thiruvaimozi-1-5-9

[Guest guest]

1.5.9

 

maayOm theeya alavalaipperumaa vanjappEy veeya

thooyakuzaviyaai vidappaala amudhaa amudhu sedhitta

maayOn vaanOr thanitthalaivaan malaraaL maindhan

evvuyirkkum

thaayOn thammaan ennammaan ammaa moorthiyai saarndhE

 

We will never leave the Lord who is of supreme beauty, my saviour, the supreme Lord, like mother to all beings, ever youthful consort to Lakshmi who resides in lotus, the sole Lord of devas and who, as an innocent baby, drank the poisoned milk from Poothana, the cunning demon who was chattering, transforming it into nectar and killed her..

 

The word maayOm should be read along with the last word of the verse saarndhE, meaning , "We will not be separated" the plural used here may denote the senses and the mind of the azvar or it may mean that the Lord as well as the azvar will not leave each other. The Lord had come to azvar by Himself since he expressed a wish to go away from Him , considering his own unworthiness. Now that the azvar had found out that the Lord willed to be with him there could be no separation, is the meaning denoted here.

 

Azvar refers to the Lord as maayan, the wonderful, because appearing as a guileless infant, thooya kuzaviyaai, He drank the poisoned milk, vidappaal , from Poothana, which became nectar, amudhaa amudhu seidhitta so that the wicked demoness fell down dead, vanjaapEy veeya. Poothana is described by the word alavalaipperumaa, alaval n meaning a chatter as she came chattering too much to deceive everyone

 

At first the azvar referred to himself as aruvinaiyEn,(1-5-1) an exorbitant sinner and said that he did not deserve the grace of the Lord. But since The Lord Himself approached the azvar, he found that he could not leave the Lord even if he wanted to, neither did he want to. He marveled at the wonder that even the poisoned milk became like nectar and hence he comforted himself that a sinner like himself could easily be transformed into a pure soul deserving the divine grace. This is the meaning of serndhE maayOm.

 

The saints like Nammazvar referring to themselves as sinners should not be taken in the literal sense. It only shows their humility and also as their compositions are for the whole world, it refers to the mankind as a whole.

 

malaraaL maindhan evvuyirkkum thaayOn- The word malaraaL means Lakshmi who resides in lotus, malar. Maindhan normally means son but here used as the one who is ever young. He is evvuyirkkum thaayOn , the mother to all beings. The epithet malaraaL maindhan was used to denote the Lord implying His mercy which is why He is the mother to all. The Lord and Lakshmi are one and He shows mercy because She is in His heart.