Thiruppavai pasurams5to 10

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Pasuram-6-PuLLumsilambinakaaN

 

PuLLum silambina kaaN puLLraiyan kOyilil

vellaivili sangin pEraravam kettilaiyO

piLLaai ezundhiraai pEymulainanjundu

kaLLcchagadam kalakkaziya kaalOcchi

veLLatthu aravil thuyilamarndhavitthinai

uLLatthu kondu munivargaLum yogigaLum

meLLa ezundhu hari enrapEraravam

uLLam pugundhu kulirndhelO rempaavaai

 

Translation:

 

Oh young one, wake up. Don't you hear the chirping of birds and the

loud sound of conch blown at the temple of the Lord. The sages and

yogis get up slowly and chant the name of Hari, who is in their heart

and who is resting in the bed of Seshnag in the middle of the ocean,

the same Hari who killed poothana and sakatasura. The namasankirtana

sounds is tumultuous on account of the intensity of devotion.

 

Commentary:

 

In the first five pasurams the pavainonbu was extolled . In

the next five describe the arousal of the girls who are devotees of

Krishna and who wish to observe the pavainonbu.This implies the

thruppaLLi ezucchi of the bhagavathas for Bhagavatkainkartya.

 

Why should one go in a goshti or group to worship the Lord?

 

1.An ardent devotee will forget himself in the presence of the Lord

and will even lose the power of speech and so to have both feet on

the ground they wish to go in groups.

 

2.Moreover any experience of joy is doubled when shared.

 

3.Also anything delicious should not be enjoyed alone.Bharatha, among

the sins he enumerates that would befall to him if he had any

suspicion of the intention of his mother,cites the sin of eating a

delicious sweet without sharing with others in the house.

 

4.It is always appropriate to approach the Lord preceded by

bhagavathas.

 

5.Women by nature are softhearted and want to share their joy with

others.

 

PuLLum silambina - Birds have better sense of time that humans and

wake up before them.

It may have been argued by the girl whom Andal tries to

awaken that the birds woke up hearing the churning of the curd by the

gopis, who perhaps being old could not sleep.So the next sign of dawn

is cited.

 

Pullaraiyan kovilil veLLaiviLi sangin pEraravam - PuLLaraiyan may

mean Garuda in the sense of his being the king, araiyan of the

birds,puLL.It could also mean the Lord Himself as He is the ko ,

master of the puLLaraiyan, that is, Garuda.Koil means the il,abode of

the ko.

 

The reason why the word puLLaraiyan is used maybe due to the

auspiciousnessof the garudadwani, the sound made by garuda and the

darsana of garuda.

 

The worship of Garuda is extolled as being the antidote for

diseases, troubles from enemies and all misfortunes. It is said that

when Garuda flaps his wings the planets are moved.

 

VeLLaiviLi sangu is white conch used in the temples. The

white colour stands for suddhasatthva.

 

PEraravam - The sound of the conch calling the devotees for

worship sounds magnificent to them as it rouses the Lord in their

hearts.

 

PiLLai - The word may refer to a young girl or one who is new

in the group of devotees.Commentators see a reference to Periazvar

by this term as he was like a child,piLLai, in forgetting the glory

of the Lord and sang Pallandu for Him as though fearing for the

casting of evil eye on Him.PuLLumsilambina may refer to the garden in

which Periazvar reared for worship.

 

Pey mulai najundu refers to Poothana and kaLLa chagadam, to

sakatasura.Krishna feigned sleep when Poothana was feeding Him

because she should not get His kataaksha.Inspite of that through His

sparsa, body contact itself she went to better loka. Desika says in

his Yadhavabhyudhaya that for those who even think about this episode

will not be born again

 

When Krishna kicked at the asura who came in the form of a

cart-wheel it went to pieces but there was not even its dust

remained, says Narayana Bhattadri in Narayaneeyam. This he says

happened because the asura merged with the sudhdhasattva of Bhagavan

and therefore there was no rajas, with a pun on the word rajas which

means dust.

