tAtparya ratnAvaLi - Submission 67 - Slokam 24 Part 3, tiruvAimozhi 2.2, pASuram 2.2.6 and 2.2.7.

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SrImate Ra'nga RAmAnuja MahA DeSikAya namaH.

tAtparya ratnAvaLi - Submission 67, Slokam 24 Part 3,

tiruvAimozhi 2.2, pASuram-s 2.2.6, 2.2.7.

 

 

· pASuram 2.2.6:

 

yavarum yAvaiyum ellAp poruLum kavarvinRit tan uLLE oDu'nga ninRa

pavar koL j~nAnac cuDar veLLa mUrti avar em Azhi am-paLLiyArE.

 

am Azhi paLLiyAr em avar; yavarum yAvaiyum ellAp poruLum kavarvu inRi

tannuL oDu'nga ninRa pava koL j~nAna veLLac cuDar mUrti - Our KaNNa

PirAn who reclines in the beautiful Ocean is the same One who saves all

the sentient and non-sentient objects in His stomach without their

being crowded to the slightest extent; He always exists and pervades

everything and is everywhere, and is the Supreme Deity who is

all-knowing and effulgent.

 

SvAmi DeSikan presents the key aspect of this pASurm with the words

'kalpa talpI kRtAbdhim' - He who reclines in the ocean at the time of

pralaya (talpa - bed, abdhi = ocean; kalpa refers to the end of the

world) - avar em Azhi am paLLiyArE (em = Our own Lord; am = beautiful,

sundaram; paLLi = reclining; Azhi = ocean). When everything else was

submerged in the great deluge, He alone was reclining in the ocean

waters, with all the sentient and insentient objects preserved in His

stomach, without the least crowding between them.

 

Several interpretations are possible for the guNam reflected through

the words 'kalpa talpI kRtAbdhim'. One is BhagavAn's concern for all

the souls and other objects of His creation - He protected all of them

in Himself so that they could be given new bodies at the next cycle of

creation. The reference to His reclining in the ocean can be

interpreted in two ways: it could be a reference to His reclining in

the flood waters at the time of the avAntara praLayam (intermediate

pralayam at the end of each day of BrahmA) when the three worlds -

bhUH, bhuvaH and suvaH get submerged in the flood waters; or, it can be

a reference to the mahA pralayam, where BrahmA's life ends, all the

seven worlds become submerged under water, and BhagavAn is reclining on

a tiny banyaon leaf, as if brooding over the next cycle of creation

starting from BrahmANDa etc.

 

Or, the words ''kalpa talpI kRtAbdhim' could refer to His reclining in

the Milk Ocean throughout the duration of the kalpa (BrahmA's

lifespan), so that He is easily accessible to the deva-s - to BrahmA

and all the other deities - whenever they need protection; the guNam

sung in this case is His being easily accessible to the deva-s

throughout the kalpa.

 

Or, the guNam sung could be His aghaTita ghaTanA sAmarthyam - His sheer

skill in achieving the unimaginable and the impossible, namely, to

float in the waters of the deluge keeping all the sentient and

non-sentient objects within Himself, while all the worlds are submerged

under water. Even though the words directly referring to His aghaTita

ghaTanA sAmarthyam arre not found in the pASuram, AzhvAr's words '

yavarum yAvaiyum ellAp poruLum kavarvinRit tan uLLE oDu'nga ninRa'

certainly reflect that.

 

Or, the guNam being sung may be His being endowed with the Supreme

knowledge that makes it possible for Him to preserve the totatlity of

sentient and insentient objects in all the worlds within Himself

without their even bumping and crowding aginst each other, and then be

able to recreate life again in the next cycle of creation, reflecting

AzhvAr's words - pavar koL j~nAnac cuDar veLLa mUrti.

 

BhagavAn's concern for the protection of the jIva-s as well as all the

other objects rings through every one of the interpretations above for

the phrase 'kalpa talpI kRtAbdhim'; however, AzhvAr talks explicitly

about BhagavAn's extreme concern for protection in pASuram 2.2.9 -

kAkkum iyalvinan kaNNa perumAn - which we will study soon. Given this,

one of the other interpretations, such as His aghaTita ghaTanA

sAmarthyam - of His reclining in the waters of the deluge with all the

sentient and non-sentient objects protected within Himself, or His

being equipped with the fullness of knowledge that enables Him to

achieve the protection of all the worlds within Him and the recreation

of all these in the next cycle of creation, are more appealing for the

current pASuram. Of these, AzhvAr explicitly sings about BhagavAn's

fullness of knowledge as He reclines on the ocean waters - pavar koL

j~nAnac cuDar veLLa mUrti, His effulgence and fullness of knowledge

that enables Him to protect all the objects and recreate them, in this

pASuram. Thus, in the context of this pASuram, this is the more

appealing guNam that reflects the fact that He is the only One who can

be called sarveSvaran - which is the topic of this tiruvAimozhi. This

fullness of knowledge is a mark of the Supreme Deity - sarveSvaran

only, and does not apply to any other diety. Thus, SrIman NarAyaNan

alone is the Supreme Deity by this lakshaNam - mark of identification -

as well.

