Sri Jagannatha Dasaru's aradhana- dAsoham devaranama

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Hare Srinivasa !

dAsOham tava dAsOham tava dAsOham tava dAsOham

Why am I the sevaka/dasa?

How do we understand that the Lord is all powerful?

 

These are answered by Sri JagannAtha Dasaru in this devaranama.

By analysing the various controls , which the Lord wields to provide an individual identity to the infnite numbers of jivas and by stating a few of His attributes which govern the jIva ,Dasaru shows the answers to the first two questions. The inability of the jiva is implied everytime the ability of the Lord is stated. By understanding His leelas and implementing the anusandhanas in one's daily life, it is possible to understand one's lowly stature and His magnificence.

 

dAsOham tava dAsOham tava dAsOham tava dAsOham

 

Sri JagannAtha Dasaru asserts , " I am a dAsa, Your dAsa, I am Your dasa, I am Your dasa... ,O Lord vAsudeva , who is completely free from any pain or dosha at all times."

In this devaranama Dasaru glorifying the Lord in the many many ways by saying that the Lord is the pillar of strength for existence, for action and for sadhana if every jiva.

vAsudEva vigatAghasaMgha tava dAsOham

vigata- gone away,ceased,

agha -impurity, pain

 

Lord Vasudeva is the niyAmaka for the muktha jivas and is with them all the time. The criteria to obtain Vasudeva's saMgha is to be devoid of pain/impurity which means to transcend bondage.

vigatAghasaMgha -it also means the Lord who is eternally never in the company of any doshas, when contempated on in this way ensures that His devotee also ceases to have impurities /pain.

One of the main tennets of Sri Madhva's philosophy is the complete Independence of the Lord and the jiva's complete dependence on the Lord.

Kanaka Dasaru has said ," I don't know about my today or tomorrow,how will I be able to describe Your glory?"

eneMdu koMDADi stuthisuveno dEva

nA Enu balle ninna mahimegala mAdhava

........

anurEnutriNadalli paripUNanu nInu

thanunitya ballada boMbe nAnu

 

Sri Madhvacharyaru has categorized all things into two types thereby showing that the Lord is always on an elevated platform which is not fully cognizable by the jiva.

swataMtram aswataMtram cha prameyam dwividham matam |Tatvaviveka

 

There are two types of entites only. Independent entity - the Lord, all others are dependent . The whole hearted acceptance of the IShatva of the Lord is absolutely essential for glorifying Him as the Independent being endowed with unlimited infinite powers. This should not be just theoretical acceptance but with related experiences. Dasaru is initiating those expereinces by stating the specific states of the jiva during which one may think that one is independent but actually not.

It is with respect to

1. existence -jIva

2. time -kAla

3. action-karma

4. morality-dharma

5. devotion -mantra

First Dasaru talks about existence reminding us of all the possible controls that can exist with this aspect of the jiva and stating the Lord's complete control on all these. He goes on to show the same for all the others. From the above :(1) is bound by (2) and (3) and can be released by practice of (4) and (5).

 

The kAla and karma are the bonds which bind the jiva and the dharma and mantra are the saviours of the jiva. How does one understand this?

The scriptures tell us that The Lord is Supreme and exerts an eight-fold control on the universe consisting of the chetana and achetana prapancha.

They are - shristi , sthiti, laya, niyamana, jNana , ajNAna, banda moksha prada.

As kAla rupi paramatma He controls the creation, sustenance, destruction by being in control of the beginning as well as ending of these states for the universe as well as each individual jiva. Dasaru describes His sway on the jiva.

 

jIvAMtargata jIva niyAmaka jIva vilakshna jIvanada

jIvAdhAraka jIvarUpi rAjIva bhavajanaka jIvEshwara tava

 

The Lord exists in the heart lotus of all beings and controls them.

sarvasya chAham hriddi sannivishTo mattasmriti jNanapohanam cha.... BG 15.15

He rotates them as per His whim like a whirl-gig. But He is above the control of anyone and is thereby completely different from the jiva. He is the one who grants existence and identity to the jiva which lies unconscious during the time before creation.

pitAsi lokasya charAcharsya tvamasya pUjyascha gurugariyAn

na tvatsamOastyabyadhikaH kutOMyo lOkatrayEpyapratimaprabhava ||11.43||

Arjuna says, "You are the father of this existence of the animate and inanimate. You are the Supreme celebrated Preceptor of this entire world and highly honoured. There is none to vie with Thee. Where can there by anyone in the entire universe to outstrip Thee. Your lordliness is peerless."

