Pasuram 10.10.9

Tamil text and transliteration:

முதல்தனி வித்தேயோ! முழுமூவுலகுஆதிக்கு எல்லாம்
முதல்தனி உன்னைஉன்னை எனைநாள் வந்து கூடுவன்நான்?
முதல்தனி அங்கும்இங்கும் முழுமுற்றுறுவாழ் பாழாய்
முதல்தனி சூழ்ந்து அகன்றுஆழ்ந்துயர்ந்த முடிவிலீஓ!

mutaltaṉi vittēyō! muḻumūvulakuātikku ellām
mutaltaṉi uṉṉaiuṉṉai eṉaināḷ vantu kūṭuvaṉnāṉ?
mutaltaṉi aṅkumiṅkum muḻumuṟṟuṟuvāḻ pāḻāy
mutaltaṉi cūḻntu akaṉṟuāḻntuyarnta muṭivilīō!

English translation of verse 10.10.9:

Oh, Lord, You are the triple cause that did usher
The worlds three and all things therein; You pervade all over,
Things and beings, one and all, You control the primordial matter,
As the Primate unique; the sentient beings eternal that enter
The material habitat and direct, with their pervasive power of intelligence,
You ordain; the Causeless Cause unique! to behold the effulgence
Of Your Form unique in Heaven, when do I Your feet attain?

Notes:

(i) Transforming Himself, as He does, into the worlds of forms and names, the Lord is the Material Cause of the Universe, just like clay for pot, cotton for cloth and so on. The Lord is also the instrumental cause like potter for the pots, weaver for the cloth etc. When the period of the great ‘Pralaya’ (deluge) draws to its close, the Lord, at His sweet volition and ‘Saṅkalpa’, the wishful thinking, “May I become manifold!”, separates into its constituent elements, the whole mass of the enjoying souls and their objects of enjoyment, remembering distinctly the constitution of the worlds prior to ‘praḷaya’. The Lord is, therefore, the operative cause as well, His jñāna (knowledge), Śakti (power) etc., being analogous to the potter’s wheel and staff, the weaver’s woof, bobbins, treadle etc. By His transformation into the world of men and matter is meant His immanence, as the Internal Controller of all, revealing the underlying unity of Brahman, qualified by the sentient beings and non-sentient things. He is thus the ‘Viśeṣya’, the substance present in all things, qualified by the ‘Viśeṣaṇa’ or attributes, namely, the sentient beings and non-sentient things. Whatever exists remains what it is, only because of His conjunction and so, ‘Cit’ (what perceives—the sentient being) and ‘Acit’ (what does not perceive—the non-sentient matter) constitute, as it were, the body of Brahman, who is the Super-Soul, pervading all over, things and beings, one and all.

(ii) While one can conceive, with respect to the external world of men and matter, the universal aspect of God-head, the Lord’s Viśvarūpa or Universal Form, the phenomenon behind the phenomenal world (the one behind the many, the hidden power behind the visible world of objects), the Āḻvārs, on their part, cannot remain content with a mere notional realisation of the Lord, as the all-pervading Force. They all pine for the Lord’s special Form, extra-ordinary indeed, His effulgent Form in the high Heaven, like a mount of emerald with sinewy arms, shoulders four, silken robes, the dazzling crown proclaiming His overlordship, lotus eyes, coral lips and so on, in the sweet company of His Divine Consort (Mahālakṣmī), surrounded by millions of ‘Muktas’ (Releasted Souls) and ‘Nityas’ (Ever free), in constant attendance on the Divine Couple, c.f. IV-9-10.