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Sri DehaLIsa Sthuthi -- Part 10( SlOka 7 )

From the Bhakti List Archives

V. Sadagopan • September 23, 1997 


Dear Members of the Bahkthi group : 

I will cover the seventh slOkam in this posting .
In this slOkam , Swami Desikan salutes the great
upahAram that the three AzhwArs did in revealing 
the sowseelya guNam of BhagavAn . Sowseelyam 
aspect of BhagavAn relates to His sama bhAvam 
that permits Him to mingle with the high and the low
with equal ease . Sri D.R . IyengAr describes this slOkam
as a very sweet one for us to enjoy . 
 
SlOkam 7 
***********

kAsAra pUrva kavi mukhya vimardha janmA 
    paNNA tatEshu subhagasya rasO bahusthE I
tvath paadha padma madhuni tvadhanaya bhogyE 
    nUnam samAsrayathi nUthana sarkarAthvam II

( Anvaya Kramam ) : kAsAra pUrva kavi mukhya 
vimardha janmA paNNA tata ikshu subhagasya thE 
bahu: rasa: tvadh ananya bhOgyE tvath paadha padma 
madhuni nUthana sarkarAthvam sAmAsrayathi nUnam .

( Meaning ) : " The large quantity of juice that was produced 
when Thou , who art sweet like the sugarcane growing on
the banks of the river PeNNai , wert crushed by ( the crushing 
mill made up of ) the three great poets , evidently attained 
the state of fresh sugar at the honey of Thy feet enjoyed by 
those , who are devoted to Thee to the exclusion of all else " .

Sri D.R. Iyengar described this slOkam as a delectably sweet
one because it deals with the sweet mystical experience of 
the three AzhwArs , when they extracted the sweet essence of 
the Lord , when He squeezed them tightly at the dEhaLi of 
sage Mrugandu . Swami Desikan associates their sweet mystical
experience to the taste of sugar cane , its juice and the rock candy 
originating from it mingling with the honey of the Lord's sacred feet .

The Lord of ThirukkOvalUr residing at His divya dEsam on 
the banks of PeNNARu is compared to the tasty sugarcane 
growing there ( PaNNA tatEshu subhaga : ) . He is as enjoyable
as the sweet sugarcane growing abundantly even today on 
the banks of the PeNNARu . Swami Desikan , who had a great
admiration for Thirumangai followed the dhvani of Thirumangai's 
paasuram in this slOkam . The specific reference is to the fourth
paasuram on ThirukkOvalUr (2.10.4) by Thirumangai , where he 
describes first the Lord of ThirukkOvalUr as the nectar for 
the bhakthAs , who eulogize Him with tears of joy welling in
their eyes ( aangarumbi kaNNeer sorndhu anbu kUrum 
adiyavarkku aar amudham aanAn ) . Next , Thirumangai 
compares the three AzhwArs to the honey bees tasting 
the delectable juice of the unique sugarcane standing on 
the banks of PeNNARu :  "--kuzhAm varivandu isai padum 
paadal kEttu , theenkarumbu kaNN vaLarum kazhani 
soozhndha ThirukkOvalrathanuL kandEn nAnE " .  

The dhvani in the above paasuram section of Kaliyan 
has been pointed out as focussed on the word "karumbu "
and  " kuzhAvarivandisai " . The AayanAr of ThirukkOvalUr 
is the sugarcane ( karumbu ) and the three prabhandhams
of the mudal AzhwArs are the songs of the honey bees 
( kuzhAvari vandisai ) . That was the delectable naama 
sankeerthanam generated by the three AzhwArs as a result
of their taste of the sweet juice of the sugarcane ( AayanAr) 
growing on the banks of PeNNARu . The ecstacy arising
from their bhakthi to the Lord , who out of His sowseelya
guNam mingled with them and made them enjoy Him as 
" nUthana sakkarA " or fresh sugar made from the juice 
of that  sugarcane . This nUthana sakkarA is so sweet 
that it ends up enhancing  the natural sweetness 
of honey flowing from  the Lord's sacred feet .

AzhwArs and AchAryAs are fond of comparing 
the Lord to sweet sugarcane  and His 
lotus feet to sweet nectar . For instance , PeriyAzhwAr 
has compared the Lord to Kannal ( sugarcane ) and
others have saluted Him as akkArakkani . AlavandhAr
has saluted the nectar flowing out of the Lord's lotus 
feet and has asked rhetorically , how anyone  
that has laid his soul at Your lotus feet exuding 
nectar-like honey , develop a taste for anything else ?

Swami Desikan weaves the above  themes in his seventh
slOkam , when he refers to the Lord as Ikshu subhagan
( sweet like ripe sugarcane ) . The Lord 's sowseelyam 
is described by Swami as "bahu rasa : " ( plenty of juice ).
Vedam itself enjoys the Lord as " RasOvaisaha: " ( bliss
absolute ) . 

These azhwArs ( kAsAra pUrva kavi mukyA : ) serving as 
the three rollers in a sugarcane crushing mill
produced abundantly flowing  juice ( the three hundred paasurams) ,
which crystallized into a sugar hill as visulaized by Swami Desikan 
in the first slOkam of DayA sathakam ( Ikshu sravanthyA iva 
yanmurthyA sarkarAyitham) . 

Swami Desikan refers to the ananya bhakthi of the three 
AzhwArs as  " tvadhananya BhOgyE " echoing the question 
of AlavandhAr , " tavAmruthassyanthi paada pankajE 
nivEsithAthmA katham anyath icchathi ? " The three
AzhwArs enjoyed " the Bahu rasam " of the Lord's nectar-sweet
feet just like the sweetness associated with the mixture of
fresh sugar with honey ( Tvadh paadha padhma madhuni
nUthana sarkarAthvam ) . Lord's sowseelya guNam makes 
the enjoyment of the Lord's nectar-like feet parama bhOgyam 
to the AzhwArs and through them to Swami Desikan and 
finally to us .

Swami Desikan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam 
Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri sadagopan