Line by Line summarized meaning of the sanskrit verses in Shivananda Lahari discourse
Day 16 – August 13 – verse 30 and 31
Verse 30
In this verse Bhagavad pādacharya seeks from the Lord the positions of the 5 Devatas so as to perform His worship perfectly and elaborately. Here the panchopachara puja is indicated through the 5 Devata positions. Reciting this verse is as good as performing the Pancopachara puja.
Vasthrōd dhoota Vidhou sahasrakaratā pushpārchane Vishnuta,
Gandhe gandha vahāt -mathānna pachane bahirmukhā dyakshata,
Pathre kānchana garbhatasti mayi Ched bālendu chudāmaṇe,
Sushrūshām karavaṇi the pasupate swāmin trilokī guro
Vasthrod dhootha Vidhou sahasrakaratā – In order to drape You in pure, washed, resplendent clothes, I seek to become the Sun (sahasrakaratha)
Common meaning – I desire to drape You in pure washed clothes; I need to ensure that the clothes dry properly, so bless me with the position of thousand armed Surya. But in reality the Lord is all-pervading. How can an ordinary mortal drape clothes around the all-pervading Lord? Only the Sun, with his 1000 arms can reach out to the all-pervading Lord. Hence bless me with as much energy as the Sun possesses.
When we offer clothes to the Lord, we should have the bhavana that the Sun Lord himself has come and is offering clothes to the Almighty. Only then we are blessed with the poorna phala for the offering.
Pushpārchane Vishnuta – In order to worship You with flowers, bless me with the position of Vishnu.
Vishnu means ‘He who is all pervading’. Like the sky, this Lord is everywhere. If I am all pervading, I can collect all the flowers from entire creation and offer to You.
In the Shiva Mahima stotram, it is said that once Vishnu wanted to worship Shiva. On Ekadaśi Shiva worships Vishnu and on Shivaratri, Vishnu worships Shiva. Vishnu wanted to offer 108 flowers from 108 different locations and recite ashtotarra. When He began the worship, He realized that only 107 were present. He could not understand the reason for the shortage. He thought, “I am addressed as Padma netra. My eye is a lotus and I will offer this to the Lord.” So he decided to cut his eye. At that point Shiva appeared and blessed Visnu with the Sudarshana chakra and asked Him to use it for the welfare of the worlds.
We should belive that each indriya is one flower and offer it to the Lord.
Gandhe gandha vahātmathānna – I want to offer sandal paste to Your lotus feet for this reason I want the position/ energy of Vayu (air/wind).
But o Lord, you are all pervading. How much sandal paste (gandha) can an ordinary mortal gather? Therefore I want the Vayu tattva so that I can offer gandha. Air does not have any smell and does not attach to anything. It just carries the smell that is there in that place at that time. So to be like Vayu means to be unattached in all offerings.
Pachane bahirmukadyakshatha – To offer your plenty of cooked food as Naivedya, I want the postion of Indra (bahir mukha dhyakshata).
Bahir mukha refers to Agni who carries our messages/ offerings to the Gods with utmost swiftness. His adhyaksha(Lord) is Indra.
Indra is Parjanya. He is the Lord of all grains, of rains. It is from rains that the crop grows. He is the Lord who ensures that the food that we eat gives us the required energy. Indra is also known as paaka śāshana. He has kept the demon Paaka in his throat and hence has this name.
Pāthre kānchana garbhata – In order to offer You food in golden vessels, I seek the position of Hiranyagarbha (Brahma).
We should never offer Naivedya in the vessel in which food is cooked, if it the vessel appears clean. The vessels should be spotlessly clean and in them we should offer naivedya.
This entire Brahmanda is like a huge pot. This is said to be Hiranyagarbha. You are all pervading and to satisfy your hunger, I need a golden vessel that is as large as this Brahmanda (creation). So in that vast pot I can offer naivedya easily.
Asti mayi chedbālendu chudamaṇe – I O Lord who retains the crescent moon on your forehead (chandrashekara).
Lord Shiva retains just a little bit of the Moon on His forehead. This is the 16th phase of the moon. Moon has a bit of kalanka (shashanka, mark or defect ). By retaining the moon on His forehead, the defect in the Moon is removed. This is to state that for that Lord Guna and dosha are one and the same. We should tell the Lord all our good as well as our bad. He is our antaryami. If we surrender even these doshas (mistakes) to him, He will purify us by removing them from us.
Sushrūshām karavāni te pasupathe – O Paśupati! Only if I am granted all these I will be able to worship (shushrushām, seva) You better.
Second meaning – Sushrūshva also mean ‘to listen’. I should listen to Your voice and obey. It also means to listen to the elders. Doing Guru seva does not mean pressing Guru’s feet. Learning to obey His instructions is Guru seva and following the path laid by Him.
