Amalanadipiran - Song Six

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AMALANATIPIRAN - Song Six - Translation and notes by Satyamurthi Ayyangar

Swamin

 

Song Six:

 

Preamble: And now, the Lord's neck, higher up, tells its tale of

superiority. Superiority apart, how charming it is, like the attractive neck

of the tender arecanut tree, with three lovely streaks running around ! This

does not, however, mean glossing over the greatness and grandeur of the

Lord's chest, just below. Of course, the Lord's winsome chest is the seat of

Mother's residense, decorating it much more than the jewels. But then, how

can the necklace etc. stay there without the support of the neck from which

they are hanging ? Again, Mahalaksmi, poised on the chest, as well as His

other consorts, throw their forearms around the Lord's neck only, while

embracing Him, as could be inferred from the imprints of their bangles on

the Lord's neck. When the King of the swollen oceans (Prlayadevata) wanted

to gobble up, during the Great Deluge (Mahapralaya), the entire Universe and

its enormous contents, the Lord, the King of kings, forestalled the former

and preserved all beings and the worlds, containing them inside His belly.

Otherwise, they would have all been swept off by the swirling waters of the

surging oceans, in dreadful fury and dismembered. This, at once, brings

into focus His extra-ordinary prowess, His unrivalled supremacy over the

rest. Side by side, His Grace galore is revealed in that He rescued the vast

wealth of the Universe, things and beings of enormous dimensions and kept

them in the 'safe deposit vault' inside His belly for the duration of the

Deluge; He did this, unasked and unsolicited by the subjects, one and all,

the four-faced Brahma downwards. The Lord's neck is the gateway through

which all these entered.

 

Further, the neck tells us its tale of amazing simplicity, as well;

figuratively, it still reminds one of the folded errand - scroll, tied on to

it by the Pandavas to carry their message to King Dhrtarastra and his

diabolic son, Duryodhana. In the olden days, messages used to be put across

from one place to another through trained dogs and pigeons with the cudjon

leaf on which they were inscribed, folded and tied around the necks of the

couriers. They would reach the destination and effect the delivery, all

right. Yes, the manner in which the Commentator has put it only reminds the

reader of the role of an errand boy, played by Lord Krsna.

 

During the Deluge, the Lord's neck played its part in rescuing all things

and beings from the onrush of oceanic waters. Yet, it does not rest on its

oars. Now, in the Lord's iconic manifestation as Ranganatha, it continues to

play its due part in rescuing us all from the ocean of 'Samsara' (earthly

bondage), the very purpose for which the Lord, in His easily worshippable

(iconic) form, is staying on, in the holy island.

 

In the preceding song, the Alvar claimed that his massive, age-long

accumulation of sins got wiped off, at one stroke, by the Lord as soon as

the Divine Mother, poised on His chest, put in a word to Him, pleading his

(Alvar's) case. But then, this might not be readily swallowed by the

speculative philosophers and theoretical theologians. They would, in their

very nature, certainly point to Sastraik pronouncement that the sins

committed by the individual in a trice, cannot be wiped off even through the

resultant punishments, undergone over aeons of time. These skeptics, the

superficial critics, the academicians, are, however, silenced by the Alvar

in this song. The song begins with the episode of Lord Siva’s wandering

along, begging alms, to get rid of his father's (Brahma's) skull which had

stuck fast to the palm. It was only when, at long last, he approached Lord

Badrinath in the Himalayas, and begged alms to fill the begging bowl ( the

skull, which did not look like filling up, in spite of the long term of his

mendicancy ), filled up fell off the palm. Yes, it was Divine Mother beside

Lord Badrinath who pleaded for mercy, on behalf of the supplicant, and that

very moment (tat ksanadeva) the skull got filled up and fell off, granting

Siva instant relief from his long sufferings. See notes below, for further

details.

