PAsuram 3.8.7 – taLaikkaTTavizh tAmarai

taLaikkaTTavizh tAmarai vaigu poigait
taDam pukku aDangA viDam kAl aravam
iLaikkat tiLaittiTTu adan ucci tanmEl
aDi vaitta ammAn iDam mA madiyam
tiLaikkum koDi mALigai cUzh teruvil
cezhu muttu veN neRku enac cenRu munRil
vaLaik kai nuLaip pAvaiyar mARu(m) nAngUr
maNimADak kOyil vaNangu en mananE!

 

A. SrImad tirukkuDandai ANDavan:

emperumAn entered the pond which had buds and blossoms of lotus flowers. By dancing on the hoods of the arrogant and poisonous serpent, kALiyan, He made him tired. He placed His tiruvaDi-s, that devotees request to be placed on their heads, on kALiyan's heads. Reference may be made to "aDicciyOm talaimisai nIyaNiyAi" (tiruvAimozhi 10.3.6) and "madIyamUrdhAnamalankarishyati" (ALavandAr's stotraratnam-31 – 'When will Your lotus feet adorn my head?'). kRshNa, who danced away on the serpent's hoods, lives now in tirunAngUr.

The second half of the pAsuram speaks about the wealth of the land. In the wide streets, there are lofty houses reaching to the skies. The moon gets stuck in the flags atop those houses and seems to be playing with them. Fisher -women come to the streets and try to sell special pearls saying, “We do not need red rice grains; give us white rice grains; for a handful of butter, we will give you a handful of pearls”. Having no one to buy or listen to them, they go to every house and attempt to sell the pearls. maNimADak kOvil is such a wealthy place. Oh my mind! Worship this emperumAn's kOvil.

This shows that just as quality pearls will not be bought for rice grains, SrIvaishNava-s do not do SaraNAgati, which is the greatest upAyam-means, for lowly phalan-s.

 

B. SrI PVP:

taLaikkaTTavizh tAmarai vaigu poigait taDam pukku –

He got into the pond filled with lotus buds and fully blossomed lotus flowers

aDangA viDam kAl aravam iLaikkat tiLaittiTTu –

He played with the serpent that was violent and was spewing out venom, till the serpent became tired

adan ucci tanmEl aDi vaitta ammAn –

He placed His feet on top of the serpent's hoods and danced. tiruvAimozhi 10.3.6 expresses the following sentiment – 'aDicciyOm talai misai nIyaNiyAi Azhiya'nkaNNA un kOlap pAdam' - AzhvAr is intrigued that while His devotees beg Him in vain, to place His feet on their heads, the worst sinner kALiyan got His feet placed on his head. kUrattAzhvAn cries his heart out saying “kALiyasya phaNatAm Sirastu me” (alas, I was not born as kALiyan's head) in sundarabAhustavam 111th Slokam.

iDam –

this tirunAngUr is His place

vaLaik kai nuLaip pAvaiyar –

women wearing (pearl) bangles

mA madiyam tiLaikkum koDi mALigai cUzh teruvil –

enter the streets crowded by tall houses on top of which, flags reach the moon that gets stuck in its path

cezhu muttu veN neRku enac cenRu munRil mARu(m) –

and go to each house and try to sell superior quality pearls for white rice grains. Since no one is buying, the sales pitch goes this way – 'you do not have to give us the expensive red rice grains; it is enough if you give us the white rice grains in exchange for the pearls'. Since inhabitants of nAngUr are wealthy, the kuRatti-s who are selling the pearls are at a loss and try to sell them by knocking at each person's home.

nAngUr maNimADak kOyil vaNangu en mananE! –

Oh, my mind! Worship this tirunAngUr maNimADak kOvil perumAL.

