nAcciyAr tirumozhi XIV – paTTi mEyndOr kArERu 9

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SrI:

SrI ANDAL samEta SrI ra’ngamannAr

tiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

 

nAcciyAr tirumozhi XIV – paTTi

mEyndOr kArERu

 

pASuram 14.9(fourteenth tirumozhi-pAsuram 9 nATTaip

paDai enRu)

 

asurargaLai azhitta kaNNanaik kaNDOm

 

nATTaip paDai enRu ayan mudalAt tanda naLir mAmalar

undi

vITTaip paNNi viLaiyADum vimalan tannaik kaNDIrE?

kATTai nADit tEnuganum kaLirum puLLum uDan maDiya

vETTai ADi varuvAnai virundAvanattE kaNDOmE

 

 

A. From SrImAn SaDagOpan's tamizh treatise:

 

“Have you seen this blemish-less emperumAn, who,

through His leelA, first created the beautiful lotus

in His navel, then created brahmA on this lotus, and

ordained him to create the rest of the worlds?”

 

“We did see that kaNNan (in virundAvanam), who created

the creator, but who did not then just leave the

protection of the created beings to this creator alone

or to the created beings themselves, but took it upon

Himself to protect them also by getting rid of the

evil beings in order to protect the good. We saw that

kaNNan who, like a hunter who kills all the wild

animals, got rid of dhEnukAsuran, the elephant

kuvalayApIDam and bakAsuran so easily.”

 

ANDAL is seeing Him as the Creator of the four-faced

brahmA, who is in the sprouting lotus in bhagavAn’s

nAbhIk kamalam. In SrImad bhAgavatam daSama skandam,

in the fourteenth chapter, brahmA describes the leelA

of His Creator, and the Creator of all. One of the

Sloka-s which describes Him in brahmA’s words is as

follows:

 

“SrI kRshNa vRshNi kula pushkara joshadAyin

kshmA nirjara dvijapaSUdadhi vRddhi kArin |

uddharma Sarvarahara kshiti rAkshasa dhRk

Akalpam Arkam arhan bhagavan namastE ||”

 

“hE kRshNa, you are like the sun making the lotus that

is vRshNi kulam blossom! hE kRshNa, you are like the

moon that makes the ocean waves (the earth, deva-s,

brAhmaNa-s, animals, oceans, etc.) rise up and

flourish! You are the sun that drives away darkness

that appears in the form of false religions! You are

the destroyer of the asura-s such as kamsa! You are

the One who is worthy of worship always by the likes

of the Sun! I prostrate to You!”. It is this kRshNan

(who was praised by brahmA) that ANDAL finds in SrI

bRndAvanam, that she is describing in this pASuram.

 

B. Additional thoughts from SrI PVP:

 

“nATTaip paDai” enRu ayan mudalAt tanda: BhagavAn

created brahmA and then told Him “Go ahead and proceed

with the creation of others”. He first created the

brahmANDam with all the requisites for brahmA to

proceed with creation. This was creation at the

samashTi level, or at the aggregate level. Then He

ordained brahmA to proceed with the next level of

creation – at the individual or vyashTi level.

 

ayan mudalAt tanda: SrI PVP enters into discussion on

the issue of reconciling the singular used in

bhagavAn’s command to brahmA “paDai – create”, and the

following phrase in plural “ayan mudalAt tanda - by

giving (creating) brahmA and others”. SrI PVP

explains that even though bhagavAn created brahmA and

other prajApati-s through him for the purpose of

procreation, the specific function of creation was

entrusted to brahmA alone, and hence the use of the

singular “paDai”. The reference to prjApati-s is

described in many places, including vishNu purANam

1.7. The first sons of brahmA – sanandana and others,

were completely estranged from the universe and devoid

of desire for progeny, and dedicated themselves

totally and absolutely to holy wisdom. Thus brahmA

had to create the prajApati-s to continue with his

creation. So the term ‘mudalA” in this context will

mean “etc._- “by creating brahmA etc., and then asking

brahmA to proceed with creation”. But the singular is

justified by the fact that brahmA was the sole

individual that was directly commanded by bhagavAn

with the task of creation:

