kaNNan ennum karum deyvam 5

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SrI:

SrI ANDAL samEta SrI ra’ngamannAr

tiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

 

nAcciyAr tirumozhi XIII– kaNNan ennum

karum deyvam

 

pASuram 13.5(thirteenth tirumozhi-pAsuram 5 azhilum

tozhilum )

 

kaNNan Udum kuzhal vAi nIrait taDavungaL

 

azhilum tozhilum uruk kATTAn a’njEl ennAn avan oruvan

tazhuvi muzhuSip pugundu ennaic cuRRic cuzhanRu

pOgAnAl

tazhaiyin pozhilvAi niraip pinnE neDumAl Udi varuginRa

kuzhalin tuLaivAi nIr koNDu kuLira mugattut taDavIrE

 

A. From SrImAn SaDagOpan's tamizh treatise

 

This great emperumAn, kaNNan, does not reveal Himself

to anyone just because they plead for Him with immense

devotion, nor does He reveal Himself to those who pray

fervently and surrender to Him, until He decides it is

time to reveal Himself of His own will. He does not

even console them by saying “Do not despair”. All I

can think of are scenes of His embracing me tightly

and being all around me, and He does not leave my

thoughts ever. If this kaNNan, who plays His flute

and looks after the cows in AyarpADi, does not

willingly give me anything that belongs to Him, at

least get the droplets of water that accumulate in the

holes of His flute, fall on the ground and go to

waste, and apply it on my face so that I can be cooled

down.

 

B. Additional thoughts from SrI PVP:

 

azhilum tozhilum uruk kATTAn :

 

SrI PVP gives the interpretation for this at two

levels: the outward meanings of “azhudal” and

tozhudal”, and also an interpretation based on the

svApadESam – inner meanings of these terms.

 

The normal meaning for “azhudal” is to cry, and for

“tozhudal” is to pray. ANDAL says that kaNNan won’t

budge and make Himself available to us no matter what

we do – we can cry and make a scene, or we can plead

with Him and pray to Him, but nothing will make a

difference with Him.

 

In the svApadESam interpretation, azhugai stands for

bhakti, and tozhugai for prapatti. Of these, prapatti

is like brahmAstra – guaranteed never to fail. ANDAL

is saying that in the case of kaNNan, it does not

matter whether we resort to bhakti yoga or prapatti

mArga; He is not going to make Himself available to

us unless He wants to.

 

tozhilum uruk kATTAn: Our soul is considered the

property of emperumAn. Anyone who considers this soul

as his or hers, is considered to be the greatest of

thieves, and nothing is more sinful than this act of

AtmApahAram in our sampradAyam.

 

yO’nyathA santam AtmAnam anyathA pratipadyatE |

kim tEna na kRtam pApam cOrENa AtmApahAriNA ||

 

(mahA bhAra. Udyoga. 42.35)

 

But look at what crime this kaNNan is committing. His

tirumEni, and in fact everything that He possesses,

including His precious SrI vaikunTham, is all really

for the benefit of His devotees, and thus they are all

His devotees’ belongings. By refusing to share them

with ANDAL, and by refusing to make Himself available

to ANDAL no matter what she does, ANDAL charges that

He is committing the worst of AtmApahAram, namely

stealing His AtmA which legitimately belongs to her

and to all the devotees.

 

na tE rUpam na cAkAro nAyudhAni na cAspadam |

tathA’pi purushAkAro bhaktAnAm tvam

prakASasE || (jitante 1.5)

 

Neither His Forms, nor His weapons, nor SrI vaikunTham

itself, are for His benefit; they are all for the

benefit of the devotees. His tirumEni really belong

to us, His devotees. But by refusing to make it

available to us, this kaNNan is committing

AtmApahAram.

 

Another anubhavam of SrI PVP for “azhilum tozhilum

uruk kATTAn” is in terms of our AzhvArs’ anubhavam.

Even though bhakti and prapatti are considered two

independent means for attaining Him in our

sampradAyam, as far as the AzhvArs concerned, all that

mattered to them was the enjoyment of His tirumEni,

the beauty of His divya ma’ngala vigraham. This was

the be-all and end-all of their life. The differences

between the approaches of bhakti and prapatti, etc.,

did not make a difference to them, because their

bhakti was not directed towards attaining moksham.

Their bhakti was a result of their dismay at not being

able to be with Him and enjoy His divya ma’ngala

vigraham constantly. Even though the SAstra-s say

that both His divya Atma svarUpam and His divya

ma’ngala vigraham are objects to be meditated on, as

far as the AzhvArs were concerned, His divya ma’ngala

vigraham (the meditation on His tirumEni) was par

excellence the object to be attained. This is

reflected in their going to the extent of assuming the

nAyikA bhAvam and enjoying His beauty in their

outpourings.

 

If this is the state of most of the AzhvAr-s who were

males by birth, imagine the state of ANDAL who was

born a woman, and had declared that she won’t bear to

live if anyone even raises a word of her belonging to

a “mere mortal” – “mAniDavarkkenRu pEccup paDil

vAzhagillEn” (NT1-5).

