thiruppavai day ten song ten

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TIRUPPAVAI - DAY TEN - SONG TEN

 

Transliteration

 

nORRuc cuvarkkam pukukinRa ammanOy

mARRamum thArAyO vAcal thiravAthAr

nARRath thuzay muti nArAyanan nammAl

pORRap paRai tharum punniyanAl pantu oru nAL

kURRathin vAy vILntha kumpakarananum

thORRum unakkE perunthuyil thanthAnO

ARRa ananthalutaiyAy aruL kalamE

thORRamAy vanthu thiravElOr empAvAy.

 

Translation

 

O maid meant to experience the Divine through the pavai observance!

Even if you don’t open the doors,

Shouldn’t you at least respond to our call?

Has Kumbakarna who fell into the hands of Death

Vanquished by the Holy (Rama),

The basil-garlanded Narayana who bestows all the good on us,

Surrendered his sleep to you, lost in a contest?

Hey you, possessed by sleep!

Rare jewel! Wake up and open the doors.

 

The dramatic scene of the previous song continues in this song too. Having

failed to make her unbar the doors even after singing the many names of God

as advised by her mother, the maids start wondering what might have happened

to her.

 

The first line of the song is quite interesting from both literary and

religious perspectives. The pavai tradition in Tamil literature ascribes

abundance and the achieve of a noble husband as the end of the pavai

observance.

While abundance has already been metamorphosed into the shower of God’s

grace in the fourth song, the tenth song metamorphoses the second objective.

It is the desire to be with God, the desire to experience the Divine that is

the second objective.

 

The Tamil word used in the song is ‘suvarkkam’ which in a literal

translation will mean ‘heaven’ or ‘paradise’. But the true vaishnavite

devotee will renounce even the bliss of being in heaven, called ‘kaivalya

navanItham’, for the sake of unimpeded communion with God.

 

Further explanation will take us to the distinctions between advaitam and

dvaitam on the one hand and dvaitam and visistadvaitam on the other. This is

not the place for elaboration. Yet, it has to be said that insofar as

visistadvaita is the philosophy of qualified dualism, the ultimate bliss

according to the vaishnava school of philosophy is not involution into God

but holding unimpeded communion with God. The Christian equivalent may be

identification with God.

 

The first line is subject to three different interpretations that however

complement each other.

 

First, the maids may be taken to upbraid the maid within. “We have together

vowed to take up the pavai observance. Even as we are ready and even as we

have for so long implored, you are yet to join us. It is alright if you do

not open the doors. At least you could have responded to our call from

within.” - this is one interpretation. “There is such a gap between your

intentions and actions that we wonder if you will ever enjoy the bliss of

being with God.”

 

Secondly, “Perhaps you have already been experiencing the Divine. There is

no wall between your palace and the Lord’s. What effective observance is it

of yours that has already blessed you with the experience of the Divine!” It

is the sense of wonder at the silence of the maid taken to be the result of

having already achieved togetherness with God that finds an expression.

 

Thirdly, “When we have vowed to take up the pavai observance together, you

have decided to go by it all by yourself leaving us behind. Does that become

of you?” The third interpretation follows the concept of ‘sitta satana

suvikaram’. Whichever of the three interpretations is accepted, the fact

remains that ‘suvarkkam’ is not to be taken to mean ‘heaven’ but only ‘the

experience of being with God holding an unimpeded communion with Him’.

 

Nammalvar would say,

yAvaiyum evarum thAnAy avaravar camayam thORum

thOyvilan pulan ainthukkum colappatAn unarvin mUrththi

AvicEr uyirin uLLAn athumOr paRRillAtha

pAvanai athanaik kUtil avanaiyum kUtalamE.

 

Thus to experience the Divine is to assume a certain attitude of

apperception. Again, the maid is addressed, ‘ammanAy’ which literally means

Mother. The address is also commensurate with the presupposition that the

maid within has already experienced the Divine, like the Mother – Sita in

context. Sita, while detained at Ashokavan by Ravana is supposed to have

becomes oblivious of the harsh and trying situation around her since she was

in the rapture of constantly being with Rama. Perhaps the maid within is in

such a rapturous experience of the Divine that she has become oblivious of

the calls from the maids.

 

Traditional interpretation will further dramatise the situation. When they

upbraided her for her silence, she said that Narayana was not with her

inside the house. The maids said, “You cannot cheat us. We can smell the

basil garland. He should be with you.” Then the remark from within, “How

could He have entered my house? You are at the doorsteps no sooner than we

have left each other by the evening yesterday. How could He have come in

without your knowledge?” Then the maids said, “Don’t we know Him? He is

everywhere and He can appear anywhere.” The maid has nothing more to say and

kept quiet. Then the others proceeded, “We wonder if you have taken over

Kumbakarna’s sleep!”

 

Kumbakarna was Ravana’s brother. He is supposed to have been under a curse.

He would sleep for six months and keep awake for another six months. So when

it comes to finding fault with a sleepy head, one is called Kumbakarna. The

reference here is to the effect that perhaps in a contest Kumbakarna had

lost to you and has surrendered his sleep to you.

 

However the connotation here goes deeper than just the comparison.

“Kumbakarna nishta” is a term used by Pa.Su.Maniyam, Ramani’s Tamil

Professor while in College way back in 1971. Just as sleep has become

natural to Kumbakarna, so has nishta, meditation, become natural to the best

of the devotee.

 

Thus the sleep here refers to unimpeded consciousness of the Divine. The

maid within is not to be underestimated despite her apparent

procrastination. Therefore is she called “the rare jewel”. This is in line

with ‘the beloved of Krishna’ in song 8, ‘the chief of our troop’ in song 7

and ‘lady bright’ in song 7.

 

The tenth song of Tiruppavai thus acquires certain special distinctions by

virtue of the felicity with which it lends itself to interpretations in

terms of Vaishnava metaphysics.