MoondRam thiruvandhAdhi-Paasuram-31

Sri Parthasarathi thunai

Srimathe ramanujaya Namaha

Srimad Vara Vara MunayE Namaha

Sri vAnAchala mahA munayE Namaha

Paasuram-31

“evai avan kOil eraNiyana dhAgam

avaiseidhari vuruvamAnAn –sevitheriyA

nAgaththAn nAl vEdhath thuLLAn naRavERRAn

pAgaththAn pAr kada luLAn”

"இவையவன் கோயில் இரணியன தாகம் 

அவைசெய் தரியுருவ மானான் -செவிதெரியா 

நாகத்தான் நால்வேதத்துள்ளான் நறவேற்றான் 

பாகத்தான் பாற்கட  லுளான்.

eraNiyanadhu – HiranyAsura’s;

Agam – chest;

avaiseidhu – split into pieces;

ari vuruvam AnAn- incarnated as Narasimha;

sevi theriyA nAgaththAn – one who reclines on thiruanandhAzhvan, who has invisible ears (eyes does dual function of seeing and hearing for snakes);

nAl vEdhaththuLLAn – one who is the primary subject of all the 4 Vedas;

naRavu ERRAn pAgaththAn- one who accepted rudra, who accepted honey like sweet ganga on his head, as part of His divine body;

pAr kadaluLAn – one who reclines in thirupArkadal (divine milky ocean);

avan – That supreme Lord’s;

kOil evai – temples these are (those mentioned in the previous paasuram);

Introduction

In this paasuram azhvar elaborates the divine quality of that supreme Lord who resides in the above places to remove the enemies of devotees and one who is filled with seela guna that enables Him to get along with even those with durahankara (Ego and pride).

Commentary

(evai avan kOil) All those mentioned in the previous paasuram are places where the Lord resides ever with joy. Earlier azhvar mentioned them to be the capital (headquarters) places now he proceeds to say they are also His places of pleasure. A king has separate places for official purpose and personal pleasure but emperuman considers divyadesams to serve as places of administration and joy. So thereby there is no room for punarukthi (repeating that which is already told) or otherwise it is like reiterating/instructing to the mind “Oh! mind when He exhibits Himself in so many places just for our sake don’t ever loose this opportunity “

“evai avan kOil” can be considered as one sentence and rest of the paasuram as another sentence or otherwise “eraiNiyanadhAgam … arivuruvamAnAn...pArkadalAn avan kOil evai” can be considered as single sentence.

Starting from 'eraNiyanadhAgam' azhvar enjoys the Lord's divine quality of Ashridha virOdhi nirasanam (removing/killing the enemies of bhakthas/devotees) and Ashridha rakshanam (protecting devotees)

(eraNiyanadhAgam avai seidhu ariyuruvamAnAn) The divine Lord took the form of Narasimha (that form which didn’t fall under Hiranya's series of conditions (varam)) to tear the well built body of Hiranya apart.

That body that which was single ('adhu') now has become so many pieces ('avai'). It is interesting to note that due to the swiftness with which the whole episode happened azhvar here reverses the order of happening. (The Lord first took the form of narasimha and then tore Hiranya while azhvar says He split Hiranya to pieces and became Lion form. The time gap is so insignificant that it doesn’t matter to say what happened first)

Thus, after elaborating on the Lord's AshridhavirOdhi nirasana svabhava azhvar proceeds to highlight His excellency's Ashridha samslEsha and Ashridha rakshana svabhava.

(sevitheriyA nAgaththAn) “chakrhusravA:” (one who has eyes as the hearing organ) “katsevi” are titles given to snake in sanskrit and Tamil. Here Adhisesha is referred to as “sevitheriyA nAgam” (snake with invisible ears). One may think Adhisesha's body is incomplete since the ears are not visible, but amazingly that is the place where the supreme Lord rejoices and reclines.

(sevi theriyA nAgam) “sa srunOtyakarna:” In a way, Adhisesha also resembles His excellency who is declared as one who hears without ears.

(nAgaththAn) shows the almighty's Ashridha samslEsha svabhavam (togetherness with His devotees)

Author of arumpadavurai reads this as “sevitheryAn AgaththAn” and explains as one who resides in the Agam (divine body) of thiruananthAzhvan, with invisible ears.

But how do you know that the Lord is 'sevitheriyAnAgaththAn'?

(nAlvEdhaththuLLAn) “amithowjA: paryanka:” (kowsheethakee) [Ananthan, with superior powers is the Almighty's divine bed] Thus the flawless Vedas themselves declare the Lord's AshridhasamslEsha svabhava.

Leave alone Adhisesha who is one among the nithyasooris always filled with sattva guna, emperuman is comprehensible even to rudra, filled with tamOguna.

(naRavERRAn pAgaththAn) The supreme Lord has given part of His body to one who holds lowly alcohol in his hands.

NaRavu-kaL (alcohol); Rudra is personified as the devatha who dances in a graveyard applying ashes all over his body and holding alcohol in his hands or otherwise naRavu can refer to honey; arumpadakarar gives another meaning – one who accepted the honey like gangus on his head;

naRavERRan can also be split as naRavu+E-Ru who has accepted alcohol and the bull.

Alcohol is capable of intoxicating and blinding one's knowledge and it is common to equate a person without knowledge to an animal (jnAnEna hena: pasubhi: samAna:) Rudra drinks alcohol and rides over a nescient bull but the Lord is least worried He still gives rudra place in His divine body (jnAnamaya-filled with knowledge). What an amazing quality![sowseelya]

Further, that karunaikadal (ocean of mercy) for the sake of brahma rudras who come to Him for lowly material benefits (shudhrapalam) reclines in thirupArkadal.

(pArkadaluLAn) 'Won't the devas come to me at least for material benefits' awaits the Lord in the milky ocean (koopeedu kEtkum edam – place where the yelling of devas for mercy is heard)

When the divine Lord stays with pleasure in so many places just for our sake Oh! Mind can you lose Him?

Interesting points from DivyArthdeepikai of kanchi swamy

PeyAzhvar rejoiced singing about the various abodes of emperuman in the previous paasuram and not being able to move out of that anubhavam continues to sing “evai avan kOil”.

ThiruvanandhAzhvan is celebrated as “sevi theriyAnagaththAn” similar to his quality of hearing and seeing with a single organ, with the same body Adhisesha does number of divine services to the Lord “sendrAl kudaiyAm erundhAl singAsanamAm...”

Azhvar emperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharaNam

Jeeyar thiruvadigalE sharNam