रामानुजीये विश्वासटिप्पन्यः | 19 Nammāzhvar’s Periya Thiruvanthādi (2585

O heart! If you want to see him, get ready and come. Let us go together and praise with good words the divine nature and fame of the god colored like a kāyām flower.
Sometimes we praise you sometimes we blame you, sometimes we do not praise you and sometimes we do not blame you. Sometimes we disrespect you. sometimes we do not disrespect you, O lovely-eyed Thirumāl, don’t get angry at us even though we have done bad karma. Our lord, give us your grace.
Even though I know which deeds are good and which are bad, I do not have the power to control myself to avoid good or bad deeds. O lord, what can I do?
My heart has become a slave to the dark shining ocean-colored Kaṇṇan. If I think about it, I am most fortunate and I have a good name. Who could there be more fortunate than I?
You are my mother who gave birth to me the father who taught me. Whatever others taught me, it is of no use. O dear Māyan who drank Putanā’s milk and killed her when she came as a mother, show us a good way.
Will you show me the right path and guide me? Will you show your tender dark body to me, your innocent devotee? Dear Kaṇṇan, tell me what you want to do with me. Whatever you do to me, I will think it is for my good.
I have done bad karma and am far away from you. My heart came to you to worship your feet. You embrace Lakshmi, your beloved wife, on your chest. You took the form of a boar and brought the earth goddess from the underworld. You are my beloved mother. Keep me beneath your feet.
O good lord! We have not seen your feet that measured the world and we yearn to see you–tell us, why can we not see you? You are subtle, impossible for sinners like us to see, a match only for yourself.
We said to him again and again, “We, your slaves, are suffering,” but we still can’t approach him. O heart, let whatever will happen happen. Just live, thinking only of him.
Only the eight Vasus, eleven Rudras, twelve suns and two Ashvins may worship him. We are not worthy to worship him. O good heart, we have done much bad karma.
You are the earth, the sky, the wind, fire and the ocean. You, mighty one, fought heroically with Rāvaṇa when he opposed you and you killed him.
O heart, you immerse me in an ocean of sorrow, and if I say you shouldn’t, what is the use? Whatever I tell you, you don’t listen. The only right thing is to worship the feet of Kaṇṇan.
What I am going to ask you is not strange. O lord, if some devotee of yours asks you for something that you may not want to give, you will not lose anything by giving that to him. This is what I want to ask you. Show me your form. However you wish, show me your shining body.
O heart, the devil Putanā did not know the power of the dark god, and gave her milk to him, but he killed her. You know that if you fall into the enjoyments of your senses they will hurt you, but still you want to enjoy them and collect bad karma. It is as if you were putting your hand into a snake pit.
O heart, know this. The waves of the ocean roar and strike his body and feet as he rests on Adisesha. If we praise his auspicious qualities, it won’t give him any fame, but our bad karma will all go away.
You, the good lord came as a dwarf who was never born or raised on the earth and asked for three feet of land, measured it with one foot and took it. You swallowed the earth at the end of the eon and spat it out and you brought the earth goddess from the underworld. The whole earth is yours, so why did you ask for the earth from Mahābali as a gift? Please tell us.
He carried his bow, fought with the Rakshasa Rāvaṇa and cut off his strong mountain-like heads with his sword. When devotees worship him and ask him for a boon, whether he opens his mouth and says anything or not, he gives them whatever they want and gives them life.
You are clever. Whether you are tied up with ropes by Yashoda or you rest on the snake bed, you create all the creatures of the world always. Who knows your true ancient form? Tell me.
O heart, you do not know any wickedness and if you praise him, who protected the five Pandavas night and day on the battlefield as they fought with the Kauravas nothing bad will come to you. If you want to see him, you can.
O intelligent good heart, As a dwarf, he went to Mahābali’s sacrifice and measured the world, and his body touched all the world. We should be ashamed to think we can earn his grace. The only way for us to get his grace is if he gives to us.
His body dark as a cloud, he measured the world and the ocean with one foot and raised his other foot and measured the sky. His feet are in my heart and I will not go to hell but be saved.
When Thirumāl entered my heart the karma left that ruled me and made me suffer. My bad karma shouts with sorrow as it runs away, unable to find a place to stay.
