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tiruvAimozhi 5.1.1.

From the Bhakti List Archives

Narasimhan Krishnamachari • April 5, 2003 


Dear Bhakta-s:

tiruvAimozhi – 5.1.1.

 

There was a posting some time back, asking for the meaning for this pASuram.  I have seen quite a few postings in response.  So what I am writing below will be redundant.  But I saw an excuse for me to spend a few minutes looking into asmad AcAryan SrImad tirukkudanthai ANDavan SrImad vedAnta rAmAnuja mahA deSikan’s vyAkhyAnam for tiruvAimozhi in the process, and so decided to write up what little I understood out of the ocean of this mahAn’s interpretation.  I also have drawan from the work “ITTin tamizh Akkam” by SrI purushottama nAiDu.  Every time I attempt this, I realize how unfortunate I have been in not learning basic tamizh in my early days, or for that matter, not learning anything of our sampradAyam in my younger days.   Those who have young children, please try to give them every opportunity to learn the two most important languages as well as our sampradAyam, so that they can fully enjoy the great works of AzhvAr-s and our AcArya-s, learn from them, and fully benefit from their birth.

 

kai Ar cakkarattu en karu mANikkamE enRu enRu

poyyE maimmai Sollip puRamE puRamE Adi

meyyE peRRu ozhindEn vidi vAikinRu kAppAr Ar?

AiyO! KaNNa pirAn! aRaiyO! inip pOnAlE.  

 

In this pASuram,  AzhvAr describes how bhagavAn has ignored all deficiencies in him, and given him the knowledge of His sarveSvaratvam, the understanding that kaimkaryam is the sole objective to be attained, and the realization that the constant and uninterrupted enjoyment of Him is the tArakam, poshakam, and bhogyam for us.   AzhvAr proceeds to describe how, having given this knowledge, bhagavAn has inseparably and permanently united with him, and describes the permanent bliss that he is enjoying as a result. 

 

“Even though I have repeatedly called You as “en karu mANikkamE” and such other declarations repeatedly, all that is being done by me without sincerity, and are all lies.  But I have been so skillful in lying that even You as a sarveSvaran, have been taken in for these lies, and I have made You believe that my devotion is true.  All I have done is indulged in sensory delight repeatedly.  Having believed all my lies, because of Your immense kRpA, You have blessed me with Your Bliss.  Your kRpA is so intense and deep that it drowns Your sarveSvaratvam, sarvaj~natvam, etc., and  so even You can’t revoke Your blessing anymore.  I am so happy and delighted about Your overwhelming kRpA, and feel proud enough to declare that it cannot be overcome by your sarvEsvaratvam, sarvaj~natvam, etc”.            

 

Ar – beauty;  Ar kai cakkaram – The cakra that is in His beautiful hand.

 

kai Ar cakkarattu en karu mANikkamE – O You with the beautiful tirumEni that resembles the blue diamond, and with the beautiful cakra in Your hand.

 

enRu enRu – repeatedly.  Total and complete lies from end to end.  If a good person, with sincerity, repeatedly calls You as “en karu mANikkamE”, it is very good.  But for someone like me who really did not mean any of it, repeatedly saying this only compounds the lie.

 

poyyE kaimmai Solli – uttering lie after lie.  The term poi and kaimmai mean the same thing.  Then why repeat it twice?  IDu vyAkhyAnam is that in addition to lying to everyone around me, I was lying so skillfully that even You, who are the sarvaj~nan, were fooled into believing that I was speaking the truth.  

 

poyyE – The “E”-kAram is to stress that there was not even an iota of truth in what I said.  It was not a mixture of truth and lies, but pure lies that I was speaking.

 

puRamE puRamE ADi – in fact, I was really interested in, and indulging only in bAhya vishayam; “atyantam vishaya pravaNanAi irundu vaittu” – aggressively going after sensory pleasures only.   Once I got involved in a sensory pleasure, I dwelled in it permanently, and did not want to leave it.  

 

This term also can refer to not just the involvement in sensory pleasures in this birth, but the twice-repeated “puRamE puRamE” can refer to the infinite number of prior births.

 

meyyE peRRu ozhindEn – The net result of this game of lie and deceit that I was practicing, was that You bestowed the true bliss and true knowledge on me.  

 

meyyE – Again, note the “E”-kAram.  What I received from You in return is absolute true, total bliss, and not an admixture of some good and some bad.   What I received from You in Supreme Bliss, for which there is nothing superior.  

 

vidi – bhagavat kRpai.  The term ‘vidi’ is used here to indicate that even He cannot prevent this outcome, even if He wanted to, being a svAtantRyan.  This is because this kRpA of His is the result of it overflowing His svAtantRyam also, and so it is now beyond the control of His svAtantRyam.

 

kAppAr yAr? – Who can prevent this kRpA when it has thus overflowed His svAtantRyam also?  Neither I, nor He, can prevent it.  

 

aiyO! -  SrImad tirukkuDantahi ANDavan describes this as harsha ukti – an expression of delight.  (note that later on, he describes the expression aRaiyO as garva ukti).  If you ask – “What if He still tries to exercise His svAtantRyam and prevent His kRpA from blessing me?”, I tell You:  “Ha! No way!  He is subject to forgetfulness, powerlessness (aSakti) etc., when it comes to that.  He Himself has declared this”:

 

            mitra bhAvena samprAptam na tyajeyam kathaÂ’ncana     | 

            dosho yadyapi tasya syAt  satAm etat agarhitam   || (yuddha. 18.3)  

 

“I will not let go of anyone who has to come to Me with sincere love towards Me.  This is the case even if that person has any faults associated with him.  This is what  is considered the proper conduct by the great people”.

 

Here, “dosho yadyapi” suggests that He has “forgetfulness” about the dosha-s in these cases – aj~nAnam and forgetfulness of their faults; and “na tyajeyam katha’ncana” is enjoyed as “His a-Sakti” or powerlessness to overrule His kRpA in their cases  (embAr).   

 

aiyO – an expression of AzhvAr’s great delight that His kRpA cannot be overruled by any one, including Himself.  “kaNNA! Try it if You will!  You can’t do it!”.

 

kaNNa pirAn! – kaNNa! You could not even get out of the rope with which yaSOdA tied you, just because of the affection You had to Your mother out of the bodily relation You had with her.  You wouldn’t get out the real knot that was placed on You by her.  I know that You are not going to get out of the false knot of love that I have professed to You with all insincerity!

 

aRai – “aRai kUvudal” means challenging.  “Let me see if He can now go away from me!”.  SrImad ANDavan describes this as “garva ukti” – an expression of pride in having received His blessing.  AzhvAr is literally challenging bhagavAn’s svAtantRyam on the basis of the much superior and overriding strength of His kRpA.   

 

inip pOnAl aRaiyO aRai! – Hey svAtanRyam of emperumAn! Let me see if you can overrule His kRpA.  I challenge you!  I challenge you!.  

 

pUrvAcArya-s enjoy looking at this as “aRaiyO aRai” – two times, similar to enRu enRu, puRamE puRamE, poimmai kaimmai, etc.  

 

SrImate vedAnta rAmAnuja mahA deSikAya namah.

 

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan

 

 

 

 



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