tri-mUrti in tiruvAimozhi - Part 20.

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tri-mUrti in tiruvAimozhi - Part 20.

 

4.5.6 (29):

 

kariya mEni miSai veLiya neeRu SiridE iDum

periya kOlat taDam kaNNan viNNOr perumAn tannai

uriya SollAl iSai mAlaigaL Etti uLLap peRRERku

ariyadu uNDO enakku inRu toTTum ini enRumE.

The reason for studying this pASuram in our context is because of the

phrase "kariya mEni miSai veLiya nEERu SiridE iDum". The literal

translation for the phrase is "One who wears a little bit of the

white power on His dark-complexioned tirumEni". There are those who

jump at the words veLiya neeRu, and assign the meaning basmam or ash

(SAmbal in tamizh), and thus try to explain that emperumAn is the

same one who wears the ash on his body. Those of us who have studied

the previous pASuram-s of AzhvAr and the message conveyed through

them all along, know that the correct interpretation is NOT the

message that these people would like to advance. Let us see how our

learned AcArya-s explain this phrase.

 

SiRidE iDum – He Who wears a small amount of

veLiya neeRu – the white camphor powder

kariya tiru mEni miSai – On His dark tirumEni

periya kOlam taDam kaNNan – has big and beautiful eyes like a

beatufiul pond

viNNor perumAn tannai – and One Who is the Lord of all lincluding the

nitya-sUri-s in SrI vaikunTham

uriya SollAl iSai mAlaigaL Etti – By praising Him with the

appropriate and fitting words that describe

His beauty and fame, strung like a garland

uLLap peRRERku – and having attained the good fortune to enjoy Him

thus

enakku – I who have been already blessed with the flawless knowledge

to realize the truth about Him

ini enRum ariyadu uNDO – There is nothing that is beyond reach for me

here in this world, or

hereafter.

 

The word veLiya in tamizh means white-colored, and neeRu means

powder, or more specifically, divya a'nga rAga or scented cosmetic.

The term veLiya neeRu has been interpreted by svAmi deSikan as "white-

colored camphor powder" in his tAtparya ratnAvaLi. In his sac -

caritra rakshA, svAmi deSikan gives an alternate

interpretation: "veLiya neeRu" can be taken to mean "pure powder",

and can refer to the collyrium that is applied to the eye. SrImad

tirukuDanthai ANDavan refers us to tiruma'ngai AzhvAr's pASuram –

"ArArayil vERkaN a'njanattin neeRu aNindu…". In any case, neeRu

does not refer to basmam or ash. Note that AzhvAr also qualifies the

term as "veLiya" neeru, rather than just "neeRu", just so there is no

confusion that he is referring to the "white" powder.

 

SiridE iDum – applied in a small quantity. The significance is that

this is not applied for enhancing the beauty of emperumAn Who is

incomparably beautiful to start with, but it is applied for

auspiciousness.

 

uriya SollAl - Through appropriate words. SrImad rAmAyaNam, SrImad

bhAgavatam etc., praise the Lord, but there are a lot of other things

included there as well. For instance, in SrImad rAmAyaNam, there is

elaborate description of the origin of Ga'ngA, the origin of

subrahmaNyan,etc., which take us away from the enjoyment of Lord SrI

rAma's life. Similarly, in SrImad bhAgavatam, we start with the

impression that we are going to listen to the story of SrIman

nArAyaNa, but then we get an elaborate description of the quarrel

between the two groups of cousin brothers. Not so in tiruvAimozhi –

here AzhvAr delights himself only in bhagavad guNAnubhavam, and

nothing else.

 

As pointed out earlier, in his tAtparya ratnAvaLi, svAmi deSikan

describes the gist of this pASuram through the words "karpUrAlepa

Sobhe" – by the enhancement of the beauty through a light application

of camphor.

 

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan

 

(To be continued)