SlOkam 31 :
yE dharmam Aacharithum abhyasithum
cha yOgam
BhOddhum cha kinchana na
jAthvAdhikArabhAja:
tEapi ThvAdhAcharihta bhUtala
Bhandha gandhAdh
BhandhAthigA: paragathim
gamithA: thruNAdhyA:
(Meaning): Oh Lord ! The blades of grass
and animals are
incapable of comprehending the Tatthva
Thrayam( chEtana-
achEtana-Iswara Tatthvams ) or practising
karma yOgam or
Jn~Ana yOgam or Bhakthi Yogam that will
unite them
with You as SarvEswaran. They were not born
to practise
such yOgams that qualify them to reach
sathgathy ( the Supreme
PurushArTam of Moksham) and yet due to
their sambhandham
( links) to a dhivya dEsam , where You
moved around , they too
got freed from their karmic bonds and
gained Moksham .
(Commentary):The reference here is to the
elevation of all
chEtanams ( grass , ant and other
chEtanams) to Moksham
at the end of RamAvathAram . Once Lord
RaamachandrA's
avathAra kaaryam was over and as He
returned to Sri Vaikuntam
from AyOdhyaa , even the lower lives , who
were not qualified to
practise Karma , Jn~Ana or Bhakthi yOgams
were elevated to
Sathgathy by mere association with
the dhivya dEsam , where
the Lord was born and reigned . They got
release from their lowly
births and cut asunder their karmAs and
ascended the ladder to
Parama Padham without having practised
successfuly any one of
the yOgams prescribed for gaining the great
PurushArTam of Moksham .
Oh Lord ! Such is the extraordinary ,
superhuman power of Your sports !
" ThruNAdhya: dharmam Aacharithum na
saktha:". Those chEtanams
born into wombs of plants and animals did
not have the svaroopa Jn~Anam
about Bhagavath Seshathvam ( being liege to
the Lord ) or Bhagavath Svaroopa-
svabhAva Jn~Anam . They could not practise
any one of the upAsanams
recommended by the Upanishads for gaining
Moksham .They just stayed
under the shade of th Lord's sacred feet at
AyOdhyaa and got qualified to
cut asunder their karmAs and ascended to
Parama Padham .That connection
to Your Thiruvadi nizhal ( comforting shade
of Your sacred feet ) was sufficent to
propell them towards sathgathy : " tEapi
Thvath AaSritha bhUtala Bhandha
gandhAth paragathim gamithA: " . This
extraordinary happening is due to
the power of sTAna viSEsaham ( residence in
the dhivya dEsams) of
Bhagavaan . Swamy AlavanthAr also refers to
this thru his prayers to be
born even as a worm in the mansion
of the houses of BhAgavathAs.
KulasEkhara AzhwAr also prays for such a
soubhAgyam of links to Thirumala
through birth there as a worm or a plant
there to have Bhagavath sambhandham
.
SlOkam 32 :
thAdhrugh guNO nanu BhabhUviTa
RaaghavathvE
yasthAvakam charitham
anvaham anvabhunktha
sOathraiva hantha ! HanumAn paramAm
vimukthim
BhuddhvAavadhUya
charitham Tava sEvathEasou
(Meaning): Oh RaamabhadrA ! You are shining
with such
auspicious guNams that defy adequate
description . It is the spell
of those matchless guNams and the sukham
arising from the delectable
reflection on them
that made
HanumAn prefer stay in this
world
to sing Your glories
instead of accepting Your
invitation to accompany
You to Parama Padham at
the end of Your avathAram .
( Commentary) : Another incident at the
time of the Lord's ascent to
Srivaikuntam at the end of His avathAram as
Raamachandra was over :
HanumAn was engaged in deep GuNAnubhavam of
His Lord at a distant
place known as Gandha Madhana mountain .
Lord Raamabhdhra invited
HanumAn to join Him to Sri Vaikuntam .
