Daiva Dasakam( A Prayer in Ten Verses)

Sree Narayana Guru

1. Daivame kaathu koLka anguKai vidaat ingu njangaLaeNaavikan nee bhavaabdhikkor-Aavi vantONi nin padam

daivame- O Godkaattu kolka- confine (us) in your succor, protect( us ); make( us) secure; angu- there. ( The state of absolute security is seen as something far removed by the seekers who consider themselves to be away from God )kai- handvidaate- not letting go of; without de linking; without disconnecting; without with holding support.ingu- herenjangale- usnaavikan- sailor; captain of a ship; helmsmanbhavaabdhi- the turbulent ocean of life, ocean of life's sufferings.aavi vantony sure, secure and efficient vessel like a steam ship. Nin- YourPadam- foothold; stance; footing; position;

God! Keep us ever in Thy succor, there;Forsake us not, my Lord here, Thou the helmsman, and Thy foothold,Sure vessel, on rough seas of life!

Daivam (God) is the word with which this opening verse begins and padam (foohold; stance- position) with which it reaches its culmination. Daivam, we may note, is very much like `Our Father " of Jesus and `Allah' of The Holy Koran. It does not ascribe to God any specific name , form or other appellations: names like Krishna, Rama, Yahova,; forms like ` `five headed', `serpent like', etc.; appellations and dispositions like crowned, enthroned, with matted locks, wearing specific weapons , dancing, mirthful, wrathful, courting, crucified , weeping etc. See that daivam does not admit even

1

gender difference like male god and female god. Sree Narayana Guru has here in one stroke freed the concept of God from all limiting adjectives and put that in the frameless- ness of the infinite!. True, what is infinite is indefinable. However, if we should ever relate to it ( and when we pray, that is primarily what we do: attempting to relate ourselves to God) it has to be somehow brought within definitions. I believe The Guru has provided a definition in this very stanza.

The first line projects a plea: a plea for succor, security or safety. Such a plea can go only from one who finds oneself insecure, to one who is the repository of all security; from a position of insecurity to a position of security. Therefore, in daivame kaathukolkangu kaividaathingu njangale , the prayer is one that seeks from a position of insecurity to relate and reach out to a position or person that is absolute security. In so doing, God is being defined as `Absolute Security'.What could be the nature and manifestations of `insecurity' in human situation? What are the fears that haunt us? We fear that life cannot go on forever. We fear that there may not be enough of all those things we need in life, like food, clothes, dwelling, health, enjoyment, love, companionship, friendship, position, recognition etc. This could be an unending list that in summing up would be the entirety of human misery or what is called in the terminology of general Indian spirituality, bhava sagara ( The sea of the created /suffering). In this poem, the Guru calls it Bhavabdhi- the ocean of the created ( Worldly Suffering).

It has been said of `fear' that it proceeds from the awareness of the other and the incomprehensible. This often is understood as the fear of the other person or other being. However, this could also be the other situation. The frame of reference is one in which the other situation is pitted against what could be called the own situation or home situation. In this frame, home situation is one in which all is in place, comfortable, peaceful, fulfilling etc. and the other situation is where all is in disarray, uncomfortable, diverse, painful insufficient, lacking etc. Seen thus, where there is absolute and perfect security it is the epitome of the home situation and a personage endowed with this ultimate security could be termed as the perfectly at home personage. Seen from this standpoint of this personage, all should appear as coherent, agreeable, loveable and blissful.

God as the haven of absolute protection and provision, is seen here as distanced from the human situation as` angu' (there). The human situation is

2

a forsaken `ingu' (here) from where a desperate cry of ` Oh ! Lord, leave us not here ' – kai vidaat- ingu njangale could emanate. The fervent plea kaathu kolka not only does seek succor but vividly suggests the very means by which that may be achieved. It is by means of koLka ( by being received into God's being; by being gathered back into or contained by God's being). The knowledge that one is remaining within God's being is the state of the Garden of Eden and to be exiled from His being is to be cast in the desperate ingu (here) which is the misery and sin of the fall of man.

It is the state of being one with God that the poem addresses as ` your foot hold ' – nin padam. We may hear the same idea from The Guru in Chijjadacintanam :where the spiritual aspirant directly begs of God for his footing -`nin nila’ :

Nilamodu neruppu niraNNozukumJalamaasukanambaram anchilumeAlayaateyadikkadi nalkuka NinNila yiNNitutanne Namukku mati.

