IttaMge iruvenO hariye -enna doreye -composed by Sripadarajaru

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ittAMge iruvenO hariyE enna doreye composed by Sri Sripadarajaru Sripadarajaru who is the great great great grandfather of Dasa sahitya is believed to be an amsha of Dhruva. He was instrumental in incorporating the ritual of singing songs in the prasie of the Lord during devara puja. Jagannathadasa gurubyoh namah Gopaladasa gurubyoh namah Vijayadasa gurubyoh namah Purandaradasa gurubyoh namah Vyasaraja gurubyoh namah Sripadaraja gurubyoh namah Here is a heartrending

devaranama which shows the extent of his vairagya or detached attachment to all things related to the body and world. Here detached attachment is used to show that the interest of going through the expereinces of life exists because these expereinces have been designed and provided by the Lord, never for the sake of the expereince itself. In the Bhagavatham Dhruva charitra is described as follows: Dhruva was the son of Suneethi and Uttanapada. Uttanapada was the son of Swayambhuva Manu and Shataroopa devi.He had two wives- Suneethi and Suruchi. The names are significant in proclaiming that what is towards virtue will not be as desirable

as the other to a worldly man. Suruchi was vain and had the King in her power. Once when Suruchi's son was sitting on the lap of his father -Uttanapada, Dhruva had the same desire - to be seated on his father's lap as he sat on the throne. He went up to his father to climb on to his lap. Suruchi stopped him and told him that if he wanted to sit there he had to be reborn as her son. It was the privelege of her children only. Dhruva who was driven with this desire to sit on his father's lap ran to his own mother in dismay. He enquired as to the truth of Suruchi's words. Even though Suneethi was seething with emotion at the fact that her son was rejected because she was his mother, she controlled herself and gave good counsel. Suneethi counseled him saying that "Do not wish anything inauspicious for anyone.Lord Hari is the father of one and all. Your great grandfather Brahma worshipped Lord Adokshaja and attained the status of jeevothama.Your grandfather Manu also had the

grace of Lord Narayana. You should surrender to the Lord of lords . He is the only One capable of giving you your heart's desire." Dhruva sets off immediately to the forest and encounters Narada on the way. Sage Narada tries to dissaude the young boy but he does not budge-true to his name. Dhruva means the immovable one. The boy begins a severe penance and at the end of six months Lord Vishnu gives Him darshan. At the time Dhruva was so engrossed in looking inside and seeing the vision in his heart lotus, which is the result of his contemplation that he did not open his eyes to see the Lord present right in front of him.The Lord made

the roopa inside dissappear causing Dhruva to get distressed and open his eyes. When he sees the Lord standing in front of Him in His full glory, he is speechless. He was unable to utter any word or do anything. Then the Lord takes his conch shell and touches his forehead with it. Then Dhruva begins his great prayer. yOMtah pravishya mamavAchamimAm prasuptAm sanjeevayat akilashaktih dharaswadhamnah aMyAmscha hasta shravana

tvagAdin prAnAn namO bhagavathe purushAya tubyam ||4.9.6|| "Oh Lord You are controller of all my sense organs and I submit myself to you. Please give the necessary inspiration to my senses and make me perform the necessary actions like speech, hearing .so that they may gloriy You. I pay my obesiances to You , oh Lord please be pleased." After this he is granted all the riches of the world and the emperorship of Dhruva loka after his life on

the earth, Dhruva returns home at the Lord's bidding. But he has a nagging unhappiness . The cause of this is that,"He had asked something of the Lord , he had approached the Lord with the desire of asking something temproary and was thus shamed by this." In Srimad Bhagavatham 4.9.31 Dhruva says, " aho bata mamAnAtmyam maNda bhAgyasya pashyatA bhava chiddhA pAda mUlam gatvA yAche yat aMtavat || He says,"Alas, Look at me I am so unfortunate, I approached the Lord whose lotus feet is the vanquisher of the bondage of souls in samsaara and having been bestowed His vision, I asked for persihable things." Here, it is very clear that extreme anguish was expereinced by Dhruva even at the tender age of 5years. After he had God's vision, he had to accept that he started out with the desire to obtain the throne, the power of being a prince and sit on the his father's lap. So he had to accept it when the