O heart, he is the father and mother of all creatures and will give us his grace and protect us when we are feeble and the messengers of Yama come bringing their dogs and make them bark at us. O heart, do not worry, do not worry.
He is unique and there is no one equal to him. He is in everything. If he were to grow tired, the whole world would turn upside down, and then who could make this world come back to the way it was?
People may do whatever they wish. Who can change this wide earth? Kaṇṇan, the god of the gods in the sky gave his grace to me and all the sorrows in my heart went away.
His beautiful body is like dark night. His grace is like a club that can hit and remove my bad karma. I and my heart decided to cross the forest and the hills of my bad karma by worshiping him.
Are you, tall Thirumāl, happy because you measured the earth with your foot? Are you happy because you measured the sky with your foot? The whole world knows that you raised your ankleted feet and measured the earth and the sky. Am I someone who does not know your power?
Our eyes cannot see the dark form of the lord with a discus, we can only feel him in our hearts, our inner eyes. We should not feel that we are not seeing him because he is in our hearts and that is where we can see him.
Our father adorned with a flourishing thulasi garland is not easy to approach. He shows as much as love to his devotees as they show to him. I love him—my dear lord is easy for me to reach.
Lovely-eyed Thirumāl entered my small heart, and from now on bad karma cannot stay there because there is no space for it. It is best if it leaves my heart and never comes back.
He put a pot on his head, danced and then went to the wide ocean and rested on Adishesa. We have found the way to remove our karma and it is to know his grace and beauty, approaching him and bowing to his feet and staying in his shadow.
Damodharan wishes me to serve him, but my heart would rather do evil deeds and live a wicked life. What can I do in this world to take away my karma?
The lord with a discus in his hand smashed the deadly Asurans to pieces. When we know him, we know it brings joy, but then why we are not approaching him, doing the good karma that leads us to him?
You, the ancient lord of justice, shine with the dark color of the ocean. I worship you and all my karma is destroyed. When I hear of the beauty of you as you rest on Adisesha on the ocean, my legs become unsteady, my heart suffers to see you, and my eyes look for you everywhere.
He stands in Thiruvuuragam, he sits in Thiruppāḍagam and reclines in Thiruvekkaa. He wanders everywhere, yet still, he is not satisfied. The god who split open the chest of the Asuran Hiraṇyan and loves all the creatures of the world entered my heart and stays there, refusing to leave.
Do not wonder to yourself, “Is he far away? Is he near? Is he in between? Is he the god in the sky?” If you accept Kaṇṇan and give yourself to him whoever you think god is he will be the god for you.
O good heart, We do not know what our future will be, yet we may be able to know it if we worship Thirumāl adorned with a thulasi garland that swarms with bees. Love and worship him and you will be saved.
O heart, do not worry about how to spend your time. Think about the time Yashoda hit him and scolded him, and even if you cannot do that, speak about Māyan adorned with a thulasi garland. Your karma will go away and you will be saved.
O heart, if you want to survive you should do good deeds. It is not enough only to praise him with a fresh thulasi garland on his chest.
O heart! There is no other opportunity for us like this one to praise his power and fame. You will not be pushed into cruel hell if you worship him who drank the milk of the devil Putana and killed her when she came as a mother. Praising him will give you true strength.
The wrestlers sent by Kamsan thought they were stronger than you and opposed you, but you cut off their heads with the discus in your hand and killed them. Do not stop doing your heroic deeds. There are always Asurans like them in the world.
People say “He swallowed all the worlds at the end of the eon and spat them out, he split open the world and went to the underworld to bring up the earth goddess, and he measured the world at Mahābali’s sacrifice with his foot. He is the creator of the world and he is himself the world.” If devotees know this, they will not worship any other god.
When the gods came to him asking for refuge he took away their troubles and protected them. How can the distress in the minds of those who do not worship him be removed?
There are people who do not wish to praise him who is adorned with a thulasi garland even though their good hearts and their tongues would like to. Is that because they have done bad karma in a past life?
Afraid of the results bad karma will give me, I will not do any bad deeds. I will only praise the god of the gods and bow to his golden feet.
