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nAcciyAr tirumozhi XIII kaNNan ennum karum deyvam 6

From the Bhakti List Archives

Kalyani Krishnamachari • March 15, 2003 


                                                      
   SrI:
             SrI ANDAL samEta SrI raÂ’ngamannAr
tiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

                 nAcciyAr tirumozhi XIII– kaNNan ennum
karum deyvam

pASuram 13.6(thirteenth tirumozhi-pAsuram 6 naDai onRu
illA  )

kaNNanin tiru aDip poDiyaip pUSu~ngaL

naDai onRu illA ulagattu nanda gOpan magan ennum
 koDiya kaDiya tirumAlAl kuLappuk kURu koLappaTTu
puDaiyum peyaragillEn nAn pOTkan miditta aDippATTil
 poDittAn koNarndu pUSIrgaL pOgA uyir en uDambaiyE

A.	From SrImAn SaDagOpan's tamizh treatise:

There is no one in this world that can tell this
nanadagOpan kumaran kaNNan of the mistreatment He is
meting out to me.  He is behaving selfishly, is
merciless, and is hurting me like a bull which keeps
stampeding on the same ground over and over again.  I
am powerless to even move from one side to the other,
and He has the nature of taking hold of other girlsÂ’
minds after He is finished hurting me.  All the same,
please get at the least the dust from the place where
His Holy feet have trodden, and apply it all over my
body from which my life refuses to leave me because He
has control over it and I donÂ’t. 

B.	Additional thoughts from SrI PVP:

naDai onRu illA ulagattu: naDai is like a rule or
ordinance; already, in this world, the accepted rules
for  “who can and cannot do certain things” have been
severely undermined.  The world has become unruly. 
After this kaNNan was born, because of the way He
tortures girls like me, this world order has totally
gone astray. The world has become several times more
unruly.  At least now, when I am lying immobile
because of His torture, if He shows up in front of me,
it will seem like some remedial measure for His unruly
behavior.

nanda gOpan magan ennum: How is it that such a cruel
boy was born to a good person like nanda gOpan? 

gOdai has always thought of nanda gOpan as an
instrument for getting to her kaNNan. She woke him up
in tiruppAvai-17 with “emperumAn nandagOpalA
ezhundirAi” when she was not in praNaya kalaham, and
called Him through His association with nandagopan;
now, when she is in the UDal mood, she also recalls
His association with nandagopan -  “this kind of a boy
for that man?”,  in an insulting tone pointing to
kaNNanÂ’s relation to him. Not long ago, she beseeched
her folks to leave her in nandagOpAlanÂ’s house yard
“nandagOpAlan kaDait-talaikkE naLLirut-kaN ennai
uittiDumin” (NT 12-3).  This was because nanadagopan
is   “ambaramE taNNIrE SOrE aRam Seyyum emperumAn
nandagOpAlan” (tiruppAvai-17) – one who was a great
soul who was a parama-dhArmikan who supported everyone
and made sure that their all kinds of needs were met
properly. He was a great and noble person like
SiriyAttAn, who would not bear even a small grass
blade being stepped on. 

 koDiya : Heartless, cruel.  When she called
“nandagOpan magan”, she meant to pay a compliment to
nandagOpan.  But, when she wants to imply that kaNNan
has become a torturer, she uses the word “koDiya” and
indirectly attacks nandagOpan also; she says kaNNan
has surpassed nandagOpan in wickedness. The feeling of
hatred about kaNNan is now spilling over towards His
parents also. 

kaDiya : selfish.  There are some selfish people who
look after their own good but without harming others.
This kaNNan is not like that. No matter how much the
others are suffering, He will proceed with doing
whatever is of selfish interest to Him, without
worrying about othersÂ’ suffering.   

tirumAlAl :  As gOdai says:  “an~ja urappAL asOdai
ANADa viTTiTTirukkum” (NT 3-9)  and  “peRRa tAi
vEmbEyAga vaLarttALE” (NT 13-7),   yasOdai and
nandagOpan have gotten a “koDIya kaDiya “ magan.  It
is their fault that they brought Him up to be this
kind of a child.   Because ANDAL has been unsuccessful
in attaining Him, she is assigning blame to everyone
who has a role in attaining Him, including periya
pirATTi, in her role of purushakAratvam.  periya
tirumozhi 8-10-1 talks about how periya pirATTi fed
Him with her kamala nOkku  “vaNDAr pUmAmalar ma~ngai
maNanOkkam uNDAnE”.  When gOdai  uses the word
‘tirmAlAl’, she implies that  periya pirATTi also has
made Him grow with kaDumai and koDumai and so, there
is no point in showing hatred towards kaNNan. 

Since gOdai is crying out loud because of the pangs of
her separation from her lover, she is directing her
hatred towards all those who can be “purshAkAra-s” –
instrumental in getting to Him. 

nammAzhvAr did the same thing in tiruvAimozhi 1-4-7
“en pizhaiyE ninaindaruLi aruLAda tirumAlArkku”;  When
referring to the lack of His blessings, AzhvAr refers
to emperumAn through His association with tiru or
periya pirATTi, whose role is one of purushakArattvam.
  So if He is not showering His blessings, the fault
is with periya pirATTi.  pUrvAcArya-s usually comment
on this line thus: “when he is saying tirumAl – he is
talking about periya pirATTi’s  purushAkArattvam”. 
The interpretation is that nammAzhvAr is showing his
displeasure at periya pirATTi’s role – or the absence
of it, which has led to His not showering His
blessings on AzhvAr.   

