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

Paasuram-29
"OorilEn kAniyillai oravu mattroruvar ellai
pAril nin pAdha moolam pattrilEn parama moorthi
kAroli vannanE! KannanE! KadaruginrEn
Arular? kalaikanammA! arangamAnagarulAnE!"

This is an excellent paasuram in which alwar literally cries that he has no other go, so perumal should by all ways save him and remove all his samsAric miseries. This paasuram and the second paasuram 'pachai mA malai pOl mEni' are two paasurams which come to our memory as soon as we think of the thirumaalai prabandham since they are so very captivating. Adiyen really enjoys Unnikrishnan singing these two paasurams in sweet music which really makes all of us forget ourselves. Let us now dive deep into the meanings of this paasuram as given by Sri PVP(though the writing will be limited to adiyen's lack of knowledge and ignorance).

OorilEn kAniyillai oravu mattroruvar ellai: Alwar says he doesn't have any place to live and no relatives. Alwar left his birthplace Thirumandangudi and left all his property and happily came to Srirangam to do bhagavat/bhAgavata kainkaryam. We may now wonder if alwar is feeling for the same. Some people sell their property and then feel for doing the same due to the attachment they have on them. But alwar is not one among them, then why does he feel that he doesn't have any land or relatives? Lets see what answer Sri PVP has for this. We do not understand alwar's mind but thank god we have our beloved acharya Sri PVP to tell us the correct meaning.

The vyakhyanam goes as follows: "dEvareer nithya vAsam pannum oorilE pirakka pettrilEn" " salagramam thiruvayOdhi koil mudaliya thirupadhigal…".

One should be blessed to be born in a divya desam. A child born in a divya desam, from its childhood is always under the kataksham of bhagavan and bhagavatas. Sri Alavandar says "Oh! My lord give me a janma, even if it is a keeta janma(low birth) only in Srirangam where I will be blessed with bhAgavatas pAdha dhooli". In Thiruvallikeni we find even small small kids reciting prabhandams fluently and taking part in ghostis with great enthusiasm. During the summer vacation kids like to enjoy playing but here kids enjoy spending their time making vahanams for kutti perumal and decorating their perumal for veedhi purappadu with Sri Parthasarathi. This is the magimai of taking birth in a divya desam. The minds of even the kids are always filled with bhagavat vishayam. So according to alwar 'oor' means only divya desam. Even if we are not blessed to be born or to live in a divya desam if we have a land or property over there then atleast to look after it we will frequently visit the divya desam. At that time we can visit the perumal over there. Even if we are not interested in going to the temple still the temple gopuram will surely give darshan to us even from a far of distance. Perumal will come in purappadu and we will have his darshan. Our acharyas say, that is why in those days they built such tall gopurams since even the gopuram darshanam can wash all our sins. What an excellent vyakhyanam. "dhanathAlum vilaiyAlum vundAi avvoorilE sendru kAniyAlum padiyAi sparusam vundAi errukka".

Here alwar feels for not possessing even such a land in a divya desam so that he will visit often, atleast due to the interest he has in maintaining his property safely. Then atleast if we have a relative in a divyadesam then we will visit them frequently thereby visiting the divyadesam. Alwar has left his sareera bhandus and not much interested in them but here he feels that he doesn't have a athma bandhu in Srirangam to visit. But it is a amazing truth that all Srivaishnavas have in some way some relative in Srirangam since it is our head quarters and Sri ranganatha and ranganachiyar likes Srivaishnavas to always live under their shade. That is why acharyas born in various places finally came and settled in Srirangam under the divine grace of the divya dampathis. Sri Ranganatha ordered Sri Ramanuja to stay in Srirangam itself and not to go anywhere else in his last days("Atraiva SrirangEsa sugamAsva"). Sri Manavala Mamunigal in his Arthi Prabhandam proudly declares "Thiruvarangar seer arulukku elakkAgap pettrOme, thiruvarangam thirupadhiyE erruppAga peetrOme".

If we see closely alwar doesn't say just he has no relatives rather he says he has no other relative. Is there a relative for him in Srirangam, then? YES. He has one athma bandhu who is his relative forever, Sri ranganatha. So now alwar continues to talk to the same bandhu.

pAril nin pAdha moolam pattrilEn parama moorthi: But then oh! Ranganatha though you are my only bandhu I have failed to fall under your feet and beg for your help.

kAroli vannanE! KannanE! KadaruginrEn: Oh! The lord who is black in color like the clouds, which gives a cooling effect to our eyes and one who has a eye filled with karunyam, kannan ! I am crying due to deep sorrow

Arular? kalaikanammA! arangamAnagarulAnE: But then who is there other than you to remove my sorrow? Oh lord, who is in Srirangam, please save me from this misery , cries alwar.

Swami desikan in his kAmAsikAshtakam beautifully says, "tvayi rakshathi rakshakai: kimanyai: tvayi chA rakshathi rakshakai kimanyai:" In a hospital a person is in his death bed. All his relatives and friend say don't worry we are there here to save you. We are all with you. Will this do anything to save the man if bhagavan has decided to take his life off? If the man is destined to die then can even the best doctor in the world save the person? Similarly there is a fight between two persons. One person says I will kill you! but then the other person is a bhakthan and emperuman has decided to save him can the first person do any harm to him? So no one can do anything against bhagavan's sankalpam. So alwar here says only person who can remove my miseries is emperuman and none other.

In Mahabharata, DuriyOdhana wanted to win the war so he came to sahadEva who was a great scholar, one of the pancha pandavas himself to get a date for the bali which has to be given before the war for victory. SahadEva being a true scholar couldn't say something untrue so he told him to do the same on the amavasya day. If DuriyOdhana did give the bali on that day then he is sure to win but Sri Krishna has decided the result of the war to be otherwise so he went to the extent of changing even the amavasya day to give victory to his bhakthas, the pandavas. Such is bhagavat sankalpam.