IDU OR ARPUDAM KELEER PART 13

[Guest guest]

Dear Sri Vaishnava perunthagaiyeer,

 

Sri lakshmi nrusimha divya paadukaa sEvaka SrivaN satakOpa Sri Vedaanta

desika yateendra mahaa dEsikaaya namah:

 

In the previous postings, parts 1 to 12 on this topic, we saw

* How periyaazhvaar identified KaNNan with thirumaal,

* How he described the entire world was tied down by

his divine music thru the paasurams (without the meanings of the paasurams),

 

* Certain points on observations of bagavathaas.

* The meanings in detail for the first eight paasurams

and few others who relished the kuzhal oothal episode of krishna leelai

 

3.6.9: kuzhal Osai vazhiyE maruNdu maan kaNangaL mEigai maRanthu mEintha

pullum kadai vai vazhi sOra iraNdu paadum thulungaap pudai peyaraa ezhuthu

chiththiram pOl ninRanavE.

MaruL- mayakkam

MaruL - aj~naanam (ignorance?)

MaruL - trance

MaruL - yogam- samaadhi nilai

 

Marutchi- the act of going into trance

Marutchi- shrill out of fear

 

MaruL varuthal- the aavirbhavam of ishtadevathaa on the person for some time

during which the person does special things (which same person cannot do in

ordinary times) like aaroodam- viz foretelling things of the future, kuri

solluthal- similar to aaroodam, etc.

 

This maruL also has more than one variety. The ugra devathaa bestowed maruL

always goes with lot of shouting, dancing, eating maamsam, drinking wine and

things like that. The saantha devatha bestowed maruL initially may talk some

things but then is lead into trance. The yoga samaadhi nilai continues for

sometime and then the person returns to normalcy. During both the acts of

aaroodam etc take place.

 

Why I detail so much on this maruL or give such a long poorva peedikai is to

high light the effect of krishnaa's music on the animals like deer.

 

kuzhal Osai vazhiyE maruNdu maan kaNangaL- the flute music of krishnaa made

the deer flock go into trance easily- into yOga samaadhi easily.

 

The deer flocks, whenever they hear some new kind of sound while grassing,

shrill first in fear immediately. That is their basic nature and start

running instinctively for safety. This is because, they always think the

enemy lion or tiger is on prawl and is near, has approached us, to kill us,

and that is why this noise. Hence act instinctively to run- so maan kaNangaL

marundu.

 

When the first sound of music -kaNNan kuzhal Osai- was heard immediate knee

jerk reaction was maruL- fear- out of maruL- aj~naanam. But subsequently

maruL extended- fear is removed- aj~naanam was removed- now same maruL has

become samaadhi yOgam- attained the state of bliss- no consciousness of the

body, no consciousness about the world around. Now maruNdu has another

meaning totally.

 

But once realised that is kaNNan's music and its magic spell which brought

the maruL- no consciousness about the body, then meigai maranthu- the

grassing stopped- forgotten what we were doing at that time- they started

enjoying the music- so the foremost main job of grassing for filling the

stomach is forgotten.

 

Meintha pullum kadai vaai vazhi sOra- the half cut grass and accumulated in

the mouth about to be pushed inside the jeerNa kOsam- or kept for munching

-started dropping or flowing out mixed with the saliva - thru the edge of

the mouth. Why? when attention is on the Krishnaa's music, mouth is kept

open like human folk. There is no consciosness whether mouth is open or

closed. So the grass started slipping.- reason - maruL.

 

Cross reference - Subramania Bharathi says

KaNNan pullankuzhal kondu varuvaan, amudham pongi thathumbum nargeetham

padippaan, kaLLaal mayanguvathu pOlE athai kaNN moodi vaai thiranthE

kEttiruppOm.

Meaning- krishnaa will bring the flute. He will sing nectarial songs. We,

folks, will listen to the music with closed eyes and opened mouth as though

we drank the toddy and got intoxicated.

 

So when human folks engross themselves in music, the mouth will be open

unconsciously. Same thing happens to deers here.

 

How this maruL is acting further is described beautifully in next few

words.- irandu paadum thulunga pudai peyaraa ezhuthu chiththiram pOl

ninRanavE.

 

paadu has more than one meaning

paadu- verb- to sing

paadu- noun- sides- pakkam

paadu- noun- varuththam- kashtam- trouble, nuisance, disturbance

(We use " appaa- ivan enna paadu paduththinaan theriyumaa? " Oh do you know

how much trouble this fellow gave?)

paadu- noun - perumai- elation? (not fame- pugazh)

 

paadu in present context is sides. Irandu paadum- both sides.

