GITA 11.44

GITA 11.44

Swami Pillai Perumal Iyengar says in one pasuram that the father [Hiranyakasipu] got destroyed because he lived for himself; while the son [Prahlada] lived for the Lord and so he prospered. Therefore, we should surrender at the feet of Sri Alari at Tiruvelukkai and prosper. Hiranyakasipu lived for himself and so got destroyed. We should live for the Lord and others. This is evident in the word nama: [नम:]. We have seen in earlier slokas that Arjuna repeatedly salutes the Lord. Nama: means we [our soul and body] are not for us, but they belong to the Lord. Nama: has to be split into ma:, mu and na. Ma: = to me, mu = I, na = not. That is 'I am not for myself'. Hiranyakasipu thought he was for himself. By thinking 'I am for myself', we get declined. Whether it is atman or body, none of them is ours. We should realize that they are the property of the Lord. Prahlada practised this and taught all Asura children. He taught them the Nine methods of serving the Lord - sravanam, keerthanam, smaranam, pada sevanam, archanam, vandanam, dasyam, sakhyam and atma nivedanam. Though very young, he was able to realize the Lord pervading everywhere. The Lord said in Gita also that everything was pervaded by Him. This is what has reflected in Viswaroopam also. This is the only sentence Prahlada told and was considered an insult by Hiranyakasipu. Commentators say that Hiranyakasipu thought Prahlada did the greatest mistake by telling that. He was angry and asked Prahlada to show the Lord. He thought that someone was instigating Prahlada to chant 'om namo narayanaya' instead of 'om hiranyaya nama:'. Prahlada with a smile said that the Person, Who made his father to ask that question, was making Prahlada chant His name. There could not be one leader for his father and another for him; entire Universe was ruled by one Leader alone. With these words, Hiranyakasipu was enraged further and so he blasted one pillar. We should remember this story. 'Satyam vidhatum nijabhrutya bhashitam...' - in Srimad Bhagavatam, sage Sukha says that to prove the veracity of the statement of the little boy, the Lord appeared as Sri Narasimha from the pillar. We are worshipping That Sri Alari in this Kshetram. In the sannidhi we see the Lord showing anger on one side and love and affection on another side. He looks at Sri Thayar with benign grace. Sri Thayar of this Kshetram is Sri Amruthavalli.

SRI AMRUTAVALLI THAYAR

 She is called Sri Amrutotbhava [श्री अम्रुतोत्भव], meaning She appeared from Amrut. When milky ocean was churned so many things emerged - elephant Airavatam, horse Ucchairavas, poison Halahala, tree Parijata and nectar Amrut. Along with them Sri Thayar also emerged. Devas desired to have Amrut, but we should pray for the blessings of Sri Amrutavalli Thayar. She adds beauty to the beautiful Lord. With Her recommendation, if we seek the Feet of the Lord, we are certain to get His wholehearted blessings. We have to choose to which group we belong to -Hiranyakasipu group or Prahlada group? Hiranyakasipu group will be subject to the heat of anger from the Lord; while Prahlada group will have the cool and kind blessings of the Lord. Like Prahlada, we should salute the Lord after getting recommended by Sri Thayar. We are more culpable than Hiranyakasipu, as we always think that we are to ourselves. We should seek His pardon for this type of assumption. Arjuna prays the same in sloka 45. Arjuna is no longer able to see the frightening Viswaroopam and desires to see the Lord in His earlier form as Sri Krishna with just Two hands, holding the whip and reins of the horses. In this Kshetram also we saw on one side Sri Yoga Narasimha and on the other side Sri Vennaikadum Pillai. Both are charming. One is showing anger and also showing yoga in a peaceful way. Sri Krishna appears as the simple Boy stealing butter; but when He is enraged, He shows the Viswaroopam.

 Arjuna saw the Viswaroopam and was delighted as he had not seen anything like that earlier. Yet, he is also afraid. So, he prays the Lord to assume the form Arjuna is accustomed to. Sloka 45:

adrsta-purvam hrsito ’smi drishtva
bhayena ca pravyathitam mano me
tad eva me darsaya deva rupam
prasida devesa jagan-nivasa

"After seeing this universal form, which I have never seen before, I am gladdened, but at the same time, my mind is disturbed with fear. Therefore please bestow Your grace upon me and reveal again Your form as the Personality of Godhead, O Lord of lords, O abode of the universe."

