suLLu nammaLillavaiyya-MuNDige by Dasa Guru Sri Purandaradasaru

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Hare Srinivasa! Remembering the words of Dasaru and singing his compositions as his aaradhana approaches is one of the sevas that is possible for lay people like oneself. If done during aaradhana time, it can enhance the reverence that we feel for this great saint and make us remember Dasaru everyday and thereby read and sing the devaranamas composed by Dasaru on a daily basis. So let's look at this knotted composition which is also called as muNDige as it is like a puzzle. The 3rd in the series: "suLLu nammaLillavaiyya suLLu nammaLilla" In this muNDige , Sri Purandara Dasaru declares to the world that thesiddhanta preached by his paramapare is true knowledge and is free from error. He uses metaphors liberally to grab the attention of the layman. His metaphors are excellently chosen and shows the kind of literary giant he was as well as his expertise in conveying philosophical concepts in a poetic way. (A metaphor is an understanding of one concept in terms of another concept where there is some similarity or correlation between the two.) Dasaru warns the sadhaka about the consequences ofacquiring erroneous knowledge(viparIta jnAna) . He hints that even if some statements seems improbable it has to be understood in overall light of scriptural knowledge."suLLu nammaLillavaiyya suLLu nammaLilla"There are no untruths/lies in our siddhanta. He is emphasising this truthby repeating the words "suLLu namaLilla". iliyu OLeya chaachvuda kaMDe bekku bakkari mADvuda kaMDe meneshinakAyi kaMDenaiyya janake gadatara bakkari -breadchaachu - reach , attentiongadatara- that which causes fear,illness or diseaseDasaru is saying that he has seen a rat which is tending to the fire/stoveand a cat which is making bread. Next he says that he has seen the torment caused bythe chillie to the human being. By observation we know that the rat and cat are enemies and will never beseen together much less work together

productively.But when Dasaru says he has seen something then we must accept it and understand that he is referring to it as a metaphor. If we look deeply to identify the two concepts to which Dasaru is making reference to,here ,we find that Dasaru may be referring to the mind as the rat and the buddhias the cat. The mind and buddhi have a tendency to be at variance to each other. Themind keeps running after worldly desires and the buddhi tries to hold themind in its control . If the mind were to give up its desire to hide in thevarious rat holes of ephemeral pleasures and instead attaches itself to thefeet of the Lord and the study of His glories then the buddhi can

processthe knowledge acquired and make food for the soul. The rat and cat metaphors are used to understand the following: If the mind which is symbolised by the rat takes interest in the fire ofknowledge instead of running into rat holes representing the pull of theindriyas then the buddi represented by the cat gets to make bread meansgets to acquire and process knowledge gained.If this processing in the form of manana does not happen then information collected may contradict new info which causes the mind to suspect the main belief . Continuous listening to scriptures as told by our Acharya must be accompanied by reflection on these thoughts and the striving for implementing as much of it in one's life, is absolutely essential. Otherwise viparIta jnAna will begin to rear its ugly head leading the jiva away from the Lord. Dasaru compares this to the chili's effect on the stomach.If eaten

continuously then over a period oftime the chillies cause stomach illnesses. Similarly continuous bombardingof knowledge from various sources without the 'samanvaya' means understanding in the true sense as it should be, without contradictions can lead to diseases of the mind , which are an obstacle to acquiring right knowledge The Brahmasutras also proclaim that one should assimilate knowledge from various authentic sources and be able to do this 'samanvaya'. All the statements in the Vedas , Brahma Sutras,Itihasas and Purana arestatements of truth. On the surface ,the literal meaning might becontradictory in some instances but it has to be understood in the overallessence of the scriptures. Acharya Madhva's contribution to Vedanta isindispensible in this light as he was able to interpret these

