SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama: SrI vAnAchala mahAmunayE nama:
avathArikai (Introduction)
In the first chUrNikai, as said in SrI rangarAja sthavam uththara Sathakam 1 “harthum thamas sadhasathI cha vivEkthumISO mAnam pradhIpamiva kAruNikO dhadhAthi l thEnAvalOkya kruthina: paribhunjathE tham thathraiva kE’pi chapalA: SalabhIbhavanthi ll ” (emperumAn, who is an ocean of mercy, gives vEdham which is like a light to remove the darkness (of ignorance) and to analyse the benefits and disadvantages. Those, who are favourable to emperumAn, attain emperumAn with the help of that lamp; those with fickle minds (who desire worldly pursuits) fall into the lamp like moths and perish), naturally merciful sarvESvaran, for the sake of ignorant people, mercifully gave vEdha SAsthram which is a tool to distinguish between good and bad.
chUrNikai 1
kAruNikanAna sarvESvaran aRivilA manisar uNarvenum sudar viLakkERRip piRangiruL nIngi mElirundha nandhA vEdha viLakkaik kaNdu nalladhum thIyadhum vivEkikkaikku maRaiyAy virindha thuLakkamil viLakkil koLuththina pradhIpamAna kalaigaLai nIrmaiyinAl aruL seydhAn.
Simple Explanation
To facilitate the ignorant people to light the lamp of knowledge and be free from darkness, that is ignorance, and to see the eternal lamp of vEdham to distinguish between good and bad, the merciful sarvESvaran showered his mercy due to his compassion, mercifully gave vEdha SAsthram which expanded from the syllable “a” (akAra) which represents bhagavAn himself.
vyAkyAnam (Commentary)
kAruNikanAna sarvESvaran
One who has both mercy and independence. If he has mercy but is not independent, he cannot act as he desires; if he is simply independent (without mercy), his freewill which is common towards bondage and liberation, will not help the efforts for the liberation of the [bound] souls. hence, his efforts to liberate the bound souls is dependent on the combination of his mercy which stimulates such efforts and his independence; alternative explanation – the term sarvESvaran indicates the controller – controlled relationship [between bhagavAn and AthmAs]. In lakshmI thanthram after saying “kripAyOgAScha SASvathAth” (due to being merciful always), it is said “ISESithavya sambandhAth anitham prathamAdhapi” (due to the ancient relationship between bhagavAn and AthmAs as controller and controlled). Hence, being merciful and being related are the causes for bhagavAn’s efforts for the liberation of bound souls. Since his relationship is mentioned after his mercy, the importance of the relationship is emphasised. With this, it is explained that with his liking towards them to be his possession, along with mercy which cannot let him tolerate sufferings of others, he puts more and more efforts for the liberation of bound souls.
aRivilA manisar
Ignorant souls as said in thirumAlai 13 “aRivilA manisar” (ignorant people). It is said “andham thama ivAgyAnam” (ignorance is the same as darkness which covers the vision). In “harthum thama:“, ignorance was mercifully indicated by the word thamas, With this, it is explained that these are the bound souls who have been covered with the ignorance of darkness, and due to that are lacking the ability to discriminate between AthmA and prakruthi (matter), etc.
uNarvenum sudar viLakku ERRi
As said in mUnRAm thiruvandhAdhi 94 “uNarvennum oLi koL viLakkERRi” (lighting the shining lamp of knowledge), iraNdAm thiruvandhAdhi 1 “gyAnach chudar viLakkERRinEn” (I lit the shining lamp of knowledge), instead of a lamp which uses wick and oil, which lead to accumulation of dirt, having knowledge which is brightly shining. Knowledge is compared to lamp, due to the commonly shared nature of showing self and others, with its light.
piRangiruL nIngi
As said in periya thirumozhi 5.7.3 “piRangiruL niRangeda” (To eliminate the dense darkness) and periyAzhwAr thirumozhi 1.8.10 “pinnivvulaginil pEriruL nInga” (Subsequently, to have the great darkness in this earth, eliminated), ridding the great ignorance known as darkness.
