The beauty of Srirangam is what azhwAr describes beautifully in this pAsuram. With a poetic heart, it has been described as well as with the view of the bhagavattOtamars. The view of the azhwArs is bhAkthi.
Bhakthi being higher than the view of a poet, the poetry - "kavi rasam" is intricately mixed with the view of the bhAkthi.
"tava punya tatAkE meenO bhavami vaa". In the swami pushkarani, venkatamudayAn is getting the theerthavAri and the theertham that fall on the perumals thirumEni, will it not fall on the bhakthas too?
Not just falling, will they not drink it as well. Why because, we drink theertham from the argya pathram that was offered to the thirumEni of the perumal. We also take the "eeravaAda theertham" of the perumal. After that we eat something after we reach home. But this is just for our living.
However for the fish it is the theertham which is mainly the basis for its life and sustenance itself. The fish just lives based on the substance it takes from the theertham. Which theertham it is, the theertham that has been touched upon by the thirumEni of the perumal. Does not the fish live on theertham of Swami pushkarini. Isn't it there that perumal has the theertham on his body, therefore -
"tava punya tatAkE meenO bhavami vaa".
Then come the flowers that are being plucked, aren't these flowers going to be decorated for the perumal.
Can I not have been born as the flower, as a tree or even just as a creeper bearing these flowers that are going to be decorated for the perumal.
Can i not be like that flower - "tava pushpa vanErbhir tanurbhavAmi va". Can i not be the creeper having those flowers. Bhakthas will always possess the shraddha in performing their activities.
Just someone buying a flower for say 100rs which is packed and likewise giving it to the temple as an offering is altogether a different thing. Say we lovingly plant a creeper waiting patiently for the flowers to bloom and even when planting the seed, we decide and make a promise that these flowers are meant only for the perumal, making sure that these flowers are for no other use but solely meant for perumal. Taking very good care of the plant and pouring water lovingly, taking care not to taint it with our breath, saliva or our hair and then tie it as a garland and then offer it to the perumal. That is indeed shraddha, "yadrishir yadrishir shraddha tAdrishir tAdrishir siddhir bhavathi".
How will you succeed in anything, depends on the amount of effort you put into it. Depending on the shraddha you obtain the fruit of your action isn't it?
Bhakthi should be performed with shradhha, thinking this is for the perumal, that is for the perumal only, like that. For offering the nivedhanam to krishna you either keep the butter, seedai, murukku, navaLpazham or anything you keep there, but alongwith that if you don't keep a thing called "bhakthi" all will be a waste. If bhakthi is there then all these are not required. "Pathram pushpAm phalam thoyam" it is enough.
So the bhakthas usually will circumambulate the tree on which these flowers are to be offered and are growing, telling the tree that it will soon become a bhagavatha. Telling the flower, "Can I be always adorning the body of the perumal like you. From morning till the night you will be adorning the perumal. You are such a bhagyavan, instead of being born somewhere you are born right here near the sannidhanam of venkatamudaiyAn", thus thinks the bhaktha. So having that drishti and circumambulating the tree and praying to the tree with reverence. Shedding tears, thinking of the bhagyam of the flower being with venkatamudiyAn. That is how we should take our dristi forward.
Therefore "tava punya tatAkE meenO bhavami vaa, tarur bhavami vaa, atleast" tava divya mandirE stambhO bhavami vaa" - Can I not at least be a pillar in your temple.
Why because, when your bhagavathars who perform the namakeerthanam, when they lean down on the pillar, for such mahans, I should be providing the support for some time at the least.
In a temple, when the time to shutdown has come, they will tell that it is time for all the devotees to leave and they may hustle them to leave, but being a pillar within the temple, can I be moved?
Therefore I will just be a pillar. I will be performing the seva to you being a pillar inside the temple.
