Pasuram 9.3.4

Tamil text and transliteration:

மருந்தேநங்கள் போக மகிழ்ச்சிக்குஎன்று
பெரும்தேவர் குழாங்கள் பிதற்றும்பிரான்
கரும்தேவன்எம்மான் கண்ணன்விண்உலகம்
தரும்தேவனைச் சோரேல்கண்டாய்மனமே!

maruntēnaṅkaḷ pōka makiḻccikkueṉṟu
perumtēvar kuḻāṅkaḷ pitaṟṟumpirāṉ
karumtēvaṉemmāṉ kaṇṇaṉviṇulakam
tarumtēvaṉaic cōrēlkaṇṭāymaṉamē!

English translation of verse 9.3.4:

Lose not, my mind, your hold on Kaṇṇaṉ, our dark-hued Sire,
The Lord, Who the heavenly bliss does grant,
Whose glory, as their elixir, the great stabiliser
Of their bliss in heaven, the Celestials do for ever chant.

Notes:

(i) The Āḻvār exhorts his mind, as follows:

“The Lord of nectarean sweetness, unto the Celestials in Heaven, came down here as kṛṣṇa, to put us also in Heaven, in the midst of the ‘Nitya Sūrīs’ over there. Having got at such a great Benefactor, cling fast to Him and never loosen Your grip on Him”.

(ii) Even the Lord’s charming beauty is an impediment for service, as it steals away the hearts of the devotees, thereby tending to slacken the service. Even as the prayer for service, contained in ‘Dvaya’, the ‘Mantra Ratna’ (Gem of a Mantra), is eternal, prayer for the eradication of the obstacle to Divine service should also be eternal, for the reason that this obstacle confronts even the inhabitants of Heaven, namely, the ‘Released’ souls and the Ever-free (Nitya Sūrīs). This has been brought out, in this song, through a statement ascribed to the ‘Nitya Sūrīs’ that even they, in Heaven, get thrown off their feet by the ecstasy of the Lord’s personal charms and the marvellous communications from that inexhaustible fountain of bliss. They get cured of such temporary aberrations by the Lord Himself, Who serves as the stabilising antidote (Elixir) and puts them back on the right track, namely, self-less service unto the Lord, bereft of the last shred of selfish enjoyment and happiness of their own.