tAtparya ratnAvaLi - Submission 64 - Slokam 23 Part 5, tiruvAimozhi 2.1, pASuram 2.1.9 tand 2.1.10.

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SrImate Ra'nga RAmAnuja MahA DeSikAya namaH.

tAtparya natnAvaLi - Submission 64, Slokam 23 Part 5,

tiruvAimozhi 2.1, pASurams 2.1.9, 2.1.10.

 

 

· pASuram 2.1.9:

 

nondu ArAk kAdal nOi mel Avi uL ulartta

nandA viLakkamE! nIyum aLiyattAi

Sen-tAmarait taDam kaN Se'nkani vAi emperumAn

an-tAmat taN tuzhAi ASaiyAl vEvAyE.

 

nandA viLakkE! ALiyattAi! nIyum nondu ArAk kAdal nOi mel Avi uL ulartta

Sen-tAmarait taDam kaN Se'nkani vAi emperumAn an-tAmat taN tuzhAi

ASaiyAlE vEvAi - O Light that remains without extinguishing! You have

been kind enough to help me from the darkness in which I am steeped. I

believe that like me, you are also being scorched by the heat of your

flame just because you are also pining for the tulasi garlands of our

Lord with the broad lotus-like red eyes and beautiful red lips

resembling a reddish fruit, and who causes the disease of love in us

that does not heal no matter how much we suffer.

 

svAmi desikan describes the message of this pASuram through the words

'upa samSoshaNAt' - (upaSoshaNam - drying up, withering ) - scorching

up the devotee's delicate soul inside out when the devotee is separated

from Him - kAdal nOi mellAvi uLLulartta. The 'inside' of the soul is

explained by SrI UV as the dharma bhUta j~nAnam - one's awarenss of the

surroundings etc. The devotee has lost the dharma bhUta j~nAnam asa

result of separation from Him. The appropriate analogy given by AzhvAr

is the lighted flame, which is of course 'hot' and dried up inside out,

is similar to the devotee's soul when separated from Him. AzhvAr feels

that the flame is hot because it is suffering from extreme disease

because of separation from Him. It is also delicate like the soul of

the devotee, and is easily put out by the slightest disturbance. I am

reminded of the famous quote 'upamA kALidAsasya' - 'Whrn it comes to

choosing simile, there is none to compare to KAlidAsa. But can

KalidAsa come anywhere close to AzhvAr's outpourings with his

analogies!

 

· pASuram 2.1.10:

 

vEvArA vETkai nOi mel Avi uL ulartta

OvAdu irAp pagal unpalE vIzhttu ozhindAi

mA vAi piLandu marudiDai pOi maN aLanda

mUvA mudalvA! ini emmaic cOrElE.

 

mA vAi piLandu marudu iDai pOi maN aLanda mUvA mudalvA!vEvu ArA vETkai

nOi mel Avi uL ulartta OvAdu irAp pagal unpAlE vIzhttu ozhindAi; ini

emmaic cOrEl - O Lord who is Creator of all and for who is Eternal!

You are One who destroyed the asuran by name KeSi who came in the form

of the horse by splitting open his mouth, pulled down the two maruda

trees by going between them as a child, and measured all the three

worlds with Your steps in Your trivikrama incarnation. You have let

the inside of my delicate soul also be scorched by the disease of love

to You, and You are now resting after having pushed me day and night to

Your feet even after that. At least now, pray don't leave me.

 

This pASuram is interpreted as one in which BhagavAn, unable to bear

the suffering that AzhvAr is going through, has appeared in person to

AzhvAr, and is being directly addressed by him - 'mUvA mudalvA!', and

'ini emmaic cOrElE!'. Thus, unlike in previous pASuram-s of this

tiruvAimozhi where AzhvAr was addressing external objects that he felt

were suffering exactly like him, now he is addressing BhagavAn, and

pleading with Him never to go away from him ever again. The guNam of

BhagavAn that AzhvAr is singing in this pASuram is His retaining the

devotee under His feet without interruption by performing countless

acts that endear Him to His devotee - acts such as His destroying the

asura by name KeSi, His childhood act of pulling down the two maruda

trees that stood side by side, His incarntions such as the trivikarama

incarnation, etc. By all these acts of His, He endears His devotee to

Himself such that the devotee cannot bear to live without Him even for

a moment.

