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

Paasuram-31
"tavaththulAr tammil allEn dhanam padaiththAril allEn
vuvaththaneer pOla enthan vuttravarkku ondrum allEn
tuvarththa sevvAyinArkkE tuvakkara turisanAnEn
avaththamE piravi thandhai arangamAnagarulAnE!"

tavaththulAr tammil allEn dhanam padaiththAril allEn : Even the rishis like durvyasa got angry quite often and uttered harsh words. But do you have any tapas like them? Alwar answers, I have never done any tapas like that. I do not have tapas like druvan, or brahmacharyam like bheeshma; or have I done any vrattam like rukmangatha or ambareesha; or yagna-yAgas like manu; or do I see Brahman everywhere like prahlada. Only due to kOdi janma punyam do we get to do such karma yogam and bhakthi which is not so easy. But sometimes if we have some money we may do some kainkaryam or dAna darmam. Sri PVP says, "artha lAbhaththaiyum purushArtha sadhanamAgha solla kadavadhu". Though artha is not the main purushartha it helps us to light a lamp in a temple, renovate a temple in poor state, do service to bhagavan and bhagavatas. So alwar here says I do not even have that money with which I can do bhagavat/bhAgavata kainkaryam. Thirumangai alwar even went to the extent of stealing the money for the sake of kainkaryam. That doesn't mean we all have to do the same. Only two persons thirumangai alwar and bhadrachala ramadass had the courage to build and develop temples with others money. They didn't feel it as a mistake since they considered everything in this world to belong to emperuman alone. Here one has to remember that bhadrachala ramadass didn't start constructing the temple at bhadrachalam with the muslim's money he spent what all he had including his wife's jewellery, only after that for the storage he used the tax money which had to be sent to the government. Since he felt the money should be actually used only for the welfare of the public and since the public in that area wanted the temple to be renovated he did the same. He did it without the permission of the king since he knew that being a muslim king permission for renovation of a temple will not be granted. Similarly thirumangai alwar spent all what he had and since he needed more he used the Buddha vigraha made of gold. He felt that since the Buddhist anyway declare everything to be soonyam then why this vigraham that too out of gold(EyaththAl AgadhO! erumbhinAl AgAdhO! says alwar). Thirumangai alwar did a good thing of converting the avaidhika dhanam to vaidhika dhanam says parasara bhattar. This will give punyam to both the owner of the dhanam and thirumangai mannan. So we cannot say artham or wealth is not totally necessary. But it should be spent in kainkaryams to bhagavan and bhagavatas. Whatever we earn we should have a small amount to our livelihood(bare minimum) and rest used for kainkaryams. Do we all do that today? Alwar says I do not even possess that money to do kainkaryam.

vuvaththaneer pOla enthan vuttravarkku ondrum allEn: When splashing salty water in our face we feel the pain similarly I hurt the feelings of my relatives whenever they think of me. Here alwar considers atma bandhus has his relatives as he has totally forgotten about his sareera bandhus. Since he has no good deeds and has only bad deeds his atma bandhus feel bad whenever they think of him.

tuvarththa sevvAyinArkkE tuvakkara turisanAnEn: Alwar did forget his sareera bandhus and came to Srirangam leaving his birth place mandangudi but then he got trapped in love of deva dEvi, now he says he has even cheated such ladies who talk so sweetly but all their words are sugar in a pill. Hence even they don't like to even see him now.

avaththamE piravi thandhai arangamAnagarulAnE: Why did you give me such a lowly birth? asks alwar to perumal. Instead of making me a garbha sreeman you have created me like this useless for bhagavan and bhagavatas. Is it not cruel for alwar to criticize perumal saying 'piravi thandhai' instead of saying 'piravi eduththEn' questions Sri PVP in his vyakhyanam and gives the answer himself. Emperuman gives birth to the jeevatma according to his previous karmas. He gives the jeevan karnakalebarangal and leaves the jeevan to choose either the lowkikam or vaidheekam. Whatever the jeevan chooses the paramatma leaves it to go in the same way without intervening into it. Why does the bhagavan remain indifferent to what we choose? If he starts stopping us from choosing the wrong thing then he has to do it to all, since all jeevatmas are equal to him. In that case all the jeevatmas will do only the good and reach the lord thereby there will be no purpose for the creation at all. So he initially gives us an independence to choose what we want, the good or bad. For instance, for a tree to grow we need a fertile soil and water etc but does this determine what tree is going to grow in that place. Can a mango tree grow into a neem tree just because we have planted in a particular place? No. Only the seed determines what tree it is going to be. Land, water etc are called common factors but seed is a specific reason for the tree to grow. Similarly emperuman is a common factor responsible for the sareeram and our birth but how our life is going to be is determined by our karma. Though emperuman is behind everything he remains silent and lets our karma take the due course due to his nirangusa svathantrayam. So emperuman is reason for everything but we shouldn't say he is the cause for all our bad deeds. Then why is alwar blaming perumal for giving him such a birth? Sri PVP answers, "kinattril vizhundha prajaiyai kandu thAi pEsAmal erundhAl thAi thallinAl enna kadavudhirE" If a kid playing near a well accidentally falls into it and if the mother keeps quiet without rescuing it then we can as well say that the mother pushed the child to death. If a child fails in his exam and the father questions him why he has failed? The child replies, why didn't you scold me earlier when I was playing instead of reading and make me pass. Instead you made more sophistication for me to play so you only spoilt me. This the son says with the right he has with his father similarly alwar talks over here. Is it not your duty Oh! Ranganatha to change me and prevent me from going in the wrong path since I am your son?

Whatever emperuman has told in the sastras to be done is punyam ("Sruthi smrithi: mamai Agjna yaha sa vullanga varthathE; Agjna chEbhi mama drOhi-Pancharatram) and anything against it is papam. When we do something against his orders he gets angry which puts us to miseries. If perumal pardons us then he doesn't get angry and hence we do not suffer. So emperuman becomes indirectly responsible for our suffering so alwar says only perumal is responsible for his sufferings.