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kooRai sORu

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varadhan • August 18, 2000 


srImathE saTakOpAya namah
srImathE rAmAnujAya namah
srImathE anatArya mahAguravE namah
sIman vara vara munayE namah


dear bhAgavathAs,

smt. lakshmi had raised a wonderful question about "kooRai sORu"
and what is the significance behind periyAzhvAr not wanting it
and kaliyan wanting it -

adiyEn, thanks to smt.Lakshmi, had the great fortune of going 
through pUrvAchArya vyAkhyAnams of both the pAsurams -
adiyEn will attempt to, with all mistakes and misrepresentations
being adiyEn's alone, share the anubhavams of our pUrvAchAryAs
on these pAsurams in this email -

periyAzhvAr's anubhavam comes in vAkkuth thUymai pathigam -
5th paththu, 1st thirumozhi of periyAzhvAr thirumozhi - This
pathigam is very moving and is also important for another reason-
svAmi periyavAchchAn piLLai's vyAkhyAnam on periyAzhvAr thirumozhi
was lost right from the beginning to the part of the first pAsuram
of vAkkuth thUymai - In order to ensure that we have the fortune
of pUrvAchArya vyAkhyAnams, elders during vishadavAksigAmaNi svAmi
maNavALa mAmuni's time requested svAmi to write a vyAkhyAnam on
periyAzhvAr thirumozhi - svAmi did so - So, the vyAkhyAnam that
we currently have on periyAzhvAr thirumozhi till 5th paththu is 
svAmi maNavALa mAmuni's only. svAmi maNavALA mAmuni had, as we all
know, great respect for previous AchAryAs and lived and practiced
that respect to the utmost perfection - So perfect was he that
his vyAkhyAnam ends at the line where svAmi periyavAccAn piLLai's
vyAkhyAnam begins - in fact, we can just read through the
combined vyAkhyAnam and we will never know where svAmi maNAvALa
mAmuni's commentary ends and where svAmi periyavAccAn piLLai's
commentary begins - in fact here is how the vyAkhyAnam for the
first pAsuram starts - "mutharpAttu - vAk ithyAdhi - vAkkukku
asuththiyaavadhu - bhagavadsannidhiyilE asathyanchollukaiyum,
prayOjanaththai kaNisikkaiyum, parastOtram paNNukaiyum ......"
and continues - In the above, svAmi mANAvALa mAmuni's commentary
ends with the word prayOjanaththai - and svAmi periyavAchchAn
piLLai's commentary starts with the word kaNisikkaiyum! He did not
want to say even a word that duplicates what svAmi periyavAccAn piLLai
had said. Such is the reluctance of our AchAryAs, even of the 
AchArya who is svAmi emperumAnAr himself reicarnated, to comment 
on something that an earlier AchArya has commented upon! - 
Such is their humility and bhakti towards AchAryAs and the respect
they had for vyAkhyAnams -

adiyEn will attempt to translate the relevant portions of
vyAkhyanam concerned relevant to smt. laksmi's question -

the pAsuram is
nedumayaal ulagu Ezhum aLandhaay ninmalaa nediyaay adiyEnai
kudimai koLvathaRku aiyuRa vENdaa kURai sORu ivai vENduvathillai
adimay ennum akkOyinmayaalE angangE avai pOdharunkaNdaai
kodumaik kanjanaik konRu nin thaathai kOththavanthalaikOl viduththanE

The concerned portions are "kURai sORu ivai vENduvathillai
adimai ennum akkOyinmayaalE angangE avai pOdharun kaNdaai" -

the rough translation of the padavurai is as follows -

adiyenai - me, who is a sEshabhUtha
kudimai kOLvathaRku - to take as a slave/sEshabhUthan
aiyuRavENdaa - do not have any sandEhams/hesitation

kooRai sORu ivai - kURaiyum sORum - shelter and food
vENduvadhu illai - I do not want them from you
adimai ennum akkOyinmayaalE - since I am going to enter your kingdom
                   as a dAsyan/adimai
avai - that kooRai and sORu
angangE - in those janmAs at that time
pOtharum kaNdaay - will automatically come

i.e. since I am going to enter Your kingdom as Your servant, I
do not need food and shelter -

There are many meanings, each deeper than the other given by
svAmi periyavAccAn piLLAi. adiyEn's rough paraphrasing follows -

