chiMte yAke mADuthiddi chinmayaniddAne

chiMtAratnaveMbo anaMtanidhAne

Sri Purandara Dasaru's beautiful devaranama on the futility of worry and anxiety when there is actually nothing to be gained from it.  People always undertake an activity to accomplish something worthy,and worry about its successful accomplishment, but as we  are all aware, it is absolutely useless to worry. Forecasting a gloomy future regarding what may happen or what may not happen is the usual scenario for most of us.

Dasaru gives one and all a reassurance about the Lord's benevolence in granting the wishes according to the eligibility of the soul . He says "Just as the chiMtamANi is a wonderful gem which can grant any wish to the one who possesses it, so also the Lord's name and presence on one's tongue and mind can grant any wish to the one who chants and thinks of Him. The possessor of the gem 'chiMtAmANi is none other than the Lord which is also befitting, because He is the original cause for the granting of ALL wishes, whosoever maybe the visible fulfiller or granter.

In these present times of financial unrest ,it is very necessary for us to maintain our peace of mind by understanding this concept that the Lord will take care and steer the path of the devotee in a way so as to improve the sadhana aspect always.

goptA trijagadvyAptA bhajakara Aptanenisi

staMbadalli prAptanAda prahlAda paramAptanidAne

He is anaMta- an infinitely powerful personality whereas the jiva is of an infnitesmal power and that too completely dependent entity. If one has a doubt regarding " How and why will the Lord know about the specific problems encountered by His individual devotees?"  To that Dasaru answers that He is extremely minute(gopta) and at the same time extremely huge(trijagadvyApta) and not just that but He is Apta(the refuge for His devotees). Contradicting attributes of large and tiny sit well with Him. He appears as He pleases. So one might have a doubt ,"Space is also there everywhere and it can be tiny inside a small container and huge in the atmosphere but it is not responsive to one's cries for help.What about the Lord?'

To that Dasaru says, He is "Apta" means He is ever ready to aid His devotee. Just being present is not His attribute, He is present and fully independent to act as He chooses. He always chooses to protect His true devotees. 

If one has thoughts of the many occassions when one has begged the Lord for a thing to happen or not to happen and the reverse occurred, Dasaru clarifies the position of a true devotee. He says, "An ideal devotee should be like Prahlada who did not even scringe when his father tried all the ways in the world to hurt his physical body." He never had a doubt about the Lord's presence and control. When Prahlad's father mockingly asked about the presence of the Lord in a pillar in his palace, Prahlad clearly assented to His presence without a doubt. When this statement of his devotee's was to be tested the Lord decided that He should appear.He showed the "Narasimha"  form of Himself and emerged with a loud roar which seered the heart of the enemy of His devotee. He is called as krodhaH in VSN because He shows His righteous anger to those who have committed severe injustice.

If one observes the Prahlada episode of the Bhagavatham carefully one can see that the ratio of the instances when Hiranyakashipu tried to commit attrocities against Prahlada were innumerable and notice that Prahalad did not feel dissappointment about the Lord's silence in this matter . He had a conviction that the events were directed by the Lord and though they appeared to be troubling him on the surface they were just events leading to the final anugraha.

This is the attitude that one should have regarding the discomforting events in our life. They are all events to be expereinced with the faith that they lead to better things in the long journey of the soul.

Dasaru says 'Anyway it is the Lord who is there controlling each and every inch of movement of body,mind,intellect and speech of every soul then what is the use of worrying."

eLLu moNeya muLLu koNeya biDade oLage horage

ella Davinalli lakuminallaniddAne prANi

He exists in the edge of a small grain of till and also on the edge of pointed thorn. The jiva is also very minute and the Lord exists inside the jiva too. Without any exemption He exists inside and outside of everything and is in the tiniest sub-atomic particles which cannot be cognised by human beings. But irresepective of the place or thing in which He exists ie irrespective of the size of the object ,He is always the provider of bliss to Lakshmi. He does this lovingly as He does  all the other things. The word 'nalla' shows the soft and pliant love of the Lord who by His benevolence gives to each that which makes them blissful.

He is everready to come to the aid of His devotee. Sri Jaganntha Dasaru  in the HKAS says :

kaNNigeve aMdadali kaimai tinnigodaguva teradi

palgalu hannu phalagalanagidu jihvege rasvIvaMte

puMya phalagala vIvaMdadali nuDiveNNinAMmAMDadolu

lakshmaNana aNNa odaguva bhakutara avasarake amaragaNa sahita ||2.27||

Dasaru tries to make us understand the timely protection provided by the Lord by giving different examples of the various organs of the body.

"Just as the eye lids are ever ready to safegaurd the eye by shutting them the instant there is a gust of wind or dust or a loud noise etc. A small signal of impending danger launches the autonomous nervous system to close the eye instantaneously. The hands rush to push away an ant or insect which may have climbed on the feet instantaneously . The teeth crush the fruits and provides the juice to the tongue for tasting. All these are leading to show the unselfishness as well as the ingrained natural attribute of the Lord's benevolence towards His devotees.

hiMde ninna salahidavarAru muMde ninna kolluvavarAru

aMdigiMdige gOviMdaniddAne prANi

Dasaru asks everyone to stop and think . He asks ," Who took care of you previously? Who will see that your life on earth comes to an end at the appropriate time?" He asserts that both these conflicting acts for a jiva are controlled entirely by the Lord. What does this previously mean?

