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nAcciyAr tirumozhi XII maRRu irundIrgaTku 9

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Kalyani Krishnamachari • March 9, 2002 


                                                      
                       SrI:
      SrI ANDAL samEta SrI raÂ’ngamannAr tiruvaDigaLE
SaraNam

                           nAcciyAr tirumozhi XII–
maRRu irundIrgaTku 

pASuram 12.9(twelfth tirumozhi – pAsuram 9 kUTTil
irundu )

kUTTil irundu kiLi eppOdum gOvinda! govindA!  enRu
azhaikkum
UTTak koDAdu SeRuppan Agil ulagaLandAn enRu uyarak
kUvum
nATTil talaip pazhi eydi uÂ’ngaL nanmai izhandu talai
iDAdE
SUTTuyar mADaÂ’ngaL SUzhndu tOnRum tuvarApatikku ennai 
   uyttiDumin

A. From SrImAn SaDagOpan's tamizh treatise

My pet parrot is always calling “gOvinda, gOvinda”
from inside the cage, and thus keeps on reminding me
of Him when I am not in a state where I need to me
reminded of Him even more.  These are names I had
taught my parrot when I was in a state where I wanted
to be pleasantly reminded of Him constantly.   But
that is not my state right now, when I am already
totally tortured by separation from Him, and I do not
need this additional constant reminder from this
parrot.  To shut it up, I tried starving the parrot,
and in response it screams His vAmana nAma even more
loudly.  These acts by the parrot are making me more
love-lorn for my kaNNan. Before I take things in my
own hand and proceed by myself to where He is, and
thereby bring shame and disgrace to all of you, you
please take me to dvArakA with its tall and beautiful
structures, and leave me there so that I will be
united with Him. 

B. Additional thoughts from SrI PVP:

gOvinda gOvinda: He has names such as nArAyaNan also,
which convey His paratvam, and godai must have taught
these nAma-s also to the parrot; it is gOdai who
proclaimed “nArAyaNanE namakkE paRai taruvAn”
(tiruppAvai 1).  But, the parrot is not choosing those
names, and instead it is choosing the govinda namam
that shows His soulabhyam and souSIlyam.   Knowing
well that gOdai will be more reminded of His
saulabhyam and sauSIlyam than about His parattvam, it
starts saying “gOvinda, govinda”, thus causing immense
suffering to her soul.  It may also be that the parrot
knew that godai used to suffer in loneliness while He
went away to look after the cows instead of being with
her, and so the parrot was calling His “govinda” nAma
just to remind her of her separation. (It is killing
her with gOvinda nAmam “idu kaNNan nAmamE kuzhaRik
kolluginradu” – from SrI PBA and SrI T. Rajagopalan).

UTTak koDAdu SeRuppan Agil: Thinking of the adage “UN
aDanga vIN aDangum” (lack of food will result in
lessening of the parrotÂ’s stubbornness in reminding
her of Him), she starved the parrot; but the effect
was the exact opposite of the adage. The effect of
starvation on the parrot was similar to the practice
of the araiyarÂ’s during the adhyayanOtsavam:  The
araiyarÂ’s will apply oil to their neck region and
starve prior to performing in front of the Lord, and
this will help them  in being able to sing loudly and
get excellent voice control.  The effect of starvation
on the parrot was similar, and it screamed His name
even more loudly!

ulagaLandAn enRu uyarakkUvum: The parrot is calling
His “ulagaLandAn” name so loud that it looks like the
parrot wants its voice to reach everywhere that His
feet reached while He measured the three worlds. 

nATTil talaippazhi eydi: The elders may be thinking
“Chanting His nAma is supposed to lead everyone to
salvation and to great inner joy;  instead, His nAma
is only leading this girl to more suffering;  so may
be we should reduce the chanting of His nAma”.  This
feeling of the lessening of the significance of His
nAma is being referred to here as ‘talaip pazhi”.  

ungaL nanmai izhandu talai iDAde: donÂ’t spoil your
good name and hang your head in shame. The blame on
you would be that “gOdai did not follow her svarUpam
and wait till He came to her; instead, she started
going to her nAyakan’s place on her own”. That will
cause shame on you and make you not be able to look at
anyoneÂ’s face. 
  
SUTTuyar mADaÂ’ngaL Suzhndu tOnRum tuvarApatikku ennai
uyttiDumin:  In dvArakA, each of kaNNanÂ’s sixteen
thousand dEvi-s has her own tall palace; Please take
me to dvArakA and leave me there so that I can have my
own palace like the other sixteen thousand, and be
with Him in par with His other devi-s.

C. Additional thoughts from SrI PBA:

SrI PBAÂ’s choice of words for the explanation of 
“talaip pazhi eydi ungaL nanmai izhandu talai iDAde”
is best given word for word in tamizh: “taDi taDiyAgat
tAimArgaL irundum oru peN piLLaikku nanmai seyyAmal
teruvilE puRappaDap pArttu irundArgaLE!” enRu nALaikkE
nADeÂ’ngum pazhi paravum!

D. Additional thoughts from SrI UV:

SrI UV gives two anubhavam-s for why godai decides to
put the parrot to starvation.  The first is the one we
covered under SrI PVP above – namely, that its
repeatedly saying His name is increasing her viraha
tApam, and she wants the parrot to keep quiet. The
parrot screams even louder because of the pangs of
hunger.  

The second anubhavam is that godai notices that it is
not saying His name loud enough for Him to hear the
parrot and come to her, and so she is angry with the
parrot and starves the parrot.  When she stops feeding
the parrot, it understands her thoughts and starts
crying out even louder: “ulagaLandAnE! Do I have to
cry out for you who are present everywhere?  Only if
you come here, I will get some food”.   This
interpretation, which says that she is looking for
some solace by at least hearing His name, is
consistent with the subsequent pASUram-s where she
will try to get some comfort at least by coming in
contact with things which have had contact with Him.  

tuvarApadikku ennai uyittiDumin:  Even the powerless
parrot is doing its part to help me by calling Him for
me with all its might.  What else can a parrot do? 
But you humans, who all belong to me - shouldnÂ’t you
be doing whatever you can do for me?  Take me to
dvArakA right away, and thus avoid being disgraced.

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

sarvam SrIman nArAyaNAyeti samarpayAmi.

aDiyAL,
kalyANi kRshNamAcAri


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