Harikathamrutasara - An Introduction

Shri Kesava Rao Tadipatri

Pic.courtesy: Shri Anand Raghavendran

This is the magnum opus of the great poet Sri JagannAtha dAsaru, one of the four highly regarded HaridAsaru, known as dAsa ChatuShTaya. The literal meaning of the word "HarikathAmRutasAra" is "The essence of the nectar of the Divine glories of Supreme Sri Hari". True to its name, it contains the philosophical gems of Madhva philosophy in its most appealing form. A true inquirer cannot stop wondering at the marvels of the text of this work as he goes through, since the most complex aspects of philosophy are presented in easy-to-understand terms. All these are just under- statements and one can appreciate this even more as we walk through some aspects.
In literary world, there is a famous saying -
upamA kAlidAsasya bhAraverarthagauravam daNDinaH padalAlityaM mAghe santi trayo guNAH |
(Kalidasa is exemplary in Similes, Bharavi symbolizes depth of meaning, DaNDin is expert in expounding mellifluous words and the confluence of all these three is present in the poet Magha.)
While this itself is exhilarating, one will find it more scintillating that the philosophic fervor combining and yet surpassing the poetic flavor makes it paramount with the promise of freedom from the fetters of bondage, making the mundane benefits far less significant. Where do we muse this magnificent majesty? Where do we gauge this glorious galaxy? Where do we perceive this poetic philosophy? Where do we find this all?
Sri Jagannatha Dasaru presented the filtered truth of All-Supremacy of Sri Hari through exemplary examples, simplifying the deep philosophical meanings in the form of free-flowing poetry filled with mellifluousness to such degree that the devotees revel in singing that poetic saga daily by themselves or in group chorus.
My feeble attempt to describe its glory, hopefully gets a little more support or strength, when I enter the formidable fortress of the grantha itself.
Sri Jagannatha Dasaru has composed this work in Kannada language and divided the work into sandhis, which are like chapters. The name Sandhi means that which joins. It can also mean that, which is result of such join. It also means the act of joining. It is like a connection or union or making a treaty of peace.
The entire work is in the meter called Bhamini Shatpadi. Each poem has six pAdas - two short, one long and again two short and one long. It is driven by "mAtras" (syllabic instants) and not aksharas (syllables). One mAtra is the duration of pronouncing one short syllable. Two mAtras is the duration of pronouncing one long syllable or two short syllables. For example "sAra" has three mAtras and "hari" has two mAtras. Each of the four short lines have 14 mAtra each - 3,4,3,4. Each of the two long pAdas have 23 mAtras - 3,4,3,4,3,4,2. Thus one verse has 102 mAtras.
Dasaru commences the work with Mangalacharana sandhi. It is a form of invocation or prayer and one of the purports is to make the work go smoothly without any obstacles. It is like offering Deepa (lamp) to the Lord.
"da" represents number 3 as it is the third letter in "ta-varga". So, "dI", which is from "da" means 3. "pa" is 1 and first letter in "pa-varga". Thus "dIpa" is 3 and 1 and by the rule "AMkAnAM vAmato gatiH", it signifies 13. The MangalacharaNa sandhi has 13 verses and does Vandana to Devatas and Gurus.
harika-thaamRuta -- saara-gurugaLa | karuNa-diMdaa -- panitu-pELuve | parama-bhagavad -- bhakta-ridanaa -- daradi-kELuvu-du || pa ||
("I will narrate to the best of my ability, the essence of the nectar of glories of the Lord, with the grace of the entire Guru parampara and the pure and ultimate devotees of the Shadgunaishvarya Lord may listen to it with devotion rendering their ears and dedicating their mind.")
The above pallavi is a treat to the ears and filled with deep meaning. This is sung at the beginning and end of each sandhi.
The name Hari is very significant. "harati iti hari". Sri Hari removes our sins, our samsAra bondage, our diseases, our problems, our undesirable things, our obstacles, and finally our Limga deha also. He is the grantor of liberation. Hari katha is the episode of His glory. Thus every scripture that describes Him is Harikatha. That itself is Amruta or nectar. Amruta does not have sAra-bhAga and asAra bhAga. So, how can there be "sAra" or essence of the Amruta. Every bit of it is sAra or Amruta.
There may be many ways it can be conceived. Let us look at three ways. Here essence is not like taking some extract like juice from fruit, leaving the pulp. Here it is the quintessence, meaning the purpose of it. Here the sAra is the Lord's glory itself.
Or secondly, it is not "sAra of Amruta", but "Amruta-vennuva sAra" (na cha amRutasya sAraM, kintu amRutameva sAraM). Amruta itself is sAra.
Or thirdly "sArAH rahasyo nAma". sAra means "rahasya". The secret hidden in the Amruta.
Why is it secret. As Sri KrishNa says "iti guhyatamam shaastramidam uktaM mayAnagha...".