(Not for me,The earth the Fire and the Water that reaches out everywhere, nor the Air nor the Sky. May I no longer wallow in the five of these. My sole goal is Thy Station!, My Lord ! That is my one fulfillment.

It is the experience from this God's own footing that is encapsulated in these blazing words of Sathya Sai Baba :

"The moment you see your own inner beauty and are so filled with it that you forget all else, you become free from all bonds. You realize that you are all beauty, all the glory, all the power, all the magnificence of the universe, for the Jiva (the individual) is the reflection of God in the mirror of Nature. Once you attain self-realization, you recognize everyone else as but the reflection of yourself. This is the true basis of the unity of mankind. "

First to conceptually envisage this foothold and then gradually to practice getting into His Shoes is what one may do to cross over from the quagmire of worldly insecurity to the Perfection and Bliss that God is. That is why God's footing is described as the sure and secure vessel like a sturdy steam ship ( aavi van thoni ). Once he gets into this God's footing and the voyage sets off, the marooned mariner should realize that he himself is the helmsman, on whom he depended to be ferried across.

3

This could be read as paralleling the THY WILL BE DONE footing of Jesus Christ. (Luke.11.2-4) " take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt". (Mark.14.36) In the Gethsemane is to be seen the transition from the bitter constricted cup of body- mind centeredness to the unbounded ocean of nectarine Love that THE WILL OF GOD is. The cup is bitter and is filled with insecurity, while the WILL OF GOD is abiding security and all encompassing Love. That is the Love extolled by St. John in: "God is love; and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him". (John-1. 4.16). The Angel greeting of ` Lord is with thee!’ also may be read as being of the self same tune.

When one is gathered back unto God, he should feel `I am God '; `Sivoham' – `I am Siva'. When one is `Siva', he accepts like Siva, even the most dreaded halahala into his bliss. ( The puranic story is that while the Devas and Asuras were churning the milky ocean for the essence of immortality- amrit -, there issued from the mouth of the serpent Vasuki , disastrously poisonous halahala, which on touching ground was believed to have been capable bringing about extensive destruction. Lord Siva received it and partook of it. It brought him no harm; but added unto his glory. He became Neela KaNtha the Blue Necked, which is a name in which He is glorified.)

2. Onn onnay eNNi yeNNi totteNNum porul odungiyal nonnidum drikku pol ullam ninnil aspanda maakaNam

Reckoning one after one to infinity- When names and figures are all done,Like unto the serene Eye remaining,May our self in thee perfect tuning find.

Onn onnaa yeNNi yeNNI - reckoning one and then one, so acknowledging;

so registering. tot t-eNNum porul A –tottu + B eNNum + C porul

A. tottu -touch. Here it stands for all contacts established by the senses and

4

the resultant impressions. B. Ennum - reckoning, registering, acknowledging.

C. porul – knowledge. Here tools and adjuncts of the acknowledging process. ( In the absence of C, B is not possible. In identifying an object as red or yellow, a necessary condition is prior experience of the colors concerned and labels or names - forms and shapes too)-associated with such color experiences in memory. These semantic adjuncts are inevitable tools in the acknowledgement of persons, creatures, things and, moods)Odungiyaal- when exhausted.

Ninnidum – remaining, abiding.

Drikk – eye, vision, awareness.

Pol in like maner, similarly.

Ullam – heart, soul, the self.

Ninnil- in You

Aspandam- perfect unison without even the slightest pulsation, perfectly tuned.

AakaNam – so be it.

It may be seen that, worldly knowledge is one that is dependant on adjuncts like name and form or similar stuff belonging to the area of mind and memory. The great poet is absolutely justified when he says that a rose would be a rose even it were known by any other name. However, a rose cannot be a rose if there were no name whatsoever with which to name it. In the event of you not having at least a generalized name like ` a flower` `a thing` ` a what's that` … etc. it would cease to exist for you.

