Bhagavath GuNa anubhavam : Part VII( DramidOpanishath Taathparya RathnAvaLi & DhramidOpanishath Saaram )

[Guest guest]

Dear BhakthAs of Swamy NammAzhwAr :The majestic renditon of Dayaa

Sathakam by Sangeetha Kalanidhi Srimathi Mani KrishNaswamy , the

mother of our own dear Sri Sudarshan of Kuwait was heard by me today

... I am fortunate tohave received a copy of this exquistely rendered

work of Swami Desikan from another dear member of this group .

The musical scholarship of the artist trained by giants like Mysore

VasudevAchAr and Tiger VaradAchAr is astounding .Her exemplary

uccharaNam of the Sanskrit textof Swami Desikan is a thrilling

experience to hear . It was a moving experience . The occasion also

reminded me of the song ofANNamAcharya about Thirumanjanam for Sri

Alamelu MangA on a SukramVaaram day. I thought I will continue today

withthe AzhwAr's anubhavam of Dayaa of the Lord of Seven hillson this

Sukra Vaaram instead of roaming with Sri Ramachandra in the depths of

DaNdakAraNyam . We will therefore focus on the first section of the

fifth decad of Thiruvaimozhi in this posting .I will start this

posting with a slokam of the Ashta sloki ofParAsara Bhattar , which

is appropriate for the occasion .This is the sixth verse of Ashta

Sloki composed by Bhattar to teach us the meaning of AshtAkshari

:IsAnAm jagadhAm adhIsa dhayithAm nityAnapAyAm

sriyamsamsrithAsrayaNOchitAkila guNasyAngri harerAsrayE

IishtopAyatayA sriyA cha sahithAyAthmEsvarAyArtayE karthum

dAsyamaseshamaprathihatham nityam tvaham nirmama : II( Meaning ) :

Sri Devi ( Lakshmi ) is the Empress ( Soverign Goddess ) of ALL the

worlds, as NarAyaNa is the Emperor. She isthe inseparable consort of

His. We offer our prostrations at Her lotus feet to empower ourselves

to acquire the means of accessto the Lord's feet for our SaraNAgathi .

May I be blessed always toperform service devoid of ego to the Lord ,

who is the embodiment of Dayaa. The hundred verses of the fifth

decad is a gigantic celebration of the Lord"s matchless and limitless

Daya GuNam . Almost every subsection of this decad brims with the mood

of celebration of Lord's AnukampA and KaruNA .Section 5.1.1 ( kaiAr

chakkaratthu yen karumANikkamE ) salutes the Lord's magnanimous

qualiy as Para Tantran ( who obeys the wishes of BhakthAs/Yathoktha

Kaari ) because of His daya for His devotees . Swami Desikandescribes

His nature as that of a KaruNA paravasan , who isovercome by His

profound mercy to help the suffering ChetanAs . MaNavALa Maamuni

states in his 41st paasuram of ThiruvaimozhiNuRRanthAdhi that the

Lord out of His infinite compassion blesses even those , who have not

expressed genuine Bhakthi towards Him (pOli Bhagavathars) , who

pretend that they love him through the practice of Kapata Bhakthi

..Out of his infinite humility, AzhwArreveals that the Lord blessed

him for expressing his vyAjamAtra abhilaashai . AzhwAr says that he

did not declare proudly that he was the servant of the Lord , but he

only said casually that the Lord has accepted him as His servant .

Even that was sufficient for the Lord to bless him fully out of his

infinite compassion . That vyAjam (half-hearted pretext ) was

sufficient for Him to rush to accept him says the AzhwAr .The Lord's

blessing of Prapatthi was Nirhethukam (without any quid pro quo

consideration ) , NirupAdhikam ( without any condition or clauses ) .

This is sobecause He is Nirapekshakan ( he does not want any return )

..AzhwAr hints that the Lord thinks that this AyOgyan ( unfit one

)deserves the fruits of Prapatthi because he is unable to practisethe

requisites of that effort . Such is His boundless Dayaa ! Parasara

Bhattar intreprets NammAzhwAr's feelings expressed in this section as

follows : " I am a fraud, a liar. I am guilty of soul-theft (

AatmaabahAram ) and thought that this soul is mine ,where as it is

His property . It is not possible for me to control my desires,

discipline my senses , to shake off my sorrow over not realizing my

mundane yearnings or to make a distinction between the soul and the

body .This lowliness, attachment to this perishable body and weakness

to do anything in the direction of Moksham necessitates me to place

myself as the object of your mercy totally. That is what I said

half-heartedly. He called me to His abode fulfilling His assurance

offered in His charama sloka. Such is His Nirhethuka KrupA ! "AzhwAr

states in 5.1. 7 ( Amman AzhipirAn ) , that the Lord's love for

me(us) is the same irrespective of mine(ours) being feigned or true."

yemmA pAviyarkum vidhi vAykkinru vAykkum kandeer ". AzhwAr says that

he sat in a corner , raised his hands in false spirit of pathos and

cried " O Lord ! You came rushing to save an elephant in distress! Do

n'"t You know how much I suffer ? " That was all I did . He took it

seriously as a true complaint , came and rescued me. Now my love has

become true love as a result of His Nirhethuka Dayaa. It is clear

that His love forme is the same irrespective of mine being feigned or

not. He is the supremeLord. I am the smallest, the most despicable .

If his limitless Dayaacan be extended to me even, then I can attest

that any sinner , eventhe WORST can reap my Lord's AnukampA . In

5.1.9 , Azhwaar describes his condition and the extraordinary grace

of the Lord to come to his rescue in his hour of need . Azhwaar says

:" aavaa yenru aruL seythu adiyEnodumAnAnE ". Sri V.N. Vedantha

Desikan translates this Paasuram this way : " I recall the time . I

was helpless.It was very much like the plight of a ship caught in a

strong cyclone andtotally helpless to reach the shore safely . --Just

at that time , He came withHis divine charm and effulgence , the

chakrA and SankhA , with overflowingmercy for me. He took me into His

fold. I enjoy His company as any one in His heavenly paraphernalia.

What a great Mercy ? Now His merger with me isa FAIT ACCOMPLI ."

AzhwAr goes on to say in the next verse that he learnt that it was

NOT his effort that secured the happy union between the Lord and him

; rather it was His special effort . AzhwAr says that that the Lord

seems to exult over the thought that all His efforts have now been

fructified and AzhwAr has become His own . AzhwAr confides that he

has detected a distinctglow in the Lord's face over His achievement .

Thus ends the the first ten Thirumozhis of decad 5. AzhwAr

ThiruvadigalE saraNamOppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SadagOpan

 

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