puLLAyEnamumAy

puLLAyEnamumAy

thirunaRaiyUr 9

puLLAi EnamumAi puhundu ennai uLLam koNDa
kaLvanenralum enkaNhaL neerhaL SOrtarumAl|
uLLEninruruhi nenjam unnai uLLiyakkAl
naLLEn unnaiyallAl naraiyoor ninra nambiyO ||

“Oh! emberumAn! When i call You puLLAi, EnamAi ennuLLE puhundu kaLvA’ the tears run down my eyes incessantly. When i think i shall meditate You in my mind, then also my mind starts melting and i can’t proceed any further! Oh! naraiyoor nambi! i shall not consider anyone except You as my swAmi’.

puLLAi EnamAi—The SAstras says ‘ajAyamAnO bahudhA vijAyatE’—He who is birth less takes many births. ‘uyiraLippAn enninra yOhiyumAi pirandAi imaiyOr talaivA’—You the Lord of nityasooris, should You take birth in such lower species as a bird or an animal?

We are born out of karma, whereas He is born out of kAruNya.

‘Well! You say You take these births for the sake of Your Baktas. If such be the case why should You take births as an animal or bird? But when You want to help, You never consider whether the birth is high or low. It can be a Sree rAma- a chakravarti or a varAha- a mere boar. How can i ever leave You to seek any other god when i think of Your compassion?

puLLAi—When madhu and kaiTaba stole the vEdas and hid them under the sea He took hamsAvatAra and brought back the vEdas.

EnamAi—When hiraNyakaShipu hid the Boomi under the sea He took varAha avatAra to save her.

ODAvALariyin uruvAi maruvi entan
mADEvandu aDiyEn manamkoLLavalla maindA |
pADEn toNDartammaikkavdaippanuval koNDu
nADEn unnaiyallAl naraiyoor ninra nambiyO ||

In the last pASura AzhwAr said He stole his heart when he thought of His hamsa and varAha avatAras. Now he says ‘Oh! emberumAn! i cannot understand Your ways. Why should You be born neither as an animal nor as a man? Why should You take a narasimha avatAra which is unique and unheard of? Ah! This is the limit of Your kindness towards Your Baktas!

aDiyEn manam koLLa valla maindA—You took narasimha avatAra to steal the hearts of Baktas like prahlAda . At the same time You stole my stone-like heart too! How wonderful is Your act! Hence i have decided not to sing the praise of any mean human being. i shall sing You only with my flawless poetry.

emmAnum emmanaiyum ennaippeTTrozhindadarpin
ammAnum ammanaiyum aDiyEnukkAhi ninra |
nanmAna oNSuDarE naraiyoor ninranambee un
maimmAnavaNNamallAl mahizhndEtta mATTEnE ||

Oh! embirAn! You are more than my father and mother. They beget children because of their love to each other. Then they leave them if they oppose their words. But You never leave Your children at any time. ‘sElEi kaNNiyarum perum Selvamum nan makkaLum mElA tandaiyum avarE ini yAvarE’. ‘peTTrAr peTTrozhindAi pinnum ninru aDiyEnukku uTTrAnAi vaLarttu ennuyirAhi ninnAnAi’ tirumangai AzhwAr says in eTTAm pattu.

nan mAna oN SuDarE—An extraordinary brilliant form He has. AzhwAr hastens to say immediately tirunaraiyoor ninra nambi’ Since he wants to say it is not only paramapadanAtha that has this form but even in archAvatAra He has this form.

SiraiyAyOr piLLaiyumAi ulahuNDOr Alilai mEl
uraivAi ennenjinuLLE uraivAi uraindadutAn |
ariyAdirundariyEn aDiyEn aNivaNDukiNDum
naraivArum pozhilSoozh naraiyoor ninra nambiyO ||

‘i have heard from the SAstras that You lie on a small tender banyan leaf after praLaya. You have entered my mind in the same form. i believe the SAstras now since i have had the personal experience of this form in my mind. i am indeed grateful to You. i shall never forget this anugraha of Yours towards me.

Alilai mEl uraivAi ennenjinuLLE uraivAi—It can be interpreted as—You lie in my heart as You lie on the banyan leaf (or) You have left the Alilai to enter in to my heart and lie there.

naraiyoor ninra nambiyO—Oh! naraiyoor ninra nambi! i think You have left the excellent dwelling place of naraiyoor to enter into my heart and have taken a permanent abode there. Therefore i cannot forget You.

neeNDAyai vAnavarhaL ninaindEtti kANbaridAl
ANDAiyenru Adarikka paDuvAikku nAn aDimai |
pooNDEn ennenjinuLLE puhundAyai pOhaloTTEn
nANtAn unakkozhindEn naraiyoor ninra nambiyO ||

Oh! emberumAn! Even brahma and others do not know You as You are, even though they meditate and sing Your glories, guNas, chEShTitas etc. They simply utter the word ‘emberumAn’ without any understanding of its depth. i want to do kainkarya to You (i am not like them to say ‘emberumAn’ and sit quiet). i think for that purpose You have entered my mind. Even if You want to leave it i shall not let You do so. i am shameless. But i don’t care.

neeNDAyai—BagavAn’s each aspect like roopa, guNa, chEShTita etc. is infinite.

kANbaridAl—Even brahma and others find it difficult to understand You as You are truly. Though they are ignorant about Your swaroopa etc. They simply call You ‘emberumAn’.

AzhwAr wonders how he can do kainkarya to such a supreme Lord. He is happy at the same time that he has achieved what is almost impossible. He says he won't be a fool to leave Him. ‘ i may even say ‘tiruvANai ninnANai kaNDAi’ to retain Him. (i shall vow on pirATTi and make You stay) tirunaraiyoor nambi says ‘AzhwAr’ you keep saying aDiyEn but act at Your will. Shouldn’t You submit yourself totally to me? How can You say pOhaloTTEn? isn’t it against Your prapatti swaroopa?

