Song: oruthi maganAi (thirupAvai - 25) rAgA: 

bEhAg tALam: Adi Language: Tamil

Composer: AndAl Aa: S G3 M1 P N3 D2 N3 S Av: S N3 D2 P M2 G3 M1 G3 R2 S

பொருள்: தேவகியின் மைந்தனாக நள்ளிரவில் பிறந்தவனே! அன்று இரவே யசோதையிடம் ஒளிந்து வளர்வதற்காகச்

சென்றவனே! அவ்வாறு மறைந்து வளர்வதைப் பொறுக்க முடியாத கம்சன் உன்னை அழிக்க வேண்டும் என்று
நினைத்தான். அந்த கருத்து அழியும் வகையில், அவனது வயிற்றில் பயத்தால் ஏற்படும் நெருப்பை விளைவித்த உயர்ந்த
குணங்களையுடைய திருமாலே! உனது அருளை யாசித்து நாங்கள் வந்தோம். அந்த அருளைத் தந்தாயானால், உனது
விரும்பத்தக்க செல்வச்சிறப்பையும், பக்தர்களுக்காக நீ செய்த பணிகளையும் பாராட்டி நாங்கள் பாடுவோம். உனது
பெருமையைப் பாடுவதால், துன்பங்கள் நீங்கி இன்பமாய் மகிழ்ந்திருப்போம்.

WORD BY WORD MEANING

maganāy – her Son;

piṛandu – take birth;

ōr iravil – that matchless night (when Kṛṣṇa incarnated);

maganāy – became her son;

oḷittu vaḷara – bred unknown;

tān – that tyrant (kamsa);

tarikkilān āgi – couldn’t tolerate (you growing in gokula);

tīṅgu ninainda – contemplated to do evil (kill You);

kañjan – kamsa;

pizhai pittu – made futile;

neruppenna nindra – stood as a raging fire;

neḍumālē – Supreme Being!

aruttittu vandōm -  we have come begging (what we want);

paṛai tarudiyāgil – if You will fulfill our desire;

tirut takka celvamum – the wealth that even the divine Mother would aspire;

cēvakamum – Your prowess;

yām pāḍi – we will sing;

varuttamum tīṛndu –our grief of separation will be overridden;

 INTRODUCTION

 Kṛṣṇa after listening to Andal singing benediction in the previous verse enquired to Andal ‘you have
come asking for the drum and at the same time sing that you have come only to bless me’ there is a
ambiguity; Andal clarified, ‘requesting drum is just a pretence, in truth we have come to You to
request Your divine Self only; Kṛṣṇa retorted, ‘but there might be obstacles to grant your wish’ Andal
replies’ for You who have dispelled so many powerful obstacles it is very much possible to overcome
those small ones that is remaining and hence please do the required’.

This verse recalls the circumstances of Kṛṣṇa's birth. He was born to Vasudeva and Devakī, the sister of
the demonic king kamsa. Kamsa for fear of his life had imprisoned them, but at the moment of Kṛṣṇa's
birth the doors were opened and Vasudeva escaped to Vrindāvan with baby Kṛṣṇa. There He was
lodged with Nanda and Yaśoda. Kamsa hatched several plots to have Kṛṣṇa killed by various demons.

COMMENTARY

 (orutti maganāy) One Dasaratha did penance and gave birth to four sons but here four people did
penance to give birth to one Kṛṣṇa; Still out of the four only Devaki was blessed to give Him birth; she
is peerless as she is the one who was blessed to give birth to the birth-less supreme Almighty; The
Father of one and all has now become the son of Devaki;

 ’one lady’ — If the name of the lady were to be mentioned, the gopis feared that Kamsa might do
some harm; and so they simply said ’one lady’ orutti. In the first line, ’one lady’ refers to Devaki and in
the second line, it refers to Yaśoda. In both cases the expression means "peerless woman". Devaki was
peerless, for she compelled the Supreme Lord of the Universe, to obey her instructions! It should be
noted that the Lord gave the Avatāra Rasa to Devaki and Līlā Rasa to Yaśoda.

 (piṛandu) Instead of showing up from a pillar or suddenly rush to the spot quickly to rescue an
elephant, Kṛṣṇa took birth from Devaki’s womb as a result of Devaki’s penance;Kṛṣṇa(who was born
due to grace) had to undergo all that a jiva who takes birth as a result of past deeds undergoes; Unlike
the Rishis who while talking about His incarnation called it as appearance and even Andal Herself
earlier declared it to be ‘tORRam’, now says 'birth' to show the extent of Him getting into the role; A
son is a one who acts according to the words of the parents; Kṛṣṇa immediately after birth respected
His parent’s request and hid the divine discus and conch and appeared like a normal infant;
 (ōr iravil)one matchless night; That supreme Lord who is birth-less took birth, fearless had to run as if
afraid of kamsa, unable to stay in the place of birth. But only that dark night protected Kṛṣṇa while
even the parents were helpless; Here lies the pathos that the Supreme Being who is beyond Time and
Space is born in the night and grows in concealment!

