vijayadAsara kavacha - part 2

[Guest guest]

Dear HariBhaktas,

 

This series of postings by Sriprasad opens out lot of philosophical aspects

of Dvaitha like " Ranganendha Bhavavuhingithendhana " which gives ever lasting

confidence in Lord's name. and also speaks out importance of " Namasmarana. I

thank Sriprasad, Smt ShobaSrinivasan and Madhusudan Rao C.R for this Jnyana

satra.

Two cents from my end to this particular posting.

Pontiff mentioned in this posting is none other than Sri SathyaBodharu a

great devotee and Aparoxagyani.Sri Vijayadaasaru,Sri Gopala Daasaru, Sri

Jagannatha Daasaru sung lot of padas praising his greatness.Sthri who

invited Sri Vijayadaasaru to her house was a Apsara Sthri. She and Brugumuni

simultaneously took birth on this Bumi.Before leaving for earth she had

assurance from Brugumuni that whenever she goes out of way in kaliyuga ,he

will guide and bring her to path.That is why Sri Vijayadaasaru choose to go

to her house amidst lot of protests.

Sri Sathyabodhara Vrindhavan is located in Savanur ,35 Kms away from Hubli.I

would like to mention here that there is a Sathyabodhara mutt in old Hubli

(about 150 yrs old) where we can see Sri Raghavendra Mrithika Vrindhavan is

installed opposite to Sri Sathyabodhara Vrindhavan.

 

This posting invokes smarne of both Sri Sathyabodharu and Sri

Vijayadaasaru.

 

Namaskara

Madhusudan

 

 

>Hunsur_Sriprasad

>

>CC: bkrrao

> vijayadAsara kavacha - part 2

>Tue, 23 Nov 1999 10:43:46 -0500

>

>Hunsur_Sriprasad

>

>

>

>Dear vaishNavas

>

>Here is the third part of the kavacha. It covers Verses 5 to 8.

>

>In the service of vijaya viThThala

>

>Shobha Srinivasan (srinivasan),

>CR Madhusudhana Rao (madhu_cr)

>Hunsur Sriprasad (sripi)

>

>==================================================

>(vijayadAsara kavacha - part 3)

>

>Verse 5:

>=======

>ivara nambidA janake bhavavidembudo

>havaNavAgadO nammavara matavido || 5 ||

>

>Translation:

>============

>Those who believe in him will not experience the trials and tribulations

>of sansara; this is the opinion of our people.

>

>Commentary:

>==========

>There are 2 aspects to consider - believing the values he followed,

>and believing in him personally. The first one is easy because the path

>he followed, the values he espoused are nothing other than the basic

>tenets of dvaita. There can be no question whatsoever about the efficacy

>of this leading us out of sansara.

>

>Then there is the question of believing him personally. There is the

>well known example of great souls like gOpala dAsaru, jagannAtha

>dAsaru etc who followed him and took the high road to salvation. But

>the point to note is that his grace was not limited to such enlightened

>souls only. I will give an example to illustrate this.

>

>During his time, there was a well known woman of loose morals. Though

>born in a pious family, she had associated with people from all walks

>of life, including some non-hindus. Needless to add, she was shunned by

>orthodox people. Hearing about the greatness of vijayadAsaru, she met

>him and begged him to purify her worthless life by eating at her house.

>When he demurred, she clung to his feet and started weeping profusely.

>He was moved by her genuine remorse and was also bound by his desire to

>help anybody who sought refuge in him. He accepted her invitation even

>though he knew that the consequences would be severe.

>

>The next day, after his regular puja, he went with just his wife. She

>used the provisions and prepared naivEdya, which was offered to god. He

>took food symbolically without actually eating anything, and sent his

>wife away. Then his hostess ate the naivedya and prostrated before him.

>Then a very strange thing happened, her life ended in that posture.

>What had happened was that by his grace, vijayadAsaru had wiped her sins

>away, and God had ended her life as her prArabda karma was over. Later,

>her last rites were performed under his guidance.

