baMda duritava kaleyO taMde gururAya-Devaranama

[Guest guest]

Hare Srinivasa!On the occasion of the upcoming aradhana of Sri Raghavendra swamigalu , one should perform his seva to obtain his grace as told by Dasarus'rAghavEMdra guru rAyara sevisirO soukyadi

jIvisOStudying the texts written by Gurugalu and trying to understand and implement his teachings form an important part of such seva. Singing in praise of the guru is also a seva which develops our reverence for the guru by showing us his greatness as told by the Haridasarus. Please visithttp://www.aarshavani.org Here we have a collection of devaranamas on rAyaru with audio by various bhajana mandalis

in simple style and most of the lyrics too, to sing along.In this devaranama, Madhvesha

vittala dasaru is entreating Sri Guru Raghavendra to destroy all the

seeds of bad expereinces.baMda

duritava kaleyO taMde gururAya

kaMdanA

bhavaNeya niMdu nOdadiraiyya

 

 

He

says," Oh father, gururAya, please remove the distress in my

life as and when it arrives . Please don't just stand looking at your

child's sufferring ."

He

addresses Guru Rayaru as "taMde gururAya". taMde means

father. He uses the adjective gururAya to glorify the guru as the most eminent of Gurus, the King of Gurus but at the same keeping the

intimacy of the relationship intact. Raya is an endearing term used

instead of raja. He speaks in the first person, as one would speak to

anyone who is a very close friend. A father is a friend and a

well-wisher. Well-wisher is a very light word because one can never

begin to describe or glorify all the things that a father does for

his child. Even in the world, fathers look out for their children by

forseeing future problems and trying to work out solutions beforehand

so that their children do not face any hardship.

 

 

 

Madhvesha

vittala dasau is talking to Gururayaru with the same right that a son

has to ask of his father. He says ,"Please don't standby and

look on as your little one suffers. Please remove the misery that

comes."

Here

he is not praying for anything specific. Dasaru is aware that

Gururayaru will bestow what is necessary for his upliftment. So he

just requests for removal of distress. Distress could be worldly

distress or the lack of spiritual guidance.

 

To

the great Dasa's distress of the wordly nature would hardly be a

bother. It is quite evident that Dasaru is referring to distress in

the form of lack of continuous and sincere sadhana which is the worst

distress for any satvic soul. He is saying ,"Due to past

prarabdha , these hindrances will be there, so please do uplift me as

I have surrendered to you and trust you completely as a little baby

trusts its father. A baby is innocent and is happy when it is in the

hands of its father or mother. It does not forsee any problems, but

the father does. He provides for its physical well-being as well as

education and other progress. Similarly Dasaru is hinting that if one

were to surrender oneself at the feet of the Guru then the Guru will

definitely provide for the complete well-being of the devotee just as

a small baby is taken care of by its father without asking.

 

 

 

 

ninna

hridguhavAsi narahariya nAmavanu

anudinavu

biDade bhajisutiralu

 

 

ina

kaMDa himadaMte tanubhAde ODuvudu

anubhavake

taMdu koDuva muNi shikAmaNiye

 

 

Dasaru

says ," O muNi shikAmani , O guru the foremost among those who

have contemplated on the scriptures , your knowledge and power are so

brilliant that one can feel the bodily distress melt away from one

self when the brilliant thoughts of your antraryami Sri Narahair

come to mind."

He

says, "Just as the ice melts when the sun shines, similarly when

you grace your devotee by giving him thoughts of the Lord, all the

bodily pains and distress melt away. "

Dasaru

is saying if one were to say they don't know the expereince of the

melting of ice and if one wants to experience it then one has to call

out to Guru rAya and he will give the expereince. Just as the

appearance of the Sun causes the ice to melt and move away without

any effort from the sun other than its natural attribute -warmth and

heat, in the similar way for one who contemplates the thoughts of

your antaryami, Sri Narahari everyday , for him the distress melts

away and disappears. Such are the great attributes of the Lord.

The

comparison is excellent because, if one want's to melt the ice

clinging tightly to a rock and one starts up a fire close to it, the

rock will also get heated and creatures inside the rock will suffer.

But if the sun shines the ice melts without causing the rock to get

heated . Similarly thinking of Lord Narahari and chanting His nama

will please Guru raya and he will shine on the obstacles and miseries

in his devotees life causing them to flee without leaving any lasting

negative impact on his devotee.

 

 

ninna

bAdeyanu srI narahariyu sahisadale

 

sannutadi

baMdaMte sudIMdra karajA

khinnannAgippenna

chennAgi salahaiyyA

anyanenisadale

srImOdArya matachaMdra

 

 

Dasaru

says ," Lord Sri Narahari could not tolerate your suffering at

the hands of your father . Your father was angry and furious when you

glorified Lord Narayana as the one who exists everywhere , as the one

who is the Supreme being. In order to protect you the Lord manifested

right inside the pillar and destroyed the cause of your stress. You

are the disciple of Sri Suddindra theertha. I am in a pitiable

state."O moon of the saints in the parampare of Sri Ananda

theertharu, please bestow your grace on me without discriminating me

as a moron when compared to your other knowledgeable devotees."

Dasaru

is requesting Rayaru to come to his aid in a similar manner. Then he

says you are the right person to uplift me as you are the disciple of

a great yati 'Sudeendra theertha'. This could mean that Dasaru is

requesting rayaru to impart the knowledge that can uplift him . He

also glorifies Rayaru as the moon of Srimad Ananda theertha's

philosophy.

