pravESa of thiruvaaymozhi - 1.4 "anciRaiya mada naaraai"

[Guest guest]

srImathE SaTakOpAya namah

srImathE rAmAnujAya namah

srImathE anantArya mahAguravE namah

srImathE vara vara munayE namah

 

There are many modes of having anubhavam of the Lord, and His

countless auspicious qualities. Some of them are - enjoying Him by

telling/reciting His countless names, describing His beauty, by

talking about the great beauty and wealth of the divyadEsams which

He has blessed by being there, by talking about the greatness of the

SriVaishNavas who live in those blessed places. Among such

ways/modes, there is one mode which is extremely special. That mode

is a mode in which the AzhvAr moves away from the mode of the male

AzhvAr, takes the mode of a female person and speaks in the

mode of that female person.

 

When the AzhvAr is enjoying the Lord in this (female) mode, there

are three possible ways - (i) as the mother of a girl who is in

extreme love with the LOrd, (ii) as the friend of the girl who is in

extreme love with the LOrd, and (iii) as the girl who is in extreme

love with the Lord. During these modes (in the paasurams that the

AzhvAr has composed in these modes), the name parAnkuSa turns

into "parAnkuSa nAyaki" (i.e. feminine gender). Even though

the pasurams seem like they are told by the girl, her mother or her

friend, in reality it is the AzhvAr Himself who is speaking through

these paasurams. This is analogous to a big river that may have

several channels in it. Each channel will still be referred to by

the river's name. Similarly, in these pAsurams, AzhvAr Himself is

speaking - for e.g. he ends one such thiruvaymozhi with "amar pozhil

vaLam kurukoor SaTagOpan kuRREvalgal" (the services done

by saTakOpan of the wealthy kurukoor in which great souls live".

 

Why should the AzhvAr leave his masculine mode, and adopt a feminine

mode in these paasurams? AzhvAr himself does not adopt these modes

by his own will. As he gets immersed in the enjoyment of the LOrd

and His qualities, he gets so immersed that these modes

automatically come to him. The purusha uttama (most superior man)

of the Universe is the LOrd, and before Him, every other being in

the Universe is feminine; also, the nature of the soul is to be

completely dependent on the Lord (pAratantryam).; due to the above

two points, we can infer that the mode of a feminine

person is something that is temporarily present (vandhERi).

 

In this thiruvAymozhi, parAnkuSa nAyaki sends some birds as

messengers to do some work for her. The great commentaries

blessed by our pUrvAchAryAs teach us that these birds are metaphors

for our great AchAryAs who are full of knowledge,

and who show us how to live according to scriptures.

 

>From this thiruvAymozhi onwards, adiyEn will also translate the word-

by-word simple meanings (padavurai only) for

the corresponding pAsuram of svami maNavALa mAmuni's thiruvAymozhi

nURRandhAdhi. The source, once again, is svAmi

P.B.ANNangarAchAriAr's commentary - this very very simple version is

taken from the nityAnusandhAnam pozhippurai

book that is a small sub set of svAmi's divyArtha deepikai.

 

thiruvAymozhi nURRandhAdhi - 4

 

anciraya putkaL thamai aazhiyaanukku * neer

en seyalaic chollum ena erandhu * vinca

nalangiyadhum maaRan ingE naayakanaith thEdi *

malankiyathum paththi vaLam.

 

The act of nammAzhvAr in this thiruvAymozhi - where he becomes very

weak and mentally agonized as he is searching

for the LOrd on this earth, and where he requests many birds (like

the stork) with beautiful wings to be his messenger to

go to the milk ocean (ksheeraabdhi) and convey his state to the

LOrd - is a manifestation the greatness of His bhakti.

 

 

AzhvAr emperumAnAr jIyar thiruvadigaLE saraNam,

adiyEn madhurakavi dAsan,

thirumalai anandAnpiLLai varadhan

 

(Source of the material: Translation of the pravESas of the simple

version of divyArtha deepikai, found in the book "aNNa svAmiyin

amudha mozhi aayiram, 401st - 500th mozhigaL)