DehaLIsa Sthuthi --Part 9( SlOkA 6 )

[Guest guest]

( Dear Memebrs of the Bhakthi group :

 

In the sixth slOkam , Swami Desikan

describes how the three AzhwArs managed

to see the Lord in the dEhaLi of Sage Mrigandu's

aasramam with the help of the special lamps

( deepams ) that they lit . Swami Desikan

elaborates on the power of the special deepams

that they lit .

 

SlOkam 6

***********

 

deepEna kEnachidhaseetha ruchA niseethE

snehOpapanna parisuddha guNArpithEna I

dahrAvakAsa nipiTam dadrushur bahvantham

svAdhyAya yOga nayanA : suchaya: kaveendhrA : II

 

(Anvaya Kramam ) : SvAdhyAya: yOga nayanA : suchaya :

kavi IndrA : , niseeThE aseetha ruchA kEnachidh snEha

upapanna : parisuddha guNa arpithEna deepEna ,

dahra avakAsa nipiTam bhavantham dadhdrusu :

 

(Meaning ) : Those holy men were princes among poets .

With VedAs and yOgA(dhyAnam ) as their two eyes , they

saw You , while you were actively squeezing them in

the small space of the dEhaLi at ThirukkOvalUr during

that celebrated midnight known for its darkness due to

the absence of the lustre of the cool moon . They saw You

with the help of a special kind of lamp , which had snEhA

( ghee, bhakthi ) as the fuel and sathva guNA as the wick .

With this special lamp , they found You pressing

them in the small space of their heart caves .

 

( comments ) :This slOkam celebrates the auspicious event

for which ThirukkOvalUr is famous (viz)., the accidental assembly

of the three great yOgis at the dEhaLi of Mrugandu maharishi

on a dark night and the deliberate squeezing of them by

the Lord of this divya dEsam that resulted in the advent of

the divya prabhandhams from these princes among poets .

 

It is normal for the moon to illumine objects duirng dark nights.

On that special night , there was no moon to assist these Yogis

to find out , who was squeezing them at the dEhaLi . Hence ,

they lit an extraordinary lamp with the help of their deep devotion

and sattva guNAs to have the bhAgyam of His darsanam .

 

It is also common practise for people to take an earthern or

metallic vessel , fill it with ghee or oil , set a wick in that vessel

and light the wick and use it to see objects around in dark nights .

What these yOgis did was quite contrary to this common

practise . Poygai made the world as the lamp vessel , the seas as

the ghee and used Suryan as the wick to illumine the dark dEhaLi .

PutattAr used his deep affection for the Lord as the vessel ,

his intense longing to see You as the ghee and made his

reflections on His auspicious guNAs ( dhyAna -janitha chinthanA )

as the wick and created the light to see Him . Pey aazhwAr saw that

the darkness was banished by the two lamps lit by his peers

and hence with out any effort other than his own pristine bhakthi

saw the Lord and His consort amidst them . The divine speech that

flowed from took the form of the celestial songs constituting

the first three prabhandhams .

 

These three great princes among poets have been saluted

as " kaveendhrA : " by Swami Desikan here following their own

abhivAdhanam of themselves and the eulogies of them by other

AchAryAs . Putattar introduced himself for instance as

" perum Tamizhan ( great Tamizhan ) " and as " JnAna

Tamizh purindha naan " ( as the one , who composed

divine poetry ) . Thiruvarangatthu AmudanAr has saluted

PeyAzhwAr as " Tamizh Talaivan " ( Chief among Tamizh

poets ) . Poygai has been eulogized as " Kavij~nar pOrEru "

( the most powerful bull/vrushabham among poets ) in

the taniyan for Mudal thiruvandhAthi . Swami Desikan

has saluted their poetic skills collectively as " Paattukkuriya

pazhayavar moovar "( the ancient and the hoary threesome )

in Srimadh Rahasya traya saaram .

 

Swami Desikan described that the three parama yOgis

saw the Lord with the choice of the word , " dadhrusu : " .

The Lord can not be seen according to the VedAs

and Bhagavadh GithA . The Lord declares in Srimadh Bahgavdh

GithA : " But thou can not see Me with these eyes of thine ; I will

give thee supersensous sight ; behold my yoga power-supreme

with those divya chakshus " . He says : na thu sakyasE dhrashtum

anEnaiva svachakshush , divyam dadhAmi tE chakshu : pasya mE

yOgamaisvaram " . The three saw what had not been seen until then

by a special kind of lamp ( kEnachidh deepam ) . Their special

deepam was the power of their yOga siddhi , sattva guNAs

and their supreme devotion to the Lord . With these accessories ,

the first AzhwAr lit his lamp with the Sun as the wick and

removed the external darkness . The second AzhwAr lit his own

lamp with his" pining mind " as the wick and banished

the internal darkness. These two lamps have no equal .

