Pasuram 3.2.1

Tamil text and transliteration:

முந்நீர் ஞாலம் படைத்த எம் முகில் வண்ணனே,
அந் நாள் நீ தந்த ஆக்கையின்வழி உழல்வேன்,
வெம் நாள் நோய் வீய வினைகளை வேர் அறப் பாய்ந்து,
எந் நாள் யான் உன்னை இனி வந்து கூடுவனே? (2)

munnīr ñālam paṭaitta em mukil vaṇṇaṉē,
an nāḷ nī tanta ākkaiyiṉvaḻi uḻalvēṉ,
vem nāḷ nōy vīya viṉaikaḷai vēr aṟap pāyntu,
en nāḷ yāṉ uṉṉai iṉi vantu kūṭuvaṉē? (2)

English translation of verse 3.2.1:

My cloud-hued Lord, You raised this world,
Surrounded by oceanic waters; in this body, by you dowered
Stray do I, pursuing its (errant) ways; I know not when
My ills will be rooted out and you I shall attain.

Notes

[Ālvār to the Lord:]—

(i) “I was like a wingless bird aṇd by giving me the limbs etc., you capacitated me for a career of gainful activity. But alas! the body, so kindly dowered by you, was misused by me and I have got all miseries heaped on my head. Now that I can hardly brook any separation from you, when will my deadly sins, the impediments for my union with you, be rooted out and our union be hastened?

(ii) Empār is said to have lamented: “This boat of a body, dowered by you, could have been steered through to heavenly bliss but, alas! I have allowed it to be swept away by (worldly) current and capsize into the mire of sensual pleasures.

(iii) When Saints talk of ills (sickness and pain), it is not any kind of physical malady, such as remittent fever but the pain of separation from God.