SrI ANDAL arulic ceyda nAcciyAr tirumozhi

- Introduction

A. Translation from SrImAn SaDagOpan's tamizh treatise:

ANDAL has done her best to plead to kUDal to unite her with her kaNNan; The desired result had not happened. At that time, a cuckoo bird warbles sweetly in the grove, looking for its mate. Thinking that the cuckoo will very well realize her plight in looking for kaNNan, godai starts pleading with the cuckoo to call out to kaNNan and get her lord to come to her.

godai remembers the cuckoo that was singing when she and kaNNan were once spending time together in the grove. Thinking that the cuckoo might remember that, she falls now at the feet of the cuckoo to see if it will help in uniting her kaNNan with her.

sitAdEvi even went to the extent of advising the wicked rAvaNan that it is best for him to make friends with rAma (which is equivalent as saying that he should return her back to rAma):

When she could seek this help even from the enemy rAvaNa, her requesting the friendly cuckoo to unite her with her lord is not surprising at all. In addition, while the inanimate kUDal cannot respond to her words, the cuckoo who was responding ("prativacanam") when it heard the words exchanged between godai and kaNNan in the grove when they were together once, would definitely respond now to her pleadings to unite her with her kaNNan. This is another reason for the lovelorn ANDAL to look to the cuckoo for its help.

godai pleads with the cuckoo bird ("kuyil"): "Oh cuckoo, who lives in the grove filled with all kinds of trees like punnai, kurrukkatti, kOngu and cerundi! EmperumAn has countless great virtues and is blue-hued like the great nIla maNi; He wears the exquisite crown studded with navaratnams. Is it fair that I keep loosing my bangles (due to their getting loose) just because I love this emperumAn? You must do me a favor - please keep warbling sweetly day and night the thirunAmamsof my coral-lipped PerumAn from your grove right here and make it possible for Him to come to my side quickly.

mannu perum pugazh: SrI PVP refers us to SaraNAgati gadhyam - 5 "svAbhAvika anavadhika atiSAya asankhyEya kalyANaguNa" - He who is endowed with kalyANa guNa-s which are natural to Him, infinitely great, and countless.

mAdhavan refers to pirATTi's nAyakan or SrI vallabhan. ANDAL recalls pirATTi's purushakAratvam here. When She was in the form of sItAdevi, She protected even the rAkshasi-s in aSOka vanam by pointing out to hanumAn that it is not their fault that they were harsh to Her - na kaScit nAparAdhyati (yuddha kAndam-116-49). ANDAL is asking: How is it that pirATTi who is with Him always is not helping in her case?

"na tE rUpam na cAkArO nAudhAni na cAspadam tatA'pi purushAkArO bhaktanAm tvam prakASasE" - (jitantE - 1-5)

His AtmasvarUpa, His mangala vigraha, His divine weapons, His dwelling SrIvaikunTham, none of these are for His benefit; they are all for the benefit of His devotees, and He Himself belongs to His devotees.

sangu izhakkum vazhakku unDe - because of my love for Him, my body is losing weight from viraga tApam and my bangles are falling loose; is this fair? Lord kr*shNa declares - "na mE bhakta: praNaSyati " (gItA 9-31) - "my devotee never gets destroyed". He is given the credit that His bhaktas do not get aSubham even to the slightest extent - "na vAsudEva bhaktAnAm aSubham vidyatE kvacit" (sahasranAmam). Given all this, ANDAL is asking - Is it fair that I, His devotee, keep getting thinner by the day longing for Him?

punnai vAzhum kuyilE: when I am suffering from viraha tApam, how come you are enjoying in the flower beds on the trees?

Oh cuckoo (who drinks the nectar from honey-laden ceNbagam flowers and sings joyfully)! My lord has the (pAncajanyam) conch in His left hand. This pure white conch seems to have a sound that invites bhaktas to do kaimkaryam to emperumAn. This lord of mine is not showing Himself before me. Not only that, He enters and stays in my mind and makes me suffer (in love) and tortures me alive, at the same time enjoying this drama. Without wasting your time near me by uttering your mazahalic-col (child-like talks), go to my emperumAn who resides in tiruvEnkata malai and call Him to come to me!

veLLai viLi Sa~ngu iDam kaiyil koNDa vimalan - SrI PVP makes two important comments here. One is that the pure-white conch appears beautifully to contrast with the beautiful black tiruemeni of bhagavAn which resembles the water-laden cloud. The other is that bhagavAn's tirumeni and His divya Ayuda-s are not for His own benefit or protection, but for that of His devotees only.

