Thiruppavai-Pasuram4

Pasuram-4

Aazimazaikkanna onru nee kaikaravel
Aaziyul pukku mugarndhu kodaarththeri
Oozimudhalvan uruvampol meikaruththu
Paaziyamtholudai padmabnaabhan kaiyil
Aazipol minni valampuripol ninradhirndhu
Thaazaadhe saarngam udhaiththa sara mazai pol
Vaaza ulaginil peydhidai naangalum
maargazi neeraada maggizndhelorempaavai.

Translation

Oh rain-bearing cloud, who looks like Krishna to us, be impartial and send showers for the world to flourish . You dip into the sea and draw the water and ascend to the sky looking dark in hue like that of the Lord and shining with lightning like the disc and thundering like the conch in the hands of the Lord of the lotus-navel, discharge the showers like that of the arrows from His bow and enable us to complete our neeraadal with glee.

Commentary

Andal has called the Lord as Ongiulagalandha Uththaman and so the clouds were afraid that He himself may create rain as He created the Ganges and deprive them of their job. Hence they already appeared in front, ready to do the bidding of Andal and she commands them to give rain. The elements obey the words of the ardent devotees of the Lord.

Aazimazaikkannaa- It may be construed to be addressed to the Lord Himself as He is the indweller of all.

Onru nee kai karavel – Do not show partiality but give rain to everybody. Here Andal, being the incarnation of Bhoo devi, entreats the Lord to show mercy to all her children.

Aaziyulpukku - Andal gives instruction to the cloud to go deep into the ocean and take as much water as it can so that all will be benefited.

Mugarndhukodaarththeri – The cloud should draw water and ascend high in order not to empty it on the way so that the entire humanity will get the rain.

Oozi mudhalvan uruvampol meikaruththu – The body of the Lord will be dark especially at the end of pralaya just before creation due to His daya, mercy, and also because He carried all beings inside Him. The Lord is described as being dark like the rain- bearing cloud only for this reason. The only difference is that while the dark cloud becomes white after it has emptied the water inside the Lord is always dark due to His eternal daya.

Padmanaabhan- He sports a lotus rising from His navel on which is seated the four-faced Brahma who creates the world as per His command. So the word Padmanaabha refers to the Lord as the creator.

Aazi pol minni valampuripol ninradhirndhu – The disc and the conch are to protect the good and to punish the wicked. The disc shines brilliantly to instill fear in the hears of the wrong doers and the conch sounds like thunder to make them shiver. When Krishna sounded His conch, Paanchajanya, at the outset of the Mahabharatha war it tore the hearts of the Kouravas, says Gita, ‘paanchajanyam hrshikesah------- sa goshah dharthrashtranaam hrdhyaani vyadhaarayath.’

Thaazaadhe saarngam udhaiththa saramazai pol - When the Lord sees his devotees in distress He uses His weapons like the bow called saarngam without a moment’s delay which indicates His haste in saving them. When Gajendhra cried He could not even wait to mount His vehicle Garuda but came running with Garuda following Him. Andal implies here that the cloud should pour without delay like the Lord in protecting His devotees.

Vaaza ulaginil peydhidaai ---------neeraadamagizndhelorempavai - The cloud is asked to give rain in such away that it will be a source of joy to the world and not like the rain Indra sent at the time of Govardhanodhdhaarana.

The acharya is the rain-bearing cloud who out of his mercy imparts his teaching to the sishyas. The similarities and difference between the two are as follows.

1.The cloud takes salt water from the sea and gives out sweet water as rain. So too the acharya absorbs the profound truths which are unpalatable to all because they are difficult to understand and he gives it out in a simple form for the world to understand.

2.If the rains fail the world will suffer. Similarly the acharyas who appear from time to time to save the world from adharma and calamity.

3.The cloud does not expect anything in return like a good acharya who gives his upadesa without the expectation of any reward.

4.The clouds do not stay in one place but wander all over the sky giving rain to everybody. So also the acharyas travel everywhere to enlighten the people.

