Pasuram 3.3.5

Tamil text and transliteration:

சோதி ஆகி எல்லா உலகும் தொழும்,
ஆதிமூர்த்தி என்றால் அளவு ஆகுமோ?,
வேதியர் முழு வேதத்து அமுதத்தை,
தீது இல் சீர்த் திருவேங்கடத்தானையே.

cōti āki ellā ulakum toḻum,
ātimūrtti eṉṟāl aḷavu ākumō?,
vētiyar muḻu vētattu amutattai,
tītu il cīrt tiruvēṅkaṭattāṉaiyē.

English translation of verse 3.3.5:

How dare I circumscribe the glory
Of the immaculate Lord at Tiruvēṅkaṭam,
Venerated by all the worlds, resplendent and hoary,
Nectarean essence of all Vedic texts, chanted by scholars of great fame?

Notes

(i) The Lord, venerated by all the worlds

The Āḻvār says that he cannot circumscribe the glory of the Lord by telling that He is venerated by all the worlds. As a matter of fact, he has not said so earlier. But it is implied by the fact that even he, the lowliest of the lowly, worships Him. When it is said that the bottom-most boy in the class has got through the examination, does it not follow that all the others above him have passed? When the swollen waters of the river have submerged the topmost foot-step, it goes without saying that all the steps below have also been submerged.

(ii) The Immaculate Lord

The Lord is the repository of all auspicious qualities and is blemishless. He could be free from blemishes only when He makes Himself accessible to the lowliest of the lowly. In His search for one such, He couldn’t get at any one worse than Āḻvār unto whom He has extended His grace despite all his drawbacks. And now, He keeps standing at Tiruvēṅkaṭam, ever on the look-out for one even more heinous than the Āḻvār, to shed His grace upon. It is this greatness of the Lord that the Āḻvār extols in this Song with characteristic humility.