"na tE rUpam na cAkArO nAyudhAni na cAspadam
tathA'pi purushAkArO bhaktAnAm tvam prakASase" (jitantE 1-5)

uruk-kATTAn - ANDAL laments that this parama-purusha who has His divya rUpa and divya-Ayudha-s only for the benefit of His devotees, is not revealing Himself to her, His great bhaktai.

SrI PVP quotes similar experiences from tiruma~ngai AzhvAr - "kAsin oLiyil tigazhum vaNNam kAttIr emperumAn vAsivalliR, indalUrIr vazhndE Pom nIrE" (periya tirumozhi 4-9-4).

May be He thinks His tirumeni is only for the nitya-surI-s in vaikuNTham. This is like giving more and more water for the fish whose abode is water in the first instance, but He is not quenching ANDAL's thirst.

nALum uyir peidu kUttATTuk-kANum: ANDAL is living the life of hope against hope. She runs with great love to embrace Him with her hands and then is hurting because He is not getting into her hands. She keeps dying (not being able to see Him) and coming back to life (in the hope of seeing Him). But then it appears that bhagavAn seems to be enjoying her plight, and is playing with her this way. This seems to be His pastime!

kaLLavizh cembagam ... kuyilE: ANDAL seems to say: "While I am saddened at the very sight of flowers because my Beloved venkaTavan is not with me, you are drinking the nectar in these same flowers and singing with glee.

en vEnkatavan varak kUvAi: rAma was stationed in the garden outside mithilai prior to His gaining the hands of sItA pirAtti. So also ANDAL feels that His empirAn is waiting in tiruvEnkatam just to come and gain her hands. When He has come all the way from SrIvaikuNTham for her, she is pleading with the kuyil to make Him walk the few more feet and come and get her. SrI PVP's anubhavam is interesting to read here: godai thinks "the reason why He left parama padam and is stationed in tiruvEnkaTam is only for her svayamvaram".

In the first pAsuram, godai chides the cuckoo for sleeping in the nice flower beds while she is suffering, and in this pAsuram, she points out that the cuckoo is enjoying itself eating and drinking heartily from these flowers (SrI T.S. rAjagopAlan's observations).

Oh cuckoo! You and your mate live in the grove enjoying the fresh fragrance from the budding flowers, and listening to the great tune "kAmaram" generated by the bees! As indiran's sArati mAtali served as rAma's charioteer and drove it in front of the deceitful rAvaNa, my Lord used His powerful arrows to sever rAvaNan's primary head repeatedly several times. I don't see Him coming to me now from any direction. Please do warble sweetly so that my blue-hued Lord will come to me!

tEr munbu mAtali kOl koLLa: Whenever indra fought with rAvaNa, indra lost and ran with his back to rAvaNa; so mAtali never had the chance to face rAvaNa during the fight while driving indra's chariot. Now, the story is different; since rAma is fighting with rAvaNa, mAtali is sitting boldly in the chariot facing rAvaNa and driving it.

mAyan irAvaNan: He is a deceitful fighter. That is why sItA pirATTi says: "yadantaram simha sr*gAlayOr vanE" (the comparison between rAma and rAvaNa is similar to the one between the lion and the fox in the jungle) - rAmAyaNam - AraNya kANDam 47-45. She also refers to rAvaNa as "tvam nIca SaSavat smr*ta:" (you are like the lowly rabbit compared to rAma who is like the mighty elephant) - rAmAyaNa - sundara kANDa 32-16.

Sara mAri: The shower of arrows. vAlmIkI refers to this as "Saravarsham vavarsha ha" - He showered the rain of arrows - yuddha kAnDa 92-18.

un kAdaliyODu uDan vAzh kuyilE: goDai continues the contrast between her life of separation from the Lord and the life of the cuckoo which is enjoying life with its lover, smelling the beautiful flowers and listening to the melodious songs of the bees.

tAi talai aRRaRRu vIzhat toDutta - It looks like it was rAma's pastime to keep severing rAvaNa's head repeatedly.