The problem with these 'tools' is that they are never absolute, pure or universal. What is 'red' to someone needs not appear as the same shade of red to another. Moreover, the experience of anything; - be it a color, an object, a person or a mood – gets a coloring contributed by the emotional aspect of individual who experiences. The most basic form of this emotional

5

factor is to be found in like/ dislike. Given that these ' tools of knowledge' are defective and vulnerable, no unruffled, unsullied vision of reality can result from sense contacts. Only when all these coloring, perturbing and distorting elements of non-permanence are removed or overcome through a proper realization of their futility, would the pure vision of reality, reveal itself inside the seeker.( What remains is the infinite primal residuum which may be seen in the Puranas as the Adi Sesha or Ananta on whom Lord Narayana reclines when a creative cycle has been gathered back into Himself ) This vision is serenity itself . This is the ninnidum drik ( abiding vision) of the poem. When this mirror of pure and abiding vision is held up to God, His Full glory would be reflected in it without the slightest ripple blemishing the perfection of the image. The mirror and the mirrored shall be in such perfect tuning that they merge in the Absolute ONE. This state could be identical with what is addressed as ` nin padam` (your foothold) in the preceding verse.

What happens is a gradual refinement of the process of experience through liberating it from the lingo of thought. In Vedantic parlance, this is doing away with names and forms. Freedom from this lingo weakens the thought process, and exhausts the subsistence of the mind stuff. Chittavrittti ceases resulting in Yoga. ("yogas chittavritti nirodhah"- Yoga Sutras of Patanjali )

3. anna vastraadi muttaate tannurakhshicchu njangale

dhannyar aakkunna nee onnu tanne njangalku tampuraan

With grub and garb all providingWho, for ever us in fullness secure holdWith no lapse or miss to interveneThou indeed art our bounteous Lord

Anna - food ; vastra – clothes aadi – etc. Together these stand for the entirety of human needs.

muttate- without ever a want, incessantly.tannu – giving; providing.

6

rakshicchu – protect, secure, keep in care.njangale – usdhanyar aakkunna – enriching, keeping provided.nee onnu thane – you are the singular one .njangalkku – for usthampuran – the supreme provident Lord.

The Gods plenty that the seeker finds here far exceeds anything in earthly human experience. There is no lack of anything ever. Neither is there the slightest notion of insecurity. It is virtually the Garden of Eden before Adam and Eve partook of the forbidden tree. Yes, such a vision of splendor is possible only from the point of view of the one made in the image of God. That point of view is the ninnidum drikk – abiding vision of the second verse and that of what is alluded to as nin padam – your footing –in the first verse. Again this is the standpoint of the yogasthah of The Bhagavath Geeta who would be in a state of perfect contentment and non attachment. ( yogastah kuru karmaaNi sangam tyaktua Dhananjaya).

What we have here is an unmistakable realization of the hope and faith expressed in Psalm 23 of the Holy Bible. The entire psalm is quoted below as I believe that would enable deeper and more valid readings of both the Daiva dasakam verse and the psalm itself:

PSALM 231.The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:2.He leadeth me beside the still waters.3.He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me through the paths of righteousness for his names sake.4.Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.5.Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.6. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

It may be profitable to note here the mudras of vara ( giving)and abhaya ( protecting) that are ubiquitous in eastern religious iconography. Hindu

7

gods and goddesses are seldom portrayed without these symbolic positioning of the palm. This shows that assurance of material and spiritual plenty as well as protection from all kinds of fear are seen as fundamental to the idea of God. Parama Siva ( supreme godhead that is the embodiment of sat-chit-ananda) riding Nandi ( the divine bull on which Lord Siva rides)offers another iconographic and puranic detail which could be seen in a similar light. Realization of God proceeds from due acknowledgement of all the goodness that we are provided with. nandi literally means this acknowledgement and resultant sense of gratitude. The fact that Nandi is given the form of a bull could be suggestive of the idea, that the God realization downs with the perception of the beneficial even in something that confronts one in the form of a charging bull that apparently is at once adverse, uncontrollable and lethal.Most Christians add a thanksgiving part to their family prayer, which could be very close to the following lines:

Thank thee, LordFor all my many blessings,thank thee, Lord.I have bread, and boardthank thee, Lord. Thank thee, Lord, for friends and family.God takes such good care of me.Amen.

