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Sri DehaLeesa Sthuthi : part 11 ( Slokams 12-16 )

From the Bhakti List Archives

V. Sadagopan • November 7, 1997 


Dear Members of the Bhakthi group :

In the last posting , I covered Slokams 8 to 11 .
In this posting , I will cover the ones from 12-16 .
The latter five slokams continue to cover the many 
aspects of the unimaginable beauty of Sri DehaLeesan.

SlOkam 12 
************

sathkurvathAm tava padham chathurAnanathvam
     padhOdhakam cha sirasA vahathAm Sivathvam I
yEkathra vikramaNa karmaNi tath dhvayam thE
     DEhaLyadheesa yugapath prathitham pruthivyAm II


( Meaning ) : O DehaLeesa ! When You grew upward as 
Trivikramaa , Brahma dEvan offered paadhyam (water offered 
respectfully to wash the feet of revered ones )  to Your 
sacred feet and became blessed . Siva perumAn received
the waters used to wash Your feet ( GangA) on His head and 
became equally blessed  . Today , those who worship You as 
the one who appeared at the DehaLi of ThirukkOVilUr and 
carry on their head the water used for Your  Thirumanjanam ,
they gain the combined advantages gained by Brahma Devan 
and Lord SivA at the same moment . 

( Comments ) : Swami Desikan uses sledai or double 
meaning , when he uses the words ChathurAnan and Sivan .
ChathurAnan can mean either the four-faced Brahma or
chathura--Ananan ( one who can speak cleverly ,
 with chAthuryam ) . Sivan can mean Rudran 
or Auspiciousness (Sivam ) .  

Swami says that those , who worship the Lord of ThirukkOvalUr 
attain instantly the blessings that ChathurAnan and 
Sivan attained by offering paadhyam to the Lord's 
sacred feet and receiving that paadhyam water 
( GangA )on  His head . Swami says that the bhagyasaalis 
on earth attain ChathurAnanathvam and Sivathvam together thru
their worship of the DehaLeesan's sacred feet at ThirukkOvalUr .
SIMULTANEOUSLY , those puNyavAns attain the state of Siva
and ChathurAnanA as opposed to receiving such blessings
thru separate acts (i-e) ., one washed the Lord's sacred feet
and the other received those sacred waters that emanated 
as AkAsa GangA on His Jatai .  

In one of his Naanmughan ThiruvandhAthi , Thirumazhisai
AzhwAr describes the offer of paadhyam by BrahmA from
his kamandalu theertham and Lord Siva receiving that 
fast moving torrent of GangA on His matted hair to protect
the worlds from damage of its powerful  descent :

kuRai kondu Naanmuhan kundikai neer peythu
   maRai konda manthiratthAl vAzhthi --kaRai konda
kandatthAn senni mElERakkazhuvinAn
   andatthAn sevadiyai aangu 

Thirumazhisai visualizes BrahmA pouring water on
the upward moving foot of the Lord as it passed thru
his abode , Satya Lokam ,  to the accompaniment of 
Veda Mantrams. He visualizes next Lord Sivan blocking
those torrential and free-falling waters by receiving them 
on His densely matted locks of hair . AzhwAr says that both 
BrahmA and Lord Sivan offered thus their woship to 
TrivikramaavathAran .

A great Swami Desika BhakthA , Sri D.Ramaswamy 
Iyengar sums up the message of this slOkam this way :
" O DehaLyadheesA ! You who were once a TrivikramA
of Cosmic proportions  now revel in confining Yourself
to a small DehaLi . Even so , On those who worship You ,
You confer the boons of Simultaneous ChathurAnanathvam
and Sivathvam. " 

Slokam 13
************

BHAKTHPARODHA SAHA PAADHA SAROJATHAS THE
MANDAAKINI VIGALITHAA MAKARANDHA DHAARAA i
SADHYAS TRIVARGHA APAVARGAMAPI KSHARANTHEE
PUNYAA BHABHUVA PURA SAASANA MOWLIMAALAA II

