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         tAtparya ratnAvaLi - Part 5 - Slokam 3.

Slokam 3:

        pA'ncAlI gAtra SobhA-hRta hRdaya vadhUvarga pum bhhAvanItyA 
        pAyau padmA sahAye praNayini bhajatah preyasI pAratantRyam  |
        bhaktih SR'ngAra vRttyA pariNamati muneh bhAva bandha 
prathimnA
        yogAt prAg uttarAvasthitir-iha viraho deSikAs-tatra dUtAh   ||

One of the very first things that svAmi deSikan emphasizes is the 
nAyikA bhAvam that is assumed by nammAzhvAr in finding expression to 
his intense devotion and love towards emperumAn.  His inability to 
bear the separation from bhagavAn leads to his outpourings through 
SR'ngAra bhAvam.   In the case of nammAzhvAr, he assumes the role of 
parA'nkuSa nAyaki, and expresses the agony of separation from 
emperumAn through many of his pASuram-s.  This is the topic of this 
Slokam by svAmi deSikan. 

The natural question can arise in people's minds as to how 
nammAzhvAr, who is the personification of bhakti nishThA, can be 
distracted by thoughts such as assuming the role of a female deeply 
in love with bhagavAn, feeling the pangs of separation, and indulging 
in activities such as sending the birds etc. as messengers.  To 
understand these, one has to have a feel for how a bhakti yogi's mind 
acts, what the bhakti yogi goes through as part of his/her 
meditation, and what the bhakti yogi's sole goal in life is.  This is 
what svAmi deSikan explains to us in this Slokam, and thus explains 
AzhvAr's nAyikA bhAvam etc.

draupadi was not an ordinary mortal.  She was born out of the homa 
kuNDam.  As such, she excelled in beauty that made her female friends 
feel intensely attracted to her beauty, to the point that they wished 
they could assume the forms of males so that they could enjoy her 
beauty.  SvAmi deSikan gives this analogy to describe the assumption 
of nAyikA bhAvam by the AzhvAr-s ? they feel intensely attracted to 
emperumAn to the point that they want to enjoy Him by assuming the 
role of His nAyikA-s or consorts.  BhagavAn's tirumEni is so 
beautiful that the AzhvAr-s are overwhelmed by it, to the point of 
their feeling like embracing Him tightly. One upanyAsaka praises this 
unique aspect of the devotional outpourings in the SrI vaishNava 
sampradAyam, where the nAyikA bhAvam gives the intimacy to AzhvAr-s 
where they can take liberty with Him to embrace Him, to chide Him, to 
fight with Him, etc., and thus enjoy Him in many different ways.  Let 
us look at a slightly more detailed meaning of the Sloka.

-       pA'ncAlI gAtra SobhA-hRta hRdaya vadhU varga pum-bhAvanItyA ? 
Just as the close friends of pA'cAlI who saw her beauty as they were 
taking bath together, were attracted to her so much that they started 
assuming the role of males in their minds
-       patyA, praNayini padmA-sahAye preyasI pAratantRyam bhajatah 
muneh ? SrI parA'nkuSa muni, whose devotion and dedication to 
emperumAn who is the Lord of all and the loving Consort of padmA 
(mahAlakshmi) developed into the level where he prayed for complete 
subservience to Him
-       bhAva bandha prathimnA ? and since his attachment to bhagavAn 
grew to such an extent that 
-       bhaktih SR'ngAra vRttyA pariNamati ? his natural love to 
emperumAn in the form of his natural devotion (bhakti) started 
manifesting itself in the form of love towards him that resembled the 
love that His Consort would have towards Him (SR'ngAra bhAvam ? 
intense attraction).
-       (The explanation for the fourth line will be given below).

In AzhvAr's pASuram-s, we see that sometimes he feels close to 
emperumAn, and feels happy, and at other times, he feels the intense 
separation from Him, and starts sending messengers in different forms 
to bhagavAn, to inform Him of his longing for union with Him.  What 
does all this mean?  In the fourth line oif this Slokam, svAmi 
deSikan explains that for one in bhakti yoga, the times when the 
bhakta is immersed in deep and concentrated meditation of Him, this 
is the time of association with Him (samSlesham), and the intervening 
states when this concentration is broken, it is a feeling of intense 
separation from Him (viSlesham).  They undergo the experience of 
intimate and full enjoyment of Him during their periods of intense 
meditation, and when they are not in meditation, they long for that 
same union with Him physically, and since that does not materialize, 
it manifests itself in the form of their intense feeling of 
separation, which turns into expressing themselves in their nAyikA 
bhAvam.  Since the AcArya-s show the path that will result in the 
continued state of meditation on Him for prolonged intervals without 
interruption, they are called `messengers' or dUta-s in our 
tradition.  This is what svAmi deSikan points out in the fourth line ?
 yogAt prAg uttara avasthih iha virahah; deSikAs-tatra dutAh.  

Thus, in a nutshell, svAmi deSikan explains the concept of nAyikA 
bhAvam that is so common and widely prevalent in our AzhvArs' 
compositions, the cause of samSleshham (union with Him) and viSlesham 
(separation from Him) that AzhvArs exhibit repeatedly, and the role 
of the AcArya-s in our tradition, all in the four short lines of this 
Slokam.

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan

(To be continued)






 
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