aparAdi nAnalla aprAdavenagilla -Devurunama by Sri Purandara Dasaru

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Hare Srinivasa ! aparAdhi nAnalla aprAda venagilla kapaTa nATaka sUtradhAri neene In this devaranama ,Purandara Dasaru uses the niMda stuthi method or the sarcastic method of praising the

Lord as the complete controller and Supreme personality. He is so close to the Lord that he speaks to Him in the first person accusing the Lord of imprisoning him in a jail made of nine gates with 26 gatekeepers. He continues to contemplate on the plight of a jiva so imprisoned and wonders why the jiva should expereinces the punishments meted out when he/she did not have the independence to direct the action, in the first place. The question of jiva's kartrutva shakthi and boktrutva liability is being put out for contemplation. Dasaru says ," I am not the criminal. I don't have to bear the consequences of my actions because

You are the one who makes me act with the control strings in your hands" nIne ADisadiralu jaDaoNakeya goMbe Enu mADalu balladu tAne bere " If it were not for Your wish to make me move, how would I move. Can a wooden doll move on its own? " Dasaru is comparing the embodied human being/sentient being to a wooden doll. This is from the viewpoint of the Lord. The Lord has complete independence and knows which soul should do what or should think what at every moment of its life. Nothing happens without the Lord energising the soul to do the act . Then if that is the case, it is just as if the soul were a jaDa without any volitional effort of its own. so why should a chetana be held responsible for its actions and made to go through punishements ? nIn iTTa sUtradim chalipavu kaikAlugalu nIne muggisalu mugguva dEhavu Dasaru says, " Every movement of my hands and legs are controlled by You. When the puppetteer moves a string the hand moves upwards, when he pulls it in a different way it moves downwards and so on. So much so even if it topples over, it means the puppetter only let it topple. " Dasaru is talking in this vein because he wants us to Imagine a puppet moving on its own. Wouldn't it be absurd if such a thing were to happen? Then it wouldn't be a puppet anymore. On the same lines, the question of the jiva claiming that he/she did something or thought something on his/her own is just as absurd. The jiva is like a puppet in the Lord's hands. Just as the puppetter is out of sight but controls the show completely, so also the Lord is out of sight and controls the thoughts, wishes and actions. Here

Dasaru is pausing allowing his audience time to think about the next question which comes to mind. "If the jiva is truely a puppet then how can he be made to expereince the result of his actions." This is where Dasaru wants to direct the thoughts of his audience. It is where the secrets of jiva's kartrutva lie." oMdeMTu bAgilugalulla paTTanake tana keMdu ippathAru maneyAlgala taMdu kavalanillisi

enna nI olagiTTu muMde bhava bhavanisuvude EnadannyAyavO Dasaru further accusses the Lord, " You have put me in this city which has nine gates and which is gaurded by 26 guards. Then with me imprisoned in such a unimpregnable prison You subject me lifetime after lifetime of grief and suffering, tell me is this Your justice ?" Firstly the nine gates refer to the nine entry and exit points in the body. The 24 tatvabhimani devathas and the monObhimAni and ahaMkara tatvabhimani are the two which when added gives 26 devatas. So all

actions from the karmendriyas, the jNAnendiryas, the mind which thinks and the intellect which contemplates and directs the mind are truely not in our control. Dasaru is saying to the Lord ,"You have installed gaurds everywhere to watch and direct my thoughts, words and actions." This is vehemently stated with explicit names of devathas by Vijayadasaru in one suladhi. He says to the jiva," nuDisuva varuNanu melluvanu pAvaka naDesuvanu jayaMta kEluva digdhevA biDadappikoMba ahaMkArika prANa oDane guhyagallalli manu

mitra manadalli biDade iMdranu ippa ahaMkAradalli rudra piDivanu daksha nOduvanu sUrya eDatolagadire ivariMdallAguthalire poDaviyolage ninagAvudu adinA kaDalashayanana namma vijayaviTTalanalli driDa bhakutiyane mADo ide sAdhanasidda! " Varuna speaks,Pavaka makes one taste, Jayantha makes one walk, digdevathas make one hear, ahaMkArika prAna makes one feel, inside

manu , mitra, Indra control various levels of the mind, rudra controls ahaMkAra, Daksha makes one use the hand, surya makes one see and so on, then how can you claim to be independent in any thing, you can only place your firm faith in Vijayavittala and that is what can release you from bondage." Then Dasaru says , After such tight surveillance and supervision as well as control on each aspect of action , would it be just to inflict punishement for such forced action?" Let's consider the question . " Whom should we ask justice from?" In the world, by observation and through past history we know that we can expect justice only from the people who respect truth. Others just don't care. The very fact that Dasaru is asking the Lord about His justice in actions, gives the hint that Dasaru completely believes in the Lord's nature of truth. His very nature is truth. The question of Him being partial or favourable to some and purposefully hating others does not arise. He is truth incarnate. By asking the question about justice to the Lord, Dasaru hints that one should accept that what the Lord is doing is justice only, and not injustice. If

