Thiruvaaimozhi 5.7- Aaraa amudhE! adiyEn aavi aghamE thitthippaay!

From the Bhakti List Archives

• April 29, 1998


SrI:

Dearest Sisters and Brothers,

AzhwAr surrendered at the Lotus Feet of SrI varamangala Deiva naayakan 
and still found himself waiting for the Lord. HE still has not turned 
up. Now, AzhwAr assures himself that He will definitely save the 
devotees and tries to go to another Divya kshEthram and try his luck. 
Now he goes to Thirukkudanthai. (Our SrI Mani's abhimaana sthalam , 
where the Lord obeyed Thirumazhisai AzhwAr when AzhwAr asked Him to get 
up and immediately felt guilty in asking the Lord and again requested 
Him to lie down). The Lord's name is ARAA AMUDHAN. Insatiable nectar. 
The nectar, "akkaara vadisal", the consumption of which never satisfies 
us; aahA enna pEr! How most appropriately named! 

NammAzhwAr is having so much of MahA vishwaasam that he sings and pleads 
the Lord to shower mercy on him. Lord turned His face away when BharatA 
was pleading Him to return to Ayoddhi. The Lord Rama  did that to pay 
respect to His father's words; But why in the case of NammAzhwAr? Why 
does He turn His face away still, when AzhwAr is pleading with such 
Great pAsurams? MAY BE BEACUSE HE WANTS NAMMAZHWAR TO COMPLETE THE 
THOUSAND PASURAMS.

1.  "Aaraa anudhE! AdiyEn udalam ninpaal anbaayE" - Aaaraa amudhE! Oh 
insatiable nectar! EmperumaanE! What a Divinely Beautiful form is Your 
body! However many times I enjoy that naver satisfies me, Lord! You are 
giving me immense satisfaction that is limitless and unbounded. Due to 
my love for You, my physical body also has been melting along with my 
heart longing to see You. Oh ThirumaalE! You have been literally killing 
me with Your azhagu; I have been blessed to enjoy here at 
Thirukkudanthai by seeing Your Most Beautiful form;  ( ItIhyam: Once, 
Loka saarangha muni, was at somewhere in the North as a priest in some 
Lakshmi narayan temple. Once, a Srivaishnava went to North on a 
pilgrimage tour and happened to meet our Loka saarngha muni, Muni asked 
if there is any special news from South. That guy said "There is an 
excellent set of Pasurams written by Sri sadgopar, which every sri 
vaishnava enjoys reciting" and even sang this "Aaraa vamudhE!" pasuram. 
Saarangha muni was simply overwhelmed with the beauty and admired such a 
beautiful, apt name in addition to Bhagawaan's 1000 NAMES. It appears he 
started proceeding to down south and settled at Srirangam immediately 
after. Then is the history about his lifting ThiruupANAzhwAr on his 
shoulders.) 

2.  EmmanE! My Lord! You have shown me Your beauty and captured my 
heart; You have enabled me to enjoy Your Most Beautiful Divine form of 
Your ThirumEni; Whatever forms You take, They are all due to Your mercy 
and dayA to save the devotees; Oh EmperumaanE! Who looks like a Big, 
Beautiful Lion! Oh Thirukkudanthai BhagawaanE, The One who is lying down 
with His Red Lotus eyes closed! Please show Your mercy one me and see me 
with Your Most Beautiful SenthaamaraikaaNgaL (Red Lotus Eyes);

3.  "ennaan seghEn? YaarE kaLaigaN?" To hold Your Lotus Feet, there is 
nothing that I can do; what is the link between the action and me? Who 
is the support for me except You? (Means; those who are drowning can NOT 
be saved by the fellow co-drowners); Are You rying to keep me away by 
showing other "things"? You are there so near; and it is You who should 
come by Yourself; Are You to come by my asking for it? (Peryaavaacchaan 
PiLLai says: I do not want Your coming for my words or for others'. You 
should come by Yourself;) Oh PerumaaLE! The One who is having His Yoga 
nithrA at Thirukkudanthai! You should shower Your mercy and grace on me 
to let me hold Your Lotus Feet and keep thinking of that while this 
Athman stays in this body; as long as "It" stays here, I should only 
stay at Your Lotus Feet holding Them tight. (In this Pasuram, Dearest 
Sisters and Brothers, "en naan seighEn? What can I do? There is nothing 
that I can do; I am helpless- aakinchanyam. " yaarE kaLaigaN?" Who will 
save me? - ananya gahtitvam. Ennai en seighinRaay? What are You going to 
do with me? You are to save me; (Rakshathvam- SarvEshwaranE rakshakan)

4.  EmperumaanE! Your Most ausipcious attributes and Your shrEya are 
never ending; and will never vanish; Whoever is he, for whatever 
qualities or powers they have; compared to Yours, it is nothing and they 
can NOT EVEN MEASURE YOUR guNAs and keerthi. Absolutely none; Oh Chief 
of everyone! Thirukkudanthai PerumaanE! Without seeing You, I am crying 
looking at the sky and am paying obeisance to the sky looking at the 
clouds (like a child)!