SrI nanjIyar asked SrI piLLAn “it does not sound right
to talk about purshAkAram when He is not showering His
blessings - aruLAmai; what is the idea behind this?” 
piLLAn said : “He learned to torture us like this by
doing ‘gurukulavAsam’ with periya pirATTi and that is
why nammAzhvAr is hating Her also”. When SrI nanjIyar
conveyed this to SrI bhaTTar, the latter agreed with
the interpretation saying “he (nammAzhvAr) is thinking
of Her as the means of getting to Him; so he is hating
Her for not being able to get Him saying She is the
reason for the same”. 

kuLappuk kURu koLappaTTu: in the forth pAsuram, she
has already said that He is harming her like a
“kArERuzhakka uzhakkuNDu” – like an uncontrollable
bull that is stampeding on her. Here, she is saying
she does not have anyone else to turn to except that
kALai, and He does not seem to  have anyone else to
torture; so this bull keeps on stamping on her in the
same place with its toe and tears her apart.

puDaiyum peyaragillEn:  now, the top priority is not
to see Him;  instead, her pain is so severe that it is
enough if she can at least turn from left to right
when she is lying down. 

 nAn:  “rAma suffered immensely when sItA was
separated from Him; just like Him, I am going through
suffering for this kaNNan”.  It sounds as if her pain
will all go away if only someone tells her that kaNNan
is also suffering equally immensely from separation
from her! But, that kaNNan is not like rAman; He is
One whose feelings are blunted.  As if it is not
enough that He has hurt us and inflicted pain on us,
He will actively go and look for other people that He
can hurt also.  

pOTkan miditta aDippATTil poDittAn koNarndu pUSIrgaL: 
when He is going thus to hurt others, all He needs is
His mAya mandira mugam (“maiyal ERRi mayakka un mugam
mAya mandiram tAn kolO” – NT 2-4) – all He needs for
mesmerizing others is His sweet looks;   He does not
need the dust under His feet.  But, that is all what I
need for sustaining my life. So, bring that dust under
His feet to me. 

aDippATTil poDi: His way is to go looking for girls
and harm them. Her way is to go and look for the dust
under His Feet for sustaining her life.  In one sense,
she follows kaNNanÂ’s way or path.

pOgA uyir en uDambaiyE: even if I want to, my life is
refusing to leave my body. The great act of kindness
that will be like nectar to me, is for someone to
bring some weapon or poison and kill me.  If you ask
me why I cannot do it myself, the answer is this: this
body belongs to Him; even if I want to, I do not have
the independence to end it myself. I have to sustain
this body for Him.

sItA pirATTi said in rAmAyaNam sundara kANDam 28-16:
“I will kill myself with some sharp instrument or
poison; but, who is going to give me either one in
this place?” – She was feeling sad that no one was
there to give her some poison to end Her life.

“sA jIvitamm kshipramaham tyajEyam
    visheNa SastreNa Sitena vApi |
vishasya dAtA na hi meÂ’sti kaScit
    Sastrasya vA veSmani rAkhsasasya  ||

But sItA pirATTi also tells hanumAn that She will
sustain her life just until She comes to know that He
is trying to recover Her from the rAkshasa (rAmAyaNam
sundara kANDam 36-30).  In other words, it is for Him
that She sustained Her life.

                tAvat-tvaham dUta jijIvisheyam
                yAvat pravRttim SruNuyAm priyasya   ||
 (sundara kANDam 36.30)

gOdai is reflecting the same feelings as sItai. 

C.	Additional thoughts from SrI PBA:
SrI PBA nicely captures the sense of this pASuram: 
Already the world is full of unfairness and injustice.
 This great mahAnubhAvan – kaNNan has taken birth, as
if things were not already bad enough.  How could it
happen that such a cruel son is born to such a noble
nandagopan?  I have been mangled by the repeated
trampling of this cruel bull beyond recovery, and
canÂ’t even turn from side to side anymore.  The only
remedy to help my recovery now is to get the dust from
His Feet; there is no other medicine for me.

aDippATTil poDi:  aDippADu denotes path or passage. 
SrI PBAÂ’s anubhavam is that ANDAL is not even asking
for something that belongs exclusively to Him only
(sAkshAt sambandham);   she will be happy with the
dust that has been walked on by Him sometime back,
even if others might have since walked on it
(paramparA sambandham).  

D.	Additional thoughts from SrI UV:
naDai onRu illA ulagattu:  While SrI PVP gave the
interpretation that the world was full of violations
of code of conduct, SrI UV gives his primary
interpretation using this as a qualifier for our
kaNNan – kaNNan is One who does not have any respect
for any code of conduct.  Or, if this adjective is
used to qualify the world, then SrI UVÂ’s  anubhavam is
that this applies to the elders who do not accept the
responsibility to point out to Him that what He is
doing is unacceptable, and this is why the world is
full of violation of code of conduct.  

tirumAlAl : His prabhAvam of vanquishing His enemies
came from tiru (periya pirATTi) – aprameyam hi
tat-tejah yasya sA janakAtmajA.  But now He is
misusing this prabhAvam now against me, treating me as
one of His enemies.

pOgA uyir:  This life of mine which has been mangled
by Him as if it has been repeatedly stampeded under a
mighty bullÂ’s feet, is not leaving me.  Maybe this is
because it has the bhAgyam of still having His
“aDippoDi” – dust under His feet.

poDit-tAn koNarndu pUSIrgAL:  if you apply the dust
under His feet on my body, I will feel better.
Everyone will all feel sorry to look at my dirty body.
He will also feel that I am here waiting to only serve
Him; that dust has the strength to unite me with my
nAthan just as it united ahalyai with her nAthan
gouthamar.  It will have the power to make Him
voluntarily come to me.

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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