 

tatra suptasya devasya nAbhau padmam abhUt mahat

|

tasmin padme mahAbhAga! Veda vedA’nga pAragah

||

brahmotpannah sa tenoktah prajAh sRja mahAmate

|| (nArasimha purANam)

 

“Oh great one! When that nArANayan was sleeping, a

great lotus was formed in His nAbhi. In that lotus

appeared brahmA who was well versed in vEdams and

vEdAngams. nArAyaNan told brahmA: “oh great learned

one, create the jIva-s”.

Note the words from bhagavAn to brahmA – “prajAh sRja”

– “nATTaip paDai”.

 

Alternatively, SrI PVP comments that the pATham “ayan

tannait tanda” has been favored by SrI nampiLLai,

since this matches with the singular used in the

original command “paDai”, and is thus more appealing

in the view of SrI nampiLLai.

 

(SrI UV resolves the issue by giving the

interpretation that “ayan mudalA” means “with brahmA

as the principal or the first one” – “mudalvanAga”.

See more discussion under SrI UV below).

 

naLir mAmalar undi vITTaip paNNi viLaiyADum: As part

of His leelA (viLaiyADum), He created a place (vITTaip

paNNi) in the lotus flower sprouting from His cool

(naLir), deep, large, navel (mA malar undi) for brahmA

to feel comfortable in his very difficult job. Every

word chosen here is significant. naLir means

“comforting, pleasant, cool”, to provide a comfortable

accommodation for brahmA in his difficult job of

creation. mA malar is “the big flower” – the lotus

flower in His navel, that is big enough to accommodate

this large brahmANDa. His tirunAbhik kamalam relieves

tiredness because of being cool and has the broad area

for creating the whole universe and other sRshTi-s; He

has given a place for brahmA on this nAbhik kamalam

and enjoying this whole sRshTi game as His leelA

rasam.

 

vimalan tannaik kaNDIrE?: He is pure of heart –

vimalan. He is “vimalan” because He engages in

creation only for the benefit of the jIva-s, and does

not worry about the fact that brahmA and others are

only interested in the ‘position and status’, and are

not truly interested in attaining Him.

 

Now follows the response:

 

kATTai nADit tEnuganum kaLirum puLLum uDan maDiya

vETTai Adi varuvAnai : The friends of gOdai respond

that they see Him as One Who goes and searches after

(nADi) the evil beings such as dhEnukan,

kuvalayApIDam, bakAsuran, etc., like an aggressive

hunter going in search of wild animals hiding in

hard-to-find bushes.

 

SrI PVP gives a nice connection between the first

part, where gOdai asks her friends whether they found

the One who created brahmA and through him created all

the prajA-s, and the response where the friends say

that they found this great One Who hunts down and

destroys the asura-s. BhagavAn could have left it as

the responsibility of brahmA to protect and look after

the jIva-s that he has created, or alternatively, He

could have left it to the jIva-s to take care of

themselves. But the compassionate Lord vishNu does

not absolve responsibility for the protection of His

children. He makes sure that the Asuric people are

hunted down and destroyed, so that the good ones can

live in peace. The asura-s take all kinds of

deceitful forms, but He hunts them down and gets rid

of them for the welfare of the good – [[ “paritrANAya

sAdhUnAm vinASAya ca dushkRtAm | dharma

samsthApanArthAya sambhavAmi yugE yugE” || - gItai]]

 

He created this universe directly and then delegated

further responsibilities to brahman and others to

create other sRshTi-s. Instead of leaving their

maintenance and protection from evil forces to the

sRsTi-s themselves, He feels attached as their Owner,

takes avatArams and comes and helps them get rid of

enemies.

