Chaturmasya jnAnArjane saraNi - Madhwa Vijaya (a Gist in English) by sixteen Eminent scholars - Sarga 1

July 23, 2009

|| Sri Rama Krishna VedavyAsAya namaha ||

|| Sri Hanuma Bheema Madha MunibhyO namaha ||

namaste all,

With the prEraNe of Sri Hari Vayu GurugaLu, one of our esteemed members has comeforth to do a sEva during this chaturmasya related to jnAnArjane. We would be sharing with our members a gist of Sri Madhwa Vijaya, sarga by sarga at regular intervals throughout this chaturmasya period, which is a work done by this devotee. The devotee's original plan was to start it on the day of prathama ekAdashi and have the gist of each sarga sent out every week for 16 weeks. There were some unforeseen delays, and the same has started on this auspicious day of the first day of shrAvana mAsa.

||shrI hari vAyu gurubhyO namaH ||

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

Sarga 1 by Sri D V Subbaachar

Book Edited by Srimushnam V Nagaraja Rao

kAntAya kalyANa guNaika dhAmne nava dhyunAtha pratima prabhAya |

nArAyaNAya akhila kAraNAya shrIprA/na akhila kAraNAya shrIprANa nAthAya namaskaromi ||

For the successful completion of this great Mahakavya (Su-Madhva Vijaya), the poet Sri Narayana Panditacharya invokes in the above verse the grace of Sriman Narayana, the Lord consort of Mahalakshmi & the Supreme Lord of Sri Mukhya Prana. Of the first four verses called Mangalacharana shlokas, the above is the foremost.

The Prologue

To attain eternal happiness which is found in mokksha, the sAtwik souls strive hard for generations to gain the Divine grace of Lord Narayana, the Supreme Being of countless attributes & no blemishes whatsoever. The entire universe is eternally dependent on Him. One who please Him is emancipated by His Grace from the wheel of Samsara.

It is said that to please Narayana is to love Him, to love Him is to see Him, to see Him is to meditate on Him, to meditate on Him is to study Him. The Vedas are the means to know Him & their true import can be known only through a qualified preceptor (Guru).

A special emphasis is laid in the shastras on the paramount importance of the grace of Guru & it is stated to be more efficacious than the study of shastras. The term Guru in Sanskrit means one who dispels doubts & misconceptions in the minds of those in pursuit of Shastraic studies & are desirous of attaining His Grace. During the period of sAdhana, a sAtwik soul encounters several knotty points to which he finds no satisfactory answers & eagerly looks for a Guru to show him the way to correct understanding. One who is clear in thought & well versed in adhyatma Vidya & a bhaktha can alone be a true Guru who can remove the causes of ignorance or illusive knowledge which stands as impediment to Tatva gnyana

about the Supreme Lord Narayana. Such a Guru is Vayu Bhagavan described in the Upanishads as Aakhanamsha Samana, which means he is as hard as a rock striking on which the demons will be shattered to pieces like balls of sand. He is the beloved son of Lord Narayana & has a most charmingly beautiful personality with all the thirty two marks of beauties. He is the affectionate child of goddess Mahalakshmi, the royal consort of Narayana & is the recipient of His grace in the highest form.

It is said that the Lord has declared that He would be present in the body occupied by Mukhyaprana & would forsake it when the latter leaves it. In Ramayana, this fact is exemplified by Lord Ramachandra killing the powerful Vali who was neglected by Sri Hanuman & again blessing him when he realized His immortal Law & prayed for his end in the presence of Hanuman & at the feet of Lord Ramachandra. Similarly in Mahabharatha, it is seen that when Sri Bheema, the second avatara of Vayu bhagavan neglected, Karna was killed by Arjuna under the direction of Lord Krishna. The Powerful Vayudeva is equal to Chaturmukha Brahma born to Lrod Sri Padmanabha & it is said that on

his representation alone, Lord Sri Vasudeva bestows Moksha to the sAtwik souls. Thus there is a saying

na mAdhavasamo devo na cha madhvasamo guruH |

na tadvAkyasamaM shAstraM na cha tajj~nasamaH pumAn.h ||

There is no God equal to Sri Maadhava (Lakshmi pati) and there is no Guru equal to Sri Madhwa. There is no shastra equal to the divine words of Sri Madhwa & there is no person to equal one who knows Sri Madhwa Shastra.

