श्रीशङ्कराचार्यविरचितषट्पदीस्तोत्रम्
HYMNS
OF THE SIX-FOOTED
of
SHREE SHANKARAACHAARYA
INTRODUCTION
This is a beautiful collection of verses composed by
Shree Aadi Shankara BhagavatPaada. It is named ‘SHATPADEE STOTRAM’,
SHAT-PADEE:
Shat-padee means ‘one with six feet’!
Bee is a Shat-padee!
A sentence can have six words and be a Shat-padee!
Poetry can have six verses and be a Shat-padee!
Mind and the five senses
together make the six-feet of an embodied soul; so a man who has a mind and
five senses to act through is a Shat-padee!
THE HYMNS:
This collection of hymns is
the most wonderful Sanskrit composition ever written.
Shankara was not just a
knower and a teacher. He was a Sanskrit scholar. He could within seconds
compose a text on any topic in Sanskrit. But he was not interested in showing
off his abilities in writing some imaginary faulty poetry and pleasing the
kings or the populace. His works were aimed at removing the false belief
systems of the people and he did it tirelessly till the end of his earthly
existence!
However just to prove that he
could use both ‘Alamkaaras’ (figures of speech –Shabda/ Artha –
phonetic/word-meaning ) in a single poem,
he composed these hymns.
ALAMKAARA:
Like ornaments adorn the
limbs, figures of speech adorn the poetry; hence the term ‘Alamkaara’
Figure of speech related to
sound is ‘Shabda Alankaara’; related to meaning is ‘Artha Alankaara’.
Usually poets use one
‘Alankaara’ in their compositions to prove their scholarliness.
For example, repeating a
consonant again and again is known as ‘Anupraasa’ (Alliteration).
Shankara uses them in many of
his works.
But in the SHATPADEE STOTRAM
he excels all the poets in his scholarliness by using both Alamkaaras.
SHATPADEE STOTRAM:
The verses of this poem can
be understood in three ways.
If you just read the verses
loudly, the phonetic effect of the verses gives you the story of the bee in
search of the honey; how it found a lotus; and how it drowned in the honey.
If you just take the literal
word meanings, these verses extol the greatness of Lord Naaraayana and make a
beautiful devotional poetry.
If you understand the
suggested meanings hidden in the words, the verses describe the greatness of
Self-Knowledge and guide a ‘seeker after liberation’ towards his goal of
Self-state.
श्रीशङ्करप्रणीतषट्पदीस्तोत्रम्
I
अविनयमपनय विष्णो दमय
मनः शमय विषयमृगतृष्णां
भूतदयां विस्तारय तारय
संसारसागरतः ||1||
Hey
Vishnu! Remove the impoliteness!
Control
the Mind!
Subdue
the mirage of ‘Thirst for pleasures’!
Increase
the compassion for all the beings!
Take
me across the ocean of worldly existence!
WORD MEANINGS:
अविनय– Impoliteness
This quality rises because of the ego. The ignorant man
has no qualms about not realizing the Self or not acquiring any knowledge of
the Self. He is happy as he is. He enjoys the anxieties and tragedies of life
as part of his existence. He would feel lost if nothing happened. For him noise
and flurry are close companions. His heart would break if he did not meet
heart-breaking events daily. The darkness surrounding him is his heaven.
Ignorance is his bliss. Reproduction is his glorious achievement. Eating and
sleeping are his gifts from God. He would worship even a road-side rock as God
if it will take care of his needs with some miraculous power. He is happy as he
is with his little ego hopping from object to object. This is ‘अविनय’,
not caring for what the scriptures tell him to do. He does not care for knowledge or liberation.
He does not want to ‘know’ anything. This disregard for the ‘Knowledge’ is
impoliteness.
So the first step in the Saadhana, the path towards
liberation is ‘Removal of अविनय’.
For that one should seek the company of Knowers; study
good Scriptures and understand the true goal of his life.
विष्णु – Lord Vishnu, who resides in Vaikuntha.
‘Vishnu’ means –
one who pervades all (VYAAPANA)
यस्माद्विश्वमिदं सर्वं
तस्य शक्त्या महात्मनः
तस्मादेवोच्यते विष्णुर्विशधातोः
प्रवेशनात् ||
The
entire world rises by the power of the Great Lord!
The
‘Vish’ root which means entering, enters Him making him known as Vishnu.
The term ‘Vishnu’ means all pervading; one who exists as
the essence of all.
