Chaturmasya jnAnArjane saraNi - Madhwa Vijaya (a Gist in English) by sixteen Eminent scholars - Sarga 2

July 27, 2009

|| Sri Rama Krishna VedavyAsAya namaha ||

|| Sri Hanuma Bheema Madha MunibhyO namaha ||

namaste all,

Here comes the second installment in this series.

The First one can be reviewed at the below url:MadhwaYuvaParishat/message/9729

||shrI hari vAyu gurubhyO namaH ||

Madhwa Vijaya (a Gist in English) by sixteen Eminent scholars

Sarga 2 by Sri C K Hanumanthachar

Book Edited by Srimushnam V Nagaraja Rao

BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD OF SRI MADHWA

The quest of mankind is to find a solution is to find a solution to the various vexing problems of life & its innate ambition is to avoid them if possible. The seekers of Truth are not satisfied with the various theories & remedies which are no more than palliatives & therefore look for something more enduring and satisfying to their inner urge. The forces of materialism & the allurements around mislead men into wrong paths which add to their misery & the so called worldly happiness is not of lasting nature. All this is due to their ignorance and the true nature of God, of man, & of the universe & their relation to one another. When men are in great distress & look for a savior to help them, the merciful God manifests Himself or sends His trusted Lieutenants to

explain & show the path of Truth & righteous living by setting an example. God has appeared on earth in the human form several times in the history of mankind but it is also a fact that manâ€™s mind is such that by lapse of time, it gets clouded & perturbed by the influence of the environment in which he lives. The truth about God & man is lost sight of or forgotten & doubts & misconception arise repeatedly in his mind.

After the great Mahabharatha war, there arose a confused situation such as the ideas of attributeless God. It was argued that the Universe was unreal. God & man were taken to be one, obliterating the fundamental difference & gradation between God, man & matter. In the mansions of thought invaded by such dark ideas, the pious men suffered pangs of conscience when they found the outlet for the pouring of their hearts.

They began to doubt & waver as to what was the Truth & were greatly oppressed. Madhwa Vijaya says that the lesser Gods like the four faced Brahma & others prayed & submitted to Lord Narayana to relieve the distress of mankind on earth. The merciful Lord Sri Hari deputed Sri Mukhya Prana, His blessed son, the chief lord of breaths to be born on earth to fulfil His mission, viz., to expound the true import of the eternal Vedas & of the Brahma Sutras which showed the way to reach Him & for the attainment of Moksha. Thus, by a decision in the divine court of Lord Narayana, says the Mahakavya, the beloved son of God, Vayudeva came down to earth to propagate Tatvavaada the essence of Vedic Philosophy which is explained in the following verse by Sri Vyasaraja:

shrIman madhva mate hariH parataraH satyaM jagat.h tattvato |

bhedo jIvagaNAH hareranucharAH nIchochcha bhAvaN^gatAH |

muktirnaijasukhAnubhUtiramalAbhaktishcha tatsAdhanam.h |

hyaxAditritayaM pramANamakhilAmnAyaikavedyo hariH ||

1. Hari is Sarvothtama, Supreme being

2. The world is real

3. Difference is real

4. Souls (jeeva sangha) are dependent on Hari

5. Souls are graded

6. Mukthi is the enjoyment of the soulâ€™s innate bliss

7. Pure Bhakthi is the cause for Mukthi (release from the bonds of samsara & attainment of Moksha through the grace of Lord)

8. Pratyaksha, Anumana & Agama are the Pramanas (valid sources of Knowledge)

9. Hari is knowable only through the Vedas in entirety.

These nine gems of thought are taught by Vedavyasa in the Brahma Sutras & are ably rubricated by Sri Madhva & for this reason, he has been rightly called as the follower of Vedavyasa.

Having thus stated in brief the interlude in Vaikunta, the poet narrates in a melodious style the birth & childhood of Sri Madhva.

There lived in Pajaka kshetra, a village near Udupi, a learned & pious Brahmin named Madhyageha. He & his wife worshipped for twelve long years Lord Ananteshvara (Narayana) practicing various austerities to beget a worthy son who would emancipate them & also the mankind (Verses 1-21). Being pleased, the Lord taking possession of a person & climbing the top of a flag post in front of a large mass of people in a festival, foretold that Vayudeva would be born soon. By the grace of Lord Ananteshwara, Madhya Gehaâ€™s wife conceived & bore the Garbha for the benefit of the world & due course gace birth to a male child. There was the sound of Dundubhi (an auspicious omen) which marked the birth of Sri Madhva while

Madhya Geha was returning home after his worship of Lord ananteshwara, as usual. Vayudeva not having to pass through the Garbhavasa, entered the body of the child ousting the jeeva therein. (verses 22-27)

Madhya Geha Bhatta poured out his heartâ€™s praisesto the Lord in gratitude for the gift of a son & named him Vasudeva, a name which was most appropriate & pleasing to the Devathas (Verses 29)

Madhya Geha one day took the child with a party of relations to Udupi & presented him to Lord Ananteswara. On the return journey, during midnight through a dark forest haunted by ghosts, the party witnessed a person in distress vomiting blood. When they were wondering as to how & why the little child was spared, the ghost possessing the person said that it was powerless against the child who was vAyudeva & that due to him, the whole party was spared from affliction & death. (verse 31-34)

Child Vasudeva occasionally exhibited super human powers. As a child, he digested a basketfull of horse gram given by his innocent sister who was helpless in consoling him in the absence of the mother. After knowing what had happened, while she was away, both the mother & father became restless & did not know what to do but found to their surprise that he was all cheerful & playing with the least ill effects (Verses 35- 41)