When BhagavdagIta is available for everyone to read, how can that be secret. It is not the book that is secret. It is the knowledge that is secret. With the galore of misinterpreted Gita verses, it is quite conceivable that the knowledge of Gita is secret only. Similarly the knowledge of Sri Hari's glories is secret only as we see people keep either equating Sri Hari with other gods or even worse making other gods superior to Sri Hari. A clear-cut Hari-sarvottamatva-jnAna is not easy to achieve. Obviously everyone listens with ears only.
Why mention to render the ears?
The sentences from Kenopanishad have to be remembered. He is the instigator of all sense organs. Even the tatvAbhimAni devatas of the ears are under His control. Our giving ears signifies our giving up the thought that "we are independent listening agents" or "it is enough to have grace of the tAtvika devatas". It is the realization that we need His grace even to listen. We need the grace of the Gurus to understand any concept.
We need the grace of Gurus to utter the glories of the Lord and finally we need their grace even to listen to them. Even that flows from the grace of the Lord. Only our vAgindriya, shravaNendriya and mano indriya are indicated here, but upalaskShanatayA (meaning by consequent deduction), every faculty gets instigated by Him. Though He did not create the Jivas, He is the controller of Jivas and their yogyate(inherent ability). The tAratamya or gradation of all the gods and their working through the entire chain of laukika gurus as well as the Guru parampare is very essential.
The first letter of the first verse of the first sandhi is "shrI", which signifies, wealth, prosperity and Goddess Lakshmi. Thus it is indicating that the work promises to grant the spiritual wealth in addition to material wealth as the Goddess Lakshmi will grace such devotee. In this verse, Dasaru bows to Lord Narasimha, who is worshiped by all the gods starting from Lakshmi, Brahma, MukhyaprANa, Sarasvathi, Bharati, Garuda, Shesha, Rudra, Indra, et al.
In the second verse, Lakshmi, who is ever-liberated and never separated from any form of the Lord, is invoked, as ever-contemplating, ever-expounding and finding the Lord ever-new not only through scriptures, but even beyond scriptures.
In the third verse Chaturmukha Brahma, in the fourth verse Mukhyaprana, in the fifth verse Sarasvati, in the sixth verse Bharati, in the seventh verse Vedavyasa, In the eighth and ninth verses, Madhvacharya, in the tenth and eleventh verses Rudra, in the twelfth verse all the devatas starting from Indra down, all the Rishis, Pitrus, Gandharvas, and the yatis starting from Sri Padmanabha tirtha in the guru parampara, and all the Haridasas, are invoked.
In the final verse it is stated -
("Just as the fragrance is present in a flower and fire is present in pieces of fire- wood, The Lord Daamodara is present in the minds of Brahma, et al, by revealing and yet not revealing Himself. Those desirous of liberation and earn the grace of Such Jagannatha ViTThala may extol the great devotees of the Lord every day.")
One may get the doubt - How can the Lord reveal Himself and yet not reveal. This can be seen in multiple ways. The Lord may appear to Brahma in one form and not appear to other devatas in that form. Or The Lord may appear to one devata in one form and not appear in some other form. Or even to an aparokShajnAni, He may appear at one time and not appear at another time.
All these kinds of thoughts are indicated by the two examples. In a flower, the fragrance is present. The flower is visible to the naked eye, but the fragrance is not visible. Yet one can know the fragrance through the nose. So a different organ is needed to see its presence.
The araNi is a special kind of fire-wood, which when one stick is rubbed against another, the fire is generated. In case of "araNi", the fire is not visible to naked eye and it can not be smelt or tasted or felt through another sense organ. How can the fire be concealed? How do we know it is even present there? When one rubs one stick against other, the fire is generated and one can see that.
The first example can also indicate that, one can not see the Lord with naked eye, but an additional mode is needed. Instead of sthUla chakShu(physical eye), jnAna chakShu (eye of wisdom) is needed. First parokSha darshana happens thru study of shAstras with the help of Gurus.
The second example can also indicate that interaction with svarUpoddhAraka guru is needed for aparokSha darshana.
The usage of the Lord's name Daamodara is also significant. Though all the names and forms of the Lord are eternal, He reminds His names through His devotees and through some incidents. "Daama" is tying with rope and udara is stomach. This reminds the incident of Yashoda tying the stomach of Lord Sri Krishna.
Initially when Yashoda tries to tie Him being upset with Him, any amount of ropes becomes insufficient. When she feels helpless and surrenders to God (even though the Lord conceals that He is Lord so as to give mother's joy to Yashoda), He lets her tie Him. He demonstrated that He yields to Bhakti or devotion. So, the verse also indicates that those desirous of liberation and earn the grace of Such Jagannatha ViTThala may extol the great devotees of the Lord every day.

