The Swansong

[Guest guest]

Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra

Mahadesikaya nama:

 

The Swansong

 

Each being in the wonderful Lord’s creation is endowed with a special

characteristic, setting it apart from others. Man, for instance, has the gift of

intelligence and reasoning. Dogs are known for their unflinching loyalty and

cats for their loving nature. The horse is almost a byword for strength and the

elephant for hugeness. When you search for something, which could almost

single-handedly signify beauty and grace, you have to necessarily plump for the

Swan. It may have its competitors, but in the context for breathtaking beauty

and captivating grace, it is the Swan which wins hands down. Ornithologists tell

us that seven species of swans exist: Whooper, Trumpeter, Tundra, Mute,

Black-necked, Black and Coscoroba. The most commonly seen member of the family

is the Mute Swan, an enormous, all-white bird with the pinkish bill that ends in

a black knob. The curving neck of the Mute Swan has the most neck vertebrae (23)

of any bird.

Apart from its other distinctions, the Swan also figures quite prominently in

the scripture.

 

The moment we think of a Swan, what comes to our mind is its proverbial capacity

for separating milk from water. We are told that the beautiful bird has the

astonishing capability of imbibing only milk and casting aside water, when

diluted milk is placed before it. It would appear as though the Swan has an

inbuilt lactometer, enabling it to gauge the milk content of the liquid and to

separate milk from water. This trait of the Swan makes it an ideal example for

all those who have the knack of separating wheat from chaff and the essential

from the non-essential.

 

Knowledge and wisdom are vast oceans. Even if one has the aptitude and industry

for imbibing everything, the time at one’s disposal, consisting of life’s

productive years, is extremely limited. We should hence learn to isolate and

absorb the quintessential, from a mixture of good and bad, casting aside the

inconsequential, say the Shastras, holding out the Swan’s conduct as a shining

example—

”Alpascha kaala: bahavascha vighnaa: yat saarabhootam tat upaadadheeta

Hamso yathaa ksheeram ivaambu mishram”

 

Having been brought up in cities, many of us might not have seen Swans at all,

except in zoos. Those who have would recollect its long and extremely graceful

neck. More graceful is its gait—so much so that poets unfailingly plump for the

Swan as a simile, when they want to describe a damsel’s poise and elegance. The

Swan is never in a hurry and moves slowly but gracefully, says Sri

Nammazhwar—“men nadaya annangaal!”. And true to its soft nature, the bird

prefers a bed of flowers for the night and is up and about much before sunrise,

we are told by Sri Tondaradippodi—“ezhundana malaranai palli kol annam”. In

passing, Azhwar also comments on the bird’s extremely beautiful plumage, which

it shakes to get rid of dewdrops—“ een pani nanainda tan irum siragu udari”.

 

The Swan is reputed to be a spotless bird, with a breathtakingly white plumage.

It is the apparent embodiment of Sattvam and inhabits only pure environs, we are

told. It will never set foot in muddy waters, says a poet—“na badhnaati ratim

hamsa: kadaachit kardamaambhasi”. The Kishkindha Kandam of Srimad Ramayanam

paints a striking portrait of a sleeping Swan, floating in the clear waters of a

lake, surrounded by water lilies—

 

“suptaika Hamsam kusumai: upetam mahaa hradasttham salilam vibhaati

ghanai: vimuktam nisi poorna chandram taara ganaakeernam iva antariksham”

 

The Swan is thus compared to the glorious full moon inhabiting a clear sky

bereft of even a puff of cloud and surrounded by a bevy of splendorous stars.

The Swan appears to be Sri Valmiki’s favourite object of comparison and again

serves as a simile for the moon, this time in Sundara Kandam. The Full Moon

radiates splendour, shining milky-white in the sky like a superior conch,

resembling a graceful Swan in majestic progress across a lotus pond—

 

“Shankha prabham ksheera mrinaala varnam udgacchamaanam vyavabhaasamaanam

dadarsa Chandram sa Kapi praveera: poplooyamaanam saraseeva Hamsam”

 

One would be inclined to think that apart from its looks, the Hamsam is also

endowed with good communication faculties, from the way poets invariably choose

it as the messenger, bearing romantic messages between lovers separated by a

distance. The Swan is indeed a “Doota” par excellence—this is clear from the

Naishada Kaavyam, where it dons this role in conveying Damayanti’s feelings to

Nala Maharaja and vice versa. Our own Swami Desikan has employed the Swan to

telling effect as a messenger between Sri Raghava and Sri Mythily, in his

exquisite kaavyam, “Hamsa Sandesam”. Beside Himself with grief at the separation

from His Princess, Chakkravartthi Tirumagan chooses the Swan for conveying His

feelings to Sri Janaki. In the process, Swami Desikan furnishes beautiful

descriptions of several divyadesams lying in the Swan’s flight path.

