We can experience Purandara Dasaru's poetic skills in expressing the omnipotence of the Lord in yet another beautiful devurunama . Dasaru says," If one asks, How do we identify God? To that he answers ," God is the supreme entity(para) with His infinte attributes and is always blissful. "

In the scriptures the Lord has been described in innumerable ways. Sometimes He is so huge as in Trivikrama rupa and sometimes so small as inside a trinajiva like bacteria. Sometimes He is described as the mischeivious little body of Nanda and Yashoda and sometimes as the steady upholder of dharma as in Ramaavatar. Sometimes He is the asking alms as in Vamana rupa and He is giving sampat as to Sudhama. Sometimes He is asking for the butter churned by the Gopis and at other times He provides the akshaya pAtra to Draupadi. Dasaru is stating this when He opens the Devuru nama with "Ako hAngihAna iko hIngihAna". He is the one who is the Supreme personality and One who can have ambiguous artributes without them causing Him any kind of chtuti or harm. (Acchuta)

How can one know the Parabrahma ,Narayana? is the question posed in the second line of the pallavi. In the first line itself Dasaru has introduced the Lord as one who is like this in one place and like that in another place. The word para means Supreme, brahma- completely blissful, and nArayana has any number of meanings. Let's consider the meaning - One who is the store house of infinite auspicious attributes . Dasaru is highlighting the fact that even if one says that He is like this or He is like that ,it does not in anyway hamper His identity as "The Supreme, blissful Lord who is devoid of defects and full of auspiciousness." It is because He is the cause for everything.

ako hAMgihAna iko hIngihAna

parabrahma nArAyana hyAngihAn eMdarE

ako is used to refer to far away things and iko to things at hand. So here Dasaru is using ako to mean the leelas of the Lord as described in the sciptures , the doings of the Lord through His creation is referred to with "iko". Understanding the Lord as All-pervasive is just as important as knowing that He is the antaryami of every jiva and is the preraka for all life's activities.

There is a verse in TalavakArOpanishad/kEnopanishad which echoes something like this. Brahma tells Sadashiva about the central theme of the upanishad which is "God regulates all.God directs all our activities and God is inifinite and cannot be comprehended fully by anyone."

He says,"

anyadEva taddwiditAdathO aviditAdadhi

iti shushruma pUrvEshAm yEnastadyAchchkshire ||4||

He is distinct from the known and distinct from the unknown. He is supreme. Thus we have heard from the ancients "

kAlillade neDasuva kaiyillade hiDisuva

hallilade tinisuva hoTTillade unisuva

Dasaru is making the philosophy come alive by giving examples of the ways in which He directs different life forms. Dasaru exclaims about the variety of ways in which He directs.

"He makes creatures move without legs -fish,snakes , He makes creatures carry things without hands - birds,insects . He makes creatures eat without any teeth - turtles , He makes creatures eat without having any grains implying that He feeds everyone with thier own karmaphala."

In this charanam the karmEndriyas of different beings are manipulated by the Lord through Mukyapranadevuru to have different abilities suited to the appropriate habitat.

The last one is the general description that He is the controller of all jivas and decides where each one has to be born and how he/she should use his limbs. Of the organs discussed the first three are physical organs and the fourth instance is special because refers to the object of the sense rather than the sense's use. Teeth for eating has been mentioned, so why did Dasaru mention being fed again. It is clear that He is speaking about the Lord's all encompassing role in the journey of a jiva on all its travails.

Purandara Dasaru says in another devurunama

avaraavara yOgyate aritu prerakanAgi

avariMda nuDisi nuDi nuDige higgi

avarigOlida namma puraMdara viTTala

"Knowing the competence of each jiva in performing sadhana, He makes them do, being their inner regulator and then is pleased with thier effort and showers His GRACE on them."

Kanaka Dasaru says 'enjala Unisuva" meaning that the Lord provides the experience of the fruits of the prArabdha karma.

kannillade kAnisuva kiviillade kElisuva

kannige kAnisadaMte olage horege tumbiruva

kAnisu - to show oneself

kAnisu - to present or reveal

kAnisuva is used to mean that He shows and we see.

