In simple verses it teaches surrender (saranagati) to the Lord, unfolding the meaning of the Dvaya mantra. It is the earliest Sanskrit stotra of the purvacharyas that is still available. Periya Nambi recited its verses in Kanchipuram, and hearing them drew the young Ramanuja into the sampradayam.
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Meaning
Alavandar bows to his grandfather Nathamunigal. Nathamunigal's knowledge and detachment were beyond thought and wonderful, and came to him without strain, by the Lord's grace. He was an ocean of deep devotion to the Lord.
Meaning
Again Alavandar bows to Nathamunigal, who reached the furthest limit of true knowledge of, and love for, the lotus feet of Sriman Narayana, the slayer of Madhu. Nathamunigal's feet are Alavandar's only refuge, in this world and in the next.
Meaning
Once more he bows to Nathamunigal, the best of those who control their senses. From him the ocean of devotion and knowledge about Achyuta overflowed into this world as auspicious words. He came down to earth as the complete form of devotion, the highest good.
Meaning
Alavandar bows to the generous sage Parasara, best of sages. Parasara gave us the Vishnu Purana, the gem among Puranas. It truly shows the conscious beings, the non-conscious world and the Lord, their natures, worldly pleasure and liberation, the means to each, and where souls finally go.
Meaning
The feet of Nammalvar, the first head of our family line, adorned with vakula (magizha) flowers, are everything to me and to all who come after me: mother, father, wife, children and wealth. With my head I bow to those beautiful feet.
Meaning
Here the hymn to the Lord begins. Alavandar will praise the lotus feet of the lotus-eyed Perumal, the treasure and family deity of his line. Those feet shine on his own head and on the crown of the Vedas, and every wish he has finds its fulfilment in them.
Meaning
Even Brahma, Siva and the other gods cannot truly measure one tiny speck of a single drop of the Lord's ocean of greatness. Alavandar laughs at himself: he bows to himself, the shameless poet who has set out to praise that greatness!
Meaning
Then he takes heart. The Vedas, Brahma and the others who praise the Lord all the time can also praise Him only as far as their strength and understanding go. When both an atom and a great mountain sink in the ocean, there is no difference between them. So his small effort is as fitting as theirs.
Meaning
The Lord does not show kindness to a poet for his great talent. He is moved by the effort that goes into the praise. For a slow mind like Alavandar's, that effort comes easily, so this attempt suits him well, O lotus-eyed Lord.
Meaning
If the Lord did not cast His glance, these worlds could not even come into being, let alone act. He is by nature the friend of every creature. So it is no surprise, says Alavandar, that He is so tender toward those who take refuge in Him.
Meaning
O Narayana, which follower of the Vedas would not accept that Your lordship is natural, without limit and beyond all others? Brahma, Siva, Indra, and even the free soul who rules himself are only tiny drops of spray from the ocean of Your greatness.
Meaning
Who is the beloved and the wealth of Sri Mahalakshmi herself? Who is the home of pure goodness? Who is the lotus-eyed one, the Supreme Person? In whose tiniest fraction of a fraction does the whole universe, with its conscious and non-conscious beings, exist? The answer is Sriman Narayana alone.
Meaning
Who else rescued Brahma and Siva from their troubles, such as the theft of the Vedas, a grave sin, and harassment by demons, and then gave them great rewards? Whose foot-water did Siva hold on his head to become holy? Only Perumal's.
Meaning
In whose stomach does the universe, with Siva and Brahma in it, rest? Who protects it, and from whose navel was it born? Who but You measured it with His steps, swallowed it and brought it out again? Who could even suspect that You depend on anyone else?
Meaning
People of demonic nature can never understand the Lord. His character, His form and His deeds, His supreme goodness, the strong scriptures born of goodness, and the teaching of the great knowers of truth all point to Him, yet they still miss Him.
Meaning
The Lord's supremacy goes beyond every limit of time, place and thing; nothing is equal to it or above it. He even hides it by His wondrous power. Yet a few, whose love is fixed on Him alone, see it at all times.
Meaning
The cosmic egg and everything inside it, the layers that cover it, each ten times larger than the last, the three qualities of nature, primal matter, the souls, the supreme abode, and all that is higher still: all of these are the Lord's own wealth and belong to Him.
Meaning
The Lord is in control of all, generous, full of good qualities, straightforward and pure. He is gentle, kind, sweet, steady and equal to all. He does everything and remembers every small good done to Him. By His very nature He is an ocean of the nectar of every auspicious quality.
Meaning
The Vedas try to describe even one of the Lord's qualities. They imagine beings higher and higher above Brahma, each a hundred times greater, step by step. Yet they never get beyond the start of that one quality.
