Thirumaalai-54

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Sri Parthasarathi thunai,

 

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-35

 

 

“thAvi andru vulagamellAm thalaivilA konda endhAi!

 

SeviyEn vunnai allAl sikkana senganmAlE!

 

AviyE! amudhE! enthanAruyir anaiya endhAi!

 

pAviyEn vunnai allAl pAviyEn pAviyEnE.”

 

 

 

thAvi andru vulagamellAm thalaivilA konda endhAi!: Alwar now talks about the

thiruvikramAvataram emperuman did. Emperuman placed his feet on each one of our

heads due to his apAra kArunyam. He showed to the world that everything belongs

only to him including each one of us. Still not realizing the truth we fight

among each other for land and property, saying this is mine that is yours. But

the emperuman who is the owner of all these things is sitting quite smiling.

This is like the sons of a father fighting over the father’s wealth. Though

everything belongs only to the father still the sons fight for their share even

neglecting the father who becomes a helpless spectator. The unfortunate part is

people claim even the so called temple property to be theirs today.

 

 

 

Aalavandaar in his strotra ratnam says,

 

“katha punas sanga rathAnga kalpaga dvajAra vindhangusa vajra lAnchanam

thrivikrama! Dvath charanAm bhujathvayam madheeya moorththAnam alankarishyathi”

 

 

 

Here Alavandaar requests perumal to keep his feet once again on his head. Once

again implies that there was already one time. When was that? Yes during the

thrivikramAvataram all of us were present and at that time emperuman placed his

feet on our heads. But if we have considered it to be our bhakyam at that time

and cherished emperuman’s feet being placed on our head then we wouldn’t stay

here now. But then we didn’t realize the same. Now alavandaar says at that

time you placed only one of your feets on my head now give adiyen the bhakyam of

having both your feets on my head.

 

 

 

SeviyEn vunnai allAl sikkana senganmAlE!: Even if we have to fall under the

feet of emperuman it occurs only due to bhagavat sankalpam. Alwar says you

wished to make me fall in your feet and hence came in front of me so without any

hesitation I immediately fall into your feet. And since you are my sole

protector who cares about me I will never go to any other sannadhi other than

yours. Emperuman is always awaiting his devotees to come to him and hence his

eyes are strained, since we always try to go away from him. So alwar here shows

the eagerness of emperuman to get us all by referring to him as senganmAl. In

Ramayana, there is one beautiful place which shows that even the sangam of

bhagavan is obtained only due to his sankalpam.

 

 

 

Ramalakshmanas came to the mountain were sugreeva was staying. For quite

sometime both were very close but sugreeva never noticed them but was looking at

something else in the other direction. Then perumal told lakshmana to look for

the king sugreeva who could help them out as told by kabhandan. At that instant

sugreeva noticed these two men and sent hanuman as dhoothan to enquire who they

were. So even to notice perumal, bhagavat sankalpam is absolutely necessary.

So alwar here says, that only because of your nirheduka krupai I even fall under

your feet oh! My lord.

 

 

 

AviyE! amudhE! enthanAruyir anaiya endhAi!: Emperuman is our soul and as long

as he is inside us we all have no end. Devas wanted to get the amudhu from the

pArkadal to become chiranjeevees. But our alwars and acharyas feel for perumal,

who had to undergo all the hardship of taking koormAvataram to hold the mountain

on his back and also churn the ocean himself for the sake of the dEvas. But

then this was not a selfless act of emperuman but he did all these to get the

“penamudhu” which came out of the ocean (periya piratti). But here alwar says,

in our case we are not interested either in the amudhu which the dEvas wanted or

the penamudhu emperuman wanted instead we are all enjoying the amudhu which is

lying as koormam and also churning the ocean with all vigour for the sake of his

devotees. Thondaradi podi alwar says emperuman is my life; he is my father, who

stays always inside me.

 

 

 

pAviyEn vunnai allAl pAviyEn pAviyEnE: After we realize that we belong to

emperuman we should be proud to be his property and never consider us to be low

because it will degrade the magimai of emperuman. But alwar repeatedly calls

him as pAviyEn and EzhaiyEn just to show his naichyAnusanthAnam which is one of

the angAs of saranAgathi(kArpanyam). When we say emperuman pardoned me and

accepted me it doesn’t give much effect but when we tell all our mistakes and

say inspite of all these, perumal overlooked my mistakes and accepted me as his

bhaktha then it surely gives a great effect on the krupai of emperuman. That is

why alwar insistently says that bhagavan has such kArunyam that he will forgive

anything and everything and will protect even a lowly person like me. This will

make others approach emperuman inspite of their innumerable mistakes.

 

 

 

Here alwar’s words can be interpreted in two ways. One way is Oh! Lord in the

absence of you, adiyen who is a papi would have always remained as a great

sinner. But due to your krupai all my sins have been washed away. So Oh! My

lord it is only your nirheduka krupai, which has removed all my sins. Sri PVP

interprets this in one another way. The vyakhyAnam goes as follows:

 

 

 

“vunnai vozhiya purambhu oruvaraiyum nenjAl ninaiyEn”

 

 

 

In tamil we do not have any different lettering for pA and bhA. So we can also

read this line as ‘pAviyEn vunnai allAl pAviyEn bhAviyEnE” meaning I am a great

sinner but I will never think about anyone else in my minds other than you.

This shows that alwar was a paramaikanthi who considered emperuman,

Sriranganatha alone as his sole refuge.

 

 

 

AzhwAr emberumAnAr jeeyar thiruvadigaLE saraNam

 

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasyai

 

Sumithra Varadarajan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- We Remember

9-11: A tribute to the more than 3,000 lives lost