ENGLISH TEXT

puḷḷum cilampina kān  puḷ araiyan kōyil |

veḷḷai viḷi śangin pēr-aravam kēṭṭiḷaiyō ? |

piḷḷāy ezhundirāy | pēymulai nañju uṇḍu |

kaḷḷa cakaṭam kalakku kazhiya  kāl ōcci |

veḷḷattu aravil tuyil amarnda vittinai |

uḷḷatu koṇḍu munivargaḷum yogihaḷum |

meḷḷa ezhundu ari enna pēr aravam  |

uḷḷam puhundu kuḷirndu ēlōr empāvāy ||

 

TRANSLATION

The birds are also chirping; can’t you hear in the Bird King’s temple the thunderous sounds of the great white conch?

Awake, O Young maiden, ever contemplating in your mind the One who drank the milk of Putana, the One who with a kick destroyed Sakatasura, the One who is the Primal Cause of the whole cosmos, and the One who reclines on the Serpent in the Milky Ocean; the sages and the yogis have just arisen slowly from their yoga, loudly chanting the names of Hari, resounding, let that Name enter our hearts and refresh us.

 

INTERPRETATIONS:

Vedas don’t teach us to enjoy alone. केवालाघो भवति केवालादि| (Rig-Veda). One who eats alone, eats paapam. Goda being a teacher, taught us to take every bhagwatas along us to enjoy.

Goda goes to the homes of the gopis who were still sleeping and awakes them. Why is  that some Gopis were still sleeping? Were they not sincere or not having love for kanna? It’s not like that.  The mercy of Lord is like intoxication. Like in intoxication different people behave differently, some rolling on ground, some sleeping on streets, some giving deep philosophy; similarly the devotees intoxicated by mercy of Kanna. Goda shows us the devotion of that level to us so that we can assimilate them. Some gopis were so passionate that they reached before, some couldn’t sleep all whole night and some were so overwhelmed that they were not able to move. Sathakop Suri Alwar was in trance for 6 months after remembering the damodar leela. Bhagwan is called ‘Ananta’ as his ‘kalyaan-gunas’ are infinite. Nammalvar says that Devotees while enjoying the glories of lord becomes mad, some start dancing, some crying, some gets into trance. They lose themselves and get immersed in joy.

Another reason why we should always be in company of devotees is that they catch hold of us when we slip. Just like in ganga flow in haridwar, we hold a chain, similary we should always take hold of devotees hands.

Goda invites the Gopikas to join the group. She describes the stages of various levels of devotion so that we can assimilate them. Such is her her karunyam. Gopikas of Dwapar performed the vratam but they didn’t themselves sung about the vratam. Thus, the gopis of sri villiputtur are even greater than gopis of Dwapar-Yuga.

 

puḷḷum – also the birds;

cilampina kān  – are chirping;

 

Andal comes in front of a gopi’s house and tries to wake her up.  The gopi inside is not convinced that it has dawned even though others are awake.  So Andal gives further reasons to prove that it is time to wake up.  Don’t you hear the chirping birds, the thunderous sound of the white conch resounding from the temple of the master of garuda (Vishnu)? Are you going to lose the bhAgyam of hearing that sound that is calling you to go to krishNa?

 

Inner meanings:

The birds are the acharya and bhaktas who have woken up early in the morning, wanting to get dharshan of blackness of krishNa. The sound birds are making signify  his upadesham which wakes us up from ignorance. The sound of conch is ashtakshar maha-mantra. The thunderous sound of conch proclaim that Kanna is Sarv-sheshi (Swami of all) and we his shesha (eternal servent).

 

The inner meaning of the 10 gopikAs woken up in this and the next total 10 pAsurams refers to the gOpikAs waking up 10 AzhwArs. In this pAsruam, the ‘piLLAi’ refers to ‘poigai AzhwAr‘.

 

 

piḷḷāy – (new to bhagavat vishaya) oh young maiden!

ezhundirāy– (quickly) get up;

Since you are new to devotion you think that you can enjoy the Lord alone.  But oh my friend! please get up. It is joy only when we all enjoy together.  Please give us the joy of joining with you and cherishing both – the pranks of Kṛṣṇa and your association.

The gopi inside wondered, “How did you all wake up”? The Hari Nama chanting of devotees resounding everywhere woke us up and gave us a refreshing feeling – says Andal.

 

Inner meanings:

Please discard your childish attitude that the Supreme Lord and You are one and the same and gain true knowledge about Your Master-servant relationship with Him and awaken!

