Sri Srinivaasa Vaibhavam- AndAL anubhavam on ThiruvEnkatam- Nacchiyaar Thirumozhi- 5.2

[Guest guest]

SrI:

SrImathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya namah:

 

Dearest all,

 

After PeriyAzhwAr anubhavams, let us now continue on

his darling daughter GodhA PiraaTTi¡¦s Naacchiyaar

Thirumozhi verses... on ThiruvEnkatam¡K [Extracted

from the most wonderful translation of Smt Kalyani

Krishnamachari based on Sri Sadagopan Swamin¡¦s

treatise and acharyas¡¦ commentaries.- Thanks to her]

 

 

In earlier verse, [4.2] AndAL requested the chOzhi to

help her ¡V koodidu koodalE¡K ANDAL has done her best

to plead to kUDal to unite her with her kaNNan; The

desired result had not happened. Thus, the achethana

was asked by GodhA to help her. Now a cuckoo bird

warbles sweetly in the grove, looking for its mate.

She looks at the chethana [the sentient ] and assumes

that it can think and understand her position.

Thinking that the cuckoo will very well realize her

plight in looking for kaNNan, godai starts pleading

with the cuckoo to call out to kaNNan and get her lord

to come to her.

 

We may wonder as to how the cuckoo bird can understand

our plight. Doesn¡¦t she know? When you are in

Bhagavath prEmai like those of AzhwArs, AndAL¡¦s it is

bound to have such a non-clarity [unlike us ¡V who are

very clear in our thinking that the cuckoo can not

understand; only we know what we can do-etc.. ] when

you are so much in love with the Lord.. It does not

apply to us naturallyļ says Sri Velukkudi krishnan

Swami in his discourse on naachiyar Thirumozhi.

 

GodhA remembers the cuckoo that was singing when she

and kaNNan were once spending time together in the

grove. Thinking that the cuckoo might remember that,

she falls now at the feet of the cuckoo to see if it

will help in uniting her kaNNan with her.

 

SitAdEvi even went to the extent of advising the

wicked rAvaNan that it is best for him to make friends

with rAma (which is equivalent as saying that he

should return her back to rAma):

" mitramaupayikam kartum rAma: sthAnam parIpsatA

vadhancAnanicchatA ghOram tvayAsou purusharshabha:

(SrImad rAmAyanam sundara kANdam 21-19)

 

When she could seek this help even from the enemy

rAvaNa, her requesting the friendly cuckoo to unite

her with her lord is not surprising at all. In

addition, while the inanimate kUDal cannot respond to

her words, the cuckoo who was responding

( " prativacanam " ) when it heard the words exchanged

between godai and kaNNan in the grove when they were

together once, would definitely respond now to her

pleadings to unite her with her kaNNan. This is

another reason for the lovelorn ANDAL to look to the

cuckoo for its help.

 

veLLai viLisaNG kidankaiyiR koNda

vimala Nnenakkuruk kaattaan,

uLLam pugunthennai naiviththu naaLum

uyir_peythu kooththaattuk kaaNum,

kaLLavizh seNpagap poomalar kOthik

kaLiththisai paaduNG kuyilE,

meLLa virunthu mizhaRRi mizhaRRaathen

vEngada vanvarak koovaay. 5.2

 

Oh cuckoo (who drinks the nectar from honey-laden

ceNbagam flowers and sings joyfully)! My lord has the

(pAncajanyam) conch in His left hand. This pure white

conch seems to have a sound that invites bhaktas to do

kaimkaryam to emperumAn. This lord of mine is not

showing Himself before me. Not only that, He enters

and stays in my mind and makes me suffer (in love) and

tortures me alive, at the same time enjoying this

drama. Without wasting your time near me by uttering

your mazahalic-col (child-like talks), go to my

emperumAn who resides in tiruvEnkata malai and call

Him to come to me!

 

veLLai viLi Sa~ngu iDam kaiyil koNDa vimalan - SrI PVP

makes two important comments here. One is that the

pure-white conch appears beautifully to contrast with

the beautiful black tiruemeni of bhagavAn which

resembles the water-laden cloud. The other is that

bhagavAn's tirumeni and His divya Ayuda-s are not for

His own benefit or protection, but for that of His

devotees only.

 

" na tE rUpam na cAkArO nAyudhAni na cAspadam

tathA'pi purushAkArO bhaktAnAm tvam prakASase "

(jitantE 1-5)

 

uruk-kATTAn - ANDAL laments that this parama-purusha

who has His divya rUpa and divya-Ayudha-s only for the

benefit of His devotees, is not revealing Himself to

her, His great bhaktai.

 

SrI PVP quotes similar experiences from tiruma~ngai

AzhvAr - " kAsin oLiyil tigazhum vaNNam kAttIr

emperumAn vAsivalliR, indalUrIr vazhndE Pom nIrE "

(periya tirumozhi 4-9-4).

 

May be He thinks His thirumeni is only for the

nitya-surI-s in vaikuNTham. This is like giving more

and more water for the fish whose abode is water in

the first instance, but He is not quenching ANDAL's

thirst.

 

nALum uyir peidu kUttATTuk-kANum: ANDAL is living the

life of hope against hope. She runs with great love to

embrace Him with her hands and then is hurting because

He is not getting into her hands. She keeps dying (not

being able to see Him) and coming back to life (in the

hope of seeing Him). But then it appears that bhagavAn

seems to be enjoying her plight, and is playing with

her this way. This seems to be His pastime!

 

kaLLavizh cembagam ... kuyilE: ANDAL seems to say:

" While I am saddened at the very sight of flowers

because my Beloved venkaTavan is not with me, you are

drinking the nectar in these same flowers and singing

with glee.

 

en vEnkatavan varak kUvAi: rAma was stationed in the

garden outside mithilai prior to His gaining the hands

of sItA pirAtti. So also ANDAL feels that His empirAn

is waiting in tiruvEnkatam just to come and gain her

hands. When He has come all the way from SrIvaikuNTham

for her, she is pleading with the kuyil to make Him

walk the few more feet and come and get her. SrI PVP's

anubhavam is interesting to read here: godai thinks

" the reason why He left parama padam and is stationed

in tiruvEnkaTam is only for her svayamvaram " .

 

In the first pAsuram, Godhai chides the cuckoo for

sleeping in the nice flower beds while she is

suffering, and in this pAsuram, she points out that

the cuckoo is enjoying itself eating and drinking

heartily from these flowers (SrI T.S. rAjagopAlan's

observations).

AndAL ThiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

Regards

namo Narayana

dAsan