So Brahman or Self is referred by the term Vishnu.
The Seeker after liberation addresses the Self as Vishnu.
He is preparing to contemplate on the Self.
दमय मनः
Mind is not some separate organ existing like a heart or
lungs in a body. The agitations or the continuous neuro-chemical activities in
the brain are referred to by the term ‘Mind’. Mind is that which does मनन –
continuous agitations; or brain activities.
In an ignorant man, mind is like a flooded river. Like a
driverless car, he just moves without any control. He never acts; but keeps
reacting to events akin to a senseless earthworm. He acts as goaded by the
chemical changes in his brain. He is just a two-legged animal intent on just
surviving and reproducing.
This mind has to be controlled as the next step of
Saadhana.
Pause before you react to anything. Do not let the brain
think what it wants. Learn to use the brain as a tool. Acting as the brain and
controlling the brain are two different states. We are the brains or the
programme running in the brain. Yet we learn to control the brain by the brain
and remain out of the brain! We should be careful about what data enters the
brain; we should be in full control of what gets retained as memories and what
gets deleted as trash; we should be careful about the diet so that wrong
chemicals do not confuse the brain; we should become 24x7 watchmen of the brain
activities.
We learn to be masters and stop acting as slaves. This is
Mind-control!
शमय विषयमृगतृष्णां
विषय means sense objects.
Our world is just what the senses collect as data. What
is outside the sense perception, we do not know; we cannot know! If our senses
are faulty and give incorrect information, we cannot know it. Our perceived
world is the sense-collected-data-world.
This collection is sorted out in the brain; some get
retained; some get filtered; some get deleted and what we get in the end as
processed final picture is a beautiful colorful neat world running perfectly
without flaws. If the brain did not do this job, the world will be nothing
short of a mad-house.
We learn to like something and reject something from
among the data collected by these senses. We want and don’t want. If we do not get what we want we get angry.
We hate anything that stands between our wants and us. We become enslaved by
‘Raaga, Dvesha, and Bhaya’ – attachments, hatreds and anxieties.
Shankara calls the sense perceived objects as ‘Mrga
Trishnaa’ – Mirage.
Mrga- means deer. The deer usually wander in thirst and
end up searching for water in mirages. So the Sanskrit word –Mrga Trishnaa, the
‘thirsty state of the deer’ refers to Mirages.
Any sense object we seek gives only a momentary pleasure.
And if we enjoy more of it, immediately the body falls ill. Even thinking
wrongly ends up in physical illness; or illness of the body itself creates
mental problems. Whatever sense object you go after you end up in pain like the
deer chasing mirages end up dying in the hot desert.
Anything and everything in this world, starting from the
pampering of our own physical bodies to the lordship of the entire world are
just pains disguised as pleasures; just mirages!
So the next step in the Saadhana is to stop the mad
pursuit of sense objects and turn towards the Self.
भूतदयां विस्तारय
A man of Saatvic disposition learns to be unselfish and
loves all, helps all.
This ‘love for all things that live’ is the next quality
to develop.
Here ‘love for all’ does not mean developing an obsession
for helping others.
Here ‘love for all’ does not mean trying to bring the
whole world under your tiny umbrella to save them.
Here ‘love for all’ does not mean, not killing even
harmful rats and mosquitoes that may be hazardous to you.
It is a very delicate topic. How much can you harm
others?
We are just tiny human beings who can die even if a small
bacterium enters our system. We cannot die to make them live.
Reason is our only guide here.
Learn to respect any life. Learn to understand every living
being has a right to live. Killing a rat which poisons your food is not wrong.
But consuming a harmless little bird as food is barbaric.
In this era where everyone knows how to speak well, how
to dress well, how to act (pretend) well, we mask our selfishness in words,
pretenses, and acting abilities.
We have learnt to be rude in polite words; we have learnt
to hurt others in pretentious acts; we have learnt to ignore others in a
civilized manner.
We do not love the neighbor or hate him; we do not even
know that he exists!
BhootaDayaa does not mean loving street dogs and eating
chickens in a five-star hotel.
Bhoota-Daya is looking at every human being that you meet
with, as a person to be respected.
Bhoota-Daya is flashing a sincere smile towards even a
lowly laborer and worker.
Bhoota-Daya is respect for every living organism.
Bhoota-Daya is unconditional love for all whoever it may
be.
Bhoota-Daya is to add true feelings to the words you
utter from the mouth.
