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nAcciyAr tirumozhi XII maRRu irundIrgaTku 8

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Kalyani Krishnamachari • February 27, 2002 


                                                      
                         SrI:
      SrI ANDAL samEta SrI raÂ’ngamannAr tiruvaDigaLE
SaraNam

                           nAcciyAr tirumozhi XII–
maRRu irundIrgaTku 


pASuram 12.8 (twelfth tirumozhi – pAsuram 8  kaRRinam
mEykkavum)

kaRRinam mEykkavum mEykkap peRRAn kADu vAzh Sadiym
Agap peRRAn
paRRi uraliDai Appum uNDAn  pAvigAL ungaLukku Eccuk
kolO?
kaRRana pESi vaSavuNAdE kAligaL uyya mazhai taDuttuk
koRRak kuDaiyAga Endi ninRa gOvardhanattu ennai
uyttiDumin

A. From SrImAn SaDagOpan's tamizh treatise:

The womenfolk try to advice godai against her wanting
to go to kaNNan.  They ask her:  “Why are you pining
for this kaNNan who has the livelihood of just looking
after cows, who was born in the caste of cowherds
living in the forest and away from home, and who got
caught stealing butter and got punished by being tied
to a mortar”.  This makes godai very mad and she
chides them in return: “Oh, sinners!  Why are you
looking at His guNams as faults?  That is all what
your intelligence level is. Do not get any more
chidings from me. Instead, please take me to the
gOvardhana malai that He held like an umbrella to save
the cows and Ayar kulam from the wrath of indra”.

B. Additional thoughts from SrI PVP:

kaRRinam mEykkavum Â…. Agap peRRAn:  In truth, He is
the Prince who is served and looked after by nitya
sUris; He is “vAn  iLavarasu” (periyAzhvAr tirumozhi
3-6-3).  But, as tiruvAimozhi 10-3-10 declares, He is
“tivattilum pasu nirai meyppu uvatti senganivAi engaL
Ayar dEvE” -  He appeared in tiru AyypADi and loved
the grazing of the cows more than being in parama
padam.  Just as tiruneDum tAnDakam 16 declares (“kanRu
mEyttu inidu uganda kALAi”), He felt immensely happy
looking after the cows which were incapable of looking
after themselves.  As if to remove the “deficiency”
that He was never born, He took birth in the Ayar
kulam, and went looking for grass and water in the
forests and spent time with the cows.  

At least in rAma avatAram, when Lord rAma ended up
living in the forest, those who wanted to make adverse
comments on Lord rAma could say that “He was driven
away from the country by His father”.  In my kaNNan’s
case, even this cannot  be said, and His life in
forest was His own choice.

paRRi ural iDai Appum uNDAn:  In truth, He is the One
who binds the jIva-s in samsAra, and the Only One who
can relieve them from this bondage also, as declared
in the upanishads:

“pradhAna kshetra~jna patir guneSah 
 samsAra bandha sthiti mOksha hEtu:”  ( SvetASvatara
upa.   6-16)

(He is the swAmi for prakrti and the jIva; He is full
of countless auspicious qualities; He is the paramAtmA
who is the cause of  the bondage of samsAra or release
from it).

But He decided to get Himself be tied to a mortar by
an Aycci, and pretended that He could not relieve
Himself from that, just to please her. 

He longed for the butter that had been touched by
people who loved Him, and when He did not get it
directly, He decided to take it Himself, and let
Himself be tied and beaten.  All this is His mahA
guNam, and you ignorant beings consider all these as
His blemish.

pAvigAL:  Every single thing that you count against
Him is in fact an example of His mahA guNam.  What
great sinners you are that you are not able to realize
this simple fact!

ungaLukku Ecchu kolO:  Since you think of good traits
as bad ones, it looks like you are all born in the
same muhUrtam as SiSupAlan.  Instead of being like
ones born in our kuDi, who faint at the very thought
of His being bound to the mortar  - (tiruvAimozhi
1-3-1  “ettiRam uralinODu iNaindu irundu Engiya
eLivE), you are defaming Him instead!

kaRRana pESi vaSavu uNAdE: DonÂ’t use all your
“knowledge” to heap blame on Him, and get
return-chidings from me.

kAligaL uyya mazhai taDuttuk koRRak kuDaiyAga Endi
ninRa:  In order to protect the cows that do not even
realize that they are being protected and the equally
ignorant cowherds from the incessant rains, He took
the mountain and held it as an umbrella; without
thinking of His strain, He was bent on protecting the
others! [[ He is “kunRu eDuttu Anirai kAtta pirAn” –
periyAzhvAr tirumozhi 3-4-4 and He is “kunRam Endik
kuLir mazhai kAttavan” – tiruvAimozhi 3-3-8; ANDAL
pays tribute to “kunRu kuDaiyAi eduttAi guNam pORRi”
in tiruppAvai 24]].

koRRak kuDaiyAga Endi ninRa gOvarttanattu ennai
uyttiDumin:  Take me to the location of the gOvardhana
mountain which He is holding single-handedly, so that
I can give Him a hand and thus assist Him.

C. Additional thoughts from SrI UV:

“With your poor knowledge, all you can see is that He
looked after cows, He lived away from home and in
forest, that He was caught stealing butter and was
tied to a mortar and beaten up.   Since you are great
sinners, you are not able to realize that even while
looking after the cows,  He easily destroyed
vatsAsuran, He lifted the govardhana mountain with His
one finger, and He killed the two asura-s who appeared
in the form of two trees as when He was just of
crawling age.  He corrected the gokulam residents who
were spending all their wealth in worshipping other
dEvatA-s and made them do gOvardhana pUjA and thus
worship Him alone instead.  Perhaps, He makes sure
that sinners like you will not see His greatness by
design, by His mAyA”. 

SrI UV also gives an interpretation to the words in
the first two lines that serves as ANDALÂ’s rebuke to
the folks who are finding fault with His looking after
the cows, His living in the forest, and His being tied
to the mortar.  He achieves this by interpreting the
first few words as “kaRRinam meykkavum Eykkap peRRAn”,
and by giving specific interpretations to the word Aga
in “Agap peRRAn”, and to the word paRRi in “paRRi ural
iDai”.  

According to his interpretation, kaNNan took to
looking after the cows just to deceive the ignorant
ones about His greatness (Eykka – to deceive, to
mislead).  So the sequence will be “Eykka, kaRRinam
mEykkavum peRRAn”.  Similarly, “Aga, kADu vAzh SAdiyum
peRRAn” – Aga - In order to enrich the lives of those
who are living in the forest,  kADu vAzh SAdiyum
peRRAn – He willingly took birth in the race of people
who live in the forest.  And, “paRRi, ural iDai Appum
uNDAn”: paRRi – In order to break the two trees in the
form of the asura-s; ural iDAi yAppum uNDAn He decided
to get bound to the mortar.    

koRRakkuDai:  this is in remembrance of her fatherÂ’s
statement “gOvardhanam enum koRRakkuDaiyE”
(periyAzhvAr tirumozhi 3-5)

Abbreviations:
------------------
PVP= SrI periyavAccAn piLLai
PBA= SrI prativAdi bhayankaram aNNangarAcAriyAr
UV  = SrI uttamUr vIrarAghavAcAriyAr

sarvam SrIman nArAyaNAyeti samarpayAmi.

aDiyEn,
kalyANi kRshNamAcAri


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