1.  whatever one thinks as his svarUpam leads to what ones needs 
are - (eg - human being - immediate needs are food and shelter) 
- in this case, periyAzhvAr knows that his svarUpam is kainkaryam 
to perumAL all the time - So, food and shelter are NOT his 
wants - sEshavritti is the purushArththam/want - 

2. yet another meaning given is the essence of our sampradAyam
 - adimai ennum kOyinmayE aasaippaduvathum apEkshippadhum 
ennudhal - here, kOyinmai means vENdappaadu or want; angangE 
will mean wherever/whenever in  whatever janmAs he takes - 
i.e. periyAzhvAr wants kainkaryam and servitude in every 
janma he takes - (i.e. adimai ennum kOyinmayE angangE pOdharum)

svAmi thirumangai AzhvAr's anubhavam -

kaliyan's anubhavam is in the thiruvukkum thiruvAgiya selvaa
padhigam of periya thirumozhi - 7th decade, 7th thirumozhi -
there are two pAsurams where kooRai sORu comes - the first
one is the one referred to by smt. Lakshmi - here is the pAsuram 

nediyAnE! kadiyaar kali nambI ninnayE ninaindhu ingu iruppEnai
kadiyAr kALaiyar aivar pugundu kAval seidha akkAvalaip pizhaiththu
kudi pOndhu un adikkeezh vandhu pugundhEn kURai sOrivai thandhu
enakkaruLi
adiyEnaip paNiyANdukoL enthaay azundUrmEl dhisai ninRa ammAnE!

adiyEn will quote and paraphrase from svAmi prativAdi bayankaram 
aNNangarAchAriAr's divyArththa dIpikai -

kURai sORu ivai vENduvathillai, "uNNum sORu, parugu neer, thinnum
veththilai ellaam kaNNAn" , enRum sollumaapOLE kooRai sORu
mudhaliya bhOgyabhOgOpakaraNangaLil virumbi maRRirukkinRa
indha AzhvAr kooRai sORugaLai virumba prasakthi illaamayaale
"enakku kooRaiyum sORumaaga irukkinRa iththiruvadigaLaith
thandhu aruLi" enRu uraikkappattadhu - vAsudEvas sarvamithi
sa mahAtmA sa durlabha: enRa gItAchAryanudaiya kuRai theeraviRE
AzhvArgaL thiru avathariththadhu - 

Since this AzhvAr will not ask for annapaanaadigaL {as he wants
perumAL kainkaryam/perumAL only and nothing else similar to nammAzhvar
when he says  uNNum sORu... and periyAzhvAr when he says
kooRai sORu ivai vENduvathillai}, in this case, he asks for the
lotus feet of the Lord which is kURai and sORu for him (kaliyan) -
AzhvArs' thiru avathAram is to take care of the want (kuRai) of
perumaL as He said in gIta that it is very rare to find a soul that
relies on perumAL for everything -

before adiyEn ends this email, one things comes to adiyEn's mind
again - the reasons that our pUrvAchAryAs ascribe to vAkku being
not thUyadhu - bhagavadsannadhiyilE asathyam sollugai - i.e. 
lying in front of perumaL ; prayOjanaththai kaNisikkaiyum -
asking perumAL for some prayOjanam {other than Him}; parastOtram
paNNugaiyum - praising others other then perumAL 

also, adiyEn would like to quote directly from svAmi periyavAchchAn
piLLai's vyAkhyAnam on the periyAzhvAr pAsuram - nothing can ever
come ever close to describing pAsurams than the original 
vyAkhyAnams of our pUrvAchAryAs - 

kooRai sORivai vENduvadhillai - naan raajakulam pugugaiyaalE,
enakku, avvava kainkarya rasathukkuLLE ellaa rasangaLumuNdu -
than svarUpaththai yAthonRaaka ninaiththaan, adhukku eedaakaviRE
thaaraka pOshakaadhigaL iruppadhu - dhEhaadhi vilakshaNan
aakaiyaale sabdhaadhigaL purushaarththamaaga maattaadhu;
paratantran aakaiyaale svAnubhavam purushaarththamaaga maattaadhu;
svarUpam nityamaakaiyaalE svarUpavichchEdham purushaarththam
aagamaattaadhu - nithyagnyAna guNakan aagaiyAlE guNanaasam 
purushaarththam aagamaattaadhu; ini sEshabhUthanukku sEshavrttiyE
purushaarththam enkirAr-


AzhvAr emperumAnAr jIyar thiruvadigaLE saraNam

adiyEn madhurakavi dAsan,
thirumalai anandAnpiLLai varadhan

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