Pasuram 10.10.11

Tamil text and transliteration:

அவாஅறச் சூழ் அரியை அயனை அரனை அலற்றி
அவாஅற்று வீடுபெற்ற குருகூர்ச் சடகோபன் சொன்ன
அவாஇல் அந்தாதிகளால் இவைஆயிரமும் முடிந்த-
அவாஇல் அந்தாதி இப்பத்து அறிந்தார் பிறந்தார் உயர்ந்தே. (2)

avāaṟac cūḻ ariyai ayaṉai araṉai alaṟṟi
avāaṟṟu vīṭupeṟṟa kurukūrc caṭakōpaṉ coṉṉa
avāil antātikaḷāl ivaiāyiramum muṭinta-
avāil antāti ippattu aṟintār piṟantār uyarntē. (2)

English translation of verse 10.10.11:

Exalted among those born are they, well-versed in these songs ten,
Out of the thousand skilfully composed by Kurukūr Caṭakōpaṉ.
Which mark the finale, the great consummation
Of this God-love, too deep for words, his blissful union
With Ari, the Redeemer great, the Internal Controller
Of Ayaṉ and Araṉ, called out by him with remarkable ardour.

Notes:

(i) And now, we have come to the very end of this prolific hymnal, with its scintillating profusion of God-love (Bhakti) in the ascending scale of ‘Para Bhakti ‘Para jñāna and ‘Parama Bhakti’. Well, ‘Para Bhakti’ is confined to the four corners of mental experience and exhilaration, whetted by the alternation of delirious enjoyment of blissful rapport with the Lord (Saṃśleṣa) and bottom-most depths of dejection, desolation and despondency, due to the temporary withdrawal of the glorious vision of the Lord from the mind’s canvas (Viśleṣa). The Āḻvār was in this first stage only, right up to the end of the eighth decad of this centum. The next stage of ‘Para jñāna’ is denoted by the devotee’s love unto God, overflowing its erstwhile continent of mere mental comprehension, with an irresistible urge for external perception of the divine, in the manner longed for by the devotee; this stage was attained by the Āḻvār only in the preceding decad (10-9). And here, in this decad, we see the Āḻvār in the final stage, known as ‘Parama Bhakti’, the culmination, rather, consummation of his ‘Para Bhakti when he just cannot exist without the attainment of the glorious end in view, as set out by him in the ninth song of this decad (see the 2nd sub para of the notes thereunder). The Tamil phraseology, “Muṭinta avā”, in the original text of this song, is the exact equivalent of ‘Parama Bhakti’. As usual, this end-song also sets out the benefit accruing to the chanters of this decad, namely, they will be deemed by the devout, plunged in divine consciousness, as on a par with the denizens in Heaven, the ‘Nityas’ and ‘Muktas’, though born in this land of dark nescience. Only the materially-minded worldlings, earth-bound and sense-buried will look upon these chanters as mere fellow-travellers.

(ii) In I-4-6, where the Āḻvār (Paraṅkuśa Nāyakī) sent some birds as her emissaries to the Lord in a fit of desperation, she referred to the Lord as ‘aruḷāta nīr’ (You, Who wouldn’t shed your grace). Well, that was long, long ago, in the early stages of evolution of the Āḻvār’s God-love. And now, the same Lord is referred to, by the same Āḻvār as ‘Avāvaṟaccūḻ Aṟi’ (Hari, the great Deliverer whose all-conquering love has encompassed his own love for Him, of ultra-cosmic magnitude and made it dwindle down to naught and thus pale into insignificance). The Āḻvār called out the Lord lustily, addressing Him not only as ‘Hari’ but also as ‘Hai an’ and ‘Ayan the last two denoting, prima facie, Śiva and Brahmā, respectively, but actually, referring to the Supreme Lord, Mahā Viṣṇu, the In-Dweller, the internal Controller of Śiva, Brahmā and all else in the entire Universe, including the high Heaven. As a matter of fact, the Āḻvār has thus provided the clue to the proper appreciation of the Upaniṣadic texts, such as, “Sarvaṃ Kalvidhaṃ Brahmā”, “Ayidhatātmayaṃ idhaṃ sarvaṃ” etc., against the background of “Śarīra Śarīri bhāva”, body-soul relationship, dealt with, in extenso, in the foregoing notes, at the appropriate places).

(iii) Crying out unto the Lord lustily, soaked in God-love, the Āḻvār got all his erstwhile impediments, ills and evils, the outcome of the accumulated mass of his age-long sins, eradicated, root and branch, by the devastating love shed on him by the Supreme Lord and attained Him in that Eternal Land of endless bliss, the Lord Himself being the inexhaustible fountain source of all that bliss. The thousand and odd songs, comprised in this grand hymnal, flowed like a fountain from the love-laden heart of the Saint, the rapturous outpourings, par excellence, by-no-means comparable to the poetry of the mundane poets whose chief aim is to amass wealth and power, acquire name and fame, prostituting their poetic talents, in the ignominious process. As a matter of fact, there have been umpteen poets after the Āḻvār and their poems, one and all, are no more than the bellowing of the roaring sea, as compared to this hymnal (Tiruvāymoḻi) of the Āḻvār, whose songs were dictated by his God-love galore. Figuratively speaking, his God-love was the great teacher who made the Āḻvār reel out these thousand and odd songs, one after the other in succession, neatly juxtaposed.

In his inimitable diction, Aḻakiya Maṇavāḷa Perumāḷ Nāyaṉār describes, in aphorism 188 of ‘Ācārya Hṛdayam’, how Tiruvāymoḻi, this grand hymnal came into being. The knowledge, full and complete, clear and concise, imparted to the Āḻvār by the Lord Himself (See I-1-1), blossomed by His sweet grace into ‘Para Bhakti’ (intellectual love of God) which, in turn, developed into ‘Para Jñāna’ and ‘Parama Bhakti’ in the ascending order, as set out in the foregoing notes. So then, the Āḻvār can be likened to a lake, full of water, which successively turned into milk (Para Bhakti), ghee (Para Jñāna) and nectar (Parama Bhakti) and ultimately burst and inundated the outlying area, all around, the bund being unable to contain the upsurge and bombardment of its precious contents. And yet, there is this difference between the lake proper and the Āḻvār, figuratively referred to as the lake. Whereas the lake that breached would cause havoc to the adjoining roads, trees, villages and townships falling within the scope of the mischief of the gushing waters, the Āḻvār-lake, about to burst, was compassionate enough to prevent a similar devastation of the area around. These thousand and odd songs flowed through the lips of the Āḻvār, forming, as it were, the lake-bund. Into these songs, facile words and sweet phrases, competing with each other for participation in the glorious service unto mankind, at large, as intended by the Lord, slipped, as it were, into their proper places, according to the Āḻvār’s own admission. Thus, it was the ncctarean love for God, welling up the Āḻvār’s bosom, that overflowed its continent into these rapturous songs, numbering more than one thousand, the great treasure of divine love. It was not as if the Āḻvār sat in a quiet corner and composed these songs, with a set determination to do so. But it Was the upsurge of his devotion unto God, which forced him, as it Were, to deliver these songs (Avāvilantāti).