>

>This incident was conveyed, with additional coloring, by some evil-minded

>people to the then pontiff of uttarAdhi mATha. Even though the pontiff

>knew the greatness of vijayadAsaru, and felt that there must have been

>a deeper shastraic reason for his action, he had to act on available

>information and so, was forced to excommunicate vijayadAsaru. When

>vijayadAsaru read the letter announcing his punishment, he kept it on his

>head (signifying the reverence and humility with which he was accepting

>the terrible punishment) and announced that this too was guruprasAda.

>

>In course of time, the pontiff visited chippalagiri along with his retinue.

>vijayadAsaru was sad that he would not be able to view 'digvijaya rAma'

>(the icon worshipped by uttAradhi maTha pontiffs). He stood outside the

>temple and watched the proceedings from a distance. Suddenly, he realized

>that it was almost noon and that he had not offered naivEdya to the deity

>that he worshipped at home (vijaya vittala). Unable to go home, he looked

>around and saw a cook taking out excess water from the cooked rice (anna

>ganji). With great devotion he offered this as naivedya to vittala and

>asked him to be satisfied with that for that day. Lo behold, anna ganji

>started flowing from digvijaya rAma's mouth. No amount of wiping would

>stop the flow. The pontiff, who was a great bhakta and gyAni himself,

>immediately realized that another great bhakta was close by and sent his

>attendants to look around. On learning of vijadAsaru's presence, and his

>reluctance to come inside because of the punishment, the pontiff

>immediately

>revoked it and asked his attendants to escort vijayadAsaru inside with

>great respect. As soon as vijayadAsaru prostrated in front of rAma, the

>flow of ganji stopped! What a merciful Lord! and what a great devotee!!

>Only great gyAnis and bhaktas can appreciate the bond of love that exists

>between the Lord and His true devotees.

>

>Later, when they were in private, vijayadAsaru informed the pontiff that

>the woman was actually an apsara (heavenly female) who had been cursed

>to lead a wretched human life. Scared by the curse, she had approached

>him (when he was still bhrigu muni) and obtained a promise to help her

>on earth.

>

>Was the author exaggerating when he said 'ivara nambida janake bhava

>vidembudo?'

>

>Verse 6:

>=======

>pApakOTiya rAshi lEpavAgadO

>tApa kaLevanO balu dayApayOnidhI || 6 ||

>

>Translation:

>============

>(for those who believe in him) there will no contact with the mountains

>of sins. This ocean of mercy removes our difficulties and pains,

>

>Commentary:

>==========

>What does 'pApa kOTi' mean? And how does it get generated? Most actions

>that people normally perform in the course of everyday life, actions that

>you would never associate with sin, like say, spitting, plucking a flower,

>cooking vegetables, taking a bath in the nude, are sinful, in the strict

>shastraic sense. I once heard a beautiful composition by shrI prasanna

>venkatEsha dAsaru in which he lists some of the sins that we perform

>without

>second thought, and it was an eye-opener. So, every day we live, we

>continue

>to add to our mountain of sin. Our scriptures say that in one birth, each

>person accumulates enough sin to cause 10 more births! Left to itself, this

>phenomenon can quickly spiral out of control, leading to innumberable

>amount of births, with no way out.

>

> So, what is the solution? These sins

>can get wiped out only through His grace, and to achieve that you need

>bhakti that is entwined with correct gyana.

>

>If the above is indeed true, then what is the way out of this spiral?

>How can one break the hold of this mountain of sins? Only through pure

>and sullied bhakti towards the Lord (bhakti that is complemented by

>correct gyAna). And to get that, you have to associate with great souls

>and seek their guidance and help. vijayadAsaru was obviously one such

>personality. That is why the author says " pApakOTiya rAshi lEpavAgadO " .

>That is also the reason why they say " guruvina gulAmanAguva tanaka

>doreya daNNa mukuti " (liberation is impossible without becoming the

>slave of a guru).

