nAcciyAr tirumozhi XIV paTTi mEyndOr kArERu 9
From the Bhakti List Archives
• June 18, 2003
SrI: SrI ANDAL samEta SrI ra’ngamannAr tiruvaDigaLE SaraNam nAcciyAr tirumozhi XIV – paTTi mEyndOr kArERu pASuram 14.9(fourteenth tirumozhi-pAsuram 9 nATTaip paDai enRu) asurargaLai azhitta kaNNanaik kaNDOm nATTaip paDai enRu ayan mudalAt tanda naLir mAmalar undi vITTaip paNNi viLaiyADum vimalan tannaik kaNDIrE? kATTai nADit tEnuganum kaLirum puLLum uDan maDiya vETTai ADi varuvAnai virundAvanattE kaNDOmE A. From SrImAn SaDagOpan's tamizh treatise: “Have you seen this blemish-less emperumAn, who, through His leelA, first created the beautiful lotus in His navel, then created brahmA on this lotus, and ordained him to create the rest of the worlds?” “We did see that kaNNan (in virundAvanam), who created the creator, but who did not then just leave the protection of the created beings to this creator alone or to the created beings themselves, but took it upon Himself to protect them also by getting rid of the evil beings in order to protect the good. We saw that kaNNan who, like a hunter who kills all the wild animals, got rid of dhEnukAsuran, the elephant kuvalayApIDam and bakAsuran so easily.” ANDAL is seeing Him as the Creator of the four-faced brahmA, who is in the sprouting lotus in bhagavAn’s nAbhIk kamalam. In SrImad bhAgavatam daSama skandam, in the fourteenth chapter, brahmA describes the leelA of His Creator, and the Creator of all. One of the Sloka-s which describes Him in brahmA’s words is as follows: “SrI kRshNa vRshNi kula pushkara joshadAyin kshmA nirjara dvijapaSUdadhi vRddhi kArin | uddharma Sarvarahara kshiti rAkshasa dhRk Akalpam Arkam arhan bhagavan namastE ||” “hE kRshNa, you are like the sun making the lotus that is vRshNi kulam blossom! hE kRshNa, you are like the moon that makes the ocean waves (the earth, deva-s, brAhmaNa-s, animals, oceans, etc.) rise up and flourish! You are the sun that drives away darkness that appears in the form of false religions! You are the destroyer of the asura-s such as kamsa! You are the One who is worthy of worship always by the likes of the Sun! I prostrate to You!”. It is this kRshNan (who was praised by brahmA) that ANDAL finds in SrI bRndAvanam, that she is describing in this pASuram. B. Additional thoughts from SrI PVP: “nATTaip paDai” enRu ayan mudalAt tanda: BhagavAn created brahmA and then told Him “Go ahead and proceed with the creation of others”. He first created the brahmANDam with all the requisites for brahmA to proceed with creation. This was creation at the samashTi level, or at the aggregate level. Then He ordained brahmA to proceed with the next level of creation – at the individual or vyashTi level. ayan mudalAt tanda: SrI PVP enters into discussion on the issue of reconciling the singular used in bhagavAn’s command to brahmA “paDai – create”, and the following phrase in plural “ayan mudalAt tanda - by giving (creating) brahmA and others”. SrI PVP explains that even though bhagavAn created brahmA and other prajApati-s through him for the purpose of procreation, the specific function of creation was entrusted to brahmA alone, and hence the use of the singular “paDai”. The reference to prjApati-s is described in many places, including vishNu purANam 1.7. The first sons of brahmA – sanandana and others, were completely estranged from the universe and devoid of desire for progeny, and dedicated themselves totally and absolutely to holy wisdom. Thus brahmA had to create the prajApati-s to continue with his creation. So the term ‘mudalA” in this context will mean “etc._- “by creating brahmA etc., and then asking brahmA to proceed with creation”. But the singular is justified by the fact that brahmA was the sole individual that was directly commanded by bhagavAn with the task of creation: tatra suptasya devasya nAbhau padmam abhUt mahat | tasmin padme mahAbhAga! Veda vedA’nga pAragah || brahmotpannah sa tenoktah prajAh sRja mahAmate || (nArasimha purANam) “Oh great one! When that