DEIVATHIN KURAL # 169 (Vol # 6) Dated 10 May 2013
DEIVATHIN KURAL # 169 (Vol #
6) Dated 10 May 2013
(These e-mails are
translations of talks given by PeriyavaaL of Kanchi Kaamakoti Peetam, over a
period of some 60 years while he was the pontiff in the earlier part of the
last century. These have been published by Vanadi Padippagam, Chennai, in seven
volumes of a thousand pages each as Deivathin Kural. Today we are going ahead
from page No 1166 of Volume 6 of the Tamil original. The readers may note that
herein ‘man/he’ includes ‘woman/she’ too mostly. These e-mails are all
available at http://Advaitham.blogspot.com updated
constantly)
கவிதை விரும்பும் கண்கள்
The Eyes that Love Poetry
891. AmbãL's eyes have been directly related to poetry
while writing the next sloka No 50: -
कवीनां संदर्भस्तबकमकरन्दैकरसिकं
kaveenaam sandarbha stabaka makarandaikarasikam
कटाक्षव्याक्षेप भ्रमर कलभौ कर्णयुगलम् |
kataaksha vyaakshepa bhramara kalabou karNayugalam |
अमुन्चन्तौ दृष्ट्वा तव नवरसास्वादतरलौ
amunchantou drushtvã tava navarasãswãda
taralou
असूयासंसर्गादलिकनयनं किन्चिदरुणं ||
asooyã samsargãdalika nayanam kinchidaruNam ||
892. Now, let us look at the meaning of the sloka! तव = your कर्णयुगलम् = two ears which are keen
on the
कवीनां = poets'; संदर्भ स्तबक = literary
bouquets'; मकरन्दैकरसिकं = singular fragrance; कटाक्ष व्याक्षेप भ्रमर कलभौ = the two baby beetles (of
the right and left eyes) which in the pretext of glancing at them (are repeatedly going and); अमुन्चन्तौ =
grasping those ears; नव रस आस्वाद तरलौ = being interested in fact in the whole range of nine different
dramatic ethos; दृष्ट्वा = looking at them; अलिक नयनं = the third eye; असूया संसर्गात् = being affected by
jealousy; किन्चिद अरुणं = has a bit of a reddish
tinge! "What is this 'Asooyai' –
anger and jealousy that Swami is talking about in the august presence of AmbãL?
Who is jealous of whom?" "That?
Within her eyes the third one is jealous of the other two. 'Alikam' is the fore head and 'Alika Nayanam'
is the third eye located there. That is
what is jealous with the other two eyes and so is, 'kinchit' – a little, 'aruNam'
– reddish.
893. Wondering
as to why that eye is red, normally poets would conclude that for AmbãL who has
the Sun, Moon and Agni as her eyes, the third eye being the 'Agni Netram', it
has to be reddish. But such a conclusion
is not so very correct. If this eye
representing the 'Agni' has to be red, then the other two eyes also have to
have some special sign of Sun and the Moon, isn't it? The right eye has to be hot and bright, while
the left one should be cool and subdued, in that case! But they are very similarly showering benign
nectar of her grace equally on the whole world!
So, the excuse that because it is of the 'Fire' it has to be reddish, is
not very acceptable! Whatever the
ordinary poets might have proffered as the reason for this, our ÃchãryãL is
giving some other logic. What is that?
894. "To
start with all the three eyes were of the same colour as the black 'KuvaLai'
flowers. Now only the eye in the
'Lalãtam' is red, because of jealousy and anger! When you are jealous the face gets reddened,
isn't it? That is what has happened to
the third eye. Not just some feeling of 'asooyai'
in passing, but intense feelings of jealousy and so it is red!" "If you just say so, is that the end of
it? The eye at the 'Lalãtam' is supposed
to be the 'Gnaana Chakshus' or the Eye of Wisdom and Awareness. If such an eye was to feel jealousy and
disgust and if you make such a statement; you have to prove your point with
supporting logic and evidence and then only such an averment can be accepted!" "Is that all? It can easily be proved that the third eye
felt jealousy towards the other two eyes, since that is how our ÃchãryãL has
written this sloka."