statementswhich seemed to contradict other accpeted statements in such a way that theoverall essence remains the same. He declared that whereever there was aninstance which was going against experience or another shtruthi statementsuch instances should be looked at more deeply and understood with otherevidences from the scriptures. His Mahabharata tAtparya, Bhagavata tAtparya go a long in way in clearing the doubts arising in people's mind when reading the Mahabharata,Ramayana and Bhagavatha . We should be ever thankful that we have Srimad Acyarya as our Moola guru. In Sri Vadirajaru's words -- Itane lOkaguru vEdavikyAta | bhootaladi shrI rAma dootanebAta |..... koorma shrI hayavadanana pUrNasevakanAda dhIra madhvAchAArya lokadolu mereda || Here is an instance of the contradictions which causes confusion between two shruthi statements.Example: 1) In the Vedas , there are names like Agni, Indra, Shiva etc whichare associated with the omniscient attributes of Lord Vishnu. 2) In the BG 15th chapterthe Lord says that all the Vedas are there to give us a glimpse of Hisattributes . These two statements seem contradictory because we know that Agni ,Indra etc are devathas and there are not having the attributes of omniscience etc possessed by Lord Vishnu. So does it mean that that assumptions is wrong and does it mean that If devathas likeAgni, Indra etc are all similar andhaving similar attributes to Lord Vishnu then is Indra , Agni etc are equal to LordVishnu . Which of these should be taken as correct.? Tothis the answer lies in the fact that Agni, Indra and Shiva are allprimarily the names of Vishnu first and then used to denote other devathas.The first interpretation of the word Agni - that which gives movement to beings defines the Lord first as He gives the jivas a body as a means to do sadhana and move on, then it defines MukyaprAna devuru as he directs the entire jiva's movement towards the Lord and finally it defines Agni. One may ask what is the use of right knowledge. The answer to it is in thepallavi of Sri Vadiraja theertha's devuru nama.jayapradanu jagakE Sri hayavadhana mUrthirEbhayavyAthakE bhakta janakEThe

Lord in his form of Hayagreeva is the bestower of right knowledge. Onewho worships Him in this form is the receiver of right knowledge . SriVaadiraaja theertha asks devotees why they need to fear , because fear iscaused due to ignorance .One who worhships Lord Hayavadhana has begun one'ssteps towards eradicating ignorance and simultaneosly gaining knowledge , sosuch a person can be assured of victory in the path of spirutual progress. Sri Vadirajaru asks in a very stern tone something to the effect. He says ," anudinavu shravaNa manaNAdi sAdhana mAdO innu samshayavEthakO Enu shapatava mAdali mathavu jNanigala sammathavO prANI ?|| Vadirajaru says ,"Engage yourself in listening to the scriptures as expounded by Srimad Acharya and his sishya paramapare and do manana of it. Don't have any doubts about the path that the Lord has put you in. Will you be convinced if I take an oath and declare that Madhvamatha is the matha of the really knowledgeable ?" It is clearly seen that the people who study the scriptures with the Guruof Sri Purandara Dasa as their Guru, those are the people who receive trueknowledge which is devoid of blemishes.(sullu- erroneous interpretations)Let's look at the second stanza.pAdara = performanceEDi - crabmekki tenaya -fresh cornkekki - peacock"kappe pAdara kuNivudu kaMDe EDi maddala baDevudu kaMDe mekki tenaya kaMDenappa kekki gadatara ""The crab taps the maddala and the frog gives a performance. The peacockeats up the corn and destroys the crops as soon as it is ready for harvesting."This statement is most contradictory if taken literally. It is because weknow by observation that the crab is the prey of the frog. So we have to understandthis as a reference to some subtle tools of sadhana. Tala is a form ofdiscipline to bring out the intricacy of music and dance. The mind iscompared to the crab and the frog to the buddhi. Similarly constant trainingof the mind allows the buddhi to perform well. Just as a performer can do agood job only if the beat is correct , similarly the buddhi can workefficiently only if the mind is disciplined.The peacock's favourite food is fresh corn. The peacock will

definitelydevour the corn as soon as it is grown so the farmer who grows corn has tobe vary of peacocks, rather he should ensure that peacocks are not near hisfarm, similarly a sadhaka who wants to absorb the knowledge of thescriptures should not associate himself with those who are disbelievers .Even if one attempts to gain knowledge but continues to frequent the companyof people who are not sajjanas then one will not be able to retain it. Purandara Dasaru himself says in another composition the consequences of associating with bad people. jAliya maradaMte durjanaru bisilali baLali baMdavarige neralilla hasidu baMdavarige haNNilavO kusumavAsaneilla kulliralu stalavilla vishamara dussaMgha

