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Thirumaalai-7

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varadarajan_tcs • May 24, 2002 


Sri Parthasarathi thunai,
Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha


" Mattrondrum Venda Maname Madhilarangar
  Kattrinum meitha kazhalinai keezh- uttra
  Thirumaalai paadum seer Thondaradipodi Emperumaanai
  Eppozhudum peesu"

" Srimat Krishna samahvaya Namo yaamuna soonave 
  yetkadakshai kalakshyanam sulabha: Sridara: sadaa"

Pranams,

Now we proceed to see the meanings of the paasurams.  The above 
taniyan on Sri Thondaradi podi alwar was given by Thiruvarangaperumal 
arayar.  In this tanian the acharya says  "Oh mind! Nothing else
is necessary always sing the praise of thondaradipodi alwar who sang 
the great prabhandham Thirumaalai in praise of the lord who went 
behind the cowherds, Madhilarangar(Ranganatha whose temple is 
surrounded by big walls)".

Paasurams
	
	"kAvalil pulanai vaiththu kalithannai kadakkappaiyindhu
	 nAvalittu vuzhitharugindrom namantamar talaigal meedhe
	 moovulaghuvundhu vumizhindha mudalvA ninnAmam kattra
	 Avalippudaimai kandai arangamAnagarulAne"		
	                                                    (1)

The crux of the paasuram is that those who do nAma sankeertanam they 
need not fear of the kali gooram in this world and can have a ride 
over  yaman after death(even yaman considers such bhagavatals as his 
master and instructs his dhoothas to do the same).  "Natascha 
yamavasyathA narakapAdha bheedhi: kudha:" says Sri Desikan.

kAvalil  pulanai vaiththu – This actually tells how a bhAgavathan 
should be.  For this Sri PVP has given three different vyakhyanams.  
When we just think of the meaning of these words we immediately come 
to a conclusion that the person who is doing nAma sankeertanam should 
have his senses(pulangal) under control(kAvalil vaiththu).  But let 
us now see how PVP gives the meaning.  Just analyzing a little bit if 
a person keeps all his senses under control and does everything  
which has been told in the sastras and leaves those told in the 
sastras to be left then why will yamam or his servants come near 
him.  He has already all the good points to attain bhagavans feet.  
So he need not worry about narakavaasam.  So here alwar doesn't
refer to those who have already their senses under control instead 
comes to say that even for those who do not have their senses under 
control the bhagavan nAma gives palan.  How do we derive this from 
the above words.  PVP splits it as kAval  il pulan that is kAval is 
control il in tamil refers to not under control . So that conveys the 
meaning "the senses which are not under control".  PVP
further explains this by saying you can have nice oil bath and then 
eat what ever you want to your full satisfaction and sleep well but 
then say "Ranga" then you are bound to swim through kali yuga.
 
All sastras which came to explain to us the importance of bhagavan 
nAma has always taken people like Ajamilan and Kshtrabandhu as 
reference who had absolutely no control over their senses.  So alwar 
who always talks based on the pramanams is bound to say only about 
the persons without senses under control.  In Vishnu Dharmam 
Sataneekan questions as follows:  A man is incapable of controlling 
his senses and to get rid of kama, krodha and Asooyai(jealousy).  
Then is there no other way for such a man to attain moksham?  For 
this question only alwar answers over here.

All of us are familiar with the Nanjeeyer-Anantazhvan vrittantam.  
After taking sanyasam Nanjeeyer was proceeding towards Srirangam to 
meet his acharyan Sri ParAsara Bhattar.  On the way he meets 
Thirumalai Ananthazhwan who asks Nanjeeyer why he has taken sanyasam? 
Nanjeeyer replied that he has taken it because sanyasashramam is 
considered as the moksha ashramam.  But Ananthazhvan replied back 
saying "If you bath only when you sweat and when you eat whenever
you feel hungry and if you keep meditating on your acharyas feet will 
paramapadanathan push you from moksham".  This shows that just by 
meditating on the feet of the acharya by saying his nAma one can 
attain moksha, no Achara anushtanams are required.  That is what is 
emphasized by thondaradipodigal in this paasuram also.

The Second explanation of PVP is as follows.  Earlier we considered a 
person who has no control over his senses and is yet to or just 
started doing or nAma keetanam.  Say a person who is doing nAma 
sankeertanam for quite sometime then his vaasanas will reduce by the 
effect of nAma keertanam.  We do find that when we start getting 
involved in bhagavat vishayam we get a little detached to the worldly 
pleasures.  So as the days proceed Emperuman gets into our minds
("pundiyul pugundhu") and changes us little by little so our
senses are got under control.  In Bhagavat geetha lord Krishna says
"shipram bhavati dharmathmaÂ…." My bhaktha though he has
wrong qualities will be cleansed by me and as the days proceeds he 
will become a saadhu. So now PVP says for such a person the senses 
come under control.

The third explanation goes as follows.  Emperuman is the security for 
all our senses whenever we utter his nAmam.  That is when we utter 
emperuman's nAmam he gives darshan to us in our hearts(advanced 
stage) and there by now emperuman takes the control of our senses.  
Since now the power of guarding our senses he kept in the feet of the 
bhagavan by uttering his nAmam our senses are deemed to be under 
control.  This is third type of explanation PVP offers in his 
vyakhyanam to the first sentence in the first paasuram in Thirumaalai.

The next parts of this paasuram we will see in the next posting.

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasyai
Sumithra Varadarajan






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