Thiruppavai pasuram19

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Pasuram19-kutthuvilakkeriya

 

kutthuviLakkeriya kOttukkAl kattil mEl

metthenrapancha sayanatthinmElEri

kotthalar poonguzal nappinnai kongai mEl

vaitthukkidandha malarmarba vai thiravai

maitthadamkaNNinAi nee un maNAlanai

etthanai podhum thilezavottAi kAn

itthanai Agilum pirivAtrakillAyAl

thatthuvam anru thagavElOrempAvai

 

Oh Lord, speak to us. You are lying on a couch, which has got all the quaities of being the best like softness, and supported by the tusks of elephants, lit around with lamp, your chest resting on Nappinnai, who is wearing bunch of flowers on her tresses.Oh Nappinnai, with eyes decorated with collirium, you will not allow him to get up any time as you do not want to part with him, which is not right, and is against your nature.

 

Before approaching the Lord the divine mother has to be entreated as she is the one who advocates the case of the devotee to Him, which is called purushakaram in vaishnavism. The mother will give her grace to the devotee without consulting the Lord but will not punish wihout His approval. Sita saved Hanuman from the fire praying to the firegod to be cool 'SeethO bhava hanoomathah,' and saved the rakshasis from the wrath of Hanuman saying 'na kaSchit naoarAd\DHyathi?' , "who is without fault?" But she did not curse Ravana because, she said, she did not have the permission of Rama. This fact is very beautifully explained by Thyagaraja who says in his krthi 'mA jAnaki,' that Sita had all the powers to kill Ravana with her anger but desisted because she wanted to give the credit to Rama.

 

Kutthuvilakkeriya- the lamp will illuminate itself and the other things.. Likewise the divine mother shows the Lord to the devotees and vice versa.

 

kOttukkAl-The feet of the couch are made of ivory.

 

panchasayanam- an ideal couch must have five qualities. Softness.,whiteness, fragrance, coolness and beauty. Thus it is called panchasayanam.

 

etthanai pOdhum -----kAN- reference here is to Sita who did not wake up Rama even when Kakasura attacked her.

 

etthanai yAgilum pirivAtrakillAy- Sridevi is never separated from her Lord .Azvar calls him 'agalakillEn iraiyum ena alarmEl mangai urai mArbA.' This is the real meaning of 'nappinnai konhaimEl vaitthukkidandha malarlArba.'

 

Thatthuvam anru, thagavEl- thathvam is svarupam, nature, thagavu is svabhAva, character.. Not to show mercy on the devotees is neither suited to the nature or character of the divine mother.

 

thath denotes Brahman, that is, bhagavan, thvam refers to Lakshmi. Anru means 'not.' She is not Him as she is full of mercy and will not punish like the Lord.

 

The previous pasuram mentioned with reference to Ramanuja who was fond of it as it refers to ThAyar, the divine mother. It seems that he was so involved with this pasuram when he went on the streets singing it and when AtthuzAi, the daughter of Perianambi, his guru came out to give him biksha, he saw the ThAyAr herself in her and prostrated before her. Since then this pasuram is mentioned in connection with him.

 

The present one is supposed to be the favourite of Parasarabhattar.

 

The pasuram ambaramE begins with akAra and the next undhu madha begins with ukAra of the PraNava. The 20th one starts with makAra, 'muppatthumoovar' and this one is said to be inserted in between as the praNva should not be uttered direct except by vedic scholars .

 

KutthuviLakku denotes the light of jnana. which not only destroys the external darkness but also the internal darkness of ignorance.KutthuviLakku has five faces which denote here the five states of Bhagavan, namely, Para, vyuha, vibhava, archA and antharyami.Para is the state in vaikunta, as the supreme purusha, vyuha comprises of the four forms, Vasudeva, SankarshaNa, Pradhyumna and Aniruddha, all are one only though but distinguished according to the attributes that go with the bhagavathsabda.Vibhava are the incarnations, archa are the forms worshipped in temples and abtharyami is the indweller of all as their inner self.

The four legs of the couch denote the concepts that form the basis of the world, causing samsara. The four Purusharathas, dharma, artha, kama and moksha, the four asramas, brhmacharya, grhastha, vanaprastha and sannyasa,the four varnas, brahma,kshathriya vaisya and sudra, four yugas, sathya, thretha, dvapara and kali, and, papa, sin, puNya, merit, papapunya, the sin which appears as merit and vice versa, puNyapApa.These are the legs of samsara and the Lord is above 'mEl.' The pancha sayanam denotes the five kinds of life, deva, manushya, thiryang and sthAvara and aprAni, divine, human, animal, plant and inert. the lord is above the couch , that is beyond all beings . He is malarmArban of flower like chest, soft hearted.

 

kotthalar----mEl the bunch of flowers are the jnana on which the bhagavan is resting.

 

maitthadam-----pirivAtrakillai- when the devotee is applying the collirium of devotion the Lord is his maNAlan, the dear one . He does not want to part with the Lord ah gain and plapse back into the sleep of samsara. This is the thatthuvam the truth. And this will not happen without the thagavu, the grace of the Lord.