 

virundAvanattE kaNDOmE: we saw Him not in

tiruvAippADi, but in SrI bRndAvanam, where we could

hug Him to our heart’s content with great love

(just as sItai embraced SrI rAmapirAn after the vadam

of karan and his troupe - “bhartAram parishasvajE” –

rAmAyaNam AraNya kANDam 94-18)

 

C. Additional thoughts from SrI UV:

 

ayan mudalA: SrI UV also discusses the consistency

issue between the singular form “paDai” and the

possible plural form “ayan mudalA”, and refers to the

different possible explanations referred to by SrI

PVP. In addition, he gives a very satisfactory

explanation by giving the meaning “mudalvanAga – as

the first one”, referring to brahmA being the first

one that bhagavAn created. If “mudalA” is taken as

plural – brahmA and others, then he gives reference to

tiruvAimozhi 10.10.3 “mEvittozhum piraman Sivan

indiranAdikkellAm nAbhikamala mudal kizhangE”, where

nammAzhvAr refers to brahmA, Siva, indra, etc., all

originating from His navel as the first place of

origin with brahmA – in other words, bhagavAn created

brahmA from His navel, and then brahmA created the

others.

 

viLaiyADum: having brahma as His child and talking

with him is leelA for Him; making madhu-kaiTabha-s

steal the vEda-s and recovering them back is leelA for

Him; keeping brahmA as a pretext and doing vyashTi

sRshTi in the form of his antaryAmi, just as He

performs samashTi sRshTi, sthiti and samhara is leelA

for Him.

 

vimalan: akhila hEya pratyanIkan – completely devoid

of any limiting or defiling defects of any kind. (SrI

PBA translates the term as ‘parama pAvanan’). He is

vimalan because He provides a house (body) for the

jIva-s for their benefit for the enjoyment of their

karma-s purely out of His kRpA, because He does not

have dOshams such as discrimination, inequality,

injustice etc. (vaishamyam); and because even though

He is the antaryAmi in everyone, none of the defects

of these jIva-s even remotely attach to Him.

 

kaLiRU: elephant. He killed kuvalayApIDam in

mathurA. One can ask – how come ANDAL is referring to

the killing of kuvalayApIDam in the forests of

bRndAvanam (kATTai nADi… virundAvanattE kaNDOmE) ,

when the elephant was actually killed in mathurA? It

could be taken to mean any elephant that was slain in

the forest instead of to kuvalayApIDam. Alternately,

SrI UV comments that mathurA was a ‘forest’ till

kaNNan came there and slew kuvalyApIDam etc., because

mathurA without kaNNan is a ‘deserted forest’ anyway.

He gives reference to vALmIki, who describes ayodhyA

without rAma as a “forest” - “ayodhyAm aTavIm

viddhi”.

 

uDan maDiya: SrI UV interprets the word ‘uDan’ to mean

“together, and then discusses the relevance of this

word in this pASuram. With this interpretation, this

wording suggests that dhEnukan, kuvalayApIDam,

bakAsuran, etc. died together or at the same time.

Since all these asuras were killed when kaNNan was

very young, in a short space of time, without much

effort on His part, it can be said for practical

purposes that “they all died at the same time”. It

is also true that even if dhenukan, kuvalyApIDam, and

bakAsuran came together to attack kaNNan at the same

time, He is capable of vanquishing them all at the

same time.

 

In contrast, SrI PVP interprets the word ‘uDan’ to

mean “uDanE” – immediately, on the spot, without

effort on the part of kaNNan. This seems like a more

straightforward interpretation.

 

vETTai ADi varuvAnai – Reference was made earlier to

vaidEhi embracing Lord rAma after He returned from the

battlefield after slaying kara, dUshaNa etc. Here,

ANDAL is describing her kaNNan returning after hunting

down and slaying the evil asura-s. The parallel is

evident. This last pASuram before the final one which

is the phala Sruti, can be understood as the blessing

of all of ANDAL’s elders and friends for her to

embrace her kaNNan and live happily in His service for

ever.

 

D. Additional thoughts from SrI T.S.rAjagOpAlan:

 

The main theme of this particular pASuram is ANDAL’s

description of bhagavAn’s extreme kRpA in creating

the universe for the benefit of the jIva-s, and His

Infinite Mercy in protecting the created beings.

 

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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