Pasuram 9.1.8

Tamil text and transliteration:

வாழ்தல்கண்டீர் குணம்இது அந்தோ! மாயவன் அடிபரவிப்
போழ்துபோக உள்ளகிற்கும் புன்மைஇலாதவர்க்கு
வாழ்துணையா வடமதுரைப்பிறந்தவன் வண்புகழே
வீழ்துணையாப் போம்இதனில் யாதும்இல்லைமிக்கதே.

vāḻtalkaṇṭīr kuṇamitu antō! māyavaṉ aṭiparavip
pōḻtupōka uḷḷakiṟkum puṉmaiilātavarkku
vāḻtuṇaiyā vaṭamaturaippiṟantavaṉ vaṇpukaḻē
vīḻtuṇaiyāp pōmitaṉil yātumillaimikkatē.

English translation of verse 9.1.8:

Alas! how ignorant of the art of living are men indeed!
No greater felicity there is unto the blemishless ones that think
Of living, in the real sense, than lovingly meditate and sing
The glory great of the One, born in North Maturai, the wondrous Lord.

Notes:

(i) This is one of the several stanzas of the ‘Divya Prabandhas’ that lend support to Saint Rāmānuja’s elucidation, in the ‘Antarādhikaraṇa’ of his Śrī Bhāṣya, of the main purpose of the Lord’s incarnations. Although the triple functions of succouring the Saintly, vanquishing the wicked and re-establishment of the moral order of things could have as well been achieved by the mere ‘Saṅkalpa’ (resolve) of the Omnipotent Lord, the first part, namely, protection of the pious ones couldn’t have been put through effectively, except by the Lord’s actual descent into their midst. The great qualities of head and heart, freely displayed by the Lord during His Avatārs, sustain the Godly men down the ages, immersed in the sweet contemplation thereof, long after the Avatār was concluded and the Lord returned to the Celestium. This, in essence, is what ‘Sādhu paritrāṇam’ (protection of the pious ones) does connote. The age-long sins of appalling magnitude can get liquidated only through the contemplation of the Lord’s auspicious traits and wondrous deeds.

(ii) The great Nampiḷḷai puts it that the Āḻvār deplores the callous indifference of the worldly men whom he has to invite, rather beg, to drink deep of the great delicacy that the Lord is, like unto hiring out people to come and taste the sweet sugarcane.

(iii) “The blemishless ones”, mentioned in this song, are those who abide in the Lord, all the time, reading and writing about Him, listening to the pious ones and talking to them, resulting in mutual enlightenment and entertainment. This is in contradistinction to those who employ the reading, writing and talking about the Lord’s great glory, as a means for eking out their material existence in luxurious style, literally pawning away God for the enjoyment of worldly pleasures and earning their livelihood, as Parāśara Bhaṭṭārya would say.