Otherwise, I will atleast be the "adiyArgallukku, adiyArgallukku adiyAr" - being the least of them as adiyArgal. Otherwise I will be the doorstep of your sanctum sanctorum - "PadiyAi kidanthum un pavaLa vai kANbeno?" After the kulasEKara padi, I will see "pachai mAmalai pOl mEni pavazhavaI kamala chengan", in that "pavazhavaI", will I not be visualising the adharam from that, will I not mentally take the adharam and can I not hold that as the means of my life?
So what azhwar tells here after seeing everything.
"vaNdinam muralum sOlai" - all the bees in Srirangam are always singing "Ranga Ranga" only.
"mayilinam aalum sOlai" -
when will the bhagyam be attained in this world? Just like for this earth, when a great noble king rules and obtains plentitude or bhagyam. Just like the bhagyam begot from a man, who being steadfast in dharma lives in this world. Just like the bhagyam that is obtained by the timely shower of rains upon the earth, the bhagyam begot out of well bred grains on this earth, when sarva subhiksham happens all over this earth. Such a bhagyam is obtained only when a truthful devotee cries, suffers with anandha bhaspam flowing from his eyes, with deep conviction and from the depths of his heart, when he looks upon the perumal and performs the namakeerthanam. Such a bhagyam is obtained with the touch of this sadhu upon the earth, the tread of such a sadhu bestows all the aforesaid bhagyam upon this earth.
Who is the bhagyavAn? - is it one who has the money, position, beauty, born in a great family?. The one who has bhakthi is the bhagyavAn. There are people who wish to perform yoga, astanga yoga and catch hold of him and place him in their heart. The one performing the dhyAnam is searching for the bhagavan, the person performing karmAnushtAnam by way of chitta shuddi tries to attain the bhagavan, the one performing the vedanta vicharam thinking that inside him there is someone who is an antaryAmi searches for him inside by digging deep within him. But the bhaktan, what does he do? He does not search for the bhagavan, the bhagavan himself is searching for such a bhakthan. Will not there be a bhakthar for me in this world? So many people live in this world for the sake of money, for position, for wife, for his child or just for himself but will not there be one who lives for me, thinks the bhagavan. I want the bhagavan, the bhagavan is my gati, always thinking of my thirumugham and chanting my namam always, being for me and performing my seva - can not one in this crores of sristi be there one who will live for me and think of me? They forget the sristi and think of my created world and even if they remember the bhagavan, it is only with reference to the underlying world that they think of me. Even whilst involving in charitable activities, they think of getting punyam for themselves or when constructing a temple, performing an annadhAnam, helping the poor, giving money for a hospital, giving money for education - always it is for obtaining the punyam. Can this not be done as the good thing and not as for obtaining the punyam? As when doing so and for the sake of just begetting punyam, bhakthi is still of a much lesser degree.
When doing seva to the perumal it must be done with a great desire to do so and not for punyam or perumai, it is still not wrong to be doing seva for punyam alone, although it does not merit a high standard. There is a great happiness to be had when doing seva for the perumal alone and not just for punyam.
Therefore who is most fortunate in this world. One who does not have money but with his bhakthi is able to capture the bhagavan in his heart, he is the most fortunate one!. Further bhagavan himself ties himself firmly into the heart of the bhakthan, why because, the bhagavan is fearful that he might lose this great bhaktha and wishes to stay permanently in this bhakthars heart.
Within these mahakshetrams, there will always be "porappAdu", "thirumanjanam", "kathai", namakeerthanam and there are mahans and bhagavattOtamars present in every street and homes. Whichever sadhu we cast our eyes upon, that itself is great in this place. For one to get sadhu darshanam and their association, which greater place than these kshetrams.
Therefore it is said,
"Vandinam murazhum sOlai, maizhinam Azhum sOlai" -
all the peacocks will be wherever there are gardens and orchards in plenty.
Bhagavan has given something to each and everything, the cuckoo bird ("Kuil") when it sings in the panchamaswaram is so beautiful, the parrot is so beautiful to look at.
The parrot itself is so beautiful, the small cuckoo is even more beautiful when Bharathiar saw an even smaller cuckoo than that - "chinnanjiru kiliyE kannamA".
