poRuththEn

poRuththEn

thiruviNNagar 2

poruTTEn punSol nenjil poruLinbamena iraNDum
iruTTEn aimpulanhaTku iDan Ayina vAyiloTTi |
aruTTEn ArvachcheTTram avaitammai manattahaTTri
veruTTEn ninaDaindEn tiruviNNahar mEyavanE ||
poruTTEn punSol nenjil—is interpreted in two ways.

The apparent relative talk cruel and harsh words to me. Since i considered them my relatives who i have to bear with, i tolerated them patiently. viBeeShaNa spoke softly and what is good to his brother rAvaNa and asked him to return seeta who is the wife of other person. But rAvaNa did not (listen to him but scolded him ‘tvam to dhik kulapAmsanam’ ‘Get lost! you are a black mark to our race). viBeeShaNa immediately left him and sought rAma. i should have done so when i hear such words. But did i do it? No. i bear with them patiently great fool as i am!
i talk high and eulogize those above me in order to gain something in return.
aimpulanhaTku iDan Ayina poruLinbam ena iraNDum iruTTEn –There are four puruShArthas—a man should desire for—dharma, artha, kAma and mOkSha. Leaving the mOkSha i resorted to kAma and artha which are the natural inclinations of the five indriyas. Like an indebted person i have to clear my debts. So i yield to their demands and spend my days in earning (by any means) to satisfy their needs.

ArvachchETTram vAyiloTTi aruTTEn—There is love towards objects of your liking and hatred towards the object of your dislike. They are called rAga and dwESha. To my loved object i swear ‘i must rescue them by any means even at the cost of my life’. To the other i say ‘i must get rid of it whatever may come’.

avai tannai manattu ahaTTri veruttEn—After You blessed me with the tirumantra i renounced rAga dwESha. Now i am pure and fit to seek Your tiruvaDi.

marandEn unnaimunnam maranda madiyin manattAl
irandEnettanaiyum adanAl iDumbaikkuzhiyil |
pirandEyeitozhindEn perumAn tirumArbA
SirandEn ninaDikkE tiruviNNahar mEyavanE ||

AzhwAr says—You deserve to be thought of and meditated upon always. But because a fool as i am i never thought of You and totally have forgotten You. A mumukShu should know five things (artha panchaka) of which even one i don’t know.

munnam­­--can be interpreted as—anAdikala (beginningless time) or when i was in samsAra. Even if i had indulged myself in samsAra suKa at least i could have placed You in one corner of my mind. But, no! You were totally out of my mind.

The SAstras say ‘dhyEyO nArAyaNah sadA’. The word ‘marandEn’ suggests he had remembered Him once. AzhwAr could have used ‘arindilEn’ to suggest total ignorance at all times. periyavAchchAn piLLai says—The Atma’s very nature is to have Bagavat sambandha. Hence AzhwAr uses the word ‘marandEn’.

Well! It is but natural in this dark samsAric world to forget Him. But AzhwAr feels ‘yes. But my greater sin is not even to feel for it and atone for it. It is the greatest loss. i was better than insentient object. The jaDa has no sentiency to feel. But me, being sentient, know, feel and realize. But i have no felling of loss when i did not realize Him. Hence the word ‘maranda madiyin manattAl irandEn’.

For all these reasons i am still in samsAra undergoing births and deaths (iDumbai kuzhiyil pirandE).

i am fortunate now that i seek Your tiruvaDi. Not minding my past bless me Oh! Lord!

mAnEinOkkiyartam vayiTTrukkuzhiyiluzhaikkum
oonEi Akkai tannai udavAmai uNarnduNarndu
vAnE mAnilamE vandu vanden manattirunda
tEnE ninaDaindEn tiruviNNahar mEyavanE ||

Oh! vAnE! mAnilamE! i seek Your tiruvaDi after much deliberation on certain truths. You come to this leela viBooti to stay here forever considering this greater than Your nitya viBooti. You come to my heart to stay there permanently. Oh! tEnE! i think over the uselessness of this body which is a collection of blood, bile, pus, bones etc. covered by skin. When it is in the womb of a woman it suffers endlessly living amidst all these foul smelling articles! emberumAn! i don’t want this kind of living inside the womb and outside it too. Hence i seek You as my rakShaka.

vAnE—The nAyaka of nitya viBooti

mA nilanE—The nAyaka of leela viBooti

vandu vandu—is split in two ways.

