Guru Vadirajaru's aaradhana - enna manada doMka tidaiyya devaranama by SriVadirajaru

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rAjAdi rAja gurusArvabhouma shrI vAdhirAja guruvantargata shrI bhArathi ramaNa mukyaprAnAntargata shrI lakshmi hayagreevaya namaha ! In this beautiful devurnama, Sri Vadirajaru is beseeching the Lord on our behalf to enable us to control our mind, which is an important tool in sadhana. Firstly the pallavi itself opens with the acceptance of the plight of the jeeva as a dependent being with little or no control even on its own mind, let alone other aspects of the one’s life situation. The second point to be noted in the pallavi itself is Sri Vadirajaru entreats the Lord to uplift the devotee by giving the right direction to the mind. Sri Vadirajaru then asks the Lord to forgive his sins, which are now causing this deviation from sadhana and lead him across this river of samsara. He also proclaims that none other that the Lord can do so. Obviously one in

distress should seek redress from a qualified person. There is no one in the world who is more qualified as seen by the word ‘para’ used by Sri Vadirajaru. In the next two stanzas he analyses the follies of the jeeva who has been granted the human life. In the last stanza he describes the sorry plight of the jiva by using a metaphor to make the human mind to realize the enormity of the blunder it is doing by not using the time given to perform sadhana as said in the Shastras. The actual lyrics of the song are in quotes. “enna manada doMka tiddaiyya gOpAlakrishnaiyya” doMka means – wry He says that the nature of the human mind is wry ie it has the tendency to be at variance with what is right or suitable. Sri Vadirajaru is pleading with Lord Gopalakrishna to straigten his mind which is always choosing the most unsuitable path being under the illusion that it is the best. Here Sri Vadirajaru is pointing out that the mind is the cause for the bondage of man because every wrong choice leads to further wrong choices and so on . mana Eva kaRaNam banda mokshayohO The mind is the cause for the bondage or for mukthi within its realm of operation. So the mind occupies an all important place in the sadhana of a mukthi yogya. If the mind is allowed a free reign then the results can be disastrous. So Sri Vadirajaru fervently prays to Lord Gopalakrishna. Gopala is none other than Lord Krishna who took the cows out to graze at daybreak and saw to it that they did not stray from the path. And Krishna is the Lord who attracts the yogya jivas towards Himself. Sri Vadirajaru is requesting the Lord to bring our mind which strays from one pasture to the other considering the newer one to be more green to the righteous path of contentment and gratitude and herd it along that path towards Him . “enna manada doMka tiddi munna mannisatididda banna paDalAre bavAbdiyannu dATisu apAra

maHimA “ mannisu means forgive or pardon Sri Vadirajaru says ,” Please help me refrain from unnecessary engagement of the mind in useless topics and forgive my earlier mistakes. You are the only one who can do so. I do not want to suffer in this river of samsaara which has many sorrows . So you are the one who can take me accross this river. You are the one with infinite capabilities. “ chEtaH kalvasya bandAya muktaye chAtmanOh matam gunEshu saktam bandAya ratam va pumsi

muktayE Bhagavatham 3.25.15 The mind of the consious being is the cause for the bondage or freedom because of when the mind is under the influence of the three prakrti gunas then it causes bondage , but the very same mind if it associates with thoughts of All powerful Lord then it leads to mukthi. Sri Vadirajaru is referring to the GRACE of the Lord when he says doMka tiddi . The grace of God is ultimately responsible for the control of the mind. Unless one is blessed with God’s grace , none of one’s effort s will bear fruit. yamEvaisha vruNUtEna labyaH – KathOpanishad 2.23 –

those devotees who are selected by HIM are the only devotees who can acquire knowledge and devotion as per thier capacity. Only whom you chose , you shower your grace on them , not others. So please shower your grace on me , Oh Lord. “udayavAdare UTada chiMte uMda mele bhOgada chiMte dara mele hadinAlku lOkagalanAlva chiMte “ Sri Vadirajaru says,” At daybreak we are worried about how to satisfy our hunger and once that basic need is fulfilled, we wonder how to please ourselves. If at all we are free from this then we are bothered about the affairs of other people . He sarcastically says we

