based on the vyakhyanam of Sri Periyavaccan Pillai
by Smt Sumithra Varadarajan

Now we proceed to see the meanings of the paasurams. The above taniyan on Sri Thondaradi podi alwar was given by Thiruvarangaperumal arayar. In this tanian the acharya says "Oh mind! Nothing else is necessary always sing the praise of thondaradipodi alwar who sang the great prabhandham Thirumaalai in praise of the lord who went behind the cowherds, Madhilarangar(Ranganatha whose temple is surrounded by big walls)".

Paasuram
"kAvalil pulanai vaiththu kalithannai kadakkappaiyindhu
nAvalittu vuzhitharugindrom namantamar talaigal meedhe
moovulaghuvundhu vumizhindha mudalvA ninnAmam kattra
Avalippudaimai kandai arangamAnagarulAne" (1)

The crux of the paasuram is that those who do nAma sankeertanam they need not fear of the kali gooram in this world and can have a ride over yaman after death(even yaman considers such bhagavatals as his master and instructs his dhoothas to do the same). "Natascha yamavasyathA narakapAdha bheedhi: kudha:" says Sri Desikan.

kAvalil pulanai vaiththu - This actually tells how a bhAgavathan should be. For this Sri PVP has given three different vyakhyanams. When we just think of the meaning of these words we immediately come to a conclusion that the person who is doing nAma sankeertanam should have his senses(pulangal) under control(kAvalil vaiththu). But let us now see how PVP gives the meaning. Just analyzing a little bit if a person keeps all his senses under control and does everything which has been told in the sastras and leaves those told in the sastras to be left then why will yamam or his servants come near him. He has already all the good points to attain bhagavans feet. So he need not worry about narakavaasam. So here alwar doesn't refer to those who have already their senses under control instead comes to say that even for those who do not have their senses under control the bhagavan nAma gives palan. How do we derive this from the above words. PVP splits it as kAval il pulan that is kAval is control il in tamil refers to not under control . So that conveys the meaning "the senses which are not under control". PVP further explains this by saying you can have nice oil bath and then eat what ever you want to your full satisfaction and sleep well but then say "Ranga" then you are bound to swim through kali yuga. All sastras which came to explain to us the importance of bhagavan nAma has always taken people like Ajamilan and Kshtrabandhu as reference who had absolutely no control over their senses. So alwar who always talks based on the pramanams is bound to say only about the persons without senses under control. In Vishnu Dharmam Sataneekan questions as follows: A man is incapable of controlling his senses and to get rid of kama, krodha and Asooyai(jealousy). Then is there no other way for such a man to attain moksham? For this question only alwar answers over here. All of us are familiar with the Nanjeeyer-Anantazhvan vrittantam. After taking sanyasam Nanjeeyer was proceeding towards Srirangam to meet his acharyan Sri ParAsara Bhattar. On the way he meets Thirumalai Ananthazhwan who asks Nanjeeyer why he has taken sanyasam? Nanjeeyer replied that he has taken it because sanyasashramam is considered as the moksha ashramam. But Ananthazhvan replied back saying "If you bath only when you sweat and when you eat whenever you feel hungry and if you keep meditating on your acharyas feet will paramapadanathan push you from moksham". This shows that just by meditating on the feet of the acharya by saying his nAma one can attain moksha, no Achara anushtanams are required. That is what is emphasized by thondaradipodigal in this paasuram also.

The Second explanation of PVP is as follows. Earlier we considered a person who has no control over his senses and is yet to or just started doing or nAma keetanam. Say a person who is doing nAma sankeertanam for quite sometime then his vaasanas will reduce by the effect of nAma keertanam. We do find that when we start getting involved in bhagavat vishayam we get a little detached to the worldly pleasures. So as the days proceed Emperuman gets into our minds("pundiyul pugundhu") and changes us little by little so our senses are got under control. In Bhagavat geetha lord Krishna says "shipram bhavati dharmathma…." My bhaktha though he has wrong qualities will be cleansed by me and as the days proceeds he will become a saadhu. So now PVP says for such a person the senses come under control.

The third explanation goes as follows. Emperuman is the security for all our senses whenever we utter his nAmam. That is when we utter emperuman's nAmam he gives darshan to us in our hearts(advanced stage) and there by now emperuman takes the control of our senses. Since now the power of guarding our senses he kept in the feet of the bhagavan by uttering his nAmam our senses are deemed to be under control. This is third type of explanation PVP offers in his vyakhyanam to the first sentence in the first paasuram in Thirumaalai.

The next parts of this paasuram we will see in the next posting.