Dehaleesa Sthuthi -- Part 8.1

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Dear Members of the Bhakthi group :

>From the sloka 8 to 16 of Sri DehaLIsa

sthuthi , Swami dEsikan focuses on the many

beautiful aspects of the Lord's avathAram as

Trivikraman. we will cover these eight slokAs

as a set that deals with this theme of salutation

to the many facets of this celebrated avathAram .

We will cover four slokams ( 8 to 11 ) in this posting.

 

SlOkam 8 :

 

vairOchanE sadasi vAmana bhUmikAvAn

vikrAnthi tANdava rasEna vijrumbamANa : I

chakrE bhavAn makara kundala karNa pAsa :

ssyAmaika megha bharithAmiva saptha lOkeem II

 

(Anvaya kramam ) : BhavAn vairOchnE : sadasi Vaamana

bhUmikAvAn vikrAnthi tANdava rasEna vijrumbhamANa:

makara kundala karNa pAsa: saptha lOkeem ssyama

Eka megha bharithAm chakrE .

 

( Extended Meaning ) : O Lord of ThirukkOvalUr ! Once

upon a time , you took on the role of a small dwarf

and went to Bali chakravarthi"s yAga Saalai and got

as gift three steps of land . Immediately after receiving

that dhAnam , you wished to occupy the entire universe

and you accomplshed this goal in a trice through

your dancing feet of the rapidly growing TrivikramA form . Thus ,

You pervaded the seven worlds . At that time , you looked like

a blue cloud (girdle ) encircling the seven worlds .The lustre

of your makra kundalams adorning your ears shone like

flashes of lighting originating from that blue cloud of Your

subha tanu ( auspicious body ) . You who expanded to

enfold the seven worlds as Trivikrama are now happy to be

crushed in a little space of a dEhaLi by the three bhakthAs

of Yours !

 

Swami dEsikan states that the Lord took on the role

of Vamana Brahmachari as an actor who dons a role on stage .

MahA Bali , the grandson of PrahlAdhAzhwAn was a great

bhakthan and parama vaidhikan . His ego drove him however

to cause a lot of harm to the dEvAs. The Lord had to control

him and teach him a lesson .Hence he took on the role

of a kapata Vaamana brahmachAri and came to MahA Bali's

yAgam .Humbly , the Lord asked the emperor Bali to deed Him

three steps of land measured by his tiny steps . MahA Bali felt that

the little dwarf was asking him such a trivial gift and encouraged

the Vaamana BrahmachAri to ask for some thing commensurate

with his status as the emperor , who had vanquished the dEvAs.

 

Our Lord persisted in his request for three steps of land and

the unsuspecting Bali was ready to pour water on the hands of

the Vamana mUrthy to seal the deed . SukrAchArya , the guru

of Bali chakravarthy figured out that the dwarf was none other than

Sriman NaarAyaNA standing in front as the kapata vAmanan

to deprive his disciple of his empire and status. SukrAchArya

protested to Bali and asked him not to consummate the requested

dhAnam . The generous and proud Bali would not hear of going back

on his word and went ahead with the gift and poured water on

the hand of VaamanA bhagavAn and completed the deeding .

 

The Lord , who got His way was elated with joy and began to

perform a dance , which consisted of one foot spreading over

the earth as if it was measuring it ; the other foot shot upward

to envelop the sky and beyond ( VikrAnthi ) . The word vikrAnthi

has yet anothe rmeaning beyond enveloping ; it also means

heroic or valorous . This heroic vikrAnthi of a dance ended up

enveloping the seven worlds just as a cloud that forms a girdle

(mEkalai ) around the globe . The Vaamana murthi took on

the Viswa rUpam and transformed Himself into Trivikraman .

His color (vaNNam ) is like the dark blue cloud of the rainy

season ( Muhiluruvam ) . The Lord's makara kundalams

( kundalams in the form of mythical makara ) adorning His

ears shone like the lightning breaking out of the blue cloud

of His subhAsrayam . His form expanding and growing

by leaps and bounds without let is saluted by

Swami Desikan here as " vikrAnthi taaNdava rasEna

vijrumbhamANa: " .