 

 

veLLatthu aravil thuyilamarndhavitthinai uLLatthu kondu- The Lord

is the vitthu , the seed or origin of the world, reclining on

Adisesha in the milky ocean, whom the sages and yogis preserve in

their hearts.So they are getting up from their sleep slowly meLLa

ezundhu in order not to disturb Him.

 

The idea that this pasuram refers to Periazvar conforms to

the expression veLLatthu aravil-----uLLatthu kondu as per his pasuram

in which he says'aravttha maliyinodum

azagiyapaarkadalodumaravindhappavaiyum thaanumagampadi vandhu

pugundhu,' (Periazvar thirumozi-452)describing how the Lord entered

his heart along with adiseah ,parkadal and Lakshmi.

 

Hari enra pEraravam - When all the sages and yogis in all the worlds

chant 'Hari' it becomes a tumultous sound.

 

ULLam pugundhu kuLirndhelO rempavai - the hari nama enters through

the ear and reaches the heart and like cool showers bring solace to

the devotee freeing him from the woes of the world.Rukmini says in

the bhagavatha in her letter to krishna, ' sruthvaa gunaan

bhuvansundhara srnvathaam the nivisya karnavivaraih haratho

angathaapam.' To those who hear His gunas they enter the ears and

relieves the torment of the body due to the ills of samsara. The

angathapa here is the viraha or separation from the Lord for the

devotee.

 

The spiritual meaning of this pasuram is explained thus: PuLL

refers to Hamsavathara when the Lord took the form of the Hamsa, swan

to teach the sanakadhi the Brahmathathva. silambanam is th speech of

the Lord. Since this pasuram has reference to Periazvar it reminds us

of his verses in the sengeeraipparuvam whrer he gives importance to

the hamsavathara by saying,'annamum meenurumaaLariyum

kuraLumaamaiyumaanavane, ennavalam kalaivai aaduga sengeersai,' thus

mentioning the hamsavathara before matsya,and other avatharas.

(Periazvar thrumozi-74)

 

PuLLraiyan can also mean that He is the master of all of us who are

termed as puL in the sense of beibngs like birds and animals without

jnana.

 

Kovil is the ashtakshar mantra while the sangu,onch is

praNavasvarupa.

Poothan stands for avidya, ignorance giving rise to ahamkara

mamakara.

KaLLAcchgadam refers to the indriyas which takes the sarira,the cart

to evil path while veLLattharavu is the sea of samsara and the

Lord isfeigning sleep inside our heart ready to wake up the moment we

call Him.Hari enra

peraravam is the call for help of the devotee to the Lord to come and

destroy,haraNath Harih, the duhkha.

 

PASURAM 7-Keesu keesenRengum

KeesukeesenRengum AnaicchAtthan kalandhu

pesina peccharavam kEttilaiyo pEyppeNNE

KAsum piRappum kalkalppa kai pErtthu

vAsa narumkuzal Aycchiyar matthinAl

Osaippaduttha thiyiraravam kEttilaiyo

nAyagappeNpillai nArAyaNan moortthi

kesavanaippAdavum nee kEtte kidatthiyO

thEsam udaiyai thiravelorempAvai

 

Oh girl with devilish nature (one having satvik qualities will not

sleep till the dawn), do you not hear the birds of the kind known as

AnaicchaAtthan chirping and the sound of the neck ornament of the

gopis who have started churning milk?You are the prominant member of

our group and how can you be lying in your bed after hearing us

singing about the Kesava who is none other than NarayaNa?oh lustrous

one come and open the door.

 

The sleeping girl is woken up by citing three signs for the

advent of morning.

1.The chirping of the birds.

2. The sound of the churning of milk.

3.NarayaNa nama sankirtana.