This Bhoota-Daya does not end with your family, country
or religion. It should extend to the whole world. Hatred should not at all rise
in the mind for any one.
This is the next step in the Saadhana.
A devotee of a God with form sees his Lord everywhere and
loves all.
A person who is trying to realize the Self sees Self in
all and loves all as the Self.
संसारसागर
When all this is done, i.e., controlling the mind,
subduing the senses; developing love for all unconditionally etc.; then the
ocean of this Samsaara gets crossed over.
That means, instead of
getting carried away by the events around us, we learn to control them.
Instead of weeping and
laughing again and again, we learn to look at the world without any attachment
and develop a calm disposition.
Instead of sinking in the
whirlpools of life, we climb the boat of ‘Discrimination and Reason’ and cross
this turbulent ocean of life-experiences to attain the goal of liberation.
LORD VISHNU:
As Lord Vishnu is the Supreme
deity pervading all, the devotee prays to Him for guidance. He seeks His help
in performing Saadhana. So many devotees of the yore like Prahlaada and others
attained Self-realization by worshipping Hari only.
SELF (BRAHMAN):
As Brahman (Self) is all pervading and is the essence of
all that is there, the hymn refers to the Self also. The seeker after
liberation decides to control his mind and senses and gets ready to contemplate
on the Self as instructed by the Scriptures.
BEE
AND THE MIND
BEE: The bee is flapping its wings and flying hither and
thither; jumping up and down; searching for the honey. Any object with some
color or smell, it sits on it; probes it for honey; does not get anything that
resembles the honey in the least; sometimes even gets wounded by sharp poking
objects; dejected, it flies towards another object that looks like a flower.
Search goes on and on. No real flower is there. Honey is nowhere.
MIND: The Mind with its five sense-cameras like the bee
wants happiness; probes all the objects in the world; experiences them; gets
hurt; moves from object to object in search of the happiness. No Happiness
anywhere!
Shabda Alankaara:
Read the verse loudly.
As ‘ya’ ya’ gets repeated, you can feel the flapping
wings of the bee.
When you reach the end of ‘Vishno’ you can see the bee
flying upwards.
BEE: The bee is exhausted and tired. It did not get the
honey anywhere. Instead of flying low,
it tries hard and flies as high as possible; it looks all over in its search
for the true flower with honey.
MIND: Mind (Man) is exhausted in search of happiness. He
gets it nowhere. He looks up (ponders about the fakeness of the world) and
cries out ‘Hey All-pervading One! (Self)’- ‘Hey Vishno’ (Naaraayana)!
Shabda Alankaara:
Read the verse loudly.
The bee sees the lake covered with dirty weeds.
The bee in the following
words (दमय and शमय) jumps down hard and crushes the weeds and dirty grass
which cover the real lotus.
MIND: The man now tries hard; disciplines the mind; stops
chasing sense objects.
Shabda Alankaara:
Read the verse loudly.
You can hear the bee ‘ssh’ ing and struggling hard in the विषयमृगतृष्णां; and
with a ‘m’ in the ष्णां the struggle ends.
The place is cleared now.
The lake looks placid.
From somewhere the fragrance of the lotus invites it.
The bee is happy.
भूतदयां विस्तारय तारय - In these sounds you can see the bee now
flying slowly; searching for its lotus calmly without anxiety.
संसारसागर – as this word
with intermittent ‘SAA’ ‘SAA’ is recited you can feel the lulled state
of the bee as it sights the lotus. And in ‘TAH’ the bee just dives straight down
to the lotus, in sheer joy.
MIND: The Seeker now has purified the mind.
He has no interest in the pleasure offered by the senses.
He has no likes or dislikes.
He sees his Lord (Vishnu/Self) in all. His mind is calm
now.
He is sure that he will cross over the turbulent ocean of
the delusion of the perceived world and see the truth.
He has now climbed the boat of Saadhana (Effort) and has
two oars of Discrimination and Dispassion to row the boat and sails forward
with courage, with the only intention of reaching the end (Liberation.)
II
दिव्यधुनीमकरन्दे परिमलपरिभोगसच्चिदानन्दे
श्रीपतिपदारविन्दे
भवभयखेदच्छिदे वन्दे ||2||
Salutations to the
Lotus-feet of the Lord of Lakshmi,
which destroy the grief
rising by the fear of this world-appearance,
which are filled with the
divine nectar and the humming sound,
which are emanating all
around
the fragrance of the Supreme Brahman,
the principle of
Existence, Knowledge and Bliss!
