sowseelyam

[Guest guest]

For the last several weeks I have been trying to recite

sri baashyakaarar's saraNaagathi gadhyam. Each day, as

I follow the tape, I am reminded of sri srivatsaangaa chaar's

upanyaasams I attended each morning I was in Madras during

my last trip there more than 4 years ago. His descriptions

of swami dEsikan's commentary on saraNaagathi gadhyam was

indeed a treat. Further, starting from last chitthirai (April 94)

azhagiya singar is writing about the Lord's kalyaaNa guNaas

as described by sri raamaanuja. With full of desire and with

complete lack of critical understanding I have begun collecting

some of these and posting them in SCT. I am posting the same here

as well. Please forgive me for my impetuousness.

 

 

regards, Dileepan

-------------------------

 

According to visishtaadvaitham emperumaan (God) is a

ocean of sudhdha satvam. In Sri Raamaanujaa's words,

He is a kalyaaNa guNa gaNa mahaarNavaam. What

ever one's beliefs may be, describing and understanding

some of these guNaas is in itself a delightful experience.

The opportunity to immerse in this ocean should not be

missed as Sri aaNdaaL metaphorically admonishes,

"kuLLak kuLira kudaindhu neeraadaadhE paLLi

kidatthiyO" (thiruppaavai 13). (why are you still

sleeping and not immersing yourself from head to toe,

i.e. kudaindhu ...) thondaradippodi aazvaar laments

missed opportunity of the past with, "un thirukkuNam

seppamaattEn" (thiru maalai 26). (oh! I have not praised

your divine qualities.) Periyaazhvaar counsels us, with

\bt "empiraan vanmaiyaip paadippaRa (3.9.1,) and

dhaasarathi thanmaiyai paadippaRa (3.9.2.)" (sing in

praise of our Lord's mettle, sing in praise of the son of

dhasarathan's traits)

 

Among these dhivya guNaas, six are said to be primary,

NYaanam, balam, aisvaryam, veeryam, sakthi, and

thEjas. From these six many other guNas flow out, of

which twelve are for showering His eternal love on us.

These are sowseelyam, vaathsalyam, mardhavam,

aarjavam, sowhaartham, saamyam, kaaruNyam,

maadhuryam, gaambeeryam, owdhaaryam, chaathuryam,

and sthairyam. These and other kalyaaNa guNaas are

innate to brahman. But it is through the great

avathaaraas described in ithihaasa puraaNaas, aazhvaar

paasurams, and commentaries of our achaaryaas that we

get a glimpse of some of them. I hope I will be forgiven

for my temerity in venturing to present some paasurams

that describe these twelve guNaas.

 

sowseelyam: Friendship shown by an exalted one

towards a humble person without

expecting anything in return.

 

Many examples of sowseelyam can be found in our

ithikaasa puraaNaas. Sri Raamaa's friendship with

Guhan and Sri Krishnaa's friendship with arjunan fall

into this category. Here is an interesting paasuram from

Thirumangai aazhvaar's periya thirumozhi (5.8.2) with

some hidden meanings:

 

\bt

vaadhamaamagan maRkadam vilangu

maRROr saathiyen Rozhindhilai, ugandhu

kaadhalaatharam kadalinum perugac chey

thagavinuk killai kaimmaa RenRu

kOthil vaaymaiyinaayodu mudanE

uNban naanenRa vONporuL enakkum

aadhal vENdumen RadiyiNai yadaindhEn

aNipozhil thiruvanangatthammaanE

\et

 

vaadha = vaayu

maa magan = son with ahangaaram!

maRkadam = monkey

kOthil vaaymaiyin = the one who speaks blemishless words, aancanEyar

uNban = enjoy your embrace - act of friendship

 

"O! Lord of Sri Rangam, you proclaimed your friendship

to aancanEyar with your warm embrace surging with

ocean of love and kindness, without any regard for his

non-human status. With the hope that I may be shown

the same friendship I take refuge in your lotus feet."

 

 

 

Those given to mischievous arguments (kudhaRka

vaathigaL) might say this is not sowseelyam as raaman's

action was in return for what aancanEyar has

accomplaished. This is where "vaadha maa magan" comes in.

 

One interpretation for "maa" is big, i.e. vaayu's big (first)

son. But, with "vilangu maRkadam" there is no

mistaking that AncanEyar, not bheeman, is intended. A

second interpretation for "vaadha maa magan," is the

strong headed son of vaayu. This is consistent with

aancanEyar's attempt to swallow the sun, the first of

ishvaagu lineage. But, more interestingly, AncanEyar

could not find seethai until he realizes and forsakes his

ahangaaram and recites, "namOSthu raamaaya Sa

lakshmaNaaya dhEvyyai cha thaSyai janagaathma

jaayai." Without sri raaman's blessings hanuman could

not accomplish his task. NYaanam being one of his

innate qualities, sri raman was fully aware of this. Yet

he acts as though he is indebted to aancanEyar, "cey

thagavinukku illai kaimaaRu". (This quality is

Gaambeeryam as we shall see later.) With this

interpretation of "vaadha maa magan" the Lord's

sowseelyam gets revealed in this paasuram.

 

 

..... to be continued

 

----------

This and other posts to follow in this subject are based

on the aruL mozhigaL of the 45th azhagiya singar of sri

aHObila madam, sri vaN satakOpa sri naaraayaNa

yatheendhra mahaa dEsikan, published in sri nrusimhap

priyaa starting with bava varusham, chitthirai maasam,

(April 1994), and commentaries of aazhvaar

prabhandams published by The Visishtadvaita Pracharini

Sabha, 27, Venkatesa Agraharam, Mylapore, Madras,

600 004.