paDadarEnuMTu Dasaru adivises are to be vary of the consequences of keeping bad company as such association is not only useless but acts like poison on the system. As seen in the pallavi of this song Sri Purandara Dasaru is again and againproclaiming that in our paramapare we don't have any untruths, ie we don'thave any misinterpretations which are the cause of suffering for the jiva.In other words he is proclaiming that sajjanas can fearlessly follow thepath of Srimad Acharya." harisina bittOdu kaMde gasagaseya nenesodu kaMDe purandara viTTala pAdava kaMDenappa parvata gadatara"Dasaru says, "I have seen the sowing of the turmeric , I have seen thepoppy seeds being soaked, I have seen the

little feet of Lord Vittala which can crush a huge mountain without a flinch.".The turmeric does not have seeds which can be sown and grows from underground stems only. The poppy seeds are too light to sink in if soaked in the water. This metaphor relates to the concept of the omniscience of the Lord.TheLord exists and pervades in the entire universe as well in the tiny recess of the heart of all jivas who are supposed to be extrememly minute . In the Lord contradictory statements are true.He is anOraniyAn mahatOmahiyAn. In Harikathamrutha saara ,Sri Jagannatha Dasaru says,:aNumahattinoLippa ghana paramANuvinoLagaDagisuva sUkshmavamuNugisuva tElisuva sthUlagaLavana mAyavidudanujarakkasalellarivanoLumunidu mADuvudEnulUkhalaonakegaLu dhAnyagaLa haNivaMdadali

saMharipa...HKAS_03-19ParamAtma pervades in the extremely small atom size particles so also inlarge objects too. The size of thejIva in all i.e. from Brahma until the blade of grass is similar to thesub-atomic particles Similarly, He pervades in huge mountains, large oceans,entire brahmAMDa and beyond . He envelopesthese and thus pervades everywhere. This shows His capacity to dothe impossible and awesome tasks by pervading in the largest objects and in the tiniest thing too.A tree is very large, but the life giving capability of the same tree is compacted in the seed.The sand particle is very small but it sinks in water,whereas a log of wood is very large but it floats on water. Even a boatmade by using many logs of wood still floats on water. Even the person sitting in theboat is in fact floating on water.Thus ParamAtma has the capability to sink the extremely small

size jIvainto the ocean of this world by giving them this sthUla shareera. Thisastonishing strength of ParamAtma is understood by learnedpeople as "mAya", which is infact the free will of ParamAtma. We areeither fettered to or freed from this saMsAra only by His free will.PuraMdara dAsa in another ugbhoga says:-"kariyu kannadiyoLagippateradi nInu ennoLage aDagippe" - meaning - Anelephant is a huge animal but we can see its image in the mirror. Similarlythough YOU are infinite, YOU reside in me.Dasaru describes the feet of Purandara viTTala as that which can crumble amountain in one shot. Here we can recall Vamana avatara wherein He crushedthe pride of Bali by covering the entire universe in two steps and asking Bali where to keep the third step. Bali replies,"Please keep thy foot on my head which is bloated with mountaneous pride and crush it so that I can learn to be humble. "Again note the comparison of the tiny feet of viTTalawho is in the form of a boy, and the mountain. To the Lord the physical sizeis immaterial. He is all-powerful.The same devurunama's last charanam can also be read as follows:janake gadatara sullu nammallillavaiyyaLies which cause downfall of people do not exist in our siddhanta.Prasanna Theertharu echoes these thoughts,hanumana maneyavaru nAvellaru hanumana maneyavaru....................................iddudanilleMdu abada nuDivarallamadhvamuniyu namma tiddiruvudu noDihanumana maneyavaru nAvellaru hanumana maneyavaruSri KrishnArpanamastuI am not the doer

, Lord Hari is the doer. All that He makes me do is His worship by His grace.R.Parimala

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