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nAcciyAr tirumozhi XIV paTTi mEyndOr kArERu 9

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Kalyani Krishnamachari • June 18, 2003 


                                                      
   SrI:
             SrI ANDAL samEta SrI raÂ’ngamannAr
tiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

                 nAcciyAr tirumozhi XIV – paTTi
mEyndOr kArERu

pASuram 14.9(fourteenth tirumozhi-pAsuram 9 nATTaip
paDai enRu)

asurargaLai azhitta kaNNanaik kaNDOm

nATTaip paDai enRu ayan mudalAt tanda naLir mAmalar
undi
 vITTaip paNNi viLaiyADum vimalan tannaik kaNDIrE?
kATTai nADit tEnuganum kaLirum puLLum uDan maDiya
 vETTai ADi varuvAnai virundAvanattE kaNDOmE


A.	From SrImAn SaDagOpan's tamizh treatise:

 “Have you seen this blemish-less emperumAn, who,
through His leelA, first created the beautiful lotus
in His navel, then created brahmA on this lotus, and
ordained him to create the rest of the worlds?”

“We did see that kaNNan (in virundAvanam), who created
the creator, but who did not then just leave the
protection of the created beings to this creator alone
or to the created beings themselves,  but took it upon
Himself to protect them also by getting rid of the
evil beings in order to protect the good. We saw that
kaNNan who, like a hunter who kills all the wild
animals, got rid of dhEnukAsuran, the elephant
kuvalayApIDam and bakAsuran so easily.”

ANDAL is seeing Him as the Creator of the four-faced
brahmA, who is in the sprouting lotus in bhagavAnÂ’s
nAbhIk kamalam.  In SrImad bhAgavatam daSama skandam,
in the fourteenth chapter, brahmA describes the leelA
of His Creator, and the Creator of all.  One of the
Sloka-s which describes Him in brahmAÂ’s words is as
follows:

“SrI kRshNa vRshNi kula pushkara joshadAyin 
kshmA nirjara dvijapaSUdadhi vRddhi kArin |
 uddharma Sarvarahara kshiti rAkshasa dhRk
Akalpam Arkam arhan bhagavan namastE ||”

“hE kRshNa, you are like the sun making the lotus that
is vRshNi kulam blossom! hE kRshNa, you are like the
moon that makes the ocean waves (the earth, deva-s,
brAhmaNa-s, animals, oceans, etc.) rise up and
flourish!  You are the sun that drives away darkness
that appears in the form of false religions! You are
the destroyer of the asura-s such as kamsa!  You are
the One who is worthy of worship always by the likes
of the Sun!  I prostrate to You!”.  It is this kRshNan
(who was praised by brahmA) that ANDAL finds in SrI
bRndAvanam, that she is describing in this pASuram.

B.	Additional thoughts from SrI PVP:

“nATTaip paDai” enRu ayan mudalAt tanda:  BhagavAn
created brahmA and then told Him “Go ahead and proceed
with the creation of others”.  He first created the
brahmANDam with all the requisites for brahmA to
proceed with creation.  This was creation at the
samashTi level, or at the aggregate level.  Then He
ordained brahmA to proceed with the next level of
creation – at the individual or vyashTi level.

ayan mudalAt tanda: SrI PVP enters into discussion on
the issue of reconciling the singular used in
bhagavAn’s command to brahmA “paDai – create”, and the
following phrase in plural “ayan mudalAt tanda - by
giving (creating) brahmA and others”.   SrI PVP
explains that even though bhagavAn created brahmA and
other prajApati-s through him for the purpose of
procreation, the specific function of creation was
entrusted to brahmA alone, and hence the use of the
singular “paDai”.   The reference to prjApati-s is
described in many places, including vishNu purANam
1.7.  The first sons of brahmA – sanandana and others,
were completely estranged from the universe and devoid
of desire for progeny, and dedicated themselves
totally and absolutely to holy wisdom.  Thus brahmA
had to create the prajApati-s to continue with his
creation.  So the term ‘mudalA” in this context will
mean “etc._- “by creating brahmA etc., and then asking
brahmA to proceed with creation”.  But the singular is
justified by the fact that brahmA was the sole
individual that was directly commanded by bhagavAn
with the task of creation:

     tatra suptasya devasya nAbhau padmam abhUt mahat 
  |
     tasmin padme mahAbhAga! Veda vedAÂ’nga pAragah   
||
     brahmotpannah sa tenoktah prajAh sRja mahAmate  
||  (nArasimha purANam)

“Oh great one! When that nArANayan was sleeping, a
great lotus was formed in His nAbhi. In that lotus
appeared brahmA who was well versed in vEdams and
vEdAngams. nArAyaNan told brahmA: “oh great learned
one, create the jIva-s”.
Note the words from bhagavAn to brahmA – “prajAh sRja”
– “nATTaip paDai”.

