Srivaishnava Sampradhayam > Azhvar > Thiruppanazhvar > Amalanaadipiraan Ettam Pasuram Vyakyanam
Translated and compiled from pUrvaachaarya commentaries by TCA Venkatesan
pariyanAgivantha avuNanudalkeeNda amarark
kariyavAthippirA narankaththamlan mugaththuk
kariyavAgippudaiparanthu miLirnthu sevvariyOdi neeNdavap
periyavAyakaNgaLennaip pEthamai seythanavE
Meaning:
He who ripped apart the large body of Hiranya who came at Him, who
is unattainable even to the dEvAs, who is the origin of everything,
who helps us all, who resides in Srirangam, who is most pure, His
eyes that foam with His grace and which are dark, wide, and having
red lines, have made me a fool.
Essence:
His divine eyes have made AzhvAr loose his mind.
His eyes were watching AzhvAr say in the previous song that His red
lips stole his mind (seyyavAyaiyO ennais sinthai kavarnthathu).
His eyes are saying that the lips only have the red color, but that
it has the colors red, black and white. Only after He turns His eyes
toward anyone do they truly become liberated. His look (eyes) is the
shine in His words. Also, His lotus eyes is the shine in His grace
(anaiththulagumudaiya aravinthalOcanan). Everyone turns to
His eyes for protection (puNdariikAksha raksh mAm). His eyes
showing their importance are thus pulling AzhvAr away from His mouth.
In an earlier song, AzhvAr had said that He had removed his ancient
sins without looking at his drawbacks (pAramAya pazhavinai
paRRaRuththu). When the doubt came that would He remove such sins,
AzhvAr used the example of Rudra to show that He will. When doubts
came whether He would do to us what He did for Rudra, AzhvAr answered
them in the previous song. In this song, AzhvAr addresses one further
issue. The only way that such sins and karmAs will be removed so that
they do not arise again is to remove the avidhyA that is their source.
This avidhyA will prevent those associated with it from truly becoming
His devotees and attaining liberation. The comparison is to Hiranya
who like the avidhyA tried to prevent Parahalada from becoming His
devotee. Hiranya is the physical form of all the tamO guNAs (tamO
hiraNyaroopENa pariNAmamupAgatham). He ripped this Hiranya as
Narasimha with His divine hands and AzhvAr says that similarly He will
shred the avidhyA with His knowledge hands (gnyAnakkai).
pariyanAgivantha
Unlike those who are always thinking of Him, who understand His grace,
and who love Him, Hiranya had a large body such that He had to come as
Narasimha.
By understanding that there is a soul, that He is the owner of that
soul and reaching Him is that soul's purpose, a person would melt
physically as well as mentally. Or, wanting to reach Him and having
not attained Him one's bhakthi grows even more and his body slims
down (ninpAlanbAyE adiyEnudalam neerAyalainthu karaiyavurukkukinRa
nedumAlE). Instead, due to his false pride, Hiranya had grown his
body to a large extent.
Just like kings would feed and grow some pigs as guards, the dEvAs fed
Hiranya with boons and grew him to be the target for Narasimha.
Hiranya came against Him as if he is the collection of all the tamas
in all the worlds.
vantha
AzhvAr is worried that even now Hiranya is around and going against Him.
avuNanudalkeeNda
Hiranya's body that was big enough that it might even have to be
attacked by His chakra, was ripped to shreds just by looking at
Narasimha's face and looks.
Hiranya charged like a large mountain and He ripped him in two like
a plantain leaf.
udalkeeNda
He ripped the body which is the source of ahangAram (kiLLik
kaLainthAn), while saving the soul which belongs to Him.
amararkkariya
He is unattainable even to Brahma, Rudra and the dEvAs. Yet, He was
easily approachable to Prahalada.
He is approachable to His devotees even in His fierce mood.
AzhvAr is saying that He is approachable to him even though He is
unattainable to the dEvAs. That is, He is letting AzhvAr enjoy Him
completely by removing his sins and karmAs fully and taking him over.
While Prahalada was able to approach and enjoy Him, the devAs who
were created and protected by Him could not see that He (Narasimha)
is the origin, the cause and the most helpful, and were unable to
approach Him.
Athi
He is the origin and the cause for everything.
Like a father who has several sons but is most kind to his weaker
son, He is the origin of all worlds and yet He is kind to us who
are weak.
