Madhwa Vijaya - 14
Sarga 7 Part 1
Poornapragnya saw the famed hermitage of the beloved of Lakshmi, beyond the snow-capped peaks, surrounded by tall trees.
The hermitage bearing the onslaught of mist, rain, sun, wind and the maha-rishis who were indifferent to the vagaries of nature, the abode of the eminent and the avians, peaks that rose high like the hands of the rishis joined in prayer and raised to the feet of the lord, trees of various species and scholars of the different branches of the Vedas… these were the sights that greeted Poornapragnya.
The air was filled with the melody of bird calls and the chanting of pious sages including Shukacharya*, the wind was swept by the graceful wings of birds and ponds were beautified by snow-white swans dipping their beaks into lotus blooms.
*son of Vedavyaasa, also refers to the slaty-headed parakeet
The place was no less than Vaikunta, filled with rishis who were engrossed in the service of God, bereft of petty human emotions like envy, beyond the reach of the undeserving.
As the Achaarya neared the hermitage, the rishis well- aware of the 32 auspicious markings, instantly recognised the greatness of the approaching figure and wondered who he could be.
‘Who is the one with squared shoulders, strikingly strong and tall like a tree, with eyes like lotuses, a perfect face like a blemishless moon, with the stride of a tusker… who is this mighty man whom we have never set our eyes upon, walking towards us?’, they wondered.
‘The exquisiteness of this person is unmatched, for the moon is too cold and the sun too hot, and nothing in this world is even close to being comparable’.
‘He looks like a divine ascetic exuding strength, exhibiting no strain…He looks like a human but seems to be other-worldly’.
‘Could he be the four-faced Bramha himself? Or could it be the wind-god Pavamaana himself, come here to see his preceptor? For who else could be so perfectly endowed with the 32 auspicious features?’
As the sages and saints were pondering thus and drinking in the wonderful physique of the Achaarya, he strode forward and beheld a tree* that was superior even to the heavenly tree Kalpavriksha!
*Badri tree
A well- formed tree with a large trunk, with numerous branches sprouting wide like the hoods of the divine serpent, flowers blooming and glistening like the precious gems on the hoods, the tree looked like the divine Shesha himself who seemed to be present to serve the lord.
The leaves seemed like feathers, glistening and reflecting the rays of the sun like the thunderbolt of Indra, the beloved of sages and the lord of Ramaa, the tree appeared like the son of Kashyapa, the king of birds-Garuda!
Bearing sweet fruit (of moksha), hanging beyond the reach of the undeserving, supporting the Puranas and Bhaaratha like babies that sleep in the cloth swings that are tied to trees (but in reality, supported by Puranas and Bhaaratha), this tree sprung from ancient times was like the Vedas itself.
When Poornapragnya saw the platform formed by the roots of the tree and the wonderful, pure and noble sages sitting on it, he envisaged the happy Devas seated in Heaven.
There they sat with matted locks, noble ones who were beyond the shackles of the three gunas, having vanquished emotions like anger and vengeance, associated with snakes, yet living on nothing but air like the snakes.
Poornapragnya saw the one seated amidst the sages, the supreme among the three worlds, the son of Satyavathi…
The Achaarya was forever seeing the form of the lord in his heart, yet he looked reverentially at the physically present lord, thinking thus…
‘Is this not the faultless Naarayana, born through Paraashara and Satyavathi at the behest of Bramha?’
‘When the ocean of milk (his heart) was by his benevolence allowed to be churned by using Mandaara* as a churning rod, the beauteous Lakshmi (Shruthiramani), beloved of Naarayana emerged from the ocean’.
‘From this ocean emerged the moon, the Parijatha tree and nectar (amrutha), just as the puranas, the Mahabhaaratha and the Bramhasutras emerged from Vedavyaasa himself’.
‘Lord Vedavyaasa walked the earth for long during the times of the sons of Pandu, protecting the noble souls with his words and his knowledge’.
‘Now, Vedavyaasa resides in this place unseen by common eyes, making way for Kali, just as the setting sun makes way for the dark night’.
‘I am seeing this being, whose body is as beautiful as a lily in bloom, who sits in a yogic pose on deer-skin, whose very sight fills my eyes with gratification’.
‘This being deplete of flaws, filled with uncountable attributes, is the very embodiment of awareness and joy’.
‘Aha! Like Ramaa, Chaturmukha, Vayu, Garuda, Shesha, Rudra, Indra and others, I too will adorn my head with the dust under the lotus-feet of the lord’.
‘I bow to the auspicious feet which have the lines representing dhwaja, vajra, ankusha and ambuja, the feet which are rose coloured but further reddened by the red of the hearts of all those whom he considers dear.’
‘The pink of the tips of his nails pale the pinkish sky of the dawn, and unlike the sun, dispels both outer darkness and inner ignorance.’
‘These feet with their soft soles, beautiful toes and concealed ankles, can only be compared to the lord’s feet themselves* (they are incomparable). No poet has yet found anything worthy of its comparison.’
*in a similar vein, many years later, Goswami Tulasidas while describing the baby Rama with the song ‘Tumak chalath Raamachandra baajath painjaniya’, says Bhagwan Raam’s face was as beautiful as only Bhagwan Raam’s face could be!
To be continued…