Sri Vaikunta Stavam series : SlOkams 51-55

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SlOkam 51

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ThrayyudhyathA Tava yuvathva- mukhai: guNoukai:

aanandhamEdhitham iyaan ithi sanniyanthum

tE yE satham thvithi paramparayA pravrutthA

naivEsha vaangmanasagOchara ithyudhAha

 

(Meaning): Oh Bhagavann ! When the VedAs attempted to measure

(quantify) Your aanandham , which continued to grow from the assembly of

GuNAs starting from Your Youth , they ( the VedAs ) counted in

units of hundred and proceeded in an upward spiral from the Human

aanandham to the aanandham of Brahma dEvan and gave up finally

the count by concluding rightfully that there is no limit toYour aanandham.

That aanandham of Yours is declared as immeasurable and beyond

count by the VedAs . They continue to grow (yEdhitham) like Thrivikraman's

form (vardhamAna: ) .

 

 

(Commentary ): The aanandha svaroopam of Brahman was saluted earlier

(24 th slOkam ) according to the way shown by VedAs ( AanandhO BrahmEthi

vyajAnAth , AanandhAdhyEva khalvimAni bhUthAni jaayanthE ). KurEsar's words

in the 24th slOkam are : " Aanandhamaiswaram avaangmanasAvagAhyam

aamnAsishu satha-guNOttharitha-kramENa " . Here , KurEsar points out that ,

this Aaanandham of the Lord can also be a guNam as per the revelation of

Aanandhavalli manthram (Aanandham BrahmaNO vidhvAn ) .

BruhadhAraNyakOpanishad

also celebrates BrahmAnandham this Aanandham growing hundreds of folds

starting from human aanandham and growing beyond the gigantic aanandhan of

Brahma Devan ( section 6.3) . All the VedAs ( Thrayee) give up their

attempts to fully describe the aanandham behind even one guNam like Youth

( "Yuvath-mukhai: guNougai: yEdhitham Aanandham iyAn ithi sanniyanthum"

asakthA: ) .

 

SlOkam 52

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yEvam tayA chathurayA Tava youvanAdhya:

sarvE guNA: saha samastha vibhUbhisccha

pravyAhruthA: syuravadheen avadheerayantha:

vaachAmagOcharamahAmahimAna yEva

 

(Meaning): Oh Bhagavann! The clever and competent VedAs

declared that the assembly of Your auspicious GuNAs starting

from Your youth together with Your Iswaryams of LeelA and

Nithya VibhUthis are limitless and have the Vaibhavam that is

beyond descriptive powers of the faculty of speech .

 

(Commentary) : Here , KurEsar reminds us that the immeasurable

magnitude of BhagavAn's aanandha guNam is not limited to just

one GuNam like youth but it spreads to all the auspicious attributes of

the Lord .In Aanandavalli , Sruthi starts with the guNam of youth ( yuvaa

syAth) and then continues with srEshta Jn!Anam , Jagath SwAmithvam

and other guNams and declares that the BrahmAnadham associated

with them are beyond descriptive power of the speech faculty .

 

SlOkam 53:

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samvarthavarthi nikhilam nitabhJ~nam aJ~nam

chithrE cha karmaNi yaTArhamahO ! niyacchan

sadhya: krimidhruhiNa-bhEdham abhEdhamEtadh

aaviscchakarTa sakrudh- eekshaNa dheekshaNEna

 

(Meaning ): Oh Bhagavann ! What a wonder ! During the time of

the great deluge ( PraLayam) , You protect all the chEtanams

staying like jada vasthus ( achEtanams) in a tiny portion of

Your stomach since they are helpless due to the shrunken state of

their Jn~Anam . Once again , at the time of creation (Srushti) ,

You decide to look at the same instant at all of them( protected jeevans )

resting safely inside Your stomach and immediately the naama-roopa

prapancham in all its multi-faceted splendor springs forth . With that

KatAksham , this world from the lowly worm to the mighty Brahma Devan

is created by You without any partiality . You are guided in this act of

creation only by their karmaas .

 

(Commnetary) : KurEsar's choice of words in his Sri Sookthis are always

the distillation of essence of Sruthis and the thoughts of his AchAryan's

SrI BhAshyam . This slOkam is an excellent illustration of that

style(saili).

 

BhagavAn has the six attributes starting from Jn~Anam (ShADguNya PoorNan).

Here , KurEsar pays tribute now to the first of the Six GuNams (viz) .,

Jn~Anam .

BhagavAn creates this universe out of Dayaa(KaruNai) and endows the Jeevans

with a body, indhriyams, Jn~Ana visthAram according to their KarmAs ( Karma

anuguNam) ; further , he blesses them with His (Bhagavath) Saasthrams

to help them discriminate between the auspicious and the inauspicious .

VedAs celebrate this compassionate act of creation by the Lord.

 

During the time of PraLayam , the state of Jevans is like the state of

achEtanam without Jn~Anam . They get amalgamated with Bhagavan like

the water absorbed by the hot iron . Lord absorbs and protects these

Jeevans ,

which do not have any naamam or roopam . They ( Jeevans) could not be

seperated from the Lord (abhEdham yEthath) . SrivathsAngAcchAr Swamy

quotes a magnificent passage from Sri BhAshyam to illustrate KurEsar's

thoughts here ( Sri BhAshyam : 2.2.3):

 

"Sa BhagavAn PurushOtthama: - - -leelA pravruttha: , yEthAni karmANi

sameecheenAni , yEthAni asamacheenAni ithi karma-dhvaitham samvidhAya ,

tadhupAnOchitha- dEhEndhriyaadhikam tanniyamana sakthim cha sarvEshAm

kshEtra-jn~Anam saamAnyEna pradhisya - - - antharaathmatayaa anupravisya ,

anumanthrutayaa cha niyacchan thishtathi " . KurEsar's 53rd slOkam is

a marvellous summary of the Sri BhAshyam passage the Lord's srushti leelai

in line with KarmAs ( KarmAnuguNam ) and thereafter , anupravEsam and

anumanthruthvam . The Jeevan at the time of PraLayam was like a JaDa vasthu

( aj~nam) . Its Jn~Ana sakthi was dull and shrunken ( nirabhij~nam) .

