aMbiga nA ninna naMbide -Devaranama by Sri Purandara Dasaru

[Guest guest]

Hare Srinivasa!

 

ambiga nA ninna naMbidE

 

Sri Purandara Dasaru surrenders to the Lord and accepts that an embodied being is like a non-living boat in the hands of a living ,thinking boatman. But this concept itself maybe difficult to digest for most of us. Our expereince is that sometimes we feel we are independent of any control espcially in times of joy and success and at other times we feel helpless and tired of things going out of control. Unless one understands the relationship between the jiva and the Lord, one cannot reach the depth of thinking which Dasaru is talking of. He accepts that he is like a jaDa boat, one without any volition of his own and the The Lord is the boatman who can keep it afloat and steer the boat towards the right destination. In this devaranama Dasaru entreats the Lord after explaining the reasons for his request to the Lord

..

 

ambigA nA ninna naMbidE jagadaMba ramaNa ninna naMbidE

He addresses the Lord as 'aMbiga"- the one sits inside the boat and steers as well as rows the boat. Then to show that he is not referring to any ordinary boatman , he glorifies the Lord as jagadaMba ramaNa - the giver of bliss to the mother of the universe-mahalakshi." With this one address he makes it clear that the Lord to whom he is addressing his prayer is the supreme personality who is the cause of joy even to the great mother of all .

A similar thought to the one expressed by Dasaru can be found in the BG 18.61 the Lord says," O Arjuna, the Lord is seated in the hearts of all embodied beings, engaging them at will in different deeds , spinning them around as in a whirl-gig. (He is the controller or the boatman)

 

Then Dasaru keeps insisting that he has taken refuge in the Lord and completely trusts Him. The trust in the Lord is of utmost importance as it fosters the correct understanding of all related attributes and leelas. Without firm belief in the omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence of the Lord even prolonged study does not give any conviction. Conviction is built only on strong, unshakable belief which is beyond just theoretical belief. This is the Lord's way of working out the jiva's karma and bestowing knowledge in the process. In HKAS JAgannatha Dasaru says

.....sishTEshTaneMdu aritu satbhakthi pAshadali

kaTTuvara bava kaTTu biDisuvanu.... HKS 2.26

"To the one who ties up the Lord with the strong ropes of satbhakthi, the Lord releases such a person from the tight knots of bondage that bind the jiva. "

satbhakthi is the direct consequence of having a firm trust. So Dasaru here is telling the Lord that he trusts in the Lord, such telling without any inhibitions shows a depth in devotion which does not come easily.

Knowledge that He will take care of everything. Knowledge that He takes care of everything for the overall good of the jiva is the cause for complete trust at all times and such trust leads to abiding devotion. Even in social life, we see that relationships have a strong bond based on the trust one places in the person . The stronger the trust and conviction that the other will never do anything to cause harm to oneself knowingly helps in fostering a lasting bond between two people. If this is the case among ordinary humans then imagine what the effect of such trust would be in the case of a human and the Lord in whom such trust is placed. He will never forsake one who trusts Him.

Sri Vyasarajaru has said ,

naMbi keTTavarillavo raMgaiyyana naMbade keTTare keDali

 

Sripadarajaru says

nArAyana ninna naMbide

nArAyana ninna horetu enna poreva daiva vellhudu

 

By addressing the Lord as the boatman of his ship.Dasaru says, " O Lord, I beleive in Your overlordship of all matters relating to the jiva. You are the one who instigates all actions and You are the bestower of fruits based on the criteria of jiva swabhava, anadi karma and prayatna. " This one sentence shows that one must accept that the Lord steers us in directions based on the above criteria, but our prayatna is to surrender to His will. Sri Gopaladasaru has said in one ugabhoga,

 

sarvarige preraka sarvakartabhoktasarvatradali vyApta sarvashabda vAchasarvaguNa paripUrNa sarvadoShadUrasarvaGYAnagamya sarvashakta mUrtisarvesha cheluva gopAlaviThalareyasarvAntariyAmi sarvabauma namo

 