895. When
great litterateurs compose and sing in praise of AmbãL she listens to them
attentively. Since she is an avid
enthusiast of literary nuances, it seems as though the ears have taken a life
of their own imbibing these paeans of praise.
The phrase 'kaveenãm sandarbha:' means the suitable circumstance in
which many of the conditions are fittingly appropriate as the word means a
combination of 'weaving, collecting and uniting'. So, as related to poetry the characters,
events, varied pathos, imagination, words, phrases, rhyme and rhythm come
around so fittingly, that it can also be termed as 'sandarbha'. Such well-coordinated poems are put together
to make a bouquet of flowers by poets it seems, known as 'stabakam'. If it is a
bouquet of flowers there has to be 'makarandam' and honey from it isn't it? From such a bouquet of flowers of such
poetical-collection has to be the nine different ethos, pathos, feelings and
emotions known as 'nava-rasa' of nine different feelings in Sanskrit. For this man Mr Ear, this is the only food
for sustenance 'मकरन्दैकरसिकं', paraphrased as 'मकरन्द+एक + रसिकं', which
Mr Ear loves most as the only preferred diet!
896. On an earlier occasion the poet has made use of the
same phrase 'मकरन्दैकरसिकं' in sloka No 38, when he was
describing the Siva – Shakti 'dampati' as a swan-couple, were said to enjoy the
honey that springs from the lotus of Gnãna known as 'samvid', when he said 'samun meelat
samvid kamala makarandaika rasikam' – 'समुन मीलत संविद कमल मकरन्दैकरसिकं'. Here talking about the fact that they drink
the honey of poetical brilliance of literary maestros, he has called AmbãL's
ears as 'कर्ण युगळं'. So the question arises as to what is the
importance of these ears when we are mainly talking about the eyes? There are valid reasons for this special
importance for the ears.
897. What
type of eyes are these right and left eyes of AmbãL's? They are defined as 'காதளவோடியவை' or said to be 'running
up to the ears' and in Sanskrit they are 'कर्णान्त विश्रान्त नेत्रं'! That is, these two eyes of AmbãL are such that they
seem to run and touch the ears on either side and take a break there! If you over reach and just happen to touch a
cup full of honey, what is likely to happen?
Most likely it will topple and you will end up licking them up, a job
that once started will never be finished, isn't it? So the eyes are totally engrossed in drinking
that nectar, enjoying the literary nuances, refusing to move away from the ears
with such loyal adherence, is what is described as 'amunchantou'! What the eyes have done is to send the pupils
to the very corners and note that one of the meanings of pupil is an
adherent! They are black beetle babies –
'भ्रमरं'. In Sri Sailam the name of AmbãL is 'bramarãmbika' – 'भ्रमराम्बिका', because, the Daddy there is as the Jasmine flower known as
'Mallika Arjuna Swami'! She wishes to
keep going round and round hovering about the 'मल्लिकार्जुनस्वामि' so that she can keep drinking the honey, that is,
the nectarine honey of 'Siva Ãnanda'! In
the second line here the poet uses the phrase, 'भ्रमर कलभौ', meaning
a pair of 'baby beetles'. (Between the
honey-bees and the beetles, there is no difference in their avidity for drinking
the honey from the flowers. While the bees
store the honey the others do not!) The
poet calls them small baby beetles because only in such young age one can keep on
eating or drinking to the level of over doing it. Since the eyes of AmbãL and especially the
darlings are so keen in drinking the poetical honey, the poet calls them 'baby
beetles'!
