Bhakti and Jnanam

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Bhakti and Jnanam:

Here is a verse depicting an unusual prayer:

 

Ruupam ruupavivarjitasya bhavato dhyaanena yatkalpitam

stutyaa anirvachaniiyataa akhila guro duuriikrtaa yanmayaa |

vyaapitvam cha niraakrtram bhagavato yat tiirtha-yaatraadinaa

kshantavyam jagadiisha tadvikalataa-doshatrayam matkrtam ||

 

O Jagadiisha! You must pardon me for the triad of mistakes that I have

committed by finitising You who are Infinite:

1. You are bereft of any form. Yet I imagined a form in the name of

meditating upon You.

2. You are beyond words. No words can explain Your nature. Yet I have

sung Your glories through words.

3. You are all-pervading. Yet I undertook pilgrimages to worship You in

specific places.

(Who is the author of this verse?)

*****

 

Unable to bear the delay in securing the Siva-darshanam, which actually means

direct realisation of the Truth, a devotee pleads to the Lord. Shankara voices

this prayer in the Shivanandalahari with an excellent Vedanta-friendly example:

 

Eko vaarija-baandhavaH kshiti-nabho-vyaaptam tamo-mandalam

bhittva lochana-gocharopi bhavati, Tvam koti-suurya-prabhaH |

VedyaH kim na bhavasyaho! ghanataram kiidrg-bhaven mat-tamaH

Tatsarvam vyapaniiya me Pashupate! saakshaat prasanno bhava || 58 ||

 

Lo! If the sun, who is but one, can penetrate through the thick of darkness

pervading the heaven and earth (and become visible), can You not, O Pasupati,

who are endowed with the brilliance of innumerable suns, reveal Yourself? Who

knows how thick is the darkness covering me? Therefore, removing it completely,

deign to reveal Yourself to me !

 

*****

Here is another lovely sloka from the Shivanadalahari:

 

Amitamidamrtam muhurduhantiim

vimala-bhavat-pada-goshtham aavasntiim |

sadaya Pashupate! supunya-paakaam

mama paripaalaya bhakti-dhenumekaam || 68 ||

 

O You merciful cowherd! Protect that only cow of mine, the cow of devotion to

You, which yields continually as milk an endless supply of the nectar of joy,

which lives in the cow-pen of Your Holy Feet, and which I have acquired as the

result of past punyam.

 

 

Om Tat Sat

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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