Saranagathi SrivilliputthUr Aadi Pooram : August 8, 2005/ Part XI (GodhA Sthuthi)

[Guest guest]

Sri:

 

GodhAm udhArAm sthuma: ( Let us eulogize the Generous GodhA ) !

 

The Mutthangi Kaimkaryam fund seeking window will be open

until next Friday , July 15 . Inspite of the pressure of time , progress

is being made to get the Mutthangi ready for samarpaNam

to ANDAL on August 8, the Aadipporam day at Srivilliputthur .

 

The copper Kavacham , the base for Mutthangi has been

completed now and is travelling to Chennai soon to start

the stitching of Velvet cloth-based Mutthangi on it .

 

The Mutthangi for Sri RangamannAr and PeriyAzhwAr will start soon after

Aadi Pooram . adiyEn will keep you posted . The August 3 dance drama

based on NaachiyAr Thirumozhi for performance before ANDAL is

being rehearsed . Please join in this kaimkaryam yathA sakthi

and visit SrivilliputthUr on Aug 3 & 8 .

 

From now until Next Friday , adiyEn will continue to write about

the Vaibhavam of GodhA PirAtti .

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Additional reflections on the GodhA Sthuthi of Swamy Desikan

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Second slOkam : Swamy Desikan addresses Godhai affectionately

here as " GodhE " and confesses that his mouna vratham was swept aside

by the power of the auspicious guNams of Godhai , which are outside

the reach of even the Veda manthrams . Swamy Desikan says : "GodhE !

bhUyaseenAm ( enormous) Sruthi girAmapi vaidhEsika: tE mahimA ".

Oh GodhE ! Your mahimai is way beyond the reach or grasp of even

the huge assembly of the Vedic speech . If the Vedams can not handle

the description of the glories of Your vaibhavam , how can the efforts of

poets like me succeed in tackling such a task of praising Your guNams

( tE mahimA madhrusAm varNEshu na hi maathi) ?

Although I comprehend this impossibility ( ittham vidhanthamapi ) ,

Your auspicious guNams pulverize my silence (Mounam) on this

PradhOsham evening and propel me to speak powerfully about them

( ittham vidhanthamapi maam ThvadheeyA: guNA: mouna dhruha:

sahasA yEva mukharayanthy ) .

 

Third SlOkam

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Swamy Desikan prays to Godhai now for the blessings of auspicious

speech to eulogize Her in this slOkam . Swamy Desikan addresses

Godhai as Mother GodhA " Janani GodhE ! " . Swamy Desikan seeks

the boon of clear and sweet speech for himself ( prasanna madhurAm

vaachAm mama Thvam samvidhEhi ). Swamy desires that the eulogy

should have the content fit to praise Her ( Thvath abhishDavArhAm

prasanna madhurAm vaacham mama ThvamEva samvidhEhi) .

Swamy asks that Godhai alone should grant him this boon .

Swamy Desikan also suggests that GodhA PirAtti should grant him

the delectable vaak that will please Her Lord's ears ( Thvath prEyasa:

SravaNayO: amruthAyamAnam ) and which will sound sweet like

the naadham from her gem studded ankle aabharaNams that

she wears during Her walk towards Her divine consort

( Thvadheeya MaNi Noopura sinjithAnAm tulyam vaacham

mama Thvam samvidhEhi ) .

 

 

Fourth SlOkam of GodhA Sthuthi

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Swamy Desikan points out here that the poets are blessed with

the power to compose delectable poems about Godhai's Vaibhavam

through the glances of Godhai ( KaruNA katAksham) falling on them

( Bhavathee kaDAkshAth makarandha mucha: vaacha: sphuranthy) .

The words comprising the sthOthrams are like the rain of honey

( makarandha mucha: vacha: ) . The Jn~Anam of the poets blossoms

( Vikaswara dhiyAm kaveenAm Vaacha: ) from the kaDAksham of Godhai .

 

Fifth SlOkam of GodhA Sthuthi

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Here , Swamy Desikan points out that Her compassionate KatAksham

makes even sinners gain the anugraham of Her Lord and goes on

to explain how that happens . Swamy says : We are those vowed to

commit trespasses against Your Lord's Saasthrams and we are skilled

in doing it for a long , long time ( Devi ! vayam apakruthou chira dikshithA: ) .

Even in the case of long term sinners like us , Your Lord hastens to bless

us ( asou Mukundha: asmAdhrusAm ahnAya dayathE ) . What is the reason

for this special act of DayA of Your Lord ? What induces Him to be

so compassionate to overlook of our mahA aparAdhams ? adiyEn

concludes that there are two reasons : (1) He is bound by You with

the flower garland that You wore ; He is thus bound and helpless

to go against Your wish ( Tava mouLi dhAmnA niyamitha: niscchitham ).

(2) He is also subservient to You as a result of being overcome by

the melodious nadham of your dhivya prabhandhams , which resemble

the delectable sound arising from the strings of the MangaLa VeeNA

vaadhyam ( Tava tantree ninAdha madhurai: girAm nigumbhai: cha

niyamitha: niscchitham ) .

