pArAyadhu

pArAyadu uNDu umizhnda pavaLattooNai
paDu kaDalil amudattai pari vAi keeNDa
SeerAnai emmAnai toNDar tangaL
SindaiyuLLE muLaittezhunda teengarumbinai |
pOrAnai komboSitta pOrETTrinai
puNar marudam ira naDanda porkunrinai
kArAnai iDar kaDinda karpahattai
kaNDadu nAn kaDanmallaittalaSayanattE ||

emberumAn is—pavaLattooN, SeerAn, teengarumbu, pOrEru, porkunru, karpaham----. This is how AzhwAr enjoys Him. He has swallowed the worlds and brought them out again; has killed kESi, the horse—asura; is in the minds of dAsas; has killed kuvaLayApeeDa by pulling out its tusk; has saved gajEndra by killing the crocodile; has felled the twin marudas. Him I saw in kaDal mallai tala Sayana as archAvatAra.

There is a legend about this place. A Bakta called puNDareeka had a nandavana. He used to gather fresh flowers, prepare beautiful garlands and offer them to the god across the ocean. Once due to some reason He could not cross the sea. The Bakta wanted to some how cross the sea. He started scooping the water with his hands to empty the sea. BagavAn was very pleased at his Bakti and Himself came He decided to stay there.

pooNDa avattam pirarku aDaindu toNDu paTTu
poinnoolai meinnool enru enrum Odi
mANDu avattam pOhAdE vammin
endai en vaNangappaDuvAnai kaNangL Ettum |
neeNDavattai karumuhilai emmAn tannai
ninra oor nittilattai toottAr SOlai
kANDavattai kanaleri vAi peivittAnai
kaNDadu nAn kaDanmallaittalaSayanattE ||

AzhwAr is very much concerned about the samsAris who do not come to kaDal mallai to worship Him. He is very much worried that they not only come but employ themselves in mean acts—doing services to mean fellows to gain some fruits; reading SAstras whcich destroys their Atmaswaroopa. He calls them ‘come here!’ do not waste Your time!’. But they don’t seem to listen busy as they are with their worldly matters. So he says ‘well! Let me not waste my time shouting at these deaf fellows. Let me worship Him—who is my father, my swAmi, the infinite, is like dark cloud, who is in tiruninravoor, and who fed the agni dEva with kANDava vana.

AzhwAr, after worshipping tiruevvuL perumAn, went to tiruninravoor to do mangaLASAsana. But here BagavAn was busy talking to pirATTi. So AzhwAr left the place and went to tiruvallikkENi and then to tiruneermalai. When he come to tirukkaDal mallai the tiruninravoor perumAn came in front of him when pirATTi asked Him to do so. Hence AzhwAr says ‘tiruninravoor tottilattai nAn kaNDadu kaDal mallai talai SayanattE’.

uDamburuvil moonronrAi moorti vErAi
ulahuyya ninrAnai anru pEichchi
viDam paruhu vittahanai kanru mEittu
viLaiyADa vallAnai varai mee kAnil |
taDam paruha karu muhilai tanjai kOyil
tava nerikkOr peruneriyai vaiyam kAkkum
kaDum parimEl karkiyai nAn kaNDu kONDEn
kaDi pozhil Soozh kaDanmallaittalaSayanattE ||

It is said in the SAstras that BagavAn is the antaryAmi to brahma and others. They are His Sareera and He is the Sareeri (one who has Sareera). Then why should brahma and others are created?—in order to execute the job of creation, maintenance, and destruction—by brahma, viShNu and rudra respectively.

