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nAcciyAr tirumozhi VII - karuppUram nARumO 7

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Kalyani Krishnamachari • March 21, 1999 


			SrI:
      SrI ANDAL samEta SrI rangamannAr tiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

             nAcciyAr tirumozhi VII - karuppUram nARumO
      pASuram 7.7 (seventh tirumozhi - pAsuram 7 Se~nkamala 
                                       nAN malar mEl)

A. Translation from SrImAn SaDagOpan's tamizh treatise:

"Oh king of all Sa~nkams! You get to take a nap on the hand of 
kaNNapirAn, who has red-hued, lotus-like eyes and dark-hued 
tirumEni; this is comparable to the white swan drinking nectar 
from the newly-blossomed-red lotus flower. Your wealth is the 
greatest of all!"

Se~nkamala nAN malar mEl tEn nugarum annam pOl
 Se~nkaN karumEni vAsudEvan uDaiya
a~n-kait-talam ERi anna vaSam Seyyum
 Sa~ngaraiyA! un Selvam SAla azhagiyadE

B. Additional thoughts:  

SrImad bhAgavatam expresses the same sentiments in first 
skandam chapter 11, slokam 1:

sa uccakASE dhavaLOdara: darOpi urukramsya adhara-SoNa-SoNimA |
dAdhmAyamAna: karaka~njasampuTe yathA'bjashaNdE kaLahamsa utsvana: ||

(Even though the sankham that vAsudEva blows has a
whiteness in the middle, it gets a redness from vAsudEva's 
red lips and shines on His lotus-like hand like the 
rAja hamsam that hums amidst lotus flowers.)

C. Additional thoughts (from SrI PVP ):

tEn ugarum annam pOl:  The word annam in tamizh means the 
annam bird or the beautiful white hamsa pakshi.  In 
samskr*tam it also means food.  Comparison is made between 
the beautiful white hamsa pakshi seated on the just-blossomed 
beautiful red lotus flower and the beautiful white pA~ncajanyam 
seated on the beautiful reddish palm of BhagavAn vAsudeva.   
The honey that the hamsa pakshi is enjoying from the fresh 
red lotus flower is compared to bhagavAn's adharAmr*tam 
from His beautiful reddish lips. 

SrI PVP gives reference to nammAzhvAr 9.7.3:  
"Sek-kamalatt-alar pOlum kaN kai kAl Se~n-kani 
vAi ak-kamaltt-ilai pOlum".  SrI PVP's anubhavam is that 
bhagvAn's tirumEni is like the green lotus leafs; all 
the part of His body are like the dense beautiful lotus flowers 
that are so dense that they completely hide the water in 
the pond;  and the beautiful white pA~ncajanyam switches 
from one hand to the other is like the beautiful white 
hamsa bird that keeps switching its beak from flower to flower 
to taste the honey - in the case of pA~ncajanyam it is 
the adharAmr*tam from the beautiful reddish lips of bhagvAn.  
This beautiful white hue of pA~ncajanyam in the setting 
of the heart-rending colors of bhagavAn's tiru-mEni and 
tiru-avayava-s is like it is adding to the beauty of the 
combination of these different colors (tiru-mEnikku 
para-bhAgamAna veNmai).  

Se~n-kaN:  The reddish hue in bhagavAn's eyes expresses 
His vAtsalyam or affection to all His devotees.  It also 
can be because of the satisfaction that bhagavAn is getting 
from His contact with pA~ncajanyam who has had the 
adharAmr*tam (annam in the meaning of food) to his 
heart's content.  It also can be because of the 
satisfaction of bhagavAn having enjoyed the "food" 
(annam here being used in its second meaning of food) - 
pA~ncajanyam in this case - to His heart's content.  

In this context, SrI PVP quotes the tiaittirIya upanishad 
"ahm-annam aham-annam aham-annam; 
aham-annAdo'ham-ahamannAdo'ham-ahamnnAdah" -
(I am like annam (food) for paramAtmA; I am paramAtmA's annam; 
I am paramAtmA's annam; I am the one who consumes annam, which 
is pleasing to paramAtmA; I consume annam; I consume annam.)  
Just as annam pleases one who is hungry, the sparSam of the 
great pAcajanyam is very pleasing to emperumAn and His red 
eyes show His vAtsalyam (compassionate love for all).

annavaSam Seyyum:  people sleeping on a bed normally toss and 
turn this side and that side in order for the food to digest. 
pAncajanyam also does the same thing.   [[ perhaps, SrI PVP 
is referring to the Sa~nkam taking food from His adharAm and 
then going to sleep! ]]