 

Swami Desikan has been inspired by Thirumangai

Mannan's paasuram ( 8.1.3) on the Lord of ThirukkaNNapuram

when he refers to the Lord's Makara Kundalams

shooting out their radiance as lighting shafts . AzhwAr's

words are : " minnu mAmaNi MAKARA KUNDALANGAL

VIL VEESUM " . Swami dEsikan salutes in the spirit

of Thirumangai the jyOthi of those Makara kundalams

with the choice of words : " ChakrE bhavAn

MAKARA KUNDALA KARNA PAASA :

SSYAAMAIKA MEGHA BHARITHAAMIVA SAPTHA LOKEEM " .

 

Slokam 9 :

 

In this verse , Swami dEesikan visualizes the sowlabhayam

of the Lord in permitting Himself to be circumscribed and

squeezed by the Mudhal AzhwArs in the space of a dEhaLi .

 

The slOkam is as follows :

 

chithram na tath thrishu mithAni padhEshu yath thE

viswAnyamUni bhuvanAni visankatEshu I

bhakthai: samam kvachithasou bhavanaikadEsE

maathi sma mUrthiramithA tadhihadhbhudham na: II

 

( anvaya Kramam ) : ViswAni amUni bhuvanAni visankatEshU

thE thrishu padhEshu mithAni yath tath na chithram amithA

asou mUrthi: bhakthai: samam kavachidh bhavana EkadEsE

mAthisma , tath iha na: adhbhutham .

 

( Meaning ) : O Lord of ThirukkOvalUr ! It does not appear as

a wonderous deed to us, when You transformed Yourself

as TrivikramA and brought the entire universe under Your

three steps ; but , what fills us with awe and wonder is

what You did on a rainy night at the small space of a dEhaLi

in ThirukkOvalUr . Then , You let Your gigantic body spanning

the entire universe get squeezed in between the three AzhwArs,

who themselves were pressed against each other in

the tight space of the dEhaLi of Mrugandu muni's aasramam .

 

Steeped in adhbhutha rasam , Swami dEsikan reflects

on the form of Trivikraman that grew to cosmic size compressing

itself to enter the tiny space occupied tightly by the three

bhakthAs of His at the dEhaLi . In that mood of wonder

(adhbhutham ) , the erstwhile act of the Lord sweeping

the sky and earth with two strides of His pales into

insignificance in the mind of our AchAryA .

 

SlOkam 10 :

 

bhakthapriya tvayi tathA parivardhamAnE

mukthA vithAna vithathis tava pUrvamAseeth I

hArAvaLi : paramathO rasanA kalApa:

tArA gaNas tadhanu mowkthika nUpura sree: II

 

Here , Swami dEsikan is till awe struck over the adhbhutham

that happened at the tiny dEhaLi at ThirukkOvalUr .

The thought of the Lord , who expanded in all

eight directions to pervade the universe shrinking now to

a tiny form to squeeze Himself , fills the mind of

Swami Desikan and he once again reflects on that

viswa rUpam of the Lord as Trivikraman . He concludes

that it is the bhaktha vaatsalyam of the Viswa rUpi that

made Him take the tiny from to enter the crowded dEhaLi

to be near His dear ones .

 

Swami addresses DehaLeesan and says :

 

Bhaktha priya ! tvayi tathA parivartdhamAnE ,

tArA gaNa : pUrvam tava mukthA vithAna vithathi: aaseeth ;

param hAra aavaLi : athO rasanA kalApa: (aaseeth );

tadhanu mowkthika: nUpara sree: ( aaseeth ) .

 

( meaning ) : O Lord who loves Your devotees !

When You grew as Trivikrama to measure the worlds with

your expanding steps , different scenarios presented

themselves before the eyes of those , who were blessed

to witness that wonderous scene .

 

During the first stage , as Your head shot upward ,

the assembly of stars looked like a celestial canopy

( VithAnam ) ; As you continued to grow and

pierced that canopy , the assembly of stars appeared like a

pearl necklace around Your beautiful neck .

 

You went on growing . At the next stage , the cluster of stars

decended down to the level of Your waist and there they

took on the role of Your waist band . Your TrivikramA form

grew further and now the assembly of stars were at the level

of Your ankle . There they appeared as resplendent nUpurams

( ankle ornaments ) . Such was Your viswa rUpam , where the

sky hung at the level of your ankles . Is it n' t a miracle that You of

such gigantic form shrank Yourself to a form that fitted in the

narrow space of a dEhaLi because of your affection for

Your bhakthAs ?

