Thiruvaimozi-1-2-6

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1-2-6

 

pattRilan eeSanum muttRavum ninRanan,

pattRilaiyaay avn muttRiladangE

 

The Lord even though He is omnipotent, shows His love towards all beings equally without preference, ever present. Hence one should give up all other attachments and devote oneself in His service.

 

PattRilan –The Lord is equally attached to all including as. The word pattRilan seems to mean that He is without attachment, pattRu+ilan. But the commentators take it to mean pattru+ il+an, Il meaning `in.' Then this means He has attachment in muttRa um, in all beings.

 

The words muttravum pattrilan eesanum is explained as `even to thou He is the supreme Lord, He is having affection with all beings however lowly, as he has said in the Bhagavatgita, `samo aham sarvabhootheshu name dveshyo asthi na priyah' (BG.9.29) All are equal to Me there is no one closer to Me or hated by Me. This attribute denotes His sowlabhya, which is extraordinary considering His Swamithva. Soulabhya or simplicity is nothing to be made much of in those who are ordinary but in the Lord it is a wonder.

 

If He is the same towards all how will He show His favour to the devotees as against the others who are not and act against Him? The reply is that He is there for all to resort to and equally attached to all to show His grace but like the child who is playing and wanders away from his father and calls for help only when he is in trouble, we are not calling Him and when we call Him he will respond. The Lord says in the Gita, priyo hi jnaanino athyarTham aham, sa cha mamapriyah, which means that when the devotee shows love towards Him the Lord will respond. It is like the mother who responds to the child who expresses his love even though she is equally affectionate towards all her children.

 

Hence azvar says, pattRilaiyaay avan muttRil adangE. Give up all other attachments to the worldly objects which include your kith and kin, get engrossed in His service attaching yourself to Him only. Why?

 

MuttRavum ninRanan- He pervades all as He is transcendent and imminent, everything is in Him and He is in everything. As the Upanishad says, `na va aare sarvasaya kaamaaya sarvam priyam bhavathi, aathmanasthu kaamaaya sarvampriyam bhavathi,' (Brhd. 2.4.5), all is dear not for the sake of itself but for the sake of the Self.

Since the Lord is the inner self of all, loving Him and attaching oneself to Him means one is loving his own self and hence attaching himself to it.

The word pattRilan is explained by Parasarabhattar as meaning that He is not attached to anyone, including the nithyasuris like Garuda and Anantha, except the ASritha, the one who surrenders to Him. Parasarabhatta gives an illustration to this.

Rama says to Sugriva, chiding him when he took a risk and went and assaulted Ravana and came back, `thvayi kimchith samaapanne kim kaaryam seethayaa mama; bharathena mahaabaaho lakshmaNena yavaayasaa; Sathruhnena cha Sathrughna, svaSareereNa vaa punah.'

It means, "If something has happened to you what is the use of Seetha , Bharath, Lakshmana or Sathrughna or even my own body to me?"

This does not mean that he did not care for others but shows his affection to Sugreeva. And his saranaagatharakshaNa dharma.

But He is in reality pattRilan as Desika explains. That is because He is avaaptha smasthakaama and need have no preference from one to another and he is equally established in His all forms, namely, para,vyuha, vibhava. Archa and antharyami. Whether He is called by the name Vaikuntavaasa, Dvarakavaasa, thirumalaivaasa, Vaasudeva, or silmply as Hrdhayakamalvaasa , He rushes to shower His grace equally.