4.aazhi yum tira yum katt umThank thee, Lord aazha vum pole njangal um

maaya yum nin mahima yumnee yum enn ullil aakaNam

Let this in conviction sink, that as truth of ocean,To the waves and wind and fathomless deep do linkSo we, to illusory Nature, Thy splendor And Thy transcendent Truth, do link.

aazhi: oceantira : breakers,wavekaattu: windaazham: depth; the ocean currents and variety in temperatures, salinity, density etc. that are hidden in the depth.pole: in like manner

8

njangal: wemaaya: the incomprehensible and illusory power and process of subtle and gross manifestations that results in mind and matter that constitute the experienced universe. This is often referred to as play of maaya ( maaya leela) or play of the Devine.nin: yourmahima : greatness, manifest signs and symbols of supreme power.Nee: Youennu: in the self same mannerullil : centre of awareness, inside,aakaNam: should be so (comprehended)

The parallelism wrought in this verse is one where:The ocean = Nee (God)The depth= maayaWind = nin mahima (God's manifest glory, power)Breakers (waves) = njangal (we humans)

For anyone standing on the shore and watching the sea, the immediate experience is that of the waves and breakers. These waves appear in their turbulent, noisy, imposing presences for a short while and then dash their heads against the shore and die. When they die, water that formed these waves are quietly gathered back into the body of the ocean and become one with it. A child on the shore might try to count the waves that continually roll on to the shore; but would soon be bored by the futility of the action and leave it. Strolling back homeward, the child is not likely to carry the number and forms of the restless waves he had counted but the generally serene impression of the vastness and grandeur of the ocean. (We may recall here the second verse, which equates worldly experience to counting unto futility). Waves are but evanescent, partial manifestations of an aspect of the totality that the ocean is. All the turbulence of the waves lasts through the short-lived sense of unreal separateness from the ocean. The wave is but a part manifestation of the wholeness that is the ocean. Likewise, the human experience with all its attendant misery, insecurity and dissatisfactions, emanate from its separateness from God. God is the Whole, of which the human situation is a postulated unreal separateness.

The string similitude worked out in the poem is highly logical in its structure. The total reality of the ocean holds hidden in its unseen depth,

9

several subtle energies and forces that results in manifestations like ocean currents and winds. These currents and winds determine the general appearance of the ocean and generate the waves and breakers. In the parallel sequence, God as the total reality holds within Him the subtle tendencies. These subtle tendencies are referred to as the three gunas. The gunas through their various combinations generate the forces of Prakriti which is referred to as God's mahima. These forces of prakriti result in varied manifestation from the material universe to man and his individual ego. The individual ego is the source and wherewithal of human separateness and all misery consequent to that. Ultimate achievement is a shift of footing from that of the wave to that of the ocean. It is the shift from the foothold of man's limited ego to that of the footing of God's limitlessness.

5. Neeyallo srishtiyum srishtaa- vaayatum srishti jaalavum Neeyallo Daivame srishtikk- uLLa saamagri yayatum.

Thou the act of creation, Thou the CreatorAnd Thou the intricate web of the createdAnd Thou Great Lord art the StuffAll that is, with which is wrought.

Nee: Youallo: verily artsrishti: the act of creationsrashtaav : creator.

aayatum: have taken the role of

srishti jaalam: the web of the created.

Daivame: O God!srishtikke uLLa: for creating, belonging to the created, comprised by the created.saamagri: material.

In the preceding verse, the individual wave is portrayed as a part manifestation of the ocean, brought about by the forces of the ocean itself and man's individual ego as an unreal state of separation from the total truth that God is. The same idea is further revealed in this verse. Here, God the creator is shown to be identical with the created. All the multiplicity and complexity of form, disposition,

10

qualities etc.( srishti jaalam) embodied in the created, is God himself. The act of creation is God, the process of creation is God and what impels the process is God.In the phrase srishtikk ulla saamaqgri, srishti stands for the process of creation as well as `the created'. So srishtikkulla saamagri is ingredients that go into the making of srishti as well as al the gross and subtle aspects of the created universe.

The verse repeats here the word ' Daivam ' (God) used in the first verse. We may see that the relatively limited definition of God evolving from the first verse has vastly gained in depth and extent through the intervening verses. What in the beginning was looked upon as the vessel and haven of security is here the wholeness and singularity of The Absolute Truth.

6. Neey allo maayayum maayaviyum maaya vinoodanum neeyallo maayaye neekki ssayuujyam nalkum aaryanum.

Thou Art the Divine magicAnd the one who puts up the show And Thou the one exulting in the game And Great Sun, removing, all ,who Supreme Unison grants.

Nee: youallo: verily are

maaya: the illusory process of manifestations that projects the unreal show of material universe and individual egos that imagine to be experiencing such a universe. ; the veil of ignorance that hides Truth.