Shabda Alankaara:
Read the verse loudly.
There is only the humming sound.’ Mmmmm’!
The bee is not there; it has forgotten itself; it just
hums in sheer joy; and the honey is there with the humming noise!
Lotus is not seen: nor the bee; just the joy of honey and
the eater!
It is just ‘m m m m...”
दिव्यधुनीमकरन्दे
The Honey is there! The humming noise is there!
दिव्यधुनीमकरन्दे
And hitherto unknown bliss is there.
The seeker now is in the
contemplating stage. As he recites the Omkaara and dives within searching for
the Self, there is just the resonance of the Om.
The bliss of the
contemplation is expressed in this verse, where the seeker is intently
concentrating on the Self and enjoying the inner silence.
He is there; Bliss is there
and the ‘Om ’ is there blocking the entire
world out.
It is the sanctum sanctorum
of the Supreme Lord. The devotee is in front of his deity.
The doors to the outside
world are closed.
The mind is just reciting the
Mantra incessantly.
परिमलपरिभोगसच्चिदानन्दे
The fragrance is there; the enjoyment is there; the
essence of the lotus is there!
The Seeker can feel the fragrance of the Brahman! Of
course the Brahman does not have any smell as he is beyond the sense
perceptions. The fragrance here is the Knowledge of the Self! Ignorance is gone
forever!
The Seeker is not a seeker now; but a knower. He has
discarded his limited identity.
The Omkaara resonance has ended to give way to the
Supreme state of the Self.
And the Self is सच्चिदानन्द – the sum-total of
all existence; bliss and knowledge.
This परिमलपरिभोगसच्चिदानन्द is
the state of Contemplation where there is complete silence. Thoughts do not
rise here! Mind is almost dead! The knowledge is there!
The Supreme state is just ready to unfold!
श्रीपतिपदारविन्द
LORD VISHNU:
And in front of the devotee are the lotus feet of the
Lord.
Here is Lord Vishnu in person.
He is Sacchidaananda –the essence of Existence, Knowledge
and Bliss! And he stands in front of the devotee pleased by his devotion!
The lover and the beloved are face to face!
Should one cry in joy? Should one weep his heart out
because the end has been reached?
Should one just stand silent and gaze at the Lord?
Sweat pours out! Voice gets choked! Tears blur the vision!
Hands tremble! A shiver runs through the whole body! His compassionate gaze
hugs you drowning you in immense joy! You want to rush towards him and enter
within him and lose your identity!
The Lord, the spouse of Mahaa Lakshmi, the Goddess of
prosperity is here in person! Ah! The joy of it all!
भवभय is no more!
SELF (BRAHMAN):
‘Shree’ means riches. Names and forms come under this
category.
ShreePati here therefore refers to the Lord of all
perceived phenomena – Brahman or the Self!
The seeker who has become a knower is now at the
threshold of the Self-state. In this state there is no more the fear of this
world भवभय; for the knower now can no more be deluded by the
unreal appearance called the world! He has the knowledge of the Self! He knows
his true nature!
Shabda Alankaara:
Read the verse loudly.
खेदच्छिदे वन्दे
The humming has stopped!
The bee has landed on the
lotus.
Slowly it moves inwards.
It reaches the innermost
petal-region of the lotus.
It is very close to the
honey. It can smell it.
For the first time in its
life it is going to taste real honey; not artificial!
All fear lost, it lands on
the central portion of the lotus.
Its legs dig deep ‘Kh’
‘Chh’ (खेदच्छिदे)
and it is ready to get drunk! (न्दे)
III
सत्यपि भेदापगमे नाथ
तवाहं न मामकीनस्त्वं
सामुद्रो हि तरङ्गः
क्वचन समुद्रो न तारङ्गः ||3||
Though actually there is no difference between you and
me
O Lord,
Yet, I belong to You, You are not mine!
The wave belongs to the ocean; not the ocean to the
wave!
LORD VISHNU:
The devotee still has a
little ego that says he is a devotee and that is the Supremacy standing in
front of him. Of course he knows that he is also in essence the Supreme Lord
only; for what exists anywhere except his Lord! Everything is ‘He’ alone! Yet
there is a joy in feeling the difference between the two. Like Para Brahman
experiences the world creating an illusory different person as a limited ego,
the Lord here stands both as the devotee
and the deity.