Lord granted it. His thoughts in this devaranama reflect his expereinces of the great truth - "One should understand the Lord's benovelence in bestowing everything on oneself and be grateful for what one receives. One should never hanker after anything other than the devotion to the Lord as any other thing is impermanent and causes further bondage. One should do one's duty and offer all actions and thoughts to the Lord's lotus feet with the wholehearted satisfaction that He will take care." In this devarnana nama Dhruva as Sripadarajaru is calling out to the Lord and repeating , " I shall be as You will , Oh my Lord and master whose lotus feet is worhshipped by all the jivas in the entire shrisTi." Here Sripadarajaru is saying 'doreye' to address the Lord. This word conveys that he accepts that he is the servant of the Lord or the sevaka and the Lord is the dore(master). This is the relationship between souls and the Lord. Then he describes the Master as "The one whose lotus feet is worshipped by the souls in the entire creation." Dasaru is using a unique method to show the Lord's supremacy . There is no other entity whio is worshippable by one and all .It implies that He is the one and only entity who is woshippable by all including Mahalakshmi. He is the Supreme, independent controller and the jiva is the tiniest of tiny dependent sevaka of the Lord. One must understand the independence of the Lord as it signifies that He can overule any other jiva.What He says is the truth. If He wills it then that shall definitely happen. So Dasaru says that if we submit willingly to His

will , that is the best path to realise His lotus feet. One more guna of the Lord is signified by this. He is called as swagatabhedavivarjitha. It means all His limbs, organs etc are of the same power as Him and are not different from Him , all His forms have similar infinte auspicious attributes. Let us look at the significance of 'paduma'-lotus. Lotus is the symbol of peace and beauty which brings happiness to the soul. So addressing the Lord as the Lord whose feet is referred to as lotus feet is one way to show His independence in giving peace and happiness to those who worship Him with this attitude of surrender to His Supreme Will. In the first three stanzas of the charanam he talks about the three important things for which human beings clamour all thier life - food, clothing and shelter. He dismisses these three items with the click of a finger by saying that ,that is all the time it would take for the Lord to bestow or to take away any of the above. Then he talks of the fickleness of fame. Fame is such that it can attract people to the person in question and when it declines the people disperse having discovered that what they came for is no more to be found. Finally he begs the Lord to grant him the association of His devotees and not of those opposed to Him. Here it is clear that those desires which lead to worldly happiness, worldly

pleasures and worldly fame are clearly defiled by Sripadarajaru. On the other hand begging for His grace, asking for the company of good people etc, which are all the instruments in bringing one to closer to the Lord are not barred. One can and should always aspire for the things that are not related to the world and body but rather to God, knowledge, bhakthi and vairagya with the intention of pleasing the Lord and not for anything else. ittAMge iruvenO hariyE enna doreye srishTi vaMdita pAda paduma srI hariye saNNa shAlyOdana beNNe kAsida tuppa chinnada harivAnadali bhOjana ganna mahima ninna karuNa tappida myAle ka danna kANade bAy biDisuveyO hariyE Dasaru is saying to the Lord, "Oh Lord, Your glory is great and Your glory is

permenant,immovable, By Your grace one obtains the satisfaction of eating finely cooked fine grain rice and fragrant ghee obtained from melted butter in a golden plate . On the contrary if the jiva misses Your compassion then finding even a morsel of food is impossible." The exquisite way that Dasaru is describing the Lord's leela of punishing souls is excellent. He says ' Your glory is immovable, infinite. It is the jiva who stops being eligible for Your compassion. You are infinitely compassionate so there is no question of Your shower of compassion stopping. It is there eternally." Further,Sripadarajaru is clearly indicating that obtaining rice or not obtaining food ,both are due to God only. He is the one who places the jiva in different situations and makes it expereince the fruits of past karma based on swabhava and previous karma in the countless past lifetimes. In the BG Lord Krishna says 'samatvam yOga uchyate' Being able to take with equanimity both the above situations is what should be the aim of all satvic jivas as that is the path that can take one towards the Lord. Here Yoga is the means to gain spiritual

