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amalanAthipirAn - 3

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Venkatesan Ananth • August 27, 2000 


srI:
srImathE rAmAnujAya nama:

--

amalanAthipirAn moonRAm pAsuram

manthipAy vadavEngadamAmalai vAnavarkaL
santhiseyya ninRAnarangaththaravinaNaiyAn
anthipOlniRaththAdaiyum
  athanmElayanaippadaiththathOrezhil
unthimElathanRO adiyEnuLLaththinnuyirE

--

Meaning:
He who stands in the mountains of the northern 
vEngadam, where male monkeys leap (from branch 
to branch), where nithyasooris worship Him with 
flowers, He who rests in arangam, lying on the 
sweet bed of ananthan (Adisesha), upon His red 
dress and upon His most beautiful navel which 
created ayan (Brahma), has my inner heart settled.

--

Essence: 
The excessive beauty of the red dress 
(thiruppeethAmbaram) of emperumAn has spread to 
His navel (thirunAbeekamalam). 

AzhvAr said in his first song that srIman 
nArAyaNan is the jagathkAraNaboothan ("Adhi pirAn").
Some people might say, Brahma, Vishnu and Siva are 
considered that and how come AzhvAr has said that 
nArAyaNa is the sole creator. AzhvAr has shown 
clearly, that from His navel He created Brahma and 
Rudra ("muthalAn thiruvuruvam moonRenparonRE, 
muthalAgu moonRukkumenpar, muthalvA, 
nigarilagukAruruvA ninnagaththathanRE, 
pugarilaguthAmaraiyinpoo") and such a navel shows 
its beauty and divinity to AzhvAr and has pulled 
his mind, which was caught in His dress, to itself.

--

manthipAy: 
In thiruvEngadam, the trees are filled from top to 
bottom with sweet fruit. The monkeys there will 
start eating one fruit and before they are done, 
their eyes will wander and they will jump at 
another fruit. AzhvAr's mind was not satisfied with
His feet or His dress. Instead it jumped to His 
navel. Hence, he is comparing himself to the 
monkeys. 
Also, paramapatham, thirumalai, kOyil, 
thiruvayOdhya, thirumAlirunsOlai are all sweet and 
divine places. Thus, His adiyArs tend to move from 
one place to the other all the time.

vadavEngadam:
Why did AzhvAr say vada vEngadam instead of 
thirumalai? Because thirumalai is considered the 
boundary of thamizh land. Similarly AzhvAr 
considers his words being the boundary to his 
existence on Earth.

mAmalai:
Sweetness and divinity is sky high here - because, 
emperumAn has arrived here for attaining His goal 
of saving us (rakshagathva sidhi) and His adiyArs 
have arrived here for saving themseleves (svaroopa 
sidhi). 
Even the nithyasooris when they arrive here to 
worship Him are able to rest on top of this tall 
mountain.
Also, even His glory is held within this mountain.

vAnavarkaL santhi seyya:
nithyasooris who enjoy His glory in paramapatham 
come to thiruvEngadam to worship Him who is made 
Himself available to even the lowly people 
(seelathvam). Once they worship Him here, they go 
back to enjoy His glory there. 
Also, they are returning because they realize that 
He is not coming back till He has saved all beings.

ninRAn:
Just like He once stood with Lakshmana and the 
monkey army, thiruvEngadamudaiyAn now stands with 
the nithyasooris and the monkeys.
Also, AzhvAr is talking about His glory in standing 
here where Brahma, Rudra, and the Devas come in the 
dawn and dusk times to worship Him.

arangatharavinaNaiyAn:
He stood in vEngadam and now rests in arangam. On 
the way from paramapatham to srIrangam, He stopped 
at thirumalai.
He is resting here with the intention of never 
leaving until He has saved all beings.
He became tired after walking in forests and beaches 
as Rama, so He is now resting here.

anthipOl niRaththAdaiyum:
AzhvAr mentioned a red dress before ("arais 
sivantha Adai"). It may be thought that this one of 
His crores of dresses. To stress that the red dress 
is adorned often, AzhvAr says anthipOl niRaththAdai 
- His dress looks like the red sun during sunset.

athanmEl:
Even more beautiful, so none can take their eyes 
away. He has worn a red dress and above that is a 
lotus that is as red as the dress.
Swami dEsikar says that by stating Brahma's 
creation, AzhvAr has also stated the creation of 
Rudra, Indra and others. With this AzhvAr has 
clearly indicated that for His adiyArs only
the sriyapathi is the refuge and the goal 
(SaraNyAntharam and prApyAntharam).

ayanaippadaiththathOrezhil:
His navel was always beautiful. After creating 
Brahma and therefore creating everything else, the 
glory of His navel grew even more.

adiyEn:
AzhvAr says adiyEn not just because he is one. He 
calls himself that because he lost to His beauty. 
AzhvAr calls himself adiyEn not by losing to 
emperumAn's entire beauty but to the beauty of 
only one avayam.

uLLathinnuyirE:
AzhvAr refers to his mind when he says uyir. Since 
his mind enjoyed emperumAn's sowntharyam, he says 
innuyir.

--

manthipAy vadavEngadamAmalai vAnavarkaL
santhiseyya ninRAnarangaththaravinaNaiyAn

In the second verse, AzhvAr said 
"ulakamaLanthaNdamuRa nivarntha neeNmudiyan - 
kadiyAr pozhilarangaththammAn", thereby stating 
that periya perumAL measured all the worlds with 
His divine feet. Should he have said that? Did not 
nammAzhvAr say "anRu NYAlam aLanthapirAn senRu
sEr thiruvengadam". Did not the nithyasooris wish 
to see His feet and pray "ennALO nAm maNNaLantha 
viNaiththAmaraikaL kANpatharku". Did He not show 
His feet that measured the worlds and say 
"adikkeezhamarnthu pukunthadiyeer vAzhmin". Is 
He not "thAnOngi niRkinRAn thaNNaruvi vEngadam". 
AzhvAr is stating in this pAsuram that the 
standing thiruvengadamudaiyAn is the same as the 
resting periya perumAL.

--

thiruppANAzhvAr thiruvadigaLE saraNam
srI periyavAccAn piLLai, srI azhagiya maNavALap 
perumAL nAyanAr, srI vEdAntha dEsikar thiruvadigaLE
saraNam

--

adiyEn madhurakavi dhAsan
T.C.A. Venkatesan

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