5. The rain of the acharyas is the grace of the Lord creating the flow of joy that cools the others who contact them.

6. Unlike the cloud the acharya does not lose his rain of wisdom, jnanavarsha, by giving to others.

.7. The lightning of the cloud is the brilliance of jnana of the acharya and the thunder is his roar in order to establish the vaishnavasiddhaantha as in the case of Desika who was known as kavaithaarkika kesari for that reason.

It is beautifully expressed in a metaphor that the cloud, Nammazvar took the water of mercy from the sea, Lakshmikantha, the Lord, and showered it on the mountain, Nadhamuni from which the water was sent down through the two mountain streams , Uyyakkondar and Ramamisra and reached the river, Alavandar and through the canal, Perianambi ,finally rested in the lake, Ramanuja, from which all are benefited.

Tiruppavai-Pasuram3

Ongi ulagalandha uththaman perpaadi
naangal nampaavaikku saattri neeraadinaal
theenginri naadellaam thingal mummaari peydhu
ongu perumsennel oodu kaylugala
poonkuvalaippodhil porivandu kanpaduppa
thengaadhe pukkirundhu seerththa mulai patri
vaangakkudam niraikkum vallal perum pasukkal
neengaadha selvam niraindhelorempaavai

Translation

When we sing the glory of the Lord who measured the whole universe with one foot, and proceed to do our ritual by bathing in His grace the whole country will be blessed with rains three times a month and the paddy crop will grow tall and the fish will swim in the water that surrounds it and the bees will sleep inside the kuvalai flowers that grow in the water. The aayppadi will become prosperous with the cows filling the pots by mere touch of the udder.

commentary

The Lord is referred to as Utthaman. The particle ‘thama’ is added to words to show the superlative degree. ‘ Uth’ denotes mukthas the realized souls, uththara the nityasuris, the ever-free souls like Garuda, Ananta etc. and uththama the Lord.

Ongi ulagalandha Uththaman –Ongi means rising high and ulagalandha means measuring the world. This has reference to the Vamanaavathaara when the Lord came as a midget Brahmin youth and asked Mahabali three feet of ground as dhaana. When Mahabali started to give it the Lord grew in size and covered the whole earth with His foot and the heavens with the second and challenged Mahabali to give him the ground for the third foot and when Mahabali offered his head for the Lord to put His third foot He sent Mahabali to Paathaalaloka and being pleased with his devotion the Lord also positioned Himself as his guard. He is Uththama because He destroyed only the pride of Mahabali but gave him in return His bhakthi samrajya. When He covered the earth with His foot He placed it on all irrespective of their merit to deserve it. He will give rain, which stands for His grace,
unasked and hence He is Uththama.

Mahabali acquired the post of Devendra for a short duration due to his merit and he gave away all the riches of Indra to the saptarshis and as a consequence was born as Mahabali and became arrogant of his power and confiscated the heaven from Indra . When Aditi the mother of devas prayed to the Lord , He came down as her son Vamana and punished Mahabali.

When the Lord raised His foot to heavens Brahma washed His feet with the water from his kamandala, holy pot but it was not sufficient and then the Lord tore open the cosmic shell and the waters beyond the universe, aavaranajala poured through and washed His feet and that was Aakaasaganga, the heavenly Ganges which later Bhagiratha brought to earth.

The whole creation belongs to the Lord as He is the seshi and all the rest are seshas. Mahabali thought that the world belonged to him and performed the sacrifice feeling proud that all his wealth and thought that he is capable of bestowing anything to anybody. The Lord killed only this arrogance but otherwise showered His grace on Mahabali. Similar to Mahabali we also think that our soul, atman, belongs to us whereas not only our soul but nothing else belongs to us. Even our children are born through us into this world but not born to us. The story of Mahabali illustrates only this .

Nammazvar asks, ‘ When the Lord covered the whole earth with his first foot where was the space for His second foot?’ So Mahabali gave on enough land for only one foot !