HanumAn responded to that personal
invitation with a moving statement
declaring his firm love for the Lord and
politely declining the invitation : "
snEham mE ParamO Raajan! Thvayi nithyam
Prathishtitha: , Bhakthisccha niyathaa
Veera ! bhAvO nAnyathra gacchathy ".
Oh Raghuveeraa ! adiyEn is overcome with
the three states of Bhakthi
Yogam : Parabhakthi
(snEha: ) , Para Jn~Anam (
Parama: prathishtitha:)
and Parama Bhakthi ( niyathaa bhakthi:
) . Please forgive adiyEn . I have
no cmpelling desire to come to Parama
Padham (Nithya VibhUthi/
Sri Vaikuntam)
with You . I prefer to be here on Your
LeelA VibhUthi ( Earth) engaged in
the enjoyment of Your guNAnubhavam . adiyEn
will sing about Your
athimAnusha , Asccharya guNams while
staying here as Chiramjeevi .
SlOkam 33:
yasthvam kruthAgasamapi praNathi
prasaktham
Thamm vAyasam paramayA
krupayA akshamishtA:
tEnaiva mAdhrusa janasya
mahAgasOaoi
yuktham samASvasanam
ithyupadhArayAmi
(Meaning ): Oh
RaaghavA ! Even in the case of the mighty sinner
KaakAsuran , who commited an unpardonable
apachAram to Your
dear consort , You forgave him out of Your
matchless KaaruNyam to
those who sought Your refuge and fell
at Your sacred feet seeking
protection . Based on the recollection of
that forbearance of Yours
against the Mahaa AparAdhi , KaakAsuran ,
adiyEn is comforted that
even a mighty sinner like me can be saved
by Your infinite grace .
( This slOkam is a naicchyAnusandhAna
slOkam ).
(Commentary ) : The reference is to the
incident at Chithrakootam ,
where an aggressive , flesh eating Crow ( son of Indhran) poked at
the breast of Mother Sitaa , while Her consort was resting with
His head on Her thigh
. The blood flowed and fell
on the Lord's
face.He woke up and saw the offending crow
. Lord Ramachandra
was mighty angry and picked up a blade of
grass and empowered it
to destroy the Crow , which took chase and
went to all the three worlds
in search of some one to rescue it from the
power of the BrahmAsthram
sent after it by Raamachandra . No one
would volunteer to help the crow
including its father , Indhran knowing the
wrath of their Lord . Ultimately ,
the tired crow returned to
Chithrakootam and fell at the
feet of the Lord.
The most merciful Lord
considered that act of the crow
as the one of
SaraNAgathy , took pity on the crow and
punished it lightly by removing
its sight in one eye and spared its life
.Swamy kurEsar recalls this
amAnushitha KaaruNyam of the Lord and
states in a spirit of
Naicchiyam that there is still hope for him
and others to be redeemed from
their bundle
of sins . KaakAsura VrutthAntham
and the Sookshma dharmAs
associated with that are elaborated in the
abhaya pradhAna saara Sri Sookthi
of Swamy Desikan
. The passage from Srimath RaamyaNam
to remember here is:
" Threen lOkaan samparikramya TamEva SaraNam
gatha:
sa tamm nipathithm bhUmou
SaraNya: SaraNAgatham
vadhArhamapi KaakutsTa:
krupayA paryapAlayath "
(Meaning) :
After travelling
all the three worlds looking for some one to
protect it from the Chasing BrahmAsthram sent by the Lord , the
unsuccessful
crow returned and fell back at the sacred feet of the Lord . Sarva
lOka SaraNyan
took that act of the crow to mean the seeking of rakshaNam by the
crow and
and treated it as a SaraNAgathan. Even if the crow deserved to be
killed for its
despicable act , the most merciful Lord saved its life out of His
infinite mercy
to those , who sought His protection
.
