Pasuram 1.4.6

Tamil text and transliteration:

அருளாத நீர் அருளி அவர் ஆவி துவராமுன்
அருள் ஆழிப் புட்கடவீர் அவர் வீதி ஒருநாள் என்று
அருள் ஆழி அம்மானைக் கண்டக்கால் இது சொல்லி
அருள் ஆழி வரி வண்டே! யாமும் என் பிழைத்தோமே?

aruḷāta nīr aruḷi avar āvi tuvarāmuṉ
aruḷ āḻip puṭkaṭavīr avar vīti orunāḷ eṉṟu
aruḷ āḻi ammāṉaik kaṇṭakkāl itu colli
aruḷ āḻi vari vaṇṭē! yāmum eṉ piḻaittōmē?

English translation of verse 1.4.6:

You bee, with lovely hoops! if you meet my gracious Lord,
Pray tell Him, although He didn’t relent thus far, He should
His grace on me shed, ere life from me departs,
And just pass some day through this street,
Mounting the gracious bird (Garuḍa); I shall then steal
A glance at Him. Oh! what is my fault
(That He against me His heart should steel)?

Note

In the preceding stanza, the Lord was advised against imperilling His position as Nārāyaṇa. On second thoughts, the Āḻvār now apprehends the frightful possibility of the Lord staying away from him, choosing the lesser of the two evils, the greater one being contamination by the Āḻvār. Here then is a compromise formula—the Lord, being an ocean of grace, will certainly shed His grace on the Āḻvār also, the sooner the better, that is, ere his life ebbs out; even the simple gesture of His passing through the street where the Āḻvār lives, not often, but just one day, will do. The gracious Garuḍa could certainly oblige the Āḻvār and bring the Lord over here on his shoulders. This was precisely the message conveyed by Sītā to Śrī Rāma through Hanumān. Here is also a painful contrast, Parāṅkuśa Nāyakī, separated from her beloved Lord, undergoing all the pangs of mental torture experienced by Śrī Rāma after the abduction of Sītā. The Āḻvār now ruminates and keeps guessing whether his languishing like this without enduring his lot patiently, would be adjudged as his fault. But then, he would also recollect that Śrī Rāma fared no better when apart from Sīta.