Thirumaalai-34

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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,

 

In the previous posting, we saw the meanings of namA, kannan. Similarly there

are meanings for all the thirunAmams of the bhagavan. In his bhagavat guna

tharpanam, Sri ParAsara bhattar gives the meanings of each nAma in the Vishnu

sahasranAmam extensively. Narayana nAmA is paratva soochanam and Govinda nAmA

Sowlabhya soochanam. Narayana nAma is seen in the Vedas whereas the Govinda

nAma was the god’s beloved nAma in krishnAvatAram, though it refers to him in

other avatArAs too. “gO” can refer to both cow and earth. Since varAha saved

the earth he is also called ‘mahAvarAhO Govinda”. Since Sriramar was

bhoopalan(ruler of the earth) he also gets the name Govinda. But then why does

it refer to Krishna mainly, that is because only in KrishnAvatAram there was a

specific govinda pattabhishekam. That is why govinda nAma gets its

significance. Andal says ‘kurai ondru millAdha Govinda’. Our ancestors did

govinda keertanam before doing anything eating, sleeping etc. Before starting

anything they start with Govinda nAma keertanam, govindA! GovindA!. In

thirumaalai also alwar says the same in many places. Let us now continue with

the meaning of the 18th paasuram.

 

kaniyirundhanaiya sevvAi kannanai kanda kangal: We saw earlier that the

alwars were always deeply involved in the beauty of the lotus like eye and the

coral liked juicy lips of the bhagavan. Here thondaradi podi alwar says that

the lips of the bhagavan are red and they are so sweet like a ripened fruit.

When we say the mouth is reddish like a coral then we may think the mouth is

tasteless like a coral. So to get us rid of that doubt alwar says the mouth is

both beautiful and sweet in taste. After describing the bhagavan’s beauty,

alwar then talks about his own eyes. What does his eyes do? Alwar says

kannanai kanda kangal, but is he not standing in front of Sri RanganAthan? why

doesn’t he say that instead why say kannanai? Actually all through his

prabhadham alwar sings RanganAthan to be kannan or rAman. Here PVP

differentiates Periya Perumal to be kannan and namperumal to be rAman. He

says, “yesodhai pirAtti pillai manam kannAmal theembhilE kai valarum padi

valarththa mosumosuppellAm thOtrierrukkum periya perumAlai kandAr”. Krishna

was born as a son of yesodha who was a gopika. NandagOpan was the king of the

whole village. There were number of cows in that village and all were “vallal

perum pasukkal” which gave a lot of milk. Yesodha has such a lot of love for

her dear son that she churns lots and lots of butter by just singing his

praise. She never wants to say no to her beloved son so she gives him lots of

butter inspite of this he goes to steal butter in all the houses and thereby he

eats so much butter daily. So Krishna has become so fat. Alwar says that

Krishna has now come and lied down in Srirangam as periya perumal. Whereas

Namperumal who is active taking care of the kingdom of Srirangam is none other

than Sri chakravarthi thirumagan who is called BhoopAlan. In the next line

alwar says what happened to his eyes on seeing this beautiful kannan.

 

paniarumbhu vudhirumAlO enseikEn pAviyEnE: When the emperuman was in pArkadal

there are number of droplets which are like pearls there. But in Srirangam

pearl like droplets fall from the eyes of the bhagavatals who enjoy the beauty

of periya perumal. They do not want to show their bhakthi to others so they

hide their tears. But then they are unable to do the same so we find small

droplets in the corners of their eyes. Then the tears roll down through their

cheek. Kulasekara alwar says these bhagavatals wet the whole area with their

tears. Alwar also doesn’t want his tears to be shown to others but

unfortunately he is unable to stop it hence he says ‘vudhirumAlO enseikEn’(It

falls what can I do?). Alwar feels that his bhakthi is nothing compared to the

krupai of bhagavan. Even kuchElan, a friend of Krishna cries and says ‘aham

pApi, daridhdhiraha’. He says he is a pApi because he feels that he has

cheated and got the krupai of Krishna paramAtma. Here also alwar calls himself

papi because his bhakthi can never be equated to the kArunyam of bhagavan.

 

AzhwAr emberumAnAr jeeyar thiruvadigaLE saraNam

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasyai

Sumithra Varadarajan

 

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