( Extended Meaning ) : O Bhaktha uparOdha saha ! O Lord 
who put up with the tight squeeze caused by the mudal aazhwArs !
When you grew as Trivikramaa and shot up towards the brahmAndam ,
Your sacred feet travelled past the BrahmA's world (Sathya Lokam ) . 
There , Your son , BrahmA worshipped those holy feet with
the waters from his kamandalu and performed Thirumanjanam . 
The sanctified waters of that abhishEkam was borne by Lord
Siva on His head like the holy garland to purifying His head . 
Those waters of AkAsa ganga were then released 
by Lord Siva and they flowed like the flood made up of honey 
( PuNyA mandhAkini makarandha dhaarA ) . Anyone , who bathes in 
these sacred  waters reaps the benefits of dharmam , artham and 
kaamam . Such a bath in the waters associated with your holy
feet cleanses the minds of the bathers and blesses them to 
perform SaraNAgathi at Your feet and gain mokshAnugraham .
O Lord ! how magnificient indeed is the glory of Your 
CharaNAravindhams ?

Swami Desikan visualizes the crush experiened by the Lord's 
lotus feet resulting in the flow of makarandha -dhArA . In the seventh
slOkam , Swami had suggsted that the Lord was being squeezed by 
the AzhwArs like a sugarcane bundle to yield sugar juice. It has also
been pointed out that PeNNAr flowing at ThirukkovalUr is the honey-
river flowing out of the Lord's lotus feet . PeyAzhwAr has visualized 
this scene of what happened at Sathya lokam and provided the
inspiration for Swami Desikan . The paasuram section of 
PeyAzhwar is as follows :

azhahanrE ankai neerErArkku alar mElOn kaal kazhuva ,
Gangai neer kaanra kazhal 

AzhwAr sums up before his mind's eye the picture of 
Kapata Vaamanan receiving water on his little hands
to solemnize the gift of three feet of land ( Ankai neer
yERRarkku ) and his transformation into Trivikramn
to measure the sky and receiving there the paadhyam
from his son seated on the lotus ( alar mElOn ) .

Slokam 14 
************

vikrAnthi kethu patikA padha vaahini thE
   nyancchanthyupaithi natha jeevitha simsumAram I
outthAnapaadhim amruthAmsum aseetha bhaanum
   hemAchalam Pasupathim himavantham Urveem II

( Extended Meaning ) : O Lord who has Your dear devotees
as Your life ! You conquered the  worlds back from MahA Bali.
The river Ganga that flowed from your feet and travelling thru
the majestic ,golden HimAlayAs became like the waving flag 
symbolizing Your victory . Those holy waters reached first 
the cosmic sphere of SimsumAra chakram and next in order 
to Dhruva mandalam , Chandra mandalam , Surya Mandalam , 
the Meru mountain , Lord Siva"s head at Kailas on the HimAlayAs
and finally reached this earth . Thus GangA nadhi spreads the 
glorious victory of Yours over Bali chakravarthy all over Your 
worlds . 

The torrential , white waters of Ganga at  the upper reaches of
HimalayAs is indeed like a fast fluttering flag as it decends to
the gorges and reaches to the plains . This similie of the flowing
GangA as a flag fluttering in the winds is a beautiful one . The choice of
the word " natha Jeevitha " in this verse has been pointed out 
as reference to the three AzhwArs , who stood before the Lord 
with bent heads and prostrated before Him .He is the Natha 
Sathyan and melts before anyone holding anjali mudrA . 
Such is His bhaktha DaakshiNyam .

Slokam 15 
************

veda kamandalu jalair vihithArchanam thE
    paadhAmbhujam prathidinam prathipadhyamAnA I
STHOTHRA PRIYA ! thripathagAdhi sarith varaaNAm 
    paNNA bhabhUva bhuvanE bhaumAna paathram II

( Exteded Meaning ) : O Lord who is easily pleased by
the eulogies of Your bhakthAs ! Your Holy feet has been 
the object of worship by BrahmA's kamandalu waters . 
PeNNAr is flowing right next to those thiruvadis all the time.
Compared to the river GangA , which had association with
Your holy feet once , this lucky PeNNAr has perrineal 
contact with Your Lotus feet and is blessed therefore
many times over GangA river. 

