From the Bhakti List Archives

• January 7, 1997


I thank Sriman Sadagopan for reminding me of Swami Desikan's hymn on
Jatayu,"paramArtha-stuthi" !!

All that I had tried to essay in more than two dozen laborious postings,
Swami Desikan captured in ONE sterling verse #7 in the 'paramArtha-stuthi'
and here it is :
 

      avadhIrya chathurvidham pUmartham
         bhavadharthE viniyUkthajIvithaha san I
      labhathE bhavathaha palAni janthuhu
         nikhilAnyatra nidarshanam jatayuhu II

My personal English paraphrase of the above :

"Any living entity which "transcends" the 4 'purUshArthA-s' and embraces
instead You and dedicates its very life for Your Sake, will obtain all
fruits -- of the here and the hereafter -- from You !! Jatayu is the
grandest example of this truth !! "

Dear 'bhAgavatOttamA-s', look at the exquisite brevity of Swami Desikan's
Verse here where he has packed into 4 lines of simple Sanskrit what I
struggled and could never properly express in thousands of words in my
postings of the past two weeks !!

I beseech the blessings of our great 'achAryA' and pray to him here to
forgive me if in the course of my own so-called "ramblings" on the net I
have in any way inadvertantly distorted or otherwise misrepresented the
essential message embedded in the above gem of verse in the
'paramArtha-stuthi' !!

Sriman Sadagopan has promised me that he will give his remarks on this
'paramArtha-stuthi' shortly on the 'bhakti-list'. I request him to elaborate
on this particular Verse #7 which virtually is a HEART-STEALER !!!!

nrsumha-priyan,
sudarshan