Thiruvaimozi 1.8

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1.8.4

 

veRpaiyonRedutthu oRkaminRiyE

niRkum ammaan seer kaRpan vaigalE

 

I will praise everyday the glory of the Lord who held the mount Govardhan without fatigue.

 

The Lord uplifted the mount Govardhan to protect the gopas from the terrible rain resulting from the anger of Indra on his pooja being stopped by Krishna, who persuaded the gopas to worship the mount Govardhan instead, saying that it is the mountain which is responsible for the rains and food for the cattle. He did so because He knew that Indra was getting arrogant expecting the Lord Himself to worship him.

 

Azvar says that he will sing the glory of the Lord who held the mount for seven days without fatigue. Periazvar says that the hands and fingers remained as fresh as ever and did not show any tiredness.

 

His maaya deludes even devas like Indra to think that He was an ordinary human but He displayed His powers when necessary to prove His swamithva. On the other hand the gopas considered Him as one of them though they were aware of His superhuman powers. That is His arjava that He never concealed His true nature but plays the role of an ordinary cowherd and mingles freely with the gopas.

 

1.8.5

Vaigalum vennai kaikalandhundaan

poy kalavaadhu en meilkalandhaanE

 

He ate butter everyday with whole of his hand inside the pot and such Lord mingled with me bodily.

 

Krishna ate butter from the houses of gopis and when they complained to His mother He said he never did it. But His whole hands and mouth and every part of His body was smeared with butter and He never tried to conceal the fact that he ate the butter. Azvar refers to this fact to show His arjava. He says that there was no poy, untruth in His doings and "He mingled with me also" says Azvar,because, "en mey" meaning his body and soul was also "poy kalavaadhu," had no lie in them. The implication is that the body and soul of the Azvar was as desirable to the Lord as the butter in Gokulam and He entered in without hiding Himself.

 

vaigalum veNNai- eating butter everyday

 

poy kalavaadhu- because He did not wish to hide the fact that He ate butter

 

kai kalandhu- inserting His whole hand till elbows in side the butter pot

 

undaan- ate it

 

similarly

 

poy kalavaadhu- without hiding Himself

 

en mey kalandhaanE- entered in me and made me His body and soul because in me also there was no untruth, poy kalavaadhu

1.8.6.

kalandhennaavi kalangoL naadhan

pulan koL maaN aai nilam kondanE

 

The one who became united with me thus measured the whole earth in the form of attractive dwarf.

 

Azvar says in this verse that the Lord overpowered him in the same way He did the whole earth as Vamana. He showed that the whole universe is His by taking the form of Thrivilkrama and measuring the whole universe in three steps and then He gave Himself to Mahabali who had become His sesha. Azvar means that in his case he had become the sesha of the Lord even before He united with Him and hence the Lord did not have to assume the Thrivikrama form because the Azvar was enslaved by the Vamana form itself.

 

kalandhennaavi kalangoL naadhan- the Lord who became one with me body and soul

 

maaN aai- became the Vamana

 

pulan koL- who was enchanting

 

nilam kondaan – took the earth in His step. Pervaded the whole earth in one step.