tAtparya ratnAvaLi - Submission 49, Slokam 19 Part 2, tiruvAimozhi 1.8, pASuram-s 1.8.3 - 1.8.7.

[Guest guest]

SrImate ra'ng rAmAnuja mahA deSikAya namaH. tAtparya ratnAvaLi - Submission 49, Slokam 19 Part 2, tiruvAimozhi 1.8, pASuram-s 1.8.3 to 1.8.7. · pASuram 1.8.3: kaN AvAn enRum maNNOr viNNOrkku taNNAr ve’nkaTa viNNOr veRpanE. maNNOr viNNOrkkuk kaN AvAn; taN Ar vE’nkaTam viNNOr veRpanE – He who is the Lord of the deva-s as well as those in this world, took incarnation in the cool Hills of tiruve’nkaTam where the nitya sUri-s dwell. svAmi deSikan presents the emphasis of this pASuram through the words “kshudra divyaika netre” – maNNOr viNNOrkkuk kaN AvAn – He who took incarnation in His arcA form in truve’nkaTam in a place accessible to the people of this world

as well as to the nitya sUri-s (kshudra – lower level beings; refers to the jIva-s embodied in this world; divya – divine, refers to the nitya sUri-s). The message conveyed is that bhagavAn has taken His arcA incarnation in tiruve’nkaTam such that He is accessible both to the nitya sUri-s and to us at the same time. enRum kaN AvAn – He who is always accessible to the eyes of the devotees in this world as well as to the nitya sUri-s. The ‘cool Hills’ refers to the fact that it removes the tApam or thirst of the devotees who wish to worship Him, and also removes His tApam for wanting to redeem His devotees by being accessible to them.

· pASuram 1.8.4: veRpai onRu eDuttu oRkam

inRiyE niRkum ammAn SIr kaRpan vaigalE. I will always meditate on the greatness – might, mercy, Arjavam etc. – of My Lord who carried the govardhana Hills without the slightest strain for protecting the gopa-s and the cows. svAmi deSikan sums up the message of this pASuram with the words “gopAdyartham dhRtAdrau” - He who bore the mountain in order to protect the gopa-s – veRpai eDuttu niRkum ammAn. SrI ve’nkaTeSAcArya explains svAmi deSikan’s words as follows: “tannai ASrayitta go, gopa rakshaNArthamAga govardhanattai dharittavanumAi” – He who bore the govardhana Hills in order to protect the cow and the cowherds who sought His protection”. bhagavAn’s kAruNya guNam is revealed here. · pASuram 1.6.5: vaigalum veNNai kai kalandu uNDAn poi kalavAdu en mei kalandAnE. Vaigalum veNNai poi kalavAdu kai kalandu uNDAn, poi kalavAdu en mei kalandAnE – He ate the butter every day without hiding the fact that He was stealing the butter – by dipping His hands deep inside the containers; similarly, He mingled with my imperfect body also without any hesitation. What a great wonder He is! svAmi deSikan describes the gist of this pASuram through the words ‘Srita tanu rasike’ – He who mingles with the bodies of His devotees with sincere desire. Just as AzhvAr has interest only in bhagavAn’s kalyANa guNa-s, bhagavAn has only interest in His devotee’s body. Just as He enjoyed the butter in tiruvAippADi, He enjoys intermingling with His devotee. Even though this devotee has a body that is afflicted by the flaws of association with the three guNa-s, He still sincerely mingles with the devotee’s body because of His Arjavam. Just as the vaikuNTha nAthan dived into the pot of butter with both His hands with

great love of butter, He mingled with AzhvAr’s body truly with the same love. · pASuram 1.8.6: kalandu en Avi, nalam koL nAthan pulan koL mANAi, nilam koNDAnE. Kalandu, en Avi nalam koL nAthan, pulan koL mANAi nilam koNDAnE – Having mingled with my body, He subjugated my soul to Him; just to do this, He took the attractive form of vAmana and captivated my mind with His beauty.

Just as He captivated mahAbali’s mind, He captivated my mind as well. svAmi deSikan presents the gist of this pASuram with the words ‘vAmaNi bhAva dRSye’ – pulan koL mANAi. SrI PBA explains this as “vAmana vaDivu koNDadanAl spRhaNiyanAnavan – He who became extremely desirable by taking His captivating vAmana incarnation - (spRhaNIya – to be desired or longed for, enviable, desirable). SrI

