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From the Bhakti List Archives

M.N.Ramanuja • July 26, 2002 


Dear Bhagavatas,
  Here is the continuation of the translation of the commentary of Sri 
Periya Vachchan Pillay  long time after the Avatarikai. Though Adiyen can 
never do justice to the vyakhyanam of PVP,  the amazing spectrum  of 
ideas and interpolations of which Sri PVP was capable of, can not be 
faithfully reflected after comprehension in this poor attempt in english 
to express the wonderful and unexpected hairsplitting analysis of PVP. 
Still my temptation to spread this to the Bhagavata world overrides my 
hesitation. And so please read on.... 



                          Srimate Ramanujaya Nama:

          Sri PeriyavachchAn Pillay's commentary on Jitante stotram.


        1> Jitante pundarIkAkSha namsthE vishvabhAvana

           namasthE stu hriShIkEsha mahApuruSha pUrvaja.


1) pundarIkAkSha - oh lotus eyed, this object called soul has been 
conquered by you. nama: - this is not mine. tE - This is yours. 
vishvabhAvana - oh creator of all the universe. HriShIkEsha - controller 
of senses. mahApuruSha - oh greatest among the givers, munificent. pUrvaja 
- born prior to all. namstEstu - this soul should be divested of my 
ownership and should become your rightful possession. 


    This sloka tells how the Lord conquers the straying person by 
displaying His beauty and makes him pray to Him as the decided goal.


    The straying person has taken a vow as it were of deviating and 
diverging from God (cf. yAdAnum paRRi nIngum viratam) and indulging in 
other sense objects. The Lord on the other hand, chases the person as it 
were, severs his interest in the sense objects, inculcates svarUpa jnAna 
in him, and pledges not to return without the gaining ownership of the 
person. Whenever he strays to other objects of interest, He displays His 
beauty and conquers him (cf. irundAn kandukondu). Being pleased with the 
person's defeat, He asks "who is defeated?" ; then the person replies (cf. 
tORROm mada nenjam emberumAn nAraNarku) that "victory is Yours. Is there 
something that You cannot conquer by the brahmAstra of Your lotus like 
eyes. (pundarIkAkShatva)". After all it is only by way of the eyes that 
living beings can impress influence and enslave each other. So here it 
says that You are conquering us with the help of lotus-eyes. (cf. iNaik 
koottham kolO ariyEn) 

      

  A self-willed person can be brought around by  shAstras but to bring 
around a viShaya pravaNa, (one who indulges in sense objects), is there 
any other implement better than beauty.  

   namastE  - Now who conquered whom and whose property? I have stolen the 
Atma belonging to You. You conquered me and took back Your property. (cf. 
aham api na mama bhagavata Eva aham asmi). The word - nama: - denotes 
surrendering.  namastestu -- kindly prevent the usurpation of the soul by 
me and appropriate it for Yourself. When God is helping me by creating  my 
interest in Him for His benefit, why should I, a chetana rush and solicit 
for His slavery (kainkaryam) ? The moment He created interest for a 
chetana in Him and enlightened him with svarUpa jnAna, the next 
spontaneous thing for the chetana is to wake up and solicit for His 
kainkaryam, in line with what is appropriate for his svarUpa.   

  When the hunchback  dwarf  (kubjA) woman's hunch was removed by Lord 
krishna, she requested krishna to come to her house for enjoyment. (cf. 
vastrE pragrihya govinda , mama gEham vrajEti vy). Likewise, here too God 
removes a hunch of the Atma - chetana, in the form of ahankAra and 
mamakAra by displaying His beautiful eyes. When the svatantrya of the 
chetana is removed and pAratantrya shines through, he becomes fit for the 
spirit and taste of kainkaryam.


   Similarly, the Lord impressed  the florist, mAlAkArar, by His  beauty, 
made him fall at His feet several times and  made him offer all the 
garlands and  accepted his services (cf. puna: puna: praNamyAha mAlAkArO 
ativismita:).


   vishva bhAvana -- creator of the universe. For a Person who could 
create this woe-begone universe from nothing, can He not infuse goodness 
in me who am existing?  Is it a difficult task for Him? After all, what is 
His objective in creation -- to pick out atleast a few mumukShus after the 
refinement of chetanas. Obtaining mumukshus is for His pleasure.  
hriShIkEsha -- At the beginning of  creation, there was no diversion for 
the souls to stray from God. Now there are the incorrigible sense organs 
and the objects for indulgence,  to drag the souls away from God. Hence 
You can control the senses and help me by reining my senses. "Yo vAchi 
tiShThan ,  yashchakShuShi tiShThan " etc.  I, the chetana, is ever since 
creation, submissive to the sense organs. 

    Even if one  is omnipotent why will anyone do what all he can? - 
because You are MahApurusha -- You are omnipotent, but do You use Your 
potency? yes,  You are  the greatest of all  liberal, munificent persons. 
You gift the desires of Your bhaktas so profusely that they do not have to 
beg You again. You and Your assets are all spread out for the benefit of 
Your devotees. (cf. sa sarvAn arthinO  drishTvA samEtya pratinandya cha). 
This munificence is explained in practice, next. pUrvaja -- in creation, 
in incarnation and in being upAya, You are at the head of all  gains and 
losses. In every event, the gains, fruits and losses are primarily Yours.  
Just as in 'bahusyam prajAyEya' the benefit and pride of descending 
through many bodies, is His own, so also,  in 'EkAkI na ramEta',  the 
displeasure of loneliness is also His own. Even in incarnation, as in 
'sambhavAmi Atma mAyayA' the incarnation is by His free will for the sake 
of steering a few good souls towards Himself. If one asks that He took 
birth owing to the pleas of devas, as in 'sa hi devair arthito jajne' ; 
the answer is no; it was an excuse; but protection of saadhus was His main 
benefit; as in ' paritrANAya sadhUnAm'.  This is just as in the case of 
Arjuna; in the guise of encouraging him to wage war, Krishna discoursed on 
the yoga of bhakti towards Himself. 
       As in 'upAyopEyatve tadiha tava  tatvam', just  as the virtue of 
upEyatva is eternal to Him, so also the virtue of upAyatva. His upAyatva 
does not surface merely when a chetana accepts  Him. Sri Parasara Bhattar 
said in SriRangarajastavam  -- 

"Upanishat declares that SrimanNarayaNa, appropriates for Himself for His 
own benefit, all the chits and achits by the processes of creation, 
control and protection. So UpAyatva and UpEyatva are His Svarupa and not 
mere qualities. Therefore, You who sleeps in Srirangam, I do take refuge 
in You without any pretext and subterfuge ". 

Even during the time of bhoga  or enjoyment, He, to show His precedence 
over the gopis in five lakh houses, keeps the flute over His mouth and 
plays it. And for a chetana  who develops a  keen desire to  sustain this 
bhoga, uninterruptedly,  He shows him the way so that he may not have to 
search for Him and awaits his arrival at the Vaikuntham along with 
His consort Shree. (ShriyA sArdham  jagatpati: AsthE Vishnur achinthyAtmA 
bhaktair bhAgavathais saha).

 

(To continue with the  2nd slokam  in the next posting) 

Adiyen
Ramanuja dasan
Ramanuja




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