tAtparya ratnAvaLi - Submission 76 - Slokam 26 Part 3, tiruvAimozhi 2.4, pASuram-s 2.4.6 to 2.4.8.

[Guest guest]

SrImate Ra'nga RAmAnuja MahAdeSikAya namaH.

tAtparya nratnAvaLi - Submission 76 - Slokam 26 Part 3,

tiruvAimozhi 2.4, pASuram-s 2.4.6 to 2.4.8.

 

 

z PASuram 2.4.6:

 

tagavu uDaiyavanE ennum .pinnum

miga virumbum pirAn ennum enadu

aga uyirkku amudE ennum uLLam

uga urugi uLLuLE.

 

 

‘tagavu uDaiyavanE ennum; pinnum miga virumbum; uLLam uga urugi ninRu uLLuLE

pirAn ennum; enadu agam uyirkku amudE ennum – ‘This daughter of mine keeps

singing of You as The Most Merciful, and keeps showering her love on You;

(Because she is not able to unite with You) she is suffering deeply in her mind,

and is appealing to You in her mind as ‘pirAn’ – One who is ever helpful

to others; she is saying that You are the most enjoyable to her inner soul.

 

SvAmi dESikan gives the gist of the guNam to be enjoyed from this pASuram as

‘dhairya hetum’ – He who supports the devotee by giving the devotee the

courage to continue to seek the union with Him until it finally materializes –

enadu aga uyirkku amudE. He gives the sustenance in the form of courage to the

inner soul – aga uyir – of the devotee, and sustains it.

 

In his ARAyirappaDi vyAkhyAnam, PiLLAn nicely describes this guNam: The devotee

first recalls His infinite Mercy; this automatically leads to the confidence

that such a Merciful One will never forsake the devotee, and this results in

even more desire to attain Him. But since He is not realized right away, the

devotee’s inner self is filled with the feeling that He is the most enjoyable

there is.

 

z PASuram 2.4.7:

 

uL uLAvi ularndu ularndu ena vaLLalE kaNNanE ennum pinnum

veLLa nIrk kiDandAi ennum ena, kaLvi tAn paTTa va~njanaiyE.

 

uL uL Avi ularndu ularndu en vaLLalE! en kaNNanE ennum pinnum veLLam nIr

kiDandAi ennum en kaLvi tAn paTTa va~njanaiyE – My daughter’s inner soul

that is more delicate than the mind is all dried up; (and yet, she is hiding all

this suffering from me, and) she is calling Your names with affection – ‘My

most merciful One! My own dear lovely KrishNa!’, and continues on: ‘Oh My

Lord reclining in the overflowing Milk Ocean!’. It is astounding that she who

manages to cheat me by hiding her sorrow from me, is being squarely cheated by

You!

 

Or, alternately,

 

My daughter who is capable of attracting You to herself, is now caught in the

dragnet of Your guNa-s.

 

svAmi deSikan captures the guNam tht stands out in this pASuram through the

words ‘ trANe dattAvadhAnam’ – (trANe – in/for protection; avadhAnam

– attention; datta – He who gives; He who devotes His attention to the

protection of His devotees). veLLa nIrk kiDandAi ennum BhagavAn has His

abode in tirup pArkkaDal – the Milk Ocean, only so that He is easily

accessible to the likes of the deva-s when they need His protection.

 

V: RakshaNattilE avahitanAi tirup pArkkaDalilE vandu kaN vaLarndum.

PBA: kAkkum iyavinanAit tirup pArkkaDaililE vandu kaN vaLarnfarubhavan.

AND: rakshippadaRkAgat tiruppARkkaDalilE kiDappavan.

 

sAkshAt svAmi brings out another aspect of BhagavAn’s dedication for the

protection of the devotees from this pASuram. He gives the interpretation for

the the word ‘vaLLal’ as “One who gives His own AtmA to us’ – He

protects us all by being our antaryAmI – the Soul of our souls. AzhvAr

himself reminds us of BhagavAn’s utmost concern for the protection of all the

jIva-s in several places – e.g., ‘kAkkum iyalvinan kaNNa perumAn (2.2.9).

 

SrI UV has suggested an alternate pATham for svAmi deSikan’s description of

the guNam for this pASuram – dAne dattAvadhAnam – He who devotes great

attention to giving or bestowing His blessings to the devotees. Beyond giving

this alternate pATham, he does not discuss the reason for his alternate choice.

One wonders whether the motivation for the alternate pATham is sAkshAt svAmi’s

interpretation given above for the word ‘vaLLal’ from the pASuram, with is

emphasis on BhagavAn giving His own AtmA for the protection of all.

 

z PASuram 2.4.8:

 

va~njanE ennum; kai tozhun; tana na~njam vEva neDidu uyirkkum; viRal

ka~njanai va~njanai SeidIr! ummait ta~njam enRu ivaL paTTanaLE.

 

My daughter cries out: “You Cheat who subjugates me to You without my

knowledge!†And she folds her hands in prayer in gratitude for that act of

Yours! She breathes out very heavily in her suffering. You who blessed all the

good people by cheating the evil Kamsan out of his life! The suffering that this

daughter of mine is undergoing by trusting You who helps people in distress is

beyond description!

 

The key idea that svAmi deSikan stresses as supporting BhagavAn’s guNam of

vyasana nirasana vyakta kIrti (the guNam at the tiruvAimozhi level) in this

pASuram, is His destroying the evil but mighty Kamsan, and thereby relieving the

distress of the devotees. His words for identifying the corresponding guNam for

the current pASuram are - ‘sva-ripu-hati-kRta-ASvAsanam’ – ‘He who

destroyed the evil but mighty Kamsan, and thereby put the minds of His devotees

at rest and in peace’.

 

SrI PBA explains the above thought as follows: “tannaik kolla ninaitta

kamsanaik konRozhittu ippaDiyE ASrita virOdhikaLai pOkka vallavan enRu

aDiyavarkku ASvAsa janakanAmavan†– The devotees look at this incident of

His eliminating the mighty but evil Kamsan, and get the relief and confidence

that likewise He will eliminate all their obstacles readily.

 

SrI Ve’nkaTeSAcArya gives a different interpretation for svAmi deSikan’s

words ‘sva-ripu hati kRta ASvAsanam’. – ‘miDukkanAna kamsanai azhiyac

ceidu tan-nimittamAna bhayattait tIrttu ASvAsanam paNNiyum’. The key words

that give the difference in interpretation are – ‘tan nimittamAna bhayattaip

pOkki – By removing the fear of the elders regarding His safety. By waiting

to kill Kamsan till He grew up, rather than killing Him even when He was only a

child (as He did with the likes od PUtanA etc.), He relieved the fear and worry

of Devaki and Vasudevar, who had pleaded with Him to hide His true identity from

Kamsan at the time He was born.

 

In either interpretation, the key guNam revealed through the Kamsan incident is

that BhagavAn instils the confidence in the minds of His devotes that just as in

the case of Kamsan, He will always remove all the obstacles that come in the

path oif His devotees.

 

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan

(To be vcontinued)