Thiruvaiimozi-1-2-10and11

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10.eNperukkannalatthoN poruL eeRila vaNpugaz naaraNan thiNkazal sErE

 

Resort to the infallible feet of Narayana, who possesses infinitely auspicious qualities , and the abode of all beings innumerable who are in reality immortal and of the nature of knowledge.

 

This pasuram is an explanation of the ashtakshara manthra.

The individual souls are innumerable,eNperukku, are of three kinds , baddha, muktha and nithya. Those who are bound by karma are baddhas, those who are released from bondage are mukthas and those who are always immortal like Sesha, Garuda, Vishvaksena etc are nitthyas. All these in reality, annalatthu, have knowledge by nature, oN poruL, and are immortal, eeRu ila. The praNava of the ashtakshara denotes Narayna by the syllable `a' the individual souls by the syllable `ma' denotes the jiva. The syllable `u' is either explained as Lakshmi, to whom and Narayana the jiva is the sesha or means `only as per the veda. This means that the jiva is the sesha only of Narayana.

 

Narayana is the substratum of all. The word Narayana is derived as naaraaNaam ayanam. He is the abode of all beings, denoting the transcendence or as naraaH ayanam yasya, in which case it means that He is in everything, denoting the imminence. How to understand that this means only Lord Vishnu and no one else? It is because naaraH means both beings and waters and it denotes the one who has made Hi abode the ocean, that is Narayana.

 

Hence eNperukku eeRu ila oN poruL, besides meaning the jives who form the sarira of Narayana, also means the Lord Himself who has infinitely auspicious qualities and the absolute immortal reality, who is mentioned as vaNpugaz naaraNan, and azvar asks us to resort to His feet, kazal sEr, which are firm and known to be the steadfast refuge to the devotees, thiN kazal.

 

The word sEr means `resort to His feet.' This refersto the third part of ashtkshara manthra, `namaH.' Thus the pasuram clarifies the doubt that to attain salvation what should we do. Resort to His feet by means of ashrtakshara manthra.

 

11.sertthadam then kurugur sadagopan sol seerthodai aayiratthu orttha ippatthe

 

The words of Sadagopa (Nammazvar), who belongs to Thirukkurugur which has many beautiful ponds, extolling the glory of the Lord, are the clarification of the means to salvation.

 

Sertthadam means beautiful thadaagam, ponds.

Seer means glory thodai refers to the continuity of merits of the Lord.

Orttha refers to the explanation of the goal as the Lord and the means as the prapatthi.