 

KeesukeesenRengum - The bird are chirping everywhere-engum. The girl

might say that you have only awakened the birds by your singing or

tey might have awakened by the sound of churnong milk by old ladies

who could not get sleep. So Andal says 'engum,'everywhere.

 

AnaicchAtthan kalandhu pesina pEccharavam-The birds seem to converse

with their mates.

 

KEttilaiyo PEyppeNNe- Have you not heard? She is called as

pEYppeNNbecause only rakshasis will sleep in the daybreak as they

roam around in the night.

 

KAsum piRappum kalakalappa -Refers to kAsumalai and thirumAngalyam

which denotes samsAra and hence gives birth,piRappu.

 

KaipErtthu- the curd in Ayarpadi is so thick after the birth of

Krishna and plentiful and it is difficult to churn it..

 

VAsa naRumkuzal Aicchiyar- The hair of natural fragrance is present

only to the ladies of devaloka and they are supposed to have been

born as gopis. So their hair is by nature fragrant,vAsanaRumkuzal.

 

MatthinAl osaippaduttha- the sound of the churning rod reminds one of

that of churning the manthara mountain for amrtha.

NAyagappeNNpiLlaI- She is of so prominant a family that many women

are employed to churn the milk which creates considerable noise.After

callin her pEippeNN she is now called nAYagappeNN piLLai and pacified.

 

KEsavanaippAdavum- The name kEsava is an exalted one because it

includes Brahma and Isvara. The word is derived as 'kascha eesascha

kEsou , thou vasyathayA santhi asya ithi kEsavah.' 'ka' denotes

Brahma while 'eesa' is Siva

and both are in His power and hence He is called KEsava.Moreover

KEsava is theLordof the month of Margazi. The word NArAyaNan moorthi

used as an adjective to kEsava is to affirm that He is none other

than NAraAyaNa.

 

PAdavumnee kEttEkidatthiyo- Here the reference is to NAMMazvAr, who

once vowed that he willnever utter the name of the Lord or think

about Him, not because of loss of faith but only due to his

awareness of his own worthlessness. But he could not remain so for

long and as soon as he heard a passerby utter the name his resolution

was thrown to the winds. Here the girl is chided that even after

hearing the Lord's name she is not reponding.

 

The word AnaicchAtthan may mean the Lord Himself as He

killed one elephant, kuvalayaApeedam set against Him by Kamsa and

protected another, GajEndhra, from the jaws of the crocodile.

Kalandhu pEsina pEccharavam may then refer to both the Lord and His

consort , Sri, talking with each other

 

KAsumpiRappum kalakalappa implies the sruthi and smrthi

proclaiming about the glory of the Lord and kaipErtthu may mean the

deep study and contemplation of them by vAsanarumkuzal Aicchiyar, the

acharyas who exude the natural frgrance of the Lord.Having delved

deep into the vedanta sasthra they acclaim loudly His glory,

KaipErtthu, with upraised arms, uddhrthabujAh.

 

KAsu, piRappu and thayir are taken to mean ashtaAkshara,

dhvayamanthra and charamasloka respectively and th epithet pEyppeNN

has reference to KulasEkhara azvar who calls himself a madman in one

of his pAsurams.

 

pasuram-8

 

keezvAnam veLLenru erumaicchiruveedu

meivAn parandhanakAnn mikkuLLa piLLaigaLum

pOvAn pOginrArai pOgAmal kAtthunnai

koovuvAn vandhu ninrOm kOdhu kalmudaiya

pAvAi ezundhirai pAdipparai konda

mAvAi pilandhAnai mallarai mAttiya

dEvAdhidEvanai chenru nAm sEvitthAl

AvAvenrArAindhu aruLElO rempAvai.

 

The eastern sky has become bright and the buffaloes are going to

graze and the girls in the Ayarpadi started going to perform the

vratha and we have stopped them in order to wake you up.Awake , you ,

who is of pure form that destroys all sins.Let us sing the glory of

Him who killed the demon Kesi and the wrestlers. He is the Lord of

the devas who when approached and prayed, will shower His grace on us

after judging our fitness.