nArANayan was sleeping, a great lotus was formed in His nAbhi. In that lotus appeared brahmA who was well versed in vEdams and vEdAngams. nArAyaNan told brahmA: “oh great learned one, create the jIva-s”. Note the words from bhagavAn to brahmA – “prajAh sRja” – “nATTaip paDai”. Alternatively, SrI PVP comments that the pATham “ayan tannait tanda” has been favored by SrI nampiLLai, since this matches with the singular used in the original command “paDai”, and is thus more appealing in the view of SrI nampiLLai. (SrI UV resolves the issue by giving the interpretation that “ayan mudalA” means “with brahmA as the principal or the first one” – “mudalvanAga”. See more discussion under SrI UV below). naLir mAmalar undi vITTaip paNNi viLaiyADum: As part of His leelA (viLaiyADum), He created a place (vITTaip paNNi) in the lotus flower sprouting from His cool (naLir), deep, large, navel (mA malar undi) for brahmA to feel comfortable in his very difficult job. Every word chosen here is significant. naLir means “comforting, pleasant, cool”, to provide a comfortable accommodation for brahmA in his difficult job of creation. mA malar is “the big flower” – the lotus flower in His navel, that is big enough to accommodate this large brahmANDa. His tirunAbhik kamalam relieves tiredness because of being cool and has the broad area for creating the whole universe and other sRshTi-s; He has given a place for brahmA on this nAbhik kamalam and enjoying this whole sRshTi game as His leelA rasam. vimalan tannaik kaNDIrE?: He is pure of heart – vimalan. He is “vimalan” because He engages in creation only for the benefit of the jIva-s, and does not worry about the fact that brahmA and others are only interested in the ‘position and status’, and are not truly interested in attaining Him. Now follows the response: kATTai nADit tEnuganum kaLirum puLLum uDan maDiya vETTai Adi varuvAnai : The friends of gOdai respond that they see Him as One Who goes and searches after (nADi) the evil beings such as dhEnukan, kuvalayApIDam, bakAsuran, etc., like an aggressive hunter going in search of wild animals hiding in hard-to-find bushes. SrI PVP gives a nice connection between the first part, where gOdai asks her friends whether they found the One who created brahmA and through him created all the prajA-s, and the response where the friends say that they found this great One Who hunts down and destroys the asura-s. BhagavAn could have left it as the responsibility of brahmA to protect and look after the jIva-s that he has created, or alternatively, He could have left it to the jIva-s to take care of themselves. But the compassionate Lord vishNu does not absolve responsibility for the protection of His children. He makes sure that the Asuric people are hunted down and destroyed, so that the good ones can live in peace. The asura-s take all kinds of deceitful forms, but He hunts them down and gets rid of them for the welfare of the good – [[ “paritrANAya sAdhUnAm vinASAya ca dushkRtAm | dharma samsthApanArthAya sambhavAmi yugE yugE” || - gItai]] He created this universe directly and then delegated further responsibilities to brahman and others to create other sRshTi-s. Instead of leaving their maintenance and protection from evil forces to the sRsTi-s themselves, He feels attached as their Owner, takes avatArams and comes and helps them get rid of enemies. virundAvanattE kaNDOmE: we saw Him not in tiruvAippADi, but in SrI bRndAvanam, where we could hug Him to our heart’s content with great love (just as sItai embraced SrI rAmapirAn after the vadam of karan and his troupe - “bhartAram parishasvajE” – rAmAyaNam AraNya kANDam 94-18) C. Additional thoughts from SrI UV: ayan mudalA: SrI UV also discusses the consistency issue between the singular form “paDai” and the possible plural form “ayan mudalA”, and refers to the different possible explanations referred to by SrI PVP. In addition, he gives a very satisfactory explanation by giving the meaning “mudalvanAga – as the first one”, referring