Thiruvaimozi-1.8

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1.8.7

kondaan Ezhvidai

undaan Ezhvaiyam

thaN thaamam seidhu en

eN thaan aanaanE

 

He tamed seven bulls, swallowed the whole universe and made

my heart His abode by making it His,

equal to the pleasant Vaikunta.

 

In Krishnavathara the Lord tamed the seven bulls in order to

win the hand of Nappinnai and during the pralaya He absorbed the universe

within Him. He thus occupied the mind by

all His leelas.,He even left His abode of Vaikunta and took residence in the heart

of Azvar which He made equal to Vaikunta in joy.

 

kondaan Ezhvidai-

controlled the seven bulls , Ezh vidai,which could not be tamed by

anyone and married Nappinnai thus fulfilling the condition laid by her father

to give her in marriage only to the one who did it.

 

Undaan- ate, He

absorbed within Himself,

 

Ezh vaiyam- the

seven worlds, implying that to the One who did this , to control the seven wild

bulls was nothing.

 

En eN theen aanaan-

He became thus the object of my thought, meaning that it made one think of Him

constantly savouring His leelas.

 

than thaamam seidhu

en eN thaan aanaan- He made my mind

His abode and made His equal to Vaikunta , His normal abode.

 

1.8.8

 

aanaan aanaayan

meenOdu Enamum

thaanaanaan ennil

thaanaai sangE

 

The Lord described thus became a fish, a boar by Himself and

innumerable incarnations and also He entered me Himself.

 

aanaayan aanaan-

He became a cowherd. aan , meaning cattle, aayan is the cowherd.

 

meenOdu Enamum thaan aanaan- He became a fish,

meen, and a boar, Enam, Himself.

 

ennil thaanai sangE-

to enumerate His incarnations one has to say that they are innumerable.( sangu

means a large quantity like crore etc.)

 

ennil thaanai sangE-Similarly

He Himself entered me.

 

What Azvar means in this and the other verses describing His

incarnations is that the Lord took all the incarnations out of His own free will and for the devotees to enjoy Him in all

these forms. Even though the devas entreated Him to destroy the demons and humans like Vasudeva prayed for His birth

the particular form in which He appeared was His own choice because no one

asked Him to appear as a fish and a boar. This was to make His devotees enjoy

Him , says Azvar.

 

 

1.8.9

 

Sanguchakkaram

angaiyil kondaan

engum thaanaai nangaL

naadhanE

 

Our Lord who pervaded

everywhere wields the conch and the disc in His hands.

 

In this verse Azvar says that the one who appeared in

various forms in His incarnations is the same Lord Narayana who wears conch and

disc in His hands.

 

Sanguchakkaram – panchajanyam and sudarsana

 

angaiyil kondaan –holds in His hands.

 

engum thaanaai – He pervades everywhere as the Supreme Lord,

transcendent and immanent and also as archavathara for the devotes to enjoy His

presence.

 

nangaL naadhanE- He is our Lord.

 

Azvar implies that the Lord even in His incarnations is

always with His sangam and chakkaram though It is not seen by others because He

is ready for dhushtanigraha and sishta paripalana always.

 

1.8.10.

 

naadhan jnaalam koL

paadhan en ammaan

OdhampOl kiLar vedha

neeran

 

The Lord , my Master, whose feet are worshipped by all the

world has innumerable qualities

described by the Vedas which are like the ocean.

 

naadhan- the Lord

 

en amman – my Master

 

jnaalamkoL paadhan-

whose feet are worshipped by al the worlds. This also has reference to the

Thrivikramvathara in which He measured the whole universe with His foot.

 

OdhampOl kiLar vedha

neeran- His qualities, which are ever rising like the waves of the ocean

can be described only by the vedas which are like ocean. .In this verse Azvar

describes both the supreme state and the easily available form of the Lord. By

the words naadhan and en ammaan, the Lord is shown as the all powerful and

jnaalam koL paadhan denotes His all pervading form and the above epithet refers to His incarnations which rise forever

like the waves of the ocean.

 

1.8.11

 

neerpuraivaNNan neer

sadagopan

nErdhalaayiratthu

Ordhal ivaiyE

 

Of the thousand verses of Nammazvar these ten describe the

glory of the Lord who is like water.(In His mercy and cooling quality)

 

neer purai vanNNan-

This is not taken to mean the colour of the Lord like the ocean though it

appears to be so at first glance. The commentators have given wonderful explanation to this

word.

 

This word refers to the qualities of the Lord which is

compared to water.

 

The water flows from raised to lower ground. Similarly the

Lord showers His grace to the lowly and

the humbleas He went to the house of Vidura in Hastinapura ignoring those of

Duryodhana, Bheeshma and Drona.

The Lord is essential to all like the water. The natural

state of water is coolness and the heat is acquired. Similarly the Lord is

cool and comforting always and His anger

when necessary is assumed. Just as the hot water is cooled only by cold water,

the anger of the Lord has to be cooled

by His grace only. Water though flowing always could be saved in a reservoir. The

Lord also could be made to stay by the

devotees.

 

The water can be consumed on its own and also helps to enjoy

other food. Likewise the Lord is both the means of attaining other goals as

well as Himself. Water is limitless and one could take as much as the vessel he

holds. The grace of the Lord is bountiful but that one takes a limited amount

of it is due to the limitation of his own

capacity like the devas who asked for the nectar which is nothing

compared to the attainment of the Lord but still he helped them to get it.

 

The water is of five kinds. That within the earth, that

which is known as aavaranajalam, which exists beyond the cosmos, that in the

milky ocean, torrential outpour and the water in the reservoirs. The five

states of the Lord, para,vyuha,vibhava,antharyamiand archa, are compared to

these five forms of water. The presence of the Lord in vaikunta as Paravasudeva

is like the aavaranajalam, inaccessible. His abiding in the Milky ocean where

He becomes accessible to the devas is His vyuha form. Like the torrents of

water in rainy season are His vibhavas

or incarnations in which He becomes accessible to all like the flood which is

everywhere. His archavatharas or the manifestation in the idol form for worship

is, like the reservoirs which are approached by anyone who needs His grace.

Lastly the antharyami form as the indweller of all is like the water under the

ground.

 

The Lord showers His grace on all like the rain but the

water from the sea requires the clouds which take the seawater and gives it to

all in the form of rain. So too the blessing of the Lord comes through the

acharyas who, out of mercy show the way to acquire His grace. Like the water underground

come up deeper we dig, the Lord becomes

manifest more we go inside ourselves and search for Him. As water enters even

through a small hole, the Lord enters our heart if we show a little love

towards Him and fills it up like the water does.

 

Some things float on water while others get drowned.

Similarly the heart lightened of its weight of the impurities like ego, avarice

etc. floats on Him joyfully while the heart heavy with desire and other

impulses go down and had to wait till the weight is thrown overboard and He

extends a helping hand to lift it to the surface.

 

All this was not irrelevant or out of context because the

Azvar himself has hinted about it by referring to the Lord as the Supreme power

as well as the loving and accessible entity by mentioning the incarnations and

the state of Him in Vaikunta, and also as the one who has entered the heart and

made Azvar His own.