mEl irundha nandhA viLakkaik kaNdu
As said in periyAzhwAr thirumozhi 4.3.11 “vEdhAntha vizhupporuLin mElirundha viLakku” (bhagavAn, the lamp on top of the essence of vEdhAntham), periya thirumozhi 2.5.1 “nandhA viLakku” (ever-burning lamp), thiruvAimozhi 4.7.10 “vEdha viLakkinai” (the lamp of vEdham), bhagavAn who is shining in vEdham as the lord of all, who is having eternal, self-illuminous knowledge as the true nature, and who is known only through vEdham; seeing such emperumAn through internal eyes (the eye of knowledge) as said in thiruvAimozhi 4.7.10 “en thakka gyAnak kaNgaLAlE” (with my apt internal eyes of knowledge).
nalladhum thIyadhum vivEkikkaikku
As said in periya thiruvandhAdhi 3 “ivaiyanRE nalla ivaiyanRE thIya” (These are good and these are bad), to distinguish between sath and asath. It was said “sadhasathI cha vivEkthum” (to distinguish between good and bad). Though this phrase “nalladhum thIyadhum vivEgikkaikku” in general talks about distinguishing between good and bad, here it speaks about distinguishing that bhagavath vishayam is good and samsAram is bad. This is because, already it is said “nandhA viLakkaik kaNdu nalladhum thIyadhum vivEgikkaikku” (after seeing bhagavAn, distinguishing between good and bad) and as subsequently the result of such distinguishing leads to abandoning samsAram and pursuing mOksham. What does it mean to distinguish between good and bad, after seeing bhagavAn himself? Only after seeing bhagavAn, the defects of the samsAram can be truly seen and when one is seen in the context of another one, to understand the good and bad of both, both need to be seen.
maRaiyAy virindha thuLakkamil viLakkil koLuththina pradhIpamAna kalaigaLai
As said in periya thirumozhi 8.9.4 “maRaiyAy virindha viLakkai” (The lamp which expanded into vEdham) and thiruchchandha viruththam 4 “thuLakkamil viLakkam” (lamp which shines without any perturbation), since it is said in “akArOvai sarvavAk” (The syllable “a” expanded into all vEdhams), “a” (akAram) is the cause for all vEdhams and has no other origin for it and hence there is no perturbation. Originating from such “a”, vEdham which is shining greatly as one lamp lit from another will do. As said in “mAnam pradhIpamiva” (SAsthram which is like a huge lamp), the one which shows clearly what is to be abandoned and what is to be pursued. It is Sruthi and the portions which explain that Sruthi as said in periya thirumozhi 7.8.2 “pannu kalai nAlvEdham” (The four vEdhams which are SAsthrams) and periya thirumozhi 2.8.5 “kalaigaLum vEdhamum” (SAsthrams, vEdham), the vEdhams and the portions which elaborate such vEdhams. Here based on “vAchya vAchaka sambandam” (the connection between the word and the meaning), akAram is equated to bhagavAn as in “maRaiyAy virindha viLakkai” and “thuLakkamil viLakkai“, and as said in “a ithi brahma” (akAram indicates brahmam).
nIrmaiyinAl aruL seydhAn
nIrmai – his nature. Here it is said that he gave out of his nature [of being the lord]. That is “he gave due to his nature of being the lord” or “he gave due to his mercy” or it can be both [his nature and mercy]. The first approach matches the explanation given by pUrvAchAryas for nIrmai in periya thirumozhi 2.8.5 and nAyanAr’s subsequent statement “indha udharaththarippu thraiguNya vishayamAnavaRRukku prakASakam“. The middle approach matches the word “kAruNiganAna” in the beginning by nAyanAr himself and bhattar’s merciful words of “kAruNikO dhadhAthi“. The final approach matches the second explanation given for “kAruNiganAna sarvESvaran“.
Thus, with this chUrNikai, nAyanAr mercifully explains how ISvaran gave SAsthram and the reason for that, for the sake of ignorant, bound souls to have shining knowledge, to be free from ignorance and seeing bhagavAn to distinguish between good and bad.
adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan
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