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Slokam 42
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Today , adiyEn will cover the Fourty Second slOkam
of Sri SaraNAgathi DhIpikai , where Swamy Desikan
continues to plead ardently with the Lord about
the granting of the boon of Bhagavad anubhavam
and argues that the Lord will not lose anything
by granting him the desired wish:
PadhmA MahI prabruthibhi: paribhuktha-bhUmna:
kaa haaniathra mayi BhOgthri tE BhavithrI
dhushyEth kimangri tadINi tava-sEvyA
dhurvAra tarsha chapalEna sunA avaleeDA
SrI SaraNAgathi DhIpikai: SlOkam 42
Meaning:
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Oh ViLakkoLi PerumALE! Your dear consorts, SrI Devi and BhU Devi,
enjoy Your Svaroopam, ThirumEni (Divine body ) and auspicious
attributes to their heart's content . adiyEn, who is lowly ,
also wishes to enjoy Your dhivya MangaLa Vigraham , dhivya
aathma svaroopam and anantha kalyANa guNams .What is the harm to
You if you grant my request ? Your glory will not diminish an
iota if you respond positively to my request . Let me quote an
example . The river GangA incarnated from Your sacred feet and
attained thereby a sacred status.Lord Sivan keeps that GangA
on His matted hair with reverence. Brahma dEvan performs His
anushtAnam with GangA river . A thirsty dog reaches the bank
of the sacred river GangA and licks the waters to quench its
thirst. By that act of the dog , the sublimity of the Ganga
river is not diminished one bit. Similarly by granting me
my wish to enjoy You , there will be no dimunition of Your
glories.
Additional Comments (V.S):
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The key words in this slOkam are "BhUmna: " and "Haani".
Oh DhIpa PrakAsA! The divine consorts of Yours (SrI dEvi
and BhU dEvi saluted by Her own Sooktham starting with "BhUmir
BhUmnaa--" ) are at your side enjoying Your Svaroopam ,
Soundharyam and KalyANa GuNams . They are indeed very
fortunate to be so blessed . You have the glories of
being enjoyed by Them ( Paribhuktha BhUmna:). If adiyEn
also longs to enjoy You as well (tE mayi bhOkthri) ,
what is the harm here ( athra kaa hAni: ?). What kind
of loss would come to You ( athra kaa hAni: BhavithrI ?).
There is Ganga , which incarnated from Your sacred
Thiruvadi ( Tava angri-taDinI). There is a dog , which has
developed an unquenchable thirst (dhurvAra tarsha aakrAntha
SunA )and desires to lick the waters of GangA to quench its
thirst ( dhurvAra tarsha chapalEna sunA avaleeDA ) . Will
the waters of Ganga become polluted by this act of the thristy
dog (kim dhushyEth?).adiyEn has also unquenchable thirst
to enjoy Your Svaroopam , Soundharyam and KalyANa GuNams.
What harm or danger (Haani)will come to You by granting
my deeply-desired wish ? Swamy Desikan questions the Lord
and asks him to explain to him as to what loss, damage
or detriment will come to the Lord , if He relents and
blesses him with ParipoorNa BrahmAnanda anubhavam .
The Lord's glories (BhUmA:)
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BhumA means infinite, infinitely great , infinite bliss.
In the previious slOkams , Swamy Desikan was praying
for the boon of ParipoorNa BrhmAnandham (BhumA).
In this slOkam he refers to " PadhmA MahI prabrudhibhi:
paribhuktha BhUmna: tE ". Oh DhIpa prakAsA! Your two
consorts (SrI and BhUmi DEvi ), the Nithya Sooris and
the Muktha jeevans are enjoying your BhUmA . Will
there be any dimunition of that BhUmA , if this unfit
person (Swamy Desikan ) also enjoys it ? This is
a rhetorical question and the answer that Swamy Deikan
would like to hear from the Lord is " Certainly Not".
Brahman as BhUman
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The entire teaching of the Upanishads "stands summed up
in a supreme synthesis in the concept of NaarAyaNA " .
NaarAyaNA is the infinite bliss for us (Truth , knowedge
and Infinity is Brahman/Sathyam Jn~Anam anantham
BrahmA--TaitthirIya Upanishad:II.1).NarAyaNa (Sri DhIpa PrakAsan
is the BhUman , whose glories are enjoyed by His Devis et al
(tE paribhuktha BhUmna:).
BhumNaadhikarNam ( Brahma Soothrams: 1.3.7 and 1.3.8)
deal with the intrepretation of BhUman .Both AchArya
RaamAnujA and MadhvAchArya correctly intrepret BhUman
as Brahman. The vishaya Vaakya(subject matter of Brahma
Soothram 1.3.7 has been described as " Where one sees nothing
else , hears nothing else, knows nothing else , that is
immensely great (BhUmA); where one sees something else,
hears something else, knows something else , that is small
or trivial (alpa)." In another passage of ChaandhOgya Upanishad ,
BhumA is described as "He who is great indeed is Bliss ( yO vai
BhUmA tath Sukham).AchArya RaamAnujA defines Brahman as
" niratisaya-vipula-rUpasya Brahmana: lakshaNam idham" .
The infinite bliss principle is the mark of BhUman/Brahman
and contains in itself SvaroopA and VibhUthi (glorious
manifestation of Brahman). That is why one who experiences
the PoorNa Aanandham of BhUman/Brahman , one does not see
or hear or experience any suffering , but only Sukham
in the form of ParipoorNa BrahmAnandham .
This BhUma GuNA or the infinite bliss aspect of
Lord DhIpa PrakAsan is what Swamy Desikan wishes
to experience and prays for the conferral of such
a boon.