Thiruvaimozi-1-5-7

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1.5.7

 

adiyEn SiRiya jnaanatthan aRidhalaarkkum ariyaanai

kadiSEr thaNnanthiuzaaikkaNNi punaindhaan

thannaik kaNNanai

chediyaar aakkai adiyaaraichcherdhal theerkkum thirumaalai

adiyEn kaaNbaan alatRuvan idhanin mikkOr ayarvundE

 

I, who is of limited knowledge, siRiya jnaanatthaan , cry out for seeing Him, kaaNbaan alatRuvan, who is incomprehensible even to the sages and the devas and who wears fragrant, beautiful and cool garland of Tulasi leaves and who removes bondage of the devotees due to karma which pushes them into samsara. What could be a greater ignorance than this! idhanin mikkOr ayarvundE.

 

Azvar feels his unworthiness in expecting the Lord to appear before him as He was not easily seen even by the sages and the devas who yearn for His darsana. Azvar says that nothing could be more ridiculous than wishing to see the Lord when he had not acquired the jnana of the sages or the merit of the devas even to whom the Lord was incomprehensible and unperceivable.

 

The Lord says in the Gita, `dhevaa api asya roopasya nithyam dharSana kaangshiNaH,' "even the devas are eager to see this form of mine" when He showed His visvaroopa to Arjuna and told him that He could not be seen thus either by penance, or by austerities, or by acquiring merit through acts of dharma like charity and doing yajna. `naaham vedhaiH na thapasaa na dhaanena na cha ijyayaa.' What the Lord implied by this was, He would show Himself only by His own will, which the Upanishad confirms by saying "yam eva esha vrNthe thena labhyathe,' He reveals Himself only to those He chooses to do so. Whom will He choose ? This is declared by the Lord Himself in the Gita that He can be attained only by single minded devotion.. 'bhakthyaa thu ananyayaa labhyaH.'

 

The Lord chose azvar and appeared in front and would not let him go away lamenting about his unworthiness. When the devotee bows down in humility saying `thavth bhrthya bhrtyha paricharaka bhrthya brthya bhrthyasya bhrthya ithi maam smara lokanaaTha' as Kuasekhar aazvar says in his mukundamala, meaning, "Oh Lord of the universe, remember me as the servant of your servant of your servant down to the seventh level of servants," the Lord comes towards him and takes him in His fold. Hanuman was treated as a messenger before he returned from Lanka and was embraced by Rama only when he became a dasa. Of course this honour was due to his being blessed with the divine mother.

 

Here also azvar at first mentioned the swamithva, over-lordship of the Lord saying that He was unattainable even by the sages and the devas, aRidhlaarkkum ariyaan, and then referred to His souseelya and soulabhya by saying that he was wearing the cool, beautiful and fragrant tulasi garland, kadisEr thannam thuzaaikkaNNi. This denoted the Lord as Krishna, punaindhaanaikkaNNanai, when he was accessible to all as the cowherd boy of Brindavan, wearing tulasi garland. Then azvar implies His vatsalya by saying that He removes the bondage of His devotees who suffer in the samsara due to their past karma, chediysaar aakkaai sErdhal neekkum. He is addressed as, thirumaal, implying that the mercy of the Lord is due to His being the lover of thiru, Lakshmi, the divine mother.