The sole & significant aim of Sri Su Madhwa Vijaya, a Maha Kavya, which really is a great mantra is to show that the grace of Lord Narayana emanates through the grace of Visva Guru who is no other than Vayu bhagavan, the highest among the souls (jeevothama). The poet, therefore, emphatically declares-

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mukundabhaktayai gurubhaktijAyai satAM prasatyai cha nirantarAyai |

garIyasIM vishva gurorvishuddhAM vaxyAmi vAyokhatAra lIlAm.h ||

The readers of Sumadhwa Vijaya will find in it an account of the exemplary life & unique glory of Sir Madhwa who demonstrated by his actions the righteous duties of mankind. As a brahmacharin & a Vanaprastha in Hanuman, a grihastha in Sri Bheema & a sanyasi in Sri Madhwa, the glory of Mukhya prana shines in every verse of this sacred work of Sri Narayana Panditacharya who by tradition is recognized as the amsha of Lord Subrahmanya (the son of Lord Siva & commander in chief of the Gods who killed the Taraka Asura).

The Gist of the Sarga

This chapter may be classified into four parts. At the outset, the poet offers his felicitations in praise of Lord Narayana, of Sri Madhwa & to his revered father & Vidya Guru Sri Trivikrama Panditacharya. Next, he deals with the glorious services of Sri Hanuman at the lotus feet of Lord Ramachandra & of Sri Bheema who dedicated all his valorous deeds to Lord Krishna & Lord Vedavyasa, the incarnation of Lord Narayana. Finally, the poet narrates the atmosphere that prevailed in Bharat, after the exit of Bheema & of Lord Krishna, which necessitated another avatar of Mukhya Prana in Madhva to restore Tatvagnyaana which had lost its hold on people obsessed by atheistic ideas.

In the first four verses called Mangalachana the poet invokes the grace of Supreme Lord Narayana & of the Gurus which is most essential for the safe completion of the intended work without any impediment. He mentally prostrates at the lotus feet of Lord Narayana of countless attributes & who is the Lord consort of Mahalakshmi & the Supreme Lord to Mukhyaprana. Then he also invokes Sri Vedavyasa, who is no other than Lord Krishna, in a verse which is an example of Slesha Alankara (words having more than one meaning) to depict both Sri Yadava Krisna & Vaasishta Krishna & to refute the idea that Sri Vedavyasa was â€œsome Rishiâ€. In the third verse the poet offers his salutation in praise of Sri Madhva whom

he describes, in a beautiful metaphor, as the distinguished Sun of knowledge capable of destroying darkness, meaning ignorance, even inside the mind & thus excelling the brilliance of Dina Natha, the Sun (verse 1-3).

The poet Sri Narayana Panditacharya next begs for the grace of his Vidya Guru & father Sri Trivikrama, the author of â€œTatva Pradeepaâ€ (a commentary on the Sutra Bhashya of Sri Madhwa) written at the special command of Sri Madhva whom he accepted as his GnAnopadesaka after a decisive philosophical battle. Of Sri Trivikrama we are told that he went into raptures, singing Sri Hari Vayu Stuti in which he vividly depicts as witnessed by him the triple avatar of Mukhya Prana (viz Hanuman, Bheema, Madhva) worshipping at the feet of Lords Ramachandra, Krishna & Vedavyasa respectively. Tradition believes that Sri Trivikrama was asan avatar of Rudra. (verse 4). The fifth verse is a pratijna sloka that tells the subject matter of

the work.