SlOkam 34 :
saa PoothanA SakaDam arjunayO: cha
yugmam
BhAlyO
chithAnyapara chEstitha vishpulingE
yasyAlabhandha Salabhathvam ahO!
nigooDa:
sa Thvam vrajE
vavdhishEu kila kamsabheethyA
(Meaning) : Oh Lord ! How can we understand your
baffling
act of hiding in Thiru AaypAdi out of fear from
Kamsan, when
earlier You had destroyed effortlessly the ill
intentioned
Poothanai, who wanted to kill You with her
poisonous
breast milk , pulverized the asuran, who came in
the form of
a cart and brought down the twin arjuna (
marudha ) trees
as a crawling infant . You made Poothanaa and
SakatAsuran
reach the fate of an insect that flew into a naked
flame . How can
we reconcile such high act of valor with the
unexplainable act of
hiding from Kamsan out of "fear" at Gokulam
?
(Commentary) : KurEsar has followed the
MangaLAsAsanams of
AzhwArs and echoed their sentiments in this slOkam
to describe
KaNNan's dhivya chEstithams
:
" Orutthi mahanAy piranthu , oritthi
mahanAy vaLarnthu "...Andal
" pEy thAyai mulai uNda piLLai Tannai "
--Thirumangai
" kaLLa chahadu kalakkazhiya panjiyenna
melladiyAl pAyntha pOthu" -- AzhwAr
" PoothanA SakaDa YamalArjunaarishta
PralamBHa dhEnuka KaaLeeya kEsi
kuvalayApeeDA ChANUra mushtikatOsala kamsAdheen nihathya" -- AchArya
RaamAnujA's introduction in His GeethA
BhAshyam ( You destroyed Poothanai ,
SakaDAsuran ,the twin Marutha marams in
Your backyard , PralambhAsuran ,
Kesi ( Horse faced asuran) , the royal
elephant , KuvalayappeDam , the wrestlers
of the royal court of Kamsan ( ChANUra
Mushtikans) and Kamsan Himself
during Your KrishNaavathAram ; yet You went
and hid at Gokulam as though
You were afraid of Kamsan ) .
SlOkam 35 :
paSyathsu soorishu sadhaa paramam
padham tE
dEvyA SriyA saha vasan parayA
vibhUthyaa
yOgEna yOganirathai:
parimrugyamANa:
kim Thvam vrajEshu
navaneethamahO! vyamushNA:
(Meaning): Oh KrishNA ! it is indeed
baffling that You
with the matchless wealth of Yours as
Ubhaya VibhUthi
NaaTan ( Parama Padham and BhU
lOkam) and recieving
uninterrupted adoration from Your
Parijanams( Nithya Sooris ,
Anantha -Garuda -VishvaksEnAdhis) and Devis
as well as
the Rishis engaged in stealing butter and
Navaneetham from
the huts of humble Gopis in Gokulam ! I tis
indeed one of Your
athimAnusha ChEstais .You have every thing
in this and
the other world of Yours and yet you went
after stealing
the insignificant butter and
navaneetham .
( Commentary ) : Oh Lord ! You
are is adored by the Nithya Sooris
in Your
Supreme abode wihtout
closing their eyelids even for a moment
( Tadh VishNO; Paramam Padham sadhA
pasyanthy Sooraya: ) .
There You reside with Your devis surrounded
by your matchless
wealth ( dEvyaa Sriyaa saha
vasan) . No body fully comprehends
Your Vaibhavam ( na tE VishNO! JaayamAnO na
JaathO dEva !
mahimna: paramanthamApa) . Yogis search You
thru Yogic practises
( yOgEna yOganirathai: parimrugyamANa:) .
Such is the PrabhAvam of
Yours and yet it is mysterious that you
went and stole VeNNai from
the houses of the Gopis
!
SlOkam 36:
yamm dhurgraham sumanasO manasAapi
nithyam
Bhandhacchidham paramam
Isam udhAharanthy
dhAmnA niBhaddha ithi
Susruma Tamm bhavantham
nAlam BhabhUviTa !
Bhatha ! slaTAnAya tasya
(Meaning): Oh KrishNA ! You are beyond
comprension in
the past , present or future even by one
with an auspicious mind.
