Thiruvaimozi-1-2-3

[Guest guest]

3.neer numadhenRivai vEr mudhal mAytthu iRai

sErmin uyirkkadhan nEr niRai ille

 

Destroy the concept of ‘you’ and ‘yours’ by rooting it out. Attach yourself to the Lord. There is no other goal higher than that.

 

The feeling of ‘you’ and ‘yours’ denote the ahamkAra and mamakAra, namely ‘I’ and ‘mine.’ Azvar uses the words neer, numadhu, ‘you’ and ‘yours’ instead of ‘I†and ‘Mine ‘ because he is advising the mankind as a whole and therefore uses the second person pronoun and also may be that he could not bring himself to say “I†“mine “ even for the sake of instruction, as he is a liberated soul who is devoid of ahamkara and mamakara.

 

The phrase ‘vermudhal mAytthu,’ means root out the ego which is the cause of ahamkara and mamakara. The identity with the body, mind and intellect are transitory because they are originated. This means that we identify ourselves sometimes with body, other times with mind etc. So it will be destroyed once for all, only if the root cause, the ego, is destroyed.

 

As Krishna explains in the Gita, ‘dhyAyatho vishayAn pumsaH sangastheshu upajAyathe,’ dwelling on sense objects, which includes also people who gratify the senses like wife and son, the attachment is produced. This is the cause of the concept of ‘mine,’ which is the by-product of the concept of’ I.’ So by controlling the senses from hankering after the sense objects the mamakara can disappear as said in the Gita ’yadhA samharathe chAyam koormaAngAneeva sarvaSah;indhriyANi indhriyArthebhyaH,’ when one withdraws the senses from the sense objects as the tortoise withdraws its limbs in side its shell, etc. But they may shoot up again because he concept of ‘I’ is not eliminated, like a plant which is cut and not uprooted. For this, it is necessary to destroy the root cause of ahamkara, the ego. To refer to the words of the Lord again, the impressions, vasanas, that give rise to ahamkara and mamakara, remain even after the senses are controlled and disappear wholly only when the supreme reality is perceived. ‘rasavarjam rasopyasya param dhrshtvA nivarthathe.’

 

The means of uprooting the vasanas that cause the ego-centric impulses, is shown by azvar by the words irai sErmin , attach yourself to the Lord. Azvar sukthis are all extolling prapatthi and surrenderin to Him giving up all idea of agency is what is meant here. The ‘aham’ should merge with ‘saH,’ which is implied by the mahavakyas ‘aham brahmasmi,’ and ‘tatthvam asi.’

 

Azvar says ‘uyirkkadhan nEr illE,’ meaning, for the individual soul there is no other means equivalent in merit than this, as said by the Upanishad ‘nAnyaH pantThA vidhyathe ayanAya.’