Oh cuckoo! My sorrow has infiltrated even into my bones (and have caused them to melt). My eyes which can be compared to deep piercing spears (vel) are not able to even close. I have been struggling in the ocean of sorrowful separation for a long, long time because I do not have the help of SrI vaikuNTha nAthan who will serve like a boat for me to cross the ocean. Oh cuckoo! You know well the grief that arises from separation from the beloved ones! Please do warble sweetly so that kaNNan who has a body that shines likes gold, who is the embodiment of dharma, and who has a gold-colored body and garuda flag, will come to me!

pon purai mEni: The reference here is to the veda vAkyam - ApraNakAth svarNam (SrI Sadagopan).

ina vEl neDum kaNgal imai porundA - sItA pirATTi's eyes were so captivating that Lord rAma was unable to sleep when He was separated from her: "anidrah satatam rAmah" (rAmAyaNam - sundara kANDam 26-44)- It is not that he could sleep only occasionally; he was without sleep always (satatam). ANDAL who had such captivating beautiful eyes that could make bhagavAn lose sleep when He was separated from her, is now in the same state because of separation from Him. SrI PVP's words are - ik-kaNNukku ilakkAnAr paDuvadait-tAn paDA ninRAL Aittu.

vaikundan enbadOr tONi peRAdu uzhalginREn - pirATTi takes Her incarnations in the same kshetra-s where bhagavAn takes His incarnations so that She is with Him always. Here ANDAL laments that she is separated from Him and is intensely suffering from this separation.

kaDalukku Or tONi - A small wooden construct (tONi) in the context of a great ocean refers to the plight of one who is caught in the huge waves of the ocean, sees the tONi, but is unable to get a grasp of it and climb on it and reach the shores. ANDAL is in a similar plight, and is able to have mental anubhavam of bhagavAn constantly, but is unable to be with Him.

nIyum aRidi kuyilE - ANDAL says this to the cuckoo which is currently experiencing the joy of being together with its mate. This is because being together has always associated with it the prospect of being separated.

puNNiyan - SrI PVP explains this as "kaNNa pirAn who is the embodiment of dharma". The dharma that is referred to here is explained by His words to sItA "anr*Samsyam paro dharmah" (rAmAyaNam sundara kANdam 38-41)- The best of dharma-s is to show mercy towards anyone who suffers for any reason. Given that this is His Nature, ANDAL feels that the cuckoo's invitation to Him to come to her will definitely bear fruit.

In the desire to have the darSanam of the lotus feet of my Lord who resides in SrI villiputtUr with its abundance of the gentle-walking annam birds playing all over, my two beautiful fish-shaped eyes are fighting with each other and refuse to close for sleep. Oh cuckoo! Please warble sweetly so that the perumAn who measured all the worlds will come here. If you do that for me, I will let you be friends with my beautiful pet parrot which has been brought up by me with great care and affection, by being fed delicious food and sweet milk.

mennaDai annam parandu viLaiyADum villiputtUr uRaivAn: BhagavAn has left SrIviakunTham where He is constantly served by the nityasUri-s and is in SrIvilliputtUr just to enjoy the beautiful sight of the anna-naDai of the annam birds that are all over the kshetram. ANDAL is no less comparable to these annam-s as far as her swan-like graceful gait is concerned. Given this, ANDAL wonders how He is not noticing her.

SrI nampillai posed the following question to SrI na~njIyar: "In the previous pASuram ANDAL laments that she is suffering because she is not able to get the tONi called SrIvaikunTham - vaikunTham enbadu Or tONi perAdu uzhalginRen. This is understandable since SrIvaikunTham is not within reach of everyone. Bur now emperumAn has left SrIvaikunTham and come to SrIvilliputtUr as the arcA mUrti SrI vaTa perum SAyi just for the sake of ANDAL. And ANDAL is still saying that she can't find Him and her eyelids are refusing to close looking for Him. How is this to be understood?" Sri JIyar's aruLicceyal was: Unlike most of us who can go into the temple and worship and come out without any change, if ANDAL goes into the temple and has His darSanam, like bharatAzhvAr, she will be absorbed completely in Him and will become unconscious and be lost for ever in His guNAnubhavam. Concerned about this, ANDAL's kith and kin have not allowed her to visit the temple. Thus even though bhagavAn has come just for her to SrIvilliputtUr, she has not seen Him and is hurting.

