Pasuram 9.1.9

Tamil text and transliteration:

யாதும்இல்லை மிக்குஅதனில் என்றுஎன்று அதுகருதி
காதுசெய்வான் கூதைசெய்து கடைமுறை வாழ்க்கையும்போம்
மாதுகிலின் கொடிக்கொள்மாட வடமதுரைப்பிறந்த
தாதுசேர்தோள் கண்ணன் அல்லால் இல்லை கண்டீர் சரணே.

yātumillai mikkuataṉil eṉṟueṉṟu atukaruti
kātuceyvāṉ kūtaiceytu kaṭaimuṟai vāḻkkaiyumpōm
mātukiliṉ koṭikkoḷmāṭa vaṭamaturaippiṟanta
tātucērtōḷ kaṇṇaṉ allāl illai kaṇṭīr caraṇē.

English translation of verse 9.1.9:

Things mundane, one might deem quite often,
As the goal supreme, but alas! it would dwindle down,
Like unto earlobes, disfigured with holes wide open,
By those seeking to decorate them; haven there’s none
But Kaṇṇaṉ, whose shoulders are bedecked with garlands fine,
Who, in North Maturai, with banners atop the castles, was born.

Notes:

(i) The Saint warns those seeking protection in any one other than the Supreme Lord, that they are in for deterioration, instead of going up the scale and that they would, in the bargain, get dislodged even from the old order of things. These men will, therefore, do well to seek refuge in the Supreme Lord, the unfailing Protector. This position is brought home vividly by citing the example of those, with charming ear-lobes, disfiguring them in the name of decorating themselves with gold ear-rings by piercing therein elongated holes. In his unique diction, Nampiḷḷai, the great glossator, puts it that even the so-called enjoyment of family life, bristling with progeny and the resultant din and tussle, will decline, when people seek the protection of any other than the Supreme Lord who, as Lord Kṛṣṇa, was born in North Mathura; they will thus be in an unenviable position, neither here nor there.

(ii) Yet another interpretation of this song, given in the commentary of Tirukkurukaippirāṉ Piḷḷāṉ, is as follows: Those that endeavour to attain ‘Kaivalya mokṣa ‘(i.e.) enjoyment of the Self, in its disembodied state, freed from the cycle of birth and death, treating it as the Supreme goal, instead of God-enjoyment, stand to lose even the ḷittḻe enjoyment they had in family life. The analogy of disfiguring the ear-lobes, in the name of decorating them, holds good here also.