tAtparya ratnAvaLi - Submission 46, Slokam 18 Part 3, tiruvAimozhi 1.7, pASuram-s 1.7.5 - 1.7.7.

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SrImate ra'nga rAmAnuja mahA deSikAya namaH. tAtparya ratnAvaLi - Submission 46, Slokam 18 -Part 3, tiruvAimozhi 1.7, pASurams 1.7.5 - 1.7.7. · pASuram 1.7.5: viDuvEnO en viLakkai en Aviyai naDuvE vandu uyyak koLginRa nAdanai toDuvE Seidu iLa Aycciyar kaNNiNuL viDavE Seidu vizhikkum pirAnaiyE. en viLakkai, en Aviyai, naDuvE vandu uyyak koLginRa nAdanai, toDuvE Seidu iLa Aycciyar kaNNiNuL viDavE Seidu vizhikkum pirAnai, viDuvEnO? – I will never leave my Lord who is my guiding light, my soul’s Soul, One who voluntarily comes and retrieves me from my indulgence in materialistic pleasures, and One who indulges

in acts like stealing butter and then attacts the gopi-s by the very beauty of His very looks. svAmi deSikan conveys the message of this pASuram through the words ‘pravahad upakRteh’ – ‘pirAn’ - He whose help to His devotees is an unending and unstoppable stream. SrI PBA explains this as: pravAha rUpeNa SenRu koNDirukkiRa upakAra paramparaikaLaic ceidu koNDiruppavan. The word ‘pirAn’, which is the key word that svAmi deSikan seems to have captured as

the main thought from this pASuram - ‘pravad upakRteh’, is explained in irupattu nAlAyirappaDi vyAkhyAnam as “upakAraka Sabda paryAyam” – means the same as “One who helps”. The meaning ‘piRarukkAgavE iruppavan pirAn’ – He who devotes His existence purely for the sake of others, explains the word very well. SrI UV also gives the meaning “paramopakAra’ to the word ‘pirAn’ – ‘One who renders immense and supreme help’. Examples given by AzhvAr in this pASuram for this are: He removes our ignorance – our aj~nAnam (en viLakkai); He is the sole Support for our existence (en Aviyai); He is our Lord and we are His possessions and His eternal servants and He considers it His duty to protect us - kAkkum iyalbinan kaNNa perumAn (en nAthanai); He creates every opportunity for Him to interact with us and to be

easily accessible to us (toDuvE Seidu iLa Aycciyar kaNNiNuLviDavE Seidu vizhikkum pirAnai). Thus the help He gives us is like a stream flowing with an unstoppable great force – pravAha upakRteh. · pASuram 1.7.6: pirAn peru nilam kINDavan pinnum virAi malart tuzhAi vEinda muDiyan marAmaram eida mAyavan ennuL irAn enil pinnai yAn oTTuvEnO. pinnum virAi(virai) malar tuzhAi vEinda muDiyan, peru nilam kINDavan, marAmaram eida mAyavan, pirAn, ennuL irAn enil pinnai yAn oTTuvEno? – If my emperumAn - who wears the flower garland made of the fragrant tulasi leaves on His crown, retrieved the Earth from the depth of the ocean in His varAha incarnation, has to His credit amazing acts such as piercing the seven dense and strong trees with just one arrow, and One who is ever helpful to His devotees (pirAn) – if He does not stay in my mind always, then will I continue to live this life? There is no way that I will agree to His leaving me. svAmi deSikan captures the gist of this pASuram through the words ‘dus-tyaja sva anubhUteh’ - One who gives us the experience of Himself such that it is impossible to give Him up after having experienced Him (anubhUti means anubhavam – experience; tyaj – to give up; dus-tyaja – impossible to give up); - ennuL irAn enil pinnai yAn oTTuvEno? “I will not let Him go, and He cannot go without my consent since He is ‘pirAn’ – One who is dedicated only for others”. The examples that AzhvAr gives in this pASuram that support His acts that endear Him as ‘pirAn’ to the devotees are His retrieving the Earth that had been taken into the depth of the ocean by a demon, and the act of His ‘proving’ to sugrIvan that He can help sugrIvan against vAli, by piercing the seven sAla trees with one arrow. PurvAcArya-s point out that He, with His beautifully decorated tirumEni with the fragrant tulasi garlands etc., did not mind tht He would be covered with the moss etc., and went into the depths of the ocean to retrieve Earth from the ocean just because of His nature of providing help. He did not have to

‘prove’ anything to sugrIvan, but still proved His strength to sugrIvan to make him feel that He is ‘worthy’ of sugrIvan’s friendship. Just as he dug out bhUmi from the deep oceanm He digs out His devotee from the ocean of samsAra. Such are His acts by which He gives the experience of Himself to His devotees and makes it impossible for them to part with Him even if they want to – dus-tayja sva anubhUteh. · pASuram 1.7.7: yAn oTTi ennuL iruttuvam enRilan tAn oTTi vandu en tani ne’njai va’njittu UnoTTi ninREn uyiril kalandiyal

– vAnoTTumO ini ennai negizhkkavE. I did not make any effort to retain Him in my mind; He Himself has undertaken the effort to endear Himself to my ‘independent’ mind (unwilling to entertain Him) through His kalyANa guNa-s and His leelA-s; He Himself took the initiative to mingle with me and became part of my AtmA associated with my impure body; after doing all this, ther is no way that He will let me get away from

Him. svAmi deSikan describes the thought from this pASuram through the words “tyAga AkA’ngkshA niroddhuh” – He who prevents any desire to leave Him (nirodhah, nirodhanam – confinnment; restraint, check; obstruction) - yAn negizhkka avan ennai oTTmO? AzhvAr says: “BhagavAn fully knew that neither I nor my mind had any interest in getting Him and keeping Hin in my mind. Yet He cheated me (va’njittu), and through His leelA-s and His kalyANa guNa-s, He succeeded in getting into my mind even though I am associated with an impure body etc. I am deeply attached to this body of mine, and so He is attached, too, to my body. He has taken a vow to enter into me and mingle with me. Having done all this, He has made sure that He will not let me have the slightest desire to wish to let Him get away now” – tyAga AkA’ngkshA niroddhuh. -dAsan kRshNamAcAryan (To be continued)

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