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pOya pizhaiyum pugutaruvAn ninranavum tIyinil tUsAgum

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Velukkudi Krishnan • January 27, 2002 


Dear bhAgavatas,
I saw a posting about the above subject. I would like to add a few lines
to the reply given by the others. 
 
We hail tiruppavai as "vEdamanaittukkum vittu". It is the gist of vEda /
vEdAnta. This particular line from the 5th verse explains two lines from
Upanishads. 
 
There are many misdeeds (pApam) which we commit. They can be categorized
as 1. done before saraNAgati and 2. after saraNAgati. Sriman Narayana
clears both but adopts different tools. The earlier karma is known as
"pUrva agham" and the later as "uttara agham." Bhagavan burns the pUrva
agham as cotton burnt by fire. He severs the uttara agham like water on
the lotus leaf which never sticks to it. One is destroyed and the other
is thrown away without leaving a mark. VedavyAsa in brahma sUtra
explains this as "tadadhigamE uttara pUrva aghayO: aslEsha vinASou" -
i.e. vinASam for pUrva agha and aslEsha (severance) for uttara agha. The
Upanishads say " yathA pushkara palASE apa: na slishyatE Evam vidhi
pApam karma naslishyatE" and "tadyathA ishIkatUlam agnou prOtam
pradUyEta Evam hAsya sarvE pApmAna: pradUyantE" 
 
Refer the Ramayana when mArIca and subAhu, the sons of tAtakA, came to
hinder the yAga of Sage viswAmitra. Rama was there to protect the yAga.
Rama neither killed both or drove away both. He killed subAhu (like
destroying pUrva agha) and drove away mArIca (like severing uttara
agha). This episode is symbolic of the concept. 
 
The same subject is discussed in tiruvoimozhi ozhivil kAlamellam decade
" vEnkadangal meimEl vinai muttravum tAngal tangatku nallanavE seivAr ".
TirumAlai Andan was explaining the meaning of this verse to Swamy
Ramanuja as per the school of Alavandar. "kadangal" = karmas "vEm "
=would be burnt. meimEl vinai muttravum vEm - karmas which get attached
due to our bondage with this body would also be fired. This explanation
was not interesting for Ramanuja. He gave a beautiful explanation : 
 
"Kadangal vEm" - pUrva agha would be burnt. "mEl vinai muttravum sArA" -
uttara agha would not dare to come near. This explanation is as per
brahma sUtra. There is a doubt here. First part is alright. In the
second part the word "SArA" is not found in the pasuram at all. How did
Ramanuja join this word here. This is found in another verse "mAdhavan
enrenru Oda vallirEl tIdonrum adayA Edam sArAvE" From this, Ramanuja
took the word "sArA" and joined in the earlier verse. Now the whole
pasuram was interpreted by Ramanuja as follows :
Kadangal vEm - mEl vinai muttravum sArA - idu mei (this concept is
true). In the earlier explanation "mei" meant body. Here it means truth.

 
AndAl having all these in mind lucidly simplifies as "pOya pizhaiyum
pugutaruvAn ninranavum tIyinil tUsAgum".
 
AndAl tiruvadigalE saraNam.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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