MoondrAm thiruvandhAdhi-Paasuram-21

Sri Parthasarathi thunai

Srimathe ramanujaya Namaha

Srimad Vara Vara MunayE Namaha

Sri vAnAchala mahA munayE Namaha 

Paasuram-21

“pEsuvAr evvaLavu pEsuvar avvaLavE

 vAsamalarth thuzhAi mAlayAn-tEsudaiya

  chakkaraththAn sanginAn sAringaththAn pongarava

 vakkaranai kondRAn vadivu”

    "பேசுவார் எவ்வளவு பேசுவர் அவ்வளவே  

வாசமலர்த் துழாய் மாலையான் -தேசுடைய  

சக்கரத்தான் சங்கினான் சார்ங்கத்தான் பொங்கரவ 

 வக்கரனைக் கொன்றான் வடிவு "

(photo courtesy:www.flickr.com/ramaswamy narayanan)

vasam malar thuzhAi mAlaiyAn – one who adorns a garland made of fragrant flowers and tulasi;

dEsu vudaiya chakkaraththAn – one who holds the radiant divine discus;

sanginAn – one who holds the divine conch (panchajanya);

sAringaththAn – one who holds the divine bow (sArangam);

pongu aravam vakkaranai kondRAn – The supreme Lord who killed violent ferocious danthavaktran;

vadivu – nature (personality);

pEsuvAr evvaLavu pEsuvar avvaLavE – His definition remains as per the capacity of the speaker;

Introduction

No one can gauge and completely talk about Him says azhvar.

Commentary

(pEsuvAr)  The great mahans and rishis like valmeeki, vyasa, poigaiyazhvar,bhoothAzhvar who have elaborately talked about the svaroopa, rUpa, guna, vibhoothi of the supreme Lord in an exhaustive manner.Celebrated as ‘en kavi pAdum parama kavigal’ and ‘pAlEy thamizhar’

(evvalavu pEsuvar) to what capacity they are capable of talking limited to their knowledge and power;

(avvalavE) the Lord manifests His svaroopa and svabhava accordingly;  Due to this they are celebrated as great people who have talked the greatness of the Supreme Lord but it really doesn’t mean that they have completely talked about Him nor does He get any greatness due to the praises from the maharishis and azhvars;

Further in the rest of the paasuram, azhvar tells five reasons that point towards His supremacy ;

(vAsamalarthuzhai mAlaiyAn) one who adorns the garland with sweet smelling fragrant flowers and tulasi indicating His supremacy

paripAdal, a old tamil literature celebrates the greatness of thiruthuzhai, that which is fragrant from the day it starts sprouting and that which is adorned as garland by the granter of moksha, as follows:“nARu eNarth thuzhAyOn nalgin allathai ERuthal eLithO vERu peRu tuRakkam”In thiruviruththam swamy nammazhvar also extols thiruthuzhai “vArAyina mulaiyAL……”

(dEsudaiya chakkaraththAn)  Since the Lord holds the ever glittering glowing divine discus (power equal to crores of suns) it can be determined that He is the Supreme Lord

(sanginAn) “sagOshO dArtharAstrAnAm hrudhayAni vyadhArayat”(the very sound of panchajanya broke the hearts of the sons of drudharastra )”padaippOr pukku muzhangum appAnchajanyam”(thirupallandu2) “perumuzhakkAl adangArai eriyazhalampuga voodhi” (thiruvai 4-4-8) Since the Lord holds the divine conch celebrated as above there is no doubt about His Supremacy.

(sAringaththAn) “sAringam ennum villANdAn” [thirupal 12] “thAzhAdhE sAringamudhaiththa saramazhai” [thiruppavai 4]

Since he holds and controls the divine bow from which arrows flow constantly, He is none other than the Supreme ruler.

Not stopping with his decoration and weapons His ability to win over his enemies also proves His supremacy.

(pongarava vakkaranai kondRAn) Ferociously with a violent sound came the asura dandhavakra in search of Krishna, who was killed effortlessly by Krishna which also points towards His Supremacy.  This episode happened when Krishna abducted Rukmani in His chariot.  Dandhavaktra came in favour of sisupala.

(vadivu) His form manifests according to the capacity of the speaker; A very knowledgeable person talks elaborately about the Lord still he is not exhaustive another person who has lesser knowledge talks limited to his knowledge either way no one talks completely.  So the Lord manifests according to the speaker’s talent;

Same has been reiterated in Alavandaar’s stotra ratnam, “yatvA sramAvathi yathAvathi vApyasakya: …”

Interesting points from DivyArthdeepikai of kanchi swamy

Azhvar in this paasuram establishes the fact that any one who is capable of talking a few words can talk the greatness of the lord.  Since His greatness cannot be talked completely by anyone whether it is a great scholar or a normal person what is talked is just a drop in the ocean of His supremacy and greatness.  So it doesn’t really matter.  The same is conveyed by thiruvarangaththamudhanar in ramanuja nootrandhAdhi “periyavar pEsilum pEdhayar pEsilum than gunangatkku vuriya sol endru mudaiyavan”

[Translator’s Note: It is worthy to remember at this point that the Lord Himself says “hanta they kathayisyAmi” even He cannot completely talk His greatness]

Azhvar emperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharaNam

Jeeyar thiruvadigalE sharNam