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Mumukshu-ppadi vyAkhyAnam extract

From the Bhakti List Archives

A. Bharat • December 10, 1998 


Dear Mani

Anything said in praise of Sri EmberumAnAr is honey
to my ears.
However good the translation might be, it cannot capture the
music of the "mani-pravAlam" language nor the grandeur
and felicity of Sri ManavAla MAmunigal's style.So I
reproduce below for your delectation the original of
the extract:

"AdhikAri-dur-labhatvattAlum, artha-gauravattAlum, ittai
veliyidAthE, maraittu-kkondu pOndArgal EmberumAnArukku
munbullAr; samsArigal dur-ggati kandu porukka-mAttadapadi
krupai karai-purandirukkaiyAlE, arthattin sIrmai pArAdE,
anartha-ttaiyE pArttu, veliyitt-arulinAr EmberumAnAr."

BHARAT
____________________________________________________________________________
___
With respect to this, Sri Manavala Mamunigal writes:

   It is very hard to to find those who are qualified
   for [receiving the inner meaning of the carama sloka].  
   For this reason, and because of the venerable importance 
   of its meaning, Ramanuja's predecessors had kept it a 
   secret, without making it public.
  
   But Ramanuja's overwhelming compassion made him unable
   to bear seeing the distress of those in samsaara.  Thus,
   regardless of the preciousness of the carama sloka's meaning,
   when he saw their suffering, he publicized it.

                            [Translation of the Introduction to
                             Mamunigal "carama sloka adhikaaram",
                             Mumukshuppadi, by Patricia Mumme.
                             Unfortunately, I do not have the
                             original.]