nAcciyAr tirumozhi X - kArkkODal pUkkAL 5
From the Bhakti List Archives
• December 4, 1999
SrI:
SrI ANDAL samEta SrI rangamannAr tiruvaDigaLE
SaraNam
nAcciyAr tirumozhi X - kArkkODal pUkkAL
pASuram 10.5 (tenth tirumozhi - pAsuram 5
pADum kuyilgAL)
pADum kuyilgAL! Idenna pADal? nal vEnkaTa
nADar namakkoru vAzhvu tandAl vandu pADumin
Adum garuLak koDi uDaiyAr vandu aruL Seidu
kUduvarAyiDil kUvi num pATTugaL kETTume
A. Meaning from SrImAn SaDagOpan's tamizh treatise:
In the fifth pASuram, ANDAL looks at a cuckoo singing
happily on top a tree in tirumAlirum cOlai malai. The
cuckooÂ’s song sounds horrible to godai because of her
state of mind. So, she gets mad at the cuckoo and
says: “Why do you make such a noise? What kind of song
are you singing? Is this a song? If emperumAn, who is
the Lord of tiruvEnkaTam comes and gives me a life,
then, you can come and sing. If my
tiruvEnkaTamuDaiyAn, who is having garuDan in His
flag, comes and unites with me out of compassion, then
I shall call you and both of us will listen to your
melodious music together and thus honor you.
B. Additional thoughts from SrI PVP :
pADum kuyilgAL! Idenna pADal?: You sang when He and
I were together once. You have been singing ever
since. But, from where did you choose this song today
that falls in my ears like fire?
kuyilgAL: The plural here suggests that every one of
the cuckoos is singing without exception. Even in
rAvaNaÂ’s goshThi, there was one exception who was a
dharmAtmA viz. vibhIshaNa -
“vibhIshaNastu dharmAtma na tu rAkshasa ceshTita: “
(rAmAyaNam AryaNya kANDam 17-24). But in the goshThi
of the cuckoos, there is not a single cuckoo which is
good, and takes pity on godai by not singing while she
is suffering.
Idenna pADal: “Why are you singing the same song that
you sang when I was together with Him earlier? Is this
for torturing me even more intensely by reminding me
of the time when I was united with Him? This is like
applying sandalwood paste after setting fire on either
side. In the previous pASuram, the sight of the
mullai flowers was like fire being setting on one side
of godai. In the next pASUram, she will be tortured
by the sight of the beautiful peacocks which will be
like setting fire on the other side of godai. The
song of the cuckoos in this pASuram is like trying to
apply sandalwood on her body to appease her after
setting fire on both sides of her.
Idenna pADAl: “Am I in a position to hear this song
now? I am suffering from the pangs of separation from
my beloved emperumAn. Just as fire will destroy the
place it is in, in addition to anything else that is
in that place, your song will destroy you also in
addition to destroying me. You wicked birds! The fact
that you are not yet destroyed suggests that you are
short of hearing”.
nal vEnkaTa nADar namakku oru vAzhvu tandAl vandu
pADumin: If they cannot sing this song now, when can
they sing? Godai gives the answer:
Just as small streamlets appear before full-fledged
flooding occurs in a river, there are good signs that
suggest that He is going to come; He has already left
the hard-to-reach paramapadam and arrived at the
easy-to-access tiruvEÂ’nkaTam with His flying
garuDakkoDi. This must be just a stop-over before He
arrives at SrIvilliputtUr to bless ANDAL. So, when He
comes and gives me the life with Him that I seek,
then you can come and sing”.
namakku oru vAzhvu tandAl: “My indriya-s are not in a
position to enjoy music or any such entertainment at
this time - (en aimpulanum ezhilum koNDu - periya
tirumozhi 7.5.9 – He has taken away the power of my
indriya-s). If He gives me a life such that my ears
can bear to hear music, then you can sing at that
time.
vandu pADumin: “I cannot even stand your presence now;
just get out of here. You can come back later when
needed”. Remember how godai threatened to drive the
cuckoo out of her grove earlier if the ‘kuyil’ does
not get Her vEnkaTavan (mannu perum pugazh pASuram
5.9.]
ADum garuLak koDi uDaiyAr: ADum refers to both a
joyous mood and motion. GaruDa is moving with
emperumAn all the time, and is happy to be united with
Him all the time in his nitya vibhUti. Unlike this,
godai feels that all His other creations around her
and including her are His leelA vibhUti-s, which are
meant to suffer because of separation from Him.
SrI kRshNasvAmi aiyeÂ’ngAr observes that this is
similar to nammAzhvArÂ’s feeling that all the other
things in this world (like the nArai etc.)., are also
pining for Him and suffering like Him –
vAyuntiraiyugaL (tiruvAimozhi 2.1.1).