 

pēymulai nañju uṇḍu– drank (along with her soul) the poisoned milk of demoness Putana (Disguised like a mother);

kaḷḷa cakaṭam – the wicked sakatasura; (Asura/Demon who came in the form of a cart)

kalakku kazhiya– lose his form;

kāl ōcci – Raised his divine feet;

Two leela is described here:

1. Drank the poisoned milk of Putana sucking out her soul. Bhagwaan saved the Braja as the gopa and gopis are alive only to see Krishna. Such kripa is his “aashrit-vatsalya-jaladha’. ‘Putana’ gave ‘visha’ i.e. poision whereas Samsara gives us ‘Vishaya’ (objects of sense-gratification). After Kanna touched Putana, she turned pure and when she was burned, the fragnance was more than even sandalwood. Thus, when we use Vishay with Krishna, we too gets pure and gets Param-padam.
2. Who destroyed Shakatasura with a kick of his divine feet. Shakatsur was in a ‘sakata’ i.e. cart. The cart represents body. Two wheels are karma I.e. paapam and punyam. Krishna himself kicks the body, eliminates paapam and punyam and gives his foot to the aatman.

Here, Krishna’s feet saved Krishna too. Thus, Krishna’s feet are greater than Krishna himself.

Inner Meanings:

The girls are talking about Putana and the Shakatasur so that the girl who is sleeping will get jolt thinking about the dangers that came to her krishNa, and so she would wake up.

Kaam and Krodh results from Ahankaar amd Mamkaar which results from Swatantriyam i.e. wrong feeling that we are independent from Krishna is the poison. Acharyas destroy the poison and give right direction to our body (cart) driven by Indriyas.

 

veḷḷattu aravil tuyil amarnda vittinai uḷḷatu koṇḍu munivargaḷum yogigaḷum:

veḷḷattu– In the milky ocean;

aravil – On top of the divine serpent;

tuyil – reclining/resting;

amarnda: deeply thinking about ways of helping and saving us;

vittinai – The supreme Lord who is the creator of the universe;

Our heart filled with the love is ‘milky-ocean’ and the soul is ‘aadi-sheshan’. Bhagwaan comes to reside in this milky ocean and on this serpent bed living his eternal abode.

 

munivargaḷum – one who meditate (on the almighty);

yogigaḷum – Those who do service (kainkarya) as effect of their yoga;

 

The munis and yogis the two types of devotees-

1. Munis: one who is always immersed in devotion and
2. Yogis: those who take part in services due to their deep devotion.

Devotees place in their hearts the Lord – the universal Creator who reclines on the divine serpent bed in the milky ocean, who descended as Kṛṣṇa.

 

meḷḷa ezhundu ari enna pēr aravam:

uḷḷatu koṇḍu- place the Lord in their hearts;

meḷḷa ezhundu- get up slowly (without disturbing the supreme Lord inside)

ari enna- The divine name Hari: hari:

pēr aravam – Loud chanting resounding;

Get up slowly (not disturbing the Lord inside) and chant the Hari Nama loudly. It is practice to chant

1. Keshava during journey.
2. Govinda during eating.
3. Madhava while sleeping.
4. Hari after waking up.

 

uḷḷam puhundu kuḷirndu

uḷḷam puhundu- entered our hearts;

kuḷirndu-  and refreshed;

That sound entered our hearts and refreshed us; So you also wake up and join our divine group. The Munis and Yogis were chanting, “Hari-Hari”. Those divine sounds enters our heart and refreshes us.

“Harih Harati papaani, dusht chittaiva vismritah|

anichchhaya hi sprishya, dahati eva paavakah||”.

As we are feeling so much viraha tApam (missing krishNa), the sound of hari nAama went into our minds and hearts and helped us cool it down

LESSON FOR THE DAY

A good meal when enjoyed with friends and relatives gives greater joy than eating the same alone.  That is why Andal not wanting to enjoy the divine qualities of the almighty alone knocks at the door of each gopi and wakes her up to join in the divine experience from the 6th to 15th paasuram.

Andal in these verses reveals a divine secret.  Service to devotees is considered superior than service to God.  We are all the supreme Lord’s children.  A mother would want all the children to enjoy equally.  So when all of them join hands and entertain the mother she will be most delighted.

So experiencing and enjoying the divine qualities of the Lord in groups with like-minded devotees gives happiness to both the devotees and the Lord Himself.

In the verse Goda prays to the 5 forms of Narayana:

1. “Vitthinai”: Para VasudEva at Sri Vaikuntam
2. veḷḷattu aravil tuyil: VyUham at Milky Ocean
3. kalakku kazhiya kal ochchi: Vibhav form (Krishna).
4. araiyan kōyil: Archa form
5. uḷḷatu koṇḍu: Antaryaami form.