He is a vittahan (of astonishing feats) who drank milk and life from the pootana; who grazed cattle and played with His friends (pals; who drank water from the lakes on the mountains; who is like rain cloud and who resides in tanjai mA maNi kOyil; who is Himself the path and the goal (upAya and upEya); who is giving to take kalki avatAra when kali age progresses far.

varaimeekAnil taDam paruha— nanjeeyar was explaining this pASura to his siShyAs saying kaNNan would drink water from the lakes when He feels thirsty. azhahiya perumAL nAyanAr explained it in this way—the cattle specially the young calves were afraid to drink water from the lakes. kaNNan would show them how to do so by folding His hands backwards, bending in to the lake and drinking the water as animals do. Then the calves would do so. nAyanAr acted it to the students too.

tavanerikkOr peru neriyai—There are various means to attain mOkSha (goal) like Bakti yOga, jnAna yoga, and karma yOga etc. But in prapatti yOga He is the means (upAya) as well as the goal (upEya). Like to climb an elephant, the animals legs are used as step, so too He is both.

kaDum parimEl karkiyai—It is said that He is going to be born as kalki in kali yuga riding a horse destroying the wicked and protecting the good.

pEittAyai mulai uNDa piLLai tannai
piNai maruppil karungaLiTTrai piNai mAn nOkkil
AittAyar tayir veNNai amarnda kOvai
andaNar tam amudattai kuravai munnE |
kOttAnai kuDamADu koottan tannai
kOkulangaL taLarAmal kunram Endi
kAttAnai emmAnai kaNDu koNDEn
kaDi pozhil Soozh kaDanmallaittalaSayanattE ||

To the pEichchi pootana He is yama; to the Aichchi yaSOda He is a young elephant always eating curd and butter; to the Baktas He is sweet nectar; to the gOpis He is a lover playing rAsa kreeDa and kuDakoottu, to the cattle He is rakShaka when indra poured rain; to me (tirumangai AzhwAr) He is swAmi residing in kaDal mallai talai Sayana.

pAindAnai tiri SakaTam pAriveezha
bAlakanAi Alilaiyil paLLi inbam
EindAnai ilangoLiSEr maNikunranna
eeriraNDu mAl varaittOL ammAn tannai |
tOindAnai nilamahaL tOL toodir chenru
appoyyarai vAi puhappeida mallar manga
kAindAnai emmAnai kaNDu koNDEn
kaDi pozhil Soozh kaDanmallaittalaSayanattE ||

emberumAn—who kicked the SakaTAsura with His tender feet; who lies on a tender banyan leaf as a child after praLaya; who is Himself like a sapphire mountain having four mountains—like asuras which embrace Boomi pirATTi; who killed the mallas hidden in the underground cell employed to kill kriShNa by kamsa; who is our swAmi—lying in kaDal mallai talai Sayanam i worshipped—says AzhwAr

kiDandAnai taDangaDaluL paNangaL mEvi
kiLar poriya mari tiriya adanin pinnE
paDarndAnai paDu madatta kaLiTTrin kombu
parittAnai pAriDattai eyiru keera |
yiDandAnai vaLai maruppin EnamAhi
irunilanum peruviSumbum eidAvaNNam
kaDandAnai emmAnai kaNDu koNDEn
kaDi pozhil Soozh kaDanmallaittalaSayanattE ||

Sreeman nArAyaNa lies in tiurppArkaDal on the bed of tiruanandAzhwAn; Sree rAma ran behind the golden deer (mAreecha) for the sake of pirATTi; Sree kriShNa plucked out the tusk of the wild elephant kuvaLayapeeDa in rut; Sree vAmana measured the three worlds with His tiruvaDi and found them very small indeed; Sree varAha lifted the earth from the aNDa Bitti when the asura placed here there. BagavAn is all these avatAras and is present in archa roopa in kaDal mallai talai Sayanam for us to see and worship Him.

pENAda vali arakkar meliya anru
peruvaraittOL ira nerittu anravuNarkOnai
pooNAham piLaveDutta pOr vallOnai
poru kaDaluL tuyil amarnda puLLoordiyai
ooNAha pEimulai nanjuNDAn tannai
uLLuvAr uLLattE uraihinrAnai
kANAdu tiritaruvEn kaNDu koNDEn
kaDi pozhil Soozh kaDanmallaittalaSayanattE ||