The wave remains as the wave
keeping away the truth that it is only the ocean in essence, and says- ‘I am a
wave; you are the ocean! I belong to you! You are the Supreme Lord of all!’
SELF (BRAHMAN):
The knower now is the Supreme
state of the Self! He is Brahman himself. He knows himself as the Self and
projected world. He knows himself as the Supreme Self and the individual Self.
He knows that he is the ocean from which all the individual selves rise up as
waves which are just momentary appearances.
He is both ‘That’ and ‘This’.
He is Brahman who appears as
this perceived world like a shining gem.
With the complete knowledge
of his true nature ‘He’ smiles!
Shabda Alankaara:
Read the verse loudly.
There is no ‘up’s and ‘down’s; just ‘even’ sounds!
The bee is lost inside the
soft petals of the lotus. It is already intoxicated by the scent.
It cannot even fly now! It
is stuck!
The bee and the lotus both
are one unit now. The separation is lost.
The beloved falls into the
inviting arms of her lover.
There is no ‘two’ anymore;
only ‘one’ which appears as two.
There was never a ‘two’!
ONE alone was there!
The Self remains as the
Self! There is nothing but the Self!
The ocean remains as the
ocean! There is nothing but the ocean!
IV
उद्धृतनग नगभिदनुज
दनुजकुलामित्र मित्रशशिदृष्टे
दृष्टे भवति प्रभवति
न भवति किं भवतिरस्कारः ||4||
You lifted the Mountain (as Krishna )!
You are the brother of
Indra who subdued the Mountains!
You are the enemy of the demon dynasty!
The Sun and the Moon are your eyes.
If ‘you’ just throw a glance,
does not the worldly-suffering disappear for ever?!
Shabda Alankaara:
Read the verse loudly.
The bee is now drunk!
What does the drunken bee
do? Dance!
Recite the first line of
the verse loudly. You can hear the dancing rhythms of a ‘Taandava Nrtya’ (mad
dance)!
Left and right; right and
left – the feet jump up and down in a rhythmic way!
An alcoholic may end up in
a drain when mad with drunk. But this is the dance of a bee drunk on honey! So
it is rhythmic and beautiful!
The bee jumps up; down
again; sucks honey; jumps up; down again; sucks honey…!
The lotus is never short
of honey nor is the bee tired of drinking honey!
Recite the second line of
the verse loudly.
The bee slowly slowly
relaxes into a stupor and falls flat on the lotus!
It has completely drowned
in the overflowing honey of the lotus!
Bee is not there anymore!
The lotus also is not there!
Only Honey is there! The
sweet intoxicating Honey!
WORD MEANING:
This verse extols the various incarnations of Lord Vishnu
on the one hand; and in the Advaitic explanation, extols Self-Knowledge with
the same words.
उद्धृतनग
LORD VISHNU:
‘You’ lifted the mountain!
Of course everyone knows who is famous for lifting the
mountain!
Shree Krishna who protected his cowherd clan from the
torrents of rain by lifting the mountain! The handsome GiriDhar of Meera!
SELF (BRAHMAN):
Who else lifts the mountain?
Knowledge!
What is the mountain?
Ignorance!
The solid world we perceive is usually compared to a
mountain in the scriptures. ‘Na-
Ga
Self, the ‘Principle of Knowledge’ shines forth lifting
the delusion of the world away; and the torrents of good and bad experiences
get blocked from affecting the Knower!
नगभिद् अनुज
LORD VISHNU:
The destroyer of Mountains is Indra, the God of Heavens.
Lord Vishnu incarnated as Vaamana, the dwarf Brahmin and
becomes the son of Kashyapa; and so as the younger brother of Indra, he subdues
the demon king Bali and sends him off to the
nether worlds; and saves the heaven and its ruler.
SELF (BRAHMAN):
Here the Mountain means
delusion of the world.
So who destroys this
mountain?
Self! The Indra! Self is
referred to as Indra in the Scriptures as all the senses (Indriyas) serve the
Self by bringing it information!
Who is the ‘Anuja’? Who
appears following this Self?
Knowledge! (Self and
Knowledge actually are not different.)
As the knower is absorbed in
the contemplation of the Self state, the delusion is removed; the torrents of
experiences get stopped; the Self reveals itself in its full glory and the
knowledge Supreme makes its appearance.
