kAyo sri nArasimhA  by Gopala Dasaru

Gopala Dasaru was a great haridasa who gave away 40 years of his lifespan to his disciple Sri Jagannatha Dasaru whose life was about to end. He did this on the instructions of his guru Sri Vijaya Dasaru who appeared at the scene which was taking place in Tirupathi. Gopala Dasaru instantly obeyed the instructions and Srinivasa the purva name of Jagannatha Dasaru was brought back to life. His compositions are heart rending as they are filled with devotion and constant awareness of TIME. In this devuru nama he is calling out to Lord Narasimha the controller of Rudra who is in charge of destruction to save His devotees. It might have been sung after he knew of Jaganatha Dasaru's sickness and was praying for his disciple.

In the pallavi and anupallavi, Dasaru is approaching the Lord for complete protection by praising the Lord and singing His glories.

In the first and second charanams, Dasaru  alternately pleads(dasyam), accuses and threatens(sakya) the Lord. These are different components of the bhakthi .

In the third charanam he accepts that he has delayed in seeking the Lord's grace because of his ignorance. Then with great emotional outburst he  asks for an explanation from the Lord regarding why He has left him to be in ignorance all this while .

In the fourth and fifth Dasaru is praising Lord Narasimha using the words appropriate for that great avatar.

It is a thanksgiving, after experiencing the Lord's grace .  His choice of words for the description of the Lord in the last stanza are flowery which gives an impression of majestic Grace and compassion. He finally describes the Lord as the sustainer of life in the world indicating that the Lord has sustained his disciple's life too.

kAyo sri nArasimhA

kAyo jaya nArasimhA kAyo 

kAyo means to guard at all times. Dasaru is entreating Lord Narasimha to guard/protect the bhakta at all times. Guards are hired by men to ward off intruders, thieves etc from entering the house. Here Dasaru is asking the Lord to prevent the intruder called death from snatching the sadhana shareera before he has an opportunity to use it fully. The owner of the premises is the authority who takes measures to guard it too. Gopala dasaru says that we have to acknowledge that the Lord is the owner of this sadhana shareera and that only HE can guard it against all forms of intruders like the jara(old age),vyadhi(disease) and mrityu(death). Dasaru is implying surrender of body first as a requirement for the Lord's grace.

trayambakadyamarEsha bhayaaMdha

timira marthAMda sri nArasimhA kAyo

ambaka -eyes 

timira - darkness/gloom

mArthanDa - sun

"Oh immortal Lord and the Lord of other immortal kings(devatas) and the controller of the three eyed devata(Rudra). Just as the sun dispels gloom, darkness and fearing by shining on all things and making us aware or giving us knowledge about our surroundings , so also You dispel the fear and darkness of

death on Your favoured devotees by granting them the light of knowledge. "

Acharya Madhva describes the glories of Lord Narasimha in a similar way.

narasimhOkilAjnanamatadwantadivAkaraH

jayatyamitasujNAnasukhashaktipayOnidhiH II

Lord Narasimha is the brilliant sun who drives away the darkness called ignorance and brings in victory, right knowledge, happiness,valour,strength because He is the infinite treasure house of all these sadgunas.

gOra akala mruthyu mIri baralu kaMDu

dheera ni bidasad inyArO sri nArasimhA kAyo

The disease that plagued Srinivasa (Jagannatha dasaru) was threatening to finish his life before he could become a haridasa and submit his life's works to the Lord. So Dasaru is singing this : akAla mrithyu means death that comes before the time . Inspite of everything that Srinivasa was doing (he had done seva at Mantralaya and Tirupathi ) but inspite of all this impending death seemed to haunt him. So Dasaru is pleading with the Lord Narasimha saying,"When you can see the untimely death approaching your bhakta, if You ,Oh valourous Lord, do not save your bhakta from this dire situation, then who will ? ,please show your grace and care for your bhakta , Oh Lord Narasimha."