Maayavi: the magician who projects the show of illusions.Maaya vinOdan : one who enjoys the play of maaya.Neeki : removingSaayUjyam: absolute union, salvation.

The act of creation and the relation of the creator to the created is the subject matter of the preceding verse. What the verse seeks to establish is the fundamental unity of the three. The creator indeed is the created and all that goes into the process of creation. Then what is creation? Wherefrom is the need of creation? In what exact relation does the creation stand in respect of

11

the creator? Eastern and western theologies have tried to explain the act of creation as temporal expression of an eternal order, material manifestation of pure awareness, partial appearance of the absolute wholeness etc. In all such explanations, the created represents a lesser truth compared to the creator.

The idea of the creator projecting in the created, a lesser reality or a state of sheer illusion is represented as Maaya .From within the periphery of human reasoning, the question why maaya? may not find a satisfactory answer. The only answer possible is that the need for maaya remains within the incomprehensibility of the Devine will. It is in this sense it has been called the Devine play ( Isvara leela or maaya leela). The present verse extols this very maya as God. God is at once the projector of the maaya and the illusory projection that maaya is. It is Divine pleasure to project maaya. God is the one to enjoy this leela in His own unique manner( maayaa vinodan.)

In the simile of the sea, wave is a manifestations of the sea that in no way is separated from the body of the sea. However, this wave assumes an individual character for a short while, where it gathers itself into an immensely agitated breaker that rushes forward and dashes its head against the shore and terminates the assumed role. In Gods creative process, human existence may be seen as being similarly placed. Man is God himself. But he assumes the role of a limited ego by virtue of maaya. The short span of the individual human ego is wrought with agitation, suffering and pain. All these are as unreal as the very existence of the individual ego. But maaya functions as a veil that hides from the view of this individual ego what he really is. When this veil is removed he would know that he is one with God and there existed in reality no separation. The veil of maaya is a veil of darkness that would only be removed by the glorious sunrise of true Knowledge. When the sun of true Knowledge takes on, the imagined separate existence of the individual ego vanishes and realizes itself as being united with God ( saayuujyam ). This sun of supreme Knowledge ( also) is God. That is the Primal Sun that ascends cutting asunder the darkness of nescience (" iruLine eernn ezhum aadi suuryan atre").

Sree Narayana Guru has elsewhere vividly described the very process by which The Primal Sun of Pure Knowledge removes the veil of Maya. The Sun as described by the Guru is one with the brilliance that is million times that of suns of galactic systems. Such brilliance transcends all capabilities of human comprehension. At the energy level of such a system, no material

12

universe as we know it can exist. The known material universe and the five elements that go into the making of it would cease to be. This is exactly the vision that the Guru projects in his inimitable lines in Chitjjadachintanam:

“ Oru kOti divaakara rothuyarum padiNeerodu paar analaadi kaLum kedu maaruKiLirnnu varunn oru nin vadiv ennumirunnu viLangitaNam”

(O God! Let thy Glory with the brilliance of a million suns, eternally abide and wax in me thereby extinguishing all the elements that constitute the manifest universe like earth, water and fire.). This Sun is the Primal Source that the Gayatry Mantra extols as Tad Savituh- the Primal Source beyond compare.

7. Nee satyam njanam aanandamNee tanne verttamaana vumBhuutavum bhaaviyum vErallO-

Tum mozhiyum Orkkil nee.

Nee: You; Satyam: The Truth; Jnaanam: Knowledge, Awareness;Aanandam: Bliss; Nee tanne: you verily are; vartatmaana : the

present, bhuuta: the past; bhaavi: the future; Otum : speaking, chanting, instructing; mozhi: speech, word, language; Orkkil: if considered aright.

Truth Thou Art, Knowledge and Bliss!Thou Lord Art the present and so the pastAnd the future are none other but Thou.Thou indeed are the conceiving word!

