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nAcciyAr tirumozhi X - kArkkODal pUkkAL 10

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Kalyani Krishnamachari • April 6, 2000 


                          SrI:
      SrI ANDAL samEta SrI rangamannAr tiruvaDigaLE
SaraNam

             nAcciyAr tirumozhi X - kArkkODal pUkkAL

pASuram 10.10 (tenth tirumozhi - pAsuram 10 nalla en
tozhi!)

viTTucittar azhagarai varuvippArO?

nalla en tozhi! nAgaNai miSai nam parar
 Selvar periyar Siru mAniDavar nAm Seivadu en
villi puduvai viTTucittar ta'ngaL dEvarai
 valla pariSu varuvipparEl adu kANDumE

A. Meaning from SrImAn SaDagOpan's tamizh treatise:

ANDAL concludes the final pASuram of this tirumozhi by
declaring that with AcArya kaTAksham alone, the Sishya
will get to the Feet of emperumAn.  She tells her
friend:  "emperumAn who has for His bed tiru
anantAzhvAn, is the Supreme Lord of all, One who is
great in every respect;  on the other side,  we are
the measly little creatures who are totally powerless.
 There is nothing we can do by ourselves to reach Him.
 But if periAzhvAr who is dear to emperumAn intercedes
and invites Him, then we will get to have His sevA
definitely".  (The inner meaning is that to reach
sarvEsvaran, one needs AcAryan's blessing).

B. Additional thoughts from SrImAn SaDagOpan:

Where is pAmbaNaiyAn, whom my forefathers extolled as
"kAyAm pU malar piRangal anna mAlaik kaDi arangattu
aravaNaiyil paLLi koLLum mAyOn"? Where is an ordinary
woman like me? Where is the kOmaLak karumaNi, who is
sleeping in kShIrAbdi while His tiruppAadams are being
massaged by periya pirATTi?  Where is a small girl
like me, who is unfortunate enough not to be blessed
by Him?  We are worlds apart.  So, let us ask our
periAzhvAr, who has a close relation with Him, to call
Him here.  

C. Additional thoughts from SrI PVP:  

gOdai's tOzhi is even more sad than gOdai. There were
only two things that gave some hope to gOdai: 1. Being
born as periyAzhvAr's daughter and 2. The words of
emperumAn that "He will not forsake those who love
Him" - "anbu uDaiyArai viDen".  gOdai is constantly
worrying : "kumaranAr Sollum poi AnAl nAnum piRandamai
poi anRE" (NT 10.4).  So the tOzhi is trying to think
of some way to make gOdai live. gOdai realizes her
tOzhi's sadness and consoles her: "Don't worry; there
is a way out for us; periyAzhvAr who is our AcAryar
will somehow get Him for us".

nalla en tOzhi: "Oh good friend, who feels sadder at
my plight than even I do".

nAgaNai miSai nam parar Selvar periyar Siru mAniDavar
nAm Seivadu en:  
What can lowly creatures like us do to that great
emperumAn, tiru's nAyakan, who is lying on His serpent
bed ?  nammAvAr who did SaraNAgati with the words
"aDik kIzh amarndu pugundEnE" (tiruvAimozhi 6-10-10),
first sought the purushakAratvam from pirATTi and
anantAzhvAn before His SaraNAgati to emperumAn: 
("agalagillEn iRaiyum enRu alarmEl mangai uRai mArbA!"
- tiruvAimozhi 6-10-10,  and "nAgaNai miSai nampirAn
SaraNE SaraN namakku" - tiruvAimozhi 5-10-11.   But,
gOdai feels that pirATTi and tiru anantAzhvAn, who
were sought by nammAzhvAr as purushakAra bhUta-s, are
both responsible for her not getting Him.  She is in a
coma with viraha tApam, and is at the point of
slipping away from bhagavad vishayam.

nam parar: only our great emperumAn and no one else is
referred to us para brahmam, param poruL, param jyoti
and paramAtmA:

"nArAyaNa param brahma tatvam nArAyaNah parah |
 nArAyaNa parO jyOtir_AtmA nArAyaNah parah ||
(taittirIya upanishad)

nam Selvar: He is tiruvin nAyakar:  "aNaivadu aravaNai
mEl pUmpAvai Agam puNarvadu" (tiruvAimozhi 2-8-1). 
purusha sUktam declares: "hrIsca te lakshmIsca
patnyau" (Oh parama purshA! You have bhUmidEvI and
lakshmidEvI as your consorts). 

periyar:  Because of the above-mentioned reasons, He
is "periyavar" - a great personality.  We are like the
small atoms, and He is like a huge mountain.