 

 

prahlAdaneMdenisi

taMde shApava kalede

oLLe

shAstrava pelI ODiside mAyigala

ballida

madvEshaviTTalana kIrutiya

mElAgi

pogaluva maMtrAlaya vAsi

 

 

In

this last stanza Dasaru is highlighting the seva done by Rayaru to

the Lord in his avatara as Prahlada and Vyasarajaru. He says ,"When

you were Prahlada , the Lord was pleased with your devotion and after

the destruction of Hiranyakashipu, and asked you to name a boon. Then

you asked for the redemption of your father fron his curse."

Here

it is relevant to recall that Prahlada was put to untold misery by

his father, because he was chanting the Lord's name and accepted the

Lord as the Supreme being.Later after being rescued by the the Lord,

the Lord asked him to ask for boons and Prahlada had said that his

devotion was not for barter. He did not want anything in exchange for

his devotion. But upon insistence from the Lord , he asks two things

which one should emulate.

He

says ," Please grant that I may never ask for anything from

anyone at anytime. " By asking the second boon he describes the

depths to which he has reached. He is able to forgive his father who

had inflicted untold suffering and had tried to kill him many times

and ask for his redemption.

 

 

In

his next line Dasaru describes the greatness of his avatar as

Vyasaraja. He says ,"You taught the right shastras and removed

the cloak of ignorance . " Vyasaraja was a great exponent of

Madhva philosophy. At the same time, he was a also a great authority

on Advaita too. He had studied in Kanchi puram for 6 years to learn

and understand the shortcomings of Advaita and thereby to consolidate

his knowledge on Dvaita. The extent of his learning was such that

even scholars of the other schools acknowleded his authority on their

interpretation of the scriptures. Hence all his works carry more

significance. In his Nyayamrutha he justifies the philosophy of

Tatvavada and shows that monism is untenable on every ground. Hence

Dasaru addresses him as ' ODiside mAyigala" (Monism is the

philosophy which claims that there is only one real entitiy and all

others are thinking they are others because of ignorance . They

beleive that the world is not real .)

 

 

Finally

in the last two lines he talks about the saint of Mantralaya. He says

, You are the one who glorifies the all knowing Lord and are

spreading His glory as stated above.

 

 

What

is stated above?

1.

Guru Raghavendra cares for his devotees as a father cares for his

son.

2.

He graces those devotees who understand that the Lord Narasimha is

the ultimate controller of all beings and is the antaryami of

Prahlada rayaru.

3.

He graces those who attribute his glory to the presence of the Lord

within his heart.

4.

He graces those devotees who recollect the glory of the Lord's

avatara as "Narahari".

5.He

is pleased with those who understand the greatness of his

guru"Sudheendra Theertha"

6.

He is pleased with those who perform Nishkama karma by not asking for

anything specific and just praying for the grace and bhakthi of

Prahlad rayaru's antaryami-Sri Lakshmi Narasimha.

7.

He showers his grace on those who accept that they are in a pathetic

state due to ignorance and seek for upliftment. Admitting the lack of

knowledge opens the door to knowledge.

 

8.

He is pleased with those who belong to the Madhva parampare even if

they are still in the process of gaining knowledge. (anyanendenisadale - don't treat me as an outsider because I don't

know the philosophy to a great extent)

9.

He is pleased with those who recollect the glories of the Lord and

how He graces His deovtees.

10.

He is pleased with those who are in the process of understanding the

truth. - modArya matha and shines knowledge upon them just as the

full moon shines illuminating the dark earth on a full moon night.

11.

He is pleased with those who forgive other's follies understanding

that they are instruments in the Lord's hands made to perpetrate

criminal actions on oneself due to prarabdha karma. (Dasaru

says,"didn't he forgive his father after all the atrocities he

committed? So he will like his devotee to emulate him in this great

virtue.)

12.

Accepting the theory of the monists is not to his liking as he is the

foremost among those who condemned such postulations. Not refuting

wrong knowledge is akin to accepting it so Rayaru never did such a

thing in either of his avataras. Even under the great social pressure

of father to son , he did not succumb. Even in the

times(1460-1539-Vyasa raja's period)when there were many great

scholars of monism, he did not fear for anything but boldly stated

the truth .Even as Sri Raghavendra theertharu he served the Lord and

his retinue by writing superb commentaries on the bhashyas of Srimad

Acharya. He is called 'Sudha Parimala acharya" who wrote the

commentary with the name 'Parimala' and it means one who gives

delight to the tongue and entire body as nectar would and one who

spreads the fragrace of Srimad Acharya's philosphy just as the wind

spreads fragrance effortlessly.(olle shAstrava pEli oDiside

mAyigala)

13.

Accepting the supremacy of the LordMadhvesha vittala and his

omniscience and glorifying it is a sure way to please Sri Raghavendra

rayaru.

14.All

the above things are important to Rayaru who is resident in

Mantralaya. Mantra- means a string of alphabets which are repeated

again and again . Alaya- means the resident. Mantralaya also means

the place where Rayaru is doing continuous japa of Sri Seetha Rama

chandra . He is appropriately referred to as mantralaya vaasi- the

one who does this mantra japa at that place.

By

this Dasaru is hinting that we should try to inculcate all the values

that Rayaru has shown by example in his life. One should always

strive to learn about the spremacy of the Lord and acknowledge our

dependence on Him. One should always glorify truth as truth gives

power of right knowledge. One should always perform the japa of his

ishTa devatha continuously. Only then will one have the grace of the

Guru Sri Raghavendraru.srI krishNArpaNamastuI am not the doer, Lord Hari is the doerWhatever He makes me do is His worship by His graceR.Parimala

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Email names for you!

Get the Email name you've always wanted on the new @ymail and @rocketmail.

Hurry before someone else does!