Chapter 3
Saulabhyam (easy approachability) - (பத்து உடை)
Amongst Bhagavān’s innumerable auspicious qualities, He is not only known for His supremacy (parathvam) but also for His ease in approachability (saulabhyam). The following divine hymns elaborate on the auspicious trait, saulabhyam. Āzhvār completely immerses himself enjoying this divine trait that he falls into a trance for the next six months.
பகவானிடம் பரத்வம் இருப்பது போல், ஸெளலப்யமும் இருக்கிறது. இத்திருவாய்மொழியில் ஸெளலப்ய குணம் கூறப்படுகிறது. இப்பண்பு ஆழ்வாரை ஆறு மாத காலம் மோஹிக்கச் செய்தது
Verses: 2813 to 2823
Grammar: Kalinilaiththuṟai / கலிநிலைத்துறை
Pan: நட்டபாடை
Timing: 1.13-2.24 PM
Recital benefits: will not be born again and they will go to heaven and stay with the gods.
- Verse 1:
Those who unto Him turn their minds, in utter devotion, He is easily accessible but is the Mystic, difficult of attainment by others. (Oh, what a wonder, as a mere infant, fondled by Yaśōdā and other damsels of Gōkul, he could vanquish the demoniac Pūthanā, Śakaṭāśura and a host of others!) Eagerly sought Malarmakaḷ (Śrī Mahālakṣmī), who emerged from the soft lotus flower and yet did not take to it kindly but took her abode on the broad and winsome chest of the Lord), what a marvel, our Lord, difficult to attain, was seen reduced to the abject position of a weeping child, fastened by the chest to a pounder (by Yaśōdā, as a punishment) for stealing butter off the churning rod—a paragon of simplicity galore! - Verse 2:
[Preamble:]—Tradition has it that Śrī Matura Kavi and several other savants, who had the great good fortune of listening to ‘Tiruvāymoḻi’ from the sacred lips of the Āzhvār, gathered round the insensate Āzhvār and eagerly awaited his return to his senses. It was after the lapse of a period of six months, that the Āzhvār recovered himself, took up the thread where he had left it and proceeded to expatiate on the Lord’s aforesaid ‘Saulabhya’ (easy accessibility) by saying that He is simplicity itself (simplicity personified). - Verse 3:
Who indeed can comprehend the wonderful secret of the descents (Avatāras) of (Lord) Nāraṇaṉ, the appropriate abode of all sentient beings including the ‘Amaras’ (the exalted Brahmā and other celestials) of outstanding eminence by virtue of their moral attainments of a high degree and mental perfection, as well as the non-sentient things? - Verse 4:
Our Sire, bearing a thousand (innumerable) names and (the) forms (appropriate thereto) can be comprehended, as such, (by the devotees, however meagre, their intelect and poor, their parentage); (on the other hand) the ungodly who bear no love for Him cannot comprehend His names and forms (however exalted be their knowledge and parentage); (And so), there is a perennial debate (between these two sets of people) one group affirming that the Lord goes by several names and forms and the other group asserting that He has none of these. - Verse 5:
The eternal Lord, the lovely Primate possessing the Six principal attributes of knowledge, strength, sovereignty, valour, power and splendour) has set at naught the six heretical philosophical doctrines (Śāṅkhya, Yoga, Kaṇāta [Kaṇada], Bouddha (Bauddha), Jaina and Pāśupada) by setting forth the cream of the Vedic teachings in His ‘Song celestial’ (Gītā). Imbibing the quintessence of those teachings, stick to the path of loving surrender to His Sweet grace (Prapatti mārgā) to the exclusion of all the other paths of discipline, drying up, at the same time, the erstwhile springs of bodily pleasures in toto (not merely through non-indulgence in them but through a positive aversion thereto). - Verse 6:
[Preamble:]—Worldlings to the Āzhvār: “Oh, Saint, to us with limited knowledge, the Trinity, standing in a row, Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Rudra, appear to be all of the same stature. Pray, enlighten us, as to whether it is actually so or one of them is Superior to the other two or there is yet another Power superior to all the three, so that we may worship that Supreme Authority”. - Verse 7:
May you ponder in your mind, dispassionately, over the relative merits of the Gods. Nāraṇaṉ beaming through His auspicious attributes, firm and fine, Nāṉmukaṉ (the four-headed Brahmā) and Araṉ (Rudra), who look so much alike that it is difficult to comprehend whether they are one or many; may you also investigate (with the help of authoritative texts) and discern that there is but one God (and that is Nārāyaṇa, the Super-Soul residing in all, including Brahmā and Rudra); with this discovery you will do well to give up your allegiance to the other two (Brahmā and Rudra) as God and attach yourselves firmly to Nārāyaṇa (as the one and only God) during your life-time. - Verse 8:
If we cleanse our minds of the dirt (of misconceived notion of parity among the ‘Thiru-Murties’, Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva) through that bleaching agent, called wisdom, and worship daily at the felicitous feet of our Lord, the gracious consort of Tiru (Śrī Mahālakṣmī), all our past sins which had been tormenting us so far will die out at once, and we will be free from wants of any kind. (It is never too late to switch on to the Lord thus.) better repose on His lap, even while dying. - Verse 9:
His (Lord Mahā Viṣṇu’s) navel is the seat of Ticai mukaṉ (Brahmā), the creator of many a lovely world, while (Rudra) the (Ostensible) destroyer of the three (flying) citadels (and their demoniac chiefs) propitiates the Lord and gets allotted some space to the right, on His (the Lord’s) broad, winsome chest (as a place of shelter, in any emergency). He (The Lord) also makes Himself visible to one and all, in the respective worlds (during His Āvatāras).
In a manner of talking, these (great qualities of the Lord are innumerable, but) arc kept in His stomach (undisclosed, far outnumbering those disclosed to us already); these are His enigmatic ways indeed. - Verse 10:
If aberrations are noticeable (now and then) in the mental attitudes of even those Amarars (Celestials) noted for clarity of knowledge and understanding) (like Indra and the ‘Nitya Sūrīs’, the ever free angels like Garuḍa), towards the supreme Lord, that is because the wonders (of His incarnation) exceed the bounds of the expansive sky and thus (easily) baffle them all. (Be that, as it may) I (on my part) shall unremittingly bow before the lovely feet of the cloud-hued Lord, which spanned the entire universe, embrace and extol them, with a mind wholly detached from all else. - Verse 11:
Those that are conversant with these ten songs, out of the thousand sung sweetly, as a piece of Divine Service, by Caṭakōpaṉ of Kurukūr, rich and resourceful, in adoration of the one (Supreme Lord) that churned the milk-ocean with its surging waves, exciting the warm admiration and deep reverence of the (otherwise self-centred) Amarars (Devas) will get released from the firm and formidable grip of (the cycle of) births and join the holy band of the Amarars (the celestials) in SriVaikuntam.