nAcciyAr tirumozhi XIII kaNNan ennum karum deyvam-1
From the Bhakti List Archives
• November 20, 2002
SrI:
SrI ANDAL samEta SrI raÂ’ngamannAr
tiruvaDigaLE SaraNam
nAcciyAr tirumozhi XIII– kaNNan ennum
karum deyvam
General Introduction to nAcciyAr tirumozhi XIII –
kaNNan ennum karum deyvam
In the previous tirumozhi, ANDAL pleaded with her
elders to take her to all the places associated with
kaNNan. In order to fulfill her wishes, first of all,
they need to be strong enough to take her to all these
places, given her condition. They need to physically
carry her from place to place because of her weak
condition; even then, they cannot be sure if in her
condition she will be alive till they reach the
destination. Knowing the cause of their hesitation,
godai tells them “Knowing what trauma I am going
through because of my separation from Him, if you
really want me to be alive, as a minimum, bring me
into contact with anything that has some association
with His tirumeni. If I come in touch with things
related to Him, I might survive this ordeal. If you
keep on saying that I should not be bringing infamy to
our kulam by pining for Him, that is not going to help
me. Please get me in contact with something that He
has touched, if your desire is to try to keep me alive
under the circumstances”.
pASuram 13.1 (Thirteenth tirumozhi-pAsuram 1 - kaNNan
ennum karum deyvam)
kaNNan ennum karum deyvam kAtcip pazhagik kiDappEnaip
puNNil puLi peydARpOlap puRa ninRu azhagu pESAdE
peNNin varuttam aRiyAda perumAn araiyil pIdaka
vaNNa ADai koNDu ennai vATTam taNiya vISIrE
A. From SrImAn SaDagOpan's tamizh treatise
I am deeply involved with the dark-hued, divine
kaNNapirAn, and am used to visualizing the scenes of
my prior association with Him. When you keep advising
me that my behavior is not right and that I should
direct my mind towards things other than kaNNan, it is
like pouring sour tamarind on a hurting wound. Even
though kaNNan is very hard-hearted and does not know
what a woman goes through in pining for Him, please do
bring the beautiful pItAmbaram that He has worn on His
sacred waist and use it to blow some air over me.
Even the contact with the air that has association
with His pitAmbaram will remove my viraha tApam or the
torture of separation from Him.
B. Additional thoughts from SrI PVP:
kaNNan ennum karum deyvam: Even though the name of
“kaNNan” is accepted as synonymous with One Who
becomes subservient to those who worship Him, He is
turning out to be a karum deivam (cruel, heartless
God) as far as I am concerned. The situation now is
that, even though He appeared in a human form in order
to be easily accessible to everyone, He has become an
unapproachable para-deyvam. We were under the
impression that “kaNNan” is one who loves His dEvimAr
and one who worships them out of love; instead, He
“makes” them all worship Him. We thought “kaNNan”
would wait at the house entrance of His dEvimAr to get
their glances; but, He is now like the Gods who are
invisible but fill their stomachs. He is like indiran
and other dEvA-s who do not land their on feet on this
earth but come and get their havir-bhAgam and go away.
Even though there is this so called fame that
“kaNNan” is One who belongs to those who love Him, the
truth is that His paratvam is all that is making
itself known.
karum deyvam: His dark hue has always been torturing
me; that has not changed. That kRshNan is “kariyavan”
- dark hued – that name is holding true. But He is
kariyavan inside just as He is kariyavan outside. (He
is “puRam pOl uLLum kariyAn” – NT 14.7). The saying
that He belongs to those who love Him dearly has
become as false as the false belief of those who feel
that there are ghosts in Ala maram (banyan tree). He
has been acting all along very nicely and has been
faking it as if it is His Nature that He belongs to
those who love Him.
kAtci pazhagik kiDappEnai: Thinking that I can
survive by trying to remember the sweet memories of my
past times with Him, I tried that. But that ended up
in increasing my viraha tApam and now I am sick and in
bed; so that path is useless now.
kiDappEnai: ANDAL is so sick and weak because of her
viraha tApam that she is not even able to turn in her
bed from one side to another. SrI PVP quotes a person
by name akaLanka nATTAzhwAn for this phrase – “kiDanda
kiDaiyilE pADoDik (oru pakkamAgavE paDuttuk)
kiDandALAgAdE”. Her sick condition has turned her
priority from embracing emperumAn to being able to
toss and turn to the left and right in bed.
This is similar to the situation SrI rAmapirAnÂ’s
friends faced in ayodhyA when He was leaving for the
forest.
“yEtu rAmasya suhrutas sarvE tE muDha cEtasa: |
Soka bhArENaca AkrAntA: Sayanam na jahus-tadA ||
(rAmAyaNam ayodhyA kANDam 41.20)
(When rAmapirAn left for the forest, all His friends
were so grief-stricken and lost their minds, that they
could not even get up from their beds).
puNNil puLi peydARpOla: The preaching of morals to
ANDAL by the elders, when she is already suffering
intensely from her viraha tApam, is like applying
tamarind at the opening of a wound; such an act would
only create an intensely irritating and burning
sensation, instead of giving any relief.
puRam ninRu azhagu pESAdE: ‘puRam’ normally means
‘outside’; here it does not mean “don’t stand outside
my door and talk’. The terms “agam” and “puRam” in
our context are: agam refers to words that will lead
to the union of ANDAL and kaNNan, and puRam refers to
words that try to separate them away from each other.
ANDAL is pleading with these elders not to talk words
of “puRam”, and instead she would like them to talk
words that would unite her with her kaNNan. She does
not want to hear words that would kill her love for
Him and separate her from Him.
azhagu pESAdE: The term “azhagu” normally refers to
“soundaryam”. But these elders who are trying to
convince her to forget kaNNan, are not talking about
kaNNan’s soundaryam. The term “azhagu” in the context
here is “what the elders consider as good for ANDAL”.
ANDAL is pleading with the elders to stop talking what
they think is good for her, and not to talk words to
try to separate her from Him. This is only like
pouring tamind extract on a ripe wound, as she
mentioned in the earlier line.
By “azhagu pESAdE”, gOdai says: “ do not keep telling
me of the “good” that will come to you if I stop
loving Him”.
pESAdE: If you talk “azhagu” words to me, they will be
words that fall in deaf ears, since I wonÂ’t even
consider thinking about the intent of your words.
In the second half of this pASuram, ANDAL tells them:
“Instead of spending time in talking like this, spend
the time usefully in doing parihAram for my sickness”.
peNNin varuttam aRiyAda perumAn: ANDAL is intensely
longing for His union, and He is delaying this union;
she is unable to tolerate this delay, and so she is
saying that “He is One who does not understand the
sorrow and longing of a devotee”.
Because of His delay in coming to her, gOdai brands
Him “peNNin varuttam aRiyAp perumAn”.
It should be noted that ANDAL uses the term “perumAn”
even though she is very sad that He does not
understand her sorrow. SrI PVP explains this with an
analogy from SrImad rAmAyaNam.
In rAmayaNam sundara kANDam 15.53, hanumAn refers to
rAma by the term “prabhu”and links His prabhuttvam to
His doing an extraordinary feat by being able to
sustain His body and not destroy Himself in sorrow
even though He is separated from pirATTi:
“dushkaram krtavAn rAmO hInO yadanayA prabhu: |
dArayayAtmanO dEham na SokE nAvasIdati ||
In the same way, ANDAL refers to kaNNan as “perumAn”,
since He is able to keep Himself alive even though He
is separated from her.
