Sri Abheethi Sthavam : SlOkams 14-18

[Guest guest]

Sri:

 

Dear Sri RanganAtha BhakthAs :

 

Let us study 5 slOkams of Sri Abhithi Sthavam today

( For those interested in listening to the rendering of

this moving sthOthram , You can access the MP 3

Audio recording of these slOkams in the PruTvee meter

in a flawless manner by Sriman Sunder Kidambi at

www.Prapatti.com ):

 

SlOkam 14 :

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bhavanthy mukhabhEdhathO bhaya-nidhAnamEva PrabhO

SubhAsubha vikalpithA: jagathy dEsa kaalAdhaya:

ithi prachura-sAdhvasE mayi dhayishyasE Thvam na chEth

ka ittham anukampithA Thvadh anukampaneeyasccha Ka:

 

( Meaning) : Oh Lord of Thiruvarangam ! Wise people have classified

Svarga lOkam and naraka lOkam as desirable and undesirable locations

respectively to reside . Similarly , they have labelled Krutha Yugam as

the golden yugam to live and Kali Yugam as the undesirable Yugam to be

born in to . If one analyses deeply , svargam , Narakam , Krutha and Kali Yugams

--all of them--create inauspiciousness in their own(different )ways and

cause fear (Bheethi) to us. This fact makes me filled with anxiety and bheethi .

Oh Lord ! You must take pity on adiyEn and protect me thru abhaya pradhAnam .

If you do not decide to do so , adiyEn can not think of anyone to play this role .

Also , there is no one more qualified than adiyEn to be the object of Your dayaa.

Therefore , out of Your matchless compassion , Rangaa , You should

protect adiyEn and chase away all of my fears .

 

(Comments): Swamy Desikan describes himself as "Prachura Saadhvasan" ,

One who is frightened about the present and future . Swamy Desikan states

that all that which have been grouped as auspicious or inauspicious based on

dEsam and Kaalam ( subha-asubha vikalpithA: dEsa kaala aadhaya: )

generate ultimately fear only in their own ways ( mukha bhEdhata: bhaya

nidhAnma yEva bhavanthy) . Swamy Desikan prays for Lord RanganAthan's

unparalleled karuNai to intervene in his most deserving case . Swamy convincingly

states his case for the Lord's grace : " ittham anukampithA Ka: ? Thvath

anukampaneeyasccha Ka : ? " Who is there except you to shower such

grace ? Who is more fit than myself as a recipient of that (Your) grace ?

With such a precision logic of Swamy Desikan , Lord RanganAthan

had no choice except to intervene and answer Swamy's prayer

in the affirmative.

 

SlOkam 15 :

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Sakruth prapadhana sprusam abhaya-dhAna nithyavrathee

na cha dhvirabhibhAshasE Thavmithi viSrutha: svOkthitha:

yaTOkthakaraNam vidhus-tava thu yAthudhAnAdaya:

kaTam vithaTamasthu tath krupaNa-sArvabhoumE mayi

 

(Meaning) : Thiruvaranga PrabhO ! During Your avathAram as

Lord Raamachandra , You declared before the world that You

will grant abhaya pradhAnam to anyone , who surrendered to

You even once and sought Your rakshaNam ; You also stated

publicly that You will not go back on any promise made by You .

These two statements are well known to the people of the world.

VibhishaNan , Sugreevan and others who have benifitted from

seeking You as their SaraNAgatha Rakshakan know that You will

fulfill the promise that you made at any cost . When the situaton

is like that , how can Your compassion becoome fruitless in the case

of adiyEn , who is the first among the helpless ? Your vow to protect

the helpless one seeking Your protection can not become defunct .

You must therefore come to adiyEn's rescue and chase away my

fears .

 

(Comments) : Swamy Desikan introduces himself here as " KrupaNa

Saarvabhouman" . KrupaNan means impoverished or destitute or

Kaimuthal aRRavan . Akinchanathvam and ananyagathithvam

are two requirements for the successful performance of SaraNagathy

at the sacred feet of the Lord and to gain His favorable response . Swamy

Desikan reminds the Lord of three things here that the Lord Himself has

stated in public(Sva ukthitha: ) : (1) Aham sakruth prapadhana sprusAm

abhaya dhAna vrathee (2) dhvi na abhibhAshathy (3) Aham YathOkthakaari .

When these are standing statements from You , How can they fail in

my case , which is most deserving asks Swamy Desikan .

 

SlOkam 16 :

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anukshaNa samuTthithE dhuritha vaaridhou dhustarE

yadhi kvachana nishkruthir-bhavathy sAapi dhOshAvilA

tadhittham agathou mayi prathividhAnam AadheeyathAm

sva-bhuddhi parikalpitham kimapi Rangadhurya ThvayA

 

(Meaning): Oh Lord of Thiruvarangam ! In this sorrowful samsAra

MaNDalam , the sins acquired by a samsAri grows every moment

like the rising waves of the gigantic Ocean . It is not possible to control

their growth thru the proper control of mind and body . When it comes

to the ocean of Sins , it is impossible to cross this ocean with appropriate

prAyascchittham . Even the performed prAyascchittham is nullified by

the accrual of additional sins or by the incorrect performance of

that prAyascchittham . The samsAri does not have either the knowledge

about the appropriate prAyascchittham or power to execute it correctly.

adiyEn is an ideal example of one such samsAri , who has accumulated

a vast assembly of Sins and stand before You in a helpless state. You must

use Your sankalpam to show me a way to destroy my gigantic bundles of sins

and save me .

 

(Comments) : Swamy Desikan compares his sins to a vast ocean ( dhuritha

Vaaridhi), which is not trespassable (dustharam) because its waves(the sins)

are growing higher and higher every second (anukshaNa samutthitham) .

There are repentance acts ( PrAyascchittham/nishkruthi ) prescribed by

Bhagavath Saasthrams to destroy these sins and get across the forbidding

ocean of SamsAram . When that prescribed prAyscchittham is improperly

executed , it becomes null and void ( kavachana nishkruthi bhavathy yathi ,

saa api dhOsha AavilA ) . That brings adiyEn back to square one and makes

adiyEn without any recourse (agathi) . Under these pitiable circunstances ,

Your sankalpam alone can lead to an appropriate PrAyaschittham for adiyEn

( mayi vishayE Sva-Buddhi parikalpitham kimapi prathividhAnam ThvayA

AadheeyathAm) . Swamy Desikan states that Lord of Srirangam knows

what PrAyaschittham ( PrathividhAnam) is right for him and begs the Lord

to prescribe it .

 

SlOkam 17 :

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VishAdha BahuLAdhaham vishaya-vargathO dhurjayAth

BhibhEmi vrujinOttharas-ThvadhanubhUthi vicchEdhatha:

mayA niyatha nATavAn-ayam-ithi ThvamarTaapayan

dayAdhana JagathpathE dayitharanga samraksha maam

 

(Meaning): Oh Lord who relishes His residence at Srirangam !

adiyEn is one , who continously accumulates my sins and adds

them on and on . The so called pleasures of this world are really

filled with sorrow. It is not easy for adiyEn to destroy them . adiyEn

has been caught in this web of my own sins and experience excruciating

pain arising from my inability to enjoy You. You are the Lord of Lords

(SarvEswaran) . You are reputed as the owner of the vast wealth of

Dayaa . It is You alone , who can take pity on adiyEn's helplessness

and extend Your compassion to protect me from all these vipareethams.

No one can stand in Your way , if You decide to rescue me . You can

justify Your act of rescuing adiyEn with the thought : he has considered

Me as his Master always and hence I am duty bound to protect him ".

This must be Your rationale for my rescue states Swamy Desikan

in this slOkam .

 

( Comments) : Swamy Desikan addresses the Lord as : " Dayaa Dhana !

Jagath PathE ! and Dayitha Ranga " here while asking for the Lord's

protection ( Samraksha maam ) . Dayaa dhanan refers to Him having

the abundant wealth of Compassion (Dayaa, anukampaa , KaruNai) .

The address of " Jagath PathE " refers to His Swamithvam or Lordship

over all the Universe . "Dayitha Ranga " relates to His fondness to live

in the middle of the island formed by the Cauvery river .

 

Swamy Desikan now introduces himself as a lowly one :

" aham vrijina uttharan" ( One filled with Paapams of every kind).

Swamy says that these sins are interfering with his enjoyment

of the Lord (Thvath anubhUthy vicchEdhanam) because these sins

arising from the involvement with material pleasures (Vishaya

vargatham ) are sorrow producing ( vishAdha- Bahulam ) and

difficult to conquer ( dhurjayam ) by oneself . All of these cause

great fear in me ( aham BhibhEmi) . Please remember the meaning

behind adiyEn's statement that You are my Lord always ( mayA

niyatha NaaTavAn ithi Thvam arTApayan) and protect me well

( Maam samraksha ) .

 

SlOkam 18

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nisarga niranishtathA Tava niramhasa: SrUyathE

tathas-thriyuga srushtivath bhavathy samhruthi: kireeDitham

taTAapi SaraNAgatha praNaya bhanga bheethO bhavAn

madhishDamiha yadh-bhavEth kimapi Maa sma tajjehapath

 

( Meaning) : Oh Supreme Lord of Thiruvarangam with the six primary guNams

( JnAna-Sakthi-Bala-Isvarya -Veerya and tEjas) ! Paapam has no sambhandham

with You (KarmAs do not touch You) . Therefore , Upanishads salute You

as One who is intrinsically free from sorrow of any kind. There is no

inauspiciousness even if You destroy me ; that act is like a leela based

on Your sankalpam to create the world and its beings. You who is

"fearless" have however one fear left . That fear is associated with

Your refusal of the wishes of one , who sought Your protection thru

the act of SaraNAgathy and the consequent break in relationship

(friendship) between the two of you . Therefore , You have taken

the vow to shower Your anugraham on Your SaraNAgathan. adiyEn

is one , who has performed prapatthi to You . Therefore , Please do not

hesitate to identify what is auspicious for adiyEn and bless me with

that boon .

 

( Comment ) : VeDas recognize You as sinless ( nirmahasa: )

and intrinsically free from sorrows ( Nisara niranishDathA ).

Therefore the act of creation and destruction (Srushti and SamhAram)

are like a sport for You ( kireeDitham bhavathy) and it does not create

any sorrow for You , when You dissolve the universe . You destroy to

create as part of Your leelA . Even with such disassociation from

fear , You still are afraid of one thing : fear about refusal to respond

to the prayer for protection by PrapannAs ( TaTAapi SaraNAgatha

praNaya bhanga bheetha: BhavAn ) . I have performed SaraNAgathy

at Your sacred feet . Hence You can not refuse to shower Your anugraham

on adiyEn . Therefore please look into what may be beneficial for me

during the post-prapatthi period in this world and bless me without fail .

 

Srimath Azhagiya Singar ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil V.Sadagopan