5.  EmperumaanE! Like the children crying for their mother, I have 
started crying for You. I have realised in my mind and paid obeisance to 
You. Even then, my desires are not fulfilled yet; Somehow, I wish to 
attain You and hence, I will dance foolishly and sing with full of 
prEmam for You; "Vaa, Vaa" (Come here; Come here) like that I will be 
calling You with madness; Why all this? My love for You is the reason 
and still my karmic diseases are keeping You away from me and stop me 
from hugging You tightly, Lord! My bhakti also has become my karmA and 
that has been chasing me; I look at all directions with "naaNam" 
(shyness) whether You are coming; Oh Lord, who lies down at 
Thirukkudanthai! You only should show me the way to reach Your Lotus 
Feet.

6.  Oh Lord, who looks like the Male Lion! You only should gracefully 
show me the way to attain Your Lotus Feet by making me get rid of my 
karmic diseases; Even after knowing the way to attain Your Feet, I have 
been feeding my five sense organs and how long should I be suffering 
like this my EmperumaanE! Oh Thiruukudanthai Lord, The Place where Your 
devotees stay! Oh Chief of Nitya sUris! Oh Aaraa amudhA! Oh 
jnAnaswarUpI! I SIMPLY CAN NOT LIVE without You; by being away from You; 
You only shall lead me to the way to reach Your Feet.

7.  Oh Male Lion like Lord! The beauty of Golden Form! Red Lotus Eyed, 
Black Cloud- like EmperumaanE! Oh My Father, The Four shouldered Lord! 
You showed me the way to join You; You are so merciful! Oh 
Thirukkudanthai ThirumaalE! Please offer me Your Lotus Feet and save me 
from these births!

8.  Whether You remove my sorrows or not; Whatever You do, is Your 
duties and work; "You are the only means for me"- in that statement, I 
do not have a single iota of doubt; (On the contrary, it has only been 
increasing!) Hence, I do not look for any one else's helps, except You; 
Oh BhagawaanE!  The One who has the ChakrA in His hand! Oh Lord, who 
shows Himself so gracefully at Thirukkudanthai! Oh SakalakalA vallavA! 
The time for my jIvan to leave this body has come; At least in this 
anthim kaalam, You should bless me to reach Your Feet without delay.

9.  Without making me wait for a long time, You let me join to serve You 
as Your eternal servant, by getting me out of these Samsaaric ills; Oh 
EmperumaanE! The Chief of Nitya sUris! What a wonder and How You let me 
desire Your Lotus Feet when I was actually NOT desiring for Them! 
(means: It is Emperumaan's grace that one thinks of  His Lotus Feet) 
Aren't You the Chief of DevAs, too who are immortal and also the Chief 
of VishvaksEnA (the chief of dEvAs)! Oh mummUrthiyE! Oh EmperumaanE, The 
One who is lying down at Thirukkudanthai to remove the sorrows of His 
devotees! You should gracefully come here to let me enjoy You and get 
saved!

10.  Oh EmperumaanE! You are letting me enjoy only in my mind and NOT 
with my eyes! Oh Wonderful Lord of Thirukkudanthai! Nitya Divya mangaLa 
vigrahA rUpA! The Most sweetest insatiable nectar! (AarA amudhE!) You 
have captured me and removed my incurable diseases of karmA and past 
actions; You have accepted my servitude; Even after being accepted by 
You, should I still be suffering here, BhagawaanE! 

11.  Sri SadagOpar has caught hold of The Lotus Feet of KaNNan, (who 
sucked the life of bhUthanai, the rAkshasi, along with her breast milk, 
who came in the guise of a lady to offer the infant KaNNan her poisonous 
breast milk to kill Him) and sung thousand pAsurams about KaNNan, which 
are sweeter than the music of flute; Out of those 1000, the readers of 
these ten are so dear and sweet to SrI Vaishnavas.    

(During my last visit to India, we paid our obeisance to Thirukkudanthai 
Aaraavamduhan and the kOil bhattar sang these ten pAsurams in such a 
sweet melodius tune, that it made me envy that bhattar. He also added 
that "nadandha kaalgaL nonthavO" Thirumazhisai AzhwAr's pAsuram) 

AzhwAr thiruvadigaLE saraNam          


Ram Ram

With Best Regards

NarayaNa dAsan madhavakkannan


______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com