garudapanchasath-sloka4

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4.yo yam Dhatthe svanishTam vahanam api varah sparSitho yena yasmai

yasmaathyasya ahavaSreeh vidhaDhathi bhajanam yathra yathrethi santhah

praayo dhevah sa itTham harigarudabhidhA kalpitha ArohavAha

 

svAbhAvyah svAthmabhavyah pradhiSathu Sakunih brahma sabrahmathAm nah

This sloka points out the identity of garuda with the Lord.

Garuda who carries the Lord and who has given the boon to the Lord Himself to be his vehicle and who acquires victory to the Lord in battles, and the Lord who has Garuda as His banner, who has given the boon to Garuda to carry Him and because of whom Garuda was victorious in his battles, both are worshipped as one by the devotees. The Lord divides Himself into the carrier and carried and may that Garuda , who manifests himself as the one who is sesha to Bhagavan , show us the means of attaining Brahman.

Once when Garuda tried to carry the amrtha from heaven he was challenged by the Lord Himself. The Lord appreciated the valour of Garuda and told him to ask for a boon when Garuda said that the Lord Himself can ask for anything He wished for and the Lord asked Garuda to become His vehicle and Garuda agreed. This is what Desika refers to here as `vahanam api varah sparSitho yena yasmai,' meaning, by whom, (Garuda,) the boon of being the vehicle was given to whom, the Lord. This can also be construed to indicate the Lord Himself and not Garuda who gave the boon, when read as, by whom, (the Lord), the boon of being His vehicle was given to whom(Garuda).

Similarly the phrase `yo yam Dhatthe,' can be taken to mean who(Garuda) carries whom (the Lord) and also as who (the Lord) has whom (Garuda) as His banner. The root Dhaa has the meaning `to carry' or `to bear' as well as `to hold up.' And in the latter sense it may mean a flag.

Likewise, `yasmAth yasya AhavaSreeh vidhaDhathi,' has double denotation when the words yasmAth and yasya are considered to mean Garuda and the Lord respectively and vice versa, as it means `from whom the glory of battle comes to whom.'

The idea is that the Lord and Garuda are the cause of glory to each other. The reason for this is mentioned by Desika as `harigarudabhidhA kalpithah,' that is , the Lord Himself appears as both and this truth being known to the ardent devotees they worship both garuda and the Lord as one.

This is a further elucidation of the idea in the second sloka, `bahih abahih abhivyakthi.' Garuda manifests the Lord Himself inside and outside.

Thus Garuda being non-different from the Lord, Desika says, `sah dhevah nah brahma sabrahmathAm pradhiSathu.' The first word brahma may be taken to mean the veda and the second to denote Brahman. Thus construed it means that may Garuda who is vedathma, embodiment of the Vedas show us the Brahman who is the content of the Vedas.( the word brahma means yajna, veda and Brahman.)The word Sakuni means a kite, vulture or eagle, here meaning Garuda.