Dear BhagavathALs : The ten passurams of AzhwAr are moving statements about his Aakinchanyam and MahA VisvAsam . Swami DEsikan captured the mood of the mind of KulasEkharA in his SaranAgathi Granthams like Nyaasa Dasakam , SaraNAgathi Deepikai as well as in Daya Sathakam slOkams . The whole decad is a " VisvAsa PrArthanA pUrvam Aathma RakshA bharam " in the spirit of Swami Desikan's second slokam of Nyaasa Dasakam : nyasyAmi Akinchana: Sriman anukUlOnyavarjitha: I visvAsa PrArthanA pUrvam Aathma RakshAbharam tvayi II First Paasuram : Mother and Crying Child ***************************************** Here he described his helpless state to that of an infant , which has been discarded by its mother in anger and disgust because of the screams and tantrums of the wimpering infant . The infant is totally helpless to take care of itself and awaits the mercy of the mother to releive its misery .Azhwar states that his condition is exactly like that infant . He says , "Unn SaraNallAl SaraNillai " . He states further that all of his accumulated samsaaric ills are causing him indescribable pain and they can not be eliminated by anyone except the Lord. He is screaming in anguish to get the Lord's attention and that the Lord like the mother ignoring the infant does not pay attention to him and move in his direction to help him . AzhwAr declares with conviction that inspite of the Lord's lack of initiative to help him , he will not seek help from anyone else .He says :" I will stay forever in the belief that your Lotus feet are my sole refuge and will hold on to them , even if you kick me away .I will wait for your anger to subside and meanwhile hold on to your sacred feet firmly until the dawn of Your DayA ". Oh DayA mUrhty ! Oh my Lord ! There are a lot of bad sons ( evil PuthrAs : Kuputhra :) , but nobody ever heard of evil mothers ( KumAthA ) . Even with a bad son , a mother shows affection and comes to his rescue. If ordinary mothers behave in this predictable fashion and are compassionate towards their ill-behaving sons , I can not see how Yourself , the jaganmAthA can ignore me( Your son ) and my sufferings? Hence I am convinced that you will not abandon me . The description of the Lord of VitthuvakkOdu as the Mother of the Universe by KulasEkharA reminds one of Swami Desikan's prayer to the Lord of ThiruvEnkatam in Daya sathakam :Maatha: DayE ! mE mana : tvAm prasAdhayithum icchathi " . He says : " Oh DayA dEvi! my mind wants to gladden Your heart . You are afterall my Mother.As Your dear child , I want to make You happy by presenting You with nourishing victuals to please You . I look around to see what I have got in my collection to give You .I see that I have only one item in plenty in my possession (i-e., ) the bundles of my accumulated sins . I conclude that they will serve as food for You and perform prapatthi at Your sacred feet and offer my paapa raasis as the naivEdhyam .With mahA visvAsam in You and your power to wipe out my sorrows ( taru thuyaram tadAyEl unn saraNallAl saraNillai ) , I offer these bundles of sins to You as food . What do You do ? In one second , you swallow them and stand there famished suggesting that what I offered is not enough for You to appease Your hunger . Oh DayA svarUpi ! please take the role of my Mother and do not be angry at me and enfold me in Your hands in affectionate embrace and feed me the milk of Jn~anam and thus protect me . There is no one else for me as refuge . I wish to surrender my soul at Your sacred feet . Such thoughts are echoed by Swami Desikan in the following DayA Sathaka SlOkam: Outhsukhya pUrvamupahruthya mahAparAdhAn maatha: prasAdhayithum icchathi mE manastvAm I aalihyathAn niravasEshamalabhdha trupthi: tAmyasyahO Vruhshagireesa dhruthA DhayE tvAm II Second Paasuram :Pathivrathi& ill-behaving Consort *************************************************** Here , AzhwAr compares himself to " KondAnai allAl aRiyA kula mahaL " and concludes that " un kurai kazhalE kURuvanE " . Oh VitthuvakkOttammA ! I am Your bonded servant . If You do not come to my rescue , others will laugh at You as a negligent Master. They will laugh at me as well and point out that I am the foolish girl , who puts too much belief in Your action to protect me and I am going to be surely disappointed . Whatever these people of the village say , I will have enduring visvAsam in Your public statement , " MaamEkam SaraNam vraja" and will wait for you to take the first step towards me. My state is similar to a Chaste woman , whose husband engages in despicable acts . Even if the neighbors laugh at her for her "stupidity " to be faithful to him , she will continue to wish for his KshEmam and will perform without let kaimkaryam to him . My status is similar to that pathivrathai . Even if you declare