vArijalayapati vArijanAbhane

vArijabhavapita vArijanEtrane

vArijamitra apAraprabhAvane

vArija jhAnDada kAraNa doreye

vArija - lotus

vArijanAbha describes the Lord Narayana who manifests the lotus from His navel at the beginning of creation.From the lotus comes Brahma and Brahma is given instructions to do further. When the pralaya or dissolution takes place the last one to go in is also Brahma. It is said in the Upanishad that "One should know the Lord as not only the creator but also the destroyer." Here the attribute destroyer should be used in the sense of destruction of ignorance, bondage, sins etc.The knowledge that he is the destroyer - leads to destruction of ignorance and the knowledge that He is the creator leads to Bliss.

Since He initiates the embodied forms of the jivas in his Anirudha form with Lakshmi in her Shanthi form and is thier instigator for all actions, He is called as the father of samsara.Samsara is the gross world along with the multitude of creation and thier activities.

In the BG 9.10 Lord Krishna says:

mayAdyakshENa prakriti sUyate scharAcharam

hEtunAnena kouMtEya jagaviparivartate ||

"O Song of Kunti, the insentient Prakriti under my direction gives birth to the Brahmanda, containing the sentient and the insentient beings. Prompted by Me, these existences comes into being again and again.

In the next word Dasaru is describing Him as vArijanEtrane - lotus eyed. What is the significance of this description, other than just beauty? A lotus even though it is born in the slushy pond remains on the surface and is unaffected by the dirt inspite of being in it. This is a crude example to explain that the Lord is not tainted by the ills of samsaara even though He exists in every jiva as well as in all insentient things giving it form and identity. Dasaru is glorifying Him using this attribute with the plea," Oh Lord, You are the father of all sentient and insentient beings in samsaara, and have the unique ability to remain unmired by it, please see that I don't get sucked into the quagmire of samsaara and am able to keep my mind untainted by the constant onslaught of worldy matters on my sense organs."

Next Dasaru says,"You are the friend of the vArija" - Lord LakshminArayana in the Sun is the friend of the lotus and enables it to flower because of the light . In the BG 7. 8 Lord Krishna says," prabhA asmi shashisUryayOH " - I am the cause for the lustre in the Moon and Sun.

Dasaru says,"You have limitless lustre and if not for You, all life forms on this earth would have no life. So you are the life source and the cause of all existence not only in the unseen way but also by being visible to all as the Sun. " Artificial sources of light and heat always fall short , but the Sun being controlled by the Lord is always availabe to provide heat and warmth day after day , year after year, century after century. It is relevant to recount that all food webs have the Sun as the source of energy. Plants are priamy food producers manufacturing food using sunlight as the main source of energy. Human beings and animals depend on plants, so they too are dependent on the Sun. Without Sun, no plants, without plants no animals or humans . The immense grace and glory of the Lord glimpsed by contemplating on this simple daily occurance.

bAraiyya ba ba bakutara priya srinivasa rAya

mAra janaka mukutharODeya devaiyya jIya srinivasa rAya

"Oh Srinivasa! Come, come come, You are the beloved whom the bhakta desires to see and You also love Your bhakta. Glimpses of Your infinite glory can be experienced by listening, singing and doing the nine types of bhakthi- sravanam, keerthanam, vandanam, smaranam, pAdasevanam, dAsyam , sakyam, Atmanivedanam. One may ask, How so? To that, "When a bhakta experiences Your glory, then He experiences bliss. Since the jiva's constituent nature is one of bliss and knowledge, he yearns for it and hences becomes dear to the Lord.

Dasaru says," You are the father of "Kama". " Now Kama is the abimAni for all forms of desires. Dasaru is praying to Lord as mAra janaka and then says 'mukutharODeya' meaning that the jivas who reach mukthi are cared for by the Lord and the foremost criterion for such selected GRACE is their overcoming all desires and surrendering to Him. You are the father of all devas - devaiyya. You are my favourite - jIya is an endearing term Dasaru uses to call out affectionately to the Lord Srinivasa. Even Srinivasa rAya has special significance here. It is because all desire is caused by the effect of the trigunas and Godess Mahalakshmi is the abimAni for this. So praising the Lord by saying that Sri resides in Him gives one the ability to rise above the bondage of the trigunas and move towards varaigya for worldly matters and devotion towards God and then to moksha.

