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kaNNan ennum karum deyvam 5

From the Bhakti List Archives

Kalyani Krishnamachari • March 6, 2003 


                                                      
   SrI:
             SrI ANDAL samEta SrI raÂ’ngamannAr
tiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

                 nAcciyAr tirumozhi XIII– kaNNan ennum
karum deyvam

pASuram 13.5(thirteenth tirumozhi-pAsuram 5 azhilum
tozhilum  )

kaNNan Udum kuzhal vAi nIrait taDavungaL

azhilum tozhilum uruk kATTAn aÂ’njEl ennAn avan oruvan
 tazhuvi muzhuSip pugundu ennaic cuRRic cuzhanRu
pOgAnAl
tazhaiyin pozhilvAi niraip pinnE neDumAl Udi varuginRa
 kuzhalin tuLaivAi nIr koNDu kuLira mugattut taDavIrE

A.	From SrImAn SaDagOpan's tamizh treatise

This great emperumAn,  kaNNan, does not reveal Himself
to anyone just because they plead for Him with immense
devotion, nor does He reveal Himself to those who pray
fervently and surrender to Him, until He decides it is
time to reveal Himself of His own will.  He does not
even console them by saying “Do not despair”.  All I
can think of are scenes of His embracing me tightly
and being all around me, and He does not leave my
thoughts ever.  If this kaNNan,  who plays His flute
and looks after the cows in AyarpADi, does not
willingly give me anything that belongs to Him, at
least get the droplets of water that accumulate in the
holes of His flute, fall on the ground and go to
waste, and apply it on my face so that I can be cooled
down.

B.	Additional thoughts from SrI PVP:

azhilum tozhilum uruk kATTAn : 

SrI PVP gives the interpretation for this at two
levels: the outward meanings of “azhudal” and
tozhudal”, and also an interpretation based on the
svApadESam – inner meanings of these terms.

The normal meaning for “azhudal” is to cry, and for
“tozhudal” is to pray.  ANDAL says that kaNNan won’t
budge and make Himself available to us no matter what
we do – we can cry and make a scene, or we can plead
with Him and pray to Him, but nothing will make a
difference with Him.

In the svApadESam interpretation, azhugai stands for
bhakti, and tozhugai for prapatti.  Of these, prapatti
is like brahmAstra – guaranteed never to fail.  ANDAL
is saying that in the case of kaNNan, it does not
matter whether we resort to bhakti yoga or prapatti
mArga;  He is not going to make Himself available to
us unless He wants to.  

tozhilum uruk kATTAn:   Our soul is considered the
property of emperumAn.  Anyone who considers this soul
as his or hers, is considered to be the greatest of
thieves, and nothing is more sinful than this act of
AtmApahAram in our sampradAyam.  

yOÂ’nyathA santam AtmAnam anyathA pratipadyatE    |
kim tEna na kRtam pApam cOrENa AtmApahAriNA    ||  
                                                      
             (mahA bhAra. Udyoga. 42.35)

But look at what crime this kaNNan is committing.  His
tirumEni, and in fact everything that He possesses,
including His precious SrI vaikunTham, is all really
for the benefit of His devotees, and thus they are all
His devoteesÂ’ belongings.  By refusing to share them
with ANDAL, and by refusing to make Himself available
to ANDAL no matter what she does,  ANDAL charges that
He is committing the worst of AtmApahAram, namely
stealing His AtmA which legitimately belongs to her
and to all the devotees.    

na tE rUpam na cAkAro nAyudhAni na cAspadam    |
              tathAÂ’pi purushAkAro bhaktAnAm tvam
prakASasE   || (jitante 1.5)

Neither His Forms, nor His weapons, nor SrI vaikunTham
itself, are for His benefit; they are all for the
benefit of the devotees.   His tirumEni really belong
to us, His devotees.  But by refusing to make it
available to us, this kaNNan is committing
AtmApahAram.  

Another anubhavam of SrI PVP for “azhilum tozhilum
uruk kATTAn” is in terms of our AzhvArs’ anubhavam. 
Even though bhakti and prapatti are considered two
independent means for attaining Him in our
sampradAyam, as far as the AzhvArs concerned, all that
mattered to them was the enjoyment of His tirumEni,
the beauty of His divya maÂ’ngala vigraham.  This was
the be-all and end-all of their life.  The differences
between the approaches of bhakti and prapatti, etc.,
did not make a difference to them, because their
bhakti was not directed towards attaining moksham. 
Their bhakti was a result of their dismay at not being
able to be with Him and enjoy His divya maÂ’ngala
vigraham constantly.  Even though the SAstra-s say
that both His divya Atma svarUpam and His divya
maÂ’ngala vigraham are objects to be meditated on, as
far as the AzhvArs were concerned, His divya maÂ’ngala
vigraham (the meditation on His tirumEni) was par
excellence the object to be attained.  This is
reflected in their going to the extent of assuming the
nAyikA bhAvam and enjoying His beauty in their
outpourings.  