Why? That will please the Lord and also among them, one is likely to find a guru. Then Guru prasAda occurs after one surrenders to the guru. "Guruvina gulAmanAguva tanaka doreyadanna mukuti".
This is just a small elaboration. It is left to the imagination of sAdhaka to go to greater depths and explore more.
When one is at the starting point of sAdhana, the first doubt, that comes to one's mind is - will the Lord listen to my prayers and help me? That is answered by Dasaru by emphasizing that He is "parama karuNA-maya"(The most generous, who never abandons His devotees) by dedicating one sandhi for it - KaruNAsandhi, the very next one after MangalacharaNa sandhi.
Dasaru showers several examples one after another to drive many complex concepts in a forceful and effective way. Dasaru starts the Karunasandhi by commending the bliss of listening to the glories of the Lord and that it helps the devotees cross the ocean of samsAra. It is important to know that though Dasaru was an exemplary scholar of Sanskrit and initially had condescending outlook towards Kannada and Haridasaru, there was a tremendous transformation in his life due to the grace of Sri Vijayadasaru. He himself becomes a Haridasa and sets out to compose this work in Kannada. Being aware of his own case, he appeals to other Vaishnavas that they should not look down upon this work. He conveys this through a verse -
("When the rain water flows through street canals, people do not use that. But when it reaches the river, people use it for all things like, bathing, drinking, etc. Similarly when the Kannada work ends up in the ocean of glory of feet of the Lord, the wise would not neglect it.")
The verse "mana vacanakati doora (2-4)" emphasizes the shruti vAkya - "yato vAcho nivartante aprApya manasA saha" ("No words or mind can comprehend Him completely"). Though He is beyond the reach of the words and mind, He is so merciful that He goes after the devotees and uplift them.
("If one sings the glory of the Lord with devotion in lying position, God will sit and listen. If the devotee sings the glory of the Lord in sitting position, God will stand and listen. If the devotee sings the glory of the Lord in standing position, God will dance and listen. If the devotee sings the glory of the Lord in dancing position, God will protect fully. He is so easy and does not stay away from His devotees even for half second. The people are suffering in SamsAra not knowing how to please this gracious consort of Lakshmi.")
Here "malagi" does not mean "just in lying position or sleepy mood". The limited faculties and also the helplessness that one has are like "lying down". Lord knows our limitations and comes closer to us, than our trying to go close to him. "We sit and listen" means "we do proper Asana, prANAyAma, etc". Then the Lord will "stand and listen", meaning "being firm in our minds." If we "stand and sing" meaning "we have firm knowledge", then "He will dance in our minds". If we dance and sing His glories forgetting ourselves, He is bound to protect us.
The Lord demonstrated this as when Bhishma extolled Him lying down on the bed of arrows, Lord Krishna sat and listened. When PundarIka was sitting and serving his parents and yet singing glories of the Lord, the Lord stood on the brick. When PrahlAda was standing and singing His glory, He was dancing in His mind and saving Prahlada. When Narada was dancing and singing His glories, He always protected not only Narada Maharshi, but all the devotees, who got Upadesha from Narada - like Dhruva, Prahlada, Markandeya. The Lord is "su+labha", meaning He is easy to get for only the good people, not all.
A humble attempt is made like "sthAlIpulAkanyAya" - to see how well the rice is cooked, a few morsels are taken from the ladle and tested. We are seeing some verses and every single verse in the work is a gem and needs lot of contemplation.
The Lord is compared to a mother and the Jivas are compared to children staying in a dark room.
Then the Lord's karuNa is expressed in various ways. Dasaru reminds that if we give up the Lord, He binds us in samsAra. If we bind the Lord with devotion, He makes us give up the samsAra. he follows us like a shadow and helps us only if we surrender to Him. The following verse describes how Lord protects.
(A set of four examples are given to describe the grace of the Lord. Just as the eye- lashes protect the eyes, the hands take out the itch of the body, the teeth chew the fruits and give taste to the tongue and puNya yields the fruits or result, in this universe Lord Sri Rama, when needed by the devotees, will come to their rescue.)
One can perceive plethora of meaning in this verse.
The eyes do not have to do any effort for the eye-lashes to protect them. Thus for uttama adhikAris, the Lord protects instantly without their doing any great effort. For the body itch, the hands have to do some amount of effort and this is what is for madhyama adhikAris. The teeth have to do lot of effort so that tongue gets taste and food gets digested. Thus adhama adhikAris have to do a lot of effort for getting Lord's protection.
The eyes see everything, but not the lashes. Yet the lashes protect the eyes. Though we all do not see God, He is protecting us all always. The body does not see the hands, but feels its comforting mood. Same way there are some advanced souls who feel His presence. The tongue is very close to the teeth and feels the teeth very well. So even more advanced souls are very close to God and see His activities. The eye- lashes, the hands and teeth have nothing to gain. The eyes get protection, the body gets relief and the tongue gets the taste. Same way God has nothing to gain and helps all so that they gain. Depending on one's imagination and yogyata or capacity, it is possible to see many other meanings.
Now after the devotee is convinced of the grace of the Lord, one may think 'will God know all the good deeds I do in secrecy?' Will God know what I am thinking? Then the next sandhi (vyApti sandhi) describes the pervasion of Lord not only in all objects, but all minds, all abstract things, all thoughts and all Jivas. He pervades inside every minute thing of the Universe as well as every bit outside the universe. There is absolutely no limitation for him.
What is He and what He is not? People talk in riddles that He is everything and yet different from everything. That is why scriptures describe that path that we should proceed saying "neti, neti (na iti, na iti)". Whatever we know He is not that. This is expressed by -
("He is none of these - woman, neuter, man, Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, Sky, Mind, Moon, Sun, Time, Attribute, Nature. What an enormous ineffable glory He has!! Even Lakshmi, Brahma, Rudra, Indra, et al find no end of it. By contemplating and making any kind of effort, can ordinary humans know about Him?")
We do hear that He incarnated as Sri Rama, Sri Krishna, etc. which are male forms. He also came as Mohini, female form. he takes 36000 Purusha Roopas and 36000 strI rUpas in every human body. So, can one think that in His Mula Rupa, He is none of these, but in avatAras, He is one of these? That is not so.
Just as Upanishad says "pUrNamadaH, pUrNamidam", He is infinite in every form. He is not bound by the "manliness" or "womanliness". Even as Shri Rama or Shri Krishna, he contains all kinds of qualities. As Mohini also, He contains all the qualities. He is never bound. We should never think that in avatAras, He is any way different. The Nature has no control over Him, but He controls the Nature.