 

C. SrI UV:

cezhu muttu veN neRku enac cenRu munRil mARu(m) –

the women who live along the sea shores possess abundant amounts of pearls. They decorate themselves with pearl bangles and come to tirunAngUr. Only because they need the white rice grains, they try to barter their pearls. The inhabitants of tirunAngUr are not interested in the sale since they have plenty of pearls also; so, the sales ladies are happy with whatever they can get. Since they wish to offer the pearls to worthy people, the ladies want to give away those pearls to the town folks. Even if the folks give them superior quality red rice grains in return, the sales ladies ask for just white rice grains. (Another way to look at this is – the place abounds in red rice grains (cennel) and since white rice grain is in shortage, the price is also high for that – the superior quality pearls).

nuLaip pAvaiyar mARu(m) -

the place where the kuRatti-s exchange things; or, it could mean – when they come to nAngUr saying 'pearls for white rice grains', the folks donate grains to them not expecting pearls in return, instead of selling, they resort to just giving away the pearls; mARu – they switch around.

Objects can be sold for low price, or for the right price, or just given for donation so the receiver enjoys it as a blessing. Like that, prapatti can be done for a measly phalan or for moksham.

A third kind is where prapatti is done for its own purpose – svayam prayojanam. These are the best prapanna-s.

Best adhikAri for prapatti is the one, who does not wish anything and does prapatti as svayam prayojanam (ultimate goal by itself).

Normally, when a particular phalan is not available by other means, one may do prapatti with great faith, praying, "You be the means and bless me with this phalan".

Given that, why do prapatti if no phalan is expected?

This question may further be elaborated as -'This sort of prapatti is not for the best adhikAri-s; it is enough if one surrenders the soul to bhagavAn; if there is no desire for phalan, how can bhagavAn gift the prapannan with moksham?

Even if the prapannan gets a desire for moksham that He may grant whenever, how will it happen that the moksham will be granted during the prapanna's dehAvasAnam (while shedding this body)?

If a prapanna desires for moksham to be obtained after death, will he be worthy of being called uttama adhikAri? While it is implied that - 'aprArthito na gopAyet' (lakshmi tantram 17.72)– if moksham is not sought with a prayer, He will not grant moksham, can one get moksham without praying for it specifically?’

The following samAdAnam (explanation) shall be given for the above question: It should be said that the following are uttama adhikAri prapannas – One who does prapatti for the sake of moksham and keeps doing other activities as svayam prayojanam or Even if one has the desire for moksham, one does not do prapatti directly to emperumAn but acts in such a way that the person's AcAryar does the prapatti for him out of compassion for him, while he keeps doing everything as svayam prayojanam.

Some others explain this as follows:

If the prapannan says, “Give me moksham whenever You wish before dehAvasAnam; I will keep doing kaiMkaryam-s to You”, it becomes a prayer. A mummUkshu must do prapatti with sAtvika tyAgam.

This explanation may be taken too.

 

D. SrI PBA:

[Sri PBA also explains the comparison of selling pearls for rice grains to the act of prapatti for phalan/moksham/svayam prayojanam. He does this with a story which makes it all easily understandable].

A fisherman, who threw his net in the sea and caught fish, found an expensive gem in his catch one time. Since he did not know the value of the gem, he sold it to a merchant for a low price.

That merchant knew the value of the gem and sold it to a king for a fair price. The king did not want to sell it; he placed the gem in one of his necklaces and enjoyed it for his use. Thus, the gem has three different characteristics – being traded for a low price, for a fair price, and being used for own enjoyment.

Just as the one object obtained three different characteristics because of the adhikAri-s involved, our sukRtam-s – good deeds, also take up three different forms.

Like the fisherman who sold the gem for a low price, one who does know the greatness of prapatti will settle for lowly phalan-s like wealth or kaivalyam [kaiMkaryam for its own purpose] etc.

Like the merchant who sold it for a fair price, middle set of folks will request moksham and not lowly phalan-s for prapatti.

Like the king who, instead of using the gem for sale purposes, used it for his own enjoyment, the higher set of folks – uttama adhikAri-s, do not look at prapatti as a means for anything else, but think of it as a purushArtham by itself.

 

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