Thiruppavai pasurams 6and7

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Pasuram-6-PuLLumsilambinakaaN

 

PuLLum silambina kaaN puLLraiyan kOyilil

vellaivili sangin pEraravam kettilaiyO

piLLaai ezundhiraai pEymulainanjundu

kaLLcchagadam kalakkaziya kaalOcchi

veLLatthu aravil thuyilamarndhavitthinai

uLLatthu kondu munivargaLum yogigaLum

meLLa ezundhu hari enrapEraravam

uLLam pugundhu kulirndhelO rempaavaai

 

Translation:

 

Oh young one, wake up. Don't you hear the chirping of birds and the loud sound of conch blown at the temple of the Lord. The sages and yogis get up slowly and chant the name of Hari, who is in their heart and who is resting in the bed of Seshnag in the middle of the ocean, the same Hari who killed poothana and sakatasura. The namasankirtana sounds is tumultuous on account of the intensity of devotion.

 

Commentary:

 

In the first five pasurams the pavainonbu was extolled . In the next five describe the arousal of the girls who are devotees of Krishna and who wish to observe the pavainonbu.This implies the thruppaLLi ezucchi of the bhagavathas for Bhagavatkainkartya.

 

Why should one go in a goshti or group to worship the Lord?

 

1.An ardent devotee will forget himself in the presence of the Lord and will even lose the power of speech and so to have both feet on the ground they wish to go in groups.

 

2.Moreover any experience of joy is doubled when shared.

 

3.Also anything delicious should not be enjoyed alone.Bharatha, among the sins he enumerates that would befall to him if he had any suspicion of the intention of his mother,cites the sin of eating a delicious sweet without sharing with others in the house.

 

4.It is always appropriate to approach the Lord preceded by bhagavathas.

 

5.Women by nature are softhearted and want to share their joy with others.

 

PuLLum silambina - Birds have better sense of time that humans and wake up before them.

It may have been argued by the girl whom Andal tries to awaken that the birds woke up hearing the churning of the curd by the gopis, who perhaps being old could not sleep.So the next sign of dawn is cited.

 

Pullaraiyan kovilil veLLaiviLi sangin pEraravam - PuLLaraiyan may mean Garuda in the sense of his being the king, araiyan of the birds,puLL.It could also mean the Lord Himself as He is the ko , master of the puLLaraiyan, that is, Garuda.Koil means the il,abode of the ko.

 

The reason why the word puLLaraiyan is used maybe due to the auspiciousnessof the garudadwani, the sound made by garuda and the darsana of garuda.

The worship of Garuda is extolled as being the antidote for diseases, troubles from enemies and all misfortunes. It is said that when Garuda flaps his wings the planets are moved.

 

VeLLaiviLi sangu is white conch used in the temples. The white colour stands for suddhasatthva.

 

PEraravam - The sound of the conch calling the devotees for worship sounds magnificent to them as it rouses the Lord in their hearts.

 

PiLLai - The word may refer to a young girl or one who is new in the group of devotees.Commentators see a reference to Periazvar by this term as he was like a child,piLLai, in forgetting the glory of the Lord and sang Pallandu for Him as though fearing for the casting of evil eye on Him.PuLLumsilambina may refer to the garden in which Periazvar reared for worship.

 

Pey mulai najundu refers to Poothana and kaLLa chagadam, to sakatasura.Krishna feigned sleep when Poothana was feeding Him because she should not get His kataaksha.Inspite of that through His sparsa, body contact itself she went to better loka. Desika says in his Yadhavabhyudhaya that for those who even think about this episode will not be born again

 

When Krishna kicked at the asura who came in the form of a cart-wheel it went to pieces but there was not even its dust remained, says Narayana Bhattadri in Narayaneeyam. This he says happened because the asura merged with the sudhdhasattva of Bhagavan and therefore there was no rajas, with a pun on the word rajas which means dust.

 

 

veLLatthu aravil thuyilamarndhavitthinai uLLatthu kondu- The Lord is the vitthu , the seed or origin of the world, reclining on Adisesha in the milky ocean, whom the sages and yogis preserve in their hearts.So they are getting up from their sleep slowly meLLa ezundhu in order not to disturb Him.

 

The idea that this pasuram refers to Periazvar conforms to the expression veLLatthu aravil-----uLLatthu kondu as per his pasuram in which he says'aravttha maliyinodum azagiyapaarkadalodumaravindhappavaiyum thaanumagampadi vandhu pugundhu,' (Periazvar thirumozi-452)describing how the Lord entered his heart along with adiseah ,parkadal and Lakshmi.

 

Hari enra pEraravam - When all the sages and yogis in all the worlds chant 'Hari' it becomes a tumultous sound.

 

ULLam pugundhu kuLirndhelO rempavai - the hari nama enters through the ear and reaches the heart and like cool showers bring solace to the devotee freeing him from the woes of the world.Rukmini says in the bhagavatha in her letter to krishna, ' sruthvaa gunaan bhuvansundhara srnvathaam the nivisya karnavivaraih haratho angathaapam.' To those who hear His gunas they enter the ears and relieves the torment of the body due to the ills of samsara. The angathapa here is the viraha or separation from the Lord for the devotee.