to brahmA being the first one that bhagavAn created. If “mudalA” is taken as plural – brahmA and others, then he gives reference to tiruvAimozhi 10.10.3 “mEvittozhum piraman Sivan indiranAdikkellAm nAbhikamala mudal kizhangE”, where nammAzhvAr refers to brahmA, Siva, indra, etc., all originating from His navel as the first place of origin with brahmA – in other words, bhagavAn created brahmA from His navel, and then brahmA created the others. viLaiyADum: having brahma as His child and talking with him is leelA for Him; making madhu-kaiTabha-s steal the vEda-s and recovering them back is leelA for Him; keeping brahmA as a pretext and doing vyashTi sRshTi in the form of his antaryAmi, just as He performs samashTi sRshTi, sthiti and samhara is leelA for Him. vimalan: akhila hEya pratyanIkan – completely devoid of any limiting or defiling defects of any kind. (SrI PBA translates the term as ‘parama pAvanan’). He is vimalan because He provides a house (body) for the jIva-s for their benefit for the enjoyment of their karma-s purely out of His kRpA, because He does not have dOshams such as discrimination, inequality, injustice etc. (vaishamyam); and because even though He is the antaryAmi in everyone, none of the defects of these jIva-s even remotely attach to Him. kaLiRU: elephant. He killed kuvalayApIDam in mathurA. One can ask – how come ANDAL is referring to the killing of kuvalayApIDam in the forests of bRndAvanam (kATTai nADi… virundAvanattE kaNDOmE) , when the elephant was actually killed in mathurA? It could be taken to mean any elephant that was slain in the forest instead of to kuvalayApIDam. Alternately, SrI UV comments that mathurA was a ‘forest’ till kaNNan came there and slew kuvalyApIDam etc., because mathurA without kaNNan is a ‘deserted forest’ anyway. He gives reference to vALmIki, who describes ayodhyA without rAma as a “forest” - “ayodhyAm aTavIm viddhi”. uDan maDiya: SrI UV interprets the word ‘uDan’ to mean “together, and then discusses the relevance of this word in this pASuram. With this interpretation, this wording suggests that dhEnukan, kuvalayApIDam, bakAsuran, etc. died together or at the same time. Since all these asuras were killed when kaNNan was very young, in a short space of time, without much effort on His part, it can be said for practical purposes that “they all died at the same time”. It is also true that even if dhenukan, kuvalyApIDam, and bakAsuran came together to attack kaNNan at the same time, He is capable of vanquishing them all at the same time. In contrast, SrI PVP interprets the word ‘uDan’ to mean “uDanE” – immediately, on the spot, without effort on the part of kaNNan. This seems like a more straightforward interpretation. vETTai ADi varuvAnai – Reference was made earlier to vaidEhi embracing Lord rAma after He returned from the battlefield after slaying kara, dUshaNa etc. Here, ANDAL is describing her kaNNan returning after hunting down and slaying the evil asura-s. The parallel is evident. This last pASuram before the final one which is the phala Sruti, can be understood as the blessing of all of ANDAL’s elders and friends for her to embrace her kaNNan and live happily in His service for ever. D. Additional thoughts from SrI T.S.rAjagOpAlan: The main theme of this particular pASuram is ANDAL’s description of bhagavAn’s extreme kRpA in creating the universe for the benefit of the jIva-s, and His Infinite Mercy in protecting the created beings. 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) __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month! http://sbc.yahoo.com -------------------------------------------------------------- - SrImate rAmAnujAya namaH - To Post a message, send it to: bhakti-list@yahoogroups.com Group Home: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bhakti-list Archives: http://ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/archives/ Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
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