daya and its synonyms

[Guest guest]

srimathe sri lakshmi-nrsumha parabrahmanE namaha

sri vedanta desika guravE namaha

 

Dear BhagavatOttamas,

 

At the outset here's wishing you all a very happy deepavali! May the Grace

of Lord Krishna protect and nourish us all through many more Deepavalis as

in the years gone by!

 

"divya-pAngam dishasi karunE yeshu saddEsikAtma kshipram

prAptA vrishagiripatim kshatrabandhva dayaste I

vishwAchAryA vidhisivamukhA svAdhikarOpa ruddha manye

mAthA jada iva sute vatsalA mAdrissE tvam II"

 

The above lilting verse 50 of Swami Desikan's Daya Satakam has haunted me

(and all of you too, consequently, I fear) the past few weeks. Amazingly it

has taken us/me through a little journey in the past few weeks that I have

not ventured before. To recollect, it all started with:

 

a) building a frequency-distribution table of 'daya' and its synonyms as

appearing in the 'daya satakam'

b) comparing the respective degrees of superlativeness of each of the

synonyms with the other

c) digging into the 'vishnu sahasranamam' for equivalent synonyms

d) comparing the 'sahasranamam' synonyms with ones in the 'daya satakam' and

picking out the verses which are most illustrative or illuminative of them

e) picking out verse 50 above to illuminate the 'sahasranamam' synonym

viz."sundaha"(melting tenderness) equivalent to "anukampa"

f) attempting to establish that "sundaha" and "anukampa" find the most

exquisite expression as a mother's love for an imbecile-offspring -- "jada"

-- in this verse 50

g) exploring why the Lord must be obliged or compelled to bestow His "daya"

on "jada"(insentient matter)--- this we did by briefly speculating on the

cardinal philosophical underpinnings of Sri VisishtAdvaita : "sarira-sariri"

and "na mama".

h) taking a little detour to SriRangam and visiting Sri.Parashara Bhattar

for a while and watching him demonstrate practically to his disciples the

way the concept (of "jada" enjoying the Lord's "anukampa") applies to even

daily life in Sri Rangam as seen in the episode relating to the "kovil

madapalli jadam"(kitchen-idiot).

 

When I look at the ground I have covered above I cannot help thanking the

Lord for taking me along with Him in the past few weeks on a little

excursion and showing me the pleasant sights and scenery of the great

landscapes that dot the empire of Swami Desikan. Now I realize in a very

vague and infinitesmal way how the great "mahAns" of the past, the Alwars,

the bhaktas and bhagavatas, were all known to have lost themselves utterly

in their experience of the Lord's

"kalyana-gunAs" !!

 

I should believe that some of you too may have enjoyed it since some of you

sent me messages to that effect. To you I send my wishes that you too should

be enabled by the Lord to carry on with the experience (or is it

experiment!) in your own time and pace. It is quite easy to do if you

beseech the Lord.

 

As for me, I would like to conclude this series of my attempts to essay a

few thoughts on the Daya Satakam. I would have loved to go the distance by

trying to critically examine "vedaha" and "suvrataha" from the Sahasranamam

and associate them with "daya" as portrayed in some gems in the Daya Satakam

verses. I have to deny myself the pleasure due to lack of time at the

moment. With the Grace of the Lord, perhaps, I would be able to do it on

some future occasion.

 

In my next posting which will conclude this series, I shall complete my

commitment (self-imposed) of essaying a few thoughts on how Swami Desikan's

poetic ideas (of "jada" qualifying for the Lord's "daya") have been

illustrated in an episode from Srimad Bhagavatam in the chapters relating to

Lord krishna's "leela-s" (the "pranks" of the Lord as a "child" in His

foster-parent's house and which have great esoteric significance for

Sri.Vaishnavas).Here again I owe everything to my "guru"

U.Ve.Sri.Lakshminarasimhachariar.

 

srimathE srivan satagopa sri narayana yathIndra mahadesikaya namaha

 

 

sudarshan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

srimathE lakshmi-nrsumha parabrahmaNE namaha

sri vedanta desika guravE namaha