that You will not protect me , I will hold onto Your lotus feet adorned with the silampu denoting You as a mahA Veeran ; I will not let go off your protective feet . I want to remind you that Our relationship is not dissolvable . Third Paasuram : Aggreived Citizen& Irresponsible King ******************************************************* In this paasuram , AzhwAr compares his state of Ananya SaraNAgathithvam by invoking the example of a negligent and derelict king , who does not come to the rescue of the suffering citizens. That king wears the sceptre and crown for the express purpose of protecting his subjects. That is his kshathriya dharmam . Even when he fails to discharge his avowed duties , the people have no other recourse except to expect him to protect them . My status is similar to that. Even if You wont cast Your benovolent glances in my direction and take note of my suffering , I will stay at Your feet reminding You of Your dharmam as SaraNAgatha Rakshakan and will wait in my helpless state without seeking relief from anyone else . Like the fish in the ocean , Who know that they have no other place to go even if the waters of the Ocean dry up , Oh Lord of VitthuvakkOdu surrounded by the rich and wet fields of paddy , I will stay with mahA visvAsam in You as my protector. I will not look to powerless demi-Gods , who pretend to offer protection and finally reveal their helplessness . I will firmly place my faith in You and You alone as my protector and rest my case for Aathma RakshaNam at your sacrd feet .AzhwAr states here: " unn paRRallAl PaRRilEn " . Fourth Paasuram : The ill patient and the Surgeon ************************************************** Here AzhwAr compares his relationship with the Lord as one between a sick patient needing help and the Doctor , who could cure the illnes with surgery . The patient has cancer and the surgeon has to perform an operation to cut the flesh and remove the cancerous growth . The patient is going to suffer immensely from the pain of surgery . Once the operation takes place and the patient is cured of his long sickness , he is utterly grateful to the surgeon for saving his life . AzhwAr says that his status is like the trusting patient , who casts the burden of protection to the mAyAvi surgeon , the Lord ,and bears with all the intermediate sufferings during the period of surgery .He says that he will comprehend the pain as activities on the part of the Lord to save him and will wait to be cured and offer his thankfulness later to the Lord for His mahOpakAram .He says that he will wait for the dayA of the Lord to perform the surgery and cure him of the fearsome cancer of SamsAram . Fifth Paasuram : The tired albatros bird and the Ship ***************************************************** In this paasuram , he describes his helpness with a soul-stirring cry : Where will I go ? What will I do ? He compares himself to a sea bird , which was sitting on the mighty tall mast of a ship in the middle of the ocean . The big bird thought it was strong enough and decided to leave the safety of the towering mast and discover the land to rest . It flew for hours and hours away from the ship in search of comforting land to rest . The bird did not sight the land and was mighty tired . It recognized how foolish it was to abandon the safety of the ship's mast and to venture forth on its own to cross the ocean .It returns chastised and sits on the mast to complete safely its journey to the other side of the ocean . AzhwAr compares his status to this bird , which cast safety to winds and was going to endanger its life . He says in this context : " Oh Lord who destroyed the royal elephant of Kamsa that came rushing to you in anger with blood-shot eyes ! Where can I go for refuge forgetting your strong pair of feet ? Is it possible to forget them and look for safety anywhere else ? Please tell me ." Yengu POyhEn ? Unn iNai adiyE adayallAl , yengu pOyhEn ? " . As a vivEki , I have evaluated Your power and that of other Gods and comprehend very well that You alone have the power to bless me with the fruits of Moksham . I used to be like the restless sea bird , which left the safety of the mast and wandered here and there . I have now fully understood that Your sakthi and grace have no match in all the worlds . I am therefore desirous of performing nithya Kaimkaryam to You . I wish to place my AathmA at Your sacred feet . Swami Desikan echoed the thoughts of AzhwAr in an AshtabhujAshtaka Slokam this way : sakthim saraNyAnthara sabdha bhAjAm sAram cha samthOlya palAntharANAm I tvadh dAsya hEtho: tvayi nirvisangam nyasthAthmaNAm nAtha Bibharshi Bhaaram II KulasEkhara perumAL ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan
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