First, all the words by which Arjuna addresses the Lord. Deva = Merciful, devesa = Leader of all gods, jagan-nivasa = Supporter of the Universe. Since the Lord is Deva - full of mercy, He ought to pardon Arjuna. The Lord can not direct Arjuna to other gods either, because He was the Leader of all other gods like lord Brahma, lord Shiva, lord Varuna, etc. This is what Swami Desika also told in the sloka 'tvayi rakshati rakshakai kim ananyai' - who else is needed to protect when the Lord has decided to protect? By telling jagan nivasa Arjuna tells that for everyone in the Universe, He was the sole asylum or refuge. Drishtva = [Arjuna has] seen, adrsta-poorvam = earlier unseen, hrsitosmi = delighted [I, Arjuna, am]. Arjuna says that earlier he had never seen such an image [of Viswaroopam] nor heard of. By seeing such unseen and unheard of the image, Arjuna was delighted. At the same time, fear grips him. Me mana = My [Arjuna's] mind, bhayena= out of fear, pravyathitam = shivering. Though Arjuna was wonderstruck at seeing an image seen never before, yet the frightening image caused fear in him. Me = to me [Arjuna], darsaya = show, tad eva rupam = the same image or form [of Sri Krishna], prasida = please favour. Arjuna requests the Lord to return back to His usual form as Sri Krishna. Why Arjuna makes this prayer, has to be connected with Two incidents. One happened in Sri Rama Avatar and the other when Sri Krishna was a Seven-year-old Boy. Sri Rama had destroyed Ravana. All the Devas assembled in the sky, including Dasaratha. All of them prayed the Lord and praised Him. Lord Shiva, lord Brahma, and others were all there. Lord Brahma tells that Sri Rama was none other than Sriman Narayana. His mission was over and so He should return to Sri Vaikuntam. At that time Sri Rama replied that He did not want to be addressed as Devadeva and Sriman Narayana. 'Atmanam manusham manye ramam dasarathatmajam' - 'consider Me [Sri Rama ] as a human and son of Dasaratha'. This is one incident. Next, in Gokulam, Indra wanted to destroy the gopis and gopikas, and so for Seven days continuously poured rain. All gopis, gopikas and the cattle sought the protection of Sri Krishna. Sri Krishna decided to protect them as it was at His persuasion that the annual offerings of food were done to Govardhana hill instead of Indra. Now, Indra was angry as he was deprived of the offering. Sri Krishna told the Yadavas to offer to Govardhana, as He was the inner soul of Govardhana also. So He decided to protect them with the same Govardhana. Alwar says that the Lord protected the stone shower by raising another stone [kalledutthu kan mari katthan கல் எடுத்து கன் மாரி காத்தான்]. Swami Periyavacchan Pillai in his commentary says that since stones were rained, the Lord used another stone to protect. Had it been a shower of oceans, He would have used ocean itself to protect! Even now in Nathdwara, in Rajasthan, the Lord is Sri Govardhana Giridhari. All gopis viewed the Lord with awe. Such a little boy was lifting a huge hill and protecting them. Was He a Deva or Gandharva or Rakshasa or Yaksha? They asked Him. The Lord replied 'na aham deva: na rakshasa: na gandharva: - I [Sri Krishna] am not deva or rakshasa or gandharva'. 'Aham wo bhandavyo jata: - I am one related to you all'. He threatened that if they doubted Him to be any other, then He would drop the hill He was holding and would go away. Sri Krishna told them that He was like one among them all. In both incidents, the same concept is emphasized by both Sri Rama and Sri Krishna. Arjuna reminds Him that since He was one among them, He should pardon Arjuna. Like a father to son, like a friend to another, like a lover to darling, He should show same tolerance and forgive Arjuna. Arjuna has realized the eminence of the Lord and he wants to see the same form he was accustomed to. We will now take leave of Tiruvelukkai Kshetram. 

                                                                                                    (continued)