Sa~ngaraiyA:  Oh king of all Sa~nkhams! How can ANDAL 
assign kingship to Sa~nkham?  SrI kr*shNasvAmi aiye~ngAr's 
anubhavam is that ANDAL confers this title on pA~ncajanya 
AzhvAr because of  his closeness and attachment to bhagavAn.  
SrI PVP gives the analogy of vAlmIki conferring the title 
"vAnara rAjan" on sugrIva long before he is crowned by Lord rAma 
for the same reason viz. his attachment and closeness to Lord 
rAma.  Thus we have in bAlakANDam 1-6: 

"tatO vAnara rAjEna vairAnugatha nam prati |
 rAmAyAvEdi tam sarvam praNayAt du:kitEna ca || " 

SrI kr*shNasvAmi aiye~ngAr gives the additional example of 
jaTAyu being referred to as the "gr*dhra rAja" by sage 
vAlmIki based on Lord rAma's own words - 

"gr*dhra rAjyam parityajya pitru paitAmaham mahat |
  mama hetOrayam prANAn mumOca patagESvara:  ||  "

D. Additional thoughts from SrI PBA - from SrI varadan of Denver:

SrI PBA in his commentary on this pASuram notes the concepts 
expressed here are also contained in sundara bAhu-stavam 
by kUrattAzhvAn.  SrI varadan of Denver, Colorado, was kind 
enough to provide the following elaboration on this anubhavam 
by SrI PBA based on SrI PBA's commentary on sundarabAhu stavam:

pa~nca stavam = srI varadarAja stavam, srI stavam,
srI vaikunTha stavam, atimAnusha stavam and
sundara bAhu stavam. After kUrattAzhvAn's
eyes were gouged by the SOzha king, AzhvAn
went to srIra~ngam. At that time, emperumAnAr
had gone to mElkOttai to escape the persecution
of the SOzha king. AzhvAn did not want to live
in SrIra~ngam since emperumAnAr was not there, and
instead, wanted to live in thirumAlirumSOlai, the
abode of azhagar. On the way to azhagar malai,
AzhvAn did not want all the klESams to disturb his
affection for perumAL - He meditated on the
svarUpa rUpa guNas of perumAL and blessed us with
SrI vaikunTha sthavam and atimANusha stavam. After he
reached thirumAlirum SOlai, after enjoying the soundharyam
of azhagar, he blessed us with sundara
bAhu stavam. azhagar is known as sundara rAjan,
sundarat-tOLuDaiyAn etc.. because of His
indescribable beauty.

The Slokam that SrI PBA quotes in his vyAkhyAnam of the 
current pASuram of nAcciAr tirumozhi is Slokam 55 of 
sundara bAhu stavam:

srImad vanAdripati pANi-talAbja yugmam
ArUDhayor-vimala Sa~nkha-ratA~ngayostu
ekobjam_ASrita ivottama rAjahamsa:
padmapriyorka iva tatsamito dvitIya:

srImad vanAdripatiipANi talAbja yugmam ArUDhayo:

srImad vanAdripati = thirumAlirumSOlai azhagar
paNitalam - palm of the hand
abjam - lotus (abja = born in, usually in water)
yugmam - pair, couple
ArUDha - seated on

srI PBA svAmi quotes "UzhiyAn kaittalattu iDaril
kuDiyERi vIRRirundai kOlap perum Sa~ngE" and
"vaDa mathuraiyAr mannan vAsudEvan kaiyil kuDiyERi
vIRRirundai kOlap perum Sa~ngE" from karpUram
nARumO pathikam of nAcciyAr tirumozhi.
Like ANDAL, kUrattAzhvAn also sings about the
sangu and chakram [the word yugmam denotes twins/pair].

vimala Sa~nkha rathA~ngayostu

vimala - shining like silver
Sa~nkha - pA~ncajanya AzhvAn
raatA~ngah - cakkarattAzhvAn (literally, the wheel of 
a carriage) 

eka: abjam ASrita uttama rAjahamsa iva

[One - the conch - is seated on one of bhagavAn's hands 
like a faultless rAjahamsam that is seated on a lotus]

Here is where srI kUrattAzhvAn utilizes the nAcciyAr
tirumozhi uvamAnam in his stavam-
Se~n_kamala nAN malar mEl tEn nugarum annam pOl -
like a swan that is drinking the honey on a beautiful lotus
flower.

dvitIyah tatsamita: padmapriya: arka iva

arka = sun

the other one [i.e. cakram] is seated on the other hand of 
bhagavAn like the sun on a lotus

Summary:
The two hands of thirumAlirunchOlai azhagar are like
lotuses. On one of those lotuses, the Sa~nkham is seated 
like a rAjahamsam. On the other lotus, sudharsanAshvAn is 
seated like the Sun.

sarvam SrIman nArAyaNAyEti samarpayAmi.

adiyEn,
Kalyani Krishnamachari