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

Paasuram-28
"umbarAl ariya lAgA oliyulAr AnaikkAgi
sempulAlundu vAzhum mudalaimEl seerivandhAr
namparamAyadundE? nAykalOm sirimaiyOrA
empirArku AtseiyAdhE enseivAn thOndrinEnE?"

In this paasuram alwar tells about the Gajendra Moksha vriththAntham. Emperuman has sama drishthi so he doesn't differentiate between man and animal. When droupathi surrendered to him and said "Govinda pundareekaksha rakshamam sharanAgatham" he only bestowed her with innumerable saree but in the case of the elephant gajendra he came running for his call to save him. Gajendra was also a great bhaktha of emperuman and to save him from the clutches of the crocodile emperuman came running.

umbarAl ariya lAgA oliyulAr AnaikkAgi: It is difficult for ordinary people like us to see the devas and other gods. The devas have the same difficulty in seeing the supreme emperuman. Even when they run to thirupArkal to say their difficulty to emperuman they are not able to see him instead they hear only a asareeree voice. So even the devas are not aware who the parabrahman is. Gajendran who was a king in the previous birth now has became a elephant due to a curse. Similarly the crocodile which caught the legs of gajendran was also a gandarvan. The crocodile caught the legs of gajendran for getting rid of his curse and hence it didn't eat the elephant but both were fighting for number of years. Ultimately gajendran understood that, since inspite of fighting for so many years he still hasn't died there is some force which is saving him. So he shouted "AdhimoolamE"(The supreme which is responsible for the creation). Even the devas didn't know who this adhimoolam was and hence were eager to see who turned up to save the elephant. They were worried, what if the adhimoolam gave darshan only to gajendran so all the devas also started shouting the same. Since even the devas are incapable of understanding the bhagavan alwar here says 'umbarAl ariya lAgA'.

sempulAlundu vAzhum mudalaimEl seerivandhAr: In NarasimAvataram or Krishna avataram emperuman didn't appear immediately after the devas complaint to him about hiranyakasipu or kamsan. He took narasimha avataram only when hiranyan troubled prahaladan. To prove the words of prahladan emperuman came out of the pillar. So emperuman considered sishta paripalam (to save the good people) more important than dushta nigraham(killing the asuras). Emperuman forgives any mistake we do to him but can never forgive the apacharam done to a bhagavatan. Here the crocodile did catch the feet of a bhagavatan but then the intention of the crocodile was bad. So more than our action our mental status is highly important. For the sake of his bhakthan gajendran(oliyulAr AnaikkAgi) he came running to kill the crocodile, which lives killing all animals which come to quench their thirst with the water in that place. Emperuman became very furious when he saw that the crocodile for troubling his bhakthan. He didn't bother about his dress or didn't even see if everything was ready for his purappadu but just sat on garudan and pushed him to go as fast as he came. Garudan is supposed to be very fast but at this time emperuman couldn't even appreciate garudan's speed since emperuman was in a state of great hurry and anger(mudalaimEl seeri vandhAr).

In the vyakhyanam Sri PVP remembers the ramanyana story. Emperuman forgives any sort of apacharam but he can never tolerate even a minute bhagavata apacharam. Ravana did great many apacharams to perumal and piratti. He separated the divine couples and gave a hell lot of problems to piratti. Still perumal was patient towards him and always wanted to save him. Even when vibheeshana came and surrendered he ordered sugreeva to bring to his feet even if ravana came after second thought('yethi vA rAvana svayam'). Such was the krupai of Sri Rama piran. Even after fighting one day he says go today and come tomorrow thinking that atleast that night ravana may change mind and come and surrender to him. All along emperuman was not angry with ravana but he tried to act as if he was angry. But then he became really angry only when ravana hit hanuman, his parama bhakthan. 'kObhasya vasamE emam' says valmiki at this place. Ravana was fighting from a chariot but perumal was standing on the ground. So to lift perumal to the level of ravana to fight with him hanuman carried perumal on his shoulders. Ravana became very angry with hanuman's act and hence instead of fighting with perumal he hurt hanuman, which made perumal furious. Perumal became very angry and started fighting vigorously. Similarly here emperuman couldn't tolerate the trouble given by the crocodile to his bhaktha gajendran so emperuman came on his garuda vahanam and put his chakram on the crocodile and saved gajendrazhvan from the clutches of the crocodile.