upliftment. kempili holeva pItAmbara udisuvi sompinaMchina shAlu hodisuviyO kapila harE ninna kripeyu tappida myAle kapadarka koupInavu doreyadO hariyE Sripadarajaru says," You make one wear a beautiful silk garment with a glowing red border, and along with it a beautiful shawl which shines like gold. Oh Lord Kapila, You who are happiness incarnate, You who wrench away the papas of beings in the world, If Your Grace is missed by the jiva, then getting a small lion cloth as a clothing is impossible. " Sripadarajaru wants to emphasize that the clothing one wears is due to the Lord's grace and one should recognize this and be grateful. At the same time one should not be over attached to it and make it as a part of themself. It is there, so wear it and be grateful.Understand well and truly that our getting or not getting things to wear are in God's hands and He will decide. So what is the use of hankering after something over which we have no control. Instead being grateful

goes a long way in controlling our ego as well pride of possession. In one deuvurnama Prasanna Venkatadasaru says, sanghavAgali sAdhusanMgavAgali saMgadiMda liMgadEha baMgavAgali achutAMgri nisTaru yadruchalAbha tushTaru nishchaya jNanavaMthara achabhAgavathara nitya One who is a bhagavatharu will have the constant hankering after achutA's lotus feet, will be pleased with what one expereinces or gets and has the firm knowledge about the Lord's supremacy and eightfold- control on all the aspects of creation, sustenance, dissolution, administration , griving knowledge or ignorange, fettering the jiva in bondage or releasing it from bondage . If we happen to have the association of such a devotee we are sure to get released too. Here the important part is being contented with what one has. If this is possible only then firm knowledge on the Lord's glory will be bestowed . They are very much related and the latter cannot come to one who has not conquered mundane desire and achieved a state of

active, peaceful acceptance . tappitu -lost/missed Why has Dasaru said ,"Kripeyu tappidamele" means once Your grace is missed/lost .... This never happens unless the Lord wills the jiva to forget Him completely. The loss of the memory of the Lord is one of the greatest misfortunes that a jiva can encounter according to JAgannatha Dasaru . He says , "Keep

me in any place, even in naraka, but don't give me the loss of the memory of Your glory, my Lord." We should understand by this what is the meaning of "Kripeyu tappidamele" All jivas get thier bounty because of the Lord's immense grace. The thoughts here should not be about Grace being lost, but His will for our worldly comforts being different. The cause of directed absence of comforts is due to the jiva's past karma by which the Lord was not pleased. Such karma could have been those which are detrimental to the well being of others and not adhering to Dharma. Such times are the one's in which the jiva becomes egoistic and forget's the Lord completely making it impossible for them to feel or accept His benevolence. "After all if water should be filled in a vessel if should be turned up towards the water and not face downwards. " So also the jiva's turned towards the Lord have the ability to expereince His Grace and those turned away don't experience His Grace. chaMdrashAleyalli chaMdrakiraNadaMtoppuva chaMdada maMchadolmalagisuvi maMdarodhdhara ninna

mamate tappalu dharma maMdiradolu tolatalagimbu hariyE Sripadarajaru says, " You make one sleep on a beautiful bed, placed in a beautiful room which is exposed to the moonlight and gives peace and happiness to the sleeper. This benevolence of Yours is there as long as You feel the jiva is eligilble for it,once that's past then you make one sleep in a place which is not belonging to one, nor to one's near and dear but a place meant for those without any shelter and there too one has to use one's own arm as the pillow." Dasaru highlights the stark differences in the two situations but he continues saying that "I will prefer to BE as You desire that I should be." ittange iruveno hariye.... Please observe the following words - udisuvi, malagisuvi,narashreshtanenisuvi.." and the following phrases - ' karune tappidamele, kripeyu tappidamele, mamate tappidamele." It is relevant to note that Dasaru is

talking in first person for making one wear , making one lie on a soft bed etc. whereas he talks in third person, showing that that the cause for the loss of grace is the jiva's own karma . The Lord never stop's gracing . He is infinitely benevolence. But to feel and expereince it, the devotee needs to be eligible. To understand this , let's look at the following two sentences : A. I missed the bus. B. The bus was cancelled. The bus is the infinite grace of the Lord. In both cases A and B travel did not take place. In the case of the jiva it is always the eligibility of the jiva which the Lord takes into account, the bus of grace is never cancelled as it is infinite in time and