Why were the bhagavathars associated with the peacocks, not just for the dance but when it spreads its feathers apart and dances, it will be even more beautiful to look, that's why.
When will the peacock dance so beautifully, it is only when there are dark clouds, so dark that it is about to rain heavily and only then.
Likewise the perumal is "kArmukhizh vannan" - Such a cloud bringing rain, here the perumal is ready to rain krupa, therefore there is a similarity (sAmyam) between the rain and the perumal. When the rain showers, it does not differentiate between the ocean, sea, pond, lake, river or drain, it does rain with "samadrishti" over all. Likewise when the perumal showers his krupa, does not have any "paksha pAtham" - differentiation over his devotees. It is the same with the rain too.
Therefore perumal is similar to the cloud as he is "kArmukhizh vannan".
There is a difference between other birds and the peacock. Why has Krishna kept the peacock feather on his head, is it because it is beautiful? Not just that, it is said that there is a behaviour associated with each bird. There is a bird called "thouttu kuruvi" - sparrow, it will build its nest on a tree and if on this tree another bird comes and stays, the thouttu kuruvi will leave the nest and go away and start building its nest in another tree. If the same happens on another tree likewise it will depart. This bird always decides to be all by itself, it is a sadhu and sadhus also will like to be by themselves. Similarly the "pachai kili" - parrot has a pachama swaram. By nature, the peacock is the one which has kAmam at its least.
There is another bird called the "chakOra" bird, it will always be looking for the arrival of the moon and looking forward always to it. Such is the behaviour of the "chakOra" bird. There is a swabhAvam associated with the birds.
Usually we say, dog has a swabhAvam, being with gratitude. Elephant has a swabhAvam that if someone does a wrong, it will take revenge upon them and it has ego as well. Like that, each bird has a swabhAvam of their own. Since the peacock as compared to all the birds has the lowest kAmam, therefore bhagavan has placed it symbolically upon his head.
Therefore these bhagavattOtamars who have conquered the wordly desires and being closely aligned to the behaviour of the peacock, they are usually described with close association to the peacocks. In the heart, they do not possess the wordly desires, instead they possess the bhagavath kAmam, these bhagavattOtamars. They forget themselves by singing and dancing.
It is said "Vandinam murazhum sOlai" - not just the bees are saying "ranga, ranga" here, even the bhagavattOtamars are saying the nama in the same fashion. They are all going on the veedhi porappAdu of the perumal singing "rangEsa mAmpAhi, rangEsa mAmpAhi rangEsa mAmpAhi ranga prabhO", "namO namO rangA". Singing thus, the bhagavathars sing and dance,
"kondazhmidhanavum sOlai" - where the water is aplenty and if the water is not dried up, then the fishes will stay there permanently. Say there is a pond where there is water for just 2 months and in the rest of the 10 months get dried up, then there will not be many fishes found. During the dried up months when the water is not there, these fishes will surely die. There will be many many fishes only in the pond or river where there is theertham permanently available. That is why there are so many fishes in the ocean. The fisherman usually go to the seas and oceans to catch the fishes and not the rivers usually, reason being the rivers sometimes dry up.
Therefore it is said here, "kondazhmidhanavum sOlai" - the fishes have a swabhAvam, there are very soft, sadhu creatures, the sOlai, the kAveri which is inhabited with lots of fishes. It seems the eyes of the fish will not be closed even during the night and as the fish does not usually close its eyes, fishes are called mahans.
There will be a sAmyam between the mahan and the fishes. Just like the mahans who have crossed over the three avasthais of "Jagrath, Swapnam and Sushubdhi" and are present in the state of "thuriyam", these mahans will not have sleep and therefore the eyes of the fishes likewise do not close. Based on that it is said "kondazhmidhanavum sOlai". So in the kshetram known as Srirangam, all these cuckoos are always singing, says azhwAr.
Radhe Radhe
Subham!
