Pasuram 7.5.10

Tamil text and transliteration:

வார்த்தை அறிபவர் மாயவற்கு ஆள்அன்றி ஆவரோ,
போர்த்த பிறப்பொடு நோயொடு மூப்பொடு இறப்புஇவை
பேர்த்து, பெரும்துன்பம் வேர்அற நீக்கி தன் தாளின்கீழ்ச்
சேர்த்து, அவன் செய்யும் சேமத்தைஎண்ணித் தெளிவுற்றே?

vārttai aṟipavar māyavaṟku āḷaṉṟi āvarō,
pōrtta piṟappoṭu nōyoṭu mūppoṭu iṟappuivai
pērttu, perumtuṉpam vēraṟa nīkki taṉ tāḷiṉkīḻc
cērttu, avaṉ ceyyum cēmattaieṇṇit teḷivuṟṟē?

English translation of verse 7.5.10:

Will those that appreciate the wholesome message
Of the Lord’s ‘Song Celestial’ and with clarity of mind ponder
What unto them the Lord has done, the long list of favours,
Ridding them of the blinding cloak of birth, pestilence, old age
And death, cutting out, (root and branch), the great disaster,
(Of getting lost in self-enjoyment) and granting asylum secure
At His very feet, serve aught but the wondrous Sire?

Notes:

(i) The quintessence of the Lord’s message in Bhagavad Gītā is in the ‘Carama Śloka’ (XVIII-66), that which treats of the final or the ultimate ‘Means’, the loving path of surrender unto God, taking Him as the Sole Refuge, the ‘Means’ and the ‘End’ combined. This song is virtually a commentary of that Ślokā, vide also the closing aphorism (289) of ‘Mumukṣuppaṭi’ (Lokācārya’s Manual for the seekers of Mokṣa).

(ii) Birth, in the midst of the worldlings with the attendant risk of becoming oblivious of one’s essential nature caught up in a mesh like the spider’s web, sickness which saps one’s energies, the sudden onslaught of old age, like a thunderbolt and the dark hand of death falling on one’s shoulders unawares, are disastrous enough. The greatest disaster of all would, however, be emancipation from the above calamities and staying in a disembodied state, lost in self-enjoyment (known as Kaivalya mokṣa) without tasting the bliss of divine service. It is indeed the greatest of all the favours showered on us by the Lord to wean us away in toto from courting this eternal disaster of ‘Kaivalya anubhava’ and vouchsafe unto us the blissful service at His lotus feet, in that Eternal Land (Heaven), with absolutely no risk of our slipping back to the old ways, indeed the greatest of all His benefactions before which all the rest shall pale into insignificance.