Srinivaasa Vaibhavam - NammAzhwAr's divine anubhavams- Thiruviruttham- 8th verse- My Master is going somewhere it appears....

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SrI:

SrImathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya namah:

Dearest all

 

After Nammazhwar anubhavams of Thiruvaymozhi [on

Thiruvenkatamudaiyaan], let us take up his other works

namely Tiruviruttham and Periya anthAthi.

 

Intro about Tiruviruttham: [from sri satakopan Swami’s

write up]

It is the first of the four prabhandhams of Swamy

NammAzhwAr. It is considered as the essence of Rg

Vedam. It has 100 paasurams set in the AndhAthi

manner, where the last word of one paasuram becomes

the beginning word of the next paasuram.

 

Tiruviruttham of Swamy NammAzhwAr is set in the

Viruttham metre and deals with the description/

narration of an important event (VrutthAntham) in

AzhwAr's life. This event is the realization of the

Divine Lord by AzhwAr. He experiences the union with

the Lord and that dhivya anubhavam causes him bliss

and the paasurams are the narration of that ultimate

ecstasy after disspiriting trials and tribulations.

 

The name Thiruviruttham has been explained as the

viruttham of Thiru (ParAnkusa Naayaki).The divine love

of SN for the Lord as a woman in a Rg rk sense is

being developed as a theme here. The Rg rk is

I.164.16:

 

Sthriya: sathIsthAm u meh pumsa aahu:

pasyadh akshNvAn na vi chEthadh andha:

 

(Meaning): They , though females , have been called

males, so we hear! He who has eyes beholds.

 

That the Supreme Being (Sriman NaarAyaNaa) is the only

Male, who can save the souls, which are all females is

brought out by this Rg rk. He is the Parama purusha;

PurushOtthama. AchAryAs prepare us

as brides for the Lord , even if we may be gender wise

males. Using this doctrine, SN enters the divine love

stage as a woman and surrenders to the Lord as 'her "

Naayakan .The paasurams describe the experiences of a

love-smitten Naayaki , who through prayer, eulogy and

constant rememberance(avicchanna smruthi) of her Lord,

overcomes dEhAthma Bramam and climbs through several

levels of SaadhanA to conclude the spiritual

pilgrimage at the feet of the Lord's (Naayakan's)

Thiruvadi to enjoy the ParipUrNa BrahmAnubhavam.

 

'Tiruviruttam' (Tiru Viruttam) is a poem of a hundred

four-lined stanzas. Each stanza is a 'Kattalai

Kalitturai', a special type of verse, each line having

five feet and all the four lines in the stanza rhyming

initially. Viruttam, besides denoting a kind of verse,

means a message or an event. It is generally held that

the poem is a submission made by Nammalvar to God of

an event, the event of his falling in love with Him.

 

Thaniyan on Thiruviruttham [by Kidambhi aachaan]

 

karuviruth thakkuzhi nIththapin kAmak

kadunkuzhivIzhndhu,

oruviruth thambuk kuzhaluRu vIr!uyi rinporuLkatku,

oruviruth thambugu thaamal kurukaiyar kOnuraiththa,

thiruviruth thaththO radikaR RirIr_thiru nAttakaththE.

 

Kidambi AacchAn points out that Tiruviruttham was

composed by AzhwAr to save the masses of samsAris ,

who have fallen into the deep pit of inferior births

and further have descended into another pit of KaamA

and are aimlessly wandering there throughout their

lives without hope for any salvation.Swami Nammazhwar

through this verse gives a powerful helping hand to

lift them out of their miseries experienced in these

deep , dark pits so that they can see the light (have

Jn~Anam) and enjoy the anantha kalyANa GuNams of

Sriman NaarAyaNA and set themselves on the course to

gain Moksha Siddhi. AzhwAr performs uplifting Upadesam

for these suffering samsAris out of his daya befitting

a ParamAchAryan.

 

This poem takes the form of a dramatic sequence in

which a few characters figure in what may be called a

play on love, the love of God being presented in terms

of the earthly love between a man and a woman. It is

natural for the human soul to identify itself in this

symbolism with the woman who loves and to view God as

the all-loving, eternal lover. In a number of stanzas

in the poem, Nammalvar's yearning for God expresses

itself through a woman's love-tossed heart.

 

Today’s verse on ThiruvEnkatam from this wonderful

work is the 8th verse of Tiruviruttham

Let us continue to enjoy

 

kaaNkin RanakaLum kEtkin

RanakaLum kaaNil,in^n^aaL

paaNkunRa naadar payilkin

Rana,idhel laamaRindhOm

maaNkunRa mEndhidhaN maamalai

vEngadath thumbarn^ambum

chENkunRam chenRu,poruLpadaip

paan_kaRRa thiNNanavE. 8

 

Essence: The damsel mentions to her friend that her

beloved man is planning to leave her to earn some

wealth.

 

Oh my dear friend [thozhee]! The chief of hill

station- my master- today behaves differently to me.

He takes more care of me and it looks obviously

explicit and artificial. They don’t appear natural.

From that I infer that he is planning to leave me and

go somewhere else for better prospects perhaps. He

intends to go for cool, great ThiruvEnkata mountain

the residence of Lord KaNNan [who had lifted the huge

Govardhana mountain]. He will go there where even

Nithyasuris wish to reside and earn material wealth

therein. For that only, he has chosen to behave and

act funnily today talking some sweet words with

[artificial] love and sugar coating..

 

Inner meaning: Srivaishnava Bhaagawathotthamas attempt

to leave AzhwAr and plan to go for ThiruvEnkatam.

AzhwAr understands the same based on their talk and

hence unable to bear their separation, AzhwAr

addresses as above.

 

AzhwAr ThiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

Regards

Namo Narayana

dAsan