1. vandu vandu—You come here several times with an idea to stay here (in my mind) for ever. But every time i used to push You out. Again and again You found some opportunities to come and stay inside. At last You succeeded.

2. vandu vandu—You stay here happily.

pirindEn peTTramakkaL peNDirenrivar pinnudavAdu
arindEn neepaNitta aruLennum oLvALuruvi |
erindEn aimpulanhaL iDarteera erinduvandu
SerindEn ninaDikkE tiruviNNahar mEyavanE ||

Like viBeeShaNa AzhwAr says to his left wife, children and other relatives and belongings. He says they are poison-like wicked. They extract as much as possible from You while living (demanding to satisfy their endless desires) and try to get as much after death. ‘SOrvinAl poruL vaittadu uNDAhil Sollu Sollu enru SuTTrum irundu’ (periyAzhwAr). Instead of chanting BagavAn nAma to make Him reach good lOkas, they pester him to reveal the secret place where he has hidden money.

‘Therefore’, AzhwAr says' I have sought the charama SlOka which You have preached arjuna during the mahABArata war (sarva dharmAn parityajya mAmEkam SaraNam vraja| aham tvA sarva pApEByO mOkShayiShyAmi mA suchah). It is kaNNa pirAn’s compassion which does not expect any return that made Him teach this path of SaraNAgati. AzhwAr calls it ‘nee paNitta aruL’ . He says it is a sharp sword by which he cut of the five indriyas which were tormenting him incessantly. After this he had nothing to call anything as his (since he has severed his relationship with the world)—‘Serindu vandu’. Now he has sought His tiruvaDi (ninnaDikkE) as his resort.

pAN tEn vaNDaraiyum kuzhalArhaL pallaNDiSaippa
ANDAr vaiyamellAm araSAhi mun ANDavarE |
mANDArenruvandAr andO manaivAzhkkaitannai
vENDEn ninaDaindEn tiruviNNahar mEyavanE ||

Oh! tiruviNNahar mEyavanE! Those who called themselves the chakravartis who ruled over the entire globe and who were praised by their queens in the harem as ‘Oh! king! There is no one like you; there is no one to defeat you! May you live long; etc’ had also died. After death they left only their names in the history. Nothing else. Little knowing that life is transitory and worldly pleasures are insignificant they spent their life in glories when they died they were no better than beggars! Oh! emberumAn! Let me not waste my time in such arrogance, pride, egoism, and vanity. Let me serve You; Let me think Bagavat kainkarya alone is the purpose of life. i seek Your tiruvaDi.

‘SonnAl virOdhamidu’ is the tiruvAimozhi pASura expressing the same idea. There, the vyAKyAnakarta refers to this pASura of periya tirumozhi.

kallAvaimpulanhaL avaikaNDavAru SeiyyahillEn
mallA mallaruL mallar mALA mallaDartta |
mallA mallalam Seer madiL neer ilangaiazhitta
villA ninaDaindEn tiruviNNahar mEyavanE ||

emberumAn! These five indriyas are very uncivilized and rude. They demand their desires to be satisfied (and there is no end to their demand and no end to satisfaction too). If i yield to their whims and fancies they push me in samsAra sAgara. Hence i shall not do so. i understand they were given to me by You in order to employ You in Your service (the eyes to see Your form, the ears to hear the harikatha etc) ‘vichitrA dEha sampattihi aiSwarya nivEditum poorvamEva krutA Brahman hasta pAdAdi samyutA’. emberumAn! i have decided to employ them at Your service. Oh! mallA! You defeated the mallAs of kamsa’s court! Oh! mallA! You defeated the rAkShasas of lankApuri with Your bow. i seek Your tiruvaDi so You can kill my indriyas desires and ways and bring them back to Your service.

mallam Seer madiL neerilangai—When hanumAn went to lankApuri in search of seeta pirATTi He was astonished at the beauty of the city. ‘yadi adharmO na balavAn syAdayam rAkShasESwarah syAdayam suralOkasya sachakrasyApi rakShitA’— if only rAvaNa was not wicked he would have ruled over indra lOka and indra too.