>

>The verse uses the term " tApa " which normally means heat or glow. But

>in this context it means 'tApatraya' - the three kind of miseries which

>human beings have to suffer in this world - 'adhyAtmika', 'Adhidaivika'

>and 'Adhibuotika'. Thus 'tApa kaLEvanu' means the one who reduces all

>your miseries. Obviously, such a person is a 'balu dayapayOnidhi' - an

>ocean of mercy.

>

>Verse 7:

>=======

>kavanarUpadI hariya stavana mADidA

>bhuvana bEDidA mAdhavana nODidA || 7 ||

>

>Translation:

>============

>Through meaningful and melodious songs he worshipped hari. He saw mAdhava

>and achieved a happy state.

>

>Commentary:

>==========

>Like all the great haridAsas before him, vijayadAsaru also worshipped

>god through his touching, meaningful and melodious songs. He was very

>prolific and is credited with around 75,000 compositions. He did not

>create large and substantial works like the harikathAmruta sAra,

>preferring small and simple works like padas, ugAbhOgas and suLAdis.

>But there is no aspect of dvaita that he has not covered in detail.

>

> " mAdhavan nODida " gives you the feeling that he saw mAdhava, and that

>it was a one-time climax to his illustrious career. Far from it. He

>saw and experienced hari's divine lIlas hundreds of times in his life.

>He used to visit tirupati every year for the brahmOtsava and each year

>there used to be some special incident or the other. He visited all

>major shrines and temples of India, at least twice.

>

>Verse 8:

>=======

>ranganendanA bhavavu hingitendanA

>mangaLAnganA antarangavaritanA || 8 ||

>

>Translation:

>============

>He preached that by worshipping Sri Ranga one can get rid of all fetters

>of sansara. He has understood the heart of shri hari, who is full of

>auspicious attributes.

>

>Commentary:

>==========

>This verse is a terse statement of several dvaita concepts - hari

>sarvottamatva (supremacy of hari), and liberation being granted by

>hari as prasada for pure and unsullied devotion. The phrase 'mangaLanga'

>is based on another concept that the Lord's body is 'aprakruta' (a

>simple definition would be - something that is not made up of elements

>created by prakruti or nature). His body is made up of gyAna and

>Ananda (bliss and knowledge). The phrase 'antarangavaritana' can

>be interpreted in 2 ways - one who knows the heart of hari, and one

>who knows (or sees) hari in his heart. Both mean that vijayadAsaru

>was a brahma gyAni of the highest order (which is not surprising since

>he was an incarnation of bhrigu muni - the one who showed the world

>that hari is sarvOttama and worthy of the purest devotion). Another

>interpretation of " antarangavaritanA " is that vijayadAsaru lead his

>whole life according to the dictates of the Lord, which is also true

>because he incarnated as vijayadAsaru only because it was the Lord's

>wish.

>

>>nAham kartA hariH kartA tatpUjA karmachaakhilam.h|

>taThaapi matkR^itaa pUja tatprasaadhEna naanyaThaa|

>tadbhakti tadphalam.h mahyam.h tatprasaadaat.h punaH punaH |

>karmanyaasO harAvevam.h vishNOsthR^iptikaraH sadhA ||

>

> " I am not the doer, shri Hari is the doer, all the actions that I do are

>His worship. Even then, the worship I do is through His grace and not

>otherwise. That devotion and the fruits of the actions that come to me are

>due to His recurring grace "

>If one always practices to do actions with a dedicated spirit to Hari, in

>this way, it pleases Vishnu.

> --- Quoted by Sri madhvAchArya in GitA tAtparya

>

[Guest guest]

Dear vaishNavas

 

Here is the third part of the kavacha. It covers Verses 5 to 8.

 

In the service of vijaya viThThala

 

Shobha Srinivasan (srinivasan),

CR Madhusudhana Rao (madhu_cr)

Hunsur Sriprasad (sripi)

 

==================================================

(vijayadAsara kavacha - part 3)

 

Verse 5:

=======

ivara nambidA janake bhavavidembudo

havaNavAgadO nammavara matavido || 5 ||

 

Translation:

============

Those who believe in him will not experience the trials and tribulations

of sansara; this is the opinion of our people.

