Thirumaalai-27

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Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

 

“ Mattrondrum vEinda 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,

 

Paasuram-13

 

“eriyuneer veri kol vElai mAnilaththu vuyirgalellAm

verikol poonthulavamAlai vinnavarkOnaiAththa

arivilA manisar ellam arangamendrazhaipparAgil

poriyil vAzh naragamellam pullezhunthozhiyummandrE”

 

eriyuneer veri kol vElai mAnilaththu vuyirgalellAm: Whenever we go near a beach

we smell something. This smell never leaves our nose whether we go this way or

the other. Similarly we are all held up in the ocean of samsara which makes us

run hear and there but never realizes us. This is common to anyone in this

world. One more thing is also common to all of us. There is no

differentiation for the miseries people undergo in this world. All are held in

this samsara similarly all are eligible to do nAma keertanam of bhagavan. Only

way to get ourself realized for these samsaric pressures is bhagavan nAma

keertanam which can be done by one and all without any caste, creed or gender

difference.

 

verikol poonthulavamAlai vinnavarkOnaiAththa: When we talk of anyone just the

name doesn’t make us think great of him. We would like to know more of his

greatness. Emperuman has so many vibhutis that cannot be explained fully.

When arjuna asked Sri Krishna to tell him his greatness, the lord himself says

‘hantha!’ it is very difficult even for me to say all my vibuthi’s. Then a

question may arise, we have heard that emperuman is capable of everything and

everything is under his control then is there something which he himself cannot

do(explain his glories)? The answer is, the limit to a thing can be said only

when a limit exists. Can anyone define infinity. No. Emperuman’s glories are

also infinite and there is no limit to it. So if emperuman gives out his

glories then it means his glories have a limit so he says even he cannot

explain his vibhuthi’s fully. Here alwar points out one of the qualities of

the bhagavan. We all like and enjoy various smells in this world. But

emperuman is glorified as ‘divya gandhan’ one who has a divine smell. To add

to his natural smell he is adorned by his bhakthas with a tulasi garland.

Other flowers give good fragrance only at the time of blossoming. But tulasi

has a quality to spread its fragrance all around from the time it starts

growing. In our sampradayam, tulasi is considered to be like a mother and

great respect is given to her. She is a favourite of emperuman. Others wear

diamonds and gold ornaments to decorate themselves and make themselves

beautiful. Emperuman being devAdirAjan, king of the devas, it is normal to

expect him to be adorned with the most precious ornaments but he prefers to

wear only a garland made of green leaf(tulasi). This is because for others the

ornaments give added beauty but emperuman gives beauty to the ornaments. That

is why the jewellery earlier in the shop when worn by bhagavan gets the name

thiruvAbharanam. So no ornaments is required to glorify him. Another thing is

if bhagavan likes to wear these precious ornaments then his bhakthas who are

poor and not capable of buying such ornaments will feel bad. But tulasi

garland can be purchased by all so emperuman prefers to wear only tulasi

garland given by his bhakthas with atmost love. Emperuman is not worried about

the cost of what we take to his temple rather he values the love behind it.

Here we can get to memory the story of rukmani and satya bama. Krishna sat in

one of the plates of a balance. Satya bama kept all her jewels in the other

balance. The balance didn’t rise. Then rukmani kept just a single tulasi leaf

with great devotion in the second side which proved to be even heavier than

Krishna. The moral of this story is that emperuman considers all other wealth

as cheap articles but values the bhakthi in the hearts of his bhakthas as great

gift to him. All other articles where created by him and can be possessed by

him but he cannot have bhakthi towards anyone so bhakthi is one thing emperuman

adores.

 

arivilA manisar ellam arangamendrazhaipparAgil: In the previous line alwar

explained to all the mandha bhuddhi jeevatmas that there is no use in making

grand ornaments and offerings to emperuman without bhakthi. There is no use in

doing business even with bhagavan saying that if you do this for me I will make

so and so offering to you. It is enough even if you get a small tualsi garland

with love and devotion to him. Now he says it is not even necessary for you to

take the strain of going to the temple with a tulasi garland, no need of any

jnana just say arangan and call him. Emperuman, is no doubt vinnavar kOn, he

is paramatma, the king of kings but he is filled with sowlabhyam so he accepts

what little we give him and when we call him he comes running to us. Can we

imagine such a great person coming running like a servant? Inspite of he doing

all these, we still refrain from even calling his name. What a pity! He is

ready to do everything for us but we, who can talk all rubbish cannot utter his

nAmA? Is it so difficult? When alwar said this, one person asked what will

happen if I say the bhagavan nAma so alwar answers,

 

poriyil vAzh naragamellam pullezhunthozhiyummandrE: All the narakas in this

world will become empty. There will be no person who will visit the narakas

and hence it will be filled with bushes. All mahatmas and scholars say

“lokAsamastA sukuno bhavanthu” and pray for the welfare of the whole world.

But even they want one place to get ruined. Even alwars do not want this place

to flourish. Do you want to know which place it is? Yes. The naraka. Everyone

including each one of us want it to be destroyed. Alwar says the easiest way

is, everyone uttering the nAma of bhagavan say ranganatha, aranga once and see

the city of naraka filled with only grasses and no one visiting the place.

 

AzhwAr emberumAnAr jeeyar thiruvadigaLE saraNam

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasyai

Sumithra Varadarajan

 

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