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IDU OR ARPUDHAM KELEER - PART 13

From the Bhakti List Archives

L&T-ECCG-Buildings & Factories • October 22, 1999 


Dear Sri Vaishnava perunthagaiyeer,

Sri lakshmi nrusimha divya paadukaa sEvaka SrivaN satakOpa Sri Vedaanta
desika yateendra mahaa dEsikaaya namah:

In the previous postings, parts 1 to 12 on this topic, we saw 
		*	How periyaazhvaar identified KaNNan with thirumaal, 
		*	How he described the entire world was tied down by
his divine music thru the paasurams (without the meanings of the paasurams),

		*	Certain points on observations of bagavathaas. 
		*	The meanings in detail for the first eight paasurams
and few others who relished the kuzhal oothal episode of krishna leelai

3.6.9: kuzhal Osai vazhiyE maruNdu maan kaNangaL mEigai maRanthu mEintha
pullum kadai vai vazhi sOra iraNdu paadum thulungaap pudai peyaraa ezhuthu
chiththiram pOl ninRanavE.
MaruL- mayakkam
MaruL - aj~naanam (ignorance?) 
MaruL - trance 
MaruL - yogam- samaadhi nilai

Marutchi- the act of going into trance
Marutchi- shrill out of fear

MaruL varuthal- the aavirbhavam of ishtadevathaa on the person for some time
during which the person does special things (which same person cannot do in
ordinary times) like aaroodam- viz foretelling things of the future, kuri
solluthal- similar to aaroodam, etc.

This maruL also has more than one variety. The ugra devathaa bestowed maruL
always goes with lot of shouting, dancing, eating maamsam, drinking wine and
things like that. The saantha devatha bestowed maruL initially may talk some
things but then is lead into trance. The yoga samaadhi nilai continues for
sometime and then the person returns to normalcy. During both the acts of
aaroodam etc take place. 

Why I detail so much on this maruL or give such a long poorva peedikai is to
high light the effect of krishnaa's music on the animals like deer.

kuzhal Osai vazhiyE maruNdu maan kaNangaL- the flute music of krishnaa made
the deer flock go into trance easily- into yOga samaadhi easily. 

The deer flocks, whenever they hear some new kind of sound while grassing,
shrill first in fear immediately. That is their basic nature and start
running instinctively for safety. This is because, they always think the
enemy lion or tiger is on prawl and is near, has approached us, to kill us,
and that is why this noise. Hence act instinctively to run- so maan kaNangaL
marundu. 

When the first sound of music -kaNNan kuzhal Osai- was heard immediate knee
jerk reaction was maruL- fear- out of maruL- aj~naanam. But subsequently
maruL extended- fear is removed- aj~naanam was removed- now same maruL has
become samaadhi yOgam- attained the state of bliss- no consciousness of the
body, no consciousness about the world around.  Now maruNdu has another
meaning totally. 

But once realised that is kaNNan's music and its magic spell which brought
the maruL- no consciousness about the body, then meigai maranthu- the
grassing stopped- forgotten what we were doing at that time- they started
enjoying the music- so the foremost main job of grassing for filling the
stomach is forgotten.

Meintha pullum kadai vaai vazhi sOra- the half cut grass and accumulated in
the mouth about to be pushed inside the jeerNa kOsam- or kept for munching
-started dropping or flowing out mixed with the saliva - thru the edge of
the mouth. Why? when attention is on the Krishnaa's music, mouth is kept
open like human folk. There is no consciosness whether mouth is open or
closed. So the grass started slipping.- reason - maruL.

Cross reference - Subramania Bharathi says
KaNNan pullankuzhal kondu varuvaan, amudham pongi thathumbum nargeetham
padippaan, kaLLaal mayanguvathu pOlE athai kaNN moodi vaai thiranthE
kEttiruppOm. 
Meaning- krishnaa will bring the flute. He will sing nectarial songs. We,
folks, will listen to the music with closed eyes and opened mouth as though
we drank the toddy and got intoxicated.

So when human folks engross themselves in music, the mouth will be open
unconsciously. Same thing happens to deers here.

