Pasuram 3.4.10

Tamil text and transliteration:

யாவையும் எவரும் தானாய் அவரவர் சமயம் தோறும்,
தோய்வு இலன் புலன் ஐந்துக்கும் சொலப்படான் உணர்வின் மூர்த்தி,
ஆவி சேர் உயிரின் உள்ளால் ஆதும் ஓர் பற்று இலாத,
பாவனை அதனைக் கூடில் அவனையும் கூடலாமே.

yāvaiyum evarum tāṉāy avaravar camayam tōṟum,
tōyvu ilaṉ pulaṉ aintukkum colappaṭāṉ uṇarviṉ mūrtti,
āvi cēr uyiriṉ uḷḷāl ātum ōr paṟṟu ilāta,
pāvaṉai ataṉaik kūṭil avaṉaiyum kūṭalāmē.

English translation of verse 3.4.10:

Knowledge personified is my Lord who stays within
All things and beings and yet does apart remain
From their weal and woe, much beyond the ken
Of comprehension of the senses five; appreciate you can,
Growth and decay unto the body pertain and not the Soul within,
Stays likewise the Lord inside the Soul (aloof from its weal and woe).

Note

This stanza clearly brings out the fact that the Lord who has stationed Himself inside all things and beings, is not affected by their changing fortunes, weal or woe, even as the Individual Soul occupying a particular body is not affected by the biological changes of growth and decay undergone by the body. But then, it might be argued that the Individual Soul partakes of the pain and pleasure experienced through the medium of the body and on this analogy, the Lord inside all cannot also remain unaffected by such experiences. This doubt can, however, be resolved by contrasting the manner in which the Lord and the Individual Soul got inside the body. Whereas the Individual Soul has occupied the body as the medium appropriate to his or her working out the load of Karma, the Lord gets inside the soul at His volition, for the resuscitation of the subject. The Individual is the convict serving a term of imprisonment inside the prison-house, which the body is, while the Lord is like unto the distinguished jail visitor, contemplating the ways and means of welfare and rehabilitation of the prisoners.

The above is the interpretation of Emperumāṉār (Rāmānuja); the other interpretation, namely, exclusive devotion unto the Lord (Super Soul) inside the individual Soul, will enable the latter to attain the former has been brushed aside by him as a misfit, in the present context of highlighting the immanence of the Lord, where it is imperative to bring out that the Lord pervades all things and beings without, at the same time, partaking of their character.