 If the material aspects of the sense organs follow their properties and the sense organs follow their properties, why do we need God? Such are answered by -
("Though He is not any of smell, taste, form, touch, sound, He is known by their names and present in every one of them, yielding them their properties, making them work and giving satisfaction to the living beings. The Lord, Eternal ocean of mercy, acts through the sense organs and the mind and gives the enjoyment to the Jivas through these material aspects.
He is present in all the sense organs/faculties - ears/listening, eyes/seeing, nose/smell, skin/touch, tongue/taste. He is in all action organ faculties - tongue or mouth/speech, hands/doing, feet/moving, etc.(other action organs include excretory and reproductive). He is also in the presiding deities of all these. As Master of all action, He pervades all these, by doing and making others do and thus He is the driving force for all the bhava chakra or the cycle of birth and death.")
In all these verses, one must notice the all-independence of the Lord and total dependence of the rest.
We see in this world that so many people worship so many gods, be it in sanAtana dharma or other religions. How can we say He alone is All-Supreme? The following verse answers that.
("When the water is poured to the root of the plant or it is dropped on the leaves and the branches, the water is absorbed by the roots only. One notes that the branches are yielding the fruits. But the offer is only to the roots. Similarly the Lord receives all the worships and yields the fruits through Brahma, Rudra and so many other deities in their names.")
One may think that "So, if Lord has all their names, then what is wrong in worshiping all of them?". If worldly fruits is the only goal, then that is fine. All the gods take back-seat when it comes to mokSha. He alone is the grantor of Mukti and so if Mukti is desired, then He alone need to be worshiped as All-supreme. Others deities as per Vedic injunction can be worshiped as per their gradation as His parivAra devatas. If not mentioned in vedas, we do not know where they stand in the gradation. Dasaru stresses the importance of gradation in later sandhis.
If God is all-kind and impartial, then why there is so much variation in the world? As one notices, even though same rain falls on Earth, different seeds yield different kinds of crops. Dasaru gives another example.
("Though the light is same, it makes the diamonds, green stone and corals react differently for the light. The diamonds shine bright and so do the Devatas/sAtvika Jiivas. The green stones give out medium shine and so do the mAnavas/rAjasika Jivas. The corals do not show any brightness and so do Danavas/tAmasika Jivas. The Lord makes the inherent qualities manifest as per the svabhAva of the souls and that is His impartiality.")
He does not alter them. If He alters then that will amount to partiality. After we get some idea of pervasion, we get a doubt - If God is present all over, He is present in all the food stuff, we eat.

