Pasuram 8.3.1

Tamil text and transliteration:

அங்கும் இங்கும் வானவர் தானவர் யாவரும்
எங்கும் இனையைஎன்று உன்னைஅறியகிலாதுஅலற்றி
அங்கம்சேரும் பூமகள் மண்மகள் ஆய்மகள்
சங்குசக்கரக் கையவன் என்பர் சரணமே. (2)

aṅkum iṅkum vāṉavar tāṉavar yāvarum
eṅkum iṉaiyaieṉṟu uṉṉaiaṟiyakilātualaṟṟi
aṅkamcērum pūmakaḷ maṇmakaḷ āymakaḷ
caṅkucakkarak kaiyavaṉ eṉpar caraṇamē. (2)

English translation of verse 8.3.1:

The Vāṉavar, Tāṉavar and all else, here, there and everywhere,
Can hardly comprehend You but reckon You, in their own way.
Merely as their Saviour, in times of need,
The one, who the conch and discus wields
And does on His person the triple Consorts Divine hold.

Notes:

The highest love to God is love rendered for God’s sake, love culminating in benediction or glorification of God. Love, so disinterestedly rendered, is love of purity and virginity and, under its influence, what is uppermost in the mind of the devotee is the Lord’s remarkable tenderness (Saukumārya) and bewitching beauty and he grows apprehensive of the Lord’s safety and seeks His well-being. This is what the Ālvār would expect of every votary of the Lord but, on a close scrutiny, he was shocked to find the votaries in all ranks, the Devas known to be friendly to God, the Asuras, inimical to the Devas and the humans falling under numerous categories, one and all of them, praying to the Lord only for making good all their deficiencies and bestowing on them the felicity they lack. None of them is found to bear any love to God for God’s sake, in the manner indicated at the outset. The glorious setting in which the Divine consorts are borne on the Lord’s winsome chest and the manner in which the white conch and the radiant discus are gracefully held in His hands should make the true God-lover enjoy them all and become, in turn, apprehensive of the Lord’s safety, ever alert to the possible danger to the Lord’s person, with a view to averting it. But these self-seekers look upon this very setting as conducive to their own well-being, to bestow choice gifts on them through the mediation of the Goddesses and protect them, with the discus and other weapons, whenever they are in trouble: The Āḻvār just abhors all such selfish persons seeking transient riches and expresses his abhorrence in this song, couched as an address to the Lord Himself.