pAramAya."Even when He

>> ============

>> removes them, they do not entirely leave us.

>> ============================================

> How is that true? Doesn't He have the Shakthi

visesham

> to eradicate all our Paapam.Andal also says

"Theeyinil

> Doosagum".Kindly explain me regarding this .

 

 

Here is my interpretation of my own statement.

 

AzhvAR used the "pAramAya" first denoting a heavy

burden and followed it with "pazhavinai" denoting

ancient karmAs. He could have used "pArmAya peruvinai"

to indicate the heaviness of the burden; instead

he chose ancient. adiyEn's understanding is that

AzhvAr used it to indicate that these are timeless

karmAs. Our AcharyAs talk about these vinai being

without origin ("anAthi") and that they will last

till the end. He may remove them, but they tend to

come back to us or that we tend to go back to them

(having tasted them).

 

AzhvAr is stating next that He has removed even such

vinai for him ("paRRaRuththu") - not just removed

them,

but removed AzhvAr's attachment to them.

 

In the second line, AzhvAr talks about "vaiththAn

vaiththathanRi". That is, not only did He make AzhvAr

be attached to Him, but also entered his heart after.

That again was to make sure that the mind does not go

back to these karmAs.

 

In later pAsurams, AzhvAr further delineates this.

Will these karmAs come back? The example that they

will come back is rudrA, who ended up with

brahmahathyai and who had to have that dhOsham removed

 

by Him ("thuNdaveNpiRaiyan thuyartheerththavan").

 

Also, AzhvAr said He removed AzhvAr's ancient karmAs.

But for them to be removed without an opportunity to

arise again, the avidhyA that is their source should

be removed. That avidhyA would create obstacles to

prevent those associated with it from reaching Him.

AzhvAr compares this to hiraNyAn creating obstacles to

 

prahalAda. And just as He ripped him to shreds

("avuNanudalkeeNda") with His divine hands

("thirukkaikaL"), so will He rip the avidhyA (with

His "gnyAnakkaikaL").

 

By emphasizing that these karmAs tend not to leave us

or that we tend not to leave them (that probably is

what adiyEn should have said in the first place),

AzhvAr is making it clear that only He can remove

these in their entirety. That is, yes they can be

removed; and He and only He with His parama kAruNyam

can remove them ("sarvapApEbhyO mOkshayishyAmi")

completely.

 

nammAzhvAr also states the same thing, that not only

He has to remove our karmAs, but also that He has to

remove them from the root so that we may join Him,

when he says

 

....

annALnee thantha Akkaiyinvazhi uzhalvEn

vennALnOyveeya vinaikaLai vEraRappAynthu

ennAL yAnunnai inivanthu kooduvanE

 

and also

 

.... nin

panmAmAyap palpiRaviyil padikinRa yAn

thonmAvalvinaith thodarkaLai muthalarinthu

ninmAthAL sErnthu ...

 

I hope that clarifies what adiyEn had said. Please

let me know if there any additional comments.

 

adiyEn madhurakavi dhAsan

T.C.A. Venkatesan

 

 

 

Photos - 35mm Quality Prints, Now Get 15 Free!

 

[Guest guest]

Venkatesan Ananth writes:

> AzhvAR used the "pAramAya" first denoting a heavy

> burden and followed it with "pazhavinai" denoting

> ancient karmAs. [...] Our AcharyAs talk about these vinai being

> without origin ("anAthi") and that they will last

> till the end. He may remove them, but they tend to

> come back to us or that we tend to go back to them

> (having tasted them).

> AzhvAr is stating next that He has removed even such vinai for

> him ("paRRaRuththu") - not just removed them, but removed

> AzhvAr's attachment to them.

 

Sri Venkatesan's explanation is very appropriate and follows

the interpretation of our pUrvAcAryas. If I may indulge in

an explanation which may clarify the idea: in Indian philosophy

a distinction is drawn between an actual act -- the "karma",

if you will -- and the latent mental impressions, the "vAsana",

which both cause one to commit an act in the first place, and

which are furthermore reinforced by the act itself.

 

Here, Alvar is saying that not only has the Lord removed the

effect of an action in the form of reward or punishment,

he has also totally wiped out the latent impressions that would

cause the Alvar to once again fall back into the pit of selfish

action. Without the removal of the latter, Alvar would not be

in much better shape than before.

 

In his comments on this line, svAmi SrI periya-vAccAn piLLai (PVP)

uses the phrase 'sa-vAsanamAka-pOkki', meaning both the karmic

effects along with their impressions were totally uprooted by

the Lord. SrI azhagiya maNavALa perumAL nAyanAr and Sri Vedanta

Desika further wax eloquently in their elaborations on this point.

 

 

With respect to the uprooting of this karma, Alvar says in this

that he "knows not what terrible and great penance has been done

to achieve this result" ( gOra-mA-tavam ceyda nan kol ariyEn ).

There are two beautiful anubhavams of this line. Sri Venkatesan

has mentioned the first one, as expressed by Swamis PVP and nAyanAr,

and which I reproduce here:

 

Alvar wonders, to attain this great a prize, did

he perform phenomenal penance for a long time?

In order to regain what has been lost for a long

time, did he do a severe penance on ranganAtha?

 

The Alvar cannot think of anything that he has done that could

accomplish such a tremendous feat. This is the first anubhavam.

 

There is another anubhavam here that is mentioned by Swamis

PVP and nAyanAr, and whcih Sri Desika elaborates on beautifully.

The subject of the penance in this interpretation is not the

Alvar but the Lord himself:

 

Did the Lord, who is beyond the sway of karma, of His own accord

leave sacred Ayodhya, the place of His divine descent -- not to

visit Lanka, the city of his beloved devotee [Vibhishana] --

but to do a terrible and great penance amidst the purified waters

of the Kaveri, simply to obtain this thing [the Alvar] which had

been lost from time immemorial?

 

I know not.

 

Who knows how long the Lord has worked to obtain a single jIvAtmA?

This is the idea behind this anubhavam.

 

Lest some people mistake this to mean that the Lord *actually*

needs to do penance to accomplish anything, Sri Desika immediately

writes that this idea is an expression of beautiful poetic imagination.

What is actually to be conveyed is that the Lord has taken an

eternal vow to protect any and all who turn in His direction,

and is waiting for each soul to do so. This is expressed by

the Lord's own declaration in the Gita carama-Sloka -- "I will

release you from all sins" (mOkshayiSyAmi).

 

 

I eagerly await more installments in Sri Venkatesan's enlightening

series.

 

tiruppANAzhvAr tiruvaDigaLE SaraNam!

 

aDiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan,

Mani