Srimad Acharyaru has said in the Gita tAtparya

nAham kartA hariH kartA tatpUjA karmachaakhilam.h|taThaapi matkR^itaa pUja tatprasaadhEna naanyaThaa|tadbhakti tadphalam.h mahyam.h tatprasaadaat.h punaH punaH |karmanyaasO harAvevam.h vishNOsthR^iptikaraH sadhA ||"I am not the doer, shri Hari is the doer, all the actions that I do are His worship. Even then, the worship I do is through His grace and not otherwise. That devotion and the fruits of the actions that come to me are due to His recurring grace.If one always practices to do actions with a dedicated spirit to Hari, in this way, it pleases Vishnu. "

All the karma that is performed through oneself is a form of worship to the Lord provided He graces one to have this knowledge that He is the doer at the time of performing the action. Usually while undertaking action one is always under the impression that everything so far was accomplished by oneself successfully, one is going to complete it successfully and one is going to be succcessful etc. All this ,is the blindfold which causes the forgetfulness of the fact of God being the doer while doing the action. Unless His grace is there this goes on and on over countless births. But once He decides to give one this memory or smarane(that He is the actual doer) during the performance of all action then all action/thought becomes His worship. Dasaru has shown this by example. He is composing the song and at the same time he is

talking about his complete dependence on the Lord for all action. He accepts that he is like a non-living entity in being directed and made to do actions and experience the fruits of action.

 

 

tumbida harigOl aMbiga adakombattu chidravu ambikA

saMbramadiMda noD aMbiga adara iMbu noDI neDesaMbigA

 

Dasaru compares the soul in a human body to a loaded barge headed for a destination. But the barge has nine holes which causes the barge to get filled with water, making it difficult to stay afloat and thereby the ability to steer the barge towards the destination is lost due to sinking.

 

The human body has nine entry and exit points which Dasaru calls as holes. These are the sense organs as well as the organs of excretion. The sense inputs are the ones which weigh the soul down to attachment to the body and constrain its ability to move towards its destination. Dasaru insists that unless one entreats the Lord and surrenders to Him begging, Him to steer one's soul in the correct direction, one has no chance of crossing this cycle of birth and death. If the Lord looks at the soul with sambrama means with great grandeaur ie.,with a special grace, then the soul feels the shelter of the Lord's grace and is patient and calm moving along the lane of life without any worry, knowing that the Lord is the cause of everything and will protect His devotee without a doubt.

 

The feeling that one is responsible for the joy or suffering of others with whom we are involved causes worry about the future. This worry propels one to insure onself against any kind of misfortunes that may befall oneself or one's loved ones. If this goes out of proportion then all direction is lost. So the root cause of worry is over attachment to loved ones . One should relent one's feeling of possession on any relationship and understand that it is a gift from God and He will keep it positive and alive only until He wishes and that in the overall picture we but mere instruments playing out an act which bombards us with expereinces. These experiences cause the jiva to learn and move on. So though the play is staged by the Almighty Lord, the beneficiary is the embodied jiva . The Lord is swaramaNa and does not need

anyone or anything to make Him happy. He is the storehouse of infinite bliss and knowledge.

 

hoLe ya barava noDaMbigA adake selavu ganavaiyya aMbigA

suLiyolu mulugide aMbiga enna seladukoMdoiyyo nI aMbiga

 

Dasaru is imagining himself as a boat which is being bombarded with strong waves .

 

"O boatman, look at the flow of the river.It has very strong currents. I am drowning in the whirlpools of this river and I beg of You to pull me out of this whirlpool."

 

Dasaru is now comparing the samsaara sagara to a fast flowing river with strong currents and whirlpools. A boat without a proper guide cannot help but getting pulled into the whirlpool. Similarly a soul without the knowledge of the Lord as the aMbiga and without seeking His grace will definitely get sucked into the bondage of samsara birth after birth endlessly.

One may wonder why should Dasaru tell the Lord that he is drowning. The Lord is omniscient and knows everything. In fact He is the one who designed the expereince for the jiva. The reason behind this seems to be that one should understand through expereince the pitiable condition of the soul and accept this actively, only then one can surrender to the Supreme will wihtout any misgivings. And by telling the Lord explicity about his helplessness Dasaru confirms his knowledge of helplessness of the soul and complete dependence of the soul on the Lord.