Sri meaning Mahalakshmi is the abimani of the Vedas -source of knowledge-> one who strives towards acquisition of knowledge ,to such seekers God is always with them (nivasa).

syandanavEribappa raMga devOtuMga

naMdana arimada bhaMga karUNa pAMga

siMdhu shayana suMdarAMga he nArasimha

kanda viriMchiyu naMdivAhana amareMdra

sanakana sanaMdanAdi muni

vriMda baMdu niMdu dim dim dimikeMdu

niMdADalu Anadadi manake

Oh Lord raMga, who are the hugest among all deities, who is the source of all, the killer of Kamsa , the embodiment of mercy , who has His abode in the skheera sAgara, who has the most beautiful forms . Dasaru says ,"Oh Narasimha!" to give emphasis he says 'he nArasimha' addressing the Lord implying that He is within hailing distance of the sincere devotee.

A crude example : When a boy or girl whom you are addressing and who is not responding upon your first call then you tend to add a 'he ......' to attract attention. Similarly Dasaru is calling out to the Lord with affection.

"Your little one Brahma, and your grandson -Rudra who rides the Nandi, Indra and king of devatas, the great munis Sanaka, Sanandana are all assembled and are dancing in bliss to the chanting of your name 'Oh Srinivasa!' so please come along and enter my manas. " Here Dasaru is making a point. Where ever the Lord's name is chanted with love and devotion, whereever His glories are spoken of or discussed about, there all His retinue will assemble to bless the devotees present in achieving their heart's desire of having the apaROXa of the Lord. And when the retinue of the Lord arrives the Lord will definitely arrive because He always comes where His devotees are. So even if an ordinary person is not upto the mark in devotion if he/she does with full faith the retinue of the Lord who come along first will provide the necessary inspiration to the senses and mind to concentrate and bring out the best in that jiva. It also indicates the necessity to offer prayers to all the vriMda-retinue of the Lord in the respective order also called as tAratamya. We should never forget to show our gratitude to these devatas and should understand the important part they play in reaching our goal of mukthi.

jagat janmmAdi karta goviMda udaradi lOkava

laguvAgi darisida mukuMda bhaktara manake

jaga jagaisuva polevAnaMda nigamAvaliyiMda

aganita munigaNa naga kaga mriga shashi

gagana maNyAdyaru sogasAgi bhage bhage

pogalutali bega chigichigidADalu

mugulunageyu mahO uragagirivAsa

"Oh goviMdA, you are the power behind the creation, destruction, maintainance and sustenance of the jivas . "When Dasaru says janmAdi , (Adi means etc) it implies all the four activities associated with creation of universe. Next there are four other important activities associated with sentient beings ,which the Lord does as part of His Leela. They are - granting knowledge, ignorance,bondage and moksha. Here Dasaru addresses the Lord as gOviMdA , the knower of the vEdas - referring to the leela of granting knowledge to eligible souls. During pralaya the Lord effortlessly bears the entire hordes of jivas in His stomach.Then he talks of the souls in bondage who are placed in different areas of the Lord's udara-stomach based on thier nature. Those jivas who have crossed the bondage and ignorace and have realised the Lord - for those Dasaru refers to the Lord as 'Mukunda" means the granter of moksha as well as the caretaker of the jivas in mukthi.

Oh Lord, please come to the bhakta's heart which has been decorated with the precious jewels extracted from the deep sea of knowledge from the scriptures after listening, singing and doing contemplation. The heart of the true devotee is filled with bliss just at the thought of Your beautiful name or form. They are so much in bliss that the mere mention of the Lord's name can trigger an automatic emotional response like tears from the eyes, the hairs on skin become stiff and they become ecstatic with these thoughts of the Lord. To the devotee who calls out to the Lord and has these conditions, he/she can rest assured to see the Lord.