 (orutti maganāy) born to a peerless mother, Kṛṣṇa was brought up by another peerless mother.  But
the way that He was brought up, makes one wonder if He was born and brought up in the same place;
Though Devaki gave birth only Yasoda enjoyed all Kṛṣṇa’s childish pranks; Devaki later laments for
missing the first ten admirable years of His growth; Devaki was unable to even feed the new born
child; Yasoda was the blessed mother who even beat and tied the Almighty with a rope;

 (oḷittu vaḷara) He escaped from His birth place and even in Gokula couldn’t roam about freely due to
fear of the demons that kept appearing everywhere; So He had to live a secret life;

 (tarikkilān āgit) Kamsa was unable to tolerate Kṛṣṇa growing up in Gokula; Kamsa started plotting
against Kṛṣṇa once he heard about Him from Narada Muni;  He did not wait for Kṛṣṇato come back but
was overwhelmed with anger and fear;

 (tān tīṅgu ninainda) Kamsa who was ignorant of the future contemplated to do evil to the all
powerful Kṛṣṇa; here the poetess refrains from explicitly stating that kamsa wanted to kill Kṛṣṇa, but
simply says "contemplated to do evil". Great poets will not stoop to mention explicitly harsh and
inauspicious words or ideas;

 The divine quality of the Lord is to kill only those who fight Him with deep enmity (from deep inside
their heart) but to protect one just utterance of surrender from one’s mouth is enough;

 (karuttai pizhai pittu) Kṛṣṇa smashed all the wicked plots of kamsa;

 (kañjan vayittril neruppenna nindra) Kamsa became so agitated by Kṛṣṇa's existence that it was like a
raging fire in his belly.  The Tyrant Kamsa plotted to kill Kṛṣṇa but was agitated himself while Kṛṣṇa and
others relaxed and enjoyed;

 (neḍumālē) He took so many pains for the sake of His devotees because He is very mad in love with
His devotees;

 ‘Nedumal’ can indicate His supremacy and also His great love for His devotees;

 (unnai aruttittu) we have come requesting Your divine self; We are not requesting You to be born nor
do You need to grow up in a hide out or kill someone for our sake; just show up that’s enough;

 (vandōm) You have taken all pains to descend from Your divine abode to this materialistic world but
ignoring Your efforts we have taken few steps towards Your place thereby lowering Your greatness;

 (paṛai tarudiyāgil) If You grant us our wish;

 Andal is yet to explicitly declare their actual intent which she reserves for the later verses;

 ‘tarudiyagil’ indicating that their request is not the means (sadhana) for attaining Him. Only His grace
will grant their wish as the Lord is independent and no one can force Him to do anything;
Don’t make us forget even our wish by showing Your exquisite beauty, counsels Andal;

 (tirut takka celvamum) The wealth admired by even the goddess of wealth, Sri Mahalakshmi; or the
very wealth of being the spouse of the divine Mother;

(cēvakamum) the valor to protect the above said wealth;

 (yām pāḍi) Till yesterday we were unable to even utter Your name but today we have the blessing to
sing about Your wealth and might;

 (varuttamum tīṛndu) relieved of the grief we experienced due to the separation from You;

 (yām pāḍi makizhundu varuttamum tīṛndu) We will sing your praise, thereby experience joy and also
overcome grief if You grant our desire; it is not enough if we are out of misery we also need to
experience joy.

 Talking about Your wealth we experience joy and Your valor removes our worry (fear of enemies);

LESSON FOR THE DAY

 In all our lives we desire for two things: One is to get what we want(likes) and other is to remove our
worries/miseries (dislikes); Likes and dislikes vary from person to person; While climbing up the ladder
of spirituality one has to cultivate the habit of considering the duals (likes and dislikes which are
certain to appear) equal as instructed by the Lord in Srimad Bhagavat Gita. Some of those duals are
victory and defeat, heat and cold, profit and loss etc.  Gradually we need to reduce our likes and
dislikes and have a balanced outlook of the world. Realizing our nature of servitude to God, we need
to consider us as the property of the Lord present here to satisfy/give Him pleasure.  So whatever we
do should be for His pleasure and not for our self enjoyment. Any obstacles we face should be
considered to be for our development (learning by experience).

 But how do we get the strength to do the above? By chanting the divine names of the supreme Lord,
Listening to His divine pastimes and always meditating on His kalyana gunas (divine qualities).  This is
what Andal has insisted throughout Her tiruppavai.  Blessed is anyone who gets involved in the divine
service of the Lord according to one’s nature.  So let us also try to slowly move away from our
materialistic lifestyle