Alternatively, SrI PVP comments that the pATham “ayan
tannait tanda” has been favored by SrI nampiLLai,
since this matches with the singular used in the
original command “paDai”, and is thus more appealing
in the view of SrI nampiLLai.

(SrI UV resolves the issue by giving the
interpretation that “ayan mudalA” means “with brahmA
as the principal or the first one” – “mudalvanAga”.  
See more discussion under SrI UV below).

naLir mAmalar undi vITTaip paNNi viLaiyADum: As part
of His leelA (viLaiyADum), He created a place (vITTaip
paNNi) in the lotus flower sprouting from His cool
(naLir), deep, large, navel (mA malar undi) for brahmA
to feel comfortable in his very difficult job.  Every
word chosen here is significant.  naLir means
“comforting, pleasant, cool”, to provide a comfortable
accommodation for brahmA in his difficult job of
creation.  mA malar is “the big flower” – the lotus
flower in His navel, that is big enough to accommodate
this large brahmANDa.  His tirunAbhik kamalam relieves
tiredness because of being cool and has the broad area
for creating the whole universe and other sRshTi-s; He
has given a place for brahmA on this nAbhik kamalam
and enjoying this whole sRshTi game as His leelA
rasam.

vimalan tannaik kaNDIrE?:  He is pure of heart –
vimalan.  He is “vimalan” because He engages in
creation only for the benefit of the jIva-s, and does
not worry about the fact that brahmA and others are
only interested in the ‘position and status’, and are
not truly interested in attaining Him.

Now follows the response:

kATTai nADit tEnuganum kaLirum puLLum uDan maDiya
 vETTai Adi varuvAnai : The friends of gOdai respond
that they see Him as One Who goes and searches after
(nADi) the evil beings such as dhEnukan,
kuvalayApIDam, bakAsuran, etc., like an aggressive
hunter going in search of wild animals hiding in
hard-to-find bushes.   

SrI PVP gives a nice connection between the first
part, where gOdai asks her friends whether they found
the One who created brahmA and through him created all
the prajA-s, and the response where the friends say
that they found this great One Who hunts down and
destroys the asura-s.  BhagavAn could have left it as
the responsibility of brahmA to protect and look after
the jIva-s that he has created, or alternatively, He
could have left it to the jIva-s to take care of
themselves.  But the compassionate Lord vishNu does
not absolve responsibility for the protection of His
children.  He makes sure that the Asuric people are
hunted down and destroyed, so that the good ones can
live in peace.  The asura-s take all kinds of
deceitful forms, but He hunts them down and gets rid
of them for the welfare of the good – [[ “paritrANAya
sAdhUnAm vinASAya ca dushkRtAm | dharma
samsthApanArthAya sambhavAmi yugE yugE” || - gItai]]

He created this universe directly and then delegated
further responsibilities to brahman and others to
create other sRshTi-s.  Instead of leaving their
maintenance and protection from evil forces to the
sRsTi-s themselves, He feels attached as their Owner,
takes avatArams and comes and helps them get rid of
enemies. 

virundAvanattE kaNDOmE: we saw Him not in
tiruvAippADi, but in SrI bRndAvanam, where we could
hug Him to our heartÂ’s content with great love   
(just as sItai embraced SrI rAmapirAn after the vadam
of karan and his troupe - “bhartAram parishasvajE” –
rAmAyaNam AraNya kANDam 94-18)