ve’nkaTeSAcArya explains svAmi deSikan’s words as “pArkkiRa pErgaLuDaiya dRshTi cittApahAri-yAna vAmana rUpattai uDaiyavanumAi” – He who has the vAmana rUpam that steals the hearts of all those who look at the beauty of His form. The idea is that He takes such beautiful forms to attract the likes of mahAbali who first thought the land was his, but then gave himself along with his land to the beauty of that vAmana rUpam. So also, He first took possession of AzhvAr’s body, and then stole His soul. Same is what He did with the gopi-s. He ultimately does what is good for the soul of the devotee, and establishes His Lordship over the soul and engages the soul in His kai’nkaryam. · pASuram 1.8.7: koNDAn Ezh viDai uNDAn Ezh vaiyam taN tAmam Seidu en eN tAn AnAnE. Ezh viDai koNDAn, Ezh vaiyam uNDAn, taN tAmam Seidu, en eN tAn AnAn – He who slew the seven bulls for the sake of nappinnai, and swallowed the seven worlds to protect them from the great deluge, did what I longed for, and made my mind His abode, treating it as parama padam itself. svAmi deSikan describes the gist of this pASuram through the words – ‘sat-citta ananya vRttau’ – en eNNam tAn AnAn - He who makes it His job to be exactly as the devotee desires. SrI ve’nkaTeSAcArya explains this as ‘ASrita manoratha sadRSa vyApArattai uDaiyanumAi’. BhagavAn made AzhvAr’s mind His dwelling place (taN tAmam Seidu) exactly as AzhvAr desired (en eN tAn

AnAn). He considered AzhvAr’s mind the same as SrI vaikunTham, and made it His resort. Another way to look at this is that while AzhvAr wanted to be in SrI vaikunTham with perumAL, He reciprocated by wanting to come to tirunagari and be with AzhvAr – ‘sat citta anaya vRttau’. AzhvAr wanted to mingle with emperumAn intimately, and He took over that desire and mingled with AzhvAr, and performed feats such as killing the seven bulls for the sake of nappinnai, swallowing the seven worlds, etc., just to captivate AzhvAr by these acts of His. AzhvAr wanted to reach parama padam, immerse himself in virajA river, and enjoy Him by singimg sAma gAnam to Him; bhagavAn reciprocated and wanted to come to tirunagari, immerse Himself in tAmraparAaNi river, and enjoy listening to kaNNiNuN SiRuttAmbu and enjoy nammAzhvAr – en eNNam tAn AnAn – sat-citta ananya vRttau. -dAsan kRshNamAcAryan (To be continued)

Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Mobile. Try it now.

[Guest guest]

SrImate ra'nga rAmAnuja mahA deSikAya namaH. tAtparya ratnAvaLi - Submission 50, Slokam 19 Part 3, tiruvAimozhi 1.8, pASuram-s 1..7 to 1.8.10. · pASuram

1.8.7: koNDAn Ezh viDai uNDAn Ezh vaiyam taN tAmam Seidu en eN tAn AnAnE. Ezh viDai koNDAn, Ezh vaiyam uNDAn, taN tAmam Seidu, en eN tAn AnAn – He who slew the seven bulls for the sake of nappinnai, and swallowed the seven worlds to protect them from the great deluge, did what I longed for, and made my mind His abode, treating it as parama padam itself. svAmi deSikan describes the gist of this pASuram through the words – ‘sat-citta ananya vRttau’ – en eNNam tAn AnAn - He who makes it His job to be exactly as the devotee desires. SrI ve’nkaTeSAcArya explains this as ‘ASrita manoratha sadRSa vyApArattai uDaiyanumAi’. BhagavAn made AzhvAr’s mind His dwelling place (taN tAmam Seidu) exactly as AzhvAr desired (en eN tAn AnAn). He considered AzhvAr’s mind the same as SrI vaikunTham, and made it His resort. Another way to look at this is that while AzhvAr wanted to be in SrI vaikunTham with perumAL, He reciprocated by wanting to come to tirunagari and be with AzhvAr – ‘sat citta anaya vRttau’. AzhvAr wanted to mingle with emperumAn intimately, and He took over that desire and mingled with AzhvAr, and performed feats such as killing the seven bulls for the sake of nappinnai, swallowing the seven worlds, etc., just to captivate AzhvAr by these acts of His. AzhvAr wanted to reach parama padam, immerse himself in virajA river, and enjoy Him by singimg sAma gAnam to Him; bhagavAn reciprocated and wanted to come to tirunagari, immerse Himself in tAmraparAaNi river, and enjoy listening to kaNNiNuN SiRuttAmbu and enjoy nammAzhvAr – en eNNam tAn AnAn – sat-citta ananya vRttau. · pASuram 1.8.8: AnAn An Ayan mInODu Enamum tAn AnAn; ennil tAnAya Sa’ngE. An Ayan AnAn mInODu Enamum tAn AnAn; ennil tAn Aya Sa’ngE – The same One who took incarnation as a cowherd, also took incarnations as matsya (Fish), varAha (Boar) etc. This way, the incarnations He has taken are countless (Sa’nkham – a very large number). svAmi deSikan describes the gist of this pASuram with the words ‘vibhava sama tanau’ – AnAn An Ayan mInODu Enamum – He whose incarnations are as unlimited as His greatness. SrI PBA

