tAtparya ratnAvaLi - Submission 38, Slokam 16 Part 4, tiruvAimozhi 1.5, pASuram-s 1.5.8 - 1.5.10.

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SrImate ra'nga rAmAnuja mahA deSikAya namaH. tAtparya ratnAvaLi - Submission 38, Slokam 16 Part 4, tiruvAimozhi 1.5 concluded - pASuram-s 1.5.8 - 1.5.10. ·

pASuram 1.5.8: uNDAi ulagu Ezh munnamE umizhndu mAyaiyAl pukku uNDAi veNNai SiRu maniSar uvalai Akkai nilai eidi maN tAn SOrndadu uNDElum maniSarkAgum pIr SiRidum aNDA vaNNam maN karaiya nei UN marundO mAyOnE! mAyOnE! munnamE Ezh ulagu uNDAi; umizhndu, SiRu maniSar uvalai Akkai nilai eidi, pukku, mAyaiyAl maniSarkkAgum pIr SiRidum aNDA vaNNam veNNai uNDAi; maN tAn SOrndadu uNDElum, maN karaiya nei UN marundO! – Oh Lord of many wonders! Even before praLaya, you swallowed all the worlds and kept them in Your stomach; then as You created the worlds of jIva-s with their bodies according to their karma-s, You also took birth in their midst with a body apparently similar to theirs, and as if to prove that, You swallowed all the butter without leaving even a trace for anyone else. Is it because

You considered the butter to be the medicine for any clay left over in Your stomach when You had swallowed all the worlds! svAmi deSikan captures the rasam in this pASuram through the words ‘bhakta vastu prasakteh’ – “He who is extremely attached to things belonging to His devotees” (prasakti means devotion, attachment, addiction). SrI ve’nkaTeSAcArya explains svAmi deSikan’s words as “ASritar ugaNda dravyaika dhArakan AgaiyAlum – Because bhagavAn supports Himself purely from the objects that are liked by His devotees. SrI UV comments that His devotees themselves are His vastu-s – His belongings, and He is very much attached

to them, and therefore He is ‘bhakta-vastu prasaktan’ – ‘bhaktargaLagiRa tan vastuvilE adhika prItiyinAlE…’ AzhvAr enjoys this ‘bhakta vastu prasakti ‘ of bhagavAn – His liking for objrcts that are liked by His devotee, beatufully by noting that bhagavAn ate all the butter without leaving even a trace for anyone – maniSarkkAgum pIr SiRidum aNDA vaNNam veNNai uNDAi”. AzhvAr wonders aloud: “Did You swallow the huge quantity of butter just to cure Yourself of any stomach ailment from the left-over clay when You had swallowed all the seven worlds before praLaya, and then spat them

out! But then again, You swallowed the worlds before pralayam, and now You are swallowing the butter when You are devakI putran. So the reason that it is for medicinal purposes is not true. It is also not because of hunger, since You can eat the whole world when You wish, and so You didn’t have to eat the butter from the gopis’ houses. You swallowed the butter only because You love anything belonging to Your devotee, and also because You wanted to move intimately with them and be blamed and rebuked by them – all because of Your sauSIlyam. The gopi-s for their part wanted You to come and steal their butter, and that is why they sang very loudly as they were churning the butter” SrImad tirukkuDanthai ANDavan comments that bhagavAn just cannot remain without associating with His devotees – bhakta prasaktan. His prasakti is so intense that He does not even leave a minute particle of the butter for the devotee – pIr SiRidum aNDA vaNNam. · pASuram 1.5.9: mAyOm tIya alavalai peru mA-va’njap pEi vIya tUya kuzhaviyAi viDap pAl amudA amudu SeidiTTa mAyan vAnOr tAnOr tanit-talaivan malarAL maindan evvuyirkkum tAyOn tammAn en-ammAn am-mA mUrtiyai SArndE. tUya kuzhaviyAi, tIya avalai peru mA-va’njap pEi vIya viDam pAl amudA amudu SeidiTTa mAyan, vAnOr tanit-talaivan, malarAL maindan, evvuyirkkum tAyOn, tammAn, en ammAn, am-mA mUrtiyai SErndu mAyOm – As an innocent child, with Your inscrutable wonders that drowned the deceitful action of the evil demoness in the form of pUtanA, You sucked the poison from her breasts and drank it, enjoying it as if it was nectar; You are the Lord of all the gods; You are the Eternal Person and the Consort of mahA lakshmi; You are the Sustainer of all like their Mother; You are One with no Master above You; You are my own

Lord; Having resorted to You, I will never again be separated from You. svAmi deSikan captures the gist of this pASuram through the words “Slishyan nASa vyapohAt” – Because He drives away (vyapoha – driving away, expelling) the difficulties of those who resort to Him (Slish – to embrace) - ‘ammA mUrtiyaic cErndE mAyOm’ - The same truth is echoed by Sage vyAsa in SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam from the mahA bhArata - ‘na te yAnti parAbhavam, na te yAnti parAbhavam’ – ‘Never do they meet with any disrespect, Never do they meet with any disrespect’.