 

In his ARAyirap paDi vyAkhyAnam, PiLLAn comments that asambAdhamAgat

tannuLLE vaikkap paTTa sarva jagattai uDaiyavanAi, svAbhAvika sArva

j~nAnattai uDaiyavanAi, kshIrAraNava niketanAna vaN tuvarap perumAnE

sarveSvaran engiRAr - BhagavAn KaNNan has all the worlds inside Him

without their getting the least crowded, has infinite and unbounded

knowledge to accomplish this and to perform His next cycle of creation,

and is reclining in the Milk Ocean ready for this. BhagavAn's guNam

that is directly referred to here is 'svAbhAvika sArvaj~natvam' -

infinite and unbounded knowledge that is natural to Him, and this

qualifies Him as the only Supreme Deity.

 

· pASuram 2.2.7:

 

paLLi Alilai Ezh ulagum koLLum vaLLal val vayiRRup perumAn

uLLuL Ar aRivAr avan tan kaLLa mAya manak karuttE.

 

Who would even be able to comprehend the intricate plans of emperumAn

who is reclining as a tiny baby on a banyan tree and who has swallowed

all the seven worlds and kept them in His tiny stomach?

 

SvAmi DeSikan captures the Supremacy of BhagavAn revealed in this

pASuram through the phrase 'nyagrodha patre suptam' - He who is

reclining on a tiny banyan tree at the time of pralaya - paLLi Alilai

Ezh ulagum koLLum vaLLal.

 

As in the previous pASuram, the question arises as to what specific

guNam of BhagavAn is related to His unique Supremacy, and is reflected

through the words 'nyagrodha patre suptam'. The same qualities that

applied to the last pASuram apply here also as possibilities - His

concern for protection of the jIva-s at the time of pralaya, His

magnanimity in protecting everything at the time of the ultimate

deluge, His aghaTita ghatanA sAmarthyam, etc. However, AzhvAr's words

in the pASuram - 'uLLuL Ar aRivAr avan tan kaLLa mAya manak karuttE' -

suggest the guNam of His being deep in His designs that are beyond

comprehension of anyone and inscrutable in His thoughts. SrI UV refers

to the Slokam from SrImad RamAyaNam - samdura iva gAmbhIrye dhairyeNa

himavAn iva (bAla. 1.17) - deep as the Ocean and strong and firm as

HimavAn. These are two among the attributes of BhagavAn SrI RAma that

Sage NArada tells ValmIki. Thus, the unimaginable depth of thoughts of

KaNNan that are beyond anyone's comprehension as He is reclining on the

tiny banyon leaf is the guNam that is sung here as another sign of

sarveSvaratvam - as identified by Sage Narada himself.

 

In ARAyirap paDi vyAkhyAnam, PiLLAn comments - 'sarveSvaratva cihna

bhUta divya ceshTita'ngaLukku oru muDivu unDO' engiRAr' - His divine

leelA is beyond comprehension. His reclining on the tiny banyon leaf

in the form of a child, with all the worlds inside His stomach, is one

of His leelA-s that AzhvAr gives as one example of His depth that is

beyond anyone's comprehension. Why He destroyed everything first, why

He preserved everything in His stomach afterwards, why He chose to be a

child, why He chose a banyon leaf, etc., etc., are all beyond our

comprehension, and only He, the sarveSvaran, knows the answers.

SAkshAt svAmi expands on this, and says: 'sarveSvaratvamAna vaTa dala

Sayana rUpa ceshTitattai Sollik koNDu, manak karuttai yAr aRivAr enRu

muDukkaiyAlE, manak karuttu engiRa Sabdam tAdRSa ceshTita param Agai

ucitam enRu karuttu. - Beginning with the example of His reclining on

a tiny banyon leaf as an example of His sarveSvaratvam, and ending by

saying that His divine acts are beyond comprehension, PiLLAn is

indicating that all such divine acts of His establish His Supremacy -

paratvam. In his SabdArtham - word-for-word meaning, he uses the

words: 'atyanta agAdhamAna, aparicchedyamAna, oruvarukkum teriyAdE

irunda, terindaduvum AScariyamAi irunda, manassAlE sa'nkalpikkap paTTa

ceshTita'ngaLai, oruvarum aRiya mATTAr' - No one can know His divine

leelA-s that He accomplishes just by His will, are immensely deep in

scope, beyond anyone's comprehension, not known to anyone and are

absolutely astounding when known.

 

Thus, through the words 'nayagrodha patre suptam', BhagavAn's Supremacy

is established because of His inscrutable acts such as His sleeping on

a tiny banyon leaf with al the worlds contained in His stomach, which

are only possible for sarveSvaran.

 

For those who have difficulty comprehending how this small KaNNan on a

banyan tree could keep all the seven worlds in His stomach, think how

we are all born from something tiny that we cannot even see or predict

when and if anything will come out of it, to what we are when we are

born. SrI UV surmises that maybe emperumAn is giving an indication of

how the Jiva-s are going to be 'born' with a body in this world, by His

keeping all the things in His stomach. Who can comprehend what His

thoughts are! 'samudra iva gAmbhIrye' - 'deep as the ocean and beyond

comprehension' - another aspect of sarveSvaratvam.

 

-dAsan kRshnamAcAryan

(To be continued)

 

 

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