AzhwAr replies—‘nan tan unakkE ozhindEn’. What You say is right. But i have decided not to sit quiet expecting Your command. i have decided to act as i wish the order to get You. Hence i don’t feel shy about it.

‘nambi naraiyoorAr ennilaimai kaNDum irangArEyAmAhil mannu maDaloorvan vandu’— AzhwAr in periya tirumaDal.

entAdai tAdaiyappAl ezhuvar pazhavaDimai
vandAr ennenjinuLLEvandAyai pOhaloTTEn |
andO en AruyirE arasE aruLenakku
nandAmal tanda endAi naraiyoor ninra nambiyO ||

Oh! naraiyoor ninra nambi! Oh! my life! Oh! my Lord! Oh! Very compassionate! Oh! emberumAn! How could leave You (pOhaloTTEn) who is worshipped by me, my father, his father and so on for ten generations! How can i leave You who have come into my heart of Your own accord? BagavAn tries to move away. Immediately AzhwAr feels sad and says ‘andO!’ He says ‘emberumAn! Don’t think it is a loss to me if You go. You are indeed the loser’. BagavAn ‘how?’ AzhwAr—‘It is You who are searching for a Bakta. i have come to seek Your tiruvaDi. Don’t lose me. Don’t ever go back on Your resolution of being compassionate on whoever comes to You’.

en AruyirE—Only because of You i live. Without You i shall simple die.

mannanja AyiramtOL mazhuvil tuNittamanidA
ennejattuL irundu inginippOi piraroruvar |
vannenjam pukkirukkavoTTEn vaLaittuvaittEn
nannenja annamannum naraiyoor ninra nambiyO ||

AzhwAr said in the last pASura ‘en nenjinuLLE vandAyai pOhaloTTEn’. emberumAn tries to show AzhwAr that He is swatantra and is the Lord of all. So He thinks to leave. AzhwAr says ‘i know You are the supreme Lord. Didn’t You cut of the thousand arms of kArtaveeryArjuna and caused fear in the hearts of all kShatriyas? i know that nothing can deter You from doing what You want to do. But i plead not to use Your swatantrya on me, Your dAsa in this respect.

piraroruvar vannenjam pukkirukka oTTEn—AzhwAr thinks all others hearts except his are hard hearted. This only reveals his para Bakti.

vaLaittu vaittEn—Like a beggar who standing in front of a rich man’s house does not leave unless him; like Barata who pleaded at Sree rAma in chitrakooTa to come to ayOdhya to crown as the king—AzhwAr has determined not to leave unless He gives what is asked for.

nannenja annam mannum— BagavAn may sometimes show His deaf ear to His Baktas pleadings thinking of their pApa karmas. But pirATTi in His tirumArbu always has a soft word towards even the pApis who come to worship Him. Isn’t she ‘mercy incarnation?’ She will always say ‘na kachchid nAparAdhyati’—who doesn’t commit pApa? She makes Him listen to their words.

eppOdum ponmalariTTu imaiyOr tozhudu tangaL
kaippOdu koNDirainji kazhalmEl vaNanga ninrAi |
ippOdu ennenjinuLLE puhundAyai pOhaloTTEn
narpOdu vaNDukiNDum naraiyoor ninra nambiyO ||

Oh! tirunaraiyoor ninra nambi! You are always worshipped by the nityasooris who offer good fragrant flowers at Your tiruvaDi and make anjali too. You reside in tirunaraiyoor which has plenty of forests and flowers which the bees seek. You have entered my mind too. i shall not let You go from there’.

AzhwAr says ‘it is nothing great of Him to give darSan to the nityasooris who are untouched by samsAra. He is great because He has entered my mind. Hence i shall not let You go from my mind. i shall not let go a valuable treasure’ (pOhaloTTEn)

tozhudu, irainji, vaNangi—are all synonymous terms but can be taken to mean worship done by three kAraNas—mind, speech and actions.

oonErAkkaidannai uzhandOmbivaittamaiyAl
yAnAi entanakkAi aDiyEn manam puhunda |
tEnE teengarumbin teLivE en SindaitannAl
nAnE eidappeTTrEn naraiyoor ninra nambiyO ||

naraiyoor ninra nambi! You are honey! You are teengarumbu! You have entered my mind as antarAtma. This Sareera of mine i had taken care of all these days with such love and affection. i had dEhAtma buddhi (to mistake dEha as Atma) all these days on this dirty Sareera made of blood, bile, bones etc. Now i seek Your tiruvaDi. i realize my foolishness. i find fulfillment of having this dEha which serves to worship You.

vichitra dEha sampattih eeSwarAya nivEditum poorvamEva krita Brahman hasta pAdAdi samyutA’—This Sareera with hands and feet and indriyas is given by Him to serve Him and worship Him. ‘oonEr Akkai tannai uzhandOmbi vaittamaiyAl nAnE eida peTTrEn’.

nanneer vayal puDaiSoozh naraiyoor ninra nambiyai
kanneer mAlvaraittOL kalikanri mangaiyarkOn |
Sonneer Son mAlai SollluvArhaL SoozhviSumbil
nanneermaiyAl mahizhndu neDungAlam vAzhvArE ||

BagavAn resides for ever in tirunaraiyoor, a city rich in fields. About Him tirumangai AzhwAr has sung ten pASuras, a garland of words. Those who read with Bakti will certainly go to paramapada and do nityakainkarya to Him like the nitya sooris do.