 

What is the qualification that these birds possess, for serving as couriers

between lovers? They are eminently aware, from their own experience, of the

intense pleasure that lovers derive from each other’s company and the unbearable

pain that is occasioned by separation from each other. And being conscious of

this, the Swans themselves are enviously together always— “idaril bhogam

moozhgi inaindu aadum annangaal!” “toovi ser annam tunyaodu punarum soozh punal

Kudandai”. It is this sensitivity of Swans to lovers’ pangs of separation, which

makes them excellent messengers. All this is inferred from Sri Nammazhwar’s

pauram, “unartthal oodal unarndu udan meyum mada annangaal!”. Modern

Ornithologists confirm that Swans generally mate for life. They remain together

throughout the year and keep their young with them until they nest again. If

one of a pair dies, the survivor usually takes a new mate and remains devoted.

 

By all accounts, the Swan is indeed an exalted creature. This is further evident

from the fact that the Lord chose the species for taking an Avataram. The

Hamsavatara episode is similar to that of several other avatarams. Here too, the

Lord rescued the Vedas from the clutches of asuraas Madhu and Kaitapa and

restored them to the four-headed Brahma, who was totally blinded and unable to

carry on the process of Creation, without the Vedas. Emperuman, as a Divine

Swan, imparted the wisdom of the Vedas to Brahma, thus restoring his creative

powers. The principal mission of the Hamsavatara was thus the propagation of the

Shruti and Shastras, as can be divined from Azhwar sreesooktis—“Annamaai nool

payandaan” “Annamadaai irundu angu ara nool uraittha” etc. The Hamsam is

honoured thus, not only by Emeperuman but also by our venerated Acharyas, who

carry the bird in their names. Belonging to the class of Sanyasis known as

“Parama Hamsa”, all our Acharyas automatically inherit the

title of their lineage.

 

Additionally, Sri Nammazhwar is reputed to have sported a signet ring on his

fingers, with the figure of a beautiful Swan embossed it. Around seven hundred

years ago, Azhwar Tirunagari was over run by people of other faiths, who

ransacked the Adinatha Perumal Sannidhi, plundered its wealth and converted it

into a temple of their own faith. Not content with all this sacrilege, they also

threw Sri Nammazhwar’s vigraham into a deep lake, convinced that the removal

from the scene of this icon symbolising Sri Vaishnavism would effectively put an

end to the tenet. However, the Lord sent a rescue party in the form of Sri

Satakopa Jeeyar, the revered founder of Sri Ahobila Mutt.

 

Distressed at the happenings, the Acharya meditated upon the Azhwar just as Sri

Madhurakavi did. Having learnt of the whereabouts of the Azhwar’s vigraham

through his penance, Jeeyar delved deep into the lake, rescued the arccha

moorthy and re-established Azhwar in all his original splendour at his sannidhi.

Pleased at Jeeyar’s kainkaryam, Sri Nammazhwar gifted the Acharya with his Hamsa

Mudra. This is recorded in the Vaazhi Tirunaamam of the Jeeyar—“Azhwar tan

kripayaale Hamsa mudrayon vaazhiye”. It is noteworthy that even after six

hundred and odd years, this holy Hamsa Mudra or signet ring is preserved with

reverence and worn by Srimad Azhagiasingars of Ahobila Mutt, on ceremonious

occasions.

 

The fourth chapter of the Cchaandogya Upanishad recounts the story of two Hamsa

Pakshis, named Bhalla and Bhallaaksha, who were instrumental in Emperor

Jaanashruti gaining the knowledge that matters. Jaanashruti was a renowned

ruler, wealthy beyond imagination. All his wealth was spent on feeding the poor

and on other socially productive activities. Though the Emperor was well

informed in the Shastras, he neglected self-inquiry and knew not anything about

the Ultimate and ways to realise it. Two Maharshis, concerned for the good

Emperor who was frittering his life away without acquiring the wisdom that

mattered, took the form of two Swans and flew over Jaanashruti, talking to each

other. The Emperor, who listened to the conversation, was taken aback. Said the

first Swan to the other—“Take care to fly such that your shadow doesn’t fall

over Jaanashruti Maharaja!”. The second Swan remarked disparagingly, “What can

happen if my shadow does fall on him? Is he a Brahma Gnaani lik

e Raigva? I am not prepared to accord undue honour to a mere Maharaja, who is

devoid of any Atma gnaanam!” (Shastras tell us that we must not let our shadow

fall on Bhagavatas and Acharyas). Stung by the second Swan’s cruel comment,

Jaanashruti sought out Raigva, propitiated the Maharshi with his sincerity of

purpose and imbibed from him knowledge about the Brahmam and the strategies for

realising the same.

 

The English Idiom pays the ultimate tribute to the Swan, by calling the magnum

opus of a person, the crowning glory of his life’s work, his last act of

distinction, as a Swansong. Though the Swan is not renowned for the melody of

its voice, unlike the Koel or nightingale, the fact remains that the final

performance of an artiste, into which he or she naturally puts in his best, is

known as a Swansong. This, by itself, is evidence of the regard with which even

the secular world treats the bird.

 

I feel this piece is now long enough. Lest readers call upon me to treat this as

my Swansong, I shall end here and now.

 

Srimate Sri LakshmmiNrisimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta

Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

dasan, sadagopan