Sri GodhA Sthuthi: part III (SlOkam 1)

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Dear BhakthALs :We will salute the first line

of the first slOkam of GodhA sthuthi in this posting.

 

Origin of the GodhA Sthuthi

****************************

 

The first slOkam of GodhA sthuthi

arose from Swami Desikan spontaneously

as he stood on a side street at SrivilliputthUr

on a PradhOsham evening to find out the origin of

fast approaching sounds of the mangaLa vaadhyams .

 

He was observing mounam (silence ) befititng

the occasion of the PradhOsham evening . He was

planning to go to ANDAL Sannidhi later for

MangaLAsAsanam . When he heard the sounds of

Koil vaadhyams , he stepped out from the inside of

the house, where he was staying to find out as

to what was happening .To his greatest surprise

and joy , he saw the archA moorthy of ANDAL being

carried by temple servants approaching him , as it

was being carried on the backs of the temple servants.

 

ANDAL's normal processional route did not include

the street , where Swami Desikan was staying .On this

special day , there was some theettu on the main street

and the temple priests had rerouted the procession

to include the street where Swamy Desikan was staying

as an alternate route . Swami Desikan's astonishment

at this unexpected bhAgyam and his parama bhakthi for

ANDAL poured out in the form of 29 slOkams in two

beautiful Sanskrit poetic metres known as

Vasantha Tilakam and Maalini .

 

ANDAL's special affection for Swami Desikan

********************************************

 

ANDAL seems to have created a situation to receive

MangaLAsAsanam from Swami Desikan as soon as possible

instead of waiting for Swami Desikan to come to Her

Sannidhi inside the temple.Hence , She came to

where Swami Desikan was , as if to welcome him

to Her dhivya dEsam as soon as She could. In the case of

AchArya RaamAnujA , She left Her sanctum (Garbha graham )

and rushed to welcome him as Her elder brother for

fulfilling Her pledge to offer 1000 vessels of akkAra-adisil

to Lord SundararAjan of ThirumAlirum ChOlai. After

that reception to AchArya RaamunjA , the ThiruppAvai

Jeeyar , She never went inside Her sanctum and stays

even today at the ardha manTapam . In the case of Swami

Desikan , She engineered to arrive in front of the house

outside Her Thiru MaaLikai Veedhi , where Her parama

bhakthan was staying during his visit to Her city.

Moved by that exraordinary display of Vaathsalyam

and dayA of ANDAL , the LOka MaathA , our Kavi Simham

poured forth in rapture his eulogy of Her anantha

KalyANa guNams .Thus originated the GodhA sthuthi

and its 29 slOkams .

 

The first slOkam

******************

 

Sri VishNu chittha kula nandhana kalpavallIm

Sri RangarAja harichandhana yOga dhrusyAm

SaakshAth KshamAm karuNayA KamalAmivAnyAm

GodhAm ananyasaraNa; SaraNam prapadhyE

 

(meaning): Oh GodhE! adiyEn performs prapatthi

at Your sacred feet as one, who has no other recourse !

adiyEn has no one else for my protection . You are

the KalpakA creeper adorning the Lord standing as

the auspicious Harichandanaa tree in the flower

garden of the kulam of VishNucchitthar , Your father.

The darsanam of the celestial Harichandanaa tree

united with You as the KalpakA creeper is a blessed

sight to see . In Your limitless patience with

the aparAdhis , who transgress Your Lord's

commands , You appear verily like BhUmi Devi ;

in Your limitless compassion , You resemble

MahA Lakshmi Herself . AdiyEn offers my prapatthi

at Your sacred feet as the one , who has no

other means .

 

The Inclusion of Sri Sabdham at the outset

*******************************************

Recognizing the most auspicious , unanticipated

occasion , Swami Desikan started the first slOkam

with the parama mangaLa "Sri " sabdham (Sri VishNu

Chittha Kula--) .In the second line was also started

with the "Sri" sabdham ( Sri RangarAja Harichandana--).

 

The first word of this first slOkam is "SriVishNu"

and not plain "VishNu". Lord VishNu , who is never

without His consorts is what Swami had in mind .

Desika Bhaktha Rathnam , Sri U.Ve.SevA SwamigaL

has explained the uniqueness of each of the Consorts

of this VishNu NaarAyanan. MahA Lakshmi (Periya PirAtti )

blesses us with Her KaruNA katAkshams ; BhUmi Piraatti

pleaded with Her Lord to bless us with a laghu upAyam

(easy means ) for our mOksham and received the revered

VarAha Charama slOkam ; Nappinnai PirAtti (NeeLA dEvi)

enchanted Her Lord so that His angry glances (nigraha

dhrushti) will not fall on us , who trespass His

commands repeatedly; ANDAL has the uniqueness of

performing upadEsams for us , preparing us to

come near Her Lord and reminding Him of His sworn

duties to save us inspite of our aparAdhams ,

once we perform prapatthi.

 

The Choice of VishNu naamam following "Sri" nAmam

**************************************************

 

The first slOkma starts this way :" Sri VishNu chittha

Kula nandhana kalpavallIm ". Let us reflect on the choice

of "VishNu " and "VishNu Chittha " by Swami Desikan

at the very beginning of this sthuthi .