If this is the state of most of the AzhvAr-s who were
males by birth, imagine the state of ANDAL who was
born a woman, and had declared that she wonÂ’t bear to
live if anyone even raises a word of her belonging to
a “mere mortal” – “mAniDavarkkenRu pEccup paDil
vAzhagillEn” (NT1-5). 

Thus, through the phrase “azhilum tozhilum uruk
kATTAn”, ANDAL is reflecting the sentiment of all the
AzhvAr-s, namely, that for her, His tirumEni is the
only object to be attained (uruk kATTAn), and for her,
bhakti and prapatti are all the same as long as they
lead to this end (this is why she has talked of azhal
and tozhal in the same breath).  She, who is “a’nju
kuDikku oru santatiyAi, AzhvArgaL tam Seyalai viÂ’nji
niRkkum tanmaiyAL”,  is naturally reflecting the
siddhAntam of her forefathers, the other AzhvAr-s.

aÂ’njEl ennAn avan oruvan:  It is one thing that He
does not understand the suffering that people who are
separated from Him undergo.  But it is pathetic that
He does not even understand the nature of His own
tirumEni. Should He not at least know that His
tirumEni is such that those who meditate on It cannot
live when separated from It, and therefore come and
embrace me right away? 

avan oruvan:    In the third pASuram, when godA said
“anjEl ennAn avan oruvan”, she compared rAman and
kaNNan and extolled the kindness of the former and the
heartlessness of the latter.  Here she is comparing
kaNNanÂ’s behavior with the kRshNa avatAram itself as
we know it – the soulabhyam of moving with the gopi-s
etc.  His behavior with ANDAL shows that He does not
even realize the greatness of the kRshNa incarnation. 
As we saw in pASuram 13.1, He is “kaNNan ennum karum
daivam” – One Who only has the name “One with the
beautiful eyes that charm everyone”, but in reality He
only shows His Supremacy – karum daivam. 
 
tazhuvi : vishNupurANam 5-18-2 talks about how kaNNan
embraced akrUrar “sUgADham parishasvajE” –  When
kRshNa saw akrUra, He immediately drew akrUra close 
to Him and smothered him with His embrace such that
akrUra could not even be seen.   gOdai wants Him to
come and embrace her like that. 

muzhuSi:  after the embrace, gOdai wants Him to smell
her head with His nose and get caught in the locks of
her hair. 

pugundu ennaic cuRRic cuzhanRu:  After that, He should
not be able to indulge in anything else and should
keep coming around and around and stand near her. 

pOgAnAl:  I have all these desires and He is not
fulfilling them.

Or,  He is inducing all these anubhavams in me, and
causing more pain  to me, and then He is not leaving
my thoughts (pOgAnAl).   

tazhaiyin pozhilvAi: He Who has decorated Himself with
plenty of peacock feathers that gives the appearance
that He is walking under a garden of peacock feathers.
 “tazhaigaLum tongalum tadumbi” – so says periyAzhvAr 
in his tirumozhi 3-4-1. He is keeping not just one
peacock feather, but several, like a feather garden,
on His head.
This is to provide Him some shade and give Him some
relief after all the work He has done the whole day
from the morning, grazing all the cows.  The
decoration with the peacock feathers is for the
evening, when He comes to visit the AyarpADi girls. 

nirai pinnE:  He is walking behind the flock of cows.
He is not coming in front of the cows; He is showing
that He is herding them and so comes at the end. 

neDumAl:  His real interest is to watch the suffering
of the girls who have been separated from Him
throughout the day.  But He wants to pretend that He
is the One who is suffering from the separation.  So
He comes appearing like a greatly disturbed pool of
water.  His mouth will be uttering these words – “What
can I do?  I have responsibility to my mother and
father, right? I went to graze the cows as per their
command.  I will not leave you anymore; if I leave
you, I shall not live”.

Udi varuginRa:  He will be playing His flute pouring
all His love and longing for them into His tune so
that they will run to Him and embrace Him. 

 kuzhalin tuLaivAi nIr kONDu: Water from His mouth
will be falling down through the holes in the flute –
kuzhal.  Bring me this water.

 kuLira mugattut taDavIrE – apply that water on my
face and remove my fatigue. 

C.	Additional thoughts from SrI PBA:

avan oruvan:  gOdai has so much hatred for Him, she
does not even want to say His name; this is meant to
reflect  His merciless treatment of gOdai.  

D.	Additional thoughts from SrI UV:

In the last pASuram, gOdA asked the elders to bring
His vAi amudam.  “gOdE!  His tirupavaLa amudam is only
available for tirumagaL etc.; how can we get it for
you” – so say her folks.  She tells them an alternate
way to get the same. 

pOgAn:  If He was going to vanish, He could have at
least done all I wanted and then disappeared and  I
could have had the memories. 

It could also mean this way: He used to keep coming
around and around me and would not go anywhere
(pOgAn);  but not any more.  

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

sarvam SrIman nArAyaNAyEti samarpayAmi.

aDiyAL,
kalyANi kRshNamAcAri

(Articles on nAcciyAr tirumozhi are available at:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/7673/azhwars/nachiyar.html
maintained by SrI VenkaT aiyengAr of SrI villiputtUr)


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