Thulungaa- asaiyaamal- without movement. Why? No fear or fear gone because

amudhap punal is flowing- not sound from vairi- the enemy.

 

pudai peyaraa ninRanavE- no shifting of places- unmoved they stood.

Again a change in their basic nature. A small noise make them shrill and

then change place. Even when there is no noise making them fear, deers grass

in patches quite often changing places- to continue their work of grassing-

will not grass continuously in the same place to shave off the entire grass

in that area, which is the habit of cows.

..

How? ezhuthu chiththiram pOl- like the artist's picture- a painting- they

were motionless like the picture. Sukha brahmam says here " likhitha chithram

iva aasan " in slokam 10-35-5 in srimadbhagavatham. The detailed slokam we

will see in next posting.

 

Is it not an arpudam to tie down even animals in picturesque postures thus

changing their basic nature through music?

 

3.6.10. MarangaL ninRu madhu thaaraigaL paayum malargaL veezhum vaLar

kombugaL thaazhum irangum koombum thirumaal ninRa pakkam nOkki avai seyyum

guNamE.

 

A slight anvayam is to be carried out. 'thirumaal ninRa pakkam nOkki

marangaL ninRu vaLar kombugaL thaazhum malargaL madhu thaaraigaL paayum

irangum koombum veezhum avai seyyum guNamE.

 

MarangaL ninRu- the trees by their nature are already standing. That trees

are growing vertically, spreading horizontally that too over a period of

time and are thus unable to move. But why specifically ninRu- it appears to

aazhvaar that all things are drawn towards kannan,

the center of gravity,

center of support for worldly creations,

center of attraction,

the powerful magnet towards which all pieces are attracted whether iron or

not.

 

So even trees, which are static, in the eyes of aazhvaar are moving towards

Krishnaa, drawn towards him by the power of his music.

 

The trees stopped for a minute-ninRu- to do what? To bow their heads- the

branches- valar kombugal thaazhum- the branches which grow in their natural

way in all directions, bow in reverence. The trees turn towards the place

from which Kannan was playing the music and bow down the branches in utter

reverence to the jagath kaaraNan. Why? To touch the feet of the lord.

Whether it was achieved? Answer is in next word.

 

Malargal madhu thaaraigal paayum- the flowers blossomed in these trees were

falling as though they were showering on Kannan offering him an archana or a

shower with their flowers. Whether branches touched the thiruvadi-

ulagaLantha thiruvadi- yes through the flowers. When the branches bowed

their head, it is but natural the flowers blossomed in these lost their

balance and fallen on kannan. Iyarkaiye archanai seigirathu polum.

 

These flowers in turn were just dripping their honey as though they were

carrying out the manjanamaattal to Kannan. Madhu is not dripping but

thaaraigal- flow like shower- like falls- the last drop of honey came out-

so life of the flower is almost over- so they fell on their lord. Madhu is

the jeevan of flowers- when that is surrendered to the lord, then the

remaining body- falls naturally at the feet of the lord- the aachaaryan

thiruvadi- the lOka guru - jagath guru.

 

The purpose of life is to reach the lord- that is attained by the tree- it

offers the flowers- the jeevan- so next is irangum, beg at the feet of the

lord. For what? Saying I have surrendered at your feet please accept my

surrender. Next step- koombum, veezhum- close the eyes, fall as their

saranaagathy is accepted by their Lord. Next words are again superb. " avai

seyyum gunamE " - these happenings show their true nature. Nature surrenders

to the lord. When trees like achEthana vasthukkal are surrendering to the

Lord by the sheer power of music, why not I or we? Is the question that

arises out of this sentence avai seyyum gunamE? For human beings with all

sorts of vedham vedhaangam etc why not surrender unto the feet of the Lord

and uyyumkolO.

 

Daasan Vasudevan M.G.

 

PS: With this the arpudhams get completed except the palasruthi by

periyaazhvaar. The sukha brahmam's slokams of Srimad bhagavatham,vishnu

puraana slokams in this vENu gaanam context will be covered in the next

posting.

[Guest guest]

Dear Sriman VaasudEvan :

Thnaks for yet another deep

and anubhavam-fileld postign on

PeriyAzhwAr's Paasuram .Your

coverage of the multiple

meanings of " MaruL/Marutchi "

and " Paadu " is very beautiful

anubhavam for all Sri KrishNa BhakthAs.

As we get prepared for this year's

celebration of Sri Jayanthi ,

the timing of this anubhavam can not

be more precise.

Thanks again for the continued

kaimkaryam to share your

SvAnubhavam .

Best Wishes,

V.Sadagopan