Thirumaalai-7

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Sri Parthasarathi thunai,

Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

 

 

" Mattrondrum Venda Maname Madhilarangar

Kattrinum meitha kazhalinai keezh- uttra

Thirumaalai paadum seer Thondaradipodi Emperumaanai

Eppozhudum peesu"

 

" Srimat Krishna samahvaya Namo yaamuna soonave

yetkadakshai kalakshyanam sulabha: Sridara: sadaa"

 

Pranams,

 

Now we proceed to see the meanings of the paasurams. The above

taniyan on Sri Thondaradi podi alwar was given by Thiruvarangaperumal

arayar. In this tanian the acharya says "Oh mind! Nothing else

is necessary always sing the praise of thondaradipodi alwar who sang

the great prabhandham Thirumaalai in praise of the lord who went

behind the cowherds, Madhilarangar(Ranganatha whose temple is

surrounded by big walls)".

 

Paasurams

 

"kAvalil pulanai vaiththu kalithannai kadakkappaiyindhu

nAvalittu vuzhitharugindrom namantamar talaigal meedhe

moovulaghuvundhu vumizhindha mudalvA ninnAmam kattra

Avalippudaimai kandai arangamAnagarulAne"

(1)

 

The crux of the paasuram is that those who do nAma sankeertanam they

need not fear of the kali gooram in this world and can have a ride

over yaman after death(even yaman considers such bhagavatals as his

master and instructs his dhoothas to do the same). "Natascha

yamavasyathA narakapAdha bheedhi: kudha:" says Sri Desikan.

 

kAvalil pulanai vaiththu – This actually tells how a bhAgavathan

should be. For this Sri PVP has given three different vyakhyanams.

When we just think of the meaning of these words we immediately come

to a conclusion that the person who is doing nAma sankeertanam should

have his senses(pulangal) under control(kAvalil vaiththu). But let

us now see how PVP gives the meaning. Just analyzing a little bit if

a person keeps all his senses under control and does everything

which has been told in the sastras and leaves those told in the

sastras to be left then why will yamam or his servants come near

him. He has already all the good points to attain bhagavans feet.

So he need not worry about narakavaasam. So here alwar doesn't

refer to those who have already their senses under control instead

comes to say that even for those who do not have their senses under

control the bhagavan nAma gives palan. How do we derive this from

the above words. PVP splits it as kAval il pulan that is kAval is

control il in tamil refers to not under control . So that conveys the

meaning "the senses which are not under control". PVP

further explains this by saying you can have nice oil bath and then

eat what ever you want to your full satisfaction and sleep well but

then say "Ranga" then you are bound to swim through kali yuga.

 

All sastras which came to explain to us the importance of bhagavan

nAma has always taken people like Ajamilan and Kshtrabandhu as

reference who had absolutely no control over their senses. So alwar

who always talks based on the pramanams is bound to say only about

the persons without senses under control. In Vishnu Dharmam

Sataneekan questions as follows: A man is incapable of controlling

his senses and to get rid of kama, krodha and Asooyai(jealousy).

Then is there no other way for such a man to attain moksham? For

this question only alwar answers over here.

 

All of us are familiar with the Nanjeeyer-Anantazhvan vrittantam.

After taking sanyasam Nanjeeyer was proceeding towards Srirangam to

meet his acharyan Sri ParAsara Bhattar. On the way he meets

Thirumalai Ananthazhwan who asks Nanjeeyer why he has taken sanyasam?

Nanjeeyer replied that he has taken it because sanyasashramam is

considered as the moksha ashramam. But Ananthazhvan replied back

saying "If you bath only when you sweat and when you eat whenever

you feel hungry and if you keep meditating on your acharyas feet will

paramapadanathan push you from moksham". This shows that just by

meditating on the feet of the acharya by saying his nAma one can

attain moksha, no Achara anushtanams are required. That is what is

emphasized by thondaradipodigal in this paasuram also.

 

The Second explanation of PVP is as follows. Earlier we considered a

person who has no control over his senses and is yet to or just

started doing or nAma keetanam. Say a person who is doing nAma

sankeertanam for quite sometime then his vaasanas will reduce by the

effect of nAma keertanam. We do find that when we start getting

involved in bhagavat vishayam we get a little detached to the worldly

pleasures. So as the days proceed Emperuman gets into our minds

("pundiyul pugundhu") and changes us little by little so our

senses are got under control. In Bhagavat geetha lord Krishna says

"shipram bhavati dharmathma…." My bhaktha though he has

wrong qualities will be cleansed by me and as the days proceeds he

will become a saadhu. So now PVP says for such a person the senses

come under control.

 

The third explanation goes as follows. Emperuman is the security for

all our senses whenever we utter his nAmam. That is when we utter

emperuman's nAmam he gives darshan to us in our hearts(advanced

stage) and there by now emperuman takes the control of our senses.

Since now the power of guarding our senses he kept in the feet of the

bhagavan by uttering his nAmam our senses are deemed to be under

control. This is third type of explanation PVP offers in his

vyakhyanam to the first sentence in the first paasuram in Thirumaalai.

 

The next parts of this paasuram we will see in the next posting.

 

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasyai

Sumithra Varadarajan