thirumAlai
From the Bhakti List Archives
• August 26, 1998
We have been having an interesting as well as healthy discussion on the Most Favoured Dhivya dhEsam. Along these lines I thought of sharing an interesting thirumAlai pAsuram. kudathisai mudiyai vaiththuk kuNathisai paatham neetti, vadathisai pinpu kaattith then_thisai yilankai nOkki, kadaln^iRak kadavuL enthai aravaNaith thuyilumaa kaNdu, udalenakku urukum aalO enseykENn ulakath theerE! (2) (19) In this pAsuram AzhvAr addresses the people(samsArIs) of this world. He basically seeks advice from them. Here is his problem. He says, "On seeing my beautiful Lord who has his head westward, his holy feet eastward, his back northward and facing lanka in the south, sleeping on the serpent bed, I can't control myself. I am moved by His immense beauty and am rendered senseless. Dear samsAris, please tell me how to regain my senses." Superficially this looks like any other pAsuram talking about the beauty of our dear Lord. But the vyAkyAna chakravarthi, parama kAruNigar Sri periyavAccAn piLLai adds an interesting twist here. Why does the AzhvAr ask the help of samsAris? He could have asked the fellow AzhvArs or the Lord Himself. He himself gives an explanation. The other AzhvArs themselves have lost control on seeing Arangan. So there is no point asking them. It is like a broken ship seeking help from an already sinking ship. ( "Ottai OdaththOdE ozhugal OdamAm iththanaiyiRE!" - Odam - little ship, ozhugal - leaking.) Why not the Lord himself? Then it amounts to explicitly expressing his inability to the perumAL. Also perumAL would feel proud of Himself that He has defeated the AzhvAr. (This is to be taken in a lighter vein...). So AzhvAr doesn't want to accept defeat at the hands of even perumAL Himself. So he asks the samsAris. Unlike the other AzhvArs, they are even more stronger and stable after worshipping perumAL. They don't seem to be moved as much as the AzhvArs. So he asks them to share the secret on how to keep themselves stable. He says,"You seem to have taken some medicine to keep your muscles tight. Why don't you give me a handful so that I can also try it out. (uN^gaL iRukku vAdha parihAraththilE enakkum oru chiRAN^gai idavalligOLE? iRukku vAdham - a type of paralysis where one cannot move his muscles, chiRAN^gai - a handful) No other perumAL has made an AzhvAr go thro this much of difficulty after just seeing Him. It drove the AzhvAr to such an extent that he seeks advice from the lowly samsAris. Such is the beauty of our dear araN^gan. Without any doubt Srirangam is the Most favoured! thirumAlai aRiyAdhAr thirumAlai aRiyAdhArE (One who doesn't know thirumAlai, the dhivya prabhandham, doesn't know thirumAl, the Lord.) adiyEn -Viji (Vijay Triplicane)
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