bother about others as if we are responsible for the well-being of all the beings in the fourteen worlds.” This can also be understood more deeply over the life period of a person. Once the person becomes an earning member , he first needs to work so that he can fulfill the basic needs of himself and his family. Once that his done, he does not devote the remaining time to devotion or study of the scriptures. Instead he wonders how much more money he can make in his spare time. And with that money what new places he can visit, what new appliances he can purchase etc. So its a never ending search for happiness which is temporary as the time on earth is limited and not defined. If such precious time is wasted on mundane things then the time for fulfulling the purpose of life is not available. If over and above these activities one does get some time then he/she wastes it

by discussing about others and their activities etc. Here Dasaru is referring to the Bhagavatha dharma called ‘dama’ means to keep control on the indriyas. “sukhavu baMdare nanu samartha dukkavu baMdare hariyu mADda rokka baMdare nanu dhanika sikki biddare hariya vyApAra “ Sri Vadirajaru says, “That when one is happy one claims that he is capable of acquiring hapinness by his own efforts . On the other hand when he is beset with troubles he feels that the Lord is responsible for it. If a great amount of wealth is inherited then one proclaims to others that he/she is wealthy .On the other hand in case of diversity the Lord is

accused. People in misery do say,”I don’t know what pleasure God derives from making me suffer like this etc etc.” Sri Vadiraja is pointing out that the jeeva is in the illusion that he is the doer while receiving the money, he is under the second illusion that he is the owner of the money and that he is in control of himself. The acutal fact is the the jeeva is under the Lord’s control at all times and his prayatna is in a limited sphere only. In Harikathamrutha Saara 16.29 ,Sri Jagannatha Dasaru says, kAraka kriya dravya vibhramamUruvidha jIvarige bahu saMsArakivu kAraNavenisuvuvu ella kAladalidUra ODisi bhrAmakatrayamArigoLagAgadale saRvAdhArakana chiMtisutaliru saRvatra mareyadale All jeevas are in samsaara mainly because of these three typical ignorances. 1. karaka -Thinking that our sense organs funtion because we will them to.

Think that we have control on using our sense organs which are the main source of knowledge. 2. kriya – Thinking that all the physical activity we do using our hands and legs are all because we have the strenght , ability and interest to do. 3. dravya – Assuming that all associations of things, wealth, land and other relationships are all ours or belong to us solely. In each of the above the fact is : 1. The Lord is the preraka for all the jnanEndriyas impelling Mukya prAna Devuru to get the work done through the respective tatvAbhimani devatas. 2. Again the Lord instills the

desire for action through the mind and through Mukya prAna Devuru and tatvAbhimani devatas makes us act as per our past karma, our efforts and our jeeva swabhava. The effort is again dependent on the physical, emotional and intellectual faculties avaialbe to the jiva, it is dependent on the genetic, environmental influences on the jiva and these factors are in the Lord's control. So the jiva is a dependent doer as declared by SriMadhvAcharya and never an independent doer. 3.Everything we own is a gift of God. Nothing on this earth is ours . It has been given temprorarily for our use and can be taken back at any time by the Lord. In the next stanza Sri Vadirajaru is pointing out the pitfalls of such appropriation to thought and action without regard for the benevolence of the all powerful

Lord. “tilidu tilidu pathaMga duHlavu kichchinalli biluvaMte kAla kalade murkhanaMte muddu hayavadanane “ He says,”Oh Lord, such an attitude causes me to fall again again into samsaara. " He is comparing this with the flying insect which flies around the fire and falls right into it and dies . It can see that so many other such insects have fallen prey to the same instinct but is not able to exert any control. In a similar manner inspite of hearing and learning the perils of attachment to wordly things, people do it again and again . Here there are two things to be noted. 1. Death is inevitable but just as the fly thinks it is immortal and flies around the fire which engulfs it , so also one hankers after the pleasures of the world which are brilliant to look at but are entirely destructive for the soul . This happens inspite of observing that life on earth comes to an end at some point in time. 2. Secondly the movement of the mind is being referred to here. It travels against the intellect's advise and falls a prey to the bright lights of kAma, taking the jiva with it. This is indicated by Lord KrishnA in the BG where He says 'kAma Esha krOdha esha rajOguNa......." Unless the Lord Hayavadana who is the most affectionate Lord of Sri Vadiraja bestows his grace, the cycle will not