He is the one and only one who powers the jiva and is responsible for any activity of the jiva including existence, He has the same form of the jiva but is different from the jiva ,is the antaryami, He is the Lord of all jivas and causes the jivas to be bound up in samsaara . I seek the dAsatva of such a Lord of the jiva - jIvEshwara.

 

kAlAMtargata kAlaniyAmaka kAlAtIta trikAlagnya

kAlapravartaka kAla nivartaka kAlOtpAdaka kAlamUrthi tava

"The Lord exisits in the kAla or Time and gives meaning to Time, He controls Time, meaning He controls the time when creation of the universe should occur, period of creation,and the time for destruction etc , He controls the time for the beginning and end of all jivas, He controls the time for various expereinces of the jivas. But He is above Time. Jivas are limited by Time, but not so the Lord. He is independent of Time and exists always. He is completely full of bliss and knowledge at all Times. Since there is no time when He is not aware of His own existence and there is no time when He is not full of auspicious qualities it is but a natural corollary that He knows about the three aspects of Time that we are able to relate to- past, present and future.

 

He is the one who causes Time and its aspects, He is the one who can make one trancend Time- (mukta jivas and there also He regulates them). He is the one who can create Time - (create a sense of motivation to complete actions which would otherwise be unfinished) and being such a controller of Time He is called as kAlamurthi or the personification of Time and being under His control all the time, I understand that I am His dasa being manipulated by Him according to my eligibility and I whole heartedly seek the dAsatva of such a Lord."

 

Lord Krishna in the BG11.32 says ,

"kAlOsmi lokakshyakritpravriddo lOkAn samAhartumiha pravrittaH

rutEapi tvAm na bhavishyaMti sarve ye avastitAH pratyanIkeshu yOdhAH||

"I am full of auspicious attributes not bounded by space or time.Primal and eternal, out to destroy the belligerents on both sides. All these persons stationed in the opposing forces will be smashed save you and your brothers."

The above clearly shows that Lord Krishna is a knower of what is in store for everyone in that gathering of the two armies. He is also not bound by the time to do anything. He spontaneously arranges things so that everyone else does things as per thier swabhava and within the time allocated to them. He is trikAlagnya as He tells Arjuna about the future of the soldiers .

Irrespective of our awareness of being His dasa , all are anyway His dasas but to accept Him as the sWAmi and do His bidding every moment of one's life with the earnest wish to please the master, is in otherwords, a surrender to Him(Atma nivedana) which is one of the highest stages in devotion . Dasaru is trying to inculcate an awareness of His mahatmya by focussing on the many controls that He weilds over all jivas.

 

He plans the lifetime of all jivas. King Parikshit was saved by the Lord while still in the womb giving him a new lease of life while later he was cursed by Shringi to die of a snake bite. Both of these were not in Parikshit's control. He was just the expereincer of the actions and was made to perform.

 

karmAkarmakrita karmakritAgama karmaphalaprada karmajita

karmabaMda maha karmavimOchaka karmavigraha vikarmavinAsha tava

 

He is the cause for the karma(action) and akarma(inaction) of jivas, He is the one who decides the future karma based on what has already been performed, He is the one who bestows the fruits of actions but is not bound to do any karma nor to be effected by any karma. He is the one who binds jivas by thier own karma and at the same He is the only one who can release the jiva from this terrible karma bandha. He is the Lord who controls Karma for all and it is due to His grace that one can stop doing the prohibited actions.

 

In the BG 5.14 the Lord asserts His control on Karma.

na kartritvam na karmANi lOkasya srijati prabhuH

na karmaphasamyogam svabhAvastu pravartate ||

"Jiva's lack independent initiative. Neither can the jiva do things on its own not can direct others to it and neither can he/she reap results thereof. It is entire the jurisdiction of the Paramatman."

This verse clearly shows the complete control of the Lord on the action of a jiva.

Example form the Mahabharata : Kunti served the rishi at her father's residence and obtained a mantra by which she could get progeny from any devata. This was granted to her but she never thought that she would have a need for it in later life. This was the Lord's plan.

 

Lord Krishna says in 4.14 .

na mAm karmANi liMpaMti na me karma phala spriha....

"I am not bound by my actions nor am I affected by the fruits of action."