Once Vasudeva without the knowledge of his parents went out for a whole day with a bull which grazed allround in the forest. The anxious moment of Madhya Geha & his wife ended in joy when they saw their son returning home holding the tail of the great bull (verses 44-49). Madhya Geha thanked the Lord for giving back his beloved child. A precocious child Vasudeva was, that he relieved his father from a debt (incurred on the purchase of a bull) by tendering tamarind seed which the seller accepted gratefully & obtained his PurushArtha. Vasudeva lisped & toddled as a child of uncommon beauty & lurking greatness. Thus he gladdened the hearts of pious & good men as the Sun hidden under the clouds would make the

lotus blossom (Verses 60- 50-54)

Sri Madhva Vijaya is replete with verses of poetic beauty i.e. full of similes, metaphors & other figures of speech which are rich in thought & melody. All the nava rasas of a mahakavya are found in it & in particular the bhakthi rasa pervades the whole work. This is illustrated in the profound responses of Vayu deva to the call of god & other devatas for being born on earth for the benefit of mankind.

Adeshamauli maNimujjvala varNamenaM

baddA~njalirmarudanarghyamadhatta mUrghnA |

hArAvalImiva hR^idA vibudhendrayAc~nAM

bibrannijA nanujighR^ixu ravAti tIrShat.h ||

Vayudeva respectfully accepted the Supreme Command of the Lord with his head bowed & hands folded as one would receive a precious gem from his Lord & also the prayers & honors by the devatas as if they were garlands of pearls & decided to come to earth for the sake of his devotees (who were longing for a Guru to dispel their darkness & to show the path of enlightenment).

The idea here is eloquent. The command of the Lord is supreme & has to be discharged; Vayu deva is the fittest person to be commissioned for the job & being the recipient of this honor, he is praised & felicitated by the other devatas for the successful completion of the Lordâ€™s mission, viz., the protection of the pious men on earth. The alliteration of letters adds melody & gives fervor to one who recites the verses. There are several beautiful verses in the Kavya bearing subtle meanings which are not only pleasing but also carry away our minds from the cares of life.

MADHVA VIJAYA IN DAILY LIFE

When God & bhakthas manifest themselves, they act like men & serve as models of conduct. The poet in this chapter has narrated many events of daily life & suggests how we have to conduct ourselves. A few of these are cited below:

An ardent prayer to the Supreme wards off evil in many forms & produces good like the prayers of the Devatas which gave them a savior to redeem Tatvagyana to mankind. The austerities & worship not only purify oneâ€™s thoughts but also attract the grace of Lord for getting virtuous progeny who will emancipate their parents & also the world of umanity as in the case of Rishi Kardama, King Pandu & the pious Brahmin Madhya Geha.

AN EFFECTIVE MANTRA

The following Shloka is believed to be an effective prayer mantra for any Dampati desirous of begetting a noble son:

pUrve.api kardamaparAsharapANDumukhyA

yatsevayA guNa guNADhaymapatyamApuH

taM pUrNa sadgunatanuM karuNAmR^itAbdhiM

nArAyaNaM kulapatiM sharaNaM vrajema || 18 ||

Let us pray & prostrate to the same gracious Kula daiva Sri Narayana, by serving whom great souls like Kardama, Parasara, Pandu & others were blessed with worthy sons in olden days.

Charity offered to deserving & worthy persons bringing forth fruitful & precious results. The oft-quoted verse 30 is worth notingâ€¦.

à¤¦à¤¾à¤¨à¤‚ à¤§à¥à¤°à¥à¤µà¤‚ à¤«à¤²à¤¤à¤¿ à¤ªà¤¾à¤¤à¥à¤°à¤—à¥à¤£à¤¾à¤¨à¥à¤•à¥‚à¤²à¥à¤¯à¤¾à¤¤à¥â€Œ (surely charity produces precious fruits if it is made to a precious cause). The neibhor of Madhya Geha gained Moksha

Prada Gnyana by making a gift of a milch cow for the supply of milk to child Vasudeva.

In verse 51, we see Sri Madhwa demonstrating a high ideal that one should relieve oneâ€™s parents of the difficulties that may arise in many forms. Vasudeva even as a child, discharged the obligation of his father by clearing off the debt incurred by him.

Another truth underlying in verse 34 is that there is nothing greater or more powerful than the mercy of the Lord. For, it saves a devotee from many dangers including death. A whole party consisting of Madhya Gehaâ€™s family & relatives was saved by the Lord from the afflictions of ghosts at midnight in the midst of a dense forest.

Many of these examples serve as guidelines for ideal living. A good kavya is required to inculcate the principles of Dharmic life in a suggestive manner appealing even to the common man. The poet has done this admirably in this kavya. If all these lessons were to be put together, they would become a book of ethical conduct of immense value.

Tradition authenticates that a daily recitation of Sri Sumadhva Vijaya brings fortune, health, elevation of character, spiritual knowledge & bliss. A continuous pArAyana of Sumadhwa Vijaya has literally converted copper into gold; so goes the story in the case of a devotee. Success in examinations, securing employment & betterment of oneâ€™s status are also reported & are being experienced even in these days. The study of this great work will open the doors to the philosophical mansion of Sri Madhva & is virtually an auspicious symbol of the prosperity à¤®à¤™à¥à¤—à¤³à¤¸à¥‚à¤¤à¥à¤° to deserve the Divine Grace.

bhAratIramaNa mukhyaprANAntargata shrI kR^iShNArpanamastu

Picture Couretesy: Sri Srinivasa Vaidya Achar, Hyderabad

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