Pasuram 5.5.1

Tamil text and transliteration:

எங்ஙனேயோ அன்னைமீர்காள்! என்னை முனிவது நீர்?
நங்கள் கோலத் திருக்குறுங்குடி நம்பியை நான் கண்டபின்
சங்கினோடும் நேமியோடும் தாமரைக் கண்களோடும்
செங்கனி வாய் ஒன்றினோடும் செல்கின்றது என்நெஞ்சமே. (2)

eṅṅaṉēyō aṉṉaimīrkāḷ! eṉṉai muṉivatu nīr?
naṅkaḷ kōlat tirukkuṟuṅkuṭi nampiyai nāṉ kaṇṭapiṉ
caṅkiṉōṭum nēmiyōṭum tāmaraik kaṇkaḷōṭum
ceṅkaṉi vāy oṉṟiṉōṭum celkiṉṟatu eṉneñcamē. (2)

English translation of verse 5.5.1:

Lift I can’t my mind from Nampi, the Lord exquisite,
I beheld at Tirukkuṟuṅkuṭi, the conch and discus
In His hands, His lotus eyes and red lips, peerless;
With me how can you, elders, find fault?

Notes

(i) This pilgrim centre, deep south in Tamil Nadu, is also known as Vaiṣṇava Vāmana Kṣetra. The end-stanza of this decad also says that those who learn this decad will become Vaiṣṇavas. Further, it was at this particular shrine that Kāriyār, the father of Māṟaṉ (who later became Saint Nammāḻvār), prayed tor an issue and the Lord signified to him through the temple priest that He would Himself incarnate as his son and blessed the couple with temple honours. At the Lord’s command, His high Chamberlain, Śeneśa, otherwise known as Viṣvakeśena, incarnated as Nammāḻvār, the Saviour of mankind. And so, this pilgrim centre is intimately linked up with the advent of Nammāḻvār.;

(ii) The query, as in the last line of this verse, serves to bring out the fact that the Nāyakī has only followed in the footsteps of the elders who had initiated her in the worship of the Lord and, far from being blamed, she is really praise worthy. Be they one’s sons or disciples, when they stand launched into the domain of God-love, they become worthy of worship. In this context, Īṭu cites the following apt anecdote. When Kūrattāḻvāṉ lost his mother, Naṅkayār, the father wavered for a while whether he should marry again and lead the life of a householder as ordained by the Śāstras. Seeing, however, the way step-mothers generally behave, the bereaved father’s sympathy was on the side of the son, the more so, when the latter was advancing spiritually. The father, therefore, decided to lean more on the son than on the Śāstras and thus be more serviceable to the son than be a slavish stickler to the ordinary rules for one’s own gratification, rather than edification.