Sri DehaLIsa Sthuthi -- Part 10( SlOka 7 )

[Guest guest]

Dear Members of the Bahkthi group :

 

I will cover the seventh slOkam in this posting .

In this slOkam , Swami Desikan salutes the great

upahAram that the three AzhwArs did in revealing

the sowseelya guNam of BhagavAn . Sowseelyam

aspect of BhagavAn relates to His sama bhAvam

that permits Him to mingle with the high and the low

with equal ease . Sri D.R . IyengAr describes this slOkam

as a very sweet one for us to enjoy .

 

SlOkam 7

***********

 

kAsAra pUrva kavi mukhya vimardha janmA

paNNA tatEshu subhagasya rasO bahusthE I

tvath paadha padma madhuni tvadhanaya bhogyE

nUnam samAsrayathi nUthana sarkarAthvam II

 

( Anvaya Kramam ) : kAsAra pUrva kavi mukhya

vimardha janmA paNNA tata ikshu subhagasya thE

bahu: rasa: tvadh ananya bhOgyE tvath paadha padma

madhuni nUthana sarkarAthvam sAmAsrayathi nUnam .

 

( Meaning ) : " The large quantity of juice that was produced

when Thou , who art sweet like the sugarcane growing on

the banks of the river PeNNai , wert crushed by ( the crushing

mill made up of ) the three great poets , evidently attained

the state of fresh sugar at the honey of Thy feet enjoyed by

those , who are devoted to Thee to the exclusion of all else " .

 

Sri D.R. Iyengar described this slOkam as a delectably sweet

one because it deals with the sweet mystical experience of

the three AzhwArs , when they extracted the sweet essence of

the Lord , when He squeezed them tightly at the dEhaLi of

sage Mrugandu . Swami Desikan associates their sweet mystical

experience to the taste of sugar cane , its juice and the rock candy

originating from it mingling with the honey of the Lord's sacred feet .

 

The Lord of ThirukkOvalUr residing at His divya dEsam on

the banks of PeNNARu is compared to the tasty sugarcane

growing there ( PaNNA tatEshu subhaga : ) . He is as enjoyable

as the sweet sugarcane growing abundantly even today on

the banks of the PeNNARu . Swami Desikan , who had a great

admiration for Thirumangai followed the dhvani of Thirumangai's

paasuram in this slOkam . The specific reference is to the fourth

paasuram on ThirukkOvalUr (2.10.4) by Thirumangai , where he

describes first the Lord of ThirukkOvalUr as the nectar for

the bhakthAs , who eulogize Him with tears of joy welling in

their eyes ( aangarumbi kaNNeer sorndhu anbu kUrum

adiyavarkku aar amudham aanAn ) . Next , Thirumangai

compares the three AzhwArs to the honey bees tasting

the delectable juice of the unique sugarcane standing on

the banks of PeNNARu : "--kuzhAm varivandu isai padum

paadal kEttu , theenkarumbu kaNN vaLarum kazhani

soozhndha ThirukkOvalrathanuL kandEn nAnE " .

 

The dhvani in the above paasuram section of Kaliyan

has been pointed out as focussed on the word "karumbu "

and " kuzhAvarivandisai " . The AayanAr of ThirukkOvalUr

is the sugarcane ( karumbu ) and the three prabhandhams

of the mudal AzhwArs are the songs of the honey bees

( kuzhAvari vandisai ) . That was the delectable naama

sankeerthanam generated by the three AzhwArs as a result

of their taste of the sweet juice of the sugarcane ( AayanAr)

growing on the banks of PeNNARu . The ecstacy arising

from their bhakthi to the Lord , who out of His sowseelya

guNam mingled with them and made them enjoy Him as

" nUthana sakkarA " or fresh sugar made from the juice

of that sugarcane . This nUthana sakkarA is so sweet

that it ends up enhancing the natural sweetness

of honey flowing from the Lord's sacred feet .

 

AzhwArs and AchAryAs are fond of comparing

the Lord to sweet sugarcane and His

lotus feet to sweet nectar . For instance , PeriyAzhwAr

has compared the Lord to Kannal ( sugarcane ) and

others have saluted Him as akkArakkani . AlavandhAr

has saluted the nectar flowing out of the Lord's lotus

feet and has asked rhetorically , how anyone

that has laid his soul at Your lotus feet exuding

nectar-like honey , develop a taste for anything else ?

 

Swami Desikan weaves the above themes in his seventh

slOkam , when he refers to the Lord as Ikshu subhagan

( sweet like ripe sugarcane ) . The Lord 's sowseelyam

is described by Swami as "bahu rasa : " ( plenty of juice ).

Vedam itself enjoys the Lord as " RasOvaisaha: " ( bliss

absolute ) .

 

These azhwArs ( kAsAra pUrva kavi mukyA : ) serving as

the three rollers in a sugarcane crushing mill

produced abundantly flowing juice ( the three hundred paasurams) ,

which crystallized into a sugar hill as visulaized by Swami Desikan

in the first slOkam of DayA sathakam ( Ikshu sravanthyA iva

yanmurthyA sarkarAyitham) .

 

Swami Desikan refers to the ananya bhakthi of the three

AzhwArs as " tvadhananya BhOgyE " echoing the question

of AlavandhAr , " tavAmruthassyanthi paada pankajE

nivEsithAthmA katham anyath icchathi ? " The three

AzhwArs enjoyed " the Bahu rasam " of the Lord's nectar-sweet

feet just like the sweetness associated with the mixture of

fresh sugar with honey ( Tvadh paadha padhma madhuni

nUthana sarkarAthvam ) . Lord's sowseelya guNam makes

the enjoyment of the Lord's nectar-like feet parama bhOgyam

to the AzhwArs and through them to Swami Desikan and

finally to us .

 

Swami Desikan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri sadagopan