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amalanAthipirAn - 7

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Venkatesan Ananth • October 23, 2000 


srI:
srImathE rAmAnujAya nama:

--

amalanAthipirAn EzhAm pAsuram

kaiynArsurisankanalAzhiyar neeLvaraipOl
meyyinAr thuLapaviraiyAr kamazhneeNmudiyem
aiyanAr aNiyarankanAraravinaNaimisai mEyamAyanAr
seyyavAy aiyO ennaissinthai kavarnthathuvE

--

Meaning:

He who has the conch and the flaming chakra 
("thiruvAzhi") in His divine hands, who has the 
divine body that is like a big mountain, who 
has a divine crown that has the sweet smell of 
thulasi ("thiruththuzhAy"), who is my Lord, who 
sleeps in Srirangam that is like an ornament,
who rests on the sweet bed of Adisesha 
("thiruvananthAzhvAn"), who performs miraculous
deeds, His red lips have stolen my mind. 

--

Essence: 
AzhvAr's mind is now trapped in His lips. The
mind that went up to His crown and returned
is now lost in His lips.
In the sixth song, His divine throat showed
AzhvAr its protective nature and pulled his 
mind to itself. His red lips above His throat, 
shows that it was the starting point in 
protecting the universe ("ulagamuNda 
peruvAyan"), it is the source of all the 
divine words uttered by Him, its red color 
comes not from an ornament rubbing against Him
but naturally, and it has a fragrance associated 
with it ("thiruppavaLac cevvAy thAn 
thiththiththirukkumO"), and pulls AzhvAr's mind.
AzhvAr had said previously that He without 
looking at his defects had removed the ancient 
sins that had been with him for several births. 
When the doubt came that would He indeed remove 
these karmAs, AzhvAr had used the example of 
Rudra whose brahmahathyai was removed by Him. 
It could be said that, He had given Rudra the 
duty of destruction, therefore he might have 
tended to commit the brahmahathyai dOsham, and 
hence He removed it. 
Also, AzhvAr might not have followed the vEdAs 
and the vaidIkas and collected sins since time 
immemorial, and having shown not one reason to 
have the sins removed, why would He do that for 
him? 
Rudra is above all the dEvAs and He might have 
helped him because of that; why would He help
anyone who is below even men. 
Rudra is the son of Brahma who is His son; hence 
He would have helped His grandchild. Why would 
He help one who is not related to Him?
Rudra roamed all three worlds ("moovulagum 
balithirivOn") and went to the milky ocean and
then had his sin removed; AzhvAr did not go
everywhere like that; so, why would He remove
his sins?
In this song AzhvAr answers all these questions.

--

kaiyinAr surisankanalAzhiyar:
To remove our karmAs, He is always wearing the 
divine weapons such as the conch ("pAncajanya") 
and the cakra.
Just as the spiral is the mark of the conch,
so is the flaming hands of the cakra.
The conch destroys the enemies with its sound
("theeyavasurar nadalaippada muzhangum"), while
the cakram pours fire on the enemies. 
Once thiruvananthAzhvAn asked battar, at 
thirukkOttiyur, if srI vaikuNta nAthan had two 
hands or four hands. He replied that He showed 
both forms, that both forms exemplified His 
beauty, if He showed two hands He was like
periya perumAL and if He showed four hands He 
was like perumAL. Unlike us, the liberated see
periya perumAL also with four hands.
These are the weapons and ornaments for His 
divine hands. 
With this AzhvAr says He has the tools that 
represent the mantram (the shape of the conch 
represents the praNava mantram) and that they 
turn the mind and thought toward Him.
These weapons stand within the lines in periya 
perumAL's divine hands and show up in perumAL's 
divine body.

neeLvaraipOl meyyinAr:
Such as using a mountain to destroy a mountain,
He has the divine body like that of a large 
mountain ("paccai mAmalai pOl mEni") that would 
destroy our karmAs and sins that are as large as 
the mEru mountain.
The comparison is to mountains and oceans to show
His large extent.
Not just visible to the eyes of those that are
liberated, but also having a mountainous form
that is visible to mortal eyes.

thuLavapaviraiyAr kamazhneeNmudi:
He is decorated with the fragrant thuLasi garland.
He makes complete the fragrance of the thuLasi.
He wears the crown that shows Him to be the father
of all worlds.
The question was that, He would help those in 
high status; why would He help AzhvAr? 
The answer is, He does not wear the crown that He 
is the protector only for Brahma and Rudra. He is 
indeed the Lord of both worlds ("ubhayavibhoothi 
nAthan").

thuLavapaviraiyAr kamazh:
He adds the sweet smell to everything that smells 
sweet.

neeNmudi:
The crown that came all the way to AzhvAr to take
him over.

emmaiyanAr:
Showing AzhvAr's relation to Him.
Our Father.
He has the relation to us that He will forgive all 
our sins.
The question was, Rudra is related to Him being 
His grandson; what is AzhvAr's relation to Him?
Rudra only has that relationship with Him. He is
related to AzhvAr in every way possible ("mAtha 
pithA BhrAtha").

aNiyarankanAr:
He is resting in an ornamented temple.
An ornament gives grace to the person wearing it;
similarly He is giving us His grace.
Instead of being at an unattainable place, He is
lying close by in a temple that is the ornament 
for samsAra.
He is the ornament to both worlds.
He is close by and is an ornament ("aNimai").
The question was, Rudra went to the milky ocean 
and his sin was removed; where did AhvAr go?
Rudra went there because he was made to go to all 
three worlds. We are like helpless crying babies 
and He has to come to us like a mother.
If a child were to fall into a well, would not a 
mother jump after it? Similarly, He has come here 
and is resting in Srirangam.

aravinaNaimisaimEyamAyanAr:
Like gems impressed in gold, He is lying on 
thiruvananthAzhvAn showing His beauty even to
those that don't see it.
Adisesha is present as if all His knowledge took 
form, and He is lying on him like a limitless pond 
of nectar.
He is lying here to destroy all the enemy kind.

mAyanAr:
Even though we can go and see Him where He is 
resting, we cannot understand Him or His
miraculous deeds.

seyyavAyaiyO ennaiccinthai kavarnthathuvE:
His lips that has its own beauty and sweetness
has pulled AzhvAr to itself and has also taken 
over his mind.

ennaiccinthai kavarnthathu:
AzhvAr tried to measure the ocean with a cup and
he lost even that.

seyyavAy:
Would those who get caught in the smile of a 
mortal's lips, be able to resist His smile?
The mouth that shows all seven worlds 
("vaiyyamEzhum kandAL piLLaivAyuLE").

aiyO:
The beauty and the redness of the lips are so great
that AzhvAr is expressing his amazement.
He was letting AzhvAr enjoy His entire beauty; 
AzhvAr was also trying to enjoy His entire beauty.
In between, the lips are forcing him to enjoy only
its beauty and AzhvAr is expressing his anguish.
AzhvAr says he has already lost his mind to Him;
why is He still after it?

ennai:
In the second song, AzhvAr said he lost his mind
to Him ("senRathAm enasinthaniyE"). There AzhvAr
said his mind which was a stone was melted. Here,
AzhvAr says He not only melted the stone but He
also took it away.

--

thiruppANAzhvAr thiruvadigaLE saraNam
srI periyavAccAn piLLai, srI azhagiya maNavALap 
perumAL nAyanAr, srI vEdAntha dEsikar thiruvadigaLE
saraNam

--

adiyEn maDhurakavi dhAsan
T.C.A. Venkatesan

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