C.	Additional thoughts from SrI UV:

ayan mudalA:  SrI UV also discusses the consistency
issue between the singular form “paDai” and the
possible plural form “ayan mudalA”, and refers to the
different possible explanations referred to by SrI
PVP.  In addition, he gives a very satisfactory
explanation by giving the meaning “mudalvanAga – as
the first one”, referring to brahmA being the first
one that bhagavAn created.  If “mudalA” is taken as
plural – brahmA and others, then he gives reference to
 tiruvAimozhi 10.10.3  “mEvittozhum piraman Sivan
indiranAdikkellAm nAbhikamala mudal kizhangE”, where
nammAzhvAr refers to brahmA, Siva, indra, etc., all
originating from His navel as the first place of
origin with brahmA – in other words, bhagavAn created
brahmA from His navel, and then brahmA created the
others.   

viLaiyADum:  having brahma as His child and talking
with him is leelA for Him; making madhu-kaiTabha-s
steal the vEda-s and recovering them back is leelA for
Him; keeping brahmA as a pretext and doing vyashTi
sRshTi in the form of his antaryAmi, just as He
performs samashTi sRshTi, sthiti and samhara is leelA
for Him. 

vimalan:  akhila hEya pratyanIkan – completely devoid
of any limiting or defiling defects of any kind.  (SrI
PBA translates the term as ‘parama pAvanan’).  He is
vimalan because He provides a house (body) for the
jIva-s for their benefit for the enjoyment of their
karma-s purely out of His kRpA, because He does not
have dOshams such as discrimination, inequality,
injustice etc. (vaishamyam);  and because even though
He is the antaryAmi in everyone, none of the defects
of these jIva-s even remotely attach to Him. 

kaLiRU:  elephant.  He killed kuvalayApIDam in
mathurA.  One can ask – how come ANDAL is referring to
the killing of kuvalayApIDam in the forests of
bRndAvanam (kATTai nADiÂ… virundAvanattE kaNDOmE) ,
when the elephant was actually killed in mathurA?  It
could be taken to mean any elephant that was slain in
the forest instead of to kuvalayApIDam.  Alternately,
SrI UV comments that mathurA was a ‘forest’ till
kaNNan came there and slew kuvalyApIDam etc., because
mathurA without kaNNan is a ‘deserted forest’ anyway. 
He gives reference to vALmIki, who describes ayodhyA
without rAma as a “forest” -  “ayodhyAm aTavIm
viddhi”. 

uDan maDiya: SrI UV interprets the word ‘uDan’ to mean
“together, and then discusses the relevance of this
word in this pASuram.  With this interpretation, this
wording suggests that dhEnukan, kuvalayApIDam,
bakAsuran, etc. died together or at the same time. 
Since all these asuras were killed when kaNNan was
very young, in a short space of time, without much
effort on His part, it can be said for practical
purposes that “they all died at the same time”.   It
is also true that even if dhenukan, kuvalyApIDam, and
bakAsuran came together to attack kaNNan at the same
time, He is capable of vanquishing them all at the
same time.

In contrast, SrI PVP interprets the word ‘uDan’ to
mean “uDanE” – immediately, on the spot, without
effort on the part of kaNNan.   This seems like a more
straightforward interpretation.

vETTai ADi varuvAnai – Reference was made earlier to
vaidEhi embracing Lord rAma after He returned from the
battlefield after slaying kara, dUshaNa etc.  Here,
ANDAL is describing her kaNNan returning after hunting
down and slaying the evil asura-s.  The parallel is
evident.  This last pASuram before the final one which
is the phala Sruti, can be understood as the blessing
of all of ANDALÂ’s elders and friends for her to
embrace her kaNNan and live happily in His service for
ever.

D.	Additional thoughts from SrI T.S.rAjagOpAlan:  

The main theme of this particular pASuram is ANDALÂ’s
description of  bhagavAnÂ’s extreme kRpA in creating
the universe for the benefit of the jIva-s, and His
Infinite Mercy in protecting the created beings.  

Abbreviations:
------------------
PVP= SrI periyavAccAn piLLai
PBA= SrI prativAdi bhayankaram aNNangarAcAriyAr
UV  = SrI uttamUr vIrarAghavAcAriyAr

sarvam SrIman nArAyaNAyEti samarpayAmi.

aDiyAL,
kalyANi kRshNamAcAri

(Articles on nAcciyAr tirumozhi are available at:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/7673/azhwars/nachiyar.html
maintained by SrI VenkaT aiyengAr of SrI villiputtUr)


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