You are eulogized by the DEvAs as the One
who can break
the bonds of our KarmAs
and as being always with the
lady of
Supreme auspiciousness ,
Sri Devi . We hear that You
known
for such power and majesty and yet were
tied to a hustling mortar
with fine rope and you could not loosen Yourself from that knot
.
What a surprise !
(Commentary)
: Oh Lord ! " KaNNinuNN siRu thAmbinAl
kattuNNappatta Peru Maayan ". You permitted
yourself to be
bound to a mortar by a simple cowherdess ,
YasOdhA ( inRu
AaycchiyarAl aLai veNNai uNDu
AappuNdirunthavanE --Kaliyan) .
You became DhAmOdharan on that occasion
with welt marks on
Your waist from the rope . Swamy NammAzhwAr
reflected on
Your helpless state and fainted .You
who removes all bonds got
tied up and could not shake lose .
What a Wonder !
SlOkam 37:
Eisam hi SaiSavamapi vyathivEla
khElam
yath PoothanA SaDam ArjunayO:
cha yugmam
BhAlYOchithAnyaParaSAch
vichEshtitEna
hanthAlabhantha SalabhAyitham
OjasastE
(Meaning) : Oh KrishNa! Only a very
few can understand
the athimAnusha chEshtais of Yours
such as the destruction of
the decietful Poothanaa , the asuran who
took the form of
a cart , the
twin arjunaa trees . You
destroyed their detestable
births like the fire into which the
insects land . One can
recognize from these chEshtais that
You are the divine Lord
that sported as the
child at Gokulam doing all these superhuman
acts . Even your limitless sports during
the tender period as
" a helpless child " reveal Your svaroopam as the Lord of
the Universe !
(Commnets) : " tE Saisavam api Isam
vyathivElam " . You were
a crawling infant (Sisu) at the time
of destroying Poothanaa ,
SakatAsuran and others , who came with the intent to harm
You .
You are however the Omnipotent Iswaran ,
who did perform
wonderous deeds which had no limits (
VyathivElakhElam) .
What a wonder that is to reflect on these
suprahuman deeds
of Yours as a Sisu ( vyathivElakhElam
hantha!) .
SlOkam 38 :
sathyEva gavyanivahE nijadhAmni
bhUmnA
paryantha sadhmasu
kimarTam ? achUchurasthvam
mushNan cha kim vyajaghaDO
ghaDaSEshamagrE
Gopijanasya
parrihAsapadham kimAsi : ?
(Meaning): Oh Gopala ! How can we
understand fully Your
divine activities such as stealing milk ,
curd , VeNNai , ghee
from the neighbor's houses while You have
so much of all
these for Your enjoyment at Your own house
? Why did You
engage in such acts ? After consuming these
delectable stolen
goods , You broke the pots that contained
the curd and milk
right in front of the Gopis .You
became the object of their
harsh words as a result of Your
questionable activities .
How can we understand these athimAnusha
ChEshtithams
of Yours ?
(Comments) : Here KurEsar literally
translates the AzhwAr's
grand anubhavams of the Navaneetha ChOran
caught in the act of
stealing dairy goods from neighbor's houses
and being chastised .
His own house ( Nija dhAmam) had plenty of
these delectable
material for consumption and
yet He broke into neighbor's
houses ( Paryantha sadhmam) to have
the thrill of stealing
and helping Himself . He provoked the
Gopis further by breaking
the pots from which He had helped Himself
earlier . He created
even a noisy scene to announce His visits
.He got caught in
the act and was humiliated by the
angry Gopis , some of whom
went and complained to YasOdhA PirAtti and
appealed Her to curb
this impossible child of hers .
AzhwAr's Paasurams are full of
these anubhavams of the Lord as Navaneetha
ChOran .
