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padmAkarAdupagatA parishasvaje tvAm
	vegA saridviharaNA kalaShAbdhi kanyA |
AhustadA prabhruti dIpa samAvabhAsam
	AjAnato maragata pratimam vapuste ||

Meaning:

O Deepa Prakasha!
kalaSha abdhi kanyA 		- Sri Devi who is the daughter of the milky ocean
upagatA 			- came out 
padma AkarAt 			- of Her lotus pond 
viharaNA 			- and started to play 
vegA sarit 			- in Vegavati river. 
tadA prabhruti 			- From the time 
parishasvaje 			- that She embraced 
tvAm 				- You, 
Ahu:				- learned people say 
te vapu: 			- that Your divine body 
AjAnata: 			- which is naturally 
maragata pratimam 		- like an emerald 
dIpa sama avabhAsam 		- attained the brilliance of a lamp.

Vyakhyana Saram:
It is our sampradhayam that He attains His brilliance by being with Sri Devi. Amongst all the great qualities that He has, one of them is svAtantryam - complete independence. Being answerable to no one, He can do whatever He wants to. In that state, He may reject a chetana when he approaches the Lord, by pointing out his sins. It is Periya Pirattiyar who never leaves Him even a moment ("agalakillEn iRaiyum enRu"), who changes His mind through any means (Sri Vachana Bhushanam says that "iruvaraiyum thiruththuvadhum upadhEsaththAlE" and "upadhEsaththAlE mILAdha pOdhu chEthanani aruLAlE thiruththum; Isvaranai azhagAlE thiruththum") and makes other qualities in Him such as vAtsalyam, svAmitvam, etc that are favorable to the chetana come out. Mumukshuppadi states "svAtantryam thalai sAyndhAl thalai edukkum guNangaLaich sollugiRadhu nArAyaNa padham". Thus, Sri Devi brings out the brilliance in Him which are the natural qualities that make Him approachable to the chetana.

His natural color is emerald - maragata - dark green or dark blue (these colors are considered synonymous). This is reflected in Her eyes. Her natural color is gold or that of the lamp. This is reflected in His eyes. This is why the Her eyes are dark ("maiyAr karungkaNNi") while the Lord's eyes are red ("kaNgaL sivandhu").

In Thirunedunthandagam, Thirumangai Azhvar says "viLakkoLiyai maradhagaththai thiruththaNkAvil" - a question might arise as to how a dark color and a bright color can be together? This is answered in this shloka. After Periya Pirattiyar, who is golden colored, tightly embraced Him and immersed in Him, He attained the brilliance of the dIpa. Just as She embraced Him in the banks of the milky ocean ("kalaSha abdhi kanyA"), so too She embraced Him in the banks of Vegavati river.

Vedanta Desikan Thiruvadigale Sharanam
Azhvar Emberumanar Jeeyar Thiruvadigale Sharanam

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