Thiruvaimozi 1.5.3

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1.5.3

 

maayonigaLaai nadai katRa vaanOr palarum munivarum

nee yonigaLaippadai enRu niRai naanmuganaippadaitthavan

sEyOn ellaa aRivukkum dhiSaigaL ellaam thiruvadiyaal

thaayOn ellaa evvuyirkkum thaayOn Or uruvanE

 

The Lord created Brahma instructing him, nee yOnigaLaippadai enRu to create in his turn the devas, and sages who have born with extraordinary powers,, maayOnigalaai nadai katRa, who were responsible for the procreation and the Lord by Himself is beyond all intellect, sEyOn ella aRivukkum,. He placed His foot as Thrivikrama on all, in all directions, dhiSaigaL ellaam thiruvadiyaal thaayOn, without distinction. He is the mother, thaayOn, of all beings always, ellaaevvuyirkkum.He alone has such glory, Or uruvanE, of being high above and at the same time easy to approach.

 

Azvar, though felt that he was in no way fit to desire the grace of the Lord, who is far above even the devas , could not leave Him because of His souSeelya. He comes to the devotee when called though His abode is beyond the reach of the universe. It is only symbolic though as Mukkur swami used to say that the vaikunta is only as far as the voice can reach, kooppidudhooram, since the Lord came as soon as Gajendra called.

 

Azvar says that He placed His foot on the heads of all when He measured the world, and all are blessed because He is like a mother to all beings always. Like the mother who never allows the child to leave her and go away, He never could bear His devotees to leave Him and like the shepherd He always herds them to the resting place with Him. Even those who seem to oppose Him or be indifferent He carefully watches over them waiting for the opportunity to bring them towards Him even by punishment, like the shepherd catches the cattle that go astray.

 

Hence what is implied by the azvar is that, once you start having devotion towards Him there is no going back because He never allows you to do so.

 

There is a thrilling story about the azvar in this context. It seems that he , feeling that he is not fit to serve the Lord, desisted from even saying the name of the Lord and went and stood against a remains of a wall in order not to think of chant the name of Narayana, even for which he thought he was not qualified. Then a traveler came that way and placing his heavy bundle he was carrying on the parapet wall, (kutticchuvar) he was exclaiming `narayana,' to show his fatigue. Then the Azvar on hearing the name uttered by another could nor resist saying it himself and became his original self. This was the leela of the Lord to show that even if the devotee wants to leave the Lord he would not be allowed to do so.