Thirucchandhaviruttham- 85th verse- Please do not snatch my mind off Your Lotus Feet and throw into the worldly pleasures!

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SrI:

SrImathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya namah:

Dearest Srivaishnavas,

 

Thus AzhwAr answered those sishyas who asked him and

now goes back to the Lord and seeks His mercy to save

him.. The Lord is capable of letting the jeevan forget

even little jnAnam that he possesses [due to jeevan’s

enormous karma accrued over the ages] and hence AzhwAr

pleads the Lord to bless him with the focused mind

only on His lotus feet and not on other desires for

sense organs and says if the desire for sense organs

is there, then it would distract the mind even during

the death and even at the last birth. Please do not

let me be caught in that maaayam. – Azhwar pleads

 

nachcharaava Naikkidantha

naatha!paatha pOthinil,

vaiththasinthai vaankuviththu

neenkuvikka neeyinam,

meyththanvallai yaathalaala

Rinthanann^in maayamE,

uyththun^inma yakkinilma

yakkalennai maayanE! (85)

 

Oh Lord the One reclines of the poisnous snake as your

Bed! Ascharya bhUthA! The most wonderful and

mysterious Lord! You are quite capable in letting g

the mind still go towards other sensual desires and

take the mind away from your divine red lotus feet and

be immersed therein. I have realized that. You are

Sarva shakthan. Sarvagnan. Hence using your powers

[due to my enormous accrued karma] You may place me

here caught in worldly pleasures for ever and ever

sending my mind towards only there… Please do not do

that.. And Please do entice me on everything

associated with You alone..

 

The One reclining- why should He recline on snake?

That too- full of venom- poison- thousand heads

exhaling fiery fumes; All this – is to only keep

people away from Him so that they are all caught in

samsaaric affliction. You may be of that thinking. But

You are the One who elevates good to better and even

accept little good deed as an excuse for redemption.

But in order to get Your mercy there are plenty of

hurdles; very many distractions; disturbances; many

temptations; strong sense organs pulling the mind

away. We need to pass in all these difficult

examinations and tests. We have though realized the

sweetest divine red lotus feet of Yours and have

desired for that. However You still are able to snatch

the mind away [due to our tons and tons of paapams]

towards worldly objects. Then You get him back after

few births, perhaps. You mentioned that prApya puNya

kruthAm lOkAn ushithvA SASvatheessamA: - Thus You are

capable of snatching mind off your lotus feet. But

please do not do that on me. Please do not make my

mind loiter and wander towards materialistic

pleasures. That’s all my plea is.

 

The thought itself is so strong. One may argue that

just thinking is nothing wrong. We should not commit

bad deeds in action. But thoughts become actions.

 

This salutation has motivated Sri Ramanujacharya in

his Sri Ranganatha

Gadyam where in a mood of Naichyanusandanam, he

declares that he is full of bad qualities and as a

result of his association with Prakruti (which is a

mixture of the TriguNas), he is inextricably bound to

SamsAra by the rope of Karma and does not possess the

knowledge to overcome this bondage of Karma which

results in an endless cycle of birth and death. (Tila

Tailavat.....Karma PAsha Pragratita: is the important

ChoorNika). Sri Ramanujacharya then seeks the grace of

the Lord ever associated with Sri, who is a boundless

ocean of mercy, to overcome the bondage of Karma and

obtain Moksham.

 

Thirumazhisai Piraan ThiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

Regards

Namo Narayana

dAsan