perumAn araiyil pIdaka vaNNa Adai koNDennai vATTam
taNiya vISIrE: Since He is “perumAn”, He can live
forever even though He is separated from us. But, we
cannot sustain ourselves without Him; in fact, our
very existence depends on Him. In order for me to
enjoy His personal experience, He is physically
needed; but, just for my existence or survival, it
is enough if you can get me something that has had
association with Him and throw it over me. What is
that thing that is related to Him? In AyyppADi, when
kaNNan used to go to the forest to graze the cows, He
used to remove His pitAmbaram (and in the process,
torment the gopi girls by wearing the garments made of
skin like a cowherd). (SrI PVP gives reference to
tirvAimozhi 4-8-4, where nammZahvAr describes kaNNan
dressed in skin garments while going to the forest to
graze the cows, and looking like a sanyasi -
“kaRaiyinAr tuvar uDukkai, kaDaiyAvin kazhi kORkkac
caRaiyinAr”). ANDAL tells the elderly women around
her to get kaNNanÂ’s pitAmbaram and blow the wind that
has come in contact with that pitAmbaram all over her,
so that she can feel somewhat comforted by that wind,
even though she cannot have contact with Him
physically.
araiyil pIdaka vaNNa ADai koNDu: ANDAL specifies that
it is the pitAmbaram that He has worn around His waist
(araiyil pIdaka ADai), and not just any pitAmbaram
that He might have used to as the towel etc. BhaTTarÂ’s
aruLicceyal is: “a loyal wife yearns for the smell of
sweat from her husbandÂ’s body. Since gOdai is uttama
nAyaki, she longs for the smell for kaNNanÂ’s sweat
(sveda gandha lubdhai – one who longs for the pleasure
of the smell of her nAyakanÂ’s sweat) and asks for the
“araiyil sAttiya pItAmbaram”, because the svEda
gandham may not be found in the upper garment”.
ennai vATTam taNiya vISIrE: ANDAL tells the elderly
ladies: “You are not able to help in materializing my
union with kaNNan; but, at least you can try to reduce
my suffering by creating an association of His
pitAmbaram with me, and thus breathe some temporary
life into me.
C. Additional thoughts from SrI PBA:
“I am used to the constant thought of this Supreme
Being, kRshNa; kAtshi pazhagik kiDappEnai). But you
are all foreign to this (puRam ninRu), and instead of
talking something that will comfort me (azhagu
pESAdE), you are talking things that are equivalent to
pouring the tamarind extract in a severe wound (puNNil
puLi peidARp pOl). Instead, please go and get the
pItAmbaram that He has worn on His waist (perumAn
araiyil pIdaka ADai koNDu), and blow the wind with
that on me, so that I will have some relief of my
separation from Him (vATTam taNiya vISIrE)”.
D. Additional thoughts from SrI UV:
karum deyvam: karumai indicates black color or
greatness. ANDAL says: “I thought kaNNan is One who
would stand in front of His devotees happily. Only
now I know that He is a “kiTTa oNNAda” – inaccessible
– deyvam”.
kAtci pazhagik kiDappEnai: “I have been longing for
the time when I will get to see Him” or, “Having
received His sight before, and suffering now for not
getting to see Him”.
puNNil puLi : “When you know that I am severely being
tortured by not being with Him, you are aggravating my
pain by keeping on arguing with me instead of
relieving my sorrow”.
puRam ninRu: “Instead of coming inside and sitting by
my side (while I am lying down in agony) and thinking
about how to help in solving my problem, you are
talking casual talk to me just for the sake of
enquiry, with the intent of leaving this place as fast
as possible”.
azhagu pESAdE: “Don’t talk as if you have the best
interest on me and my health and welfare”.
aRiyAda: BhagvAn is sarvag~nan, and still ANDAL
refers to Him as “ariyAda perumAn”. How is this
justified? ANDAL feels that even He knows everything,
His actions are inconsistent with His knowledge, and
so it is as good as His being ignorant on this issue.
Or, He is “peNNIn varuttam ariyAda perumAn”, because
He has never been born a woman, and never has He been
separated from a husband, and so He has no way of
understanding what her suffering is, and so He is
“ariyAda emperumAn”.
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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