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

In the second paasuram of Thirumaalai Sri Thondaradipodi alwar says, as seen in the earlier postings "achchuvai perinyum vEnden", I do not want even the moksha or the Indra loka. Then in the third paasuram he says, "AdalAl piravi vEndEn". Hearing this emperuman wonders then what does alwar want? "nirpAi yAgil thiruvAnai, kidappAi yAgil thiruvAnai enbArai pOl Neer padutuvaden?". Sri PVP says that emperuman is asking alwar why he is troubling him like this. Like the kid, which when asked to sit cries and so when we try to put it to sleep then also it cries. We will not know what the intention of the kid is. Since it's only mode of expression is crying, we are unable to find whether the kid is hungry or sleepy or has something else in mind. Similarly here alwar says I do not like this world since it is filled with pini(disease), pasi(hungar), moopu(old age) and tunbam(suffering). So emperuman told him, then if that is the case come to Sri Vaikundam where all these are not present and you need not come to this world again(unlike svargam which does gives a jeevan all joy but only till his punya palan is there. After that he is pushed back to samsarA). But in the second paasuram itself alwar said "achchuvai perinum vEndEn" (I do not want even that eternal joy in moksha).

Emperuman is called as ubhaya vibhuti Nadan. We are all kids of the emperuman. So we either enjoy the leela vibhuti or if we get bored with this he takes us to the nithya vibhuti. Now alwar says he doesn't want both. Then emperuman himself gets confused what alwar really wants. Though emperuman is sarvasakthan and knows what is there in alwar's mind he acts asif he is confused in order to hear from alwar the magimai of the bhooloka vaikundam. PVP now quotes the alwar's reply to emperuman. "ubhaya vibhudhikkum purambhana moondram vibhutiyAna koyilile enakku oru erruppidam aridho".(is it difficult for you to grant me a place in the third vibhuti i.e., Srirangam which is different from the first two vibhuti's and one that has all the merits of the first two and has no defects at all.)

Now one doubt will arise in all our minds. How can we equate Srirangam to nitya vibhuti and how can we say that it doesn't have the demerits of a leela vibhuti inspite of being a part of the leela vibhuti? Here again our great acharya PVP comes to our rescue to clear our doubts. A person who lives in SriRangam enjoys the great anubhavams given by Sri Ranganatha to him. He enjoys the various utsavams, and alangarams of bhagavan. He gets immersed in the sevai and kainkaryam of bhagavan and even forgets his bodily affairs. He gets himself detached to the samsaram. He is not worried about the problems in the samsaram and he cares least for his body. So he enjoys all the bhagavat kalyana gunas. Even in SriVaikundam there is only VaikundaNadan sevai. But here emperuman gives various sevai's(different darshan's) to us. He shows his great gunas of sowlabhyam and sowseelyam which cannot be visuvalised even in his paramapadam since the nitya sooris are flawless and are jnana swaroopigal. Only to samsaris like us(who are filled with papas) he can show his dayai. So only here we can enjoy all these bhagavat kalyana gunas. So Alwar says I do not want to take a birth to enjoy the worldly pleasures and put myself to misery, but then if you make me stay in SriRangam under your define feet and if you grant me the mind to always meditate on your nAma and stay in your kainkaryam then I will not even want to come to moksha.

So alwar here considers Sri Rangam to be a third world different from the first two and he regards it more superior to the other two in all aspects. So he prefers to stay here. All alwars and acharyas had the same view. Sri Kulasekara alwar wanted to have some birth in Thirumalai and he didn't even want moksham. Bhattar challenged namperumal that if he was not satisfied with Srivaikundanadhan he will come back to have the anubhavam of Namperumal. So all alwars and following them the acharyas are called as "Ekakadamudaiyavargal" i.e. they talk the same thing(PEsitrE pesalallAl).

Sri Alavandar in his Strotra Ratnam says "tava dasya sugaikka sanginam……". He says I do not want brahma padavi or indra padavi but I want to stay only in the shade of your divine feet(pAdachaya sukam batruhu- there is sweetness in the shade of emperuman's divine feet). If we live in a divya desam then we can do some kainkaryam to the bhagavan. There are so many people who do alangaram to bhagavan, who work in the temple kitchen(thirumadapalli), some do pushpa kainkaryam, some lift the perumal during his purappadu(Sri pAdathAngigal), some do mangalasAsana kainkaryam and there are so many kainkaryams one can do to the bhagavan. Those people are very lucky, who get the kainkaryam of the bhagavan. Alavandar continues to say if I am not eligible for any type of bhagavat kainkaryam then I will atleast do bhAgavata kainkaryam. There are so many bhAgavataas who regularly visit the divyadesam we can provide them with food and shelter and do kainkaryam. If emperuman feels that we are not even eligible for that then atleast we can take the SripAda theertham of the bhAgavatas. But if our papa karmas are more worse then atleast I should be born as a worm in the drain of a bhagavata's house, says sri Alavandar. When asked why he wanted such a lowly birth he says when the bhAgavatas wash their feet into the drain if I stay as a worm in that drain the pada theertam of the bhAgavata's will fall on me. What an excellent bhagavat, bhAgavata bhakthi? The magimai of each and every acharya in our sampradayam is never ending.