Perpadi – Singing His name is enough to secure His grace. The nama is even greater than the nami. It was the nama that came to the rescue of Draupadi. So Andal here praises the name which is enough to give them rain.

Nangal nampavaikku saatri neeraadinaal - Neeraadal or taking bath implies engrossed devotion. We bathe for cleansing ourselves of impurity . Here the inner and the outer purity is intended as Purandaradasa said, ‘manasu kuliyabeku krishnaanadhiyalu thirthamaadi,’ the mind should be cleansed, and not the mere body, by bathing in river of Krishna, the Lord. Saatri neeraadal means doing everything as a service to the Lord, bhagavatkainkaryam.

Theenginri naadellaam thingal mummaari peydhu - theenginri means without obstacles. The rain should come three times a month, maadham mummaari, to the whole country naadellaam. In ancient days when people lived adhering to dharma, there were three showers a month, nine days of sun and one day of rain. This ensured that there were no excessive rain, athivrishti, or anaavrishti, draught. When for instance the reading of virata parva of Mahabharatha was going on, not only that region but the whole country got rain.

The word mummaari, according to the commentators, implies the three streams of water, the water poured by Mahabali in the hand of the Lord giving dhaana, the water from the kamandalu of Brahma to wash His feet and the water of the Ganges created by Him by tearing open the cosmic shell and bringing down the Avaranajalam.

Ongu perum sennel – The paddy crop, sennel, grew high and big giving bountiful harvest after the birth of Krishna.

Oodu kayalugala - The water level was high likewise and the fish were seen running through it. Commentators see a reference to Matsyavathara and take the word kayal, fish to refer to the Lord Himself.

Poonguvalaippodhil porivandu kanpaduppa – The beautiful black bee, porivandu, which has entered the kuvalai flower to drink the honey became drowsy and slept inside as in a cradle rocked by the fish going to and fro. The Lord Himself , who enters the heart of a devotee and rests there rocked by the loving hand of devotion could be imagined as the bee here.

Thengaadhe pukkirundhu seertha mulai patri
vangakkudam niraikkum vallal perum pasukkal – The cows of aayarpadi were big, perumpasukkal, bountiful, vallal generous and do not withhold their milk, thengaadhe , and fill the pot, kudam niraikkum, when the cowherds touched their udder pukkirundhu seertha mulaipatri vanga. When the cow is ready to give all she has if one is not able to milk her fully, it is not the fault of the cow but due to the inefficiency of the cowherd or insufficiency of the pot. Similarly the Lord is like a generous cow, ready to give everything if we ask him for trifles it is our fault. The acharyas are also likened to vallalperum pasukkal as they are ready to impart all their wisdom to the disciples. But how much the disciple is able to grasp depends on the vessel he carries, namely the amount of faith, his thirst for knowledge and his intellectual capacity, more than anything else his karma and the grace of the Lord.

In this context the mummaari, the three showers are, the resolve of the devotee who surrenders to the Lord to accept Him alone as his master, to desist from seeking any other means of salvation except the devotion to the Lord and not to look for any other end than to attain Him. The word is also taken to refer to the three types of serving Him, namely, to write about Him, to tell others about His glory and to serve Him in the form of Archavathara , idol to be worshipped.

Onguperum sennel , the tall crop of paddy is the growth in the number of devotees who surrender to Him which makes Him sleep peacefully in their hearts like a Porivandu, a black bee with spots. The spots described here could be His ornaments as Azvar said’ palappalave aabharanam, His ornaments are numerous or by a stretch of imagination one can be reminded of the sloka of Kulasekhara, ‘ ‘Ksheerasaagaratharngasheekaraasaarathaarakilachaaru moorthaye’ the body of the Lord is speckled with the drops from the milky ocean like the sky shining with stars.

To the devotee whatever he sees will remind him of the Lord. The gopis thought only of Krishna when they saw anything tall and beautiful. To Parasara bhattar and Alvandar, the lotuses grown in the water of the paddy fields and the tall full grown stalk of paddy bending downward, brought the picture of the Lord and His devotees.