Meaning
For those who have taken refuge in the Lord, even creating, keeping and dissolving the world, or freeing souls from the cycle of birth, is mere play. Even the rules of the Vedas follow the deep wishes of His devotees' hearts.
Meaning
Salutations again and again to the Lord, who is beyond speech and mind, yet is the one place where the speech and mind of devotees come to rest. Salutations to Him whose glory has no end, the one ocean of endless compassion.
Meaning
This is Alavandar's act of surrender. He says he has no firm practice of dharma, no knowledge of the self, and no devotion to the Lord's lotus feet. Having nothing and no other refuge, he takes refuge at the Lord's feet, the refuge of all.
Meaning
There is no wrong deed in the world that Alavandar has not done thousands of times. Now that those deeds are bearing fruit, he says, he stands before Mukunda, helpless, and cries out.
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O endless Lord, I have been sinking in the ocean of birth and death for so long, and now I have found You as my shore. You too, Lord, have now found in me the best possible object for Your mercy.
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Nothing can happen to me that has not happened before, and I can bear it all, since sorrow comes naturally to me. But if one who has surrendered to You is defeated in Your very presence, O Lord, that would not suit Your glory.
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Even if You push me away, great Lord, I cannot let go of Your lotus feet. A nursing baby pushed away by its angry mother still never wants to leave her feet.
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Once a person's heart rests on the Lord's lotus feet, which flow with nectar, how could it want anything else? When a lotus full of honey is there, a honeybee does not even look at a flower that has none.
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Join your palms toward the Lord's feet even once, at any time, by anyone, in any manner, and that very moment it wipes out every evil and makes good things grow. Its power never wears out.
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Even a single drop from the ocean of love for the Lord's two red lotus feet puts out, in a moment, the blazing forest fire of worldly life, and gives the highest joy.
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The Lord's lotus feet measured all the worlds, high and low, in play, and they hurry to remove the sorrow of anyone who bows. Those feet are Alavandar's wealth. When, he asks, will he see them with his own eyes?
Meaning
O Trivikrama, when will Your two lotus feet, marked with the conch, the discus, the wish-granting tree, the flag, the lotus, the goad and the thunderbolt, come to adorn my head?
Meaning
Now Alavandar begins to picture the Lord he longs to serve. He shines in bright yellow silk, His dark, spotless glow like the atasi flower. He has a deep navel, a slender waist, and a broad chest that is the mark of His beauty.
Meaning
The Lord has four beautiful arms reaching to His knees, hardened by the scars of the bowstring. They show the marks of embracing His beloved, whose ear ornament of lotus and loosened hair were pressed against them.
Meaning
Earrings hang down to His high, full shoulders, and His curling locks fall over a neck shaped like a conch. The glory of His face outshines both the spotless full moon and the lotus.
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His lovely eyes are like freshly opened lotuses, His eyebrows move playfully like creepers, and His lips glow. He has a pure smile, soft cheeks, a fine nose, and curls that fall to the edge of His forehead.
Meaning
He shines with a gleaming crown, armlets, necklaces, the Kaustubha gem, a waist belt and anklets. He carries His fine weapons: discus, conch, sword, mace and bow. He wears the vanamala garland, fragrant with tulasi.
Meaning
Here Alavandar describes Sri Mahalakshmi. She made the Lord's chest her home. The ocean of milk where she was born is His beloved dwelling. The whole world depends on her side-glance, and for her the ocean was churned and also bridged.
Meaning
Sri Mahalakshmi is enjoyed by the Lord in all her forms all the time, yet she fills Him with wonder every time, as if she were new. In her qualities, her form and her playful ways, she is perfectly suited to Him alone.
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The Lord sits with her on Adisesha, the serpent who is a home of great knowledge and strength. The light from the jewels on Adisesha's hoods lights up the inside of that divine place.
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Adisesha becomes the Lord's dwelling, bed, seat, sandals, garment, pillow, and umbrella against rain and sun. Because he takes all these forms to serve the Lord, people rightly call him Sesha, the one who exists only for the Lord.
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Before the Lord stands Garuda, who is His servant, friend, vehicle, seat and flag, His canopy and His fan, and whose very body is made of the Vedas. Garuda is beautiful with the marks left on him by the pressing of the Lord's feet.
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Vishvaksena, the Lord's beloved commander, eats what remains after the Lord has eaten. The Lord has handed him the whole burden of running His worlds. When Vishvaksena reports everything, the Lord approves with gracious glances.
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The Lord is served by His other attendants, the eternal servants. By nature they are free of every flaw and fault, their only joy is to do what pleases Him, and each holds the things needed for his own service.
