Sri Srinivaasa Vaibhavam- AndAL anubhavam on ThiruvEnkatam- Nacchiyaar Thirumozhi- eight decad-8.2

[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… [Extracted from

the most wonderful translation of Smt Kalyani

Krishnamachari based on Sri Sadagopan Swamin’s

treatise and acharyas’ commentaries.]

 

nAcciyAr tirumozhi VIII – starts with viNNIla mElAppu

– these ten verses are on ThiruvEnkatam. Let us enjoy

the second verse- mAmutta nidhi Sorium)

 

mAmutta nidhi Sorium mAmugilgAL!

vE~nkaTattuc cAmattin niRam koNDa tALALan vArttai

ennE?

kAmattI uL pugundu kaduvap paTTu iDaik-ka~ngul

Emattu Or tenRalukku i~ngu ilakkAi nAn iruppEnE 8.2

 

Translation from SrImAn SaDagOpan's tamizh treatise:

Oh clouds, who rain blessings on everyone without even

being asked! Did the blue-hued, tiruvEnkaTamuDaiyAn

send any message for me through you? The fire of kAmam

I have for Him is torturing me inside out and I am

being tortured also by the so-called sweet breeze

during midnights.

 

Additional thoughts from SrimAn SaDagopan: vArttai

ennE?: ANDAL is suffering from viraha tApam and is

enquiring the clouds : " did vittakan vE~nkaTavANan

tell you when He is coming here? " Did " niccalum

tImaigaL Seyyum nIL tiruvEnkaTattu nIlamEga vaNNan "

send a message for me that He would come soon, knowing

that I am suffering from love for Him? Even though she

is taking after her father and blabbering:

" vEdapporuLE, en vE~nkaTava, vittaganE in~gE

pOdarAyE " , her vEnkaTavan is not coming to her and is

staying put in tirumalai, totally ignoring her. Hence

her sympathetic appeal to the clouds.

 

Additional thoughts (from SrI Periya Vacchaan Pillai

):

nidhi Sorium: The clouds are used to giving all the

time and that too not waiting for anyone to ask, and

not expecting anything in return. In fact, when the

clouds can't shower like this, their body becomes all

pale (white). tiruvaLLuvar praises this greatness

through the following tirukkuRaL - " kaimmARu

vENDAk-kaDappADu mAri mATTennARRunkollO ulagu " - the

world does not think of repaying the favor given to

them by the raining clouds; that is how service to

others must be given - without expecting anything in

return (from SrI kr*shnasvAmi iyengar).

 

VenkaTattu - The thought here is that the clouds share

this same place with tiruvE~nkaTamuDaiyAn, and so they

are very familiar with Him. Since they live in the

same place as He does, they should know. SAmattin

niRam koNDa: The word SAmam here stands for the

samskr*t words SyAmam, meaning " dark-blue " . The clouds

not only share the place with Him, but they also

resemble Him in color [[ " Uzhi mudalvan uruvam pOl mey

karuttu " - tiruppAvai]].

 

tALALan: Refers to His Greatness, viz. those who

surrender at His Feet are unconditionally given

moksham irrespective of any sins they might have

committed.

 

SrI T.S.rAjagopAlan observes that tALALan also refers

to His having a SarIram for Himself that is really

held by Him only for the sake of His devotees. SrI PVP

refers to the jitante stotram 1.5 - " na te rUpam na

cAkAro nAyudhAni na cAspadam | tathA'pi purushAkAro

bhaktAnAm tvam prakASase || " . In this sense, bhagavAn

has the greatness that the mA-mugil lacks, viz. He

bears this tirumeni for the sake of others, but keeps

aloof from them till they come seeking Him; He does

not go and embrace everyone irrespective of their

disposition to Him, unlike the clouds which shower for

everyone. [but He does not now grant the same for

AndAL- that is her grouse]

 

vArttai ennE?: Even though He didn't come here, if He

felt that it is His own loss not to have responded to

ANDAL's prayers, he must have said something to the

clouds, and ANDAL is asking the clouds for this

information. For instance, He could have felt bad that

He did not come and help ANDAL by fulfilling her

prayers, and told the clouds:

 

1. Find out what godai is doing and let me know.

2. I cannot live without ANDAL for even a second, just

as rAma could not live without sItai even for a second

- " na jIveyam kshaNamapi " (SrImad rAmAyaNam sundara

kANDam 66-10)

.. 3. I don't even know that a girl named ANDAL is

related to me - as dushyantan said about SakuntalA.

godai is hoping to survive just listening to His

words. How can words be enough to survive?

