Thiruppavai - Pasuram21

Etra kalangaL edhir pongi meedhaLippa

maatraadhE paal soriyum vaLLal perum pasukkaL

aatra(p) padaiththaan maganE aRivuRaay

ootram udaiyaay periyaay ulaginil

thOtramaay ninRa sudarE thuyil ezhaay

maatraar unakku vali tholaindhu un vaasaR kaN

aatraadhu vandhu un adi paNiyumaa pOlE

pOtriyaam vandhOm pugazhndhElOr embaavaay

ஏற்றகலங்கள் எதிர்பொங்கி மீதளிப்ப

மாற்றாதே பால்சொரியும் வள்ளல் பெரும்பசுக்கள்

ஆற்றப் படைத்தான் மகனே! அறிவுறாய்;

ஊற்றமுடையாய்! பெரியாய்! உலகினில்

தோற்றமாய் நின்ற சுடரே! துயிலெழாய்;

மாற்றார் உனக்கு வலிதொலைந்து உன்வாசற்கண்

ஆற்றாதுவந்து உன்னடிபணியு மாபோலே,

போற்றியாம் வந்தோம் புகழ்ந்தேலோ ரெம்பாவாய்.

----- MEANING ----

In this paasuram, Gopis enjoy the sight of “NandhagOpAlan MarumahaL, Gandham kamazhum Kuzhali, panthAr-Virali” coming and opening the “MaNikkathavam” of Her bed chambers with Her “SenthAmaraik Kai” and with the accompaniment of the mangala dhvani of Her “SeerAr VaLai” sunAdham. Sri Upanishad BhAshyaArar's translation of Paasuram passage: “ Aasritha VishayE abhinivEsa Saalin, Mahathva guNa saalin, lOka prakAsamAna JyOthirmaya-vigraha yuktha! Jaagruhi”

“Oh Lord, Kindly get up; You are the son of Lord NandhagOpan, who is the owner of innumerable, generous and big cows that pour forth, incessantly, copious milk into the vessels, kept (below their udder) in quick succession, so that in a trice, these vessels are filled up (and) are overflowing. Oh Lord, who is very much attached to us! Oh Supreme One! The effulgent streak of light arisen in this World! Be pleased to rise up. Just as Your enemies come to You, in front of Your house, even so we have come to You singing Your praise and proclaiming Your greatness. Kindly lend Your ears & fulfill our prayerful requests.

Oh the son (magan) of Nandagopan, who has lots of (aatra padaiththaan) great (perum) generous (vaLLal) cows (pasu), which yield (soriyum) milk (paal) without fail (matraadhE), in such large quantities that the containers (kalangaL) to hold (Etra) the milk overflow (edhir pongi) on top (meedhaLippa). Please come to your senses (aRivuraay)!. Oh you, the one with (udaiyaay) a lot of power (ootram)!. Oh, the great one (periyaay)!. Oh, the light (sudarE) that stood (ninRa) visible (thOtramaay) to our eyes, in this world (ulaginil)!. Please wake (thuyil) up (ezhaay)!. Just like (pOl) the enemies (maatraar) who surrendered (vandhu paNi) to your (un) feet (adi) and yielded (tholaindhu) their strength (vali) to you (unakku), at your (un) door (vaasal) step (kaN) without controlling themselves (aatraadhu), we have come (vandhOm) to worship (pOtri) and praise (pugazh) you.

Purport

Awake, the son of Nandagopala who has reared those large cows which yield plentiful milk which overflows the receptacles! Your zeal towards your devotees is so well renowned. Your glory p73 defies our comprehension. You are the great Light of the universe. It is time you got up. Just as your enemies, with their valour and pride exhausted in battle, surrender to you at your doorsteps, we have come to you singing your praise and unburdening our ego.




More Insight

NAPPINNAI opened the door and told the Gopis: "Know that I am one amongst you. Don't think I was keeping mum. I was just waiting for an opportunity to advocate your cause to the Lord. I will certainly accomplish your end."

So she joins them. The Gopis now eulogize the Lord: "Your father Nanda's prosperity is immeasurable; his cattle-wealth is endless. It is sufficient if you understand our distress."

The phrases UTTRAMUDAYAAY etc have double meanings:

UTTRAMUDAYAAY - 1) You are perfectly described in a holy Scripture called Veda, which is unshakable, is not of known authorship, permanent, flawless and is an Authority by itself. 2) You have a very strong determination not to abandon those who surrender to you (as you exhibited in the case of Vibhishana).

PERIYAAY- 1)Even those Vedas cannot fully describe you as you possess an indescribable greatness.2) Even after doing everything for your devotees you think you have done nothing for them; and that what you did was your own personal work. This is your greatness.

ULAGINIL TOTRAMAAY etc. 1) Vedas are rendered trust- worthy by your incarnations as Rama, Krishna etc. You have shown your form even to the lowliest among the low in this world. 2) You have a predilection for your devotees; you show this by going as messenger for the Pandavas and acting as charioteer for Arjuna. So much so that your 'Aasrita-Pakshapaata' (undue predilection towards devotees) became evident even to enemies like Duryodhana and Sisupala.

SUDARE -1) while the luster of all the souls who take birth due to their good and bad deeds gets dimmer with each birth, your luster (SUDAR) gets enhanced each time, as your births are out of your Mercy (Kripa) for the distressed souls.2)By willingly subjecting yourself to slavery in respect of your devotees you enhance the luster of your greatness.

Bhavam:

“OoRRamudayAi”: The Lord, who is magnanimous in forgiving the dhOshams of the one surrenders to Him, even if he had committed aparAdhams earlier. Our Lord is intense on removing these dhOshams. He is the “PeriyAi” or the Supreme one towering over all since He has the rare combination of DayA and Sakthi. Without the combination of DayA and Sakthi, all efforts at rakshaNam will be unfruitful. Just having DayA or Sakthi alone wont do so much good for a Rakshakan. “Ulahinil thORRamAi ninRa”: PerumAL's avathAram as RaamA and KrishNA experienced with human eyes during their VibhavAvatharams is referred to here (sakala manuja Nayana vishayathAm gatha: (PaarthasArathy = naam paartha-Saarathy). Vedam declares, “Sa U srEyAn Bhaavthi JaayamAna:”. “U” here stands for AvathAranam saluted by AazhwArs “nilavarambil PALA PIRAPPAI”, “YenninRa YoniyumAi

PIRANTHAAI”. The five states “avathArams”/ manifestations) of the Lord are also described here: (1) “OoRamudayAi” is linked to Para VasudEvan desirous of creating the beings of the world (Jagath Srushti). (2) “PeriyAi” is connected to VyUha roopa EmperumAn. (3) “Ulahinil” stands for the Vibhava avathArams like RaamA and KrishNA. (4) “NinRa” refers to His standing steadily as ArchAvathAran at dhivya dEsams amidst us. (5) “SudarE” means the JyOthi Svaroopa Roopam inside us as antharyAmi Brahmam.