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The Lord delights His queen, Sri Mahalakshmi, with ever-new play full of every kind of feeling, at once innocent and clever. In it, ages pass like a moment. He is the mighty-armed one.
Meaning
The Lord is an ocean of nectar, made of a youth and beauty that are beyond thought, divine, wonderful and eternal. He is the glory of Sri Mahalakshmi herself and the very life of His devotees. He is all-powerful, a friend in trouble, and a wish-granting tree to all who ask.
Meaning
This verse finishes the long sentence begun earlier. When, asks Alavandar, will I follow You alone without a break, with every other wish stilled, as Your own eternal servant? When will I give You joy, and know that my life has a Master?
Meaning
Then Alavandar feels ashamed. Fie on me, he says: impure, undisciplined, unkind and shameless! Even Brahma, Siva, Sanaka and the greatest yogis find it hard to reach that service in meditation, and I want it just because I feel like it.
Meaning
O Hari, I hold thousands of wrongs and have fallen into the frightful ocean of worldly life. I have no other way and I have come to You for refuge. Make me Your own, only out of Your mercy.
Meaning
Worldly life is like a stormy day: the directions are dark with thick clouds of confusion, and sorrow pours down without stopping. O Lord, Achyuta, I have slipped from the path. Please look at me.
Meaning
This is no flattery but the plain truth, Lord. Please hear one request. If You do not show mercy to me, You will hardly find anyone more fit for Your mercy.
Meaning
Without You I have no protector, and without me You have no one so in need of mercy. This bond was made by Your own will. Protect it, Lord, and never let it go.
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Whatever I am in body and nature, and whatever my qualities, good or bad, this very self of mine I now place at Your lotus feet.
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Then he corrects himself: O Madhava, my Lord, whatever is mine and whatever I am already belongs to You. Now that I understand this, what is there for me to offer You?
Meaning
Lord, You Yourself made me understand that I belong to You forever. In the same way, please grant me a devotion that seeks no joy except You.
Meaning
Let me be born even as a worm in the homes of those who love the joy of serving You. Let me never be born elsewhere, even as Brahma.
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Some great souls count the highest pleasures, and even liberation, as straw, because they long to see Your form just once. For them, being apart from You even for a moment is unbearable. Please let such great souls look kindly on me.
Meaning
My body, my life, any pleasure I might desire, even my own self: if anything stands outside the joy of being Your servant, I cannot bear it even for a moment. Let it be broken into a hundred pieces. This, slayer of Madhu, is my true request.
Meaning
I carry a great load of sin with no beginning and no end that I cannot escape. My conduct is low, I am a beast among men, a home for every evil. Yet, ocean of compassion, my true kinsman, sea of endless love, I keep remembering Your qualities and so I wish to be free of fear.
Meaning
Clouded by passion and dullness, I made these words of praise as if I truly longed for You, even when I did not. Still, holding on even to these words, O Lord who bears the earth, please teach my mind to become just as these words say.
Meaning
You are my father, my mother, my dear son and my dear friend. You are my companion, my teacher, and the goal of all the worlds. I am Yours, Your servant, Your attendant, with You as my only goal. I have surrendered, so I am Your responsibility.
Meaning
I was born in a great family, famous in the world. Its people were pure and steady in yoga, knew the truth about matter and soul, and were naturally devoted to Your lotus feet alone. Yet I, a sinner, keep sinking deeper into darkness, O giver of refuge.
Meaning
I keep no limits. I am mean and fickle, the birthplace of envy, ungrateful, proud, ruled by desire, given to deceit, cruel and most sinful. How can someone like me cross this shoreless sea of sorrow and serve Your feet?
Meaning
O best of the Raghus, You were merciful even to the crow, simply because it fell at Your feet. And as Krishna, O simple-hearted Lord, You gave Sisupala oneness with You, though he wronged You birth after birth. Tell me, what wrong is too great for Your patience?
Meaning
Surely I have surrendered to You once, saying, 'I am Yours.' So I am someone You must have mercy on. You made a vow to protect anyone who surrenders even once. Remembering that vow, will You leave out only me?
Meaning
Alavandar closes by pointing to his grandfather, Nathamunigal. His love for the Lord's lotus feet was natural and reached its very peak, and he had mastered himself. Look at him, Lord, and be gracious to me without weighing my own conduct.
The text is checked verse by verse against prapatti.com, sanskritdocuments.org, GRETIL, koyil.org, sadagopan.org. The meanings are simple ones to help the reader; learn the recitation from an adhyapaka.
These are short introductions to help the reader; the works themselves are best studied under one's acharya.
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