The ocean-colored Thirumāl with beautiful eyes is our refuge and will not leave us. He protects us so we will not fall into cruel hell. O heart, think always of him who is your only refuge— this is the the best advice I can give you.
O Thirumāl, do not think that all people worship you only to ask for material things. You do not understand that wise ones ask only for your grace. Where are those wise people who think of you and receive your grace? How many are there? Could I achieve what they have done?
We want to reach moksha, above the world of the sky and the only way we can achieve it is to worship you who fought and killed the seven bulls with cruel horns to marry Nappinnai with beautiful soft arms like bamboo,
Whenever I see clouds, a dark mountain, the dark ocean, deep darkness, puvai flowers always swarming with bees or anything else that is dark-colored, my heart, thinking it has seen his wonderful dark form, leaves me and runs there.
My heart leaves me searching for where he is without looking for anything else and it runs behind anything with a dark color. In his heart he does not feel sorry for me. Does he who split open the mouth of the Asuran Kesi when he came as a horse that have such a cruel mind?
The wicked five senses control the mind, eyes, nose, mouth, ears and body. The best thing for the devotees of the lord adorned with a cool thulasi garland is to control the feelings of the five senses and worship the lord’s feet.
He took the form of a bachelor dwarf, went to Mahābali, asked for three feet of land and measured the earth and the sky. He drank milk from the breasts of the devious Putana and killed her. My eyes have only the desire to see him and my mouth does not wish to praise anything but his fame.
O lovely-eyed Thirumāl, I would tell you something. You have given everything that your devotees want and are waiting to know what else they may want. Don’t you know that praising you and keeping you in their hearts is better for them than going to Vaikuṇṭam?
We worshiped him who threw a calf at the vilam tree and killed the two Asurans when they came as a calf and a tree and all the results of our karma went away, we don’t know where. Did they go to the sky, or to the ocean whose rolling waves are blown by the wind? Did they burn up in fire or go to the forest?
He rests on the ocean rolling with waves on Adisesha who has a jewel on his head. It is hard if you think he will come to you but if you think of him always in your heart he will enter it and take away the troubles in your mind.
There are no troubles in the lives of his devotees after he has entered their hearts. He came to the world in many forms, as a cowherd, as a god in the sky and as a dwarf who measured the sky and the earth at Mahābali’s sacrifice. He, the Māyavan, shows the way to all.
O heart, Thirumāl split open the heart of Hiraṇyan and blood flowed like a flood from the Asuran’s chest and he was destroyed. Won’t he take away the results of our karma and give us his grace?
O Thirumāl with a shining form, I am plunged into your auspicious nature that is as pure and sweet as milk. Don’t change my life. I don’t want to be born again but come to you, stay beneath your divine feet and serve you. All I want is not to forget you.
As soon as I recited the names of the generous lord who rests on the ocean with rolling waves I thought my karma would go away and hide in a forest. Nothing like that happened. Does my karma think it can still remain with me?
O my heart, whether you think always of Māyan adorned with a divine thulasi garland and stay with him or not, it is up to you, but there is no other god who can protect you and save you from falling into cruel hell.
When we see the shining stars in the sky, they look like flowers filled with pollen strewn by the gods in the sky as they recited the Vedas and worshiped his divine feet when he measured the world at the sacrifice of Mahābali.
The faultless sky is an umbrella that protects the earth, the stars are like its shining decorations, and the moon is its silver base. When he grew tall and measured the world he looked like a pole holding up the umbrella that is the sky. He is the best remedy for all our troubles.
The highest lord with a divine discus in his hand, cut off the nose and the ears of the evil Raksasi Surpanaha in the forest and then went to the ocean rolling with strong waves to rest on Adisesha. He looked like a dark cloud filled with water blown by the wind as it floats in the sky and then falls to the ocean.
He shot arrows and destroyed the seven marā trees and he split open the mouth of Bāhasuran when he came as a bird. If the gods in the sky know that he is the highest god and know his heroic deeds, won’t they fold their hands and worship him?
O heart, he will remove all the troubles that make you suffer. Worship always with a garland of pasurams Kesavan, Nāraṇan, Mādhavan who wears a beautiful thulasi garland and is strong as a mountain.
