tri-mUrti in tiruvAimozhi - Part 10.

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tri-mUrti in tiruvAimozhi - Part 10.

 

3.6.1: (23)

 

Seyya tAamraik kaNNanAi ulagu Ezhum uNDa avan kaNDIr

vaiyam vAnam maniSar daivam maRRum maRRum maRRum muRRumAi

Seyya Suzh SuDar j~nAnamAi veLip paTTu ivai paDaittAn pinnum

moi koL SOdiyODu AyinAn oru mUvar Agiya mUrtiyE.

 

In this pASuram, AzhvAr reminds us that bhagavAn is the Supreme Being

who is the Cause of the whole Universe and everything that exists in

it, that He is the One Who swallowed everything at the time of

pralaya just for saving everything from the great floods â€" that He is

the One who protects at the time of danger, and that He is the One

who is the Lord and antaryAmi of everything including brahmA and

rudra. He is One with beautiful lotus eyes (Seyya tAmaraik kaNNan);

He is One who helps all the creatures by saving them in His stomach

at the time pralaya (ulagam Ezhum uNDa avan); He created everything

(ivai paDaittAn) just out of compassion for the jIva-s, so that they

can have a body and indriya-s to enjoy and function; He is One who

controls the functions of brahmA and rudra by being their antaryAmi

(oru mUvar Agiya mUrti); In addition, He has infinite other kalyANa

guNa-s (moi koL SodiyODu AyinAn). Thus AzhvAr reminds us of His guNa-

s that are of benefit to all the jIva-s, and tries to motivate those

who do not worship Him with full devotion, to start changing ways and

start resorting to Him.

 

The first two pAda-s (quarters) of this pASuram sing the praise of

bhagavAn’s vAtsalyam or affection to the jIva-s, in the form of His

functions of creation, and preservation of the jIva-s at the time of

pralaya. The second half of the pASuram refers to His parattvam.

The emphases in this tiruvAimozhi are bhagavAn’s kalyANa guna-s of

sauSIlyam and saulabhyam; His parattvam will always be evident in

the background.

 

In the previous tiruvAimozhi (3.5) that we did not cover, AzhvAr

deplores the majority of people who just eat and enjoy, do not

realize the greatness of emperumAn, and do not sing His praise. He

repeatedly asks: Those of you who do not worship Lord nArAyaNa â€" of

what use is it that you occupy the space in this world? - (3.5.1).

Of what use is your birth in this world? - (3.5.4). Do you deserve

to live in the same place that the people who are learned in the veda-

s live? â€" 3.5.5, etc. In the current tiruvAimozhi, he takes pity on

these people, and tries to again reveal to them with kindness the

Glory of emperumAn, hoping that they will heed his words to resort to

Him and worship Him. Our AcArya-s compare this situation to the way

that sItA pirATTi tried to deal with rAvaNa. First She rebukes him

for his sinful behavior, but then, as the Mother, she tries to advise

him to listen to Her and follow the good and dhArmic path and

surrender to Lord rAma and be saved. AzhvAr is taking the same

approach here â€" deploring our behavior in tiruvAimozhi 3.5, but then,

out of sheer kindeness, trying to advise us to mend our ways and

resort to Him.

 

Seyya tAmaraik kaNNanAi â€" He with eyes that are beautiful like the

freshly blossomed lotus flowers (Sei â€" to resemble)

 

- chAndogya Upanishad declares the purusha with eyes resembling

the full-blown red lotus â€" tasya yathA kapyAsam puNDarIkAksham evam

akshiNI (1.6.7)

 

- The vishNu dharma describes Lord vishNu as One with Lotus-

eyes:

 

SrUyatAm tu naravyAghra veda vedAnta niScayaH |

ya~jneSo ya~jna purushaH puNDarIkAksha samj~nitaH |

sa vishNuH paramam brahma yato nAvartate punaH ||

 

ulagu Ezhum uNDa avan â€" He Who swallowed all th seven worlds at the

time pralaya (in order to protect the jIva-s from the great floods)

 

Seyya SUzh SuDar j~nAnamAi -

 

- Seyya â€" one of the meanings for this word is ‘correct,

perfect, sound’. SrImad tirukkuDanthai ANDavan translates this

as ‘Seyya â€" RjuvAna; SUzh â€" vyAptamAna; Sudar j~nAnamAi â€" sva-prakASa

j~nAnaSAliyAi’. The meaning is thus “One Who is endowed with all-

encompassing knowledge that is natural to Him, and that shines out

with effulgenceâ€.

