Pasuram 5.3.4

Tamil text and transliteration:

ஊரவர் கவ்வை எரு இட்டு அன்னை சொல் நீர் படுத்து
ஈர நெல் வித்தி முளைத்த நெஞ்சப் பெருஞ் செய்யுள்
பேர் அமர் காதல் கடல் புரைய விளைவித்த
கார் அமர் மேனி நம் கண்ணன் தோழீ! கடியனே

ūravar kavvai eru iṭṭu aṉṉai col nīr paṭuttu
īra nel vitti muḷaitta neñcap peruñ ceyyuḷ
pēr amar kātal kaṭal puraiya viḷaivitta
kār amar mēṉi nam kaṇṇaṉ tōḻī! kaṭiyaṉē

English translation of verse 5.3.4:

Kaṉṉaṉ, my cloud-hued Lord, has indeed done me so much;
The rebukes of the folks around He made the manure rich,
My mother’s sobering counsel, the channel of irrigation
And sowed He the seed of devotion that raised the crop rich.
Of God-love, in the spacious field of my heart, big as the ocean;
Could such a one, my mate, be dubbed cruel devoid of compassion!

Notes

(i) Mate to the Nāyakī: “I don’t mind your being indifferent to public opinion, if the Lord were at least with you, but now, you are neither here nor there. Why not give up the Lord who seems to treat you as of no consequence?”.

Nāyakī to the Mate: “Is it you speaking like this? How can I at all blame the Lord Who has kindled in me the undying flame of love? Smitten I am, no doubt, by the reproof of these folks, on one side and the poignance of my separation from the Lord on the other. But, don’t you see that my mind dwells not on any but Him, under all circumstances?”

(ii) This song indicates the manner in which God-love of such magnitude was generated in the Nāyakī. The earthlings tried to nip her God-love right in the bud but their admonitions only intensified her love and thus proved a blessing in disguise. The constant attention of her mother and her wholesome counsel tended and nurtured this God-love in the Nāyakī, like unto a steady flow of water irrigating the fields. Having created such a fertile background, the Lord, as an indefatigable cultivator, sowed the seed of devotion in the Nayakī’s heart and there sprouted the rich crop of God-love, sustained further by the vision of His exquisite Form, like unto the rain-cloud. The precise manner in which the Lord reclaims the sense-buried Soul and eventually takes it on to His exalted abode has been admirably set out in aphorism 104 of Ācārya Hṛdayam.