What forms of the Lord should we contemplate in the foods?
This is described in detail in "Bhojana sandhi". If God is present everywhere, how come all do not exhibit same kind of strengths? Though this is dealt to some extent in Vyapti sandhi, the way, the Lord does this is described in VibhUti sandhi.
His pervasion is different and His mode of manifestation is different. vibhUti is vishesha bhUti or aishvarya. By His extra-ordinary capability, He decides, how much He should make the strengths manifest and how much He show Himself up in entities like vigrahas, SAlagramas, atithis, etc. The places that he chooses to be specially present in propitious form are called adhiShThAnas.
("The statue, ShAlagrAma, cow, invited and uninvited guests, forest-dweller, household person, bachelor, YajamAna, own people, outside people, Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, Sky, Nine grahas, Yoga, KaraNa, NakShatra, Tithi, Shukla and Krishna pakShas, SankramaNa are His adhiShThanas.")
Though these are all His adhiShThAnas, the way we treat them are different. We don't do abhiSheka to cow or atithi. We worship cow in one way, we feed atithi and we do abhisheka to Shalagrama. We see God's role in all of them. They themselves are not God. All-doership of Lord is a difficult concept. That is His visheSha aishvarya. That is His achintyAdbhuta shakti.
Then Dasaru speaks about the working of PancharUpi ParamAtma (NarayaNa, VAsudeva, SaMkarShana, Pradyumna, Aniruddha) in 30 forms in the five Fires - Mother, Father, Earth, Cloud and Sky in Panchmahayajna sandhi.
the working of the Lord through the five tanmAtras - Gandha, Rasa, RUpa, Sparsha, Shabda.
Then the akShara pratipAdya rUpas of the Lord are described in MAtRukA sandhi.
This is another loaded verse and this will be revisited at a later time.
After this sandhi, Dasaru describes Lord's working through abhimAni devatas and also hRutpadma and udAtta and anudAtta forms, etc in "varNaprakriyA sandhi". Then Dasaru goes into "sarva pratIka sandhi".
Here we have to mention the verse -
This is one of the most misused and misinterpreted verse. Some tried to interpret this verse as one in support of "stay abroad" - trying to say that every place on earth is sacred place and so foreign land is also PuNya DeSha. Then countering this some said that this verse refers only Bharata desha so that "every place, even a needle's point in Bharata desha is Punya desha".

