Appaya Dikshithar"s enjoyment of Sri VaradarAjan

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Dear members of the Bhakthi Group :

 

The slokam of interest to us is the 105th and final

slokam of Dikshithar"s VaradarAja Sthavam. In an earlier

slokam , Dikshithar had saluted Sri VaradarAja as

the one who has the form of MahA Purushan celebrated

in the four vedas ( Purusha Sooktham ) :

 

" ManyE mahaapurusha roopadharam bhavantham " .

 

In the final slokam , He concludes his eulogy by

focusing on the sarvAnga Sowndharyam or the

Vadivazhagu of the Lord of the Hasthigiri .

 

The slokam with sandhis is as follows :

 

aapAdhamAchikurabhaaramaseshamanga-

maanandhabrundhalasitham sudhrusAmaseemam I

antharmama spurathu santhatamantharAthman

ambhojalochana tava srithahasthisailam II

 

All the experiences that Dikshitar encountered

were explained in the previous 104 slokams.

The integrated essence of that experience is

summarized here .

 

He starts the final slokam with the saastraic

description of the beauty of the Lord from foot to head .

Saastram states : " AapeetAn mowli paryantham

pasyatha : PurushOtthamam" . If one does it that way

by letting one's eyes lift from the lotus feet to the Nedumudi,

( tall crown ) Nedumaal(PerumAL) will chase away all our sins .

Saasthram says in this context :" PathakAnyaasu nasyanthi

kimpunasthUpapaadhakA ". This is why the Lord's

sacred body is described as " SubhAsrayam " and

" Divya mangaLa Vigraham " according to Late

Sri D.Ramaswamy Iyengar , a great devotee of Kanchi

VaradaraajA . Dikshithar follows the Saastraic directive

and starts with the description , " AapAdham AachikurabhAram " .

 

It is not forbidden however to describe the Lord's beauty starting

from the Nedumudi and gradually descend down

for those , who feel comfortable in such an exercise .

Swami Desikan has enjoyed the beauty of the Lord

in both ways. For instance in Sri DevanAyaka Panchasath,

he starts from the crown and progresses towards

the lotus feet of the Lord and down to the Paadha rENu ,

because the Lord of Thiruvaheendrapuram

is the DevanAthan , the emperor of the DevAs . Even then,

he salutes all the limbs of the Lord first with the salutation ,

" Prathyanga Purna sushumA subhagam "

( every limb filled with the sweetness of its beauty ).

 

The next choice of words is " Asesham angam ".

Here Dikshithar refers to every limb of the Lord

and its beauty ( prathyanga PurNa sushumA subhagam ).

This allusion ( Asesham angam ) refers to the earlier celebration

of the unique beauty of every limb of the Lord( slokAs

from 17 to 104) . In the 17 th slokam , Dikshithar pointedly

spoke about the way in which the beauty of each limb makes one

forget about the appreciation of the captivating beauty

of the limb that was just enjoyed . Dikshithar uses an

apt similie here by comparing the enjoyment of one limb

as equivalent to the enjoyment of the pleasures in this life .

He goes on to ask rhetorically , can one remember the pleasures

enjoyed in the previous birth or attempt to guess the pleasures

waiting in store for one in the next birth . Very much like

Kambhan's describtion of the Anga Sowndharyam of

Sri Ramachandra ( tOL kandAr tOLE kandAr ) , Dikshitar

refers to the bewitching effect of the sowndharyam of each

limb of Sri VaradarAjA .

 

In the second line of the slokam , Dikshithar describes the

supremely joyous effect of the anubhavam of the SubhAsrayam

of the Lord with the choice words ," Aanandha Brundha Lasitham ".

The darsana janitha aanandhaanubhavam of each of the limb

of the Lord produces a flood of delectable pleasure . The effulgence

(Kaanthi ) , the softness (Maardhavam ) , fragrance (parimaLam )

all join together to produce that aanandha lahari and unmattham .