 

The spiritual meaning of this pasuram is explained thus: PuLL refers to Hamsavathara when the Lord took the form of the Hamsa, swan to teach the sanakadhi the Brahmathathva. silambanam is th speech of the Lord. Since this pasuram has reference to Periazvar it reminds us of his verses in the sengeeraipparuvam whrer he gives importance to the hamsavathara by saying,'annamum meenurumaaLariyum kuraLumaamaiyumaanavane, ennavalam kalaivai aaduga sengeersai,' thus mentioning the hamsavathara before matsya,and other avatharas.(Periazvar thrumozi-74)

 

PuLLraiyan can also mean that He is the master of all of us who are termed as puL in the sense of beibngs like birds and animals without jnana.

 

Kovil is the ashtakshar mantra while the sangu,onch is praNavasvarupa.

Poothan stands for avidya, ignorance giving rise to ahamkara mamakara.

KaLLAcchgadam refers to the indriyas which takes the sarira,the cart to evil path while veLLattharavu is the sea of samsara and the Lord isfeigning sleep inside our heart ready to wake up the moment we call Him.Hari enra

peraravam is the call for help of the devotee to the Lord to come and destroy,haraNath Harih, the duhkha.

 

PASURAM 7-Keesu keesenRengum

KeesukeesenRengum AnaicchAtthan kalandhu

pesina peccharavam kEttilaiyo pEyppeNNE

KAsum piRappum kalkalppa kai pErtthu

vAsa narumkuzal Aycchiyar matthinAl

Osaippaduttha thiyiraravam kEttilaiyo

nAyagappeNpillai nArAyaNan moortthi

kesavanaippAdavum nee kEtte kidatthiyO

thEsam udaiyai thiravelorempAvai

 

Oh girl with devilish nature (one having satvik qualities will not sleep till the dawn), do you not hear the birds of the kind known as AnaicchaAtthan chirping and the sound of the neck ornament of the gopis who have started churning milk?You are the prominant member of our group and how can you be lying in your bed after hearing us singing about the Kesava who is none other than NarayaNa?oh lustrous one come and open the door.

 

The sleeping girl is woken up by citing three signs for the advent of morning.

1.The chirping of the birds.

2. The sound of the churning of milk.

3.NarayaNa nama sankirtana.

 

KeesukeesenRengum - The bird are chirping everywhere-engum. The girl might say that you have only awakened the birds by your singing or tey might have awakened by the sound of churnong milk by old ladies who could not get sleep. So Andal says 'engum,'everywhere.

 

AnaicchAtthan kalandhu pesina pEccharavam-The birds seem to converse with their mates.

 

KEttilaiyo PEyppeNNe- Have you not heard? She is called as pEYppeNNbecause only rakshasis will sleep in the daybreak as they roam around in the night.

 

KAsum piRappum kalakalappa -Refers to kAsumalai and thirumAngalyam which denotes samsAra and hence gives birth,piRappu.

 

KaipErtthu- the curd in Ayarpadi is so thick after the birth of Krishna and plentiful and it is difficult to churn it..

 

VAsa naRumkuzal Aicchiyar- The hair of natural fragrance is present only to the ladies of devaloka and they are supposed to have been born as gopis. So their hair is by nature fragrant,vAsanaRumkuzal.

 

MatthinAl osaippaduttha- the sound of the churning rod reminds one of that of churning the manthara mountain for amrtha.

NAyagappeNNpiLlaI- She is of so prominant a family that many women are employed to churn the milk which creates considerable noise.After callin her pEippeNN she is now called nAYagappeNN piLLai and pacified.

 

KEsavanaippAdavum- The name kEsava is an exalted one because it includes Brahma and Isvara. The word is derived as 'kascha eesascha kEsou , thou vasyathayA santhi asya ithi kEsavah.' 'ka' denotes Brahma while 'eesa' is Siva

and both are in His power and hence He is called KEsava.Moreover KEsava is theLordof the month of Margazi. The word NArAyaNan moorthi used as an adjective to kEsava is to affirm that He is none other than NAraAyaNa.

 

PAdavumnee kEttEkidatthiyo- Here the reference is to NAMMazvAr, who once vowed that he willnever utter the name of the Lord or think about Him, not because of loss of faith but only due to his awareness of his own worthlessness. But he could not remain so for long and as soon as he heard a passerby utter the name his resolution was thrown to the winds. Here the girl is chided that even after hearing the Lord's name she is not reponding.

 

The word AnaicchAtthan may mean the Lord Himself as He killed one elephant, kuvalayaApeedam set against Him by Kamsa and protected another, GajEndhra, from the jaws of the crocodile. Kalandhu pEsina pEccharavam may then refer to both the Lord and His consort , Sri, talking with each other

KAsumpiRappum kalakalappa implies the sruthi and smrthi proclaiming about the glory of the Lord and kaipErtthu may mean the deep study and contemplation of them by vAsanarumkuzal Aicchiyar, the acharyas who exude the natural frgrance of the Lord.Having delved deep into the vedanta sasthra they acclaim loudly His glory, KaipErtthu, with upraised arms, uddhrthabujAh.

 

KAsu, piRappu and thayir are taken to mean ashtaAkshara, dhvayamanthra and charamasloka respectively and th epithet pEyppeNN has reference to KulasEkhara azvar who calls himself a madman in one of his pAsurams.