He is the cause, He is the origin and He is the primary.
amararkkariyavAthippirAn
He is pirAn not because He was helpful to AzhvAr; He is that because
while being unattainable to the dEvAs He went and defeated Prahalada's
enemy.
AthippirAn
Prahalada said that He is the cause of all and when Hiranya asked if
that cause of everything would be in a pillar, Prahalada said that
He is within the soul of everything and therefore would be inside
that pillar as well. And when Hiranya broke that pillar, He came out
as Narasimha, ripped Hiranya's chest (ponpeyarOn vAythakarththu
mArpidanthAn), and proved Prahalada's statements. Thus, He
estalished that He is the cause and He is the Lord of everything.
AzhvAris remembering that here.
Azhvar finds it helpful to him that He is unattainable to Brahma,
Rudra and the Devas, yet He is approachable to Prahalada.
arankaththamalan
As Narasimha, He came once upon a time, inside one pillar and
defeated the enemy of one person (Prahalada). In Srirangam, He
is resting between two pillars, for all time, to defeat the
enemies of everyone.
Prahalada as soon as he got the attachment to Him, started speaking
of Him and praising Him under all circumstances. For that and
because he had gnyAnabhakti, He helped him. Here, periya perumAL is
resting to help the whole world without discrimination
(EzhaiyEthalan keezh makanennAthiranki).
He is lying here facing south to fulfill His promise to Vibeeshana
that He would never give up His friendship to him. But, He is also
here to save even the lowliest of all beings.
He is resting in Arangam where He cuts the karmAs and saves everyone
who surrenders at His feet (aNiyArpozhil soozharanganagarappa,
thuNiyEnini ninnaruLallathenakku).
amalan
Whoever looks at His divine face loose their avidhyA and become
purified.
He purified AzhvAr by associating him with Loka Saranga Muni.
His purity is enhanced by resting in Srirangam to help everyone for
all time, rather than one time such as in an avatar.
mugaththu
Here AzhvAr is specifically refering to His face (un mugam
mAyamanthiranthAn kolO, sakhya: pashyat krushNasya mukham),
to separate from His lips that he had talked about in the previous
song.
His face is like the moon in which two lotuses (eyes) are present.
His face is like a lotus in which two lotuses (eyes) are present.
kariyavAgi
Contrasting the whiteness around it are His dark eyes.
His eyes are dark due to the anjanam around them.
Dark also represents cool, showing that everyone's thAbam (heat from
their karmAs) will be removed the moment they see His eyes.
pudaiparanthu
His eyes are like ponds made out of an ocean.
His wide spread eyes.
paranthu
The large extent of His eyes come from His grace in removing our
avidhyA and saving us.
miLirnthu
Because His eyes are brimming with His grace (krupai), it is
like an ocean with foaming waves.
More than AzhvAr's interest in seeing His eyes, is His interest in
seeing AzhvAr.
sevvariyOdi
The redness that comes from His sriya:patitvam and vAtsalyam.
neeNda
His long eyes that reached all the way to AzhvAr.
His divine eyes that are spread up to His ears.
His eyes are the same as the ones that show themselves to the
nithyasooris, that showed themselves briefly to different people
during His avatars and that are periya perumAL's who is refusing to
leave here until He has saved everyone.
One has to wonder, should He not have eyes all over His body in
providing this much grace to us?
apperiyavAya kaNkaL
His eyes are without any limit.
AzhvAr had described the limitless physical stature of His eyes with
the words paranthu and neeNdu. Here he is talking about
the limitless sweetness of His eyes.
His eyes are like the Sun and the Moon (thingaLum Adiththiyanum
ezhunthARpOl ankaN iraNdum).
His eyes are like just bloomed lotuses due to His love for His devotees.
His eyes show His delight in supporting everyone that surrenders to Him.
apperiya
His eyes have more than what AzhvAr has seen in them at this time.
ennai
AzhvAr says his mind was like a stone. His eyes have now melted his mind
and given him liberation.
pEthamai seythanavE
AzhvAr had said before that He stole his mind's essense (ennais sinthai
kavarnthathuvE). Here he is saying that He has stolen his mind itself.
It should be that when He looks at someone they should be able to see
everything clearly; instead, His eyes have destroyed AzhvAr's mind.
Having seen and absorbed in His eyes, AzhvArs says that he has lost his
ability to be involved in anything else in this world.
In this song, thiruppANAzhvAr sees Narasimha avatar in periya perumAL.