The Lord has revealed Himself before the Āzhvār’s mental vision in all His might and majesty in that glorious setting; the Divine Consorts and the Nitya Sūrīs, who make the supplicant’s position safe and sound by virtue of their good offices, are around; the Lord is the Sovereign Master of all the worlds and apart from the immensity of His wealth, He is omni-potent, He

No doubt, it is the Lord’s grace that makes the Āzhvār cry out for it all the time, till it actually descends on him, without indulging in any kind of aberration, egging him on to self-effort to induce His grace. An irrepressible longing for quick consummation, resulting from inordinate God-love, made an impatient Āzhvār attempt quite a few methods, aimed at acceleration

(i) The Āzhvār’s enquiry, as above, could either point out to the Lord, how at all His devotees can sustain themselves if He doesn’t oblige them with His sweet presence, the great Elixir of life, but keeps away, as He is doing at present,

or

express the doubt as to how His reputation as the henchman of His devotees, aired through the Scriptures, the Itihāsa Purāṇas

The Āzhvār hitherto subsisted on the sure and certain knowledge that God subserves His devotees, ready to do their bidding and assume the Forms they devoutly long to enjoy. But his knowledge and faith, in this great trait of the Lord, are getting shaken, in his present state of dejection. The Lord is undoubtedly the repository of innumerable auspicious traits and it is

(i) In the preceding song, the Āzhvār would appear to have provoked the Lord into questioning him, how one, so ill-equipped as he, could think of attaining Him and on the top of that, doubt His greatness and bonafides. The Āzhvār’s answer is that he is but the body and the Lord, the life within, whose bounden duty it is to take care of him. There was hardly any question

(i) The Āzhvār’s query is how he can, on his own, attain the Lord Who is the Supreme Controller of all the worlds, Agni, Indra and other deities, worshipped by the respective votaries in different climes, the rituals performed, as part of such worship, as well as all things lying in the regions beyond. How can a lame man get on to the top of Mount Meru? The lameness denotes

The Āzhvār says that the knowledge of the Lord being the Supreme Controller of all things and beings, abiding in all, which sustained him hitherto, is forsaking him now, the sinner that he is. Time, with its triple components of ‘Past’, ‘Present’ and ‘Future’ and all things and beings embraced within its folds, are but the Lord’s modes. The Āzhvār could, therefore, discern

(i) The Āzhvār would appear to have been pulled up by the Lord as to why he did not even make a formal obeisance to Him. The Āzhvār clears up the position by pointing out that, as one who belongs to Him, lock, stock and barrel, and is wholly dominated by Him, even this formal act of bowing has to be ordained by Him.

(ii) The very traits of the Lord, which do sustain

To those gifted with the vision of the Lord’s Universal Form (Viśvarūpa), like Prahlāda and Nammāḻvār, it should indeed be possible to perceive the presence of the Lord everywhere, looking upon Hell and spiritual world alike, with perfect mental equanimity. The doubt, therefore, arises why the Āzhvār abhors existence over here and aspires for his ascent to spiritual world,

(i) Although the Lord has still not obliged the Āzhvār with His presence, the latter is jubilant that he has not been contaminated by the worldlings and the Lord’s lovely feet are unto him what food and raiment are for the worldlings. This is indeed a great favour done to the Āzhvār by the great Lord, who has not only made the Āzhvār abhor and abjure the ways of the world

This end-song epitomises the contents of this decad and avers that those who recite this decad will attain salvation, even though they have been immersed for ages in sensual pleasures, straying away from God-head.

(Piramaṉ=Brahmā; Uruttiraṉ=Rudra)