While the former have fallen into one kind of ditch, the latter have fallen into another kind. If former showed one kind of uddhaTatva (puffed up, vain, arrogant, rude attitude), the latter showed another kind of the same. The latter have done additional mistake of ignoring the words "mUru lOkadoLu". Some try to interpret that "mUru lOkadoLu" is only for third line. That is absurd. There is no separator and there is no need either.
Both those, who try to use this as pro-foreign and anti-foreign, can be refuted instantly and easily. There are lousy places as well as good places in any country. Will the lavatory of a Hari-hatred-filled, villainous person in India be a great place for worshiping Sri Hari? Obviously there are lousy places outside Bharata desha as well.
In a nutshell, this verse is neither in support of "foreign stay" nor in opposition. The discussion about foreign has to be dealt with using other pramANas.
This verse simply means that every big piece of land can contain a spot that can be made worthy of worship of Sri Hari. PuNya desha has to be taken as puNya-yogya desha.
Sarva desha has to be taken as larger segment of land. This is obvious and common sense when one sees - "sarva-kaalavu parva-kaalavu". Even in India, there is restriction of time. Certain activities have to be done at certain time. Definitely one can not do Sandhya-vandana at midnight even in India. sarva-kaalavu means "any larger segment of time - may be day, week, etc, can contain scope for doing puNya- yogya-activities.
Some people have gone over-board trying to interpret "sharva- vaMdyana vimala-moorti dhyaana vuLLavage" to mean "for an aparokShajnAni or uttamAdhikAri". That is absurd as this is meant for a common man. That expression simply means "a well studied, genuine, serious-minded sAdhaka". Even uttamAdhikAri, when takes birth as mAnava, follows all the rules. "sarva-maatugaLella- maMtravu"? How? This has to be done by a common man - "So called 'all the words' contain laukika words as well as mantras that I have to practice. Let me concentrate on mantra part and minimize the laukika words to bare minimum.
Devatas may be able to see every akshara as mantra describing the Lord. But I am incapable of that. So, for dehavyApara, I have to use some, but let that be pure and make me realize that you are the independent Bimba rUpi making me speak and do."
Similarly "sarva-kelasagaLella poojeyu" - means sAdhaka has to pray - "Among several activities, let Your Puje take prominence. The rest are meant to be for dEhavyApAra and let that be bare minimum. Even in those activities, make me realize that you are the independent Bimba rUpi making me do all those.". Similar thought can be seen in the dAsara pada - "pari pari kelasavu ninna mahA pUje niruta yenage koDo pANDuraMga".
"You are worshiped by even Rudra deva. I am just an ordinary one and I will try to include you as much as you will make me do as per my yogyata."
("Every good sAdhaka, who tries to meditate on the pure form of the Lord Shri Hari, worshiped by Rudra, has the scope to find Punya desha in any segment of land, has the scope to do time-appropriate Punya activities throughout the days, weeks, months and years, has the scope to find dAna pAtraru among all people around him, where ever they are placed in these three worlds (by the grace of the Lord), has the scope to concentrate on the mantras among all the words, has the scope to perform Pujas among all the activities.")
Then DAsaru explains as per the names "DhyAnaprakriyA sandhi", "NADIprakaraNa sandhi", "nAmasmaraNa sandhi", "Jivana prakriyA sandhi", and "ShvAsa sandhi". The order of these first 15 sandhis are consistent in all versions. Then 16th sandhi to 26th sandhi, the order of sandhis varies from one version to another. There are at least five or six variations. There is discrepancy even in the names. However the verses agree almost fully. They have two major topics - Svatantrya (Depending on oneself) and tAratamya (gradation).
There is a major misconception that Sri Jagannatha DAsaru spoke of "a little svAtantrya" for the Jivas as he has given the name "datta svAtantrya sandhi" and he has described how ParamAtma divided svAtantrya guNa among all including Himself and Lakshmi devi. This is a hasty remark that is given without either properly looking at the contents or properly analyzing the contents.