change. Here he is using the adjective muddu. We say muddu when we see a small baby. Irrespective of its race, parents or whether we know it we say what a cute baby! Similarly Sri Vadirajaru is exhorting us to understand that the Lord is lovable from all angles, irrespective of whatever avatara is your ishta devata, He is the one and only one entity who is complete in all respects, unbiased worthy of worship at all times. Hayavadana is the bestower of knowledge to the deserving. It is the form of the Lord when HE divulged the secret of the knowledge in Vedas to Brahma devuru at the beginning of creation.So Sri Vadirajaru is asking us to pray for the blessings of the Lord, which will change the attitude of our mind from the material conquests to acquisition of spiritual knowledge. Let us recollect SrimadAcharya's words and stop talking about the mundane

worldly people "tadalam bahu lOka vichiMtanaya" And concentrate our efforts on the Lord who is Supreme, independent, full of all auspicious attributes and guru and the only abiding, resort of all. "hari rEva guru hari rEva jagat pitrumAtru gatiH" One reason why He is the end resort of all is because He is achuta and contemplating on him as achchuta will cleanse the mind and lead to moksha. Why should contemplating on Him as achchuta cleanse the mind? Contemplating

on the Lord's any form or attribute will cleanse the mind. This name as a special significance as it shows why the Lord is the most worthy entity to be contemplated on. The nature of the mind is to flow towards the lower thoughts which latch on more easily than the noble thoughts. If one contemplates on negative things, then the perception of the mind is flawed with respect to everything. If one contemplates on positive things then the outlook becomes positive. If one contemplates on both positive and negative things, then depending on the power of these respective thoughts the mind wavers between positivity and negativity. When it is in the grip of negativity ,noble thoughts never occur nor does any kind of good thought ensue, whereas while in a positive mode the mind impells its owner to act and think nobly. So one concludes that thinking positively is spiritually enhancing. This is echoed by our shastras as well as the modern thinkers on the mind. So if one contemplates on "Achuta" - one who has no defects . Then however much one thinks and thinks there is nothing negative one can think of. Because all that you can think about the Lord is positive. Achuta -He has no limitations in time/space and guNas. There is no guNa which does not emnate from Him.There is no doshA that can be found in Him. In normal people even if the person is a great person we generally hear ."If only he/she did not have so much pride.... so much anger.... so much...... etc etc he/she would be a much better person." In saying this we have flung dirt on our minds by thinking of the negative things in that person. Such a thing can never happen when we contemplate on the Lord. It is no wonder that SriVadirajaru itself begins his Krishnaashtakam with pAlayAchchutta pAlayAchchutta pAlaya kamalAlaya "O Achchuta please protect and shower your grace on me, You are the abode of all that is peaceful and blissful." A devuru nama by Sri Vyasarajaru wherein he says , “samsAra veMtheMba mArige silukide .. kamsAri nee enna nodaiyya ............................................. .......................................... kaMDu kaMDU pataMga kichchinOl bIlvaMte kaMDa kaMDa hEya vishayagali geraguve “ “I have been captured by the enemy called samsAra and you who are the killer of kamsa has to come to my aid. Without your grace I am falling prey to wordly desires and wasting my life just like the insect which falls into the fire again and again inspite of observing other such insects being burnt by the fire.

“ An ingenious bug researcher named Henry Hsiao found out that moths in general exhibit two kinds of behavior. When they're distant from a light source (they're drawn to light from as far as 200 feet away), they make a beeline straight toward it. Why, nobody knows. However, when the moths get close to the light, a different kind of behavior takes over. Instead of being attracted to the light, the moth is actually trying to avoid the light. When you think about it, this is only natural. To a creature of the night like a moth, daylight and by extension any bright light means danger. The moth doesn't fly directly away from the light due to a peculiarity of vision called a Mach band. A Mach band, which apparently is common to all sighted creatures, is the region surrounding a bright light that seems darker than any other part of the sky.Hsiao conjectured that the moth's atom-sized

brain figures the darkest part of the sky is safest. So it circles the light in the Mach band region, usually at a radius of about one foot, depending on the species. Eventually either its momentum carries it away or it finds a dark corner to hole up in. In short, moths like some light but not too much--just like other creatures . Nobody wants to get burned, naturally, but at some point in our lives, aren't we all attracted to those bright porch lights? It is no wonder that both Sri Vadirajaru and Sri Vyasarajaru have compared the behaviour patterns of humans to these moths. Sri Haripriyatam. 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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