Pasuram 3.10.2

Tamil text and transliteration:

குறைவு இல் தடங்கடல் கோள் அரவு ஏறி தன் கோலச் செந்தாமரைக்கண்,
உறைபவன் போல ஓர் யோகு புணர்ந்த ஒளி மணி வண்ணன் கண்ணன்,
கறை அணி மூக்கு உடைப் புள்ளைக் கடாவி அசுரரைக் காய்ந்த அம்மான்,
நிறை புகழ் ஏத்தியும் பாடியும் ஆடியும் யான் ஒரு முட்டு இலனே.

kuṟaivu il taṭaṅkaṭal kōḷ aravu ēṟi taṉ kōlac centāmaraikkaṇ,
uṟaipavaṉ pōla ōr yōku puṇarnta oḷi maṇi vaṇṇaṉ kaṇṇaṉ,
kaṟai aṇi mūkku uṭaip puḷḷaik kaṭāvi acuraraik kāynta ammāṉ,
niṟai pukaḻ ēttiyum pāṭiyum āṭiyum yāṉ oru muṭṭu ilaṉē.

English translation of verse 3.10.2:

Hindrance there’s none for me to sing,
Dance and enjoy my lustrous Lord, full of fame, resting
On the serpent-bed in the milk-ocean, full and broad,
Closing the red-lotus eyes, in deep thoughts absorbed,
Who came down here as Kaṇṇaṉ and destroyed
The fell Asuras, mounted on that bird with beak bloody.

Notes

(i) The Lord reposed on His serpent-bed in the Milk-ocean in ‘Yoga niddhrā”, preparatory to His incarnation as Śrī Kṛṣṇa to destroy the evil forces arrayed against the Godly men. The Āḻvār recounting, as he does, the great glory of Lord Kṛṣṇa, says that He has cut out all the impediments for his continual enjoyment of this bliss.

(ii) In deep thoughts absorbed: The Lord’s ‘Yoga niddhrā’ referred to in (i) above is not the tāmasik variety of sleep but the highest form of activity, being the activisation of one’s energies inward. Deeply absorbed in finding out the sure solvent for winning over the straying subjects, tossed up in ‘the ocean of samsāra’, and taking them ashore, He visualised the enchanting form which would cast its irresistible spell on the worldlings and wean them. It was this very form He assumed and came down as Kṛṣṇa. In his inimitable diction, Nampiḷḷai observes that the Lord’s tongue got parched up due to His deep mental exertion in concerting the ways and means of redeeming the worldlings and just then, this enchanting form passed before His mind’s eye, like the edible camphor relieving the dryness of the tongue in an exhilarating manner.

(iii) That bird with bleak bloody: The blood-stains on the beak of the mighty Garuḍa caused by his slaying the opponents, has not been wiped off, there being hardly any time left for it. Far from presenting an untidy appearance, these stains seem to be decorative.