SrI PVP quotes here a phrase from tiruvAimozhi 6-5-5 "izhai koL jyOti" -- parAnkuSa nAyaki says: "when I am sick, you mothers are supposed to find a cure for it; instead, you took me to tolaivilli mangaLam and showed me the exquisite beauty of His eyes and His beautiful posture and made me faint.

uRaivAn tan ponnaDi kANbadOr ASaiyinAl - BhagavAn comes in the arcA mUrti form and waits everywhere just so people can go and have the bhAgyam of the darSanam of His pAdAravindam. This is bhagavAn's parama kAruNyam.

en poru kayal kaN eNai tu~njA - The beauty of ANDAL's eyes are such that bhagavAn is the one who should be unable to wink His eyes in Her beauty. Instead, she is suffering the fate that He should be going through.

en kOlak kiLiyai unnuDan tOzamai koLLuvan - ANDAL is asking for help from the cuckoo to reach bhagavAn. This is the role of the AcArya. If the cuckoo performs this role of an AcArya, ANDAL will surrender herself and all her belongings (in this case this is the reference to "en" kOlak kiLi) to the AcArya. This is the inner meaning of these words.

ulagaLandAn: When He measured the three feet, He gave the bhAgyam of the touch of His foot to everyone on this earth and gave everyone moksham without distinguishing between them as vaSishTha (literally referring to the richest, best, a generic reference to the brahmin class), canDAla (literally referring to the worst, most despised) etc. BhagavAn's guNa is that He does not do guNa-aguNa nirUpaNam but mingles with everyone with equal ease.

Oh young cuckoo, who sleeps in the beautiful grove with blossomed flowers! My Lord HrishikEsan has the glory of being worshiped by devas in all directions; He steals away the senses of everyone who sees Him, with the beauty of His limbs. He is making such a big fuss about showing Himself to me. Because of that, I am losing all the beauty of my white teeth and smile, my reddened lips and all my feminine charms. The sole reason for my living my life is that emperumAn. In return for your sweet warbling and calling Him here, I will place my head at your feet for the rest of my life. I can't think of any other better prati upahAram to you.

ettiSaiyum amarar paNindu Ettum - BhagavAn is the Supreme Lord whom all the other deva-s worship. SrI PVP observes that the other devatA-s who are not used to bowing to anyone else normally, fall at the feet of BhagavAn at the very sight of Him, fully realizing that He is their Lord.

iruDIkESan - This nAma refers to BhagavAn being the controller of all our indriya-s - hr*shIkAnAm ISah. In the case of ANDAL, He has taken complete control of her indriya-s.

vali seyya azhagazhindEn nAn - Because BhagavAn is refusing to reveal Himself to ANDAL and has totally taken control of her indriya-s, she is losing all her beauty and charm longing for Him. But it is His loss even more than ANDAL's loss, as revealed by SrI rAma in rAmAyaNa as He expresses His longing for union with sItA pirATTi when He is separated from Her -

kottalar kAvil kaN paDai koLLum iLam kuyilE - ANDAL contrasts her situation of suffering with that of the kuyil which is enjoying itself in the flower beds in the beautiful gardens.

tattuvanai - tattuvan here refers to His being the sole reason for her existence. This is why she is asking the kuyil to go and invite Him even though He is tormenting her by not revealing Himself to her. In this context SrI PVP refers to a conversation between him and SrI na~njIyar from an incident in SrImad rAmAyaNa. The question he posed to na~njIyar was "How come sIta was just shedding tears when she was shown the fictitious head of Lord rAma by rAvaNa, and how was it that her life did not depart on seeing rAma's severed head?". na~njIyar's response was "sItA pirATTi's life was not based on her knowledge (j~nAna) of rAma's condition, but she existed for the sake of rAma. As as long as He exists, she will exist". So also here, in spite of all that ANDAL was undergoing because of BhagavAn not revealing Himself to her, and in spite of her being angry because of this, she is sending the kuyil to invite Him, because she existed only for Him.