BagavAn kills the rAkShasas because they refuse to worship Him and also because they, out of ahankAra, tortures the Baktas. Thus died hiraNya since He was the enemy of prahlAda; He killed the crocodile coming on the garuDa since the animal tortured gajEndra, His Bakta; killed pootana who come disguised as mother to kill Him; He is very lovable and kind to His Baktas. In fact He leaves paramapada and tiruppArkaDal in order to live in the hearts of His dAsas. AzhwAr says he too was like the asuras, did not see Him anywhere, but due to His grace got jnAna and now sees Him everywhere.

peNNAhiyinnamudam vanjattAnai
pirai eyiTTru anru aDal ariyAi peruhinAnai
taNNArnda vAr punal Soozh meiyyam ennum
taDavarai mEl kiDandAnai paNangaL mEvi |
eNNAnai eNNiranda puhazhinAnai
ilangoLiSEr aravindam pOnru neeNDa
kaNNAnai kaNNAra kaNDu koNDEn
kaDi pozhil Soozh kaDanmallaittalaSayanattE ||

AzhwAr said in the last pASura ‘kANAdu tiritaruvEn’ now He has seen Him in kaDal mallai tala Sayanam till his eyes got satisfied.

He is the one who took a beautiful mOhini avatAra to cheat the asuras of nectar. He took the most fearful narasimha avatAra to kill hiraNya to save prahlAda. He lies on tiruanandAzhwAn in tirumeyyam. He is meditated by great men though He has infinite fame.

eNNAnai-is interpreted in three ways:--

thinks—He always thinks of ways of protecting dAsas
thought about—by Baktas as— ‘aha! What soulaBya!’. Thus—should come here and suffer humiliation
never thinks—He does not remember the faults of Baktas but remembers the smallest good done by them.

toNDAyAr tAm paravum aDiyinAnai
paDi kaDanda tALALarku ALAi uidal
viNDAnai tennilangai arakkar vEndai
vilanguNNa valangai vAi charangaLANDu |
paNDAya vEdangaL nAngum aindu
vELvihaLum kELviyODu angamArum
kaNDAnai toNDanEn kaNDukoNDEn
kaDi pozhil Soozh kaDanmallaittalaSayanattE ||

BagavAn is the rakShaka to those who without ahankAra and mamakAra seek His tiruvaDi and worship Him with love. Those who act with ahankAra and mamakAra are killed by Him without mercy. rAvaNa and other rAkShasas died because of their refusal to seek Him. viBeeShaNa sought Him and got His protection. He is the creator of four vEdas—rik, yajur, sAma and atarvana; of five maha yajnAs—dEva yajna, pitr yajna, Boota yajna and brahma yajna; is the maker of six vEdAngas—sikSha, nirukta, chandas, vyAkaraNa, kalpa and jyOtiSha. These, He had made, for the people to take to right path and attain Him. He who made them I saw in kaDal mallai tala Sayanam.

paDa nAhattu aNai kiDandu anru avuNar kOnai
paDa vehuNDu marudiDaipOi pazhana vEli
taDamArnda kaDanmallaittalaSayanattu
tAmaraikkaN tuyil amarnda talaivar tammai |
kaDamArum karangaLiru vallAn vel pOr
kalikaniri oli Seida inbappADal
tiDamAha ivai aindum aindum vallAr
teevinaiyai mudalariya vallAr tAmE ||

tirumangai AzhwAr has sung these pleasing ten pASuras on BagavAn residing at kaDal mallai tala Sayana with love and Bakti. His glories like—lying in tirupArkadal; killing of hiraNya as narasimha, felling of maruda trees etc. are sung by AzhwAr. Those who read them with the same BAva will get rid of their papas in no time with root, shoot and everything.