Dasaru says, "Countless other devotees of the Lord who are also ecstatic with devotion, other life forms like snakes, crows, birds, animals,the moon are in sky. The skies are filled with more such devotees all singing the praise of the Lord in different ways . And from thier midst comes the Lord "mahO uragigiri vAsa"dancing and smiling. Srinivasa is the Lord who resides in the Tirumala hills. During the Dwapara yuga it was called as "Sheshachala" and Dasaru is referring to this name here. He says 'maHO' as an adjective for the Lord. He is declaring the Supremacy of the Lord Srinivasa . This also shows that Dasaru wants to convey that Lord Srinivasa is the same Lord Narayana and that the forms of the Lord may appear different but His attributes are the same in all the forms.

taDamADa byADavo he nalla vAku lAlisuennoDeya

gOpAla viThThala deva paraku

aDi iDu bhaktavatsala shri lakuminalla

maDuvinolage gaja moreyiDalAkshane

maDadige hellade duDuduDune baMdu

hiDidu nakrana bAya kaDidu biDisidane

saDagaradali ramepoDavilodane bega

lAlisu- hearken to my words/listen

nalla - darling, lover, husband ;parraku - adulation ; prasie

" Oh my darling, please don't delay your arrival, please hearken to my words Oh my Lord Gopala vittala, please extend Your adorable feet into my heart. You are known for your excessive love for Your devotees inspite of being the darling husband of MAhalakshmi.You have proved this by rushing to the aid of Gajendra who called out in total surrender without even informing Mahalakshmi about it. You came in haste and cut the mouth of the crocodile which was causing distress to Your bhakta. Now I request You to come graciously but with haste accompanied by Ramadevi the mother of the world ."

Dasaru is begging the Lord to come quickly. He is using endearments and formal addresses to address the Lord. He says Your feet are adored by the pious sages, please give me a glimpse of those wonderful feet which has been the object of countless prasies in the scriptures. It is relevant to recollect that the thoughts of the lotus feet of the Lord has benefits galore for the devotee.

avismritiH krishNapadAraviMdayOH kshINOtyabhadrANi shamam tanOti cha

satvasya shuddiM paramAMcha bhaktim jNAnam cha vijNAnavirAgayuktam ||

It is said in the Bhagavtham that the incessant contemplation of the lotus-feet of Lord Krishna extinguishes all impediments in meditation. It purifies the mind and paves the path to permanent bliss. It inculcates deep devotion and transforms the general knowledge into settled knowledge coupled with detachment .

bhaktavatsala shri lakuminalla are two different names that Dasaru uses to call out to the Lord.Dasaru is comparing the love that Lord has for His devotees and Lakshmi devi in a naughty manner. He says though You are the beloved of Lakshmi, You are ready to come to Your devotees when they call out to You. Here vAtsalya - love for a younger one like father-son ; and nalla- love for a beloved , both terms are used to address the Lord. And in the next lines Dasaru is reminding the Lord that they are instances in the puranas where vAtsalya has taken the first place. But Dasaru is then requesting the Lord to come with His inseperable blissful consort who is free from all kinds of bondage or grief eternally and to make such a gracious entry into His heart without any further delay.

When a child wants a favour from his/her parents and is worried whether they may grant it or not , then the child tends to highlight instances of their granting the wishes to other siblings or cousins, so why not grant ours now. "You bought it for her, you took her along,.you allowed him to eat ice-cream that day...etc..etc.." are some tactics kids use to persuade thier parents to allow them to indulge in something delightful to them. Similarly Dasaru is reminding the Lord of His favours to Gajendra when he called for the Lord and begging Him to listen to his entreaties and honour him by coming in all haste.

Sri KrishnArpana mastu

I am not the doer ,Lord Hari is the doer.

R.Parimala