Sri Guna Rathna Kosam : Part 51: slOkam 40

[Guest guest]

Sri RanganAyaki ThAyAr ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

 

SrI:

 

Dear BhakthAs:

 

In the 40th SlOkam , Swamy ParAsara Bhattar salutes

the power of the glances of Sri RanganAyaki. He describes

the effect of these auspicious glances on BrahmAdhi dEvAs

in general and on Her Lord , Sri RanganAthan in particular.

The 40th slOkam housing these thoughts is as follows:

 

Thvath sveekAra kalAvalEpa kalushA rAj~nAm dhrusO dhurvachA:

nithyam thvan-madhupAna matthamadhupa SrInirbharAbhyAm Pathim

dhrughbhyAmEva hi PuNDareekanayanam vEdhO vidhAmasa tE

SaakshAlakshmi! tavAvalOk vibhava: kAkvA kayA varNyatE?

 

Meaning according to Dr.V.N.VedAntha Desikan:

**********************************************

A wonderful vision perceived by the poetic eye

is being described here:

 

DevAs like BrahmA , great Kings on earth , etc.,

have had the benefit of an iota of Your eye-glance .

They owe thier prime position to this benefaction

from You .They are all indeed haughty out of this

privelege--and this is evident in their excited and

bedimmed eyes.Nevertheless , the beauty of their eyes

is beyond our attempt at description.

 

This being so, Oh Goddess , the eyes of the great

Lord, Your Consort, which are like the black beetles ,

hovering round Your whole body charm all through become

intoxicated and lose themselves in this liquor-addiction,

so to say , will never take out the eyes elsewhere !

So mad He is after Your (beautiful)Form!

 

There is a very interesting result; His eyes which

were originally , rightly , described as black like

beetles , have become red; He is now described by

the VedAs too as the One , the Only One , to be fit

to be called the red-lotus eyed Lord. No One else

can lay claim for this distinction.

 

If this is the impact of Your eyes(glances), if this

is the impact of Your body-color , if this be all Your

greatness , what is one to say about and how is one to

describe,the great force possessed by Your eye glance ?

 

Additional Comments:

*********************

Oh RanganAyaki! If a small portion of Your kaDAksham

falls on the kings or DevAs , then their eyes are filled

with pride over that Bhaagyam and become agitated.It is

difficult to decribe the beauty of their eyes resulting

from the falling of Your glances on them.

 

If that were to be so, what are we to think of the impact

of Your auspicious and loving glances on Your Lord? His

eyes are like a beetle , who has drunk deep the honey of Your

unmamtched soundharyam and is in an " intoxicated " state .

He does not take His eyes off You. His eyes become

red and assume the color of a fully blossomed lotus. Those

red eyes of incomparable beauty are recognized as His

adayALam by the VedAs ( PuNDareekAkshan). The ChAndhOgya

Upanishad Vaakyam , " Tasya kapyAsam PuNDarIkamEvamakshaNi "

is invoked here. OH RanganAyaki! Indescribable indeed

is the power of Your auspicious dhrushti (KaNN nOkku)!

 

The PunDareeka Nayanathvam of the Lord is linked

dexterously by Bhattar to His Consort's eye glances

falling on Him and He in turn being totally under

the influence of their intoxicating power.His eyes

are like the beetles , who have consumed makarandham

(honey)from the flowers and dart about joyously

enjoying the unparalleled beauty of the limbs of

His consort.

 

The Tamil Translation of this verse by Sri RamakrisNa

Iyengar refers to the bedimmed eys of the Kings swollen

with pride due to being beneficiaries of those auspicious

eye glances falling on them as:

 

" Nee siRithE KadaikkaNippa Nirupar KaNNkaL

Nilavu-mathatthAr kalanki nilamEyalla "

 

The impact of those eye glances on Her Lord's eyes

are described as:

 

" --Pathi KaNNkaL nALum neeyAm-

pirasatthai paruhi matham pidittha VaNDin

tEsudunE ThihazhuvathAl Avanai Vedam

SenkamalkkaNNan yena therinthathaanRE?

 

Swamy Desikan decribes in the 14th SlOkam of

Sri Sthuthi :

 

SaapAkrAnthA: saraNamagaman saavarOdhA: SurEbdrA:

labdhvA BhUyasthribhuvanamidham lakshitham thvath kaDAkshai:

( The DevAs regained their Isvaryam , which also grew

further, by the auspicious glances of grace You bestowed

on them . And they enjoy it permanently--Dr.VNV Desikan ).