 

Commentary:

==========

There are 2 aspects to consider - believing the values he followed,

and believing in him personally. The first one is easy because the path

he followed, the values he espoused are nothing other than the basic

tenets of dvaita. There can be no question whatsoever about the efficacy

of this leading us out of sansara.

 

Then there is the question of believing him personally. There is the

well known example of great souls like gOpala dAsaru, jagannAtha

dAsaru etc who followed him and took the high road to salvation. But

the point to note is that his grace was not limited to such enlightened

souls only. I will give an example to illustrate this.

 

During his time, there was a well known woman of loose morals. Though

born in a pious family, she had associated with people from all walks

of life, including some non-hindus. Needless to add, she was shunned by

orthodox people. Hearing about the greatness of vijayadAsaru, she met

him and begged him to purify her worthless life by eating at her house.

When he demurred, she clung to his feet and started weeping profusely.

He was moved by her genuine remorse and was also bound by his desire to

help anybody who sought refuge in him. He accepted her invitation even

though he knew that the consequences would be severe.

 

The next day, after his regular puja, he went with just his wife. She

used the provisions and prepared naivEdya, which was offered to god. He

took food symbolically without actually eating anything, and sent his

wife away. Then his hostess ate the naivedya and prostrated before him.

Then a very strange thing happened, her life ended in that posture.

What had happened was that by his grace, vijayadAsaru had wiped her sins

away, and God had ended her life as her prArabda karma was over. Later,

her last rites were performed under his guidance.

 

This incident was conveyed, with additional coloring, by some evil-minded

people to the then pontiff of uttarAdhi mATha. Even though the pontiff

knew the greatness of vijayadAsaru, and felt that there must have been

a deeper shastraic reason for his action, he had to act on available

information and so, was forced to excommunicate vijayadAsaru. When

vijayadAsaru read the letter announcing his punishment, he kept it on his

head (signifying the reverence and humility with which he was accepting

the terrible punishment) and announced that this too was guruprasAda.

 

In course of time, the pontiff visited chippalagiri along with his retinue.

vijayadAsaru was sad that he would not be able to view 'digvijaya rAma'

(the icon worshipped by uttAradhi maTha pontiffs). He stood outside the

temple and watched the proceedings from a distance. Suddenly, he realized

that it was almost noon and that he had not offered naivEdya to the deity

that he worshipped at home (vijaya vittala). Unable to go home, he looked

around and saw a cook taking out excess water from the cooked rice (anna

ganji). With great devotion he offered this as naivedya to vittala and

asked him to be satisfied with that for that day. Lo behold, anna ganji

started flowing from digvijaya rAma's mouth. No amount of wiping would

stop the flow. The pontiff, who was a great bhakta and gyAni himself,

immediately realized that another great bhakta was close by and sent his

attendants to look around. On learning of vijadAsaru's presence, and his

reluctance to come inside because of the punishment, the pontiff immediately

revoked it and asked his attendants to escort vijayadAsaru inside with

great respect. As soon as vijayadAsaru prostrated in front of rAma, the

flow of ganji stopped! What a merciful Lord! and what a great devotee!!

Only great gyAnis and bhaktas can appreciate the bond of love that exists

between the Lord and His true devotees.

 

Later, when they were in private, vijayadAsaru informed the pontiff that

the woman was actually an apsara (heavenly female) who had been cursed

to lead a wretched human life. Scared by the curse, she had approached

him (when he was still bhrigu muni) and obtained a promise to help her

on earth.

 

Was the author exaggerating when he said 'ivara nambida janake bhava

vidembudo?'

