kArkkOdal pUkkAL
Lamenting Her separation from the Lord
kArkODal pookkAL kAr kaDal vaNNan em mEl ummaipOr kOlam Seidu pOra viDuttavan enguTTrAn |
ArkO ini nAm pooSal iDuvadu aNi tuzhAi
tArkODum nenjantannai paDaikka vallEn andO || One ||
kODal flowers is another name for kAndaL flowers. There are many colors in them and some of them are dark blue. They bloom in plenty after the rainy season. They increase the love of the lovers. The black flowers remind ANDAL of kaNNan. She tells them – when there are so many other colors why should you choose dark color like kaNNan. I think He purposely created you like this and sent you here to wage war against me. Where is He who planned it this way? The flowers do not reply. She thinks not only kaNNan but also these flowers are indifferent to her. He refuses to come; these flowers refuse to talk. I have no one to go to and no one to help. Oh! Where shall I go and tell my woes.
Well! The flowers and birds are His slaves. So they are partial to Him but my one heart also acts against me. It is running after tuzhasi mAla of emberumAn. Oh! I am done for! So laments ANDAL.
mEl tOnri pookkAL mEl ulahangaLin meedu pOi
mEl tOnrum SOdi vEda mudalvar valangaiyin |
mEltOnrum Azhiyin venjuDar pOla chuDAdu emmai
mATTrOlai paTTavar kooTTattu vaittu koLhiTTrirE || Two ||
ANDAL reprimanded the kArkODal pookAL in the last pASura. Then she looked up at the tree. There appeared the kAndaL flowers. They were fully blossomed and shaking in the wind reminding the smile of kaNNan. Now she finds fault with them and say – ‘oh! mEl tOnri pookkAL! Do not burn me like His chakrAyudha. Why don’t you take me to the group of ‘mATTrOlai paTTavar kooTTam’. Since you are high up you can easily accomplish this’.
There are many interpretations to this phrase– ‘mATTrOlai paTTavar kooTTattu vaittu koLhiTTrirE’
tirumalai nambi interpreted– ‘won’t you take me into the group of at least kaivalya muktAs. They are other than Bagavat anuBava gOSTi. When i don’t get Bagavat anuBava give me at least kaivalya anuBava is the meaning’.
embAr interpreted it – since kaivalya muktas are those who enjoy Atma anuBava only within themselves and not in groups, the word kooTTam will not fit in. So it should be interpreted as the groups of nitya muktAs.
Some commentators interpreted as – yama will say to his kinkaras ‘bring this man here’ and will give them a letter. It sometimes happens they bring a different person. Likewise, emberumAn has sent these mEl tONri pookkAL totorture her. Instead of torturing they take her to emberumAn. So mATTrOlai paTTu means mistaking His orders. They split the phrase as ‘avar kooTTattu vaittu koLhiTTrirE’ to mean take me to His presence.
kOvai maNATTi nee un kozhungani koNDu emmai
Avi tolaiviyEl vAyazhahar tammai anjudum |
pAviyEn tOnri pAmbaNaiyArkum tam pAmbu pOl
nAvum iraNDuLa vAittu nANiliyEnukkE || Three ||
With tears in her eyes ANDAL shifted her gaze from the mEltOnri pookkAL to elsewhere where she sees ‘kOvai koDi’ with red kOvai fruits. Suddenly she remembers BagavAn adara which are red like them. ‘Oh! kOvai kanihAL! Do not break my heart by showing your beauty and color. I am afraid because I fear to lose my life. He has got two tongues, one speaks the truth and the other falsehood. Baktas and riSis say ‘He is satya sanda’ and ‘dharma vigraha’ etc. Perhaps He was so before I was born, but now I am personally experience His double personality. He promises one thing and does another. I think it is not His nature to be so; it is acquired because of His constant association with tiruanandAzhwAn. However, I don’t know why, knowing very well His nature my mind shamelessly goes after Him (nANiliyEnukkE).
mullai pirATTi nee un muruvalhaL koNDu emmai
allal viLaiviyEl Azhi nangAi un aDaikkalam |
kollai arakkiyai mookku arindiTTa kumaranAr
Sollum poyyAnAl nAnum pirandamai poyyanrE || Four ||
Not wanting to see the kOvai koDi any more, she shifts her druSThi to another place where a mullai koDi is spread with fully bloomed mullai poo all over. It reminds her of kaNNan’s laughter. Oh! mullai koDi! Don’t afflict me. I thought I somehow escaped from the kODal pookkAL, mEltOnri pookkAL, kOvai koDi etc. who inflicted pain in me. But you cause me pain too in me who is already wounded. I fall at your feet entreating you to have mercy on me. She calls her ‘amma’ like the person who is bound by thief pleads him by saying appa, ayya etc. Sree rAma said ‘mitra BAvEna samprAptam na tyajEyam katanchana’ – even if a person poses himself as a friend (not really being so) I shall not abandon him. His words are falsified in my case. What is the use of my being the daughter of periyAzhwAr, the great saint?
