nAcciyAr tirumozhi XIII– kaNNan ennum karum deyvam-1

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SrI:

SrI ANDAL samEta SrI ra’ngamannAr

tiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

 

nAcciyAr tirumozhi XIII– kaNNan ennum

karum deyvam

 

 

General Introduction to nAcciyAr tirumozhi XIII –

kaNNan ennum karum deyvam

 

In the previous tirumozhi, ANDAL pleaded with her

elders to take her to all the places associated with

kaNNan. In order to fulfill her wishes, first of all,

they need to be strong enough to take her to all these

places, given her condition. They need to physically

carry her from place to place because of her weak

condition; even then, they cannot be sure if in her

condition she will be alive till they reach the

destination. Knowing the cause of their hesitation,

godai tells them “Knowing what trauma I am going

through because of my separation from Him, if you

really want me to be alive, as a minimum, bring me

into contact with anything that has some association

with His tirumeni. If I come in touch with things

related to Him, I might survive this ordeal. If you

keep on saying that I should not be bringing infamy to

our kulam by pining for Him, that is not going to help

me. Please get me in contact with something that He

has touched, if your desire is to try to keep me alive

under the circumstances”.

 

pASuram 13.1 (Thirteenth tirumozhi-pAsuram 1 - kaNNan

ennum karum deyvam)

 

kaNNan ennum karum deyvam kAtcip pazhagik kiDappEnaip

puNNil puLi peydARpOlap puRa ninRu azhagu pESAdE

peNNin varuttam aRiyAda perumAn araiyil pIdaka

vaNNa ADai koNDu ennai vATTam taNiya vISIrE

 

A. From SrImAn SaDagOpan's tamizh treatise

 

I am deeply involved with the dark-hued, divine

kaNNapirAn, and am used to visualizing the scenes of

my prior association with Him. When you keep advising

me that my behavior is not right and that I should

direct my mind towards things other than kaNNan, it is

like pouring sour tamarind on a hurting wound. Even

though kaNNan is very hard-hearted and does not know

what a woman goes through in pining for Him, please do

bring the beautiful pItAmbaram that He has worn on His

sacred waist and use it to blow some air over me.

Even the contact with the air that has association

with His pitAmbaram will remove my viraha tApam or the

torture of separation from Him.

 

B. Additional thoughts from SrI PVP:

 

kaNNan ennum karum deyvam: Even though the name of

“kaNNan” is accepted as synonymous with One Who

becomes subservient to those who worship Him, He is

turning out to be a karum deivam (cruel, heartless

God) as far as I am concerned. The situation now is

that, even though He appeared in a human form in order

to be easily accessible to everyone, He has become an

unapproachable para-deyvam. We were under the

impression that “kaNNan” is one who loves His dEvimAr

and one who worships them out of love; instead, He

“makes” them all worship Him. We thought “kaNNan”

would wait at the house entrance of His dEvimAr to get

their glances; but, He is now like the Gods who are

invisible but fill their stomachs. He is like indiran

and other dEvA-s who do not land their on feet on this

earth but come and get their havir-bhAgam and go away.

Even though there is this so called fame that

“kaNNan” is One who belongs to those who love Him, the

truth is that His paratvam is all that is making

itself known.

 

karum deyvam: His dark hue has always been torturing

me; that has not changed. That kRshNan is “kariyavan”

- dark hued – that name is holding true. But He is

kariyavan inside just as He is kariyavan outside. (He

is “puRam pOl uLLum kariyAn” – NT 14.7). The saying

that He belongs to those who love Him dearly has

become as false as the false belief of those who feel

that there are ghosts in Ala maram (banyan tree). He

has been acting all along very nicely and has been

faking it as if it is His Nature that He belongs to

those who love Him.

 

kAtci pazhagik kiDappEnai: Thinking that I can

survive by trying to remember the sweet memories of my

past times with Him, I tried that. But that ended up

in increasing my viraha tApam and now I am sick and in

bed; so that path is useless now.