 

BhagavAn is the embodiment of all-encompassing (SUzh) knowledge

(j~nAnam) that is unbounded, unblemished and immeasurable (SuDar)

 

An alternate interpretation for this is that in addition to the leelA

vibhUti that has been described thus far in this pASuram (His acts of

creation etc.), these words describe His nitya vibhUti in SrI

vaikunTham - He is also the One who is in the most splendrous and

effulgent SrI vaikunTham as SrI vaikunTha nAthan.

 

paDaittAn â€" He created

 

veLip paTTivai â€"all these are there for everyone to see (pratyaksha

pramANa siddhamAna ivaigaLai), that includes

 

- vaiyam, vAnam â€" the earth, the sky and the worlds above

- maniSar, daivam â€" the people in this world and the gods in

the worlds above

- maRRum â€" all the animals, birds, trees, etc.

- maRRum â€" The pa’nca bhUta-s or the five elements that

constitute all the above

- maRRum â€" The tattva-s such as mahAn that are the causes for

the five elements

- muRRumAi â€" all of the things above, without any exception.

 

pinnum â€" In addition

 

moi koL SOdiyODu AyinAn â€" He shines with the multitude of Infinite

kalyAna guNa-s that are meant for the protection of all that He has

created â€" tejaH-prabhRti guNa yuktan.

 

oru mUvarAgiya mUrti â€" He is also the Supreme Deity Who performs the

functions of protection, creation and destruction in the form of the

tri-mUrti-s (with Himself performing the protection, and having

brahmA and rudra perform the functions of creation and destruction by

being their antaryAmi and their Lord). This is clarified further in

the next pASuram â€" mudal mUvarkkum mudalvan.

 

- An alternate interpretation given is that the reference to

the ‘mUvar’ is to brahmA, rudra, and indra. BhagavAn has these three

mUrti-s as His body. This has been discussed in previous pASuram-s.

 

mUrtiyE â€" He is the Lord of all.

 

A few additional points are worth noting.

 

- This pASuram starts with a reference to Lord vishNu â€" Seyya

tAmariak kaNNan, ulagu Ezhum uNDa avan etc., and thus, Lors vishNu is

the sole object of praise in this pASuram, as is the case with all

other 1101 pASuram-s.

- mUrti literally means “that which has a definite bodily shape

or figureâ€. AzhvAr refers to Him as “oru mUvar Agiya mUrtiyE†â€" He

is One with One form of which the ‘three’ are part. The question

is “Who are the three referred to here?â€. A few alternate

interpretations are available from our AcArya-s.

 

If we interpret the words “oru mUvar Agiya†together, it can mean

that Lord vishNu is the “unique â€" oru†One among the three, since He

is not subject to the cycle of karma etc. unlike brahmA and rudra.

In this case, the interpretation is that bhagavAn has His form as

vishNu (recall that the pASuram is on Lord vishNu, as indicated in

the first dashed item above, and AzhvAr is referring to His One form â€"

our mUrti), with brahmA and rudra being part of His body. In fact,

all of us, and the other cetana-s and acetana-s, are part of His

body. (‘Being part of the body’ means that all of these are under

His control, and are meant for His service and benefit, and operate

under His Will).

 

Or, the term ‘mUvar’ can refer to the trio of brahmA, rudra and

indra, who again are all part of His body. In the veda-s, we see

reference to these three together â€" sa brahmA, sa SivaH, sendraH

(nArAyana sUktam, a part of tattirIya AraNyakam). In pAsuram 3.6.4,

which we will study later, AzhvAr refers to these three together â€"

vAnavar tannai ALum avanum (indra), nAnmuganum (brahmA), and SaDai

muDi aNNalum (rudra), who all worship bhagavAn’s lotus feet

(SemmaiyAl avan pAda pa’nkayam Sindittu Ettit tirivarE).

 

SvAmi deSikan singles out bhagavAn’s lakshaNa ass puNDarIkAkshan, or

being endowed with the beautiful reddish lotus-like eyes, as the

distinguishing aspect of this pASuram â€" padmAkshIm. This aspect is

common to all the incarnations of bhagavAn. As pointed out earlier,

the upanishads, vishNu dharma etc., declare this as a unique and

distinguishing mark of Lord vishNu. svAmi deSikan describes the

beautiful eyes of bhagavAn in His matsyAvatAram, in his daSAvatAra

stotram also.

 

The word ‘padmAkshIm’ being in femine gender catches one’s eye in the

above description by svAmi deSikan to describe emperumAn’s eyes. The

Slokam in tAtparya ratnAvaLi that maps this tiruvAimozhi, uses the

term ‘tanum’ to describe bhagavAn’s tirumeni. SrI uttamUr

vIrarAghavAcArya svAmi comments that the use ‘padmAkshIm’ is

consistent with ‘tanum’ etc.

 

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan

 

-To be continued.