Pasuram 7.10.5

Tamil text and transliteration:

மலர் அடிப்போதுகள் என் நெஞ்சத்து எப்பொழுதும் இருத்தி வணங்க,
பலர் அடியார் முன்பு அருளிய பாம்பு அணை அப்பன் அமர்ந்து உறையும்,
மலரின் மணி நெடு மாடங்கள் நீடு மதிள் திருவாறன்விளை,
உலகம் மலி புகழ் பாட நம்மேல் வினை ஒன்றும் நில்லாகெடுமே.

malar aṭippōtukaḷ eṉ neñcattu eppoḻutum irutti vaṇaṅka,
palar aṭiyār muṉpu aruḷiya pāmpu aṇai appaṉ amarntu uṟaiyum,
malariṉ maṇi neṭu māṭaṅkaḷ nīṭu matiḷ tiruvāṟaṉviḷai,
ulakam mali pukaḻ pāṭa nammēl viṉai oṉṟum nillākeṭumē.

English translation of verse 7.10.5:

The moment we sing the glory great, spread far and wide.
Of the high-walled Tiruvāṟaṉviḷai where flowers abound,
The castles tall beam and the Lord reposes on serpent-bed,
Whose lotus feet lovely are for ever implanted in my mind,
Who chose me over many others and His grace on me shed
And made me wholly adore Him, all our sins will vanish indeed.

Notes:

The Āḻvār says, the Lord has shed His special grace on him, even as Śrī Rāma lavished special graces on Hanumān. See also notes under VII-9-6 in regard to the preferential treatment extended by the Lord to Nammāḻvār. Here is a fitting anecdote to illustrate how implicit faith in one’s masters works miracles.

A Cōla king, named Kṛmikaṇṭha [Krimikaṇṭha] (the worm-necked) launched a crusade on Vaiṣṇavism, determined to break the images of Viṣṇu in the temples all over. On his, however, being warned by his advisers of the disaster that would befall him, if specially consecrated idols like those of Lord Raṅganātha were demolished, the King hit upon a safeguard, namely, the appointment of a competent sorcerer, who would, by special incantations, render the images efféte, destroying their spiritual power. The sorcerer would make himself invisible by applying to his eyes a magical collyrium and then enter the Sanctoria of the Viṣṇu temples, extract the power from the idols enshrined there and then throw them into the sea. Greatly depressed by this turn of events and apprehending the calamitous repercussions of such an unholy project, Saint Rāmānuja had serious consultations with his Guru, Periya Nampi.

Periya Nampi decided that he shall pace round the periphery of the holy temple of Śrīraṅgam, thereby providing a cordon of protection and asked whether Śrī Rāmānuja could send a disciple to go with the great Master, literally as his shadow, with no thought of the self, as a separate entity. Śrī Rāmānuja very well knew that he had one such disciple, fully conforming to the specification of the master, in Kūrattāḻvāṉ and yet, he warted the choice to be made by the master himself. Śrī Rāmānuja, therefore, told his master, “Sire, I wonder whether there is any one answering to your description, a camp follower, who hardly feels that he is following another”. Periya Nampi was, however, quick to point out, “Well, Kūrattāḻvāṉ is surely one such. Let him be detailed for this service”.

Even as Kūrattāḻvaṉ was spotted out by the master, out of so many, the Lord pitched upon Nammāḻvār for shedding on him the divine grace!