vErAyAnirandEn vehuLAdu manakkoLLendAi
ArAvennarahattu aDiyEnai iDakarudi |
koorA aivarvandu kumaikka kuDiviTTavarai
tErAduninaDainEn tiruviNNahar mEyavanE ||

Oh! My swAmi! i ask You one special favour. Don’t be angry at me! Listen to what i say and think over it. ‘Well! What is it?’. ‘emberumAn! my five indriyas make me their slave (in fact i am Your slave) and torture me beyond endurance. You have given me these indriyas in order to make me virtuous and employ in Your service. But they refuse to obey my orders. They boss over me. Each one has a different demand and each one’s demand has no end! i don’t trust them any more. i seek Your tiruvaDi and implore to protect me.

vErA yAnirandEn—When a person asks a boon , it may take time to give fruits in due course or it may give immediate result. Now i want the second type. AzhwAr says, ‘i can’t put up with any more delay. You should save me from these murderers immediately. Otherwise i may not live any longer.’

yAnirandEn— ‘irandEn’, itself suggests the first person. The additional word ‘yAn’ should have a deeper significance. It is said, emberumAn! You go in search of people to come to paramapada. You do anugraha to one at the slightest opportunity. Isn’t it the responsibility of the ‘owner’ to protect the ‘property’? Hence it is only proper that You should be in search of me, come after me, request me, do anugraha to me, take me to pramapada, relieve me of these enemies!

But look! What is happening! i am in search of You, seek Your help to protect me, asking Your favour. Does a ‘property’ ever do so to its ‘owner’? Therefore don’t be angry (vehuLAdu manakkoL) at my hasty behaviour.

endAi—You should pardon me as a father .

ArAvennarahattu—The indriyas plan to push me into perennial hell (samsAra). They have ahankAra and mamakAra (i and mine) as their tools with which they torture me. i don’t know what more they have planned to do! i am terribly afraid of them.

kuDiviTTavarai—You made them live in my body to help me. But they are cruel villains. i don’t trust them. (This suggests AzhwAr’s conquest over his senses).

teevAivalvinaiyAr uDaninru Sirandavar pOl
mEvAvennarahattu iDaruTTru virainduvandAr |
moovA vAnavar tam mudalvA madikOLviDutta
dEvA ninaDaindEn tiruviNNahar mEyavanE ||

The awful sins which emit fire from their mouths are very terrible. They torture me staying with me, never leaving me alone even for a minute (AzhwAr says they are like one’s relatives who stay with us and torture us) They want to push me to the hell and do it fast. Oh! emberumAn! moovA vAnavar mudalvA! Save me as You saved the moon god!

valvinaiyAr—The dreadful sins. They are called so since they don’t go useless they are experienced in the form of suKa and duhKa.

teevAi—They emit fire from their mouths. This describes their horrid nature, and fearful look.

pOdAr tAmaraiyAL pulavikkula vAnavar tam
kOdA kOdil SengOl kuDaimannariDai naDanda |
toodA toomozhiyAi SuDarpOl enmanattirunda
vEdA ninaDaindEn tiruviNNahar mEyavanE ||

emberumAn You are loved by periya pirATTi Boomi pirATTi and nitya sooris. Hence i request them to do ‘puruShakAra’ for me (i.e. to recommend my case to Him). Even though You are supreme Lord You went as a messenger to duryOdana on behalf of pANDavas with a tag hanging from Your neck (to indicate Your role as a messenger). You are like a lamp in my mind. You are the revealer of vEdas and revealed by vEdas. Oh! emberumAn! i seek Your tiruvaDi who is in tiruviNNahar for all the people to worship You.

mannariDai—can mean both duryOdana and pANDavas.

tEnAr poomburavil tiruviNNahar mEyavanai
vAnArum madiLSoozh vayal mangaiyar kOn maruvAr |
oonAr vElkaliyan oliSei tamizh mAlaivallAr
kOnAi vAnavar tam koDimAnavar kooDuvarE ||

tirumangai AzhwAr has sung these ten beautiful tamizh pASuras on emberumAn residing at tiruviNNahar. It is a beautiful city full of sky high forests and fields. Those who read and meditate on these pASuras will go to paramapada (where the flags of nitya sooris fly high) and be honoured by all.