lakshmi-nrsimha karavalamba stotram-9

[Guest guest]

Dear bhAgavatOttamA-s,

 

There is an old English saying that there is really nothing to fear in

the world but Fear itself.

 

In the Vedantic sense the foremost and most deep-rooted fear in the

life of a man of true wisdom is his utter fear of desire… "kAmA". He

ought to fear it truly as if it were a "jwAlAvalee"… a great forest

fire!

 

Everything therefore which such a man of Vedantic wisdom resolves in

his lifetime to do to overcome such fear ("bhayam", "bheeti") he must

spare no effort to carry out. But he must first learn to pray to the

Almighty and beseech for grace and aid in carrying out such resolve

and such endeavour.

 

The "lakshmi-nrsimha karAvalmba stOtram" is one of the finest examples

of prayer offered by the Vedantic Man.

 

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To ask why the Vedantic Man should fear the great "jwAlavalee" of

Desire is like asking why one should fear a forest fire.

 

Why should we fear a mighty, overpowering inferno which (like the

Indonesian one we described in the last post) spews flames into our

homes, blights our skies and seas, fills poison into our lungs and

strikes terror in our hearts? Why, indeed?

 

The answer lies in the old English saying again… "There is nothing to

fear in the world but Fear itself".

 

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If a forest-fire (such as our handy Indonesian example again!) spreads

terror and mayhem amongst men… if such a conflagration is the

universal object of the deepest human dread… then according to Verse#3

of the "lakshmi-nrsimha karAvalamba stOtram" … according to Sankara's

line therein,

"samsAra-dAva-dahanAtura-BhikarOru-jwAlAvalee-Bhirati-dagDha-tanuruhas

ya …"… according to the LNKS the fire of human desire, the

"jwAlAvalee" of human lust, too, ought to be the object of our

deepest, most chilling fear.

 

Desire, like a fire of the forest, feeds on everything that it

advances upon… so says the "manu-smriti".

It burns, burns and burns! It never tires of burning. It does not burn

from 9 to 5 in a day and then say to itself, "I've done a proper day's

work! Now I must take time off to rest!". Nor does it say, "I've

burned enough for today. I'll come back tomorrow and finish off the

rest". (How the Indonesians would have wished their fires had really

done so!)

 

Nothing appeases a "kAmA-jwAlAvalee". It will stop at nothing at all

to destroy the human spirit.

 

What fire is perhaps too weak to destroy, it certainly "blackens". The

fire of desire, repressed but unconquered, that lies within the human

mind, slowly but surely, disfigures it with the soot of nescience.

 

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Sankara bhagavatpAda in using the metaphor of fire in this stanza to

denote the fear "kAmA" induces in us is, thus, distinctly echoing the

"jagat-guru gitAcharyA Sri.KrishnA", the Supreme One:

 

"Avrtam gnyAna~maythEna gnyAninO nitya~vairiNa I

kAma~rupENa kounthEya dushpurENAlEna cha II" ( Ch 3 Verse 39)

 

"The fire indeed, O Arjuna," said Sri Krishna, "verily, the undying

fire is the constant enemy ("nitya~vairiNa") of the Man of Wisdom

("gnyAni")! It blackens ("Avrtam") his true awareness ("gnyAna")! It

is of the form of Desire… "kAmarupEna"! It is the voracious

("dushpurENa") ember ("analEna") of lust!".

 

If Sankara bhagavatpAdA was a Sanskrit poet extraordinaire,

SriKrishna, the Supreme Being, was indeed the poet non-pareil!

 

The Lord chooses to use the rare synonym "analEna" in the place of

Sankara's relatively commonplace "jwAlAvalee". Both make reference to

the metaphor of "fire" indeed and to the fear of "kAmA" which it

archetypes. However, there is a subtle difference in their respective

poetic emphasis. To really appreciate the "rasa" … the semantic

flavour… of this verse in the LNKS it is important we grasp the

difference between "jwAlAvalee" and "analEna".

 

Those of you who are Tamil speaking will be familiar with the world

"aNal". It refers to the glowing embers of a fire and to the torrid

but subdued heat it generates. ("aNal-kAtthu" in Tamil is the

expression popularly used to characterise a summer breeze which

generates heat like a blast-furnace.) Also, you can see embers in an

"agni-kundam" (fire-hearth) with which a "nitya-agnihOtri" (one who

offers daily oblations to the fire god) has performed vedic "homam"

(fire-ritual).

 

The fires in the "kundam", if you have cared to observe, do not leap

fiercely out of it; the fires are subdued. The fires do not burst

forth into flames; they instead glow steadily. The flames are not

flashing red; they are a dull amber in colour. The fires do not roar

as in a "jwAlAvalee"; instead they crackle or growl softly like "aNal"

always does. Sparks do not generally blaze out of such a fire; thin

wisps of smoke invariably do.

 

The measure of poetic difference between "jwAlAvalee" and "aNal",

between the forest-fire and the ember, is the distinction between the

Fear of Desire ("kAmA") afflicting ordinary souls like us

("a-gnyAni-s") and that which the Vedantic Man… the "gnyAni" or the

man of Wisdom… strives in his lifetime to overcome.

 

All the same, for both man of wisdom ("gnyAni" or the Vedantic Man)

and man of the world ("a-gnyAni"), Desire remains a "nitya~vairiNa"…

a constant enemy. For, while the "jwAlAvalee" easily consumes up the

"a-gnyAni", the "aNal" perennially threatens the aspiring "gnyAni"

with the same fate too.

 

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Verse #3 of the LNKS thus essentially offers up the following thought

for our serious contemplation:

 

If even great "gnyAni-s" shudder with fear at the prospect of

succumbing to the "aNal" of desire, how much more fearful we, mere

"a-gnyAni-s" of the world, ought to be of the great "jwAlAvalee" of

"kAmA"!

 

Therefore, should we not all hasten to beseech aloud to the Lord of

Ahobilam:

" Hay! lakshmi-nrsimha! mama dEhi karAvalambam !"?!

 

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In the next post, we will take up verse #4 of the LNKS dealing with

the second primal fear of man: the "tyranny of the senses" symbolised

as "the fish-net" in Sankara's line:

 

"samsAra-jAla-pati-tasya …sarvEndriyArTha-baDishArTha-jashOpamasya

prOth-Kandita-prachura-tAluka-mastakasya …".

 

Like fish drawn by lethal bait

And then tangled, impaled and shred…

These mortal coils too have lured and trapped

My soul and every sense …

 

AdiyEn dAsAnu-dAsan,

Sudarshan

 

 

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