Pasuram 1.7.4

Tamil text and transliteration:

மயர்வு அற என் மனத்தே மன்னினான் தன்னை,
உயர்வினையே தரும் ஒண் சுடர்க் கற்றையை,
அயர்வு இல் அமரர்கள், ஆதிக் கொழுந்தை, என்
இசைவினை என் சொல்லி யான் விடுவேனோ?

mayarvu aṟa eṉ maṉattē maṉṉiṉāṉ taṉṉai,
uyarviṉaiyē tarum oṇ cuṭark kaṟṟaiyai,
ayarvu il amararkaḷ, ātik koḻuntai, eṉ
icaiviṉai eṉ colli yāṉ viṭuvēṉō?

English translation of verse 1.7.4:

Oh! what pretext can I find, from Him to part,
The first Lord of Celestials ever alert,
A beautiful bundle of brilliance, heaping on me continually,
Torrents of knowledge and wisdom, who brought me
Round and to root out my ignorance lodged in me firmly?

Notes

(i) In the preceding song, the Āḻvār acknowledged the Lord’s benevolence in rooting out all his ignorance. This is exactly what he had prayed for in his supplication to the Lord in the very first song of his first work (Tiruviruttam). Having achieved his purpose, can the Āḻvār now afford to forget the Lord? No, having removed all the vestiges of ignorance in the Āḻvār, the Lord continually resides in his mind, shutting out effectively the further growth of nescience in him. And what more? He is continually heaping upon the Āḻvār torrents of wisdom (Jñāna) and love (Bhakti). A beautiful bundle of brilliance, He is also the first Lord of the ‘Nitya Sūrīs’ (Eternal Heroes). How can the Āḻvār get himself divested of One, so great and so charming, ever inducing in him a passionate desire to be very close to Him? Thus, nothing is wanting on the Lord’s side to admit of a divorce from Him. If at all one wishes to throw odium on such a loving Lord, it can only be a sin-contrived dodge, like the one in the following anecdote:

(ii) A peasant boy who visited his father-in-law, was asked by the latter to help him to work a water-lift. The two of them started the work early in the morning and the boy who was high up on the lift, naturally felt tired when it was past mid-day. The father-in-law did not, however, have the courtesy to give the young son-in-law the much-needed relief. There upon, the latter, in sheer exasperation, spat on the back of the elder, just to provoke him. “How cool!” exclaimed the elder and went on with the work. The boy sharply jumped down, saying, “Better get hold of one who will spit on you hot!”

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Father-in-law.