lakshmi-nrsimha karavalamba stotram-5

[Guest guest]

Dear bhAgavatOttamA-s,

 

"na vaktum~api shakya~tE naraka-garba vAsAdikam

vapuscha bahu dhAtukam niPuNa chintanE tAdhrusham

trivishtapa mukham thathA divi padasya tE deevyataha

kimatra na bhayAs-padam bhavati ranga prithvi patE !"

(-- Verse 13, Swami Desikan's "abeethi-stavam")

 

The 'wise ones' know

Thy Dwelling to be

Higher than paradise

The celestials' glee;

All abodes in the womb of this world

They know too well

Are the gateways of hell;

And all which lives in flesh and blood,

Tell me, O Ranga,

Has it anythin' but terror ever bred?

 

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Ask yourself the following simple questions in trying to understand

the above verse:

 

(1) If the world held no fears ("bhayam", "bheethi") whatsoever for

us… would we ever be moved to show genuine "virakti" for it?

 

(2) If deep in our hearts there did not lurk the fear of pain or of

indignity which we know the infirmities of this world inflict on us…

if we did not expect to undergo the sufferings narrated as "pEdhai

bAlagan-athAgUm peeNi pasi-mUppU~thhUnbum" (by Tondar-adi-podi AzhwAr)

…if the world did not hold for us the terrors of ageing, disease,

senility, death, and futility… would we really weary of it?

 

(3) In the story of the old merchant (recounted by Mukkur Swamy- ref:

my last post), did we not see his sense of kinship with the world

suddenly surface at the very last moment before death and completely

prevail over the "virakti" that had otherwise been his wont in life?

 

(4) If this world held no fears for us… none whatsoever of any

conceivable kind… would we ever make the effort to turn skyward and

plead helplessly: "lakshmi-nrsimha mama dEhi karAvalambam !"?

 

(5) If this world held no prospect of fearful maladies for us … none

whatsoever… of what earthly use then are the "realms of the

celestials" to us… those "realms" which Swami Desikan calls "divi

padasya"?

 

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Now, if man's worldly fear ( "bhayam", "bheethi") is the principal

cause of his world-weariness ("virakti"), what are these fears?

 

If you go back to Verses #3 through #11 of the "lakshmi-nrsimha

karavalamba stOtram" you will see that Sankara bhagavathpAdA

enumerates these "fears" to be 9 and symbolizes them through the

following metaphors:

 

(a) "… jwAlAvalee" : the forest-fire

 

(b) "…jAla-pati-tasya" : the fish-net

 

© "…koopa" : the well, the abyss

 

(d) "…Bheekara-kareendra" : the irate tusker

 

(e) "…sarpaGana" : the serpent

 

(f) " … vruksha" : the tree

 

(g) "…nakra" : the alligator

 

(h) "…sAgara" : the sea

 

(i) "…gahanE" : the forest

 

 

Each of the above metaphors are indeed very rich in both poetic and

philosophic significance.

 

We must spend some time in trying to explore them all in the following

posts.

 

adiyEn dAsAnu-dAsan,

Sudarshan

 

 

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