 

SrI PVP quotes arjuna's words in gItai, where arjuna

was able to carry on just listening to bhagavAn's

words: " nashTO mOha: s*mrtir labdhA tvatprasAdAn

mayA'cyuta | sthitosmi gatasandeha: karishye vacanam

tava " - gitA 18-73. (acuta! My moham got destroyed; I

attained true knowledge; my doubts are all cleared; I

will do as you said). Additionally, SrI kr*shnasvAmi

iye~ngAr quotes nammAzhvAr's tiruvAimozhi 4-7-3 to

point out that even negative words from bhagavAn could

have made him continue living:

 

" pAvi nI enRu onRu SollAi pAviyEn kANa vandE " -

nammAzhvAr wishes to at least listen to some chiding

words from emperumAn - " Call me a great sinner, that

is fine, as long as you come and talk to me " . Even

though godai kept asking the clouds what His words

were, they keep quite and so becoming depressed, she

continues her outbursts.

 

kAmat-tI uL pugundu: ANDAL wonders: Maybe He thinks

that the kAmat-tI or fire of intense love towards Him

is like the ordinary fire of this world. Think of

naraka agni, which is several times more intense than

the ordinary agni of this world. The kAmat-tI by which

ANDAL is being tortured longing for Him is several

times more intense than the naraka agni also. This

agni first scorched her external appearance, and now

is finding its way to scorch her AtmA. Since the fire

of this kAmat-tI originated from her AtmA to start

with anyway, it is not wonder that it is now troubling

the AtmA.

 

kaduvappaTTu: This fire of longing for Him is not only

scorching her inside out, but now it is catching fire

and burning her.

iDaikkan~gul Emattu: this can construed in 2 ways:

1. ka~ngul iDai yAmattu - During the middle of the

night;

2. iDaik-ka~ngul - in the middle of the night, Emattu

- with a lot of security in a lonely surrounding. Even

though she is longing to be with Him all alone, now

she is all alone without Him and with no one to even

console her.

 

Or tenRalukku: ANDAL is wondering if He really is

unconcerned because He does not realize how severe the

effect of this breeze is on her. But then again, the

fact that the tenRal (sweet breeze) is torturing to

lovers who are separated is nothing new to Him. He

knows exactly how it feels: padma sougandhi kavaham

Sivam SOka vinASanam | dhanyA lakshmaNa! SevantE

pampOpavana mArutam || (kishkindA 1.105) " Oh

lakshmaNa! Only bhAgyavAns will enjoy this pure breeze

which brings the sweet smell of the lotus flowers, and

which comes floating over the groves in the banks of

pampA river " . rAma, when He was separated from pirATTi

could not bear the breeze and felt tortured. And since

He knows this personally, should He not have come and

offered His protection to her under His Feet? He

should know that the only way the severity of this

breeze will subside is if the two were united and

together.

 

SrI PVP explains in detail how Lord rAma describes

this tenRal that is killing Him: Sivam - Auspicious

(since it will destroy Him who is separated from sItA

pirATTi); Soka vinASanam - relieve Him of His misery

(by destroying Him once for all without slowly

torturing Him); pampovana mArutam - the breeze from

the pampo vanam (which in His case is like fire from

an agni kuNDam). nan illakkAi: ANDAL is wondering why

she has been targeted for this suffering. Is it

because He thinks she should also suffer like Him or

that she is also capable of bearing this torture as He

did? She is the type who trembles when she encounters

breeze, and she won't live long under these

circumstances. Or, does He want to live after she is

gone?

 

Thanks to Smt Kalyani krishnamachari for her wondreful

post... and permission to enjoy in this series.

AndAL ThiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

Regards

Namo Narayana