ENGLISH TEXT

 WORD BY WORD MEANING

ōṅgi – grow tall;

aḷanda – measured (with His divine feet);

pēr – divine names;

nāngaḷ pāḍi – We (who cannot exist without chanting the same) sing;

nam pāvaikku śāttri – in the pretense of our vow;

nīrāḍināl – if we take a divine bath;

nāḍellām – throughout the country;

tīṅgindri – without any danger;

tingaḷ - monthly;

mummāri peydu – three spells of rain;

ōngu peruñ cennelūḍu – (due to that) in between tall and swelling red paddy;

 kayal ugaḷa – kayal fishes wriggling among them;

poṛivaṇḍu – beautiful spotted bees;

pūnguvalai pōdīl – on the beautiful blue lily flowers;

kaṇpaḍuppa – doze off;

vaḷḷal – generous;

perum paśugaḷ - Big cows;

tēngādē – without hesitating;

cīrtta mulai – milk filled udder;

vāṅga – pull;

kuḍam niṛaikkum – fill the cans;

nīṅgāda – (such) a everlasting wealth;

niṛaindu – will flourish;

 INTRODUCTION

First verse talked about His transcendence, the next about Him descending to the milky ocean, this verse talks about His incarnation as Trivikrama; this verse highlights the benefits to the world due to their vow;

In this verse Godā pays her obeisance to the incarnation of Vāmana in which He appears as a young student — brahmacarin, to ask three strides of land from the pious & generous but supremely egoistic and acquisitive demon king Bali. The land was granted and the Lord immediately expanded His form, and with two strides covered the entire manifest universe. He then asked Bali where the third step should be placed; Bali bowed His head for the Lord to step thereupon. Bali was pushed down into the nether regions and was granted immortality and sovereignty over the nether worlds. The ācāryas praise this incarnation above the others because everything belongs to the Lord anyway; yet, He takes the form of a poor brahmin boy and goes to seek a favour from a human being. In contemplating upon this most compassionate of the divine incarnations at the outset, and stating the results that they hope to obtain, Godā is expressing her great confidence in being able to secure the Grace of the Lord.

COMMENTARY

(ōṅgi) Unable to act immediately on hearing grief calls from devas the Lord reclines in ksheerabdhi; but due to extreme pleasure on receiving alms from mahabali He grew taller and taller satisfied on completing the mission of protecting the devas;

Though the Lord’s Form is changeless this shortening and growing is all for the sake of others and due to His compassion and wish and hence it is just a manifestation of His grace and not a fault on Him;

(ulagaḷanda) measured the worlds and placed His divine Feet on one and all; Like a mother hugging a sleeping child and enjoying the same the Lord placed His Foot on all those who never cared or asked for and rejoiced the same;

Both Krishna and Trivikrama have done surprising acts, humble towards devotees, shower motherly compassion and so very beautiful and so Andal who loves Krishna is now attracted towards Vamanavatara due to the above similarities;

(Uttaman) that great one;

There are four categories of people in this world;

(Sri Peria-acchān-Piḷḷai describes it as 'one who feels that others should live comfortably even at the expense of one's own comforts'.)

Such a Great One is the Lord who measured the world as Trivikrama; for He set His lotus Feet on the heads of all without any discrimination whatsoever — prince or peasant, rich or poor, the philosopher or the fool, all experienced the touch of His Divine Feet though they have not done anything good to Him.

(uttaman pēr pāḍi) Singing the praise of that great One; praising the Name of the Lord and not praising the Lord Himself. Thus we infer that the 'Name' of the Lord possesses greater efficacy than even the Lord Himself.

The Rāmāyana tells us that Hanumān crossed the sea with the greatest of ease after reciting the name of Rāma; but, on the other hand Sri Rāma Himself had to build a bridge with great difficulty in order to cross it! In order to chant the Lord's Names no qualification or spiritual discipline is necessary. The lord's Name itself confers all qualifications. One who is about to take bath in the Ganges need not take a preliminary bath in some pool!

Our preceptors equate the Lord and His name to Gold; The lord is like 24 carat gold very precious but doesn’t attract all but when the same gold is made into a jewellery it catches everyone’s eyes like the Names of the Lord; Even those who are unable to accept the Lord’s supremacy want to satisfy their needs by chanting His names; Many chant the names for cheap benefits, some for salvation and only a few chant for the purpose of chanting (svayamprayojanam);

(nāngaḷ nam pāvaikku śāttru nīrāḍināl)  If under the pretense of vow we rejoice singing His divine names and take the ritual bath overcoming our heat of separation and realizing the truth of the relation we have with Him (He being our means and goal);

(tīṅgindri nāḍellām tingaḷ mummāri peydu) If there is presence of sincere devotees there will always be prosperity in that place; so the whole area will receive proper rains not too much or too little; 9 days of sunshine and 1 day of rain;

The reasons for three rains per month are not only that the land will flourish but also the King's administration, the meditations of the sages, and the virtue of the people will flourish in the land.

(ōngu peruñ cennelūḍu kayal ugaḷa) Tall and swelling red paddy and among them wriggle the fishes;

The tallness of the paddy is specially referred to here because the Gopis always think about the high stature of the Lord. To them all things in nature possess an affinity with the Lord. (Great ācāryas like Sri Bhaṭṭar and Sri Ālavandār, if they happened to see red lotus flowers in paddy fields, with full-grown paddy stalks bending before them, used to be reminded of the lotus Feet of the Lord, being worshipped by many devotees prostrating themselves.) The term 'ongu'suggests that the paddy crop cannot grow horizontally due to the luxuriant growth on the sides.

The fishes jump and enjoy like jambhavan and others who cherished the Trivikramavatara; the fish are wriggling between the tall stalks of paddy due to the lack of space for them to swim about. Fish used to be cultivated in the paddy fields to eat the mosquito larvae.

(pūnguvalai pōdīl poṛivaṇḍu kaṇpaḍuppa) on the freshly blossomed blue lily flower; pōdu can mean either a flower or the time; The bees that enter the flower to drink the honey due to the beautiful surrounding doze off peacefully on the flower;

Thus after hinting the beauty and prosperity of the fields’ Andal proceeds to describe the wealth in the village;

(tēngādē pukkirundu cīrtta mulai pattri vāṅga kuḍam niṛaikkum vaḷḷal perum paśugaḷ) Even very strong cowherds hesitate to milk these cows as the cows are capable of filling innumerable cans by just the touch of the udder.

Only one Hanuman was ready to take the great task of crossing the ocean similarly here milking the cows was indeed a great task. But since all cows were flooded with milk the cowherds had no other go and hence with great energy indulge in milking the cows that generously shower milk; They need to hold the udder with both hands and just pull once and that will fill number of cans with milk;

(vallal) the cows growing hearing the sweet music of krishna’s flute and enjoying His divine touch has imbibed His quality of generosity; He showers grace continuously and here the cows shower milk continuously; We need to accept His grace that’s it here the cowherd has to just pull the udder once that’s it;

(nīṅgāda śelvam niṛaindu) Let such everlasting prosperity flourish by His divine grace (divine grace of the divine couples);

LESSON OF THE DAY:

Oongi vulagalandha vuttaman pEr pAdi nAngal nampAvaikku sAttru neerAdinA

It is very essential for everyone to do their dharma (those activities prescribed by sastras that which will lead us to our goal); (Oongi vulagalandha vuttaman pEr pAdi nAngal nampAvaikku sAttru neerAdinAl)

Neengadha selvam niraindhu

While performing the same it has to be done selflessly for the benefit of one and all; (neengadha selvam niraindhu-this result is not just for the gopikas performing the vratha but for the whole society)