In the next three verses, the poet discloses with profound humility, a quality common among the learned, his efforts to narrate the glory of the great Vayu Deva which is also dealt with in the Veda (Upanishads) & deserves to be sung in the heavens by the Devatas like Sri Rudra, Sri Indra & others. Nevertheless he feels that his humble attempt will be useful as the lives of the Great men purify our minds (verses 6 to 8)

The Glories of Sri Hanuman

From the ninth to the twentieth verse, the author vividly narrates the glory of Sri Hanuman the first avatara of Vayu as the greatest Bhaktha of Lord Sri Ramachandra. Incidents like Vayudeva taking birth as the coveted son of Kesari & Anjana Devi in the form of Sri Hanuman a personification of good qualities in the world, Sri Hanuman prostrating at the lotus feet of Lord Sri Ramachandra, who embraces him with great vatsalya, his seeking the grace of the Lord for protecting Sugriva a bhaktha whom he had chosen as the Vanara King, the part played by Sri Hanuman as the chief & trusted emissary of the Lord carrying the token message to Sita Devi (describedas Sitaakritti) & his destroying the Rakshasas & buring Lanka the capital of Ravana, the construction of the Sethu (the famous bridge across the

ocean) at the behest of Lord Ramachandra & the important role he played in the battle between Sri Rama & Ravana the role figuratively described as that of an Adhwaryu the chief Priest conducting the yagya, the plucking & carrying of the Sanjivana Parvatha by Hanuman with least exertion as against extraordinary exertion to him in plucking & carrying flowers for the worship & adoration of the lotus feet of Ramachandra, his obtaining the highest honor for his services in the form of a garland of jewels presented by Mother Sita at the time of coronation of Lord Ramachandra, his full detachment to wordly possession & his supreme love towards the Lord resulting in Ramachandra bestowing Himself as the coveted object & finally Hanumanâ€™s life of great joy & ecstacy of singing always the sweet name of the Lord in Kimpurusha khanda. All these are told by the poet in gripping

style & verses which are of poetic beauty that thrill while reciting the Maha kavya (verses 9 to 27).

Sri Bhimaâ€™s strength and Valor

The author next describes (verses 28 to 44) the second avatara of Prana Deva in the valiant Bheema. His powers of digestion, swimming capacity, destruction of the palace of wax, dedication to Lord Vedavyasa, marriage with Draupathi (an amsha of Bharathi Devi), destruction of Jarasandha, whose very name was a terror, the performance of the great Rajasuya Yaga, his vow and the destruction of Duryodhana, Dushassana & other kings, of Mani man & other Rakshasas under the crushing blow of his powerful Gada (mace), and killing & crushing of Keechaka into a mass of flesh are given in an engrossing manner which marks the poet as one of a very superior order. The memorable days of Bheema as

Yuvaraja & his company with Lord Krishna, Draupathi & his brothers are beautifully condensed in a Maalopama Alankara (string of Upamaalankaras) in verse 43.

kuShNAMghripa~NkeruhabhR^i~NgarAjaH kR^iShNAmukhAMbhoruha haMsa rAjaH |

prajA sarojAvali rashmi rAjaH sasodaro.arAjata vIrarAjaH ||

Conclusion

The verses 45 to 55 forming the concluding portion of the chapter vividly state the gradual fading of Tatvagnyana by the impact of Sunya-vada Buddism & later by the Nairgunya vAdawhich misinterpreted the meaning of the Brahmasutra of Lord Vedavyasa about the ture nature of God & His universe. The Paravidya which is Vishnu Bodhaka thus getting clouded, the satwic souls (the bhAgavathas)were in a mental turmoil not knowing what to do (having been caught in the whirl of ignorance allround). This state of affairs really called for re rubrication of philosophical truths of Tatva vAda & this necessitated the appearance of Sri Bhimasena again in this world as Sri Madhwacharya. The Thirty seven works of Sri Madhwa with the Teekas of Sri Jaya Theertha & other illustrious Pntific heads like

Sri Vyasaraja, Sri Vadiraja, Sri Vijayeendra, Sri Raghoothama, Sri Raghavendra & others proclaim the essence of Sri Madhwaâ€™s Tatvavada.

The space is too small here to bring home the several beauties of this great Maha Kavya, full of Nava Rasas, different Vrittas, Alankaras & several shastric Truths

bhAratIramaNa mukhyaprANAntargata shrI kR^iShNArpanamastu