Desikasthothramala-Gopalavimsathi

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Padhaveem

adhaveeyaseem vimukthEh ataveesampadham ambuvAhayantheem

aruNADHara

sAbilAshavamsAm karuNAm kAraNa mAnusheem bajAmi

(Gopalavimsathi-9)

 

I

worship HIm, who is the cause of the world and the personification of mercy in

human form, thus a shortcut to salvation, who is the rainbearing cloud to

Brindavan forest and holds the flute, which looks eager to be near His red

lips.

 

Krishna is described by means of four adfjectives :

 

1.

karunA kAraNa manushee -- personification of mercy being the cause of

the world assuming human form.He is the creator of the world and sustainer as

well due to HIs mercy. He has assumed the human form as Devakinandana in order

to give refuge to all creatures great and small like cowherds and cattle as

well as the kings like Pandavas.That is why He is called karuna by Desika.

 

2.ataveesampadham ambuvahayantheem-- He makes the forests

of Brindhavan flourish with His very presence. Desik describes this more

elaborately in his YAdhavAbhyudhaya thus:

yenoushaDHeenAm aDHipam purasthAthAhlAdha hEthum jagathAm akArsheeth

thEnaiva dhaDHyou manasA vanam thath krishnO gavAm kshEma samrddhim

icchan

( Yad.4-40)

It means, just as He created the moon, the

Lord of the herbs, with HIs mind

(chandhramA manasO jAthah---Purushasuktham)

wishing to give joy to the world, now made the forest rich with

vegetation by His will for the welfare of the cattle.

 

3.aruNADHara

sAbhilAsha vamsAm-- holding the flute at His red lips which seems as though

the flute is desirous of drinking the nector of HIs lips.

 

4.padhaveem

adhaveeyaseem vimukthEh --padhavee can be taken to mean either a path or a

place. The Lord is both the path and the place of salvation and that too, adhveeyasee,

meaning very near. He is here and easily available for those who seek Him. He

always near and hence the salvation ,mukthi is also near , says Desika, dhaveeyas

meaning 'far' adhaveeyas is the opposite, very near. It is remarked by one

devotee that vaikunta is just a call

away because when gajEndhra called Him the Lord came immediately!

 

All

the four qualifications mentioned here only denotes His karuNa, infinite mercy.

 

 

animEshanishevaNaNeeyam akshNoh ajahadhyouvanam Avirasthu chitthE

kalaHAyithakunthalam kalApaih karONmAdhaka vibhramam mahO mE

(gopala

visathi-10)

 

May

the brilliant form of the Lord, which should be enjoyed with unblinking eyes,

the ever youthful, with His crown of

peacock feathers always agitated by His tresses, thus enchanting all the senses

with His playful actions, be present in my mind always.

 

His form is so

beautiful that the onlookers are afraid even to bat their eyelids fearing that

the form will be lost for that moment.So Desika

says that he should be seen with animesha akshinee, unblinking

eyes. His youth is eternal and gives pleasure to all the senses. The experience

is compared by Desika to unmAdha or madness of the karaNa senses. On describing the returning of

Krishna from the forest Desika says in his YAdhvAbhyudhaya, that in the evening

at sunset, seeing Him return from the forest the gopis felt that their minds

were completely covered with peacock feathers, meaning that they were enchanted

by His maya, as the peacock feathers are usually used by magicians. 'RasO vai sah,'

says the upanishad, as the Lord is the essence of joy.So He evokes all the

rasas by His presence and all tthe senses are gratified at the same time.

Anuyaayi manojna vamsanaaLah avathu

spasrsitha vallavee vimohaih

anaghasmitha

sheethalairasoumaam anukampaasaridhambujairapaangaih

(Gopalavimsathi-11)

 

 

May

the Lord protect me with His sidewise

glances, which are the lotuses that grow in the water of mercy,followed by the

stalk in the form of the flute,and which make the gopis swoon by its touch and made cool with

His pure smile.

 

The

glance, apaanga is compared to lotus whose stalk,naala is the

bamboo, vamsa with naala, reeds with holes, the music from the

flute follow, anuyAyi, the eyes with their heartwarming tunes. the smile

of Krishna which is pure,anagha,

and not kapata, deceitful, is compared to the coolness of the lotus.The

lotuses, glances, are grown in the lake of anukampa, mercy,and

contacting the gopis make them vimohitha go inta a trance, forgetting

themselves and their homes.

 

Desika describes the

playing of the flute by krishna beautifully in Yadhavabhyudhaya.

 

nirankusasneharasaanuviddhaan nishpandhamandhaalasa nirnimeshaan

vamsenakrishnah

prathisambabhaashe varthaaharaan vaamadhrsaan kataakshaan

( Yad.4-60)

The gopis were talking

to him with their beautiful glances,vaarthaaharaan vaamadrsaan kataakshaan

to which Krishna answered with his flute,vamsena

krishnah prathisambabhaashe. They were described as smitten with the

emotion of unrestricted love and were looking at him with unbatted eyelids.

 

 

adharaahitha

chaaruvamsanaaLaah makutaalambhimayoorapicchamaalaah

harineelasilaavibhangaleelaah

prathibhaah mamaanthimaprayaaNe santhu

( (Gopalavimsathi-12)

 

May the appearance of

the flute applied to the lowerlips, of the garland of peacock feathers at his

crown, of the lustre resembling that of sapphire blue always be in front of me

when I start on my last journey.

 

Desika entreats the

Lord to appear in front of him during his last journey with all His splendour ,

His flute on His lower lip, peacockfeather applied to his locks as a garland

and His body shining loke a blue sapphire.

 

In Krishnakarnaamrtha

Leela suka says,

 

vyathyamsapaadham

avathamsitha barhibarham

saacheekrthaanananivesithavenurandhram

thejahparam

paramakaaruNikam purasthaath

praanaprayaanasamaye

mamasannidhatthaam

 

With His feet crossed

with peacock feather as his head ornament, His face turned sideways with the

flute, let the supreme light , full of mercy, stand before me at the time of my

life going out.

 

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