Pasuram 3.3.1

Tamil text and transliteration:

ஒழிவு இல் காலம் எல்லாம் உடனாய் மன்னி,
வழு இலா அடிமை செய்யவேண்டும் நாம்,
தெழி குரல் அருவித் திருவேங்கடத்து,
எழில் கொள் சோதி எந்தை தந்தை தந்தைக்கே. (2)

oḻivu il kālam ellām uṭaṉāy maṉṉi,
vaḻu ilā aṭimai ceyyavēṇṭum nām,
teḻi kural aruvit tiruvēṅkaṭattu,
eḻil koḷ cōti entai tantai tantaikkē. (2)

English translation of verse 3.3.1:

Serve we shall our Progenitor grand,
Of splendour galore, in Tiruvēṅkaṭam enshrined,
Amid roaring cascades, lovely and rapturous,
With neither break nor blemish, in attendance close.

Notes

(i) Serve we shall: Even the mere contemplation of service is good enough. In Śloka 4 of his ‘Śrivaikuṇṭa Gaḍya’, Śrī Rāmānuja stresses the need for developing, in an ever-increasing measure, the desire for Divine Service.

(ii) The Lord at Tiruvēṅkaṭam, of Splendour galore

The Lord in Heaven is like unto the lamp burning in broad day light, with its considerably diminished brightness. Further, His stay there is like feeding the fish with water.

The splendour of the Lord reclining on the blue ocean is literally lost on the blue sea itself, there being hardly a few beneficiaries. On the other hand, the Lord at Tiruvēṅkaṭam is like the lamp shining on the hill-top, in all its brilliance, making Him visible even to the most ignorant among us.

(iii) Service at all times

The Āḻvār pines for service at all times, including the days already gone. It sounds rather queer, if not fantastic, that the Āḻvār should seek service in the

irretrievable past as well. What is emphasised here is service of such a high order aṇd efficiency, which will more than make amends for past lapses, drown the Āḻvār in an ocean of bliss and make him desist from brooding over his past omissions, rather render him oblivious of his dereliction in the past.

(iv) Service without break

Serving unremittingly the Lord at all places, both inside the Temple and at all places outside where He moves in ceremonial procession. Even when the Lord is screened from public worship by putting a drapery all around, the service should go on, such as tending the lamps, cleaning the vessels meant for containing the sacramental water and so on.

Tiruvaraṅkapperumāḷ Araiyar who recited this song before Lord Raṅganātha, in that grand assemblage in the temple at Śrīraṅgam, is said to have gone into a trance, while reciting the first line of this song, as in the original text, and he went on repeating, “at all times”. Evidently, he had got into the mood of the Āḻvār himself, whose passion for Divine Service was so great.

Service without break would also signify service, one after the other, with the same avidity with which Lakṣmaṇa served the Divine Couple, Śrī Rāma and Sītā, during exile. It would also connote selfless service, absolutely free from any tinge of egoism and sense of self-enjoyment, that is, service motivated by the individual soul’s own sense of delight and enjoyment, as against service rendered solely for the Lord’s delectation.

When Śrī Rāmānuja discoursed on this song, he enquired which of his listeners, in that vast assembly, would like to go to Tiruvēṅkaṭam and render unto the Lord service, as envisaged by the Āḻvār. There was but a solitary response from one Aṉantāḻvāṉ who volunteered his services and sought Śrī Rāmānuja’s blessings for the proper fulfilment of the sacred mission. All the others seemed to have got scared of the climatic condition of Tirumalai Hills, frightfully chill, with an unbroken succession of rains. Śrī Rāmānuja embraced Aṉantāḻvāṉ endearingly and exclaimed that he was the one and only male (Āṇpiḷḷai, in Tamil) in that assembly, who was really bold, ready to brave the climate of Tiruvēṅkaṭam. Thence forward, he came to be known as Aṉāntaṉpiḷḷai. He went and served at Tiruvēṅ-kaṭam, to the immense delectation of Lord Śrīnivāsa.