दनुजकुल अमित्र
LORD VISHNU:
Danu is the daughter of
Daksha married to Kashyapa. Her children are known as ‘Daanavaas’, the demons
who are the sworn enemies of Gods.
Lord Vishnu helps the Gods by
destroying the demons; so is an enemy of the demon clan.
SELF (BRAHMAN):
Danuja-Kula means the hosts of bad Vaasanaas residing in
the mind. The Knowledge instantly gets rid of these Vaasanaas and keeps them
away.
A knower who lives in this world with the complete
knowledge of Brahman has no taint of any Vaasanaas in the mind.
He is the ‘Principle of Knowledge’ (Brahman) himself! Yet
he purposely maintains a few good Vaasanaas and acts out his allotted duties in
the world like a Rama or Krishna ; and goes
through life-events like going through the scenes in a play.
मित्रशशिदृष्टे
LORD VISHNU: SELF
(BRAHMAN):
The Supreme Lord Naaraayana,
the cosmic principle has the Sun and the Moon as his two eyes.
Knowledge also has Sun and
Moon as the eyes!
The term ‘Sun’ does not refer
to the star in the sky providing light and heat to the planet and the term
‘Moon’ does not refer to the satellite that hovers around the earth planet.
Sun in any Vedantic Scripture
means the ‘Witness state’.
Witness state refers to the
state of the JeevanMukta, the knower who is liberated yet lives in this world
as the elemental structure he is seen as.
Such a knower’s mind is
always in the witness state. The Sun never moves yet is the cause of all the
activities in this planet. It is also not affected by any events of the world.
A knower also just remains in
the Self-state always but unaffected by the events that go on around him.
Moon in any Vedantic
Scripture refers to the principle of ‘Mind’!
The Moon has the qualities of
waxing and waning; it is continuously on the move; it gives out only the
reflected light of the Sun; it is cool and pleasant.
A knower also has to have a
mind-like thing when he acts in this world as a person with a form. His mind is
just a reflection of his witness state. Whereas all the ignorant minds wax and
wane, his mind stays as a
‘Full- Moon’, steady in the
‘Knowledge of the Self’.
Like the Moon oozing out
nectar, his mind is always drowned in the bliss of the Self. He is always
cheerful; happy and unmoved.
Therefore the term- ‘One who
has the Sun and Moon as his eyes’ when referring to Lord Vishnu , the Cosmic
Principle or the Knowledge state of the Self,
mean the same thing – ‘the witness state and the acting principle of
mind’. Even Naaraayana has to have a mind-principle to limit himself to a form
and perform his duty of protecting the world.
दृष्टे भवति प्रभवति न भवति किं भवतिरस्कारः
LORD VISHNU:
If Lord Vishnu, the Supreme
protector of the world even just glances at you, won’t the worldly sufferings
become completely nullified!
When he is standing in front
of you and embracing you with all the affection of a father, what more bliss
could be there?
SELF (BRAHMAN):
When Self-Knowledge has made
its appearance, where remains the delusion of the world?
ज्ञाते तत्त्वे कः संसारः (Shankara)
V
मत्स्यादिभिरवतारैरवतारवताsवता सदा वसुधां
परमेश्वर परिपाल्यो
भवता भवतापभीतोsहं ||5||
You always protect the
earth
by incarnating in many
forms like fish etc.
Hey Supreme Ruler of all!
You should protect me
also!
I am terrified by this
world-phenomenon!
Shabda Alankaara:
Read the verse loudly.
The bee now finds itself in a pool of honey. (
Avataara…Avataa.. Avataa...)
At first it swims like a fish on the surface drinking the
honey little by little. Then as the intoxication increases, it starts going
down and down (descend) the pool trying to reach the bottom.
But there is no bottom at all! Only honey is there
wherever it turns!
The bee is unable to fathom the measure of the lotus and
just sinks into a blissful stupor and discards its identity in complete
surrender to the ‘lotus made of honey’.
LORD VISHNU:
Lord Vishnu had to take
various forms to protect his devotees. According to Bhaagavata Puraana, he
incarnates more than twenty five times on this earth for his devotees. (The number ‘ten’ is a word coined by poet
JayaDeva).
The Devotee now completely
surrenders at the feet of the Vishva-Roopa (Cosmic Form) standing before him;
holds on to the lotus feet tightly and forgets himself in the bliss of
surrendering with love.