that is the case then why do some people get good things and some get bad things ? Shrisha viTTala answers this question in a devaranama. He says," vaishamya nairguMya klEshavilla avara upAsanadaMte phalagala eeve srinivAsa dayanidhe "Srinivasa is the treasure house of

compassion. He has no partiality. He always considers the eligibility of each soul and bestows the correct phala on the jiva." In another devaranama Purandara dasaru himself answer this. He says , "nA mADida karma balavaMtha vAdare nI Enu mADuviyO". He lists all thew wrong things that one does in life, but expects it to be forgiven and to never come back to oneself. He clearly states that the just Lord disperses the fruit as per the intention of actions. Now one

thing is established that the jiva is completely under the Lord's control, but the question remains, does the jiva feel or expereince this kind of control always. Not at all. It is the experience of the jiva that most of the times, it thinks , gets a desire and does something to fulfill the desire and enjoys the corresponding benefits. In order to exlore this let us continue to look at the last charanam. After putting up his case in a rehtorical manner, he goes on to give the answer to the questions in a very crypt way. One has to dive deep into the words to understand it. Referring to other compositions of dasarus helps . yaMtravahaka neenu olagiddu enna swataMtraneMdenisi kolisuvare hElo kaMtupita lakshmIsha yeMtADadara aMtahudo anaMtamuruthi namma puraMdara viTTala Dasaru is saying, " You are the driver of the machine/instrument called jiva. You sit

inside and drive but to the machine it appears as if it is driving and he/she assumes that he/she is driving as per his/her wish, unaware of Your total control. Is this how you deceive/kill me, tell me O Lord. " kolisuvareHere the word kolisuvare means - to kill or to initiate destruction or swataMtraneMdenisi kolisuvare this the way you make one feel independence in action and thought. The word yaMtra is quite significant in talking about

the output of each jiva. Just as the machine can produce what it is designed for, similarly the jiva can achieve what is in its nature only and not anything new. When the raw material is fed to a machine,the machine manufactures a product with the material depending on the nature or design of the machine's manufacturer. This analogy as all others is limited and should be taken only to the extent that it shows that the output from the machine is based on the design of the machine. This corresponds to the fact that the fruits experienced by a jiva are based on its innate nature or design. The nature of a jiva is anAdi and is not conceived by anyone. So it follows that fruits come as per the design. But what about the raw material, the oiling or smooth running of the machine. These two correspond to the anAdi karma which form a

basis for the future expereinces of the jiva and the praytna . The prayatna of the jiva is also packed into its nature only. If the machine is designed to have suitable holes for oiling, only then can it be oiled. Otherwise it will not be possible. Similarly only if the jiva has the feature of perseverence in its swabhava to achieve something good for its self, only then the Lord puts in the thoughts to make proper efforts to achieve which is called as prayatna of the jiva. Prayatna of the jiva is also part of the jiva's yogyatha only and it not extrinsic as one generally tends to concieve. In one suladhi Sri Vijayadasaru says, 'taraNi udbhavisalu Atanna prakAsha marada mEle

bIlaladara nelalu kappu teranAgi kAnalu allida dOsha bhAskaraniMda baMdaddo marada tappO " When the sun rises and shines upon the earth, the trees cast a shadow on the ground. The shadow looks black as per the shape of the tree. Whose fault is this? Is it the fault of the sun or the tree?" This analogy is for understanding that the sun shines in a similar way on all trees but the shadows cast or the different expereinces of the jivas depend on the jivas themself and it is neither the dosha of the jiva or the Lord. It is willed by the Lord

to happen as per the swabhava or essence of the jiva and He makes it happen like that. Now one may ask ,"What is the use of all this expereince? Why can't we just be put into the respective places whether it is andhan tamas, nitya samsaara or moksha? " The answer is that "The Lord wants and wishes the jiva to learn about the truth, to gain wisdom through expereincing karma. Without wisdom, the mukthi yogya soul will not be knowing God in the sense of expereince. And wisdom does not come by without expereince. So expereince is all important for gaining and storing knowledge. Without expereince whatever is learnt does not yeild

the depth that is required to understand oneself, one's nature and the magnificient nature of the Lord, His leelas and His dasas. It is no wonder that the Brahma sutras proclaim that the bounden duty of every embodied human to seek the knowledge of/about the Lord. So when the Lord makes us feel as if we are independent and we take decesions based on the situations and our knowledge about them, we expereince and we gain wisdom. In the mordern world we find a corollary in the montesorri method of teaching young children. They are made to explore, have mini adventures, expereince and thereby they gain knowledge which even though