How does He remove the difficulties? - by converting the viDam to amudam (viDap pAl amudA amudu SeidiTTa mAyan) – He converts even the worst poison into the best of nectars. If we perform our actions with Him alone in mind, and if we dedicate the results of all our actions to Him, then the ‘difficulties’ will not be felt as difficulties at all. One is reminded about prahlAda caritram – when hiranyakaSipu subjected the young child prahlAda to untold difficulties including having him be bitten by the most poisonous snakes, rolling him down steep mountains, throwing hin

into the deep ocean, etc., the great devotee prahlAda could only think of the poison as nArAyaNa, the steep mountain as nArAyaNa, etc., and thus not the slightest harm came to him. A few very fundamental points are worth noting in this pASuram. AzhvAr refers to the ‘mUrti’ of emperumAn – bhagavAn’s divine tirumEni. This refutes the position of some philosophies that claim that the Supreme Being does not have a tirumEni at all, and that It is only pure divine Bliss with no attributes etc. AzhvAr also describes Lord vishNu here as the Supreme Lord – as he does in all the other

1101 pASuram-s - malarAL maindan vAnor tanit talaivan. So there is no ambiguity on who is the Supreme Being in AzhvAr’s view, and also there is no ambiguity on whose Feet we have to resort to in order to be redeemed – so that we don’t suffer a wasted life - mAyOm. The implication is that by resorting to any other devatA, we will be in the category of mAyvOm – we will die having wasted one precious birth. Thus, the anya devatA worship should be avoided at alal costs for those who want to be redeemed – the mumukshu-s. · pASuram 1.5.10: SArnda iru val vinaigaLum Sarittu mAyap paRRu aRuttu tIrndu tan pAl manam vaikka tirutti vIDu tiruttuvAn Arnda j~nAnac cuDarAgi agalam kIzh mEl aLavirundu nErnda uruvAi aruvAgum ivaRRin uyirAm neDu mAlE. neDu mAl SArnda val iru vinaigaLum Sarittu mAyap paRRu aRuttu tIrndu tam pAl manam vaikkat tirutti vIDu tiruttuvAn Arnda j~nAnac cuDarAgi agalam kIzh mEl aLavu irundu nErnda uruvAi aru Agum ivaRRin uyirAm – bhagavAn who is deeply attached to us removes the effects of our two types of karma-s – the good deeds as well as the prohibited deeds both of which create our bonding to samsAra, removes our attachment to the objects of material enjoyment, helps us realize that He is both the object of attainment and the means of attainment, and redeems us so that our minds are always directed to Him. In the leelA vibhUti, He permeates everything – both sentient and non-senrtient, both inside and outside and is the antaryAmi of everything. He fills the nitya vibhUti also with His absolute Knowledge, Bliss and all other auspicious qualities, as if to keep it ready for us when we ultimately reach parama padam. svAmi deSikan captures the gist of this pASuram through the words :tad-ahita- SamanAt” – ‘Because He removes all that is opposed to attainment of Him for His devotees’. Every single thought conveyed in this pASUram is a reflection of this

guNam of bhagavAn – He removes the effects of our puNyam and pApam so that we are relieved of the bondage of samsAra; He removes our attachment to materialistic benefits and enjoyment; He gives us the realization that He is the final goal to be attained as well as the means to attain Him; He permeates all the things in the leelA vibhUti without exception inside out so that we don’t ever get separated from Him; He is the antaryAmi of all so that He is with us constantly; He is in the nitya vibhUti also with all His kalyANa guNa-s, ever ready to receive us – all these are because of His extreme vyAmoham – affection and attachment to us. Thus, His sauSIlyam is revealed in several dimensions in this

pASuram. In summary, in the ten pASuram-s of tiruvAimozhi 1.5, AzhvAr sings different dimensions of bhagavAn’s sauSIlya guNam (someone at a very high level moving with others at very low levels without distinction), and svAmi deSikan captures the gist of the pASuram-s as follows: - Even when people use insulting words by calling Him ‘butter thief’, still He comes down to their level and associates with them; - Even though the ArAdhanam or worship offered by even the likes of brahmA to Him is far too inferior in quality compared to His level of Supreme Lordship over all, He still gladly accepts it - He blessed everyone without distinction by giving them the association with His Feet and thus purified them in His tri-vikrama incarnation - He descends down from SrI vaikunTham which is inaccessible to the gods and deva-s, and reclines in the Milk Ocean in order to be accessible to them when they get into trouble with the asura-s and need His protection - He is extremely attached to those attached to His divine Feet - He hides His Supremacy completely, and integrates Himself in the midst of His devotees – the cowherd families etc. - He takes incarnations such that He is accessible to everyone who seeks Him - He loves His devotees so much that He creates opportunities to move with them closely by even stealing their belongings and getting blamed – such as stealing their butter - He removes all the difficulties of His devotees - By being the In-dweller (antaryAmi) in everything and everyone, He is always concerned in the welfare and wellbeing of all, and removes the effects of bondage caused by the karma-s when one resorts to Him, and guides the devotee to parama padam. svAmi deSikan concludes Slokam 16 of tAtparya ratnAvaLi, summarizing tirvAimozhi 1.5, by pointing out that AzhvAr sings bhagavAn’s sauSIlya guNam in this tiruvAimozhi – prAha nAtham suSIlam, illustrated by different dimensions of His sauSilya guNam sung in each pASuram of this tiruvAimozhi. Note the

choice of the word ‘nAtham’, followed by the word ‘suSIlam’ – that He is the Supreme Lord of all on the one hand, but He is also the epitome of sauSIlyam on the other. -dAsan kRshNamAcAryan (To be continued)