 

Why does Dasaru talk about this in such detail?

 

Sri Jagannatha Dasaru emphasises this in the above charanam because it is absolutely essential for one to know about the Lord's independence in controlling our karma in order to become a true devotee of the Lord with the knowledge of His mahatmya.

 

This is what Lord Krishna says in the BG 4.18 ,

karmaNyakarma yaH pasyedakarmaNi cha karma yaH

sa buddhimAnmanushyEshu sa yuktaH kritsnakarmakrit ||

"He is a true knower among men, a Yogi, who cognizes himself while doing deeds and while inactive during dream and deep sleep that he is not the independent doer while the Paramatman is the real such one in all states and such a person is the one who has done his work wholly."

 

 

dharmayUpa mahadharma vivardhana dharmaviddottama dharmanidhe

dharmasUkshma dharmasaMrakshaka dharmasAkshi yamadharma mitra

yUpa- pillar,vivardhana- promoter , viddottama- the greatest knower

 

The Lord is the firm pillar of dharma. He is the one who decides the dharmic adherence of actions based on the many factors. He is hence called as the great promoter of dharma. Since He knows the entire background of all jivas, actions and events and gives a true verdict of dharma, He is called as dharmaviddottama. He is the treasure house of Dharma. All his attributes , His actions, His leelas are subtle pointers to Dharma. He is the eternal witness of all Dharma. He safeguards dharma by bestowing the right place to the dharmic people and destroying adharma as and when He sees it necessary. He is the one who initiates the process of meting out the fruits of actions to the jivas in Yama loka by being the preraka for Yamadharma and seeing that he takes the correct decesions. This also refers to His Krishnaavatar where He is the

friend of Yudhishtra-Yamadharma .

In the BG,Lord Krishna declares about His control on Dharma.

yada yada hi dharmasya glAnir bhavati bhArata

abyudhdhAnamadharmasya tatAtmAnam srijAmyaham||4.7||

"Whenever there is a decline in righteousness and an increase in injustive, then I manifest myself." He goes on to say that He does this for the establishment of Dharma by saving the virtuous and slaying the vicious.

The Ramayana glorifies Lord Rama as the personification of Dharma.

"rAmo vigrahavAn dharmaH"

Dharma is that which holds together and sustains. From all the above charanams where we have seen the Lord's control on the jiva, time,karma it automatically follows that He should be the personification of this control which holds the entire creation of sentient and insentient beings and sustains them.

 

maMtrayaMtra maya maMtra bIja maya maMtra rAjaguru maMtrajita

maMtramEya maha maMtragamya vara maMtra dEva jagannAtha viTTala tava

 

A mantra is that which when recited or chanted with devotion can take one accross difficutly and pain to better realms. The Lord is referred to as maMtryaMtra maya to emphasize that He is the full force behind the positive effects of a mantra. He initiates the siddhi that can be got from any mantra. He is mantra bIja maya - means He is the power behind the beginning or origin of any mantra, He is the power behind the mystic sounds of the mantra.

maha maMtra rAjaguru- He is the king of the preceptors who teaches the method of prayer to all . At the beginning of creation He assumed the form of Hayavadana and taught the Veda mantras to Brahma.

maMTra jita-He is the majestic personality who gives power to any mantra but He himself does not need any maMtra to accomplish anything. He is discernable by the proper meditation of the mantra. He can be known according to one's capacity, only through the Vedic words. He is accessable to one who does the correct upasana through the proper maMtras. The glow or manifestation of the mantra's power is due to the Lord's will to bestow the benefits on the person who does the upasana of the mantra in question. He is the almighty Lord Jagannatha Vitala.

Dasaru ends each charanam with the plea that 'I am Your dAsa." This is not a statement but a plea to be repeated again and again to obtain the knowledge of the magnificence of the Lord according to one's ability.

 

Sri Purandara dasaru has cried out to Lord Venkateshwara to make him a dasa

dAsana mADiko enna swAmi

sAsira nAmada veMkaTAramaNA

 

Sri Kanaka Dasaru has said that the only way to become special is to become the Lord's dasa.

dAsanAgu visEshanAgu

 

All are welcome to visit www.aarshavani.org to listen to a few of Sri Jagannatha Dasaru's compositions.

 

srI krishNArpana mastu

I am not the doer, Lord Hari is the doer

Whatever He makes me do is His service by His grace

 

R.Parimala

 

 

 

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