Here, the same Super Sun of Supreme Knowledge of the previous verse is presented as a holy Trinity comprising of the aspects of Truth - Knowledge – Bliss/ Existence – Awareness - Bliss ( Sathyam- Jnanam- Anantham or Sad – Chid- Aananda or Satyam – Sivam - sundaram ). Truth is the whole existence; it is the entirety of What Is. Knowledge is the consciousness aspect of this What Is or the awareness of it. This Awareness as experience is the experience of absolute perfection or Bliss. In a bliss situation there is nothing wanting, nothing unsatisfying, nothing out of place or incongruous. So

13

it is beauty, peace and bliss. In all the three aspects, it is whole and no part manifestation. The matchless Upanishadic affirmation - Aum puurNamadah puurNamidam / PuurNaad puurNamudacyathe/ PuurNasya puuNamaadaaya/PuurNamEvaavasishyate. Saanti1 Saanti1 Saantihi1could also explain how any particular aspect in the trio is in relation

to the other ( others ). (This is whole; that is whole; the Whole is generated from the Whole; when the Whole is taken from the Whole, what remains is the Whole. Peace! Peace! Peace!).

The Whole that is Truth – Awareness- Bliss is what is experienced as the present. That is the eternal present. That is God. The eternal present in its purity cannot admit a past or a future. The eternal present does not have a beginning or an end. It has no duration. what happens is a superimposition of the designations of past or future to the experience of the present. All experience belong to the present. What constitute the sense of the past and the sense of the future is a figment of the mind or sankalpa that designate a part of the present experience as belonging to an unreal past and another part as belonging to an equally unreal future.

The past and the future are never real in the sense the present is real. The mind or imagination so re designate the present by giving them names and forms that in reality do not belong to them. The past is there because we call it that; otherwise the experience it represents belongs to the present. The future is there because we call a part of the awareness of the present as future. Here is a case of `word' taking form and creating unreal worlds. “And God said, Let there be Light and there was Light” ( The Holy Bible – Gen.I .3). All these happen within the Whole Awareness that God is. So the word that conceives ( Othum Mozhi) generates the unreal past and future. This word is God. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the word was God" ( John I.1).

We may see that when the `Word' interpolates the ideas of past and future into the experience of the eternal present, time is generated. When it is realized thus, Truth – Awareness - Bliss (Satyam – Jnaananam – Aanandam) is Truth – Awareness – Eternity (Satyam –

14

Njaananam – Anantham or sat- cid- amritam) Sree Narayana Guru calls this Sat-cid-amritam in the final verse o f his AtmOpadesa satakam.

8. Akavum puRavum tingum Mahimaav aaRnna nin padam pukazhttunnu njangal Angu Bhagavaane jayikkuka Akavum interior, inside ; puRavum: exterior, outside; tingum: filling fully; mahimavaaRnna: bearing supreme glory; nin: your; padam: foothold; pukazttunnu: glorify, praise; njangal: we angu: there; Bhagavaane: O splendorous Lord!: jayikkuka: be victorious.

Confined or free, existence all is replete with your glory. Such my Lord is Thy Being!This Thy surpassing Glory do we praise!Victory ! to Thee! Perfect Being!

This verse glorifies God who pervades the whole of existence. This is in tune with the assertion of Isaavasya Upanishad that God inhabits all that is moving (changing) in the moving ( changing)universe:" Isaavaasyam idam saRvam yat kimca jagatyaam jagat".

All the same, the point of view of this verse is markedly that of the limited individual ego. From this footing, proceeds the acknowledgement that what it perceives as its own essence ( the interior- akam) and as the universe external to it ( puRaM ) are replete with God. The individual ego and all that feels as world outside of it are in reality so filled with God that there absolutely is no room for anything else. The separation also is unreal. This is the view from Gods footing ( nin padam) . However, the ego has not reached the point of realization where it is in total identification with God. So God is addressed as being out there (angu). This is very close to 'Our Father who art in heaven' of the Lords Prayer. ` Victory to thee perfect being! '( Bhagavaane jayikkuka) has a close parallel in `Hallowed be thy name !'.

15

We may now go back to the Isavasya Upanishad mentioned earlier. In translating this Upanishad to Malayalam Sree Narayana Guru has made a unique interpretation of the first mantra.

Isvaran jagatt ellaam aavasikkuka kondu nee

Charikka muktanaayEvam, aasikkarut aarudeyum dhanam.The first partof the Malayalam lines given above ending with

`charikka muktanaayEvam' means this : `As God inhabits everything in the Universe, know that you are absolutely free; there is nothing binding or constricting you'. The second part: `aasikkarut arudeyum dhanam' would lend to the reading of a common moral instruction like ` desire not the riches of anyone'. Where the first part of the upanishadic exhortation has set the seeker in a frame where he is absolutely free and devoid of limitations following the understanding that he himself and the world wrongly assumed as being outside of himself are composed of the same `God Stuff'', wherefore would he desire anything! When this is realized who would not know that he is in possession and enjoyment of all the bounty of the universe! . Yes , the riches of the world belongs to whoever would have them.:

` dhanam aarudeyum!'