 

ParAsara Bhattar has reminded us as to who is

VishNu and what His significance is in the first two

verses of his ashta slOki , where he elaborates on

the greatness of AshtAksharam :

 

"akArArthO VISHNU: jagadh-udaya-rakshA-praLaya kruth"

--First line of Ashta slOki(1)

 

(Meaning ): The Supreme Lord , who creates , protects

and destroys the Universe is VISHNU and He is

denoted/dscribed by the letter "A" of PraNavam.

He is therefore the "akaarArthakan " , the meaning of

the first letter of Pranavam .

 

In his second slOkam of ashta slOki ,ParAsara

Bhattar describes his relationship to this

Sarva SEshi as His sEsha bhUthan and states that

he is not for himself , but is for performing

kaimkaryams to " Sri VishNu" at all times ,

places and states as the most natural thing to do

(reminiscent of ANDAL's ThiruppAvai Vaakyam:

" unakkE naamAtccheyvOm ".

 

akArArAthAyaiva svamahamaTha mahyam na nivahA:

--ashta slOki : slOkam 2 passage

 

(Extended Meaning ): adiyEn , the meaning of makAram ,

the second letter of PraNavam (MakArArthan)is

the sEsha bhUthan of Sri VishNu and no one else .

The relationship between Sri VishNu , the akAra -

vaachyan and adiyEn the Jeevan ( the MakAra Vaachyan)

is denoted by the third letter of PraNavam ,

the UkAram , which states that the sambhandham (bond)

between the Lord , the Sarva Seshi and the Jeevan,

the sEsha BhUthan is inseperable and that bond does not

belong to anyone else.

 

Such are the deep meanings that come to adiyEn's

mind , when adiyEn reflects on the choice of

"Sri" padaham and "VishNu" naamam as the first words

chosen by Swami Desikan in his first slOkam .For

additional elaborations on the significance of

the name "VishNu " and what it stands for ,

the reader is referred to the articles of

Sri U.Ve.MukkUr LakshmI NrusimhAcchAr Swamy

about Manthra Raaja padha SthOthram that are

being serialized in Sri Nrusimha PriyA magazine.

 

Sri VishNucchittha Kulam

*************************

 

VishNucchitthar is the name chosen by the AzhwAr ,

who is the father of ANDAL .He gave us ThiruppallANNDu,

where he wished benedictions to the Lord out of

his pongum parivu . VishNu and the chinthanais

about His anantha KalyANa guNams was always on

his chittham (mind) and hence he was known as

VishNucchitthan .

 

The name also in a generic sense represents all

BhaagavathALs including the AzhwArs , who are

said to belong to the anjukkudi. These all are

VishNucchitthALs . ANDAL was the santhathi

(descendant ) of this anjum Kudi , the kulam

that is afraid of trespassing the injunctions of

Sriman NaarAyaNan and commititng any apachArams

to His bhaagavathALs.That is an anjum kudi

(God-fearing group ).ANDAL was the unique

progeny of this anjum kudi.Sri SevA Swami

points out that these VishNucchitthAs have

on their mind the commands of GeethAchAryan :

 

mayyEva mana aadhathsva , mayi budhdim nivEsaya,

nivasishyasi mayyEva , atha Urdhvam na samsaya:

Geethai: 12.8

( Focus your mind on Me alone;and let your

buddhi enter into Me. Then, you will live

in Me alone;there is no doubt about this.

 

manmanA bhava madh bhakthO madh yaaji maam namaskuru

mAmEvaishyasi yukthvaivamAthmAnam mathparAyaNa;

--Geethai : 9.34

(Focus Your mind on Me, be My devotee ,be My

worshipper. Bow down to Me .Engaging your mind in

this manner and regarding Me as the supreme goal ,

you will come to Me ).

 

sarva dharmAn partithyjya maamEkam charaNam vraja

aham thvA sarva paapEbhyO MokshayishyAmi maa sucha:

Geethai: 18.66

( Completely relinquishing all dharmAs , seek Me

alone for refuge. I will release you from all sins.

Grieve not .

 

VishNucchittha Kula Nandhana KalpavallI :ANDAL

***********************************************

 

It is in this VishNucchitha Kulam , ANDAL incarnated.

She appeared as an infant with illustrious beauty

under a TuLasi tree in VishNucchitthar's nandhavanam

(Flower garden) on an AadippUram day. Sri VishNu-

chitthatr was a god-fearing Munkudumi ChOzhiyar and

Saama SaakhA adhyAyi ( Saama veda Kulam ). Kulam is

very important to ladies. SeethA PirAtti as the avathAram

of BhUmi davi had described Herself earlier as:

" Kulam samprApthayA PuNyam kulE mahathi Jaathayaa "

Mahathi kulam is Janaka Raaja Kulam for SitA PirAtti.

here , it is Sri VishNucchittha Kulam . The whole

Kulam is a nandhavanam (NandhayathI ithi nandhanam).

She became the kalpavallI , which delighted that

whole VishNucchittha Kulam .She was the wish granting

KalpakA tree in that auspicious VishNucchittha Kulam .

 

Thus ends the salutation to GodhA in the first line of

the first slOkam . Swami Desikan goes on to salute

ANDAL's other kalyANa guNams in the other three

paadhams of the slOkam set in Vasantha TilakA metre.

We will cover those salutations in the next posting.

 

ANDAL ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,

Daasan , V.SatakOpan