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Vijay Triplicane • August 21, 2002 


Dear Sri Ramani,
  The literary translation for the Nammalvar pAsuram was very good! 
I really liked it. The choice of the word "samayam" and its meaning 
was intriguing and it led me to delve into the Idu vyAkhyAnam. I am 
just presenting what I learnt from it. 

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"avaravar samayam thORumthOyvilan" =>
He is not confined to any religion of any one.
--------------------------------------------

  You have translated the word "samayam" as 'Religion'. I have seen 
another english translation interpret it as 'Time'. The 'Idu' doesn't 
interpret it like that. It is "vyavastha"-  an arrangement or 
agreement, fixity, a way that is naturally ordained for a person, 
"uriyanavAga ERpattuLLa muRaimai". So "avaravar samayam thORum 
thOyvilan" is interpreted as 'He is unaffected by the inherent, 
natural characteristics of those beings'

  Since the pAsuram starts with "yAvaiyum yavarum", (sentient and 
non sentient beings), the "avaravar" that refers to sentient beings 
also gets extended to non sentient beings. He is neither affected by 
the physical transformations of the body or the emotional 
transformations of the soul. 

  Sri. NS Padmanabhan has beautifully explained this... The vyAkhyAnam 
then poses a question:
The souls do not undergo physical transformations as the body does, 
but experience the feelings of happiness/sorrow. If the souls 
experience such feelings because of its association with the body, 
how come the omnipresent Lord doesn't experience any of these? 

  It is because the souls are here due to their karma and the Lord is 
here out of His mercy. None of the prAkrutha dhOshams affect Him. This 
is substantiated by an analogy. A king visits the state prison to check
the condition and spends some time with an inmate. While the inmate 
serves his sentence and experiences grief, the king's visit is out of 
his own volition and hence won't be affected by such feelings. He is 
unaffected by the dhOsham.  

Best regards,
-Vijay Triplicane


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