 

Verse 6:

=======

pApakOTiya rAshi lEpavAgadO

tApa kaLevanO balu dayApayOnidhI || 6 ||

 

Translation:

============

(for those who believe in him) there will no contact with the mountains

of sins. This ocean of mercy removes our difficulties and pains,

 

Commentary:

==========

What does 'pApa kOTi' mean? And how does it get generated? Most actions

that people normally perform in the course of everyday life, actions that

you would never associate with sin, like say, spitting, plucking a flower,

cooking vegetables, taking a bath in the nude, are sinful, in the strict

shastraic sense. I once heard a beautiful composition by shrI prasanna

venkatEsha dAsaru in which he lists some of the sins that we perform without

second thought, and it was an eye-opener. So, every day we live, we continue

to add to our mountain of sin. Our scriptures say that in one birth, each

person accumulates enough sin to cause 10 more births! Left to itself, this

phenomenon can quickly spiral out of control, leading to innumberable

amount of births, with no way out.

 

So, what is the solution? These sins

can get wiped out only through His grace, and to achieve that you need

bhakti that is entwined with correct gyana.

 

If the above is indeed true, then what is the way out of this spiral?

How can one break the hold of this mountain of sins? Only through pure

and sullied bhakti towards the Lord (bhakti that is complemented by

correct gyAna). And to get that, you have to associate with great souls

and seek their guidance and help. vijayadAsaru was obviously one such

personality. That is why the author says " pApakOTiya rAshi lEpavAgadO " .

That is also the reason why they say " guruvina gulAmanAguva tanaka

doreya daNNa mukuti " (liberation is impossible without becoming the

slave of a guru).

 

The verse uses the term " tApa " which normally means heat or glow. But

in this context it means 'tApatraya' - the three kind of miseries which

human beings have to suffer in this world - 'adhyAtmika', 'Adhidaivika'

and 'Adhibuotika'. Thus 'tApa kaLEvanu' means the one who reduces all

your miseries. Obviously, such a person is a 'balu dayapayOnidhi' - an

ocean of mercy.

 

Verse 7:

=======

kavanarUpadI hariya stavana mADidA

bhuvana bEDidA mAdhavana nODidA || 7 ||

 

Translation:

============

Through meaningful and melodious songs he worshipped hari. He saw mAdhava

and achieved a happy state.

 

Commentary:

==========

Like all the great haridAsas before him, vijayadAsaru also worshipped

god through his touching, meaningful and melodious songs. He was very

prolific and is credited with around 75,000 compositions. He did not

create large and substantial works like the harikathAmruta sAra,

preferring small and simple works like padas, ugAbhOgas and suLAdis.

But there is no aspect of dvaita that he has not covered in detail.

 

" mAdhavan nODida " gives you the feeling that he saw mAdhava, and that

it was a one-time climax to his illustrious career. Far from it. He

saw and experienced hari's divine lIlas hundreds of times in his life.

He used to visit tirupati every year for the brahmOtsava and each year

there used to be some special incident or the other. He visited all

major shrines and temples of India, at least twice.

 

Verse 8:

=======

ranganendanA bhavavu hingitendanA

mangaLAnganA antarangavaritanA || 8 ||

 

Translation:

============

He preached that by worshipping Sri Ranga one can get rid of all fetters

of sansara. He has understood the heart of shri hari, who is full of

auspicious attributes.

 

Commentary:

==========

This verse is a terse statement of several dvaita concepts - hari

sarvottamatva (supremacy of hari), and liberation being granted by

hari as prasada for pure and unsullied devotion. The phrase 'mangaLanga'

is based on another concept that the Lord's body is 'aprakruta' (a

simple definition would be - something that is not made up of elements

created by prakruti or nature). His body is made up of gyAna and

Ananda (bliss and knowledge). The phrase 'antarangavaritana' can

be interpreted in 2 ways - one who knows the heart of hari, and one

who knows (or sees) hari in his heart. Both mean that vijayadAsaru

was a brahma gyAni of the highest order (which is not surprising since

he was an incarnation of bhrigu muni - the one who showed the world

that hari is sarvOttama and worthy of the purest devotion). Another

interpretation of " antarangavaritanA " is that vijayadAsaru lead his

whole life according to the dictates of the Lord, which is also true

because he incarnated as vijayadAsaru only because it was the Lord's

wish.