Sri Varadaraja Sthvam: part XXVIII: SlOkm 17

[Guest guest]

Dear Sri VaradarAja BhakthAs:

 

Today , adiyEn will cover the 17th slOkam of

SrI VaradarAja Sthavam dealing with the celebration

of Vibahava avathArams of the Lord ( In the previous

two slOkams , KurEsar focused on the Para and VyUha

forms Of Sriman NaarAyaNan):

 

iyam vayyUhI vai sTithiraTa kilEcchAvihrutayE

vibhUthInAm madhyE sura-nara-tirachAm-avatharan

sajAthIyas-tEshamithi thu vibhavAkhyAmapi bhajan

KarIsa! Thvam pUrNO varaguNais-thAn sTagayasi

--SrI varadarAja Sthavam: SlOkam 17

 

(meaning): Oh Lord VaradarAjA of Hasthi Giri !

What adiyEn referred to in the earlier two slOkams

is about Your VyUham state . Is it n't that so?

Beyond that , Oh Lord , You enter into additional

states such as Vibhavam to engage in play on Your

earth (Your LeelA VibhUthi) and incarnate among DevAs,

Humans and animals . In these VibhavAvathArams ,

Oh Lord , You who is the abode of unlimited auspicous

guNams hide them and take on births among the dEvAs

and Humans , who clearly do not have guNams comparable

to You. Your vibhavAvathArams come to be because of

Your sankalpam and not because of the consequences of karma

as in the case of humans and dEvAs .You are Vara-guNa-

paripoorNa VaradarAjan . You hide them SvAbhAvika GuNams)

duirng Your vibhava avathArams and make those who come

close to You comprehend Your Souseelya GuNam .

 

Prose order Meaning

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

KarIsa ! = Oh Lord of the Elephant Hill !

 

iyam sTithi

vayyUhI vai ? = Is itn't that so that adiyEn's

two previous slOkams in this Sthavam

are about VyUha nilai of Yours ?

 

aTa: kila

icchA vihrutayE = On top of that VyUha state , for

purposes of Your sport

 

vibhUthInAm

sura-nara-tiracchAm

madhyE avataran Thvam = You incarnate among Your posssessions/

vibhUthi( dEvAs, humans , animals

and birds etal)

 

vibhavAkhyam bhajan = and enter into Yet another of Your five

states (viz)., Vibhava state (Raama ,

KrishNa etal)

 

vara-guNa-gaNai: PoorNa: api = although You are filled with Your

anantha kalyANa GuNams in these

vibhava avathArams

 

tEshAm sajAthIya: ithi

thu thAnn sTagayasi = You are born as a human being and hide

Your anantha kalyANa GuNams and want

the human beings to consider You as

one of them and belong to their category .

What a wonder?

 

additional comments :

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

Here reference is made to the six amsams (aspects)

of avathAra rahsyam of the Lord . SlOkam 17 of

SrI SaraNAgathi DhIpikai covers these six rahasyams:

 

1)avathAram takes place , when adharmam grows and

there is haani(danger) to dhrmam (dharam samsthApanArTAya

sambhavaami yugE yugE)

 

2) The avathArams of Sriman NaarAyaNan are not

illusory , but real (akapaDai:)

 

3) In those avathArams , the svAbhAvika guNams

(iyaRkkaiyAna tanmaikaL) are not abandoned ; they are

very much part of Him in even these manushyAvathArams

et al (ajahath svbhAvai:)

 

4)During these avathArams , Your ThirumEni is not made up of

pancha bhUthams like ours , but it is of suddha satthvam free

from rajas and tamas( aprAkrthai:)

 

5) Your avathArmas are not associated with karmAs like

in our cases , but originate because of Your own sankalpam

(nija vihAra vachanE siddhai:)

 

6) Your avathArams are not for enjoying the fruits

of karma phalans .They are for protecting Your BhakthAs

like PrahlAdhA and punishing those , who are unrighteous

( Kamsan, Raavanan)and terrorize the world with their

dhushtAchAram ( aathmIya rakshaNa , vipaksha vinaasa

arTai:).

 

These are anaga avathArams (blemishles incarnations)

and uphold the krutha yuga dharmam( aadhya dharmam

samsTApayasi).

 

Swamy Desikan refers to these same six rahasyams about

the avathArams of SrIman NaarAyaNan in this way:

 

" avathArasya sathyathvam ajahathsvasvabhAvatha

suddha-satthvamayathvam cha svEcchAmAthra nidhAnathA

dharmaglAnou samudaya: saadhu-samrakshaNArTathA

 

SrIvathsAngAcchAr Swamy refers to the ThiruvAkku of

Swamy NammazhwAr in this context: " inninna yOniyumAi

piRanthAi imayOr TalaivA !" ( Oh Lord DevarAja! How

wonderous it is to reflect on the fact that You incarnate

in Your LeelA VibhUthi in so many yonis such as mathsyam,

koormam, Varaham, Nrusimham , Vaamanan ,Raaman , KrishNan

et al). You become worried whether Your devotees will

be intimidated by Your loftiness as Isvaran and run

away from You thinking about their own lowliness (unfitness)

and You therefore hide your supreme qualities and say

to them as You did in RaamAvathAram: " aathmAnam maanusham

manyE Raamam DasarathAthmajam " I am just the son of a human

being named dasaraTan. You should recognize me thus

and mingle with me as a human being ). Even when He goes thru

these extraordinary efforts to hide His Isvarathvam and

lets bhakthAs like Arjuna to treat Him as equal and as a friend

with whom , he (Arjuna)can take liberties, they recognize

Him as SarvalOka SaraNyan and SarvEsvaran and enjoy

His souseelyam.

 

In this 17th slOkam , KurEsar is raptourous over

the reflection on the souseelya guNam of Lord VaradarAjan

which makes Him hide His Vara GuNa GaNams and mingle

with every one equally in His avathArams. The souseelyam

and soulabhyam are celebrated by Swamy Desikan in the 27th

SlOkam of his SrI VaradarAja PanchAsath in the spirit of

KurEsA's celebration of SrI VaradarAjan's Souseelya GuNam:

 

souseelya-bhAvitha-dhiyA bhavathA kaTamchith

samchAdhithAnapi guNAn Varadha thvadhIyAn

prathyakshayanthi avikalam tava sannukrushtA:

pathyustvishAmiva payOdhavruthAn mayUkhAn

 

(meaning): Oh Varada PrabhO! although Your Soulseelya

guNa anushtAna sankalpam hides with considerable effort

Your natural lofty GuNams as SarvEsvaran, those who

are near and dear to You recognize Your sarvEsvarathvam

directly and enjoy Your svabhAvika GuNams . Clouds may

hide the Sun and the people may not be able to see the Sun

behind those clouds. But those , who are near the Sun and

dear to the Sun like AruNan clearly see the Sun and

revere him .It is the same with You , when it comes to

your hiding Your guNams during Your avathArams.

 

Sri VardarAja ParabrahmaNE Nama:

Daasan, Oppiliappan Koil V.SaThakOpan