 

Text:

 

Tuntavenpiraiyan tuyartirttavan anciraiya

Vantu valporilcul Aranganagar meya appan

Antaranta bakirantattu orumanilam elu malvarai murrum

Unta kantam kantir atiyenai uyyakkontate ||6||

 

Translation:

 

'Tis our Sire, resting in the city of Arangam,

Amid orchards where abound bees with lovely wings,

Who the distress dispelled of Siva, sporting the

Cresent Moon

On matted locks; but look, 'tis His neck superfine,

Which did the cosmic eggs and the worlds beyond gorge

With all their contents, terrains vast and mountains

huge,

Which took this vassal on and granted him refuge' ||

 

Notes: Tunda ven piriyan tuyar tirttavan: Lord Ranganatha, who dispelled the

(dire) distress of Siva, who sports on his matted locks the cresent Moon

(just 2 days old in its waxing period of a fortnight). The episode runs as

follows : In a fit of rage, born of jealousy, Rudra (Siva) cut off one of

the five heads of his father (Brahma). The latter could have no doubt

retaliated, there and then and either cut off a head of Siva or slain him

altogether. But he did not do either, as the fatherhood in him gained the

upperhand; he simply cursed Rudra, 'Kapali twam bhavisyasi'. That is, Siva

was to undergo the torturing punishment of keeping the skull of the severed

head stuck to his palm (with all its stench of flesh and blood) until such

time that he got it filled with blood, seeking alms, employing the skull as

the begging bowl. Alas ! all the wanderings of the mendicant for getting the

bowl filled were of no avail and the skull did not look like filling up, at

all. At long last, he went to Badrinath in the Himalayas and begged alms

from Lord Narayana. Laksmi, the Divine Mother, seated by His side, also

pleaded on behalf of the supplicant, to ensure the instant influx of the

Lord's mercy. As usual, She succeeded; the Lord shook off the sweat on His

forehead into the skull, uttering the word, 'aksayam' (ever full, with no

depletion) and lo ! it got filled up and fell off.

 

Siva, the supplicant, felt greatly relieved; he could not believe his

eyes, whether he was awake or just dreaming, as he himself confessed to

Parvati Devi, later on. The full text of his statement runs: " Tatra

Narayanah Sriman maya bhiksam prayacitah Visnuprasadat susroni kapalam tat

sahasrada sphutitam bahudayatam svapnalabdha dhanam yada " .

 

What Siva had committed was 'Brahma hatya', the cruelest of sins. Our

Acaryas, unreservedly, place the following categories of men, in our midst,

on par with those committing 'Brahma hatya':

 

(1) Those, blest by God with the human body, with all the faculties, in

tact, and still fail to make use of such a simple recipe as 'namasankirtana'

(recitial of Lord Visnu's auspicious names, spelling out His great glory)

and ford across the ocean of samsara (see also Slokas 37 and 38 of

Kulasekharalvar's 'Mukundamala' where he laments, 'What a pity ! the

worldings can but do not utter the holy names of the Lord, and court intead,

endless miseries').

 

And (2) those who foolishly believe that they are their own masters and

not the Supreme Lord's, the rightful owner to whom all things and beings,

all over, belong; these folks virtually rob Him of His valued possession,

the Jivatma (atmapaharanam), theft of a severe magnitude, on par with

'Brahmahatya'.

 

Arangangar meya Appan: The eternal Father of one and all, all over (in

all climes) and at all times (in all ages), the Supreme Lord has graciously

taken up His abode in Srirangam, in an exhilarating setting between two

rivers, amid cool orchards, bright and gay, so as to redeem us over here,

prone to commit sins, such as those mentioned above.

 

And now, the last two lines of this Song (as per original text) depict an

altogether different posture of the Lord, different from the one, set out in

the opening line of this Song. There, mention was made of His ridding Lord

Siva of his traumatic sufferings, at the latter's request (entreaty). But

the lines, now taken up, describe the episode of the Lord's succour of all

things and beings along with the worlds, containing them, from the

devastating waters of the 'Mahapralaya' (the great Deluge) by sheltering

them all inside His bowels, unasked and unsolicited by the latter - The

Lord's neck, by itself cannot obviously play an independent role, in this

regard. And yet it is a pleasant (harmless) piece of poetic imagery,

attributing the benefaction to the neck. As a matter of fact, the gate of

entry is the mouth and the gulping is done by the throat (implanted in the

neck), a feature, noticeable from Song One. Well, the Alvar Saints send

their minds, quite often, as their messengers to the Supreme Lord as if the

mind is a separate entity, functioning by itself. In Tiruvaymoli (III-8) the

Alvar's limbs and senses are portrayed as vying with each other in lauding

the Lord's multifaceted glory, with competitive exuberance.

 

(To be continued)

 

 

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