 

In the 15th slOkam , Sawmy Desikan sums up

the power of MahA Lakshmi " s glances conferring

immense wealth , in whatever places and directions

Her glances fall and they floe with competetive zeal

into an overwheming flood--Dr.VNV Desikan):

 

" YasyAm YasyAm disi viharathE Devi dhrushti thvadheeyA

TasyAm TasyAmahamahamikAm dhnavthE SampadhOgA: "

 

In the 16th slOkam of Sri Sthuthi , Swami Desikan

refers to see those worship MahA Lakshmi realize

abundant Isvaryam from earth or KubErA's abiode or

from the skies or from the seas.

 

In the 17th slOkam of Sri Sthuthi , Swamy Desikan

describes the blessed state of those , who hold in

thier hearts the sacred feet of mahA Lakshmi become

emperors with vast wealth on this earth.

 

In the 21st slOkm of Sri Sthuthi , Swamy Desikan describes

how the benovolent glances of MahA Lakshmi removes all

samsAric afflictions.

 

She is KalyANAnAm avikala nidhi ( the inexhaustible

reservoir of all shrEyas/auspicousness)... slOkam 23

 

In the final verse of Sri Sthuthi , Swamy Desikan

concludes that , Her glances will confer all auspiciousness

at the highrest level .

 

Such is the power of Sri RanganAyaki/MahA Lakshmi's

NethrOthpalam and the glances originating from those

sweet and soft eyes.

 

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SatakOpan

[Guest guest]

SrI:

SrImathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya namah:

 

Dear SrI SatakOpan mama,

 

Thanks for your never ceasing outpourings of such great posts..

Your indefatigable efforts are greatly appreciated by all of us.

Your excellent narration of PiraaTTi's beautiful eyes reminded me

of this (which I had heard in upanyasam):

 

When the mOhini alankAram utsavam procession takes place, Lord RanganAthA

looks even more exquisitely beautiful and gorgeous. He looks simply grand

and splendid!

All bhakthas throng and push each other to obtain the full glimpse of the

Lord and get blessed. the Lord himself looks seemingly satisfied with the

alankAram and is wearing a proud smile of admiration. By nature He is

Beauty personified; now; He is in mOhini alankaram; Needless to say, He

looks magnificent. (This alankAram procession takes place the day before

vaikuta ekAdashi-)

 

It seems during one such mOhini alankAram day, after the Lord finished His

journey and came back to His place, He had a deep satisfied sigh that all

bhakthas had enjoyed Him in thjis alankaram and asked proudly

our Sri ParAsara bhattar (who was reported to have had conversation with

pirAtti and namperumAl). Our NamperumAL asked bhattar " So, BhattarE! Were

you there?

How was the alankAram? Did you like? was it good? " He knew, it was an

excellent alankAram and He looked great more because almost all devotees

who were blessed to have His darshan exclaimed " pAren, pAren, perumAl

innikku koLLai azhagA irukkAr ille! (See, See How great He looks!) " . Lord

Ranagan was expecting a POSITIVE response from Bhattar!

 

Bhattar had an impish smile; He said, " Lord, KshamikkaNum (Please forgive

me). You looked great, no doubt. It was an excellent alankAram. Marvellous

beautiful anna nadai when you walked the course. We really enjoyed our Lord

in that splendid alankaram; You looked, in all respects, as beautiful, as

pirAtti.

 

BUT... " - He stopped.

 

naMperumAl was slightly taken aback. " Why then that but?.... come out "

 

Bhattar continued, again with a smile, " All said and done, you can not. I

repeat, You can NOT bring the expression of karuNai katAksham (that

compassionate

glances of my thAyAR in your eyes. You can wear thousands of AbharaNangal

and dress to make You look like thAyAr and you may even look the same;

BUT you are a navaneetha chOran (a butter thief!); a NAUGHTY kaNNan!

Your mischievous eyes have failed you my LORD, " Bhattar said this,

while simultaneously admiring the same naughty, mischievous, smiling,

glittering,

large, dark eyes of naMperumAL (kariyavAgi pudai paranthu, miLirntha,

sevvariyodiya, neeNda, periya vAya kaNgaL).

 

The Lord Himself knows that Bhattar was enjoying the

beauty of His eyes and was smiling and sharing the fact that He can not

match the merciful looks of His consort and was even happy that bhattar

found that out.

 

May Sri RanganAyaki samEtha RanganAtha bless us all!

 

Regards

Narayana Narayana

aDiyEn Narayana dAsan madhavakkannan