Swami Desikan has stated that he has given up describing

the Sowndharyam of the archAmurthy with the statement ,

" AsprushtachinthApadham Aapiroopyam ". The beauty is beyond

one's ken is the statement of Swami Desikan and therefore any

attempt to describe that experience is futile .

 

The next two words of the second line are : Sudrusaam aseemam .

Sudrugh is the one with beautiful eyes. Ladies are usually called

sudrugh . Even these ladies with beautiful eyes could not absorb

the limits of the beauty of each of the limbs of the Lord. That beauty

is limitless ( AseemAmaam ) .

 

Sudrughs also refers to those having the blessed yoga drushTi .

In DandakAraNyam , the sages lost their hearts over the beauty

of the Lord in the manner described by Valmiki :

 

" Roopa Sampannam Lakshmeem sowkumAryam suveshathAm

dadhrusu : vismihtAkArA : Ramasya Vanavaasina : ".

 

Sudrughs like Thirukkacchi Nambhi ( DevarAjAshtakam ) ,

SrivatsAngamisrar and Vedantha DesikA had enjoyed and

tried to describe the beauty of VaradarAjA before .

Appaya Dikshithar followed their sampradhAyam

and added to our kula dhanam on Hasthigireesan .

 

Sri Dikshithar's prayer is " Antharmama spurathu

santhatham ". May the beauty of those celebrated

limbs of the Lord shine always in my mind is his

devout prayer .

 

The next sloka word is a mighty one and relates to one of

the central tenets of VisishtAdvaitham . He addresses

VaradarajA as " Antharathman " . O soul of my soul !

O aavi of my aavi ! Like soul for my body , You are the

antharAthman present as the soul for my soul !

In addition to the existence of You inside me as

antharAthman as svaroopa siddham , I also want

to experience you as ArchA murthy in your divya mangaLa

vigraham . Sri Dikshithar is one of the greatest Adhvaita

AchAryAs and yet he was comfortable linking with

the central doctrine of VisishtAdhvaitam ( Sarira-Saareeri tathvam ) .

Another great Advaitha Acharya , Madhusoodhana Sarasvathi

has a similar experience , when he meditated on the suguNa

Brahmam , Lord KrishNA and cried out :

 

" asmaakanthu tadEva lochana chamathkArAya bhooyAth chiram

kALintheeshu yadh KIMAPI tanneelam mahO Dhavathi "

 

Here Madhusoodhana Saraswathi offers his salutation to the

blue jyothi running on the sand banks of YamunA river . Similarly ,

Sri Dikshithar was overcome by the joy of experiencing the blue beauty

of Lord VaradarAjA and prayed to Him as his antharAthman .

 

The remaining two words of this last slokam are " AmbhOja Lochana "

and " Sritha hasthisailam " . Dikshithar addresses the Lord and

salutes Him as the Lotus -eyed one ! He compares the beauty

of the Lord's eye to the just-blossomed lotus flower . Here the

reference is to the grammar ( LakshaNam ) of the Lord"s eyes .

SaastrAs say , " PundarikAkshathvam PARABRAHMA LAKSHANAM " .

Dikshithar hints here that he has realized VaradarajA as Parabrahmam .

 

Until now , Dikshithar used generic terms related to Sriman NarayaNa

in describing the beauty of the Lord of Kanchi . Now , he concludes

the slokam with the specific attribution by describing the object of

his salutation is none other than the supreme one standing on

the top of Hasthigiri in His Svayam vyakthaa form .

 

Sri Dikshithar asked for the blessings of Lord VaradarAjA in

the very first verse of his with his prayer : " ParipoorNa roopa :

srEyas sa mEh disathu SAASVADHIKAM Mukundha : " . He

was not asking for transient, evanescent pleasures , but

the lasting pleasure of Moksham .

 

In the next posting , I will discuss the choice words and

similies that Swami Deikan used to celebrate the beauty

of Sri VaradarAjan of Kanchi .

 

PerundEvi Sametha Sri VaradarAja ParabrahmaNE Nama

Oppiliappan Koil VARADA ( RAJA ) Sadagopan