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Chitranchiru kaale - vyakhyanams

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TCA Venkatesan • September 27, 2002 


Sri:
Srimathe Ramanujaya Nama:

Dear BhAgavatas,

We have been talking about ciRRam ciRu kAlE and
pUrvacharya vyakhyanams for the same. It is therefore
important to know what they have said about this
phrase. AdiyEn has translated and paraphrased some
these vyakhyanams for your reference. The vyakhyanams
also talk of the use of kAlE versus kAlai toward the
end, so kindly read the whole post.


ciRRanj ciRu kAlE Vyakhyanams:

What is this time?
This is the cold early dawn at which time young girls 
normally do not get up.

The time in which satva guNas rise: "brAhme muhurtte
sOtthAya cintayEdAtmanOhitam" (thinking of good things
after waking up in the pre-dawn). The time in which
they have the knowledge to leave right then and go to 
Him, is the brAhma muhurttha kAlam, which is the best 
time to think about what is good for the soul. Just as 
everything fell in place such as the month being 
Margazhi, the paksham becoming pUrva, the day being a 
purNima day (paurNami), so too the time became the 
ideal brAhma muhurththa time.

kalai - ciRu kAlai - ciRRanj ciRu kAlai:
The pre-dawn in which even those trapped in tamas 
guNas gain knowledge. They have woken up before the 
dawn, the dawn which is signified by the yadava 
girls churning the milk ("Aycciyar maththinAl Osaip 
paduththa"). 

They are awake at the time between night disappearing
and day beginning. That is the time of knowledge, 
which happens between lack of knowledge and gaining 
of the kainkarya goal. The time in between when one 
stops being a samsAri and becomes a mukta is when one 
is a mumukshu. That time is the ciRu kAlai.

One does karmic things all day, forgets everything at
night and sleeps and once awakened gets back into the
karmic ways. There is a small gap in between when 
satva guNas surface. This is the time when the mind
can truly be fixed.

The soul is at first enslaved to itself, then it 
becomes His. There is a small time in between when 
this knowledge is realized. That time is ciRu kAlai.

The time in which darkness was dispelled and the 
bhagavad vishayam was brought to light ("nArAyaNanaik
kaNdEn pagaR kaNdEn" - I saw Narayana and I saw the 
day). The time in which the darkness has been removed 
but the full brightness of being with Him as not yet
happened.

"kAlai nal gnyAnath thuRai padinthAdi" - The time for 
gaining the true knowledge which is  Him and reaching 
Him through a sadAchArya, through pirAtti's 
purushakAram, and the help of bhAgavatas.

The time in between, where the long dark samsAric night 
has ended and the time to see Narayana has begun.

"andham tama ivAgnyAnam" - lack of knowledge is the
darkness.

The day is when the soul is brought to light. Just as
the Sun is the source of light for the external eyes,
He is the source of light for the internal eyes.

There is no night and day for Thiruvayppadi like it is
for the rest of us. When He was born there, then it
became day for them. He was born in the middle of the
night and then the world was awakened ("viriyum kathirE
pOlvAn").


Why say ciRRanj ciRu?
If they came at the ciRu kAlai, they won't be able to
catch Him. He would go early for grazing the cattle
("ciRu kAlE ooti oruppaduththEn - Periyazhvar Thirumozhi
3.3.2; another instance of the use of kAlE for kAlai).
He would only return late in the night after being with
the gOpikas. So, they went at a time that they knew He
would be around and that is ciRRanj ciRu kAlai.

Each day there is an early dawn and an awakening, but 
this dawn has become most auspicious.


Why say kalE?
ciRRanj ciRu kAlE is a way of speaking (saying kAlE
instead of kAlaththilE) for certain kinds of people
(jAti). For example, saying "vetta vidiyAlE" (vidiyal
is early dawn: vidiyal kAlai). Because they are girls 
they say ciRRanj ciRu kAlE, similar to saying vetta 
vediyAlE.

--

I saw a point about third person showing up in the
middle of the pasuram. Just wanted to clarify something 
on that.

The "iRRaip paRai koLvAnanRu" is not third person 
addressed to a second person (such as addressing
Krishna and saying kutti kannan samarththu). It is
actually third person addressed to first person
(that is, koLvAn is not pointed to Govinda). So, 
what should have been kolvOmanRu has become 
kolvAnanRu. The meaning is, we are not here today 
to take something (from you and leave, O Govinda).

--

Finally, in reading meanings into words in the 
pasurams one has to be careful. It is possible for 
any word to be broken up in multiple ways bringing 
out multiple meanings. For example, the word empAvAy 
is seen throughout Thiruppavai. I may choose to break 
it up as em + pa + vAy (my mouth saying this pasuram) 
or em + pa + Ay (my gOpikAs saying this pasuram), etc. 
This might lead to some interesting anubhavams for
certain pasurams, but they cannot replace the original, 
acharya explained meaning. They can at best be 
additional anubhavams. The same holds true for ciRRanj 
ciRu kAlE.

adiyEn madhurakavi dAsan
TCA Venkatesan
http://www.acharya.org

[ I have edited the transliteration of the word 'brAhma'
  as in 'brAhma muhUrta' to avoid confusion with the word
  'bhrama'. The former means 'great' or 'divine', and the
  latter means 'delusion'. -- Moderator ]


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