898. AmbãL
does one trick here. She has a
responsibility to balance out the extremities of human desires and sins. In-between her duty periods only, she has to
find time for listening to music and literary classics. So she does some sleight, so that it will be
a side-long glance of benefit for the worlds as, 'Katãksha Amrita' while
simultaneously she will be listening-in to 'kavita rasa' cleverly hiding the
second fact. That is what is meant, when
the poet says, 'कटाक्ष व्याक्षेप' – in which, the first
part is 'Katãksha', which means 'side-long-glance' and in Tamil it is 'கடைக்கண்
பார்வை', which you may sometime see the birds
using. In fact there is greater value in
doing anything a little indirectly and instead of being blatant about it. Of course, I am not talking about doing
things stealthily! There is a proverb
which says that 'your left hand should not know what your right hand has given',
so as not to embarrass the receiver's sensibilities! So also the devotee prays for her 'Katãksha' only.
899. AmbãL
says, "That is very good", as that will enable me to simultaneously
take care of my devotees also as well as enjoy the literary embellishments and
nuances! Here this word 'vyãjam' has
been so used to mean that 'she is tending to enjoy the finer points of poets' literary
nuances, tasting the wine of literary 'rasa', in the pretext of giving 'Katãksha'
to the devotees. This is the liberty
taken by the poet here, that is, our ÃchãryãL!
But in fact the truth is the other way around! We should consider this more as her refined
capacity for appreciating literature that in the pretext of enjoying
literature, she grants immense benefits to her devotees! In fact one of the
names of hers as per Lalitha Sahasranãma is that she is 'avyãja karuNã murthy' –
'अव्याज करुणा मूर्ति' – meaning that she is the
epitome of compassion who does sanction her largesse without
making it a quid pro quo! OK, all this
is alright, what is the matter about the 'Asooyai' of the third eye?
900. Only
the right and left eye are elongated and run up to the ears and in the pretext
of 'Katãksha' are able to enjoy the 'Kãvya Rasa' of the poets. This eye of Lalãtam on the other hand is fixed
static and can only look up vertically along the Seamantham! No chance of its coming anywhere near the
ears. Though so many poets may be singing
in praise of Easwara flooding the ears, we can have no share of them at
all! While these two other eyes are virtually
inebriated all the time, we cannot touch even a drop of it! That is its complaint and so it is jealous and
annoyed and hence the reddish hue of the eye.
No Agni Netra or shetra! It is
just pure and simple jealousy!
901. That
so many poets may be singing praise of Easwara just happened to come out of my
mouth. There is no basis in this sloka
for making such a statement. Later in
sloka No 66 there is a mention of Saraswathi playing on the VeeNa about the
various exploits of Pasupathi – 'vivdham apadãnam pasupate:' – 'विविधं अपदानं पशुपते:'. That sloka deserves
to be spoken of in more detail in its turn then. Now itself, I may as well talk a little about
the other sloka No 60, that is not describing how AmbãL is appreciating
Saraswathi's playing on the VeeNa but, about how Saraswathi is appreciating the
spoken words of AmbãL!
902. That
sloka (No 60) starts with two 'Lahari' words, as "saraswathya: sukti:
amritalahari kousalahari:" – "सरस्वत्या: सूक्ति: अमृत
लहरी कौसलहरी:"! Already we have seen Ãnanda Lahari, Soundarya
Lahari, Chidãnanda Lahari and Sringãra Lahari and now two more seem to be
joining here! Amongst these only 'Amrita
Lahari' is genuine Lahari while the other is only a word play to make it look
like a Lahari! That phrase is not 'cousa'
+ 'lahari' but 'cousala' + 'hari'. Let
us look at word to word meaning of the sloka.
It starts with - सरस्वत्या: but this word ' सरस्वत्या:' is not the subject of the sentence. In re-paraphrasing this ' सरस्वत्या:' is followed by 'kundalagana:' in the third line, meaning the
'ear-studs' with its pendant 'lolãk', which is shaking and approving AmbãL's
speech. It is AmbãL's speech which is so
sweet that it is defeating even the flow of Amrita by superior cleverness – 'कौसलहरी: -
defeated by kushalata'.
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva
Labels: posted by Lt Col KTSV Sarma
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