 

Andal is waking up another girl by citing the signs of daybreak.

 

Keez vAnam veLLenru, erumai siru veedu- The eastern sky is lighting

up before dawn. The buffaloes are sent for grazing the dew covered

grass in the early morning, as it makes them yield more milk whereas

the cows are allowed to graze later as they cannot digest the wet

grass.

 

pOvAnpOginrArai pOgAmal kAtthunnai- The rest of the girls have

already started for the nonbu and Andal says that she has stopped

them to wait for this girl.

 

kOdhukalmudaiyapAvai- this girl is pure by which she is capable of

breaking,udaiya, the sins kOdhukalam. she is called pAvai because she

is pretty like an idol.

 

mAvAi piLandhAn - one who killed the demon Kesi who came in the form

of horse to kill Krishna.

 

mallarai mAttiya - one who destroyed the wrestlers of the court of

Kamsa.

 

dhevAdhidhEvanai- He is the Lord of the celestials.The commentators

find reference here to the expression 'ayarvarum amarargaL

adhipathi,' the Lord of the immortals, in the first pAsuram of the

thiruvaimozi of nammAzvAr, who is implied by this pASuram.

 

For the individual soul it is night till the awareness of the Lord

dawns, only when, the day breaks. The knowledge dawns through the

instruction of the Acharyas like Ramanuja and Desika who are

described by the epithets 'mAvAi piLandhAn,' as they break the

influence of the senses whcih are compared to the horse that runs

hither and thither drawn by the sense objects, and mallarai

mAttiya,because they win over the arguments of the opponents to

establish thier views firmly.They are the dhEvas who have performed

the above said feats and the Lord is the dhEvAdhidhEva.

 

AvAvenru ArAindhu arulElO -,If we go and sing His glory He will

shower His grace on us after ascertaining our worth.

 

This pasuram is considered as a reference to nammAzvAr for the

following reasons.

 

He refers himself as pAvai in thiruvaimozi.

The word ezundhirai, get up, may apply to him as he alone is seated

among the AzvArs in idol form. .

He rose as the sun in kaliyuga to dispel the darkness of ignorance

and his light was visible to Madhurakavi AzVar in kAsi which

attracted him to the place where NammAZvAr was and he became the

disciple of NammAZvAr..KeezvAnam veLLenru denotes the light of the

AzvAr.

 

Pasuram-9 - thoomaNi mAdatthu

 

thoomaNimAdatthu suttrum viLakkeriya

dhoopamkamaZa thuyilaNai mEl kaNvaLarum

maAmanmagalE maNIkkadhavam thAl thiravai

mAmeer avaLai ezuppeerO nummagaLthAn

oomaiyO anri sevidO ananthalO

EmApperunthuyil mandhirappattALO

mAmAyan mAdhavan vaikunthan enrenrum

nAmam palavum navinrElOrempAvai

 

Oh my uncle's daughter, who is sleeping in a couch in a mansion

lighted by lamps all around,with fragrant incense around please open

your door.Oh my aunt, wake her up. is your daughter dumb or deaf or

proud ? Is she under the influence of long sleep? Come and say with

us the names of Madhava, Vaikunta and the great enchanter of all.

 

In this world, some come forward to do good things voluntarily.Some

will join at the end. Others will only come when called and some

others will not come even when called. This girl is of the third

category.

 

suttrum vilakkeriya- All the mansions in Gokula are embedded with

jewels and it is bright always with the light of the gems but still

they light lamps for the sake of tradition.So it looks as though

there are lamps all around,

 

mAman magale- Andal imagines herself to be the resident of Gokula

where everyone is related to the others.

 

manikkadhavm thAl thirvai- the doors are full of gems and the girls

outside were not able to make out where the opening is and asks the

girl inside to come and open it.