explains this as: tannuDaiya vibhava’ngaLukku ellai illAdAp pOlE tan vigraha’ngaLukkum ellai illAdavan – Just as there is no limit to His greatness, there is no limit to His incarnations also. AzhvAr is enjoying His greatness, exclaiming that He took so many beautiful incarnations just to make it possible for AzhvAr to enjoy His greatness (another interpretation for ‘ennil tAnAya Sa’ngE’ – it is because of His great attachment to me that He took all these different incarnations. Ennil = enniDattil, towards me; tAn Aya = for Him, naturally; Sa’ngu = attachment). · pASuram 1.8.9: Sa’ngu cakkaram am kaiyil koNDAn e’ngum tAnAya na’ngaL

nAthanE. e’ngum tAnAya na’ngaL nAthan am kaiyil Sa’ngu cakkaram koNDAn – Our Lord takes incarnations among all kinds of species, and His prowess is always part of Him, as evidenced by the Sa’nkha and cakra in His hands in all these incarnations. svAmi deSikan describes the

bhagavad guNam sung in this pASuram with the words ‘svAyudhArUDha hasteh’ – He who has the Sa’nkha and cakra in His hands always ready for the protection of the devotees’. SrI UV brings out the Arjava guNam sung here by pointing out that bhagavAn has the conch and the cakra in His hands, just because protection is what the devotees expect from Him – He acts consistent with the devotees’ wishes. Ideally, He does not need any weapons for anything, since He can achieve all that He wants by His mere sa’nkalpam or wish. SrI UV also points out alternate pATham-s for svAmi deSikan’s description here – sva AyudhArUdha haste’ or ‘su-AyudhArUDha haste’ – His own weapons in His divine hands, or beautiful weapons in His divine hands. · pASuram 1.8.10: nAthan j~nAlam koL pAdan en

ammAn Odam pOl kiLar veda nIranE. My Lord is the Lord of all nitya sUri-s, as also One whose divine feet are worshiped by all in this world as well. His infinite auspicious qualities are sung by all the veda-s that extensively praise His greatness. The phrase ‘j~nalam koL pAdan’ in the above pASuram is interpreted as a reference to bhagavAn’s trivikrama incarnation – One whose divine feet were extended throughout all the three worlds. svAmi deSikan captures this as the guNam emphasized in this pASuram – nIcocca grAhya pAde’ – He whose divine feet extended to the reach of all without distinction of high and low level beings. Many vyAkhyAna-s stress the important message from this pASuram as ‘One who is sung in all the veda-s’; however, SrI UV points out that svAmi deSikan selected ‘j~nAlam koL pAdan’ as the primary guNam since it conveys His Arjava guNam more directly. In the concluding pASuram of this rtiruvAimozhi – 1.8.11, nammAzhvAr describes emperumAn as ‘nIr purai vaNNan’ – One who has the complexion resembling water’. SrI PBA comments that the comparison of bhagavAn’s complexion to water does not stop there, but extends to His guNam of molding Himself to the wishes of His devotees just as water lends itself to any shape that the container has – a reference to bhagavAn’s Arjava guNam that is the subject of this tiruvAimozhi. SrI PBA gives a

comparison of bhagavAn’s guNa-s resembling water through a list of 21 points in his tiruvAimozhi vyAkhyAnam. The ten pASuram-s of this tiruvAimozhi thus sing the Arjava guNam of bhagavAn, supported by the following thoughts in each of the pASurams of this tiruvAimozhi: - bhagavAn lends Himself for worship and kai’nkaryam by nitya sUri-s such as garuDan as they wish, without any constraint (1.8.1) - He takes incarnations on His own with all His aiSvaryam intact and undimished, and moves with the likes of us in His leelA vibhUti with the same Arjavam as He does in His nitya vibhUti (without distinction, at our

level, in thought, word, and deed) (1.8.2). - He has taken the arcA incarnation in triruve’nkaTam just to be accessible to both the samsAri-s like us and to the nitya sUri-s at the same time (1.8.3) - He bore the govardhana mountain tirelessly in order to protect the cows and the cowherds who sought His protection. (1.8.4) - He mingles with great sicerity with the bodies of those who surrender to Him (1.8.5) - He engages the devotee’s soul in His kai’nkaryam by captivating the devotee through His beautiful incarnations such as His vAmana incarnation (1.8.6) - He acts such that He makes His wishes coincide with His devotee’s wishes. (1.8.7). - He takes countless incarnations among all different species such as His varAha incarnation, just to be accessible to all, and to attract everyone to His feet (1.8.8) - He carries the divine conch and discus in His beautiful hands in all these incarnations, for protecting His devotees just as they would want (think Arjavam at the tiruvAimozhi level), and also to attract them to Him (1.8.9) - He made His divine feet accessible to all without distinction of high and low levels of beings in His trivikrama incarnation (1.8.10). -dAsan kRshNamAcAryan (To be continued)

Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Mobile. Try it now.