 

Thus, through the phrase “azhilum tozhilum uruk

kATTAn”, ANDAL is reflecting the sentiment of all the

AzhvAr-s, namely, that for her, His tirumEni is the

only object to be attained (uruk kATTAn), and for her,

bhakti and prapatti are all the same as long as they

lead to this end (this is why she has talked of azhal

and tozhal in the same breath). She, who is “a’nju

kuDikku oru santatiyAi, AzhvArgaL tam Seyalai vi’nji

niRkkum tanmaiyAL”, is naturally reflecting the

siddhAntam of her forefathers, the other AzhvAr-s.

 

a’njEl ennAn avan oruvan: It is one thing that He

does not understand the suffering that people who are

separated from Him undergo. But it is pathetic that

He does not even understand the nature of His own

tirumEni. Should He not at least know that His

tirumEni is such that those who meditate on It cannot

live when separated from It, and therefore come and

embrace me right away?

 

avan oruvan: In the third pASuram, when godA said

“anjEl ennAn avan oruvan”, she compared rAman and

kaNNan and extolled the kindness of the former and the

heartlessness of the latter. Here she is comparing

kaNNan’s behavior with the kRshNa avatAram itself as

we know it – the soulabhyam of moving with the gopi-s

etc. His behavior with ANDAL shows that He does not

even realize the greatness of the kRshNa incarnation.

As we saw in pASuram 13.1, He is “kaNNan ennum karum

daivam” – One Who only has the name “One with the

beautiful eyes that charm everyone”, but in reality He

only shows His Supremacy – karum daivam.

 

tazhuvi : vishNupurANam 5-18-2 talks about how kaNNan

embraced akrUrar “sUgADham parishasvajE” – When

kRshNa saw akrUra, He immediately drew akrUra close

to Him and smothered him with His embrace such that

akrUra could not even be seen. gOdai wants Him to

come and embrace her like that.

 

muzhuSi: after the embrace, gOdai wants Him to smell

her head with His nose and get caught in the locks of

her hair.

 

pugundu ennaic cuRRic cuzhanRu: After that, He should

not be able to indulge in anything else and should

keep coming around and around and stand near her.

 

pOgAnAl: I have all these desires and He is not

fulfilling them.

 

Or, He is inducing all these anubhavams in me, and

causing more pain to me, and then He is not leaving

my thoughts (pOgAnAl).

 

tazhaiyin pozhilvAi: He Who has decorated Himself with

plenty of peacock feathers that gives the appearance

that He is walking under a garden of peacock feathers.

“tazhaigaLum tongalum tadumbi” – so says periyAzhvAr

in his tirumozhi 3-4-1. He is keeping not just one

peacock feather, but several, like a feather garden,

on His head.

This is to provide Him some shade and give Him some

relief after all the work He has done the whole day

from the morning, grazing all the cows. The

decoration with the peacock feathers is for the

evening, when He comes to visit the AyarpADi girls.

 

nirai pinnE: He is walking behind the flock of cows.

He is not coming in front of the cows; He is showing

that He is herding them and so comes at the end.

 

neDumAl: His real interest is to watch the suffering

of the girls who have been separated from Him

throughout the day. But He wants to pretend that He

is the One who is suffering from the separation. So

He comes appearing like a greatly disturbed pool of

water. His mouth will be uttering these words – “What

can I do? I have responsibility to my mother and

father, right? I went to graze the cows as per their

command. I will not leave you anymore; if I leave

you, I shall not live”.

 

Udi varuginRa: He will be playing His flute pouring

all His love and longing for them into His tune so

that they will run to Him and embrace Him.

 

kuzhalin tuLaivAi nIr kONDu: Water from His mouth

will be falling down through the holes in the flute –

kuzhal. Bring me this water.

 

kuLira mugattut taDavIrE – apply that water on my

face and remove my fatigue.

 

C. Additional thoughts from SrI PBA:

 

avan oruvan: gOdai has so much hatred for Him, she

does not even want to say His name; this is meant to

reflect His merciless treatment of gOdai.

 

D. Additional thoughts from SrI UV:

 

In the last pASuram, gOdA asked the elders to bring

His vAi amudam. “gOdE! His tirupavaLa amudam is only

available for tirumagaL etc.; how can we get it for

you” – so say her folks. She tells them an alternate

way to get the same.

 

pOgAn: If He was going to vanish, He could have at

least done all I wanted and then disappeared and I

could have had the memories.

 

It could also mean this way: He used to keep coming

around and around me and would not go anywhere

(pOgAn); but not any more.

 

Abbreviations:

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

PVP= SrI periyavAccAn piLLai

PBA= SrI prativAdi bhayankaram aNNangarAcAriyAr

UV = SrI uttamUr vIrarAghavAcAriyAr

 

sarvam SrIman nArAyaNAyEti samarpayAmi.

 

aDiyAL,

kalyANi kRshNamAcAri

 

(Articles on nAcciyAr tirumozhi are available at:

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/7673/azhwars/nachiyar.html

maintained by SrI VenkaT aiyengAr of SrI villiputtUr)

 

 

 

 

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