Pasuram 7.3.2

Tamil text and transliteration:

நானக் கருங்குழல் தோழிமீர்காள்! அன்னையர்காள்! அயல் சேரியீர்காள்,
நான்இத் தனிநெஞ்சம் காக்க மாட்டேன் என்வசம் அன்றுஇதுஇராப்பகல்போய்,
தேன்மொய்த்த பூம்பொழில் தண்பணைசூழ் தென்திருப் பேரெயில் வீற்றி ருந்த,
வானப்பிரான் மணிவண்ணன் கண்ணன் செங்கனி வாயின் திறத்ததுவே.

nāṉak karuṅkuḻal tōḻimīrkāḷ! aṉṉaiyarkāḷ! ayal cēriyīrkāḷ,
nāṉit taṉineñcam kākka māṭṭēṉ eṉvacam aṉṟuituirāppakalpōy,
tēṉmoytta pūmpoḻil taṇpaṇaicūḻ teṉtirup pēreyil vīṟṟi runta,
vāṉappirāṉ maṇivaṇṇaṉ kaṇṇaṉ ceṅkaṉi vāyiṉ tiṟattatuvē.

English translation of verse 7.3.2:

Ye, mates with dark hair aromatic, ye, elders and neighbours,
Gone out of hand, My mind, I can’t control; day and night,
Ahead of me it goes and lurks in the lips, like unto red fruit,
Of Kaṇṇaṉ, the heavenly Lord of sapphire hue, Who stays
In Teṉtiruppēreyil with lands fertile and flower gardens full of honey bees.

Notes:

(i) The apparent incongruity of the mates appearing before the disconsolate Nāyakī with their hair nicely tended and perfumed, is reconciled by Nampiḷḷai, as follows:—

When the Nāyakī was in communion with the Lord, the flowers worn and discarded by Him would be picked up by the mates and worn by them even if they be mere shreds. The perfume therefrom is everlasting and it serves to sustain the Nāyakī, when the Lord is not beside her, as at present.

Alternately, it could be that the mates, bent upon rallying the Nāyakī round, should not themselves present a picture of dejection, with dishevelled hair. This is like Lakṣmaṇa having kept himself fit for serving Rāma, although the former’s grief was by-no-means less than that of the latter over the abduction of Sītā.

(ii) The worldlings cannot be weaned away from sensual pleasures even as the Nāyakī cannot be weaned away from God-head. The God-bent mind of the Nāyakī has taken a leap ahead of her and got absorbed in Him completely. There is, therefore, no question of her being brought round by any one, not even the concerted action of the mates, mother and neighbours. Instead of the mind being subordinate to her, it is now the other way round. In short, the Nāyakī, enthralled by the Lord at Tiruppēreyil, is beyond recovery, from the point of view of the worldlings to whom she is lost altogether.