The word "datta" can mean "iTTa or itta (placed)" and also "koTTa (given)". Dasaru used only in the first sense. The vibhAga that is mentioned is how the Lord's "svAtantrya rUpas", which are called "datta svAtantrya" are divided into various beings in the creation to perform various activities. Daasaru has used the expressions like “nArigitta”, “shivanoLagiTTa”, “Iraidakhila-jiivaroLitta” (meaning Lord placed, but not koTTa or gave). Daasaru never missed the real purport behind the concepts in Vyaasa-saahitya. He has hit right on target and emphasized that there is no svaatantrya to any one other than Sri Hari.
Daasavani says in Dattasvaatantrya Sandhi -
“kesara ghaTagaLa maaDi bEsige bisiloLagiTTu oNagisidaradu ghana- rasava tuMbalu bahude sarvasvatantra taaneMba...” - 17
Note how Daasaru says that the “feel-good concept of a little independence is as good as a look-good pot dried in sunlight - meaning such a notion is bad and totally to be rejected.
“A parabrahmanali trijaga-dvyaapakatva niyaamakatva, sthaapakatva vashitva IshitvaadiguNagalige | lOpavillEkaprakaara sva-rUpavenipuvu sarvakaaladi pOpuvallavu jiivarige daasatvadOpaadi” .. - 23
Note how Daasaru emphasizes how the independence of the Lord is Ekaprakaara, never forgone even a tiny bit at any point of time. A tiny bit of independence for jiiva is a tiny break in Isha-Daasa bhaava and that is absolutely untrue.
“kaarakakriyadravyavibhrama, mUruvidhajiivarige bahusam-saarakivu kaaraNavenisuvuvu ellakaaladali | dUra Odisi bhraamakatraya.. - 29
Note how Daasaru hits the nail on the head with the root cause of this feeling of independence - the three kinds of illusion - jnaanEndriya kartRutvaabhimaana, karmEndriya kartRutvaabhimaana and dehaabhimaana)
“baralu naalkaavasthegaLu pari-harisikoLanEtake svatantranu taane eMbuvanu ..- 30
Note how Daasaru levels a challenge against this feeling of independence.
Finally is Daasaru saying that all this is as per Vyaasa Sahitya only? Of course -
“yuktimaatugaLalla shruti smRutyukta maatugaLivu vichaarise muktigivu sOpaanavenipavu pratiipratipadavu .. - 31
These words are not dry logic, but every word derives support from shrutis and smRutis. Dasaru also composed "Svagata svAtantrya sandhi" and "Sarva svAtantrya sandhi".
This will not be complete if we do not emphasize the amount of importance Dasaru gave to tAratamya. He composed "GuNa tAratamya sandhi", "BRuhat taaratamyaSandhi", "AparOkShataaratamya Sandhi", "AarOhaNa taaratamya Sandhi", "AvarOhaNa taaratamya Sandhi", "AnukramaNikA taaratamya Sandhi", "ANutaaratamya Sandhi", "Daitya taaratamya Sandhi", "KakShaataaratamya Sandhi".
Dasaru dedicated one separate sandhi for Ganapati - "Ganapati StOtra Sandhi". There is tradition that believes that Sri Gopala Dasaru, who was Guru for Sri Jagannatha dasaru, was Ganapati's amsha.
The other sandhis are "BimbopAsana sandhi", Karmavimochana sandhi", "Sakala Durita NivAraNa sandhi", and "Naivedya PrakaraNa sandhi". That is total of 32 sandhis.
Then ShrI ShrIda viTThala dAsaru, also known as Karjagi dAsaru, has composed "Phalastuti Sandhi".
All in all, it is not only a musical treat, but a magical treat as well, not only a literary wealth, but a scriptural wealth as well, not only a laukika kArya sAdhana, but an alaukika mokSha sAdhana as well, not only an easy to understand for a common man, but a hard nut to crack even for a paNdita as well.
Shri KrishNArpaNamastu !!

 Shri Jagannatha dasaru

Comments

  1. V.GOPALAKRISHNANSeptember 17, 2018 at 3:00 AM

    Very vivid and lucid explanation of the great work of Sri Jaganathadasaru on the greatness and yet the simplicity of Sri Hari like as Krishna he subjects himself to be tied by his stomach by Yasoda who believes he is like any child who acts mischievous in that age

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sandy GonsalvesDecember 7, 2022 at 2:15 AM

    Can I get the contact details of the writer for some more clarity please

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kesava TadipatriDecember 8, 2022 at 4:09 PM

    kesava.tadipatri@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment