thiruvaimozi-14-1

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Thiruvaimozi-1.4

 

 

This decade is in the form of madhurabhakthi in which the devotee imagines himself as a lover and tries to send the birds as messengers to the Lord. There is nothing uncommon or distasteful in this because we read that the rshis of danadkaranya were enamoured about the beauty of Rama and wished to enjoy him as females and hence there were born as gopis in Krishnavathara. The usage of expressions normally used in describing the physical love between man and a woman is only to make the common people understand the depth of love towards the Lord,, that is devotion. The words of azvar and other saints written assuming the role of nayakibhava are to be perceived in the same sense as the love of gopis towards Krishna or the love of Radha described on Geethagovinda, which is an illustration of jeeva-paramathma sangamam.

 

In madhurabhakthi there are three different ways of expression. They are, speaking as a nayaki, as the mother of the nayaki and speaking to a female companion. The feeling of ananyaarha Seshathvam, that is, to consider only the Lord as the goal and none else as Andal has said, `maanidarkkena pEcchuppadil vaazakillEn kandaai,' that is, "If I am supposed to be given to any human in marriage other than the Lord I will not live." This jnana that one is the sesha of the Lord only, is the cause of union of the devotee with Him and hence it is the companion. The knowledge that the means of attaining Him is the Lord Himself is the mother who tries to stop the daughter from going in search of Him, saying that He Himself will come and take her, as it is the custom of the world. The last stage where the devotee could not brook any delay and wants to reach Him by all means is figuratively described as the nayaki avastha.

 

Here Azvar speaks in the role of a nayaki and sends the birds as messengers to the Lord to inform Him of her state. Here the birds are explained to be the acharyas by Desika who have jnana and karma as the two wings.

 

1.4.1

 

anjiRaiya madanaaraai!aLiyathaai neeyum nin

anjiRaiya Sevalumaai aavaavenRu enakkaruLi

venjiRai puLluyirtthaarkken viduthoodhaai senrakkaal

vanSiraiyil avan vaikkil vaippundaal en seyyumo

Oh Crane with beautiful wings, you and your male counterpart should take pity on me and go as messengers to the Lord who has Garuda as His flag, and even if He put you in a cage there, no harm will come to you.

 

anjiRaiya –of beautiful wings

madanaaraai-female crane.

aLiyatthai-merciful

anjiRaiayaseval- your male companion with beautiful wings.

Here the wings are praised because the nayaki wants them to fly to the Lord.

aavaavenRu enakkaruLi- taking pity on me .

venjiRai puLLuyartthaarkku- the word venjirai may be taken as vem sirai meaning soft feathers or fierce feathers as vem can also mean fierce because the nayaki is cross with the Garuda for taking the Lord away from her. venjiRaippuL thus means Garuda and uyartthaar means one who has hoisted the flag of Garuda.

Senrakkaal van siraiyil avan vaikkil- Thinking that the crane may fear that the Lord may put them in a cage she says "what if?" meaning that even to be caught by Him thus is a mark of grace only.

 

This could be taken to mean that the azvar is praying to the acharya to have pity on him and recommend his case to the Lord. First the female bird is requested to show that the wife of acharya may be more merciful and may speak for him. The acharya is likened to a crane because of its white colour denoting the sathva. The word sirai means the wings of the acharya ,namely, jnanam and karmaanushtaanam, `mada' and `aLi' denote affection and the merciful disposition.