tAtparya ratnAvaLi - Submission 5 - Slokam 3 of avatArikA.

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SrImate SrI ra'nga rAmAnuja mahA deSikAya namaH.

 

tAtparya ratnAvaLi - Submission 5 - Slokam 3 of avatArikA.

 

Slokam 3:

 

pA'ncAlI gAtra SobhA-hRta hRdaya vadhUvarga pum bhhAvanItyA

pAyau padmA sahAye praNayini bhajatah preyasI pAratantRyam |

bhaktih SR'ngAra vRttyA pariNamati muneh bhAva bandha

prathimnA

yogAt prAg uttarAvasthitir-iha viraho deSikAs-tatra dUtAh ||

 

One of the very first things that svAmi deSikan emphasizes is the

nAyikA bhAvam that is assumed by nammAzhvAr in finding expression to

his intense devotion and love towards emperumAn. His inability to

bear the separation from bhagavAn leads to his outpourings through

SR'ngAra bhAvam. In the case of nammAzhvAr, he assumes the role of

parA'nkuSa nAyaki, and expresses the agony of separation from

emperumAn through many of his pASuram-s. This is the topic of this

Slokam by svAmi deSikan.

 

The natural question can arise in people's minds as to how

nammAzhvAr, who is the personification of bhakti nishThA, can be

distracted by thoughts such as assuming the role of a female deeply

in love with bhagavAn, feeling the pangs of separation, and indulging

in activities such as sending the birds etc. as messengers. To

understand these, one has to have a feel for how a bhakti yogi's mind

acts, what the bhakti yogi goes through as part of his/her

meditation, and what the bhakti yogi's sole goal in life is. This is

what svAmi deSikan explains to us in this Slokam, and thus explains

AzhvAr's nAyikA bhAvam etc.

 

draupadi was not an ordinary mortal. She was born out of the homa

kuNDam. As such, she excelled in beauty that made her female friends

feel intensely attracted to her beauty, to the point that they wished

they could assume the forms of males so that they could enjoy her

beauty. svAmi deSikan gives this analogy to describe the assumption

of nAyikA bhAvam by the AzhvAr-s – they feel intensely attracted to

emperumAn to the point that they want to enjoy Him by assuming the

role of His nAyikA-s or consorts. BhagavAn's tirumEni is so

beautiful that the AzhvAr-s are overwhelmed by it, to the point of

their feeling like embracing Him tightly. One upanyAsaka praises this

unique aspect of the devotional outpourings in the SrI vaishNava

sampradAyam, where the nAyikA bhAvam gives the intimacy to AzhvAr-s

where they can take liberty with Him to embrace Him, to chide Him, to

quarrel with Him, etc., and thus enjoy Him in many different ways.

Let us look at a more detailed meaning of the Sloka.

 

- pA'ncAlI gAtra SobhA-hRta hRdaya vadhU varga pum-bhAvanItyA –

Just as the close friends of pA'cAlI who saw her beauty as they were

taking bath together, were attracted to her so much that they started

assuming the role of males in their minds

- patyA, praNayini padmA-sahAye preyasI pAratantRyam bhajatah

muneh – SrI parA'nkuSa muni, whose devotion and dedication to

emperumAn who is the Lord of all and the loving Consort of padmA

(mahAlakshmi) developed into the level where he prayed for complete

subservience to bhagavAn

- bhAva bandha prathimnA – and since his attachment to bhagavAn

grew to such an extent that

- bhaktih SR'ngAra vRttyA pariNamati – his natural love to

emperumAn in the form of his natural devotion (bhakti) started

manifesting itself in the form of love towards him that resembled the

love that His Consort would have towards Him (SR'ngAra bhAvam –

intense attraction).

- The yogAt prAg uttarAvasthitir-iha viraho deSikAs-tatra

dUtAh - In AzhvAr's pASuram-s, we see that sometimes he feels close

to emperumAn, and feels happy, and at other times, he feels the

intense separation from Him, and starts sending messengers in

different forms to bhagavAn, to inform Him of his longing for union

with Him. What does all this mean? In the fourth line of this

Slokam, svAmi deSikan explains that for one in bhakti yoga, the times

when the bhakta is immersed in deep and concentrated meditation of

Him, this is the time of association with Him (samSlesham), and the

intervening states when this concentration is broken, it is a feeling

of intense separation from Him (viSlesham). They undergo the

experience of intimate and full enjoyment of Him during their periods

of intense meditation, and when they are not in meditation, they long

for that same union with Him physically, and since that does not

materialize, it manifests itself in the form of their intense feeling

of separation, which turns into expressing themselves in their nAyikA

bhAvam. Since the AcArya-s show the path that will result in the

continued state of meditation on Him for prolonged intervals without

interruption, they are called `messengers' or dUta-s in our

tradition. This is what svAmi deSikan points out in the fourth line –

yogAt prAg uttara avasthih iha virahah; deSikAs-tatra dutAh.

 

Thus, in a nutshell, svAmi deSikan explains the concept of nAyikA

bhAvam that is so common and widely prevalent in our AzhvArs'

compositions, the cause of samSleshham (union with Him) and viSlesham

(separation from Him) that AzhvArs exhibit repeatedly, and the role

of the AcArya-s in our tradition, all in the four short lines of this

Slokam.

 

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan

(To be continued)