Thiruvaimozi 1.5.1

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Thiruvaimozi-1.5

 

 

Azvar as a nayaki sent messengers to the Lord and He seeing the desolate state of Azvar the Lord came in front of him. On seeing Him the azvar felt his unworthiness and condemns his audacity of wishing to unite with the Lord in the first two pasurams. But the Lord was not going to allow this. When He has decided to shower His grace on the devotee nothing can stop Him, including the lack of desire of the devotee to receive it. Hence the Lord had shown His soulbhya and souSeelya and the azvar found that he could not leave the Lord even if he wanted to and once he had experienced the grace of the Lord he would not leave Him.

 

Souseelyam is defined as `mahathah mandhaihi saha neerandhra samslesha svabhaavah, the close friendship shown by the great towards the humble folk.

 

soulabhyam is labhdhum susakathvam, easy accessibility. Azvar refers to Him by His exploits in Krsshnavathara in the following pasuram as He was displaying the souseelya and soulabhya as never before in His Krishnavathara.

 

1.5.1

 

vaLavEzulagin mudhalaaya vaanOr iraiayai aruvinaiyEn

kalavEzh veNNai thoduvunda kaLvaa enban pinnaiyum

thaLavEzh muRuval pinnaikkaai vallaan aayar thalaivanaai

iLaveRu Ezhum thazhviya endhaai enbanninaindhu naindhE

 

I, who is an exorbitant sinner, referred to the Lord, the cause of the seven worlds and master of the devas, as the thief who had stole butter and also as the strong cowherd who tamed the seven bulls to marry Nappinai, whose smile on thinking of Krishna was like the buds of jasmine flowers

 

Valavu denote the glory of the Lord.

 

Ezhulagin mudhalaaya- one who is the cause of all the seven worlds.

 

vaanOr iraiyai- the Lord of the devas.

 

aruvinaiyen- I who is the worst sinner

 

enban- said (called You)

 

kaLavu Ezh vennai thodu unda kaLvaa – the thief, who is fond of stealing the butter. thodu implies putting his hand deep into the pot and taking all the butter. The actual meaning of this is given by the commentators as being, the Lord steals the heart of the devotee which is the butter without they being aware of it, because no one starts having devotion out of will to do so. It just happens through His will when He simply robs the heart of the one whom He wants to shower His grace .Only requirement for Krishna to come and steal the butter is to keep it in al clean pot, meaning a pure heart. So when the devotee calls Him a butter-thief this is the meaning .

 

Ninaindhu naindhu- drained out thinking of His glory.

 

thaLavu ezh muruval pinnai- Nappinnai who has a smile like the jasmins buds,

 

vallaan aayarthalaivanaai- the leader of the cowherds , that is Krishna, strong and powerful,

 

iLaveRu ezhum thzhuviya- taming the seven youthful, hence fierce bulls, to marry Nappinnai, whose father laid a condition that only the one who tames the seven fierce bulls of him will marry his daughter.

 

Azvar means that he has no qualification whatsoever to be so familiar with the Lord to call Him a butter-thief and a strong cowherd who tamed the bulls etc. like Yasodha or the gopis who were blessed souls, even of it was done as way of extolling his leelas.

 

It is usual for the devotees who are enchanted with the infinitely auspicious attributes of the Lord to feel that they are not even worthy of extolling His greatness, not to mention the union with Him. Alavandar in his sthothra rathna says,

 

Dhik asuchim avineetham nirbhayam maam alajjam

Paramapurusha yo aham yogivaryaagragaNyaiH

viDhisivasanakaadhyaiH Dhyathum athyantha dhooram

thavaparijanabhaavam kaamaye kaamavrtthaH

 

It is despicable that I who is impure, immodest, audacious, impudent and self -willed wish to be the servant of You the supreme purusha whom even the best of yogis like sanatkumara and Brahma and Siva are not able to conceive in their minds.

 

Similar idea is found in the Vaikuntasthva of kooratthaazvar and in Rangarajasthva of paraasarav bhatta.

 

Andal says in Tiruppavai,

 

kuRaivonRum illaadha govindhaa-------aRiyaadha piLlaigaLom anbinaal unthannai siRupErazhaitthanavum SeeRi aruLadhe

 

This means , " You are ananthakalyaNa guNa visishta, endowed with infinite auspicious qualities and without a blemish. we do not know the proper way of worshipping you as we do not have any learning. Not knowing your greatness we may have treated you as one among us. So do not get angry."

 

Arjuna says in the Gita on seeing the visvaroopa of the Lord,

 

 

'sakhEthimathvA prasabham yadhuktham hE krishna hE yadhava hE sakhethi;ajAnathA mahimanam thavEdham,mayA pramAdhAth pranayEna vapi,' (BG.11-41)

 

There Arjuna asks forgiveness of Krishna on seeing His visvaroopa, that he had been calling Krishna with familiarity, treating Him like a friend, by names such as Krishna, Yadhava, friend etc.

 

When the devotee is full of love for the Lord even if he considers himself unworthy the Lord makes him worthy of His grace and appropriates him.