Pasuram 9.4.2

Tamil text and transliteration:

கண்ணேஉன்னைக் காணக்கருதி என்நெஞ்சம்
எண்ணேகொண்ட சிந்தையதாய் நின்றுஇயம்பும்
விண்ணோர் முனிவர்க்கு என்றும் காண்புஅரியாயை
நண்ணாது ஒழியேன் என்று நான் அழைப்பனே

kaṇṇēuṉṉaik kāṇakkaruti eṉneñcam
eṇṇēkoṇṭa cintaiyatāy niṉṟuiyampum
viṇṇōr muṉivarkku eṉṟum kāṇpuariyāyai
naṇṇātu oḻiyēṉ eṉṟu nāṉ aḻaippaṉē

English translation of verse 9.4.2:

Many a thought thinks my revolving mind,
Eager to behold You, virtually my pair of eyes;
I beckon You, even celestials and sages can’t visualise,
For, to attain You, I am fully deteimined.

Notes:

(i) Having pointed out the longing of his eyes in the preceding song the Āḻvār now recounts the manner in which he and his mind yearn to get at the Lord. The Lord has been described as the Āḻvār’s pair of eyes. This follows the Vedic text, “Cakṣucca dhraṣṭavyañca Nārāyaṇaḥ”, declaring the Lord as the eyes; even as the eyes help us to see all things around, the Lord helps us to behold Him without whose loving grace, none can have so much as a glimpse of Him. When the Āḻvār says that his mind longs to look at the Lord, it only means that his eyes, confederate with his mind, long to see Him. The eyes, by themselves, cannot see a thing, even though they may be wide open, when the mind is pre-occupied with something else; hence, the necessity of the mind’s active conjunction with the eyes. In the case of the worldlings (Samsārīs), the mind and the eyes will be steeped in sensual pleasures. But here is the Āḻvār whose mind and eyes stand rivetted to the Lord, in the manner Lord Kṛṣṇa set out in His Song Celestial, “Yasyāṃ jāgrati bhūtāni Sā niśā paśyato muneḥ” (Gītā II.69).

(ii) The many thoughts pondered over by the Āḻvār’s mind are but the different ways or facets of God-enjoyment, as set out by Saint Rāmānuja in ‘Śrī Vaikuṇṭha Gadya”, in the string of Ślokas from ‘Kadhā ahaṃ’, up to ‘āsām vartayitvā’. The Alvar’s mind cries out and thus discharges the function of the tongue as well.

(iii) True it is, that the Lord is not easily attainable even by Brahmā and other Celestials and sages of the eminence of Sanaka, Sanandana etc. And yet, the Āḻvār is intent upon gaining access to the Lord, who could certainly break all precedents and get within the Āḻvār’s reach, even as He had dowered on him, out of His spontaneous grace, perfect knowledge, shorn of doubt, despair, discrepancies and deviations.