 

Ummagal thAn oomaiyo----The elders came out hearing the call but the

girl did not and hence they call her dumb, deaf etc.

 

ananthalo- pride due to wealth, beauty etc.

 

Emapperumthuyil mandhirappattALO- A long sleep perhaps induced by the

chanting of some manthra.

 

mAmAyan mAdhavan vaikunthan enrenru -namam palavum- tells the elders

to wake the girl up by repeating the sahahranama of the Lord.

 

The reason of putting the term 'mAman magal 'is to indicate that the

real realtives are those who are the devotees of the Lord.

 

The Lord is called mAmAyan which denotes His soulabhya,easy

accessibility, and also may mean ma+Ayan, associated with Lakshmi,

mAdhavan to indicate His assciation with Sri, hence He is full of

mercy, and vaikunthan which implies His swamithva, being the Lord of

the universe.

 

The maya of the Lord conceals Him to the world but does not conceal

us from Him like those inside the dark glass window. Viradha says to

Rama the 'cows know their calves and vice versa but you know us but

we do not know you.' Ramanuja calls the maya 'bhagavatsvrupa thirO

DHAna karee,' the one that conceals the svarupa of the

Lord.Yamunacharya terms the maya as 'yavanikA jaganmohinee,' the veil

that deludes the world.

 

Indra and others eventhough aware of the identity of Krishna were

deluded into believing that he was a cowherd lad, which shows the

power of His maya.NammAzvAr says, 'amaivudai nAraNan mAyaiyai arivAr

yAre,' who can understand the maya of the Lord! Desika says in his

yadhavAbhyudhaya 'yadhgarbhE jagadhakhilam sa Eva garbhO dhEvakyAh

samajani dhEvadhEva vandhyah,' The one who has the whole universe in

Him and who is worshipped by the devensdhra, was born from the womb

of Dhevaki.

 

In Varahavathara the ocean was said to cover only the ankle of the

Lord while in Krishnavathara Yasodha was able to bathe him with

handful of water! that is the maya of the Lord! Not only that. The

one who told all to bow down to His feet in the charam

sloka, 'mAmEkam saranam vraja,' grasped both the feet of Yasodha

while she bathed Him!

 

The central idea of the pasuram is that one should not be deluded

into believing that the house and other possessions, indicated by

thoomaNi mAdam etc., are real and should acquire knowledge about the

Lord who is the only reality behind all.

 

Chith, achith and Isvara are the three reals of which achith is

everchanging, chith does not change in form but only in nature and

Isvara is changeless and the real of the reals, 'sathyasya sathyam.'

Therefore He is the 'thoomaNi,' pure gem. The upanishad tells about

this 'thoomaNi' and the veda which houses it is the 'mAdam,' the

mansion.The lamps that show the meaning of veda are the purANam,

smrthi and brahmasuthram. One who has the knowledge of these is said

to sleep in the 'thuliaNai,' bed which is the Lord. He is our bed

because every night we are sleeping in Him but we do not know it

because of our ignorance.

 

The lock of the door ,'manikkadhavam thAL,' is our karma which has to

be opened in order to get the knowledge for which we need the favour

of Acharya and the Lord who is the paramAchArya..If one succeeds in

acquiring all this he joins the group of bhAgavathas when the

dumbness, deafness and pride ,meaning that one becomes deaf and dumb

to all talk except of Him,and becomes proud of doing His kainkarya,.

opens his mouth only to sing the glory of the Lord thus engage all

his senses in the service of the Lord.

 

This pasuram is supposed to refer to Thirumazisai azvAr to whom the

terms 'mAmAyan, mAdhavan and vakunthan are favourite expressions and

he used to sing about the Lord in reclining position 'ThulaNai---'

The word 'suttrum vilakkeriya' refers to his profound knowledge of

the vedas and he was dumb and deaf when he was insulted on receiving

agrapuja in a yaga by brahmins. He was under the influence of

Peyazvar 'mandhirappattALO' and sleep for a paramaikanthin is to turn

away from worldly pleasures.