 

svAmi deSikan captures the guNa sung in this pASuram as 'Avarjanam'

(AvarjanAbhyAm), which means 'attracting, overcoming, victory; to bring

down'. The words in the pASuram that reflect this guNam are ' mA vAi

piLandu marudiDai pOi maN aLanda mUvA! MudalvA'. SrI Ve'nkaTeSAcArya

explains svAmi deSikan's words as 'maRandu pizhaikka oNNAda paDi

virodhi nirasanAdi vaSIkaraNa ceshTita'ngaLai uDaiyavan AgaiyAlum' -

He who performs wondrous acts that attract the devotee to Him - acts

that destroy the enemies of the devotees - such as the slaying of the

asura by name KeSi, the felling down of the two huge maruda trees even

when He was a child 'crawling on all fours', His trivikrama

incarnation, etc. These acts of His are of such a nature that the

devotees will not be able to forget them and still continue to carry on

with their lives even for a moment. He subjugates His devotees to His

great kalyANa guNa-s and His wonderful acts, and thus conquers them

over as His eternal devotees.

 

Summary of tiruvAimozhi 2.1.1:

 

It should be remembered that the states of unbearable suffering caused

in a devotee when sepated from BhagavAn described in AzhvAr's pASuram-s

and summarized below, are states of DELIGHTFUL pain caused by His

thoughts, as conveyed by R. Rangachari in his translations. These are

the kinds of pains caused in true lovers when they are separated from

each other even momentarily.

 

- BhagavAn gives so much joy in association with Him that a true

devotee loses sleep by being separated from Him even for a moment, and

suffers paleness of complexion etc. - nir-nidratvam and vaivarNyam.

(2.1.1)

- BhagavAn makes the devotee's mind restrless beyond control when the

deovtee is separated from Him. (2.1.2)

- BhagavAn causes a state of confusion and despair in the devotee when

the devotee is separated from Him. (2.1.3)

- BhagavAn drives the devotee to ceaselessly search for Him day and

night in the oceans, mountains, and skies when the devotee is separated

from Him (the devotee gets consued, thinking that every body of water,

any hill, or space above is the kshIrabdhi (Milk Ocean), tiruve'nkaTam

Hills, and SrI vaikunTham (2.1.4)

- He (His kalyANa guNa-s) causes the whole body of the devotee,

thinking about Him while in separation, disintegrate like a

water-bearing cloud that breaks up into rain droplets (2.1.5)

- BhagavAn causes a state of emaciation and a state of pitiable,

sorrowful condition in the devotee if separated from Him, like a moon

that has waned to the point that it is not able to remove the darkness

in the night (2.1.6), (thus making sure the devotee never separates

from Him)

- He diverts the devotees' minds such that they can't concentrate on

anything when they are separated from Him, like somwone groping in the

dark (2.1.7)

- Separation from Him causes total disorientation of the devotee's mind

- to the point that the devotee resembles a mad person, with a

non-functional mind - the mind is constanly bomarded and disoriented

like the backwaters of the ocean that are ceaselessly bombares by the

ocean's waves and permanently de-stabilised (2.1.8)

- Separation from BhagavAn scorches the devotee's soul inside out, like

a flame that is dried out inside out as it burns, and the soul of the

devotee loses its innate ability to even identify objects around

(2.1.9)

- Even after all this, BhagavAn retains the devotee ever at His feet by

performing divine leelA-s such as the slaying of the asura KeSi, the

felling down of the two maruda trees even when He was but a crawling

child, His trivikrama incarnation when He measured the three with His

mere steps, etc.

 

AzhvAr brings out the key guNam at the tiruvAimozhi level - viraha daSA

duHsahatvam - the utter impossibility for a true devotee to be able to

put up with separation from Him even for a moment, and supports this

guNam through different aspects of this guNam as summarised above at

the pASuram level.

 

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan

(To be continued)

 

 

 

 

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