The Āzhvār pleaded, in the preceding song, that He should not be despised by the Lord and made to drift away from Him. The Lord, who had endowed the Āzhvār with perfect knowledge of the Divine, could not, however, appreciate the basis of the Āzhvār’s complaint. The Āzhvār makes his position abundantly clear in this song. Situated as he is, in this land of nescience, open
In the profound eighth pāsuram of this chapter, the divine exchange between the jīvātmā and the Paramātmā reaches a point of acute distress. As our revered ācāryas, beginning with Nañjīyar, have illumined, the context is a poignant dialogue wherein Emperumān asks the Āzhvār, “Did I ever banish you?” To this, the Āzhvār, deeply immersed in the anguish of separation,