Anything that we see with these eyes also are due to the Grace of God. The conditions for an object to be seen are : a good healthy eye, an object, light and the mind to cognize the image. All these are controlled by the Lord. So whenever we use our senses we are experiencing the Grace of the Lord. The continuous experience of visualising Him in every object is possible only if He decides to show Himself.

The TalavakArOpanishad says,

"na tatra chakshurgachaMti na vAg gachaMti na manaH

na vijNya na vijAnImO yathaitadanushishyAt ||3||

There, the eye does not go, the speech does not go nor the mind goes. We do not know, we do not understand how He regulates them and gives the experience to the jiva. (Here them is Mukyapranadevuru, the tatvabimAni devataas of the indriyas )

kiviillade kElisuva means one can hear the primordial sound in ones mind without the aid of the external ear when one is tuned to the Lord. The Lord is the primary meaning of the "omkAra". He is not discernable by the external ear but if the Lord wills He will let the jiva experience it during meditation.

Then Dasaru says ,' kannige kAnisadaMte olage horage tumbiruva"

"Without being visible to the eye, He exists and pervades internally as well as externally."

The IShAvasya upanishad says,

" IshAvAsyam idam sarvam yat kiMcha jagatyAm jagat |

tEna tyaktEna bhuMgitAH mA gridhaH karya sviddanam || 1||

"This whole world is pervaded by the Supreme ruler. This world is located in Prakrithi - the primordial matter which is in turn dependent on the Lord. Hence, be content with what has been given by the Supreme God. Do not seek anything from anyone else. (The others, not being masters of either themselves or anything else, cannot offer you anything on thier own."

He exists inside as antaryAmi and is the director and controller of all thoughts and actions of every jiva. So it follows that any encounter between two jivas can never happen without Him initiating the encounter. So once He decides to give an expereince to a jiva none can avert it . similarly if He decides not to given an expereince to a jiva then none can make it happen.

He is inside does not in anyway effect His omnipotence. He exists in innumerable forms in all jivas and jadas but all the forms have innumerable auspicious attributes and are not different from each other.

kyAta vaikuMtadalli niMtu nAtha puraMdara viTTala

In the last verse Dasaru is giving a brief idea of where one can experience the Lord. It has already been said that He is everywhere, then why talk about specific places - ananthaAsana , shwEthadweepa and vaikuMta . It is because these are the abodes where the jiva can actually experience the presence of the Lord as descirbed. In samsaara the full impact of these statements that "He exists everywhere is not felt" but in these three lokas reserved for those who have crossed this bondage, they can feel the true impact.

Purandara Dasaru in His gadya describing the Lord says ,"anaMtha jIva niyamaka "

The BG chapter 15 says ,'sarvasya chAham hriddi sannivishTo matta smritir jnAnamam apOhanam cha ..."

Lord Krishna says ,' I reside the heart of all jivas and regulate thier memory....."

ananthaAsana can refer to this. That He occupies infinite seats in the hearts of infinite jivas.

shwethA means sAtvika -white. dweepa means island.

Being in the midst of the samsaara the jeevan mukta remains untouched by it like an island of purity and he is a person whose mind is pure and has got antakarNashuddi, so that person can feel the presence of the Lord and experience His presence too.

Another meaning is the subtle world where there is entry only for the muktha jIvas. In the "prAtah saMkalpa gadya" Sri Raghavendra theertharu says," vaikuMTastita , anaMtAsana stitah, shwEthadweepa stitah, sarvajeevasthitah " to name the exquisite kindoms of the Lord.

In the Purusha sookta also the Lord is descibed as the One appearing in three rUpas in the three heavenly abodes - tripAdasya amritham divi |"

The import of this deuvurnama is that one should continuosly strive to discover the glory fo the Lord's presence in every creature, however insignificant or minor, and one should remember His vibhuthi at all times. His prerane is the cause for everything. So why hanker after anything at all. If the Lord wants one to have it, His will will be done, If the Lord doesn't want one to have it then also the Lord's will will be done. Instead of worrying about what will happen and what has happened, one should spend one's life on discovering the glory of the Lord through His creation as well as through the scriptures. At the same time the duty entrusted to one depending on his station in life has to be done to the best of one's ability and dedicated to the Lord with the inner anusandana that He is the doer and we are the instruments.