 

Aru tereya nOd aMbiga adu mIribarutalide aMbiga

yAriMdalAgadu aMbiga ada nivArisi dATiso aMbiga

"Look at the six great waves coming up all the time, O boatman. They are just overwhelmingly huge and forceful. It is impossible for anyone to cross over and none other than You can take me across. So please remove these obstacles which seem impossible to surmount and steer me towards my destination."

 

The sense inputs coming through the entry points discussed by Dasaru in the previous charanam (oMbattu chidravu) cause six waves to continuously come up in the mind. They are ' kAma, krodha,lOba, mOha, mada, matsarya. These are the greatest obstactles of spritual progress. The lord has discussed these in the Bhagavad geetha in detail. In 2.62 and 63 Sri Krishna says," When a man dotes over sense objects thinking them to be the cause for uninterrupted happiness, there appears attachment. Constant association creates a craving which when met with resistance causes resentment. Anger begets erroneous knowledge and the embodied being does action without proper thought resulting in disregard for spiritual sanctions which finally condemns him to eternal darkness."

 

One may wonder why is Dasaru is telling the omniscient Lord about His predicament. This is to highlight that he accepts that to whatever extent one studies the scriptures one is still unprepared for the battle of life. Even though one may have studied about how desire is the root cause of anger, as unfulfilled desire leads to anger.Anger leads to matsarya-jealous of people who are better off in those aspects which one aspired for.On the other hand fulfilled desires lead to hankering for more which is lobha and lobha leads to moha and mada.

 

Theoretically one may think that awareness of these aspects of mind makes one immune to them . But the actual expereince is different. However much one knows, one cannot control and is catapulted into any of these six tumultous waves which destroy peace of mind. Without peace of mind, no worthwhile thinking or conteplation can be accomplished. It only leads to further agitation and further enmeshment in bondage.

Only the Lord has the power to uplift us from this mire. Learning, listening , hearing and retelling the glory of the Lord and His benevolence to His devotees has a positive influence on the mind and it hankers for more knowledge about the Lord.

Vyasarajaru says

lAbha vahudu harikathAmrutha

arishadvargagala taridu jaridu tApatryava kaledu

padumanAbhana padada pathadi labhavahudu....

 

The quest for knowledge leads one to spend more time on His thoughts and this constant association leads to love of the Lord. The love of the Lord turns the ordinary to the devotee. So the method is chalked out and only by surrendering to Him and seeking His help can uplift one.

 

satyaveMbode huTT aMbiga sadA bhaktiyeMbode patha aMbigA

nitya muruthi puraMdara viTTala enna mukthi manTapakoiyo

 

Dasaru says ,"Truth is birth, abiding devotion is the path and he pleads with the eternal Lord Purandara vittala to carry him to the palace of freedom."

Dasaru claims that whatever may have been, whatever has been and whatever maybe are not important and what is the reality is that we exist now and hence we must exert ourselves to following the path set out by the seers. One has to follow the path of bhakthi and surrender one's entire being to the Lord and make Him as the boatman ,only then can enable one to cross the ocean of samsaara.

 

Here Dasaru is asserting a basic tennet of Madhva's philosophy ie Reality of the world and the reality of the expereince of the jivas. He says by learning from the expereince one can understand that only pure devotion to the Lord knowing His benevolence in creating the world for our experience can enable one to seek the Lord's protection and His grace in carrying one towards eternal freedom which is free from bondage."

 

Existence is true and real. Even western philosophers agree to the point that ,"I think, therefore I exist." Anything that one says or thinks and becomes aware of ,that expereince of saying, thinking or becoming sware of, shows and proves beyond doubt about the existence of that thinking person.

It gives one the identity and the expereince of the identity as 'I am doing...", " I am expereincing..." I am dependent...." as well as the experience that some superior power is controlling all the entities, all the celestial bodies, all the forces of natures, all the elements of the nature etc. Contemplating and thinking on these expereinces causes one to gain knowledge about our indebtedness to the Lord and His great mahatmya. Learning more and more about the Lord's forms and infinite auspicious attributes helps one to move to surrender to the Lord's supreme will . When this attitude is imbibed the soul becomes completely tuned to the Lord and His will and is peaceful accepting every expereince as the

will of the Lord and as a gift from Him.

 

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

Get your preferred Email name!

Now you can @ymail.com and @rocketmail.com.