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nAcciyAr tirumozhi VIII - viNNIla mElAppu 3

From the Bhakti List Archives

Kalyani Krishnamachari • Tue May 11 1999 - 21:18:04 PDT 


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			SrI:
      SrI ANDAL samEta SrI rangamannAr tiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

             nAcciyAr tirumozhi VIII -  viNNIla mElAppu
      pASuram 8.3 (eighth tirumozhi - pAsuram 3 oLi vaNNam vaLai Sindai)

oLi vaNNam vaLai Sindai uRakkattODu ivai ellAm
 eLimaiyAl iTTu ennai IDazhiyap pOyinavAl
kuLir aruvi vE~nkaTattu en gOvindan guNam pADi
 aLiyatta mEga~ngAL! Avi kAttu iruppEne

A. Translation (meaning) from SrImAn SaDagOpan's tamizh treatise:

Oh compassionate clouds!   My tEjas, my color, my bangles (which 
keep falling because of my becoming thin with kAmam),  my sleep
etc. have all forsaken me because of my being away from Him, and 
this has made me very weak.  In this state, can I cling to my 
life just by singing the praise of kaNNapirAn of tiruvE~nkaTam? 
(I don't think this alone can keep me alive).

B. Additional thoughts from SrimAn SaDagopan:

gOvindan guNam pADi:  ANDAL is wondering -  Can singing the praise of 
emperumAn through words like  "kaDiyAr pozhil vEnkaTava, karum pOrERe, 
SenniyOn~gu taN tiruvEnkaTam uDaiyAi, ulagu tannai vAzha ninRa nambi, 
dAmOdhara, acyuta, ananta, gOvinda, Ayar tam kozhunde, veLLai
viLi San~gu iDangaiyil koNDa vimala", be sufficient to keep me alive 
alone without Him?

C. Additional thoughts from SrI PVP:

oLi vaNNam vaLai Sindai uRakkattODu ivai ellAm pOyina: 
All the tejas, color, etc. that she got because of her earlier 
association with Him have now abruptly left her.  Not only the 
external things (removable decorations) that were her 
characteristics such as her bangles are leaving her, but also 
the internal attributes (non-removable things) such as her thinking 
faculty, sleep etc., are leaving her.  The choice of 
the word "ellAm" means that these were not the only things that left 
her, but everything that can be conceived of have left her.

eLimaiyAl ennai iTTu:  May be they left her because she was in a 
deplorable state (eLimaiyAl);  or may be they left her because of 
their lowly nature of forsaking one who is in a deplorable state, 
mercilessly.

iTTu:  Just discarding her as if she was a mere lifeless object 
(acetana).  They did not consider for a moment that they were an 
integral part of her all this time, and they now forsake her with 
no concern whatsoever.  Luster, color and bangles left her not 
even thinking that they had mixed with her hand and her body 
intimately all this time. Sleep left her without even remembering 
that it associated itself with her eyes. That too, when they left, 
they left without any compassion (kaNNaRRup-pOittu).

Idazhiyap pOyinavAl: they drained her of all her strength when 
they left her.  Unlike this, when kaNNan leaves her, He tells her
that He is going to leave her, embraces her, tries to console 
her with His smile and lets her know that He really does not 
want to be separated from her.  Unlike that, it looks like the 
vaLai, sleep, etc. were just looking for an opportunity to leave 
her, and abruptly left her.

In vishNu purANam 5.18.29, we have: 

 anurAgeNa SaithilyamamAsu vrajitE harau    |
  Saithilyam upayAntyASu karEshu valayAnyapi  ||

(When kaNNan leaves us, we become thin because of our love for 
Him; our bangles slip out of our hands).

kuLir aruvi vE~nkaTattu - This is in praise of the sacred tiruvE~nkaTa 
Hills, the mere thought of which can remove the greatest of our tApa-s.  

en gOvindan - The stress is on "en" - my own gOvindan.  Even though 
He has not blessed ANDAL yet with His presence in response to her 
prayers, it is an undeniable fact that He exists for His devotees.

guNam pADi Avi kAttu iruppEne: A mukta indulges in the anubhavam 
of His kalyANa guna-s when he is united with bhagavAn in 
meditation - sOsnutE sarvAn kAmAn saha brahmaNA vipascitA (taittirIya
upanishad A..1-2).  ANDAL is wondering aloud whether bhagavAn 
now thinks that those who meditate about Him and are one with Him 
enjoying His guNAnubhavam, will get to live by just gunagn~Anam and 
guNa sankIrtanam when separated from Him?  Does He think she is 
like sItA who survived by just guNa jn~Anam:
 
"AsamsEyam hariSrEshTa mAm prApsyatE pati: |
 antarAtmA hi mE Sudhastasmimsca bahavO  guNA: ||  "
(rAmAyaNam sundra kANDam 37-14 - "My mind is very clear now; 
I am sure He will come and get me; He has innumerable,  
good qualities")

aLiyatta mEga~ngAL: Unlike Him who has left her in despair, and 
unlike her tEjas, color and bangles which have left her at this 
time, these clouds are so full of compassion that they at least 
came to see her. 

Avi kAttu iruppEne: ANDAL knows that as a devotee, she should have 
His guNAnubhavam as the sole objective of her life.  It now looks 
like bhagavAn wants her to be responsible for sustaining her AtmA 
also.  That is His responsibility, not hers.  She is not her 
own prANa-nAthan.  Protecting her life is the responsibility 
of the Sarva-Saktan, not hers. 

SrI aNNa~ngarAcArya svAmi points out that it is the nature of 
bhagavata-s that they have great enjoyment and happiness when they 
have bhagavad-anubhavam, and they feel very weak and desperate when 
they are separated from Him - "en ma~ngai izhandadu mAmai niRamE".  

sarvam SrIman nArAyaNAyEti samarpayAmi.

adiyEn,
Kalyani Krishnamachari