 

 

Pasuram-10-nOttrucchuvargam

 

nOtrucchuvargam puguginra ammanai

mAtramum thArArO vAsal thiravAdhAr

nAtratthuzAimudinarAyanan nammAl

pOtrapparai tharum puNNiyanAl pandorunAl

kootratthin vai veezndha kumbakaruNanum

thOtrum unakkE perumthuyildhAn thandhAnO

Atraananthal udaiyAi arunkalamE

thEtrmAi vandhu thiravElOrempAvAi

 

You who said we should observe the pAvainOnbu and attain the Lord is

sleeping now and not even give reply when we call you and do not open

the door Had the Kumbakarna, who met his death at the hands of the

Lord Rama who is none other than our Lord Narayana adorned with

fragrant thulsi garland and bestows His grace on those who worship

Him, accepting defeat,gave you his long sleep!We know you are

feigning sleep, come and open the door, you who are a jewel among all.

 

nOtru cchuvargam-This girl told everybody about the vrata and now she

herself is sleeping.

mAtram- reply

nAtratthuzai-----nammAl- thuzai is thulasi which is most pleasing to

the Lord. Thulasi will maintain its fragrance and can be used even

when faded and it can be reused unlike other flowers.Moreover thulasi

is exclusively used for Narayana.

nArAyanan- transcendent and imminent

nammAl- He loves us and loved by us because He expects only bhakthi

and sees no differences due to caste ,age etc.So He uis nam mAl our

Lord.

It can also be explauined as nammAl potrapparaitharum punniyan- the

sacred one who will grae us when we praise Him.

PuNniyan means Rama who is embodiment of dharma, 'rAmO vigrahavAn

dharmah.'

kootratthin vai veezndha- who fell into the jaws of death.Kootram is

Yama the lord of death called so because he separates, kooru

seibavan,the soul from the body.

Kumbakarna went to the battle on the day he woke up from his long

sleep and died he same day.So Andakl says that he lost his sleep to

this girl.

Atra ananthal - she is feigning sleep and hence cannot be awakened

unless she herself decides to come out because one can be awakened

only when really sleeping,

 

 

Notrucchuvargam,vAsal thiravAdhAr, mAtramum thArAr, pugugunra ammanai

in this order means that one who surrenders to the Lord gets the

highest fruit, moksha without any obstacles (mAtramum thArar) even

without doing the karma (vAsal thiravAdhAr) which serves as the

opening to moksha, namely the observance of austerities(nOtru

cchuvargam) and this refers to a prapanna.

 

The obstacleas to Moksha are the ognorance about the glory of the

Lord and desire towards the sensuel pleasures. These are like death

(kootram) Such a soul is said to have defeated even Kumbakarna who

was engrossed in sleeping only at which time he was not engaged in

sensual pleasures. Sleep is only ognorance without desiring for

sensual objects, which is another kind of sleep and hence it is

referred to as perumthuyil,long sleep.

 

Through the mention of Kumbakarna reference has been made to

Ramavathatra because Rama was saranagatha rakshaka, one who has taken

the vow of giving refuge to any one who surrenders to him ' abhayam

sarvabhoothAnAm dhadhAmi ithyEthadvratham mama,' even if it were

Ravana himself.'yadhi vAA rAvanassvayam.'

 

Thispasuram refers to Peyazvar who enjoyed the presence of the Lord

through the lamp lighted by the other two, poigaiazvar and

bhoothatthazvar and sang thirukkandEn ponmenikandeEn and hence he is

the arumkalam. Vasal thiravAdhAr refers to the fact that when he came

the door was open as he was the last to take refuge in the small

entrance in the house where the other two were already there and the

LOrd came as the fourth and gave darsan to them all.Peyazvar was the

acharya of Thirumazisai azvar and hence he is referredto as Atra

anathal meaning the special qualification of being a paramaikanthin.