It is also pertinent that one should ask of You this favour because You are the controller of Rudra who is the devata of destruction.

prabalOthama nI nenisi abalara kayadiralu

subalaru kaMDu mecchuvarEno nArasimhA kAyo

prabalOthama- supreme/sarvothama

Among all the chetanas/achetanas in the world ,Vishnu is supreme. Among all the gods, Vishnu is supreme. This has been established by the Lord, so says Dasaru.  It is relevant to note that there are various incidents/ quotations from the scriptures that show this. In the BG 15 , Lord Krishna says:

dwAvimou purushou loke ksharascha akshara Eva cha

kshara sarvAni bhutAni kUtasto akshara uchyate II 15.16

uttamaH purushaH stvanyaH paramAtme atyudAhritah

yo lOkatrayam Avishya bhibhartyavyaya IshwaraH II 15.17

There two types of beings, those with perishable bodies and those with imperishable bodies. All beings from Brahma downwards have perishable bodies . Mahalaksmi has an imperishable body.

I am the supreme personality who is different from these two categories and I exert my sway on all the three worlds and am called as "Ishwarah".

In the eleventh chapter Arjuna says:

pitAsi lokasya charAcharasya tvamasya pujyashcha gururgariyAn

na tvatsmOastyabyahikaH kuthOnyO lokatryepyapratimaprabhava  II 11.43

"You are the father of this existence of the animate and the inanimate. You are the Supreme celebrated Preceptor of this world. You are highly honoured. There is none who can compete with you, none who can come near to being your equal , where can there be one in the three worlds to outstrip you? Your lordliness has no peer."

Dasaru is speaking to the Lord in the present tense as one would if the opposite party was present there. This shows the proximity of Dasaru to the Lord. He could feel the presence of the Lord.

Dasaru says," Being the strongest of the strong and the most powerful you should protect your bhakta at all times, (Subalaru means those with good strength ie the strength of knowledge, otherwise you will be the target of ridicule among the people of high learning .) People of high learning who have studied the scriptures and have an understanding of Your unlimited compassion, definitely want to experience it. Otherwise would not the faith of these people be shaken? "

Dasaru  pleads with the Lord to protect his devotee as it is natural for the strong to protect the weak. He has already glorified the Lord as "prabalOthama" the strongest of the strong and has classified the devotee as abala-weak.Here weakness is related to the physical contraints, mental constraints natural for any jeeva. But unlike other jeevas, the devotee is special,he has the backing of His ishTa deva to call on when he needs help and Dasaru is doing just that.

jNAna shoonyana nAgi nA ninna marethare

enna ni mareviyEno pElo sri nArasimhA /(neenu marathedeko pElo jaya nArasimhA)

Dasaru says," The knowledge about Your infinite Grace and compassion has been obscured by You and I have forgotten you. But what I cannot fathom seems to have happened. You have forgotten me. But this is not possible as you don't forget your devotee. Please tell me the reason why you have forsaken me, Oh Lord Narasimha."

It is relevant to recall the various incidents in the scriptures where the Lord comes to the assistance of his devotees.

Droupadi mana raksha, gajendra moksha, prahlada varada ....

Lord Krishna says ,"mamah prAnah hi pAndavaH" His devotees ,the pandavas are dear to him and are His very life.

Dasaru analysis the Lord's behaviour.  He is quite sure that there must be a strong reason for making him wait to receive Grace and asks the Lord to tell him the reason . We should note that all things happen for a reason, it may be sudden for us, but the Lord pre-planned it to convey something to us. We need to take things as they come and reflect on the situation and pray for the Lord's grace and protection. Here Dasaru is not praying for anything specific ie with an intention to fulfill his wish but he just says repeatedly,"Please protect." Dasaru is not saying that he should be given a long life or good health etc. He is only seeking the Lord's grace. 

bhesshanane subhadra dosha mrutyuge mruthyu

sushumna nADi sthita vibhuvE sri nArasimhA kAyo

"Oh Lord Narasimha, You are the most powerful/forceful . Your thoughts reach accomplishment

instantly, such is the strength of your thought. (It is told by Sri VedaVyasa in the Bhagavatham that the Lord creates the entire universe with just a wish-ichcha mAtram prabhOh srishtiH).  You are the most powerful and your enemies quake with fear upon hearing Your name. 