is pertaining to the physical world is more retainable by them and gives a sense of joy at having the knowledge . If this is the case for something which is perceivable by the sense organs then imagine how much more difficult it is to gain and retian knowledge about subtle spiritual concepts which are not accessable directly to any of our sense organs. The entire world is designed by the Lord for the upliftment of the jiva through gaining wisdom about the Lord. All the injunctions are there and one has to take decesions after understanding them to be the Lord's instructions. The Lord has said in the BG ,' kamanyevAdhikAraste mA phalEshu kadAchana.....' and He continues to say that one cannot remain without action just because the fruit is not in

one's control. The thing to that is of relevance here is even if the jiva rebels(which is also as per the nature), he will be made to perform the action that is ordained for him/her and not only that he will also be pushed further into bondage. Instead remembering that the 'jnAna ichcha and kriya shakthi are under the control of the Lord and every action stems from His prerana goes a long way towards gaining wisdom. Expereincing and being willing to become the Lord's instrument is what the Lord wants everyone to do.He says so in the BG. "nimmita mAtram bhava savyasAchin" . Shrida vittala dasaru in one devaranama says , aMja byADa manave aMja byADa bhava bhaMjana hari sharaNara kAva ............................. jNanEcha kriyA shakthigaleMba I mahAnubhAvadi tanna biMba tAne sarvatradali kAMbA idakEnu saMdEhavillavo shuMbA " If one can understand

through distillied expereince that the Lord is the supreme controller of all three aspects of a jiva then he/she will be eligible to see his/her bimba murthi everytwhere." Here distilled expereince expereince of knowledge-which is also called wisdom and it means experiencing one's knowledge gained through shravana, manana and nidhidyAsana and other accpeted methods. In case people wonder, why the Lord is using so many jivas as machines and getting them to work and expereince and think that he may be fulfilling some desire of His in the process. Dasaru says ,"He is kaMtu pita . He is lakshmIsshA" He is the father of kAma , He is the Lord of the Goddess of wealth and opulence." These attributes of the Lord show that He has no desire neither does He lack opulence or wealth.

He is the master of desire as well as wealth. So there is no need for Him to make the jiva's do karma or suffer just like that. He does it out of His extreme compassion. Dasaru says ,"Whatever He says, that happens. He is the anaMtamuruthi Purandara vittala." Here the word namma shows the closeness of Dasaru with the Lord. We have to feel this closeness and talk of the Lord as our own. In fact we have to have Him before anyone else in our life , then only He becomes 'namma' . He is Anantamuruthi . Dasaru refers to the bimba muruthi of every jiva in the world. He occupies the heart lotus of each and every chetana in this world

and controls thier every action and thought and if one accepts and surrenders to Him , He makes us gain the wisdom from each experience, without enmeshing us in further bondage and sees that we become eligible to call Him 'namma puraMdara viTTala' . Gaining wisdom is the prime objective of life on earth. Vijayadasaru says ," pari pari karmavu baMdAnubhavisuva chariya nODidare nidAna kANe hariye prakritiyiMda nAna viparIta tirugi tirugi jananAdi koDutippadu hiridAgi nAneMbo swAMtaMtradalli nuDiye kara kare bhavadolu horalidenO paramAtmaninna balu mAyavembo prakAsha horege olege vyApisikoMDire ariyAde

pOdeno mosadiMdali bappa duritavennadu eMdu patikarisi paramagatige mahAdUrAgiddeno tatva kuruha tiliyade maMdanAgi ide nirIskhisidare dOSha eMdige ninagilla karuNAkara ninna bhaktagilla taraNi prakAsha marada mEle biMdaMte niruta enna mele biddihado paripoorNa muruti vijayaviTTalarEya karuNasharadi ninage bEdavilla " Observing the string of different karma that I am expereincing and seeing no end to it, I should have understood that Hari does all the actions using prakriti as the main tool and creates and puts the jivas in the creation and makes them do. But instead being the complete dullard that I am, I have been thinking that I am the person who is doing, talking etc independently of anyone else and that is the reason for my repeated janmas in this world. I did not understand , O Paramatma that Your strong maya completely encompasses the entire creation including the sentient and insentient beings and I did not learn anything as much as You set up things for me to learn and acquire wisdom. I kept thinking that it was my own wrong decesions that caused me to suffer without knowing that you control all incidents in my life. After contemplating on these things I come to understand that You are

karuNakara and are not having any dosha and neither does any dosha accrue to Your bhakta who understands Your overlordship. Just as the Sun shines on the tree, so also Your beautiful brilliance shines on me, You are complete in all respects and full of infinite auspicious attributes ,Vijayavittala and it is Your guna of compassion that makes the world rotate." srI krishNArpaNamastu I am not the doer, Lord Hari is the doer Whatevery He makes me do is His worship by His grace. R.Parimala