2197. When he enters someone’s heart
and a devotee locks him in it,
the lord may not know that he is imprisoned in the devotee’s heart.
If someone does not dig out a pond on a mound in a forest
and save the rain water, there will be no water to flow and nourish the fields.
Lock him in your heart.
Word by Word (WBW) meaning
(The words may be rearranged to facilitate poetry to prose conversion (Aṉvayam). Please read the meanings (in black) continiously to form the sentence and understand the simple meaning of those verse.)
thanakku — for himself (who is a chĕthana, sentient entity); adimai — being a servitor; pattadhu — that it is being apt; thān aṛiyān ĕlum — even if he is not able to know; manaththu — in the mind; adaiya — as soon as he reaches; mālai — that emperumān; vaippadhu — to keep him, by providing place; ām — is apt; vanam thidarai — the high ground on which the forest has sprung up; ĕri ām vaṇṇam iyaṝum idhu allāl — other than the activity of digging a lake in that area so that rain water will not flow elsewhere but into that lake; maṝu — other than; māri — rain; peygiṛpār — to make it fall; yār — who is there? (isn’t rainfall due to emperumān’s sankalpam (vow))
Detailed WBW explanation
Thān aṛiyāṇēlum – servitorship is eternally ordained for the jīvātmā (soul). This principle is elucidated through several illustrations, including:
Srī Rāmāyaṇam Araṇya Kāṇḍam 15-7 where it is said "paravānasmi" (I am fully dependent [on Emperumān]),
Stotra Ratnam-60 stating "tavāsmi" (I belong to You),