Thiruppavai-17-ambaramE thaNneerE

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Pasuram 17-ambaramE thaNNeerE

 

ambarame thaNNeerE sorE aram seyyum

emperumAn nandagopAlA ezundhirAi

kombanArkkellAm l kozyundhE kulaviLakkE

emperumAtti yasOdhAi arivurAi

ambaram oodarutthu Ongi ulagalandha

umbarkOmAnE urangAdhezundhirAi

semporkazqladichelvA baladhEva

umbiyum neeyum urangElorempAvai.

 

Lord Nandhagopala, who gives clothes, water and food to all, wake up. Yasodha, the best among beautiful slender women, the light of the clan, wake up.Oh Lord, who is the God of gods, and who pierced the sky and measured the whole world, do not sleep, wake up.Balarama, with golden anklet do not be sleeping with your brother.

 

Nandhagopa is known for giving ambaram,clothes, thaNNeer,water and annam food to all.Likewise he is asked to give them Krishna also because as Nammazvar has said, uNNumsoru, parugumneer, thinnum vettrilai ellaAm Kannan for these girls.

 

aramseyyum-aram is charity done with righteous attitude, dharmabuddhi. That is why it is called aram, which means dharma in Tamil. To expect something in return is only a business. To do it as one's duty is dharmam.Of all the dhAnas annadhAna is supposed to be the best because one who gets it goes away satisfied.

 

YasOdha means giver of yasas which normally means fame and in the vedas it means Brahman. Since she gave us the Brahmam in form of Krishna she is called Yasodha.

 

The word ambaram has many meanings such as clothes, sky etc. The first ambaram means the clothes while the second denotes the sky. But the scholars take it that to translate ambaram in 'ambaramE thaNNeerE, sOre' as akasa, the word may be taken to refer to the Lord Himself.The basis for this is the upanishadic statement that Brahman, who was one and only without a second willed to become many and created the elements. Akasa being the first and later followed fire, air, water and earth. As the earth is denoted by the word annam the same order given here refers to the Lord from whom everything origiinated. Also ambaram meaning clothes is mentioned first as it is essential for human beings only, among all the creatures and only after wearing clothes after bath one eats food or drinks water. Lord Krishna was also the donor of ambara , garment to Droupadi and water to the horses in the battle by piercing the rock by his staff, used to tend cattle.

 

Ambaramoodarutthu refers to the piercing of the cosmic shell to bring water from the outer region as mentioned in the upanishad as 'thripAdhasyAmrtham dhivi,' that is the whole cosmos pervaded by the Lord is only a quarter of His form and the remaining three quarters are outside.It is said that Brahma wanted to wash the feet of the Lord when it reached his loka by the water of his kamandalu but found that it was not enough when Thrivikrama pierced the cosmic shell by His foot and brought the water which became the akasaganga, celestial Ganges which was later brought to earth by Bhagiratha.

 

selva baladeva- his semporkazal is a veerakkazal.as he killed asuras and dragged the whole Hasthinapura into the Gangesby his plough when Duryodhana insulted him and diverted Yamuna to where he was for his jalakreeda. Being the incarnation of adhisesha he cleaned the womb of Devaki to make it divine for Krishna, his Lord. As Devaki lost her six children Sesha entered her womb to clear the sarpa dosha, causing death of sons of Devaki and he stepped into the world to guard Krishna from evil forces. Sesha follows the Lord wherever He goes.as azvar says, 'senral kudaiyam,' he serves the Lord in all His states.Sesha and the seshi, bhagavan are not two but one.

 

umbiyum neeyum urangelorempavai- Sesha being the couch they entreat him to wake up as when he moves the Lord will be awakened.They call Krishna his younger brother implying that Krishna will listen to him if he takes mercy on them and recommend their case.

 

In the pasurams 16,17 and 18 Nandhagopa is mentioned as being the master (nayakanAi) charitable, (aram seyyum) valourous (undhumadhakalittran OdAdhathOlvaliyan).Desika in his Yadhavabhyudhaya says that Nandhagopa excelled the wish-giving jewel, chinthamani and the celestial wish- fulfilling tree, kalpatharu and the rainbearing clouds in his generosity at the birth of Krishna.

 

The ashtakshar manthra is referred to by this pasuram. Ambaram=pranavam,sOru =narayana sabdha and thaNNeer=namah

 

Ambaram meaning AkAsa denotes the pranava in which all sabdhas are included as everything exists in AkAsa.

 

Upanishad says 'annam brhmEthi vijAnAth' therefore soru=Narayanasabdha, the Brahman of visishtadvaitha

 

thaN neer - cool water is namah sabdha since it is the means of life eternal.Through prapatthi, surrender, the devotion attains its culmination and like the cool water the jiva is refreshed from the heat caused by samsara.

 

aram seyyum- The acharya gives BhagavAn, the seshi to the sesha , the jiva and vicevesa which is the aram .

 

kombanSrkkellAm kozundhu is the ashtakshara which is the best of manthras as it shows the Lord. It is like Yasodha who has Krishna and the manthra is the source of jnana(arivurAi)

 

Ambaram oodarutthu indicates the all- pervasiveness of the Lord.

 

umbiyumneeyum urangelorempAvAi-Bhagavtseshatnvam and bhAgavathaseshathvam. It is equally important to worship the bhagavathas as it is to worship BhagavAn, who will be pleased more by the propitiation of His devotees as a father will be more pleased by fondling of his son rather than honouring himself. The sleep here is the lack of awareness of this fact.