You are the most auspicious one. You are completely full of infinite good attributes. If one needs to become auspicious one needs to just chant your name and You grant them purity of mind and body. 

Bheeshma says in the Mahabharata before chanting the VSN

pavitrAnAm cha pavitram yO mangalAnAm cha mangalam I

You have no doshas. Doshas and gunas are mutually exclusive. For example, if a person is generous, he cannot be a miser at the same time. The Lord is full of auspicious attributes and hence it is natural that He is devoid of any defects. 

Acharya Madhva has stressed this repeatedly stressed this in most of his granths. In the Vishnu tatva Nirnaya he says ,

 sadAgamaikavigneyam smathItha ksharAksharam

nArayanam sada vaMde nirdosha ashesha sadgunaM II

In Geetha tAtparya he says ,".....sarvadosha vivarjitham...." in the mangalacharana sloka .

Dasaru says," Oh Lord , you are Death for the Lord of Death."

 This is because when the time comes for the dissolution of the world the Lord swallows the entire world including Rudra who is the devata for destruction. He also swallows Yama who is incharge of inflicting punishment for wicked deeds and is the devata ,incharge of terminating the lifetime of all embodied beings.

In the BG 10.34 Lord Krishna says " mruthyuH savaharaschAhaM..... " "I am Mruthyu, moving in him by this name, the outright destroyer."

There are 3 prominent nADis out of a total of 72000 in our body. They are the iDa, pingala and sushumna. Of these sushumnA is in the centre and takes a straight path from the base of the spine to the top of the head where the baby's soft spot(sahasrAra)  is usually located, right along the spinal column. All the six chakras or energy centres inside the body are located along this nADi. In order to awaken the kuNDalini energy lying dormant at the base of the spine which enables the yogi to reach samADhi when it moves upwards and reaches the 7th chakra called sahasrAra, it is essential to have Lord Narasimha's grace. The jeeva which is in its charma shareera and is ready to go to moksha traverses through this nADi while leaving the body. The Lord Narasimha is the controller of this nADi . By describing the Lord like this Dasaru is signifying his exceptional prowess, great might and supremacy in all matters pertaining to the jeeva. Dasaru observes that one with the grace of Lord Narasimha will surely be allowed to traverse this path. So it is evident that we have to seek the grace of the Lord not only for averting untimely death, but for acquiring knowledge and thereby freedom from the shackles of old age, disease and also for severance from bondage. 

In HKAS 9.20 Jagannatha Dasaru talks about the eight forms of the Lord situated in the heart lotus which is in the sushumna nADi.

VAsavAnuja rEnukAthmaja dAsharathi vrujijanArthanamilaja 

lAshayAlaya hayavadana shrI kapila narasimha

Esu rupadalivaravara samthOshabhadisitha nithyakhamaya 

vAsavAgiha hruthkamaladolu bimbanendenisi 

Indra's brother Upendra, Parashurama, Rama, Janardana, MAtsya, Hayavadana, Shri Kapila, Narasimha are the eight forms of the Lord situated in heart lotus. The Lord is the bimba of the jeeva and bestows happiness on the jeeva.

bAla tA karadAga/pAlamunniragara padume manOhara

gopala viTTala jagathpAla jaya nArasimhA kAyo

Agara - ashraya -shelter

pAla -share or part

muni - mananasheela- one who has silenced his mouth and has opened his mind to God

The Lord is the disburser of benefits as per the deeds. He gives the correct share of happiness, grief , wealth, poverty , power, slavery etc to each and every jeeva keeping a perfect account of all the contributing factors namely -anAdi karma, swabhava. He is the shelter for the munis. Those who contemplate on Him are given a place of shelter in His abode. He is the Lord who gives happiness to Mahalakshmi. He is svaramaNa and does not need anyone or anything to be happy, but is always happy. Dasaru is praying to Lord Gopala Vittala as the one who takes care of the whole world. The caretaker of the whole world, means He will take care of His devotee who is a sub subset of the world.

In the last stanza Dasaru has glorified the Lord as the provider of shelter, the disburser of justice,the giver of happiness, the giver of knowledge, the giver of all kinds of wealth,power, the giver of protection to the world.