Sri DehaLIsa Sthuthi --Part 5

[Guest guest]

Dear Memebers of the Bahkthi group :

 

The first verse of this Sthuthi consists of Swami

Desikan's prayerful appeal to the presiding deity of

ThirukkOvalUr ( ThirukkOilUr ) for his rakshaNam

(protection ) . Swami salutes the Lord , who measured

the universes and the space beyond in His two strides .

 

Swami recollects that during His incarnation as

the dwarf brahmachAri , the Lord asked for three

steps of land as a gift and then expanded and

measured the earth and space and made them His own .

The Maharishis , emperor MahA Bali , the dEvAs ,

BrahmA , SivA and all thsoe who witnessed the miracle

of the Lord's sprading feet sweeping the expanses

slauted Him as the prime cause behind the existence

and functioning and the dissolution of the universe .

 

Our AchAryA points out to us that the Lord of such glory

and power presides over this divya desam and blesses

every one with parama purushArhtam and prays to Him

to extend His net of protection to him as well .

 

The first slOkam containing the above thouhgts

is as follows :

 

Vikramya yEna vijithAni jaganthi bhoomnA

viswasya yam parama kaaraNam aamananthi I

visrANayan praNayinam vividhAn pumarthAn

GopthA sa mE bhavathu GopapurAdhirAja : II

 

The anvaya kramam flows this way :

 

Yena bhoomnA jaganthi vikramya vijithAni ,

Yam viswasya parama kAraNam aamananthi ,

praNayinAm vividhAn pumarthAn visrANayan ,

Sa: GopupurAdhirAja : mE GopthA bhavathu

 

Sri D.Ramaswamy Iyengar"s translation brings

beautifully the meaning of this verse . I will quote

his traslation for the verse and add my comments .

 

" May that Supreme Ruler (King ) of Gopapuri

(KovalUr ) by whom the worlds were (stepped over)

measured and conquered , who is regarded as the ultimate

cause of the Universe , who bestows the various

kinds of PurushArthAs on His devotees , May He be

my protector ! " .

 

In this slOkam set in the third person , Swami Desikan

has three major themes in mind to slaute the greatness

of the Lord of Gopapuri . The first is " Yena bhoomnA

jaganthi vijithAni " ; the second is " Yam viswasya parama

kAraNam aamananthi " and the third is (Ya: ) praNayinAm

vividhAn pumarthAn visrANayan " .

 

1 .YENA BHOOMNAA JAGANTHI VIKRAMYA VIJITHAANI

 

Appropriately enough , Swami Desikan starts with the

word " Vikramya " to remind us of the VikramaNam

(stride) of the Trivikraman of this divya desam . The Lord

incarnated as VamanA on the SravaNa DvAdasi day

in the aasramam of Sage Kasyapa and his wife Athithi .

Sri NaarAyaNeeyam saLutes the birth of the Lord

as VamanA in the 30th dasakam :

 

prAsUtha cha PRAKATA VAISHNAVA DIVYA RUPAM

Saa DVAADASEE SRAVANA PUNYADINEH BHAVANTHAM

 

The moment he was born with sankam and chakram , he hid

His avathAra rahasyam and assumed the form of a brisk ,

dwarf brahmachAri ( patutamam vaturUpamAdhA : )

Thereafter , the brisk brahmachAri proceeded to the site of

Maha Bali's yajnam . Under the mighty steps of this

BrahmachAri , the earth bent ( BhaarENa ghAm

sannamayanpadhE padhE ) according to Srimadh

Bhagavatham . The appearnce of this extraordinary

celibiant at the Yajnam is further described by Srimadh

Bhagavatham through the following verse :

 

chathram sadhandam kamandalum

vivEsa vibhradhdhayamEgavAtam I

 

mounchyA mEkalayA veetham upaveethAjinOttharam II

 

jatilam Vaamanam vipram maaNavakam HARIM II

 

This Hari NaarAyaNan dressed in the garb of a BrahmachAri

asking for Bikshai with his dhandam , umbrella , kamandalu ,

munji belt , jatai , upaveetham with the krishNajinam to hide

the presence of inseparable MahA Lakshmi on His chest

arrived and begged for three feet of land ( bhUmim pAdha

traya parimithAm praarthayAmi ) . Inspite of the protestation of

his AchArya , MahA Bali granted the wish and poured water in

the extended hands of the Kapata Vaaman to solemnize the deed .

What happened next is beautifully described by Sri NaarAyaNa

Bhattadhiri :

 

divyam rUpam tava cha tadhitham pasyathAm visvabhAjA-

mucchairucchairavrudhatheekruthya VISVAANDA BHAANDAM

 

The little figure of Vaamana mUrthy set the brahmAndam as its

border and grew on and on instantaneously . One foot covered the

earth and measured it; the other foot stepped up and measured

the aakasam and beyond .

 

This VIKRAMANAM of the Trivikraman celebrated by the

Sri VishNu sahasra Naamam passage ,

'IsvarO vikrami dhanvI medhAvi vikrama krama: "

becomes the immediate object of attention of

Swami Desikan and becomes the first word of

the first verse of this Sthuthi ( Vikramya ) .

 

That He conquered and reclaimed the Universe

that is always His is referred to in the subsequent words:

" Vikramya yEna vijithAni Jaganthi " ( By whom the universe

was pervaded , measured and conquered ) .

 

What was the power behind such a conquest ?

What was the vidhyA used to achieve this superlative

deed asks Swami Desikan next and answers with

one word , which forms the final word of the first

paadham of this first slOkam of dEhaleesa Sthuthi .

That word is BHOOMNAA . This word has a profound

upanishadic significance and is very dear to

Achaarya RaamAnujA and occurs in ChandhOgya

Upanishad as BhoomaadhikaraNa vidhyA .

We will cover the signinficance of this word

pregnant with meaning to understand Swami

Desikan's meticulous choice of this word

to salute the Anantha kalyANa guNaas

of dEhalIsA of ThirukkOvalUr .

 

Swami Desikan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan