You are here: SriPedia - SriRangaSri - Archives - Jan 2003

SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00096 Jan 2003

 
Jan 2003 Indexes ( Date | Thread | Author )
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]


 
Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya Nama:



Odious Comparison


What do we do, when we want to describe to our child something, which he has 
not come across so far?

Let's say he has not seen elephants and we want to provide him a verbal picture 
of the pachyderm. We give him a vivid description of how the elephant looks 
like a moving hillock, how its four legs resemble solid pillars, how bead-like 
its eyes are, how soft and rubber-like its long trunk is and so on. This gives 
the child a fairly good idea of what an elephant looks like.



In other words, we employ a simile or a series of similes to describe what we 
know to a person who doesn't know. Thus similes or "upamA" serve to picturise 
the unknown, with reference to the known. 



Apart from the prosaic purpose of enabling comprehension of a concept, similes 
also serve as adornments or embellishments in poetry. Poets make liberal use of 
similes to enhance the impressiveness of the subject. Mahakavi KAlidAsA was a 
facile handler of similes, so much so that the very term simile brings him to 
our mind ("UpamA KAlidAsasya"). However, whoever coined this tribute might not 
have been a student of Srimad Ramayana or Swami Desikan's works, as both these 
great poets were adept at employing upamAs. We come across hundreds of similes 
employed by Sri Valmiki to telling effect throughout the epic. Here is a 
beautiful specimen:



Sri Hanuman stands on the Mahendra parvatam, bracing his huge feet against the 
hill and pushing down to give him the requisite momentum for the spring into 
the air, for crossing the ocean to Lanka. And when he does launch into his long 
flight, the pressure/vacuum created in his wake is so intense that several 
trees are uprooted from the hillside and, propelled by the momentum, follow the 
VAnara veera for some distance, before falling into the ocean. This, Sri 
Valmiki says, was like hosts accompanying visiting relatives for some distance, 
while seeing them off.



Similes may be employed for describing worldly things, but what upamAnam could 
possibly be used for describing the Paramapurusha? It is indeed paradoxical 
that similes are available for enabling comprehension of easily understandable 
earthly things, but not for telling us how the Divine Being looks, who is 
beyond the grasp of human faculties. Thus where we need them the most, similes 
fail us. According to the "alankAra shAstra", the entity cited as an example 
(upamAnam) should be superior to that which is being compared (upamEyam). Thus, 
when we say that an elephant resembles a hillock, the hillock is definitely 
superior in size to the elephant. Applying this standard, we find absolutely 
nothing that can be cited as a simile, as far as the Lord is concerned.



Notwithstanding this difficulty, Azhwars, Acharyas and the VEda Purusha use 
upamAnams freely to describe the Lord. We find them addressing Emperuman as 
"Kadal VaNnan" (one whose colour is that of the sea), "kovvai chevvAi" (one 
whose lips are red as the kOvai fruit), "KAyA malar vaNNan" (one whose colour 
resembles that of the kAyAm poo), "MEghashyAmam"(one whose complexion is that 
of the rain-bearing cloud),"ThingaLum Adityanum ezhundArpOl amkaN irandum" (one 
whose eyes resemble the Sun and the Moon), "Pacchai mA malai pOl mEni"( a huge 
torso resembling a green hill) "PavaLa vAi"( lips red as the coral), "Kamala 
chengaN"(lotus-like eyes)<"tasya yatA kapyAsam pundarIkamEva akshiNI" (His eyes 
resemble a lotus in full bloom), "nayanAbdi sEthu:" (the nose resembles a 
check-dam for the eyes overflowing with mercy), "Kamala padam" (feet resembling 
the lotus), etc.



Azhwars are fully aware that there is nothing in this world that can be held 
out as an adequate simile, while describing the Lord. He is the matchless 
Paramapurusha, the likes of whom the world has never seen or is likely to see 
too. While everything in this world is made of mundane matter, characterized by 
a mixture of Sattva, Rajas and Thamas, the Lord is the personification of 
Suddha Satthva, the embodiment of Divine Purity, beauty, delicacy, virility and 
countless other auspicious attributes. There is thus absolutely nothing we can 
compare Him with. There is nothing in this world, by understanding which we can 
comprehend Him.



If this were so, we might ask, "Why then go to the trouble of offering a simile 
at all, if nothing could be found which reflects His stature adequately?"