 

Swami Desikan has saluted the jyothi arising from these

unique lamps and their assistance to the people of the world

this way : " nAttukku iruL seha , naanmaRai anthi nadai viLanga ,

veetukkidaikkazhikkE veLi kaatum immey vilakkE " ( thus arose

the true light of the lamp -- the three prabhandhams-- which

resulted in the banishment of the darkness of false knowledge

prevalent in the world and illumined the land with the jyOthi of

the distilled essence of the vEdAs and revealed for our upliftment ,

the two upAyAs : Bhakthi and Prapatthi). This is the mey viLakku that

Swami Desikan alludes to as"kenachidh deepam" , which shed light

over the ancient and glorious path carved out by the vEdAs and

upanishads .

 

Swami Desikan born under the light of the Deepa PrakAsan's

agrahAram in ThirutaNNkA ( Thuppul ) had a great fascination

for the deepams , which to him are synonms for supreme

tattvAs . In this sixth verse , he refers to " deepEna

kEnachidh " , the eternal deepams lit by the AzhwArs at

ThirukkOvalUr .

 

Sri D.Ramaswamy Iyengar has pointed out that

Swami Desikan saluted AchArya RaamAnujA himself as the

eternal lamp known as" yathikshamAbruth deepam " ( verse 56 ) .

That deepam is " nirupadhi para snEha bharitha yathikshamAbhruddh

deepam " ( natural and pristinely pure lamp filled with the oil

of supreme devotion to Sriman NaarAyaNA known as

the BhaashyakAra Deepam ) . Sri D . Ramaswamy Iyengar has

further suggested that Swami Desikan out of his modesty named

this work relating to the dispelling of the aj~nAnam of chEthanAs

as " deepikA " instead of deepam . Sri D.R . Iyengar invites hence

our special attention to the last skOkam of this DeepikA dealing

with SaraNAgathi tatvam :

 

snEhOpapanna vishaya sva dasA visEshAth

bhUyas tamisra samaneem bhuvi VenkatEsa : I

divyAm sthuthim niramimeetha sathAm niyOgAth

DeepaprakAsa SaraNAgathi deepikAkyAm II

 

( Meaning ) : The VedAnthAchAryan known as Sri VenkatEsan

created this profound euology known as SaraNAgathi DeepiakA

on VilakkoLi PerumAL ( Deepa PrakAsan ) . In this work ,

he elaborated on the svarUpam and svabhAvam of the Lord ,

who is full of DayA and affection for the chEthanAs . Therefore ,

this sthOthram will banish the aj~nAnam and drive away the

dark clouds of viparitha Jn~nam .

 

Swami Desikan took a clue from the prabhandhams of

the three AzhwArs and named his sthuthi on DeepaprakAsan

as DeepikA or Deepam . He uses the uthprEkshA ( pun ) again

for the words in this slOkam : snEha -dasA -tamisra samanee-

prakAsa . " Sneha upapanna " in the above verse can mean

either full of affection or full of oil ; " sva dasA visEshAth "

can mean either the special approaches used in the sthuthi or

the rest of the wick ; " tamisra samaneem " can mean either

capable of removing false knowledge or external darkness .

 

Thus Swami Desikan equated SaraNAgathi DeepikA

to a lamp . Its oil , wick , darkness-removing quality ,

lustre were compared to snEha , dasA , tamisra samnee

and prakAsam of this deepikA . It is no accident that

Sawmi Desikan used the words " SnEhOpapanna "

in both the DehaLIsa sthuthi ( verse 6 ) and SaraNAgathi

DeepikA ( verse 59 ) . In DehaLIsa sthuthi , it refers to

the bhakthi-laden mind set of the AzhwArs, while they

lit their special lamps ; in the SaranAgathi DeepikA ,

it refers to the affection-laden frame of mind of

Swami Desikan as he lit his own lamp before

the VilakkoLi perumAL , while elaborating on

SaraNAgathi tattvam of the Lord for our benefit .

 

Sri D.Ramaswamy Iyengar comments in this context :

" The AzhwArs showed by the lamps lit by them

the SUPREME TATTVA . Swami Desikan has shown

that the SUPREME MEANS TO ATTAIN THAT TATTVA " .

 

Swami Desikan ThuiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Oppiliappan Koil Varadachari Sadagopan