Then , the Lord decided to create the Naama-roopa prapancham

consistent with the karmAs of the individual jeevans (YaTArham )

and after srushti entered into them as antharyAmi Brahman

and directed them . He creates and empowers the Jeevans with

sakthi according to their history of karmAs and does not evince any

partiality or preferences as per the Brahma Soothram's revelation:

" vaishamya nairgruNyE na saapEkshathvAth " .

 

SlOkam 54

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astham udh-udhyadh upachAyi apachAyi chaivam

Isam dharidhramaTa jangamam apyaningam

viswam vichithram avilkashaNa veekshaNEna

vikshObhayasyanavadhi: Batha ! sakthiraisee

 

(Meaning) : Oh Lord ! Your matchless Sakthi is wonderous indeed .

With the same sankalpam , You create the different species among

Your creations ranging from those which grow and those which shrink ,

as well as those , which reach an auspicious state and the others

which propel themselves into an inauspicious state . All these polar

opposites among Your creations arise as a result of Your unimaginable

power .

 

(Commentary ) : In the previous slOkam the Jn~Anam of the Lord was

saluted .Here , one more guNam of the Lord , Sakthi is celebrated .

VedAs salute this adhbhutha sakthi : " ParAsya Sakthi vividhaiva

srUyathE " . He creates , enters into them and commands them

through that matchless sakthi . This universe consisting of mutifarious

wonderous entities are created with transformations and differentiations

with the power of that sankalpa sakthi ( vichithram viswam avilakshaNa

veekshaNEna vikshOpayasi) . KurEsar expresses his marvel over that

Sakthi of the Lord .

 

SlOkam 55

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roopa-prakAra pariNama krutha vyavasTam

viswam viparyasithum anyath asath cha karthum

kshAmyan svabhAva-niyamam kimudheekshasE Thvam ?

svAtantryam Iswaram aparyanuyOjyam aahu :

 

(Meaning) : Oh Bhagavann ! This world made up of sentients and

insentients undergoes changes in form ( roopams) and modes

( tanmai/PrakArams) . You have the power to transform them

(Chetanams and achEtnams) into different forms or to change

them into different objects of creation or to make them nonexistent

( viparyasithum , anyath karthum , asath karthum cha KshAmyan) .

While You are so powerful to bring forth any thing You wish , You rule

them largely according to their svaroopams and SvabhAvams .

That restrained approach of Yours is very hard to understand

( Thvam SvabhAva niyamam kim udheekshasE ? ) . In this context ,

VedAs and the wise men state that the independence unique to

You ( Iswaram SvAtantryam) is beyond al of our comprehension

and it is not possible to explain why you anticipate SvabhAva

niyamam inspite of Your SvAtantryam .

 

(Commentary ): After paying tributes the two of the Six guNams

( Jn~Anam and Sakthi) , KurEsar shifts his attention to the third

of the six guNams of the Lord (i-e) ., Iswaryam .For the JaDa vasthus ,

svaroopa pariNaamam is siddham from timeless times ( anAdhi );

similarly , for the Jeevans , SvabhAva PariNamam is present (siddham)

from time immemorial . This differnce between the achEtanam and

ChEtanam is brought about by Bhagavath Sankalpam . In Sri BHAshyam ,

AchArya RaamAnuja comments on this difference : " JN~Ana sankOcha

vikAsa lakshaNO jeevasyAnyaTA bhAva: , viyadhAdEsthu svaroopAnyaTaa

bhaava lakshaNa: " . ChEtanam has Jn~Anam , which may shrink and expand .

AchEtanam is JaDa vasthu and has no Jn~Anam . This differentiation ( Bhaava

lakshaNa vyavasthai ) is attributed to Bhagavath Sankalpam . This is

the "roopa PrakAra pariNAma krutha vyavasthaa " referred to in this

slOkam by KurEsar . Lord uses it to to create , transform and dissolve

the chEtana-achEtanams of the universe according to these rules

( viswam viparyasithum , anyath karthum asath karthum KshAmyan) .

Occasionally , BhagavAn chooses not play by these standard rules and

creates the basis for the unsettled discussion to classify such nonstandard

leelaas as either svaroopAnyathA bhAvam or SvabhAvAnyathA bhAvam .

He transforms a achEtana vasthu in to chEtanam with Jn~Anam . For example ,

the stone on the road side got transformed into Muni Pathni (Ahalyaa);

the pieve of charcoal got transformed into an infant ( Pareekshith raajaa)

...

When Droupathi maana samrakshaNam took place , it was BhagavAn's

Sankalpa roopa SvAtantrayam created the cotton , the thread , the color ,

the weaving , the length of the clothing needed for her . This is referred

to

in the fourth paadham of the slOkam to salute the adhisayam of Sankalpa

Roopa SvAtantrya Iswaryam m that is beyond our comprehension: "SvAtantryam

Iswaram aparyanuyOjyam aahu : " .We can neither understand this Iswara

Sankalpa SvAtantryam nor ask why that takes place.

 

 

Swamy KurEsar ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan

 

Srimate Sri Laksminrisimha Divya Paduka Sevaka

Srivan Satakopa Sri Narayana Yatindra Mahadesikaya Nama: