1484. When you become old,
women with foreheads as beautiful as bows will not love you.
They will laugh and say,
“He is a dirty old man, he has gray hair. ”
Before you hear those mocking words, O heart, rise,
we will go and worship him in Naraiyur
where good Vediyars recite the four Vedās
and spread them around the world.
Word by Word (WBW) meaning
(The words may be rearranged to facilitate conversion from poetry to prose (Aṉvayam). Please read the meanings (in black) continuously to form the sentence and understand the simplified meaning based on the Divyārtha Dīpikai for the verse.)
The Āzhvār, reflecting upon the ephemeral and ultimately sorrowful nature of worldly attachments, issues a profound and urgent counsel to his own heart. He vividly illustrates the inevitable decay of physical charm and the corresponding fickleness of worldly affection, contrasting it with the eternal and blissful refuge found in the service of Sriman Nārāyaṇa and His devotees.