SELF (BRAHMAN):
The Para Brahman, the changeless, unmanifest, beginning
less, endless principle of ‘Existence Knowledge and Bliss’ – forgetting his
true nature through delusion as it were, limits himself by forms as it were and
remains drowned in ignorance as it were. Again he attains his natural state as
it were, by gaining knowledge as it were, and realizing the Self as it were!
What all forms he shines as!
From the fish swimming at the bottom of the sea to the
Tri-Gods who control the universe, he appears as all.
One becomes many as it were!
Bound by the limitations of space time as it were, ‘He’
as the suffering ego prays to himself who is the Supreme Lord; and pleads that
he should be protected!
Ah, the sport of the Supreme! Who can fathom it!
VI
दामोदर गुणमन्दिर सुन्दरवदनारविन्द
गोविन्द
भवजलधिमथनमन्दर परमं
दरमपनय त्वं मे ||6||
Hey Lord! You are ‘Daamodara’
with a rope tied around your belly!
(You are tied up by the Sattva Guna just to protect
us, though you transcend the Gunas!)
You are the abode of all noble qualities!
Hey Govinda, the protector of all beings!
Your lotus face is so beautiful!
You are the Mandara
Mountain
churning the ocean of this worldly existence!
You be compassionate and remove my great fear of
(bondage)!
Shabda Alankaara:
Read the verse loudly.
The bee has stopped being the bee and is now the honey
itself!
As honey it whirls around; makes circular patterns called
the world; goes up and down as waves; becomes turbulent once; becomes calm
once; and so on! The bee as honey sucks itself and remains as the honey.
No more will it be the bee!
Because there was never the bee! Only honey was
there!(mmm…)
LORD VISHNU:
The devotee forgets
everything, even his own existence other than the beautiful form standing there
filling the cosmos!
The bliss of the Naaraayana’s
form drowns him!
HE IS SAGUNA BRAHMAN! He is
the Supreme tied by the limitations of the ‘Gunas’! He is the abode of all the
qualities of compassion, love, helping nature, etc.!
He is ‘Beauty personified’!
Face adorned with a beautiful smile like a lotus in full bloom! The Lord who
protects all!
He is The Supreme who sports
by creating, maintaining and destroying this world-appearance!
The devotee does not wish to
retain his identity any more.
He surrenders to the ‘cosmic
form’ and pleads that he should become one with the Lord!
HE IS NIRGUNA BRAHMAN!
The Supreme who has taken a
form to fulfill the Vaasanaa of the devotee bestows him knowledge of the Self.
The devotee through the
knowledge understands that there are no differentiations of any sort in the
Supreme.
He remains in his true nature
of the Self as the knower.
Only the Self is!
Only Bliss/Knowledge remains
second less!
SELF (BRAHMAN):
The Supreme Brahman!
Brahman who binds and
blinds himself with ignorance!
The Supreme who limits himself with good and bad
qualities and suffers as the individual self!
The Supreme who shines as this entire perceived
phenomenon, like a lotus blooming forth in its full splendor!
The Supreme who as the Trinities protects the beings of
the world!
The Supreme who causes the entire show of the world;
suffers; struggles; practices knowledge; and realizes!
The Supreme who becomes ‘you’, ‘I’ and suffers as the
limited ego!
The Supreme who knows as the JeevanMukta that the
differentiations of ‘you’, ‘I’ are not at all there and realizes the Supreme
truth – ‘I’ is ‘Brahman’ and there is no ‘you” at all!
FINALLY
“नारायण करुणामय शरणं
करवाणि तावकौ चरणौ”
Hey Naaraayana,
You are the
essence of all waters namely the experiences of all!
You are Compassion in essence!
I surrender to your two feet!
(The first half of this verse contains again six words
– SHATPADEE)
इति षट्पदी मदीये वदनसरोजे सदा वसतु ||
Let
these six words (bee with six feet)
always hover in my
‘Mouth-lotus’!
Shabda Alankaara:
Read the first line of the verse loudly.
Again these six words
contain within them the humming sound of the bee.
As you open your mouth and
roll your tongue reciting this hymn of six words and meditate on the lotus feet
of the Lord, you will surely reach the lotus feet of ShreePati!
A man who has not yet become
a bee aspiring for the lotus feet of Lord Vishnu or the state of the Self, has to start making this ‘Shatpadee’ as his
pet and keep it hovering around his mouth-lotus! Soon he will himself turn into
a Shatpadee in search of honey and will become the honey himself!
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