space and auspicious attributes. Dasaru is using the missing of Grace in the same sense as in A. One more thing is :Sripadarajaru is saying mamate tappidamele, kripeyu tappidamele as if it is a sure thing to happen for a jiva in samsaara. Dasaru is making it clear that such things can happen and will happen in samsaara for anyone. None can feel that he is above it. Those who have secured the Total Grace of the Lord Hari, who has removed all these papas of the jivas and thereby caused the jiva to become happy incessantly - Kapila . narayAnadolu kshana narashreshTanenisuvi varachatra chAmara hAkisuvi karuNAnidhe ninna kaRuNa tappidamele charaNaraksheyu doreyadu hariyE kshaNa - means a moment Time is always relative. The time for which one may be famous in the world is very minute compared to the long journey of the soul lifetime after lifetime. Dasaru is saying, " You will make one famous and make one expereince the power of fame. People pay thier respects . "He is using the terms - chatra, chamara which are important as a mark of respect to kings. Even today these two sevas are performed at temples as mark of respect to show the high status accorded to the diety. Here Sripadarajaru is saying,"You are the treasure house of karuna, if there is karuna anywhere in the world then its origin is in Yourself." Such being the case. jivas are missing Your karuNa and thereby they find it impossible to even get a slipper to wear. Here Dasaru is using 'kaRuNAnidhe" and "karuNAa tappidamele" . This clearly shows that he wants to clarify that it is not the lack of the Karuna on the Lord's part that causes these sufferings but the lack of eligibility on the part of the jiva which causes these expereinces. The Lord is infinitely merciful and one should always be aware that everything that happens is for one's own good and that it is the Lord's infinite compassion which makes this possible. gaMgajanaka

pAMDuraMga ninnaya bhaktara saMgavirali dushTa saMga byADe aMganeyara kUDi anaMgabhANake siluki baMgava paDalAre sriraMga viTTalane Sripadarajaru says in the last paragraph, " Oh Lord Panduranga, the father of the river ganga, please bestow the association of Your devotees, please don't give me the association of the wicked people. I have already

undergone a lot of suffering due to having many selfish wishes being under the control of the Devatha Kama.I don't want to do it again and again , O Ranga vittala." From the above it is clear that if one wants to unshackle oneself from being pulled into the samsaara again and again, one has to consider the following points seriously: 1. Are we mentally and physically clean? 2. Are we having the association of devotees of the Lord? 3. Are we free from the bad influence of wicked people? 4. Are we free from worldly desires? 5. Are we hankering after the release from samsaara? In otherwords Sripadarajaru is broadly hinting at the importance of satsangha .A pre-requisite for this is to become clean in body and mind. Body can becomes clean by having a bath, but it becomes pure when the mind becomes pure. The remembrance of the Lord as 'ganga

janaka' while taking a bath can do wonders for cleansing the mind. Constant remembrance of the Lord keeps the mind pure. Then Dasaru is begging the Lord to grant him satsangha. One may wonder , Why so ? For this, If we are in satsangha continously , means we will be avoiding dusangha automatically.How so? Because sangha is time spent in the company of other. If all the time is spent in the company of devotees then there is no more time to spend with any other people. Hence the word 'automatically'. From constant association

steps the need to emulate the good things seen and observed. Such emulation becomes spiritual practice and then practice transforms oneself and one is able to clearly see the vast difference between the wordly pleasures which are temproary and the heavenly bliss of the glroy of the Lord. This enables one to stop hankering after worldly pleasures and start hankering after learning more and more about the Lord and His glory. Once this happens then the jiva is not far from his goal of eternal bliss and knowledge. We have to take the lead from Sripadarajaru and start applying the concept of accepting what comes when it comes and as it comes without complaining and with the remembrance of the Lord. This would be a first step towards further progress in all aspects of

sadhana. Let us follow the great great grand sishyaru of Sripadarajaru ,Sri Jagannatha Dasaru as he asks for the sangha of the people who are divine in nature because they praise the Lord Ranganatha. He also describes in detail about how these people behave in case we have a problem in identification of Sadhusangha which is usally the case. raMga ninna koMDADuva maMgalAtmara saMga sukaviTTu kAyo karuNa sAgara Sri KrishnArpaNamastu I am not the doer, Lord Hari is the doer Whatever He makes me do is His worship by His grace R.Parimala

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