 

kiDappEnai: ANDAL is so sick and weak because of her

viraha tApam that she is not even able to turn in her

bed from one side to another. SrI PVP quotes a person

by name akaLanka nATTAzhwAn for this phrase – “kiDanda

kiDaiyilE pADoDik (oru pakkamAgavE paDuttuk)

kiDandALAgAdE”. Her sick condition has turned her

priority from embracing emperumAn to being able to

toss and turn to the left and right in bed.

 

This is similar to the situation SrI rAmapirAn’s

friends faced in ayodhyA when He was leaving for the

forest.

 

“yEtu rAmasya suhrutas sarvE tE muDha cEtasa: |

Soka bhArENaca AkrAntA: Sayanam na jahus-tadA ||

(rAmAyaNam ayodhyA kANDam 41.20)

 

(When rAmapirAn left for the forest, all His friends

were so grief-stricken and lost their minds, that they

could not even get up from their beds).

 

puNNil puLi peydARpOla: The preaching of morals to

ANDAL by the elders, when she is already suffering

intensely from her viraha tApam, is like applying

tamarind at the opening of a wound; such an act would

only create an intensely irritating and burning

sensation, instead of giving any relief.

 

puRam ninRu azhagu pESAdE: ‘puRam’ normally means

‘outside’; here it does not mean “don’t stand outside

my door and talk’. The terms “agam” and “puRam” in

our context are: agam refers to words that will lead

to the union of ANDAL and kaNNan, and puRam refers to

words that try to separate them away from each other.

ANDAL is pleading with these elders not to talk words

of “puRam”, and instead she would like them to talk

words that would unite her with her kaNNan. She does

not want to hear words that would kill her love for

Him and separate her from Him.

 

azhagu pESAdE: The term “azhagu” normally refers to

“soundaryam”. But these elders who are trying to

convince her to forget kaNNan, are not talking about

kaNNan’s soundaryam. The term “azhagu” in the context

here is “what the elders consider as good for ANDAL”.

ANDAL is pleading with the elders to stop talking what

they think is good for her, and not to talk words to

try to separate her from Him. This is only like

pouring tamind extract on a ripe wound, as she

mentioned in the earlier line.

By “azhagu pESAdE”, gOdai says: “ do not keep telling

me of the “good” that will come to you if I stop

loving Him”.

 

pESAdE: If you talk “azhagu” words to me, they will be

words that fall in deaf ears, since I won’t even

consider thinking about the intent of your words.

 

In the second half of this pASuram, ANDAL tells them:

“Instead of spending time in talking like this, spend

the time usefully in doing parihAram for my sickness”.

 

peNNin varuttam aRiyAda perumAn: ANDAL is intensely

longing for His union, and He is delaying this union;

she is unable to tolerate this delay, and so she is

saying that “He is One who does not understand the

sorrow and longing of a devotee”.

Because of His delay in coming to her, gOdai brands

Him “peNNin varuttam aRiyAp perumAn”.

 

It should be noted that ANDAL uses the term “perumAn”

even though she is very sad that He does not

understand her sorrow. SrI PVP explains this with an

analogy from SrImad rAmAyaNam.

 

In rAmayaNam sundara kANDam 15.53, hanumAn refers to

rAma by the term “prabhu”and links His prabhuttvam to

His doing an extraordinary feat by being able to

sustain His body and not destroy Himself in sorrow

even though He is separated from pirATTi:

 

“dushkaram krtavAn rAmO hInO yadanayA prabhu: |

dArayayAtmanO dEham na SokE nAvasIdati ||

 

In the same way, ANDAL refers to kaNNan as “perumAn”,

since He is able to keep Himself alive even though He

is separated from her.