SlOkam 39:
yannAma NaaTa !navaneetham
achUchurasthvam
tacchAdhanATa yadhi tE
mathirAvirAseeth
kim sugdha ! dhigdhamamunA
karapallavam tE
gAthrE pramrujya
niragA: kila nirviSanka:
(Meaning): Oh Lord of the Universe who did
not know how You could
hide Your act of steaing navaneetham
! If Your intent was to hide Your
chEshtais of stealing VeNNai from the
neighbor's houses , why on earth
did You dash out of the neighbor's houses
without any worries , while
You had the tell tale marks of VeNNai
all over Your body resulting from
your deliberate smearing of the stolen
Vennai with on Your torso with
Your tender fingers ?
How come You did not know how to
hide Your theft
and leave the scene
without display of any evidence
?
(Comments) : Thirumangai Mannan's Paasura Vaakyam has
been
the inspitation for KurEsar here : "
VeLLimalaiirundhAlottha VeNNai
vaari vizhungivittu KALVAN uRanguhinrAn " . KulasEkhara AzhwAr's
anubhavam ( PerumAL Thirumozhi 7.8) captures for us
the confused
state of YasOdha , who is overcome by the dhivya
soundharyam of
the divine thief , while she wishes to teach her dear son a lesson
for
stealing from the neighbor's houses .
SlOkam 40:
ThvAm anyagOpagruhagavya musham
YaSOdhA
gurvee Thvadheeyam
avamAnam amrushyamANaa
prEmNAaTa dhAmapariNama jushaa
BhaBhandha
tAdhrug na tE
charitham AryajanA: sahanthE
(Meaning ): Oh KaLvaa ! Your dear Mother
YasOdhaa could not
put up with the complaints made by the
neighbors about Your
VeNNai stealing activities in their houses
.She felt humiliated by
Your stealthy acts . She responded to their
complaints and wanted to
teach You a lesson to stop you from
Your pranks and making
a nuisance of Yourself to the
neighbors . She was a proud woman .
She also adored You and did not
want others to hurl charges at You .
She decided to tie you down to a hustling
mortar with a small piece of
rope .She did this out of affection for You
and to get you away from Your
repeated mischief .The AzhwArs were
overcome with profound emotions
about You, the Lord of the universe being
tied down by Your mother .
These noble souls (Aarya Janaa:) could not
bear to think of Your
sufferings that You underwent from being
tied down to the mortar .
(Commentary ): Your Mother YasOdha knotted
together few pieces of
small ropes and used that to tie You , the Lord , to a heavy mortar
to keep You stationary .She did it to teach You a lesson and to
prevent You from entering the neighbor's houses and stealing
butter and milk
there . She tied You with such
affection that it
did not hurt You
.In reality , when Your Mother
did not have
sufficent length of
the rope to tie You down ,
You blessed her effort
to become
successful and appeared to
be submissive.The mortar
and the rope became blessed
through their participation in this incident .
You gained the name of DhAmOdharan and carry those welt marks
even today as the Moola BhEram at Srirangam . Swamy NammAzhwAr
stayed in a state of swooning after reflecting on the simplicity of
the Lord to submit
to such treatment although He is
Sarva Sakthan
( ThiruvAimozhi: 1.3.1:
" matthuRu kadai veNNai kaLavil
, uravidayAppuNdu
YetthiRam uralinodu
iNainthu yEngia yeLivE ") .It is said that this slOkam
was a response by KurEsa to his erstwhile sishyan , NaalUrAn ,
who
plotted with Krimi KaNda ChOzhan to
humiliate and punish his
AchAryan . NaalUrAn became a KrishNa
dhvEshi and made fun of
the holiness of KrishNa as SarvEwaran , who
entered other people's
houses , stole butter and being tied down by a simple cowherdess
,
YasOdha . He questioned the Lord's
SarvEswarathvam instead of
admiring His soulabhyam , souseelyam and
dhivya chEshtithams .
The AzhwArs were admiring the Lord's
SarvEswarathvam thru
their reflections on these deeds and hence
KurEsar calls the AzhwArs
" Aarya Janaa: ". KurEsar implies that
Bhagavath dhvEshis like
NaalUrAn are AnArya Janams .
( To be continued )
Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil
V.Sadagopan
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