ADum garuLak koDi: In places where water is kept for
public drinking, sometimes there will be a device (SAi
karam) which brings water within the range of the
mouth of the thirsty person. Similarly emperumAn has
His garuDan who brings Him to those who thirst for
Him.
vandu aruL Seidu kUDuvarAyil: Even though godai is
longing for Him passionately, in godaiÂ’s case the only
appropriate event is that He should bless her by
coming to her Himself, not the other way. Consistent
with her paratantra svarUpam, she cannot be the one to
initiate this union. He has to come out of great
love and unite with godai. [Compare nammAzhvArÂ’s
tiruvAimozhi 8-8-3 “en uNarvin uLLE iruttinEn aduvum
avanadu innaruLE”] If she initiates this union against
His will, it is bound to not materialize anyway. Her
initiating a union with Him against His Will is like
someone who accepts a dAnam of gold whose purpose is
to reduce the recipientÂ’s lifetime, and then making a
gold ring out of it and enjoying this while the person
is going to die soon anyway.
The proper way to reach Him is by performing
kainkaryam to Him no matter what state we are in.
This is what bhagavad rAmAnuja prays to Lord in
SaraNAgati gadyam – that ultimately He wants the
bhAgyam to do nitya kainkaryam to Him after doing
prapatti and reaching paramapadam. Kainkaryam to
perumAL is like the sweet sugarcane juice for a
prapanna. Some may argue that SiSupAla committed lot
of sins, and still ended up in paramapadam. But our
AcAryas have clearly pointed out that this is not the
way to get to paramapadam. SrI AlavandArÂ’s
aruLicceyal is that SiSupAlan was “thrown” to the
gates of paramapadam with His cakrAyudham just so
SiSupAlan will be removed forever from this world and
would not have the chance to ruin others by making
them kRshNa-dveshiÂ’s. This is not the way to reach
paramapadam; it should be because of our genuine and
intense desire to reach Him and for Him to cause it by
His Will and His Blessing.
Here SrI PVP gives another episode to show that our
AcArya-s have indirectly blessed their Sishya-s
sometimes to just avoid their causing harm to others.
SrI bhaTTar had a student named ‘periya dEvap piLLai’,
who was constantly chiding everyone in his house.
Once SrI bhaTTar sent him to a nearby village on an
errand. SrI nanjIyar remarked: “Now that he has left
the house for some time, the people in his house do
not have to listen to his chidings any more for a
while”. SrI bhaTTar’s aruLic ceyal was: “On second
thoughts, rather than letting him loose and giving him
a chance to chide everyone in the town under the guise
of being our Sishyan and thus bringing dishonor to us,
it is better to keep him with us here even though he
belittles us through his actions”. From then on, he
kept this Sishya with him permanently.
kUvi: ANDAL says she will call these cuckoos when she
needs them – viz. when she is together with emperumAn.
C. Additional thoughts from SrI PBA:
Wherever ANDAL turned, she saw the flowers or fruits
(kArrkoDal, mEl tOnRi,kOvai, mullai); so, she closed
her eyes to avoid their himsai. But, now, she is
hearing the sound of the cuckoos and she is asking
them to stop singing because she cannot close her
ears.
ADum garuLak koDi uDaiyAr vandu kUDuvar Agil: The
cuckoos may ask how they will know when vEnkaTanAthan
will come and give her life and when they can come and
sing. For this godaiÂ’s response is that they can know
that just by looking at the dancing garuLak koDi
indicating His arrival.
kUvi num pATTugaL kETTumE: Even if they do not
recognize it, she will invite them and listen to their
music.
D. Additional thoughts from SrI UV:
ANDAL had encountered flowers and fruits so far in
this tirumozhi. She could not ask them to cease
existing, nor could she tell them not to flower or
grow. But she could tell these cuckoos to stop
singing, and so this is what she is doing.
pADal: SrI UV continues to develop the anubhavam that
ANDAL is becoming more and more friendly with
everything around her. By the use of the word pADal,
she is praising the cuckoos for their melodious voice.
Idenna pADal: Even though the cuckoo is singing, in
ANDALÂ’s state of mind, it does not appeal to her, and
so she is asking “What kind of song is this?”
SrI UV paints a beautiful picture here, playing with
the word “ADum”. “My emperumAN, vEnkaTanAthan is a
very good Lord; His abode, vEnkaTam is also a good
place. He has acknowledged me somehow and I am sure
to get some good life because of His grace. Then, you
can come here and sing for us. For now, you can go
there and sing for Him. He has come to vEnkaTam only
to come to me in SrIvilliputUr; He will listen to your
song and start dancing and faltering. garuDan will
also be surprised at that and start dancing; he will
make Him get on top of him and happily bring Him here;
when He comes, He will definitely bless me and unite
with me; then, you can come here to sing; you can try
to make Him come faster by your singing when He is
coming. Even if you donÂ’t come, I will invite you to
come and sing for us. We will listen to your song,
enjoy and dance with delight”.
Abbreviations:
------------------
PVP= SrI periyavAccAn piLLai
PBA= SrI prativAdi bhayankaram aNNangarAcAriyAr
UV= SrI uttamUr vIra rAghavAcAriyAr
sarvam SrIman nArAyaNAyEti samarpayAmi.
adiyEn,
kalyANi kRshNamAcAri
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Thousands of Stores. Millions of Products. All in one place.
Yahoo! Shopping: http://shopping.yahoo.com
- Next message: Sadagopan: "Thiru AdhyayanOthsavam : The many splendored meanings of the key word Adhyayanam"
- Previous message: Sadagopan: "Re: Nava MaNi Maalai"
- Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ] [ attachment ]