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Dear Bhagavatas,

Here is the continuation of the translation of the commentary of Sri

Periya Vachchan Pillay long time after the Avatarikai. Though Adiyen can

never do justice to the vyakhyanam of PVP, the amazing spectrum of

ideas and interpolations of which Sri PVP was capable of, can not be

faithfully reflected after comprehension in this poor attempt in english

to express the wonderful and unexpected hairsplitting analysis of PVP.

Still my temptation to spread this to the Bhagavata world overrides my

hesitation. And so please read on....

 

 

 

Srimate Ramanujaya Nama:

 

Sri PeriyavachchAn Pillay's commentary on Jitante stotram.

 

 

1> Jitante pundarIkAkSha namsthE vishvabhAvana

 

namasthE stu hriShIkEsha mahApuruSha pUrvaja.

 

 

1) pundarIkAkSha - oh lotus eyed, this object called soul has been

conquered by you. nama: - this is not mine. tE - This is yours.

vishvabhAvana - oh creator of all the universe. HriShIkEsha - controller

of senses. mahApuruSha - oh greatest among the givers, munificent. pUrvaja

- born prior to all. namstEstu - this soul should be divested of my

ownership and should become your rightful possession.

 

 

This sloka tells how the Lord conquers the straying person by

displaying His beauty and makes him pray to Him as the decided goal.

 

 

The straying person has taken a vow as it were of deviating and

diverging from God (cf. yAdAnum paRRi nIngum viratam) and indulging in

other sense objects. The Lord on the other hand, chases the person as it

were, severs his interest in the sense objects, inculcates svarUpa jnAna

in him, and pledges not to return without the gaining ownership of the

person. Whenever he strays to other objects of interest, He displays His

beauty and conquers him (cf. irundAn kandukondu). Being pleased with the

person's defeat, He asks "who is defeated?" ; then the person replies (cf.

tORROm mada nenjam emberumAn nAraNarku) that "victory is Yours. Is there

something that You cannot conquer by the brahmAstra of Your lotus like

eyes. (pundarIkAkShatva)". After all it is only by way of the eyes that

living beings can impress influence and enslave each other. So here it

says that You are conquering us with the help of lotus-eyes. (cf. iNaik

koottham kolO ariyEn)

 

 

 

A self-willed person can be brought around by shAstras but to bring

around a viShaya pravaNa, (one who indulges in sense objects), is there

any other implement better than beauty.

 

namastE - Now who conquered whom and whose property? I have stolen the

Atma belonging to You. You conquered me and took back Your property. (cf.

aham api na mama bhagavata Eva aham asmi). The word - nama: - denotes

surrendering. namastestu -- kindly prevent the usurpation of the soul by

me and appropriate it for Yourself. When God is helping me by creating my

interest in Him for His benefit, why should I, a chetana rush and solicit

for His slavery (kainkaryam) ? The moment He created interest for a

chetana in Him and enlightened him with svarUpa jnAna, the next

spontaneous thing for the chetana is to wake up and solicit for His

kainkaryam, in line with what is appropriate for his svarUpa.

 

When the hunchback dwarf (kubjA) woman's hunch was removed by Lord

krishna, she requested krishna to come to her house for enjoyment. (cf.

vastrE pragrihya govinda , mama gEham vrajEti vy). Likewise, here too God

removes a hunch of the Atma - chetana, in the form of ahankAra and

mamakAra by displaying His beautiful eyes. When the svatantrya of the

chetana is removed and pAratantrya shines through, he becomes fit for the

spirit and taste of kainkaryam.

 

 

Similarly, the Lord impressed the florist, mAlAkArar, by His beauty,

made him fall at His feet several times and made him offer all the

garlands and accepted his services (cf. puna: puna: praNamyAha mAlAkArO

ativismita:).

 

 

vishva bhAvana -- creator of the universe. For a Person who could

create this woe-begone universe from nothing, can He not infuse goodness

in me who am existing? Is it a difficult task for Him? After all, what is

His objective in creation -- to pick out atleast a few mumukShus after the

refinement of chetanas. Obtaining mumukshus is for His pleasure.

hriShIkEsha -- At the beginning of creation, there was no diversion for

the souls to stray from God. Now there are the incorrigible sense organs

and the objects for indulgence, to drag the souls away from God. Hence

You can control the senses and help me by reining my senses. "Yo vAchi

tiShThan , yashchakShuShi tiShThan " etc. I, the chetana, is ever since

creation, submissive to the sense organs.

 

Even if one is omnipotent why will anyone do what all he can? -

because You are MahApurusha -- You are omnipotent, but do You use Your

potency? yes, You are the greatest of all liberal, munificent persons.

You gift the desires of Your bhaktas so profusely that they do not have to

beg You again. You and Your assets are all spread out for the benefit of

Your devotees. (cf. sa sarvAn arthinO drishTvA samEtya pratinandya cha).

This munificence is explained in practice, next. pUrvaja -- in creation,

in incarnation and in being upAya, You are at the head of all gains and

losses. In every event, the gains, fruits and losses are primarily Yours.

Just as in 'bahusyam prajAyEya' the benefit and pride of descending

through many bodies, is His own, so also, in 'EkAkI na ramEta', the

displeasure of loneliness is also His own. Even in incarnation, as in

'sambhavAmi Atma mAyayA' the incarnation is by His free will for the sake

of steering a few good souls towards Himself. If one asks that He took

birth owing to the pleas of devas, as in 'sa hi devair arthito jajne' ;

the answer is no; it was an excuse; but protection of saadhus was His main

benefit; as in ' paritrANAya sadhUnAm'. This is just as in the case of

Arjuna; in the guise of encouraging him to wage war, Krishna discoursed on

the yoga of bhakti towards Himself.

As in 'upAyopEyatve tadiha tava tatvam', just as the virtue of

upEyatva is eternal to Him, so also the virtue of upAyatva. His upAyatva

does not surface merely when a chetana accepts Him. Sri Parasara Bhattar

said in SriRangarajastavam --

 

"Upanishat declares that SrimanNarayaNa, appropriates for Himself for His

own benefit, all the chits and achits by the processes of creation,

control and protection. So UpAyatva and UpEyatva are His Svarupa and not

mere qualities. Therefore, You who sleeps in Srirangam, I do take refuge

in You without any pretext and subterfuge ".

 

Even during the time of bhoga or enjoyment, He, to show His precedence

over the gopis in five lakh houses, keeps the flute over His mouth and

plays it. And for a chetana who develops a keen desire to sustain this

bhoga, uninterruptedly, He shows him the way so that he may not have to

search for Him and awaits his arrival at the Vaikuntham along with

His consort Shree. (ShriyA sArdham jagatpati: AsthE Vishnur achinthyAtmA

bhaktair bhAgavathais saha).

 

 

 

(To continue with the 2nd slokam in the next posting)

 

Adiyen

Ramanuja dasan

Ramanuja