It could mean - previous birth or any number of previous births or it could be in this birth when one was in womb of the mother, when one was a helpless baby in need of another person to care for every little need. If one thinks back then one feels the utter wonder worked by the Lord. He induces the feeling of love in the mother and father and makes them care for the baby willingly ,sacrificing many comforts for its well-being. He gives them the happiness of seeing the child grow and motivates them to provide a suitable environment to grow intellectually,physically and spiritually.

gOviMdA is a most apt address for the Lord here. Why? - The Lord  herded the cows early in the morning from the cowshed to the pastuer and back taking them in the correct direction all the time. Here Dasaru implies that He is the Lord who herds the jiva from the beginning of a brith to the end ,all the time inspiring it to perform karma that will take it in a certain set direction.

mukkaNNa devarkage sikkida sereya paridu

chikkavaMge achala padaviya dakkisidAne prANi

We have instances of different devathas being rescued by Paramatma. Shiva was rescued from Bhasmasura by Lord Vishnu who assumed the form of Mohini and challenged the demon to imitate all His dance moves. When the demon agreed the Lord as Mohini made him put his palm on his head itself thereby getting burnt to ashes before he could harm Shiva.

Indra was rescued by the Lord many a time. The story of Vritraasura, the story of Bali and others show how Indra was rescued by the Lord. Not only does He protect devotees ,He also sees that each one gets what they deserve as shown by the story of Dhruva. He was pleased with Dhruva's penance and devotion when even at a young age he ventured to the forest to please the Lord. He was given a permenant place as the ruler of the Dhruva nakshatraloka. "Dhruva' means that which is firm. True to his name Dhruva was firm in his resolve and overcame all obstacles in sadhana and thereby was bestowed an unshakable(achala),immortal position .

nAnu nannadeMbuda biTTu hIna vishayaMgala jaridu

jNAnagamya kAyO enalu pUrNaniddAne prANi

The Lord has said in the bhagavad gita that

"vihAya kAmAn yaH sarvAn pumAmscharati niHsprihaH

nirmamo nirahaMkaraH sa shaMtimadhigachchati || 2.71

"He who abjures all disallowed appetites and has overcome the feeling of me and mine in enjoying the legitimate objects alone and has the understanding that all that one enjoys is the abundance of the Lord attains eternal peace."

When Dasaru says that one has to pray to the Lord by glorifying Him as the one who is known by knowledge, who is the personification of knowledge and can be known only by the wise. Does it mean that the Lord is incompetent to disclose Himself to those who are not wise? Not at all!. Dasaru says that He is always complete and fully pUrna . He can do anything but He is just and ensures that everyone receives His due.

In one devaranama Sri Purandara Dasaru says,

huvva taruvara manege hulla taruva

avva lakumi ramaNa ivagilla garuva

paMdavara maneyolage......................................

saribAga koDuva tanna aramaneyolage"

"He gives every devotee a deserving position in Moksha."

suttali baMda duritagaleLLa kattarisi kaDidu hAkuva

hetta tAyi taMde tavaru hettiganiddAne prANi

If one says, " I am not worried about the future and moksha looks very far away. What about my day to day problems ?"

Dasaru says, " He gaurds the devotee all round. Anything detrimental to the devotee is cut off by the Lord. "

If one says ," I was struck with high fever and my mother took care of me. I had some problems in the office and my father gave me timely advice. Everytime there is a problem someone helps me. It is always those who are my relatives and friends who help and it is not God who helps me."

To that Dasaru says, "O prANi , who created your father,mother and other relations?"

Dasaru gives us an alert by asking us to reflect on our own situation in life. Did we choose our parents?  Did we choose where we were to be born and did we choose who should be our brother or sister ? ........The list is endless. If we contemplate on these questions, the answer that the Lord is behind all these becomes evident.

Every relative, every friend is there for us in times of need because the Lord gives the prerane to the person to go and help. The feeling of me and mine stops us from recoginising the hand of God in everything. It is only when we understand that

"nAham karta hari karta....."

"I am not the doer, Lord Hari is the doer." and implement it slowly into our everyday life ,that we can slowly begin to understand His overlordship in all actions of the world.

ballida bhajakara hrudayadalli niMtu puraMdara viTTala

sollasolligavara bayake sallisuttidAne prANi

The shvetAshwara upanishad says

'ekO dEva sarva bhutEshu guDaH sarvavyApI sarvabhUtAMtarAtma

karmAdyakshaH sarvalOkAdivAsaH sAkshi chetO kevalo nirguNashcha ||

The Lord is the only independent one, who resides in the the heart lotus of all the jivas and is thier antaratma controlling every action, who exists everywhere and is the sakshi for all the actions, is bereft of all prakritic guNas that is the cause of bondage ,inspite of being existent in each and every subatomic particles of the universe."

In line with the above, Dasaru calls the people who do upasana of the Lord as described above fully aware of thier total dependence all the time as 'ballida bhajakaru".

Dasaru finally concludes ." To those who have shed thier ego and accept wholeheartedly every expereince sent by the Lord as gift, who tolerate hardships as those that have to expereinced without complaining, who enjoy the good things of life as gifts of God to them the Lord discloses Himself in thier heart lotus . He fuffills thier every wish without a doubt . Such is the benevolence of the Lord Purandara viTTala."

As Jagannatha Dasaru says,

biTTavara bhavapAshadiMdali kaTTuvanu bahukaTinaniva

sishTeshTaneMdanavarata satbhakthipAshadali

kaTTuvara bhavakaTTu biDisuva siTTinava ivanalla

kAmadakoTTu kAvanu sakala soukya iha paraMgalali

" Those who have left the Lord, ie who do not acknowledge His independence, He ties them in tight knots of bondage without any feeling of pity. He is not one to get angry unless it is absolutely called for. Those who understand that He loves His devotees and are always devoted to Him are released from bondage and also bestows such a person's wish both in this world and the next."