Pasuram 9.9.5

Tamil text and transliteration:

யாமுடை நெஞ்சமும் துணைஅன்றுஆலோ! ஆ புகுமாலையும் ஆகின்றுஆலோ,
யாமுடை ஆயன்தன் மனம் கல்ஆலோ! அவனுடைத் தீம்குழல் ஈரும்ஆலோ
யாமுடைத் துணைஎன்னும் தோழிமாரும் எம்மில் முன்அவனுக்கு மாய்வர்ஆலோ
யாமுடை ஆர்உயிர் காக்குமாறுஎன்? அவனுடை அருள் பெறும்போது அரிதே.

yāmuṭai neñcamum tuṇaiaṉṟuālō! ā pukumālaiyum ākiṉṟuālō,
yāmuṭai āyaṉtaṉ maṉam kalālō! avaṉuṭait tīmkuḻal īrumālō
yāmuṭait tuṇaieṉṉum tōḻimārum emmil muṉavaṉukku māyvarālō
yāmuṭai āruyir kākkumāṟueṉ? avaṉuṭai aruḷ peṟumpōtu aritē.

English translation of verse 9.9.5:

Alas! my mind is unto me of no avail,
‘Tis evening and the cows are due back home;
Should Gopāl’s enchanting flute tempt my heart and steal
While His heart turns into a veritable stone?
Pity! ere me, my mates are in distress great
Weighed down by my sorry state;
How can I preserve my life dear
When His grace unto me is so dear?

Notes:

(i) If, as the Nāyakī puts it, her beloved Lord has become stonyhearted, she could as well take due note of it and give up pining for Him. But she couldn’t, having been attracted by the sweet strains from His magic flute, conveying, as it were, His pleadings. As Nampiḷḷai would have it, Kṛṣṇa, the Divine shepherd was trotting out excuses, such as, “I am sorry, I had to go after the cattle and even so. I am late in coming home; pity, 1 have been unavoidably detained and so on”. All these were conveyed by Him through the flute, which naturally put the Nāyakī back into the picture.

(ii) The Nāyakī’s frightful loneliness, making her despair of her survival, is vividly brought out in this song; her mind is of no avail and she lacks the soothing company of her mates who have broken down already, unable to witness her dire distress.