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Slokam 46
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Today , adiyEn will cover the Fourty Sixth slOkam
of Sri SaraNAgathi DhIpikai , where Swamy Desikan
salutes the KshamA (Forbearance) guNam of the Lord
and observes that he is also eligible to be in the group
of those , who have benfitted from that matchless
Kshama guNam of the Lord :
ThrANam bhavEthi sakruthukthi samudhyathAnAm
thaisthai: asahya-vrujinai: udharam bharistE
sathyApithA SathAmakhAthmaja-Sankaraadhou
NaaTa KashamA na khalu janthushu madh-vivarjam
SrI SaraNAgathi DhIpikai: SlOkam 46
Meaning:
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Oh ViLakkoLi PerumALE ! The sentient beings (ChEthanams)
commit many sins that are not tolerable. When they gain
SadhAchArya sambhandham and gain sadh-jn~Anam , then
they perfrom Prapatthi at Your holy feet with their
prayerful request to You to protect them. Your indescribable
KashamA (Forbearance ) swallows all of their huge sins
and fills its stomach. As a result the prapannan attains
sanctity. That Your forbearance is genuine is revealed
through Your protection of KaakAsuran, who committed
one of the greatest trespasses against SithA PirAtti.
We recognize that Your matchless KashamA destoys all
sins and aparAdhams through the compassion that You
showed to Lord SivA , when he sided with BaaNAsuran
to fight against You.I am confident that Your abundant
KashamA shown to others will not exclude me . Therefore ,
please display Your KshamA guNam to me as well , who
is most eligible for such a blessing .
Additional Comments (V.S):
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The KaakAsura VrutthAntham is covered in
SrImad RaamAyaNam ( Sundara KaaNDam:38.33 & 34)
and the kindness of the Lord to BhANAsura and Lord
Sivan is described in SrImad BhAgavatham ( 10th Canto:
63rd Chapter).
Kshama for KaakAsura
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HanumAn describes this incident to SitA Piraatti
at AsOka Vanam . HanumAn relates this incident
to PirAtti to assure Her that he was a genuine
ambassador from Her husband. This incident was
known only to PirAtti and PerumAL and happened
at Chithrakootam. A crow , the son of Indran
used his beak to harm PirAtti's limb and the blood
from that wound fell on the Lord , who was resting
on the lap of PirAtti. The drops of hot blood
on His body awakened the Lord and saw what was
happening. Immediately , Lord Raamachandran
empowered a blade of grass with the power of
BrahmAsthram to go after the offending crow
and destroy it. The crow ran in great haste
to its father and begged to be saved from BrahmAsthram.
Indran could not save his son , neither could
Maharishis or other DEvAs ( sa pithrA cha parithyakta:
Suraisccha samaharshibhi:).The crow was chased by
the Lord's asthram all over the three worlds and finally
fell at the Lord's feet and begged to be saved (ThrIn-
lOkAn samparikramya TamEva saraNam gatha:).
Out of His infinite compassion and forbearance
towards SaraNAgathAs , Lord Raamachandran saved
the crow's life although it deserved to be killed .
Our Lord just took one of the eyes off as punishment
and let the Kaakam live :
sa tamm nipathitham bhUmou SaraNya: saraNAgatham
vadhArhamapi KaakuthsTa: KrupayA paryapAlayath
--SrImad RaamAyaNam , Sundara KaaNDam: 38.34
That is the display of KshamA of the Lord to
the Crow, which was a MahAparAdhi and Swamy
Desikan refers to this incident in this slOkam .
KshamA for Lord Sivan during BhANAsura Yuddham
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During the war of Lord KrishNA with BhANAsuran ,
Rudran , SubramaNyan fought on the side of BhANAsuran,
who was His devotee. BhANAsuran was the son of Bali
Chakravarthy , whom the Lord had taught a lesson during
ThrivikramAvathAram. He promised Bali at that time that
He will not kill any of his descendants. KrishNA spared
therefore the life of BhANAsuran and cut all but four of
his 1,000 arms . Lord defeated Rudran and forgave Him for
His trespass . The saved Rudran performed SaraNAgathi
to the Lord through moving verses ( BhAgavatham:10.43-44)):
" BrahmA , I and other DevAs and Sages , who have attained
purity of mind by Thy grace , all (of us) have made total
surrender to Thee , the soul of our souls , the dearest of
the dear, and our Lord and Master. For relief from transmigratory
existence ,we seek refuge in Thee, the cause of the creation ,
preservation and dissolution of the worlds, the peaceful,
the friend, the spirit within and the Lord of All".
Lord KrishNa displayed His KshamA guNam and forgave
Rudran, His grandson for His apachAram .Swamy Desikan
refers to thsi incident in the 46th slOkam of
SrI saraNAgathi dhIpikai.
Swamy Desikan seeks the blessings of the Lord's legendary
KshamA GuNam here and performs SaraNAgathi in this slOkam.