We have dealt with in some length the Isaavasya mantra in the hope that ,it would lead to a better understanding of the eight verse of Daiva Dasakam from which we had digressed. Man ( individual ego) would reach his perfection when he comprehends God as the Perfection God Is. As long as this does not happen, mans idea of god would remain the idea of a lesser god. From this diminutive stature, the idea of God has to grow into its all-comprehending fullness. It is the fervent aspiration for this to happen we finds in an expression like `Be victorious o great Lord.' The victory of the Lord would be His having full sway as Bhagavaan in the seekers being. Bhagavaan is one endowed with the six divine qualities of 1. Perfect command over everything – aisvarya ; 2. Perfect order- dharma; 3. Perfect material, emotional and spiritual wealth- sree ; 4. Perfect endearing- keertti; 5. Perfect renunciation- tyaaga and 6.Perfect liberation- mukti. Only when the Bhagavan is given to fill the being of the seeker with all these six glories would he be victorious. In such victory , His Kingdom would come and be on `Earth as it is Heaven'. It is this process that comes through the hails of the next verse.

16

9. jayikkuka mahaa dEva deenaavana paraayana jayikkuka chid aananda dayaa sindho jayikkuka Victory to thee Oh God Supreme!Victory! Thou who ever from affliction lift !Victory to thee pure awareness-bliss !Victory! great ocean of mercy!Jayikkuka: be victorious; mahhadeva: Great Lord; deeneaavan paraayana : ever engaged in the absolving of suffering; chid ananda: who is awareness-bliss; dayaa sindho: ocean of mercy.

When the great lord is victorious and descends into the every single being, to what would deem the meanest among creation, he would shine in all as mahaadeva with all will, prowess and power. When this happens, where could misery be. God here would glow as the ultimate dispeller of all suffering.( deena avana paraayana). When the whole of existence is devoid of suffering, God would no longer be separated as being out there ( angu); but be One All comprehensive wholeness the experience of which would be pure and whole Awareness –Bliss. (chid-aananda ) In that experience, which verily is supreme Knowledge, no deference of view, attitude, or interest would exist. This is the perfect Love. Daya or compassion is another name for this perfect Love footing. Whole of existence is filled with the victorious God who is a limitless ocean of Love- compassion. It is the glorious vision of this ever-expanding ever-deepening Ocean of Pure Love Light that we get in the final verse of this Upanishad in Malayalam. In this all existence merge and dissolve into a transcendent We Consciousness, which is unalloyed and enduring Bliss.

10. aazham ERum nin mahassaam aazhiyil njangal aakave aazhaNam vaazhaNam nityam vaazhaNam vaazhaNam sukam !

In the ever deepening ocean of thy glory,May we all merge and be one!May we so merging live with never an end!May Infinite Happiness in fullness reign!

17

Aazham: depth ( implies all dimensions); ERum: go on increasing; nin: your mahass: might, brilliance and energy. aazhi: ocean; njangal: we; aakave: altogether; aazhaNam: may we merge, vaazhaNam: may we live in glory; nityam: for ever ; vaazhaNam sukham: may enduring happiness reign.

In this final verse, the great Guru ever so gently brings us back to the same ocean on the shores of which we stood bewildered and beleaguered by a thousand fears and incertitude, in the first verse. He has, through the nine inimitable verses brought us to the realization that, what we considered the ocean of worldly suffering, (bhavaabdhi ) is in fact the nectarine ocean of infinite bliss. We would not think of running away from it or strain ourselves to cross it over; but would lose ourselves in it. So loosing ourselves into it we regain ourselves in our true guise. We realize ourselves as the ocean of Light-Love-Infinity. Experiencing this at ever deepening degrees and ever widening realms is experiencing the Bliss that God is. No `there’and `here’ ( angu and ingu ) may exist any longer. It is the perpetual Now of enduring Bliss. Yes it Is the very Footing Of God-Daiva Padam that is revealed to us by the infinite mercy of The Guru.

18