tAtparya ratnAvaLi - Submission 77 - Slokam 26 Part 4, tiruvAimozhi 2.4, pASuram-s 2.4.9 and 2.4.10.

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SrImate SrI Ra'nga RAmAnuja MahAdeSikAya namaH.

tAtparya ratnAvaLi - Submission 77 - Slokam 26 Part 4;

tiruvAimozhi 2.4 - pASurams 2.4.9, 2.4.10.

 

 

z PASuram 2.4.9:

 

paTTa pOdu ezhu pOdu aRiyAL, virai maTTu alar taN tuzhAi ennum; SuDar

vaTTa vAi nudi nEmiyIr! numadu iTTam en kol iv EzhaikkE.

 

This daughter of mine does not know the difference between day and night any

more; she just keeps meditating on the cool and fragrant honey-dripping tulasI

garlands that You wear. You with the piercing sharp cakra with its circular

mouths spittng flames all around in Your hand! What is Your plan regarding this

daughter of mine who has no other go but You!

 

SvAmi DeSikan captures the guNam reflected in this pASuram in support of

BhagavAQn’s vyasana nirasana vyakta kIrti – His well-demonstrated trait of

removing the distress of the devotee – with the words ‘dIpta hetim’ –

SuDar vaTTa vAy nudi nEmiyIr – One who carries the flame-spitting sharp-edged

cakra in His hand, ever ready to protect His devotee from their enemies (heti

– a missile weapon; hetirAjan – the King of heti-s is a reference to

cakrAyudham; dIpta – flaming).

 

Does He really need the cakra or any other weapon for the purpose of protecting

His devotee? Far from it – He can protect anyone from any harm whatsoever

just by His mere will. But still He carries the divine weapons in order to

instill confidence in the devotee’s mind. Another anubhavam is that He is

ever ready with the weapons in His hand just so there is no time lost in looking

for them if they are ever needed for protecting the devotee.

 

This aspect of BhagavAn’s aspect of protection of the devotee is also

reflected in the following pASuram of AzhvAr in periya tiruvantAdi (87):

o eppOdum kai kazhalA nEmiyAn nam mEl vinai kaDivAn – He is never separated

from His divine cakra in His hand, which He carries for our protection;

and also in Sri Ra’nga Raja stavam (12):

o ‘ pAtu praNata rakshAyAm viLambam ashanniva sadA pa’ncAyudhIm bibhrat sa

naH SrI Ra’nganAyakaH’ - May Lord Ra~nganAtha - who ever stands ready with

five weapons on His arms, as if to demonstrate that He cannot bear any delay in

offering protection to the devotee - grant us protection!

 

 

z pASuram 2.4.10:

 

Ezhai pEdai irAp pagal tana kEzh il oN tana kaNNa nIr koNDAL kiLar

vAzhvai vEva ila~nkai SeRRIr ivaL mAzhai nOkku onRum vATTEnminE.

 

‘Ezhai pEdai irAp pagal kEzh il oN tan kaNNa nIr koNDAL; ila~nkai vEva kiLAr

vAzhvaic ceRRIr! ivaL mAzhai nOkku onRum vATTEnmin – This poor girl of mine

keeps longing for You, without realizing that You are very difficult to attain,

and has beautiful eyes that are brimming with tears all the time. You who

destroyed the life of ill-begotten pleasures of RAvaNa of La~nka by burning it

to ashes! For Your own sake, make sure You protect the beauty of her eyes that

are incomparable in their beauty.’

 

Loking at the detailed interpretations of our pUrvAcArya-s for this pASuram, a

coiuple of points stand out:

 

1. kiLar vAzhvu ila~nkai SeRRIr - BhagavAn destroyed La~nka with all its

prosperity, and in doing so, He left nothing stand in His way. So also, He will

let nothing stand in His way when it comes to removing the obstacles of His

devotees. This is conveyed in sAkshAt svAmi’s vyAkhyAnam -

pratibandha’ngaLaiyum nIrE pOkkik koNDu INDena vandu rakshittu aruLa vENDum.

 

2. mAzhai nOkku onRum vATTEnminE - Don’t ruin the beauty of her eyes that are

incomparable in their beauty, for her sake as well as for Your own sake. The

idea here is that for BhagavAn, the welfare of the devotee is the most

important. The notion that BhagavAn subjugates Himself willingly to the devotee

who surrenders to Him is well known and well established (through instances such

as His being the charioteer for arjuna, His letting Himself be tied up ny

YaSodA, etc.).

 

The above thoughts that are conveyed in this pASuram stand out to support the

guNam of ‘vyasana nirasana vyakata kIrti’ that is the subject of this

tiruvAimozhi. SvAmi deSikan captures the specific guNam sung in this pASuram

with the words ‘sat prekshA rakshitAram’ – ‘He who protects the way of

life of those who are dedicated to following the prescribed code of conduct’.

SrI UV explains prekshA as ‘SAstrAdi mUlamAip peRRa teLivu’ – the clarity

of knowledge that those of righteous conduct have attained through means such as

the SAstra-s.

 

To recapitulate, the guNam sung in this tiruvAimozhi - namely, that BhagavAn is

One whose fame in relieving the distress of the devotees has been well

demonstrated - is supported by the following ten guNa-s sung in the ten pASurams

of this tiruvAimozhi:

 

- BhagavAn appeared at an instant in the pillar as Lord nRsimha to make

prahlAda's word come true, and thus relieved the ordeals to which PrahlAda was

subjected (2.4.1)

- He relieved the distress of aniruddha, His grandson, by severing the thousand

shoulders of BANAsuran when the latter was imprisoned by the asura (2.4.2).

- He destroyed RAvana who was causing enormous distress to the deva-s and to the

other devotees, and He went further and destroyed all the other evil rAkshasa-s

as well (2.4.3)

- He has the mighty garuDan who can remove even the worst poison afflicting the

devotee, on His flag (2.4.4).

- He is endowed with the beautiful divine tirumEni, decorated with the sacred

tulasI garlands that will remove all the distress of the devotee at the very

sight of them (2.4.5).

- He provides uninterrupted courage and sustenance to the inner soul of the

devotee and keeps the hope alive that the devotee will ultimately attain Him

(2.4.6).

- He is intensely concerned about the protection of the devotees as His primary

function, by reclining in tiruppARkkaDal to be within easy reach of the deva-s

when they need to go to Him to seek His protection; or, He protects and guides

all the jIva-s by being their antaryAmi (2.4.7)

- He will eliminate all the obstacles that stand in the path of His devotees, as

demonstrated by His act of eliminating the evil Kamsan (2.4.8)

- He ensures that the path chosen by those who observe the proper code of

conduct as laid down in the SAstra-s is preserved and protected (2.4.10)

 

 

AzhvAr sings BhagavAn’s well-demonstrated trait of relieving the distress of

the devotees readily through several examples in this tiruvAimozhi, and

concludes by recalling His vAmana incarnation, where He begged for His own

belongings in order to bless MahAbali and the rest of the jIva-s along with him.

This single act of His alone stands out as a reinforcement of His ‘vyasana

nirasana vyakta kIrti’, and no one can ever say that BhagavAn does not have

concern for His devotees – vATTam il pugazh vAmanan (2.4.11).

 

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan

(To be continued)