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nAcciyAr tirumozhi V- kuyil kUvudal 8

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Kalyani Krishnamachari • January 10, 1999 


			SrI:
      SrI ANDAL samEta SrI rangamannAr tiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

             nAcciyAr tirumozhi V- kuyil kUvudal
      pASuram 5.8 (fifth tirumozhi - pAsuram 8 SArngam vaLaiya valikkum)


A. Translation from SrImAn SaDagOpan's tamizh treatise:

Oh my dear little cuckoo, who picks at new, red tender 
shoots with your beak in the mango grove! emperumAN has 
strong, valorous hands proficient in bending His great bow;
He is well known for His quality of being under the control 
of those who love Him (Bhaktha pAratantran).  Only He and 
I will know what kind of agreement we have made between
ourselves.  If you are able to go to Him immediately 
and do your sweet warbling to persuade Him to get to 
my side, you will get to see how much He will be made to 
struggle from my pranks!


SArngam vaLaiya valikkum tadak-kaic
 caduran poruttam uDaiyan
nAngaL emmil irundu oTTiya kacca~ngam
 nAnum avanum aRidum
tE~ngani mAm-pozhil Sen-taLir kOdum
 Siru kuyilE! tirumAlai
Angu viraindu ollaik kUgiRRi Agil
 avanai nAn Seivana kANE


B. Some additional thoughts (from SrI PVP):

SArngam vaLaiya valikkum:  refers to the great valor 
of emperumAn who is adept in shooting the arrows from 
His bow.  SrI PVP refers to SrImad rAmAyaNam  - 

aprameyam hi tattejo yasya sA janakAtmajA                       |
na tvam smarthas tAm harthum rAmacApASrayAm vane ||
(AraNya kAndam 37-38)

sItA is the vIra patni who is under the protection of the 
mighty bow of SrI rAma, and there is no way that rAvaNa 
will get away with abducting her.

Again in SrImad rAmAyaNam, VAlmIki describes rAma's 
might and skill with His bow and arrow, which will make 
His enemies drop their bows from their hands:

yO vajra pAdASani sannipApADat
 	na chukshUbhE nAbhi cacAla rAjA
sa rAma bhANApi hatO bruSArtha:
 	cacAla cApanca mumOca vIra:            
(yuddha kANdam 59-139)
 
(That rAvaNa who did not move when indira's vajrAyutam 
struck him or when thunder fell on him, totally got 
shattered and dropped his bow, when he was struck by rAma 
bhANam.)

poruttam uDaiyan: He is not just a warrior who is capable 
of performing valorous feats in the battlefield. He is 
even more capable of love to His devotee. Thus He is the 
greatest in valor and in love.

kacca~ngam:  This word refers to an agreement between the 
two that one won't live without the other.  The devotee 
is as important for BhagavAn as BhagavAn is for the devotee.  
ANDAL says to the cuckoo:  "We have made a secret pact that 
we will not live without one another.  When He forgets this
pact, isn't it your duty to go and remind Him?"

SrI PVP poses the rhetorical question "How is the kuyil 
supposed to know there was this pact, if it was made in 
secrecy?", and follows it up with his interesting anubhavam:  
the kuyil is a messenger for both of them; both have
told the kuyil separately that they cannot exist without 
the other. So, the kuyil knows that this is the secret 
pact they have made together.

rAma tells hanumAn - rAma dUtan - that He cannot live 
without sIta and pirAtti tells hanumAn in aSOka vanam 
that She cannot live without Him.  When they each give 
this kind of message to the messenger, wouldn't they have
talked about it when they were both alone and made a pact?

tE~ngani mAmpozhil SentaLir kOdum: When the grove has 
ripe sweet mangoes, why is the cuckoo going and and 
picking at the sour red sprouts?  Here is SrI PVP's 
anubhavam: the cuckoo has eaten too much of the sweet 
mangoes and can't take any more sweet stuff.   The cuckoo 
is so smart that it tries to pick at the sour shoots to 
offset the sweetness.  ANDAL appeals to the
cuckoo:  Oh cuckoo!  You have so much intelligence that 
you know how to adjust your taste buds; it behooves you 
to take care of my needs too.

tirumAlai A~ngu viraindu ollaik kUgiRRi Agil:  "Oh cuckoo! 
All you have to do is to go His abode very fast and call Him. 
periya pirAtti who is always with Him will ensure that He 
comes running to His devotee, and will make Him forget any 
of our sins". 

avanai nAn Seivana kANE:  What can ANDAL do to Him after all?   
A lot, as we see from SrI PVP's anubhavam!   As soon as He 
comes to ANDAL, she is going to make Him suffer exactly as 
He made her suffer for such a long time, right in front of 
the cuckoo.  When He comes to her to embrace her with great
desire after having suffered from her separation, she is 
going to turn her face away from Him and deprive Him of 
that embrace; then He has to feel what she is going through 
right now.  It will be equivalent to keeping food right
in front of a person who has starved for a long time, but 
tying his hands so he cannot eat the food.   BhagavAn will 
suffer intensely when He can't reach His bhakta.  

The only way emperumAn's hunger will be appeased is by 
looking at Her countenance. "vaNdAr pUmAmalar mangai maNa 
nOkkam uDaiyAn" - tirumangai AzhvAr in  periya tiromozhi 8-10-1)

sarvam SrIman nArAyaNAyEti samarpayAmi.

adiyEn,
Kalyani Krishnamachari