 

In his dasAvathAra sthOthram , Swami Desikan has saluted

the gigantic strides of Lord Trivikraman as " Traivikrama:

vikrama: na avathu ) . Swami's mind starts with the Lord's

thirumudi (crown ) and ends at the sacred feet . He sees

around those feet the sky (canopy with bejewelled stars )

serving as the silambhus ( NUParams ) . Swami visualizes that

limitless form of the Lord as TrivikramA transforming itself to a

tiny from to fit the proportions of the dEhaLI to be close to

his parama bhakthAs .

 

SlOkam 11:

 

bikshOchitham prakatayan prathamAsramam tvam

krishNAjinam yavanikAm kruthavAn priyAyA : I

vyakthAkruthEstava sameekshya bhujAntharE thaam

thvAmEva Gopanagareesa janA vidhusthvAm II

 

( Meaning) : O Lord of Gopa Puri ! When You took on

the role of prathama Asramam ( Celibiate ) that is

required to seek bhikshA (alms ) , You created a curtain

(yavanikA) of krishNAjinam ( maan thOl or the skin of

a black antelope worn by brahmachAris ) . You created

that curtain to hide Your consort MahA Lakshmi residing

forever on Your chest . When You transformed into

Trivikrama rUpam and revealed Your real self , then

all the witnesses of the scene were blessed to have

the darsanam of Your consort , who with Her svaym-

jyOthi makes Your chest region resplendent ( MaanAtheetha

prathitha vibhavAm mangaLam mangaLAnAm ,

VAKSHA : PEETEEM MADHUVIJAYINO BHUSHAYANTHEEM

SVAKAANTHYAA ) . When the blessed ones saw Your

splenderous form as TrivikramA with the SrEyOmUrthy ,

MahA Lakshmi on Your vakshasthalam , then they had

no doubt about your nature as Lakshmipathi and

Sriman NaarAyaNan .

 

Here , Swami dEsikan salutes MahA lakshmi , who

is never without Him . NammAzhwAr's paasura line ,

" ahalahillEn yenru AlarmEl mangai urai mArbhA "

must have come to Swami's mind . He has pointed out

to us in one of his MummaNikkOvai verse that MahA Lakshmi

takes an appropriate form to accompany Her Lord in every one of

His avathArams . The situation during His avathAram as a

Vaamana BrahmachAri is a ticklish one . He is a celibiate and

is supposed to be unmaaried ; at the same time , He could

not be without Sri Devi . He solved the problem by hiding Her

under the krishNAjinam ( deer skin ) attached to His sacred

thread . As a kapata Vaamanan , he played this trick to " assert "

His " Brahmacharyam " .

 

The Lord and His consort are an inseparable pair as Swami has

acknowledged in Sri Sthuthi : " nishprathyUha praNaya gatitham

Devi nithya anapAyam , VishNusthvam cha ithi anavadhi guNam

DHVANDHVAM ANYONYA LAKSHYAM " . Here , Swami has revealed

that this extraordinary couple can be understood only through

each other and are united by the immeasurable bond of love for each

other and therefore are inseparable even for a second from

each other . Hence there is no way for MahA Lakshmi to be

separated from Her Lord or for the Lord to be unaccompanied by Her

even if He has to take on the role as a BrahmachAri during

VamanAvathAram .

 

Swami explains in another slOkam of Sri Sthuthi

that MahA Lakshmi takes on appropriate avathArams

to accompany Her Lord and those different forms are like

the waves driven by the wind of Her sankalpam arising from

the ocean of bliss , which is Her Para Roopam in Sri Vaikuntam :

 

yasyAm gacchanthi udhaya vilayai : nithyam aanandha sindhou

icchA vegha ullasitha laharee vibramam VYAKTHAYASTHE

 

Vyakthathaya : refers to Her incarnations to accompany

the Lord during His different avathArAs .

 

( To be continued )

 

Swami Desikan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Oppiliappan Koil Varadachari Sadagopan