pADum kuyilhAL eedenna pADal nal vEngaDa
nADar namakkoru vAzhvu tandAl vandu pADumin |
ADum karuLa koDi uDaiyAr vandu aruL Seidu
kooDuvarAyiDil koovi num pATTukkaL kETTumE || Five ||
Wherever she casts her eyes some flower or fruit are there to pain her. So she closes her eyes for a moment. She hears a Cuckoo singing. She gets angry with them ‘why do you shout and shriek paining my ears! Get lost! go away! I don’t want you to sing; I am not in a mood to hear them. Come and sing when He comes here’. ‘but how do we know when He comes’? ‘Oh! His flag of garuDa will be seen. If you don’t recognize Him certainly I shall tell you. You can come and sing then. Now for god sake go and get lost’.
kaNa mA mayilhAL kaNNapirAn tirukkOlam pOnru
aNi mA naDam payinru ADuhinreerku aDi veezhhinrEn |
paNam ADaravaNai parpala kAlamum paLLikoL
maNavALar nammai vaitta pariSidu kANminE || Six ||
She ordered kOkilAs to stop singing. Now she opens her eyes where she sees groups of peacock dancing gracefully. She orders them to stop dancing. I pray and fall at your feet, Oh! Peacocks! Won’t you stop your dance? It does not please my heart. I am not in a mood to enjoy it my maNavALan is happily sitting on the AdisESa never bothering about my yearning for His love. The peacocks think ‘it is a great insult if periyAzhwAr’s daughter falls at our feet. In fact deserves our protection. She says ‘this is the condition to which I am reduce by that cruel kaNNan’.
naDamADi tOhai virikkinra mAmayilhAL ummai
naDamATTam kANa pAviyEn nAnOr mudal ilEn |
kuDamADu koottan gOvindan kOmirai Seidu emmai
uDai mADu koNDAn ungaLukku ini onru pOdumE || Seven ||
She fell at the feet of peacocks and requested them to stop their dance. They didn’t stop. They knew very well she was powerless and naïve; cannot prevent them from doing anything. So they dance more and more. She says I could have enjoyed your dance if I had eyes. But emberumAn had taken away everything. So I cannot see you and your dance. Please stop for my sake. Do you ask how I lost everything? I shall tell you. One day He was playing kuDa koottu in the street. I watched Him admiring His feat. From that day I am not myself anymore.
mazhaiyE mazhaiyE maN puram pooSi uLLAi ninra
mezhukooTTrinAr pOl ooTTru nal vEngaDattuL ninra |
azhaha pirAnAr tammai en nenjattu ahappaDa
tazhuva ninru ennai tadaittu koNDu ooTTravum vallaiyE || Eight ||
She first talked to clouds; then to the flowers and birds that came after the rains. Now talks to the clouds again. Those who make bronze vessels first make a mould of mud then spread a layer of melted wax and finally make a mud mould over the wax layer. Finally they remove the wax layer by making a hole and letting the wax out. Similarly He embraced and melted my Atma, drew my life out. The rains are considered as an enemy when the couples are separated but are helpers during samslESa.
kaDalE kaDalE unnai kaDaindu kalakkuruttu
uDaluL puhundu ninru ooral aruttavarkku ennaiyum |
uDaluL puhundu ninru ooral arukkinra mAyarkku en
naDalaihaL ellAm nAhaNaikkE Senru uraittiyE || Nine ||
She suddenly heard the sound of the sea. So she addresses the sea now there are so many similarities between them – depth, vastness, color etc. etc., moreover periya pirATTi is the daughter of sea. But BagavAn doesn’t consider all these. As is His nature, takes away the essence from inside the sea by churning it with the large mountain. Thus He tortures the sea. Likewise He torture be embracing me. While am enjoying His closeness I didn’t know that He has taken away my Atma from within me. So I request you, Oh! Sea to go and tell these things to anandAzhwAn who can express them to BagavAn.
nalla en tOzhi nAhaNai miSai nambarar
Selvar periyar Siru mAniDavar nAm Seivaden |
villi puduvai viTTu chittar tangaL dEvarai
valla pariSu varuvipparEl adu kANDumE || Ten ||
ANDAL is thus crying and lamenting. Her friend could not bear to see her plight. She is thinking of ways and means to pacify her. ANDAL tells her – ‘Oh! My friend I have found the way myself. He is lying on anandAzhwAn in pArkaDal; His aiSwarya is boundless; He is the cause of all cause; He is the leader of nityasooris; He is Sriyah pati. We are very low human beings. How can we reach Him? But there is the way of getting Him. My father periyAzhwAr is the recipient of His love. When he calls Him ‘poochchooTTa vArAi’ He runs to him; when he calls ‘kAppiDa vArAi’ He obeys like a lamb. At that time we can see Him easily. Only with BAgavata sambandha He can be obtained is the Pala of these pASurAs.
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