The river PeNNAr and its bhaagyam is saluted here .
She is in contact with the Lord's feet ( prathi dinam 
prathipadhyamAnA) . PeNNAr in Sanskrit is referred
to as KrishNabhadrA because of its holiness . 

Swami Desikan , who has coined many new names for 
the Lord of ThirukkOvalUr such as DehaLeesan ,
BhakthOpamardasahan chose here an ancient name
found in Sri VishNu shasra naama : " SthOthra Priyan "
( sthava priyan ) . Sri Parasara Bhattar's commentary 
on this Naamam is apprpriate to recall here :

" YathA kadhamchith , Yatha KadhAcith bhAshayA 
yEnakEnApi GuNasankeerthanaabhimAnEna kriyamANa: 
STHAVA : svavishaya PRIYATAMA: yasya "

This eulogy (sthOthram ) can be in any language ,
it can be occasional , it can be from anywhere .       
The Lord responds with great joy at this attempted
praise by His bhakthAs and rushes to bless them . 

SlOkam 16 :
*************

In this verse , Swami Desikan celebrates the advent 
of the Three ThiruvanthAdhis by the Mudhal AzhwArs .

svacchandha vikrama samunnamithAth amushmAth
   sthOthrathrayam yadhabhavath tava paadhapadhmAth I
vEthALa BhUtha SarasAm apadisya vAcham
   peAyENa tath prasava bhUmim avApa bhUya : II

( Extended Meaning ) : O Lord DehaLeesA ! The flood 
of sacred waters that flowed out of Your own sankalpam
from Your uplifted feet branched off into three divisions 
and reached dEva lokham , Manushya Lokham and
the nether world . Those three streams then took on 
the form of  the three thiruvandhAthis associated 
with Poygai , BhUtham and pEy aazhwAr and finally
returned to Your sacred feet . Swami suggests
that they started liek Ganga at His sacred feet and 
returned to them .

The triple stream of GangA ( srOthAsthrayam ) 
is compared here to the three floods of divine
utterances that emanated from the three aazhwArs . 
The Lord's celebrated feet , the origin of
GangA in TrivikramAvathAram , is the goal of the
parama bhakthAs assembled in the DehaLi 
of ThirukkOvalUr sthOthra priyan .

The unanimity of thought and purpose of the three
AzhwArs is compared to the three branches of 
the same river ( srOthasthrayam ) . The tradition 
is to enjoy these three prabhandhams in unison .
They have the tatthva trayam with the extraordinary
beginnings , which are echoes of one another :

Vyaam tahaliyA  , AnbE tahaLiyA and ThirukkanDEn .

Similarly , Tattva , Hitha and PurushArtham ,
another triad , is connected to the AzhwAr's 
Parabhakthi , Paraj~nAnam and Parama Bhakthi .
Sri D.Ramaswamy Iyengaar points out this
connectivity and reminds us that these andhAthis are
affectionately named " VyatthandhAthi , AnbhandhAthi 
and ThiruvandhAthi " . 

Sri D.R IyengAr also speculates that Kumaara 
VaradAchAr , the son of Swami Desikan might have been
inspired by this verse to consider Srimadh Rahasya 
Thraya Saaram of his AchAryA as " sthOthra Trayam " :

vigAhE NigamAnthArya VishNupaadha SamudhbhavAm I
Rahasya thraya sArAkhyam thrisrOthasamakalamashAm II

He salutes his father's ( AchAryA's ) magnum opus as 
originating like the GangA with the three branches 
( the three andhAthis of Mudal AzhwArs ) from the sacred 
feet of Sriman VishNU NaarAyaNan .

In the remainig twelve slOkAs , Swami Desikan 
describes the Lord lifting the three AzhwArs to
His Parama Padham and then requests the Lord to
grant him a similar boon of nithya kaimkaryam 
at Sri VaikunTam . 

Iypaasi SRavaNam Day 
ThirukkalyANa Uthsavam begins at Oppiappan Koil 

Bhumi DEvi sametha ThiruviNNagarAn
ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Swami Desikan , AzhwArgaL thiruvadigaLE SaraNam
DaasOham ,
Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SadagOpan