 

perumAn araiyil pIdaka vaNNa Adai koNDennai vATTam

taNiya vISIrE: Since He is “perumAn”, He can live

forever even though He is separated from us. But, we

cannot sustain ourselves without Him; in fact, our

very existence depends on Him. In order for me to

enjoy His personal experience, He is physically

needed; but, just for my existence or survival, it

is enough if you can get me something that has had

association with Him and throw it over me. What is

that thing that is related to Him? In AyyppADi, when

kaNNan used to go to the forest to graze the cows, He

used to remove His pitAmbaram (and in the process,

torment the gopi girls by wearing the garments made of

skin like a cowherd). (SrI PVP gives reference to

tirvAimozhi 4-8-4, where nammZahvAr describes kaNNan

dressed in skin garments while going to the forest to

graze the cows, and looking like a sanyasi -

“kaRaiyinAr tuvar uDukkai, kaDaiyAvin kazhi kORkkac

caRaiyinAr”). ANDAL tells the elderly women around

her to get kaNNan’s pitAmbaram and blow the wind that

has come in contact with that pitAmbaram all over her,

so that she can feel somewhat comforted by that wind,

even though she cannot have contact with Him

physically.

 

araiyil pIdaka vaNNa ADai koNDu: ANDAL specifies that

it is the pitAmbaram that He has worn around His waist

(araiyil pIdaka ADai), and not just any pitAmbaram

that He might have used to as the towel etc. BhaTTar’s

aruLicceyal is: “a loyal wife yearns for the smell of

sweat from her husband’s body. Since gOdai is uttama

nAyaki, she longs for the smell for kaNNan’s sweat

(sveda gandha lubdhai – one who longs for the pleasure

of the smell of her nAyakan’s sweat) and asks for the

“araiyil sAttiya pItAmbaram”, because the svEda

gandham may not be found in the upper garment”.

 

ennai vATTam taNiya vISIrE: ANDAL tells the elderly

ladies: “You are not able to help in materializing my

union with kaNNan; but, at least you can try to reduce

my suffering by creating an association of His

pitAmbaram with me, and thus breathe some temporary

life into me.

 

C. Additional thoughts from SrI PBA:

“I am used to the constant thought of this Supreme

Being, kRshNa; kAtshi pazhagik kiDappEnai). But you

are all foreign to this (puRam ninRu), and instead of

talking something that will comfort me (azhagu

pESAdE), you are talking things that are equivalent to

pouring the tamarind extract in a severe wound (puNNil

puLi peidARp pOl). Instead, please go and get the

pItAmbaram that He has worn on His waist (perumAn

araiyil pIdaka ADai koNDu), and blow the wind with

that on me, so that I will have some relief of my

separation from Him (vATTam taNiya vISIrE)”.

 

D. Additional thoughts from SrI UV:

 

karum deyvam: karumai indicates black color or

greatness. ANDAL says: “I thought kaNNan is One who

would stand in front of His devotees happily. Only

now I know that He is a “kiTTa oNNAda” – inaccessible

– deyvam”.

 

kAtci pazhagik kiDappEnai: “I have been longing for

the time when I will get to see Him” or, “Having

received His sight before, and suffering now for not

getting to see Him”.

 

puNNil puLi : “When you know that I am severely being

tortured by not being with Him, you are aggravating my

pain by keeping on arguing with me instead of

relieving my sorrow”.

 

puRam ninRu: “Instead of coming inside and sitting by

my side (while I am lying down in agony) and thinking

about how to help in solving my problem, you are

talking casual talk to me just for the sake of

enquiry, with the intent of leaving this place as fast

as possible”.

 

azhagu pESAdE: “Don’t talk as if you have the best

interest on me and my health and welfare”.

 

aRiyAda: BhagvAn is sarvag~nan, and still ANDAL

refers to Him as “ariyAda perumAn”. How is this

justified? ANDAL feels that even He knows everything,

His actions are inconsistent with His knowledge, and

so it is as good as His being ignorant on this issue.

 

Or, He is “peNNIn varuttam ariyAda perumAn”, because

He has never been born a woman, and never has He been

separated from a husband, and so He has no way of

understanding what her suffering is, and so He is

“ariyAda emperumAn”.

 

Abbreviations:

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

PVP= SrI periyavAccAn piLLai

PBA= SrI prativAdi bhayankaram aNNangarAcAriyAr

UV = SrI uttamUr vIrarAghavAcAriyAr

 

sarvam SrIman nArAyaNAyeti samarpayAmi.

 

aDiyAL,

kalyANi kRshNamAcAri

 

 

 

 

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