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

Paasuram-44
"pennulAm sadaiyinAnum piramanum vunnai kAnbhAn
ennilA oozhi oozhi thavam seidhAr velgi nirpa
vinnulAr viyappa vandhu Anaikku andru arulai eendha
kannarA* vunnai ennO? KalaikanA karudhumArE"

After talking about the bhAgavata magimai in the previous paasurams, now in this paasuram alwar proceeds to say how emperuman is pleased by the love of bhAgavatas and how he comes running to their call without any differentiation. In this paasuram, alwar talks about the gajendra Moksha vriththAntham, where emperuman came running to help the elephant from the clutches of the crocodile. A pandiya king by the name Indradumnan was a great bhakthan but he lacked politeness(vinayam) and was full of pride. So when agastiyar came to visit him he ignored the great rishi and continued with his grand pooja. Do to this illtreatment agastiyar got angry and cursed him to become an elephant (only elephants have matham so the rishi made him into the same). In a similar manner a gandarvan by the name hoohoo attained the curse of devalar, a deva rishi and became a crocodile. The rishis who were kind at heart actually gave both of them only a boon in disguise. They then told them that emperuman would come to release them out of this misery. In this paasuram, alwar admires the krupai of emperuman who came in very great speeds to save his bhakthan.

pennulAm sadaiyinAnum piramanum vunnai kAnbhAn: Siva perumAn is referred to as pennulAm sadaiyan here because he has the ganges on his head. Alwar says, even the sivan and brahma are trying to see you,

ennilA oozhi oozhi thavam seidhAr velgi nirpa: they have been doing tapas(penance) for many many years(Ozhi kAlam) but unable to do the same. But as soon as gajendran called "AdhimoolamE" emperuman forgetting even to get dressed up, ran to save the elephant. Seeing the speed brahma, sivan and others who were doing tapas for so many years were ashamed. Sri PVP in his vyakhyanam says, "nAmmellAm mudalaiyin vAyil vizhAmal thavaththin vAyil vizhunthOmE endru velgi nirpa"(we are all not fortunate enough to have fallen into the crocodile's mouth instead we fell into the mouth of penance and hence perumal didn't turn up, felt sivan and brahma).

vinnulAr viyappa vandhu Anaikku andru arulai eendha: The devas got the amrudhan from the pArkadal but they were not blessed with the bhagavat amrudham(darshan of emperuman-sAkshAtkAram) that is why they are still in svargam and haven't reached the moksha mandalam of emperumAn. So the bhagavan is beyond the reach of the devas. So when gajendran called emperuman, the devas were eagerly waiting to see who comes to his rescue and who is the reason behind everything (Adhimoolam). Our acharyas say, the status of the devas is like a man on the top most floor of a building. One child asked its mother to fetch him the moon. The mother replied, "Since we are down here and the moon is on the top at a great distance from us we cannot catch the moon". The child looked up saw his father standing upstairs. Immediately he asked, "If we are down we cannot catch but won't father be able to catch it for me since he is on the top floor?" No one can catch the moon even if we are on top of the tallest building in this world. The devas are on the top most building still they will never be able to see emperuman or understand his greatness. When the dEvas were waiting with their eyes wide open to see the emperuman,

We will see what happened in the next posting.