talaiyallAl kaimmARu: While giving the vyAkhyAnam for this, SrI PVP illustrates the importance of learning the interpretations of AzhvAr's tirumozhigaL through learned AcArya-s rather than through one's own individual efforts. One of nanjIyar's students named peRRi was once asked by some people: "what is the meaning for 'talaiyallAl kaimmaRilEnE'?" He said: "if you call my emperumAn to come here, I will cut even my head and give it to you". But, he had his own doubts about his explanation. So he asked nampiLLai: "what would nanjIyar have explained for this phrase?" The answer was: "there is no way I can repay you for the help you have given me; so I will make my head belong to you and I will for ever keep praying to you with my bowed head". PeRRi commented in response: "Knowledge of this kind cannot be acquired even through intense penance and getting a boon from someone. Such knowledge can only be obtained by hearing it from an AcArya".

Oh beautiful cuckoo! My feminity is getting very enthused over the thought of uniting with my PerumAL, whose abode is the wavy tirupARkadal. When I am suffering so much from the intensity of my desire for Him, what is the use of your hiding in the shady comfort of your home in the groves? You would have performed a great dharmam, if through your sweet warbling you brought my Lord adorning the disc, conch and the powerful mace in His hands.

po~ngiya pARkaDal: emperumAn has left His own abode of paramapadam and has taken His place in tirupARkaDal to entice everyone. The adjective "po~ngiya" is nicely explained by SrI PVP as follows:

"The ocean normally rises even at the sight of the moon which is is not even perfect and is blemished. When this is the case, it is not at all surprising that the tiruppARkaDal is bubbling over profusely because now it has the darSanam of 10 moons simultaneously in the form of the 10 toenails in BhagavAn's Feet."

"Also, the coolness of the moon which causes the ocean to rise came from BhagavAn's mind to start with, as the purusha sUktam says: "candramA manasO jAta:". Now BhagavAn Himself is lying on this tiruppARk-kaDal. It is no wonder that the pARk-kaDl is rising profusely."

Azhiyum Sankum oN taNDum: He is constantly carrying the weapons in His hand to protect His devotees instantly in case of need instead of having to look for them when the need arises. SrI kr*shNasvAmi aiye~ngAr refers us to peria tiruvantAdi 87 - "eppOdum kai kazhalA nEmiyAn".

nI SAla darumam peRudi - ANDAL tells the kuyil that by performing the act of informing perumAL of ANDAL's longing for Him, the kuyil would have performed a great act of dharma. SrI PVP refers us to an analogous incident in SrImad rAmAyaNa, where sitA pirAtti tells hanumAn that by informing SrI rAma about how she is holding on to life just for Him, hanumAn would have performed a great act of dharma.

ANDAL is not just saying that the cuckoo will have done an act of dharma, but she says it would have done a GREAT act of dharma. SrI PVP points out that the kuyil is not just saving ANDAL's life by this act of informing BhagavAn of her longing for Him, but in fact the cuckoo is saving His life by this act since He can't live without His devotee. If the kuyil protects Him, it is the same as protecting this whole world which cannot exist without Him. So, the cuckoo will get the GREAT puNyam (Sala dharmam) of saving the whole world.

One time, a pigeon was staying on a tree along with its mate. A hunter came and caught the mate and when it became dark and cold, he came to that tree looking for shelter. Taking the role of a protector for the hunter, the pigeon grew fire for him and fell into the fire to become his food. You do not have to destroy yourself like that bird. One word is all I need.

Again, SrI PVP gives the analogy from SrImad rAmAyaNam. SrI rAma tells hanumAn that by having found sItA pirATTi, hanumAn has protected not only rAma, but also bharata and lakshmaNa.

aham ca raghu vamSasca lakshmaNasca mahAbala: |
vaidEhyA darSanEnAtya dharmata: parirakshitA: || (yuddha 1.12)


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