O heart, he is adorned with a cool fragrant thulasi garland and he is the Vedas. Know and worship Thirumāl, the Māyavan who carries a heroic discus and took the precious life of Rāvaṇa, the mighty Rakshasa.
O ignorant heart, if you think you do not want to stay in this world and want to go to the world of the gods, he will give you that boon, and if you say, “I want to stay in this world and rule it,” he will give that also. Learn only to worship and praise the feet of Kaṇṇan and you will get what you want.
Does he wish to stay in the Thiruvenkaṭam hills, on the roaring ocean, in Vaikuṇṭam, or the world in the sky? Or does he feel they are not fitting places for him? O what is this strange thing! Tall and dark, he entered the heart of me, his slave, and does not want to leave it.
I praised the highest ocean-colored Thirumāl and he gave me his grace and entered my heart. The bad karma that was in my heart grew angry and, red-faced and frustrated, left me. No one can come and trouble me anymore.
He wears a precious golden crown, carries a shining discus in his hand and has a thousand divine names. He is my father and mother and I keep him in my heart— he will remove all my troubles. Whatever happens to me, I am not worried because he will save me.
How can I describe your power? Shiva with beautiful jaṭa stays in the left part of your body and Brahma stays on a lotus on your navel, and there is no one to match you who do not depend on anything.
Some say that you have three divine forms and some say all three are one. You have a matchless dark color, you are the first god of this world and you embrace Lakshmi on a shining lotus on your chest.
Whenever I see something with the color of the lord, a puvai bird, a kayām flower, a neelam flower or a kāvi blossom, my soft heart thinks that they are his forms and my heart and body feel happy.
O heart, he, the cowherd, carried Govardhana mountain as an umbrella and protected the cows and the cowherds. Even though I have pleaded with him continuously telling him every day that I long to see him, he does not take pity on me and appear before me. Is my heart a big mound keeping the flood of his grace from flowing over it?
You have swallowed the earth and the wide sky and kept them in your stomach. Through my ears, you entered my heart and remain there. You are inside me. Who is better, you or me? You carry a discus, smeared with flesh. Think about it.
You have measured the world. When I think of you my heart throbs. If your grace touches my body, I will be happy and feel as if I have measured the world and the sky as you did. Tell me, what will happen to me?
O father resting on the roaring ocean, my relatives say they are very close to me, but see, there is no one for me but you. You are my only help in life and the companion for whom I am thankful.
O good heart, you feel happy that you have a large family, an ancient lineage and other friends, but none are permanent. Praise the heroism of the lord who shot arrows from his bow unceasingly and conquered all his enemies. That is how you will have strength.
Even those of low birth, whose occupations are despised, if they become the devotees of the god with a discus in his beautiful hand have no need to worry about the results of their karma. This world in which they were born will be like the shining world of the gods for them— there is no need for them to go to heaven.
Even if I have no births, no old age and sickness, even if I am happy on this earth, I will not want any of those things. I think the days that I have not praiseed and worshiped him who measured the world at Mahbali’s sacrifice are all days of sorrow.
Whenever troubles come to me he will take care of me whether it is night or day. He does not think that I am bad and do not perform good deeds, that I am not fit to be his slave or that I have no one to take care of me. He rests on the flourishing ocean giving his grace to me and taking care of me.
I have done bad karma and not knowing him I have passed all my days in vain. I did not follow and praise him who carries a discus in his beautiful hand.
O heart, you do not want to do good things and you are tired of the results of your karma. See, I told you this. Find a way to save yourself. I am worried about myself He fought with the wrestlers and killed them. The way you will be saved is to worship him.
O my heart, I told you to bow your head, to strew flowers at his feet folding your hands, worshiping him and praising him, but you have not done that. You have not asked him, “Where did you go?” Do not be like this without worshiping him. Just worship him. That’s all you need to do.
The dark clouds take water from the ocean and float in the sky. Where did they go and what tapas they perform to have the lovely dark color of the lord resting on Adisesha on the milky ocean rolling with waves?
The lord with a body dark as a cloud with a discus in his hand swallowed the worlds and kept them in his stomach. If people do not think of him or praise him how can the the results of their karma be removed?
O my heart, whether it is now or another time, if you always praise him who carries a discus he will remove our karma. Always praise his ankleted feet.

SUBHAM