Azhwars, blessed with wonderful wisdom ("mayarvara madi nalam") to comprehend 
and fully appreciate the Divine nature and attributes, are in the position of a 
mature adult, who is conceptually clear about a particular thing, with the 
compulsion of clarifying the same to the ignorant infant. They are hard-put to 
describe the Paramapurusha and His magnificence, finding words terribly 
inadequate to convey what they see and feel. The sublimity of spiritual 
experience has to be felt and no amount of description can give the listener a 
true view of what is involved. Sugar has to be tasted for finding out what 
sweetness is, and no verbal or written account can reflect the particular 
taste, to a person who is unaware of it.



However, Azhwars' experience is so enthralling that they cannot remain without 
sharing it with their blighted brethren. Their bliss is so uncontainable that 
they have to tell somebody. And their mercy for those caught in the vicious 
cycle of samsara is so overwhelming that they cannot remain without attempting 
to redeem errant humanity with an account of what they are missing. Having 
experienced both ephemeral delights and eternal bliss, Azhwars are keen that 
the blundering human beings renounce the former in favour of the latter type of 
Anandam. 



It is this fervent wish to share their bliss with us that makes Azhwars resort 
to similes, however inadequate, to describe to us the tirumEni and Atma guNAs 
of the Lord. However, once they employ these upamAnams, the realisation strikes 
them that comparison with such mundane things does gross injustice to the Lord, 
and they are struck by remorse at this perceived apachAram.



For instance, Sri Nammazhwar likens the Lord's feet to a lotus at innumerable 
places in Tiruvaimozhi. Further, the brilliance of the Lord's tirumEni is also 
compared to the luminescence of pure gold by not only Sri Nammazhwar, but by 
others too-("ANi sempon mEni endAi", "Pon mEni kaNdEn", 
"HiraNmaya:Purusha:","RukmAbham svapna dhee gamyam" etc.).



However, having made the comparison, Sri Nammazhwar realises that a mere 
mundane bloom can never equal the beauty, softness, delicacy, reddishness and 
exquisiteness of the Lord's tiruvadi. The flower can never presume to serve as 
an example of even one single aspect of the tiruvadi, and such a comparison can 
only serve to undermine its glory. Nor can the yellow metal ever equal the 
splendour and radiance of the Lord's tirumEni, which exceeds by far the 
combined brilliance of a thousand Suns shining simultaneously. The shine of 
gold would pale into insignificance before the Lord's incandescence, as a mere 
oil lamp before sunlight. The ineffectual nature of such comparisons is brought 
out by the following Tiruvaimozhi pasuram-



"Katturaikkil TAmarai nin kaN pAdam kai ovvA

Sutturaittha nan pon un tirumEni oLi ovvAdu

Otturaitthu ivvulagu unnai pugazhvellAm perumpAlum

PatturaiyAi purkkendrE kAttumAl ParanjOtI!".



The limited beauty and brilliance of lotus and gold respectively are no match 
for the limitless natural splendour and magnificence of the Lord, and any 
resort to such similes would only end up showing the Lord in poor light, says 
Sri Nammazhwar. 



There is another aspect to the usage of similes by Azhwars. Whenever they find 
some exquisite aspect of Creation, like a lotus in full bloom, the Sun blazing 
in all his splendour, the green meadow with early-morning dew topping the 
blades of grass, reefs of coral under the sea blazing red, beautiful ornaments 
of gold and silver blinding the eye with their brilliance, etc., Azhwars are 
reminded immediately of some aspect of the Lord's divya mangaLa vigraham or 
divine attribute. These may not reflect the Lord's glory in its entirety, but 
serve as reminders, however insignificant, of His matchless magnificence. When 
a child asks us, "How big are the Himalayas?", we are indeed at a loss for 
something with which the loftiness, length and breadth of the magnificent peaks 
can be compared, and end up telling the child lamely," Look at the four 
-storeyed house opposite. The Himalayas are a thousand times as tall.". 

Though this description may not do justice to the Himalayas, it would serve to 
give the child some impression of the real thing. Most of the similes used for 
describing the Lord are similar, and serve to give us only an inkling of His 
real nature and stature. 



When the versatile VEda Purusha himself is reported to be at a loss for words 
to describe even a single glorious attribute of Emperuman and returns 
vanquished in his endeavour ("YatO vAchO nivartantE, aprApya manasA saha"), 
what can such poor similes do to project any aspect of the Lord's perfect 
physique or magnificent nature?



It is perhaps with this in view that the adage "Comparison is odious" was 
coined.



Srimate Sri LakshmINrsimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana 
Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

Dasan, sadagopan



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]





[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index ] [Thread Index ] [Author Index ]
Home Page
http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia
srirangasri-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
To subscribe to the list