tri-mUrti in tiruvAimozhi - Part 20.
4.5.6 (29):
kariya mEni miSai veLiya neeRu SiridE iDum
periya kOlat taDam kaNNan viNNOr perumAn tannai
uriya SollAl iSai mAlaigaL Etti uLLap peRRERku
ariyadu uNDO enakku inRu toTTum ini enRumE.
The reason for studying this pASuram in our context is because of the
phrase "kariya mEni miSai veLiya nEERu SiridE iDum". The literal
translation for the phrase is "One who wears a little bit of the
white power on His dark-complexioned tirumEni". There are those who
jump at the words veLiya neeRu, and assign the meaning basmam or ash
(SAmbal in tamizh), and thus try to explain that emperumAn is the
same one who wears the ash on his body. Those of us who have studied
the previous pASuram-s of AzhvAr and the message conveyed through
them all along, know that the correct interpretation is NOT the
message that these people would like to advance. Let us see how our
learned AcArya-s explain this phrase.
SiRidE iDum ? He Who wears a small amount of
veLiya neeRu ? the white camphor powder
kariya tiru mEni miSai ? On His dark tirumEni
periya kOlam taDam kaNNan ? has big and beautiful eyes like a
beatufiul pond
viNNor perumAn tannai ? and One Who is the Lord of all lincluding the
nitya-sUri-s in SrI vaikunTham
uriya SollAl iSai mAlaigaL Etti ? By praising Him with the
appropriate and fitting words that describe
His beauty and fame, strung like a garland
uLLap peRRERku ? and having attained the good fortune to enjoy Him
thus
enakku ? I who have been already blessed with the flawless knowledge
to realize the truth about Him
ini enRum ariyadu uNDO ? There is nothing that is beyond reach for me
here in this world, or
hereafter.
The word veLiya in tamizh means white-colored, and neeRu means
powder, or more specifically, divya a'nga rAga or scented cosmetic.
The term veLiya neeRu has been interpreted by svAmi deSikan as "white-
colored camphor powder" in his tAtparya ratnAvaLi. In his sac -
caritra rakshA, svAmi deSikan gives an alternate
interpretation: "veLiya neeRu" can be taken to mean "pure powder",
and can refer to the collyrium that is applied to the eye. SrImad
tirukuDanthai ANDavan refers us to tiruma'ngai AzhvAr's pASuram ?
"ArArayil vERkaN a'njanattin neeRu aNindu?". In any case, neeRu
does not refer to basmam or ash. Note that AzhvAr also qualifies the
term as "veLiya" neeru, rather than just "neeRu", just so there is no
confusion that he is referring to the "white" powder.
SiridE iDum ? applied in a small quantity. The significance is that
this is not applied for enhancing the beauty of emperumAn Who is
incomparably beautiful to start with, but it is applied for
auspiciousness.
uriya SollAl - Through appropriate words. SrImad rAmAyaNam, SrImad
bhAgavatam etc., praise the Lord, but there are a lot of other things
included there as well. For instance, in SrImad rAmAyaNam, there is
elaborate description of the origin of Ga'ngA, the origin of
subrahmaNyan,etc., which take us away from the enjoyment of Lord SrI
rAma's life. Similarly, in SrImad bhAgavatam, we start with the
impression that we are going to listen to the story of SrIman
nArAyaNa, but then we get an elaborate description of the quarrel
between the two groups of cousin brothers. Not so in tiruvAimozhi ?
here AzhvAr delights himself only in bhagavad guNAnubhavam, and
nothing else.
As pointed out earlier, in his tAtparya ratnAvaLi, svAmi deSikan
describes the gist of this pASuram through the words "karpUrAlepa
Sobhe" ? by the enhancement of the beauty through a light application
of camphor.
-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan
(To be continued)
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