Siru mAniDavar:  We are not from dEva jAti to stand
somewhere in His vicinity; we are not jn~Ani-s to be
close to Him; we are not like the great anantAzhvAn,
who is all-knowing, yet acting as acit and laying down
as His bed and thus getting to embrace Him; and we are
not like the innocent AyarpADi girls who did not even
know the difference between right hand and left hand,
yet, were blessed enough to be embraced by Him. We are
none of the above, but just lowly, worthless humans. 

nAm Seyvadu en? :  Even though He gave His word: "I
shall protect ASrita-s", we are powerless to force Him
to keep His word.  Does that mean we have give up
seeking Him?  Not so, says godai.

villi puduvai viTTucittar tangaL dEvarai:  When we
have the same Sesha-Seshi sambandam with emperumAn
that the AcAryan has, why do we need the AcAryan in
the middle?  Even though our relation to Him is just
the same as our AcArya's relation to Him, viz. we are
sesha-s to Him who is the SeshI,  and our relation to
bhagavAn is thus an ever-existing one, ANDAL is
pointing out to us that we won't reach Him until there
is the anugraham of the AcArya.  The SAstrArtha that
is being conveyed is that  the role of the AcArya is
absolutely essential in our effort to reach Him. 
ParamAtmA just will be subservient to whatever the
AcArya wishes, and we need the AvArya's
purushakAratvam in our SaraNAgati to Him.  There are
of course those like madhurakavi who declare that they
consider the AcArya as their God, and there is no
other God they will ever seek - devu maRRu aRiyEn
(kaNNinuN - 2). 
 
ANDAL is indicating that she is not seeking Him
directly any more, but she will seek her AcArya's
blessing instead,  and she is firmly establishing the
AcArya in between her and Him -  "tangaL dEvarai" -
she is now referring to Him as periyAzhvAr's devar,
who will listen to what periAzhvAr says.  In fact, the
only reason why she is running after emperumAn is
because periyAzhvAr is fond of Him.

(SrI PVP reminds us here of an anecdote about tripurA
dEviyAr, a disciple of emperumAnAr.  Once  she was
asked why she is not worshiping anya devata-s and she
replied: "because emperumAnAr is not doing so. If He
worships Sivan, then we will also worship Him".)

valla pariSu varuvipparEl: periyAzhvAr has several
ways of making Him come. He might get Him here by
attracting Him with "SeNbagap pU SUTTa vArAi"
(periyazhvAr tirumozhi 2-7-1) or by singing "paLLANDu
paLLANDu" (tirupppalANDu) or by "vENDiya OdangaL Odi
viraindu kiHi aRuttu".  Or He might call "nAraNA
nIrADa vArAi" (2-4-1) or for 'kuzhal vAra".  When he
calls "andiyam pOdidu Agum azhaganE! kAppiDa vArAi "
(2-8-1), He cannot refuse the invitation. He made Him
come for nIrADal by "veNNai aLainda kuNungum" (2-4),
for adorning flowers by "Anirai mEykka nI pOdi" (2-8)
and or kAppiDal by "indiranODu piraman" (2-8).  Since
he has so many ways of getting Him, gOdai calls it
"valla pariSu".  

Another reason why it is called "valla pariSu": just
as gOdai is trying to have periyAzhvAr as
purushAkAram, periyAzhvAr might have his AcAryAr as
his purushAkAram and get Him.

SrI PVP gives another instance to bring out the
importance of the purushakAratvam of AcArya in
prapatti.  In stotra ratnam Slokam 22, AlavandAr first
does prapatti directly to perumAL:

 "na dharma nishThosmi na cAtmavedI,
  na bhaktimAmstavac caraNAravinde   |
 akincano'nyagati: SaraNya!
  tvatpAda mUlam SaraNam prapadye  ||"

(I am not steady in performing karma yOgam as
prescribed, nor do I have Atma j~nAnam; I do not have
bhakti towards your tiruvaDit tAmaraigaL; I do not
have any means nor do I have any place to go; I
consider your tiruvaDit tAmaraigaL as my only refuge).

Probably because he felt that this surrender directly
to bhagavAn without the involvement of AcArya will not
fructify, in the last Slokam (65), he pleads to
bhagavAn to bless him because of his connection with
his grandfather nAthamuni, who of course is
AlavandAr's parama AcArya and also dear to emperumAn: 


"akRtrimat-tvac caraNAravinda
   prEmaprakarshAvadhimAtmavantam   |
 pitAmaham nAthamunim vilokya
  prasIda madvRttam acintayitvA            || "

 "Without taking into account my behavior (which will
disqualify me from your Grace right away), please
bestow Your blessings on me just because of my
relation to my grandfather nAthamuni, who had utmost
attachment to Your tiruvaDitAmaraigaL and who has
realized the AtamsvarUpam".

ANDAL's approach is just the same as that of
ALavandAr. 

D. Additional thoughts from SrI PBA:  

"ammAn Azhip pirAn avan avviDattAn yAnAr?" There is a
world of difference between His greatness and our
smallness. That periyavar (emperumAn) will behave like
a kORkIzhk kanRu (a calf subdued by a kOl or kambu)
with periyAzhvAr. 

gOdai did not give a phalaSruti for this tirumozhi;
the current pAsuram stands in the place of phalaSruti,
namely, bhAgavata sambandham can lead to the
realization of emperumAn.

E. Additional thoughts from SrI UV: 

This pASuram is considered by svAmi deSikan as a great
illustration of AcArya nishThA, which is one form of
prapatti, where the AcArya performs the prapatti on
behalf of the disciple.   


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

sarvam SrIman nArAyaNAyeti samarpayAmi.

adiyEn,
kalyANi kRshNamAcAri



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