 

Sixth SlOkam of GodhA Sthuthi

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Here , Swamy Desikan visualizes GodhA PirAtti in the form of

many auspicious rivers like SONA , TungabhadhrA , Saraswathi ,

VirajA and NarmadhA . Swamy compares the individual attributes of

these rivers with specific traits of GodhA's choice of words and their

assemblies in Her dhivya Prabhandhams . Swamy states that GodhA's

aruLiccheyalkaLs are suddha satthva mayam just like the waters of

the divine VirajA river flowing in Sri Vaikuntam ( aprAkruthai: rasai:

VirAjA vaacha : ). In their intensity of flow , Her divine utterances

are like the flow of river Saraswathy (VaachAm pravAha nivahE

Saraswathy iva ) . Those dhivya Prabhandhams of Hers are natural

outpourings of Her love for Her husband ( GodhE ! Kamithu:

svabhAvath gOdhA asi ). Here " godhA " stands for Her aruLiccheyalkaL.

 

Seventh SlOkam : The Sweetness of Her Prabhandhams

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Oh GodhE ! adiyEn has understood why the ithihAsam of aadhi Kavi

Vaalmeeki is sweet to experience . He was born out of an anthill that is

considerered as Your ( BhUmi DEvi's) ear ( VasudhA aathmana: tE SravaNatha:

ValmIkatha: jaatha: ) . As a result of that blessing , VaalmIki became an emperor

of poets ( ValmIkatha; jaatha: Sa: Muni: kavi saarvabhouma: BhabhUva ) .

If that were to be so, where is the wonder in Your dhivya Prbhandams

being sweet like hony since they arose from the lotus like face of Yours?

( Vakthra aravindha makarandha nibhA: amee Prabhandhaa: svadhanthE

Yadh idham kim adhbhutham ? ) .

 

Eighth SlOkam : The anukaraNam of AzhwArs following GodhA

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Oh GodhE ! Your Acharyans like PeriyAzhwAr wished to enjoy

the Lord dear to You following Your footsteps ( GodhE ! ThavdheeyA:

Gurava: Tava priya tamam Bhavatheeva bhOkthum icchithavantha: ) .

They wanted to express their love for Your Lord as PraNaya bhaavanai

and experienced the pangs of seperation and the joys of union in their

Prabhandhams ( ThvadheeyA: Gurava: nijAm bhakthim praNaya

bhAvanayA gruNantha: ucchAvachai: viraha-sangamajai: udhanthai:

hrudhayam srungArayanthy) . They spoke in their prabhandhams

about the many kinds of sorrows and joys resulting from

the experience of their seperation and union with Your Lord

( UcchAvachai: viraha sangamajai: udhanthai: ) and

enjoyed the resulting SrungAra bhAvam .

 

Ninth SlOkam : The Similarity of GodhA with Periya PirAtti

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Oh Mother GodhE ! Those learned ones , who comprehend

Your tatthvam see the close similarity between You and MahA Lakshmi

and consider You as a sahOdhari of latter ( ThvAm santha: PayOdhi

dhuhithu: sahajAm vidhu: ) . One of the names for MahA Lakshmi is

"Chandra SahOdhari " . They both arose out of the Milky ocean during

the churning for nectar . GodhE ! You are a veritable Lakshmi SahOdhari

because of the many similarites between yourselves . You arose in the kulam

of PeriyAzhwAr ( adhivishNuchittham samuTitthavathy) . MahA Lakshmi

arose from the milky ocean, which has the Lord at its center ( adhivishNu-

chittham samuTitthavathy) . Both of You shower through Your speech

the nectar that rejuvenates the world and its beings ( VachasA viswa

upajeevyam amrutham duhAnam ) and squelch the tApams ( tApacchidham).

of Samsaaris . Therefore , adiyEn considers You like MahA Lakshmi ,

who is the sahOdhari of Chandran ( HimaruchE: anyAm moorthim iva

ThvAm santha: payOdhi dhuhithu: sahajAm vidhu: ) .Sahajam means

" kooDap-PiRanthavaL " .

 

The Glories recieved by PeriyAzhwAr due to GodhA

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Tenth SlOkam : Oh GodhA PirAtti ! Your Lord is easily influenced

by even a small amount of sthOthram about Him by His devotees

since He is sthuthi priyan ( sthuthi lEsa vasyath Madhubhidha: ) .

Your revered Father , PeriyAzhwAr composed hundreds of Paasurams

in praise of Your Lord , which are sweet like nectar ( Taatha: thu karNa

amruthai: sthuthi sathai: ) . Your Lord heard them but did not go out of

His way to recognize those eulogies . Afterwards , Your Father presented

to Your Lord those flower garlands that You adorned and sent to Your Lord .

What did your Lord do now ? How did he react now ? He was overwhelmed

by Your Father bringing the garlands adorned by You . He responded by

honoring Your father with the distinguished title of PeriyAzhwAr ,

a honor that had eluded him until then inspite of composing hundreds of

sweet paasurams in praise of Your Lord ( sthuthi sathai: anavAptha poorvam

mahatthara padha: anuguNam prasAdham ThvathMouLi gandha subhagAm

mAlAm upahruthya lEbhE ) . What was not achieved earlier through hundreds of

delectable eulogies landed on VishNuchitthar's lap through the honor of

being recognized as PeriyAzhwAr . Such is the power of the fragrance

of the flower garlands having the sambhandham of Your tresses .Your

Father presented the Lord with those flower garlands and recieved

the highest of honors among the AzhwArs.

Our SrivilliputthUr ANDAL ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan