garudapanchasath-sloka8

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8.agre thishTan udhagrah maNimukura iva ananyadhrshteh murAreh

pAyAth mAyA bhujangee vishamavishabhayAth ghADham asmAn garuthmAn

kshubhyath ksheerAbDhipAThassahabhavagarala sparSaSankee cha Sanke

ChAyAm Dhatthe yadheeyAm hari hrdhrdhayArohadhanyo maNeendhrah

To the Lord who looks at His dependents with steady gaze to grace them, Garuda standing in front of Him serves as the mirror for Him. The reflection of Garuda falls on the Koudthubha gem in the chest of the Lord and it appears as though Kousthubha desired to purify itself fom the contamination with the halahala being born from the same source , that is , the milky ocean. May such Garuda protect us from the poison of sense indulgence.

Garuda is standing in front of the Lord, agre thishTan, ready to serve him and The Lord is looking at Garuda pleased with his devotion. When the devotee acquires the sesha-bhava the Lord directs His full loving gaze at the devotee who belongs to Him and to none else. This is indicated by the word ananyadhrshti .

Garud is said to serve as a mirror to the Lord because he is identical with the Lord as made out in the earlier slokas. As such Garuda reflects not only the rupa, form, but also the svarupa of the Lord, that is, the infinitely auspicious qualities, ananthakalyanagunas.

Garuda is reflected, ChAyAm Dhatthe, in the Kousthubha, the gem worn by the Lord on his chest. Kousthubha came out of the milky ocean and it appears as though the gem wishes to purify itself by reflecting Garuda who is the vedathma. Desika says he thinks that the gem is fearful of being contaminated with the poison of halahala which also came out during the churning of the ocean. The poison, Desika says, was the sahabhava, sibling of Kousthubha and the latter doubts its own purity because of the connection even after acquiring the good fortune of finding its place on the chest of the Lord. May be Koustubha wishes to be blemishless being associated with the Lord who is heyagunaprathyaneeka, free from all blemishes.

We are also affected by the poison of vishayaanubhava, sense indulgence which is even stronger than halahala because the former may end this life but the latter will follow you in next life also. So Desika prays that Garuda , who is sought after even by the divine gem kousthubha for purification from poisonous contamination, to protect us from the poison of vishyaanubhava.