Pasuram 5.2.4

Tamil text and transliteration:

இடம் கொள் சமயத்தை எல்லாம் எடுத்துக் களைவன போலே
தடம் கடல் பள்ளிப் பெருமான் தன்னுடைப் பூதங்களே ஆய்
கிடந்தும் இருந்தும் எழுந்தும் கீதம் பலபல பாடி
நடந்தும் பறந்தும் குனித்தும் நாடகம் செய்கின்றனவே.

iṭam koḷ camayattai ellām eṭuttuk kaḷaivaṉa pōlē
taṭam kaṭal paḷḷip perumāṉ taṉṉuṭaip pūtaṅkaḷē āy
kiṭantum iruntum eḻuntum kītam palapala pāṭi
naṭantum paṟantum kuṉittum nāṭakam ceykiṉṟaṉavē.

English translation of verse 5.2.4:

This land is full of ardent devotees of the Lord,
Reposing on the milk-ocean; lying, sitting and standing.
Walking along, singing many a song and dancing,
Flying about with heels above the ground, they ate revelling
Like those out to uproot the heretical religions rampant in the world.

Notes:

(i) It is a matter of common knowledge that unwanted things easily multiply themselves at random and can be had in plenty dirt-cheap while life-saving herbs are very rare, needing such herculean effort to get at them, as Hanu-mān undertook to secure the life-giver, in the story of Rāmāyaṇa, uprooting the mount as a whole. Even so, the heretical religions grow up like mushrooms on a rainy day, while the Vedic religions are few, and so their propagation is limited. But now, the Āḻvār is most agreeably surprised to find the land seething with Śrī Vaiṣṇavas, bubbling with God-love. These Godlovers do not have to make any effort, as such, to root out the heresies. The latter will automatically vanish like the blade of grass when the paddy is harvested or the light introduced into a dark room, clearing the darkness as a matter-of-course.

(ii) As the devotees are entitled to even greater reverence than the Lord Himself, the Āḻvār enjoys the different postures of the devotees in their ravishing moments of God-love, even as he mentions the Lord’s postures of sitting, standing and lying, quite often.