How this maruL is acting further is described beautifully in next few
words.- irandu paadum thulunga pudai peyaraa ezhuthu chiththiram pOl
ninRanavE.

paadu has more than one meaning
paadu- verb- to sing
paadu- noun- sides- pakkam
paadu- noun- varuththam- kashtam- trouble, nuisance, disturbance 
(We use "appaa- ivan enna paadu paduththinaan theriyumaa?" Oh do you know
how much trouble this fellow gave?)
paadu- noun - perumai- elation? (not fame- pugazh)

paadu in present context is sides. Irandu paadum- both sides.
Thulungaa- asaiyaamal- without movement. Why? No fear or fear gone because
amudhap punal is flowing- not sound from vairi- the enemy.

pudai peyaraa ninRanavE- no shifting of places- unmoved they stood. 
Again a change in their basic nature. A small noise make them shrill and
then change place. Even when there is no noise making them fear, deers grass
in patches quite often changing places- to continue their work of grassing-
will not grass continuously in the same place to shave off the entire grass
in that area, which is the habit of cows. 
.
How? ezhuthu chiththiram pOl-  like the artist's picture- a painting- they
were motionless like the picture. Sukha brahmam says here "likhitha chithram
iva aasan" in slokam 10-35-5 in srimadbhagavatham. The detailed slokam we
will see in next posting.

Is it not an arpudam to tie down even animals in picturesque postures thus
changing their basic nature through music?

3.6.10.	 MarangaL ninRu madhu thaaraigaL paayum malargaL veezhum vaLar
kombugaL thaazhum irangum koombum thirumaal ninRa pakkam nOkki avai seyyum
guNamE.

A slight anvayam is to be carried out. 'thirumaal ninRa pakkam nOkki
marangaL ninRu vaLar kombugaL thaazhum malargaL madhu thaaraigaL paayum
irangum koombum veezhum avai seyyum guNamE.

MarangaL ninRu- the trees by their nature are already standing. That trees
are growing vertically, spreading horizontally that too over a period of
time and are thus unable to move. But why specifically ninRu- it appears to
aazhvaar that all things are drawn towards kannan, 
the center of gravity, 
center of support for worldly creations, 
center of attraction, 
the powerful magnet towards which all pieces are attracted whether iron or
not. 

So even trees, which are static, in the eyes of aazhvaar are moving towards
Krishnaa, drawn towards him by the power of his music. 

The trees stopped for a minute-ninRu- to do what? To bow their heads- the
branches- valar kombugal thaazhum- the branches which grow in their natural
way in all directions, bow in reverence. The trees turn towards the place
from which Kannan was playing the music and bow down the branches in utter
reverence to the jagath kaaraNan. Why? To touch the feet of the lord.
Whether it was achieved? Answer is in next word. 

Malargal madhu thaaraigal paayum- the flowers blossomed in these trees were
falling as though they were showering on Kannan offering him an archana or a
shower with their flowers. Whether branches touched the thiruvadi-
ulagaLantha thiruvadi- yes through the flowers. When the branches bowed
their head, it is but natural the flowers blossomed in these lost their
balance and fallen on kannan. Iyarkaiye archanai seigirathu polum.

These flowers in turn were just dripping their honey as though they were
carrying out the manjanamaattal to Kannan. Madhu is not dripping but
thaaraigal- flow like shower- like falls- the last drop of honey came out-
so life of the flower is almost over- so they fell on their lord. Madhu is
the jeevan of flowers- when that is surrendered to the lord, then the
remaining body- falls naturally at the feet of the lord- the aachaaryan
thiruvadi- the lOka guru - jagath guru.

The purpose of life is to reach the lord- that is attained by the tree- it
offers the flowers- the jeevan- so next is irangum, beg at the feet of the
lord. For what? Saying I have surrendered at your feet please accept my
surrender. Next step- koombum, veezhum- close the eyes, fall as their
saranaagathy is accepted by their Lord. Next words are again superb. "avai
seyyum gunamE"- these happenings show their true nature. Nature surrenders
to the lord. When trees like achEthana vasthukkal are surrendering to the
Lord by the sheer power of music, why not I or we? Is the question that
arises out of this sentence avai seyyum gunamE? For human beings with all
sorts of vedham vedhaangam etc why not surrender unto the feet of the Lord
and uyyumkolO.

Daasan Vasudevan M.G.