Here Bhagavad pādacharya asks for Suryatvam, vishnutvam, Vayutvam, Indratvam and Brahmatvam. These 5 positions He seeks. In a nutshell, He is seeking Devatvam i.e. reaching Devata level from human level.
Swamin – O Lord
Triloki guro – O Guru of the three worlds.
Traditionally the 64 types of worship are offered to Mother Goddess. At the fastest speed it takes minimum 3 hours. These include bringing Her in a procession, washing her pādam, placing her on the madapam, bathing her and many more. To make it convenient for ordinary persons 16 types of worship (shodashopachara puja) was created. When even this is not possible, panchopachara puja using our fingers is prescribed. Touch the fingers and then mentally focus and offer puja. It will take a minute or two. If even this is not done, then how is God to uplift us?
Morning soon upon waking up, we fold our hands in namaskara. We are then acknowledging to the Almighty the presence of the 10 indriyas and are offering them to Him. We state that we using these 10 fingers for Your worship. We beg of Him to accept Him.
Verse 31
This verse explains the Lord’s extreme compassion by drinking poison to save the entire creation.
When we see Shiva, our heart melts because we recollect that He drank the poison only to save us. In a lamp, the base unit is our body. The glowing lamp is Paramatma. The oil is the link between the two and holds them both. Shiva is the oil who holds us.
When everyone was rushing to get a share of the nectar, Shiva was the only one who came forward to drink the poison. This makes our heart melt and only when our heart melts we connect to Him better. We can then surrender to Him easily. Neelakanta also refers to the dancing peacock. In this Shardoola vikridita chandas, sitting in Srisailam amongst plenty of dancing peacocks, Bhagavad padacharya composed this hymn recollecting Lord Neelakanta.
Nālam vā paramōpakāraka-midam tvekam pasoonām pate,
Pasyan kukshigatān charāchara gaṇān bāhyastithān rakshitum,
Sarvāmarthya palāyanouśadha matijwālākaram bheekaram,
Nikshiptam garalam gale na galitam nodgeerna meva tvayā.
Nālam vā paramōpakārakam-idam – Is Your greatest help (parama upakara) not sufficient (na alam)?
The entire creation is indebted to this Lord who drank the poison in order to protect us. We should remember that the trees, rivers etc. are living only for the benefit of others. Only human beings are selfish and self centered.
Tvekam pasoonām pate – O Lord, the leader/ Lord of all animals
Pasyan kukshigatān charāchara gaṇān – You saw the movable and immovable beings that are inside Your womb (kukshigataan; kukshi means womb)
We are all still in the womb – in Brahmanda (anda means egg), Shiva’s womb. So we can live blissfully knowing that He is taking care at all times. The mother carries a baby in a womb for 9 months enduring all pains; for this reason she is the visible god (pratyaksha daiva). Halahala has an extreme burning tendency; in addition it also spreads rapidly in all directions burning all which comes in its way. So shiva took on the responsibility of drinking it up so as to protect the creation, within and outside.
Bāhyastithān rakshitum – In order to protect the beings who were already existing outside
Sarva amartya palāyanoushadham – as well as the Devatas who were running in fright
The Devatas too were running in fright unable to bear the flames of this Halahala; their running itself was their disease. So even they needed to be helped. This Halahala would have wiped them out completely as at that time they had not yet drunk amrita.
Athijwālākaram bheekaram – the frightening Halahala
This Halahala would completely burn away the indriyas, muscles, bones etc; it was so destructive.
When we churn the ocean called life, the first thing to emerge is Halahala. Only turbulence. We have to be patient.
Nikshiptham garalam gale – You swallowed, but retained it in Your neck.
If Shiva swallowed the poison the beings in His womb (i.e. those in this Brahmandam) would be burnt completely. If He would spit it out the Devatas would have been burnt. To help both these beings, He retained the poison only in His neck.
Na galitam nodgeerna meva tvayā – Neither did You swallow nor did You spit it out.
What more can I say about your compassion, O Lord?
We were able to obtain nectar purely because this Lord drank off all the poison. In this way He has suffered but He has blessed us. Shiva is Guru. He takes our poisons and blesses us with nectar. This Lord is worshipped with the mantra – Mrutunjayaya Rudrāya neelakanthāya Shambhave amruteśāya sharvāya Mahādevāya te namaha.
Enquiring from the Lord His joys and sorrows is a great state of devotion. Yathā manasā dhyāyati tat vācha vadati – whatever the mind contemplates upon, is expressed in speech. ‘O Lord, You have been standing for so many centuries? Do Your feet not hurt? Please come and take shelter and rest for some time’ is an example of such intense love for the Lord. We should learn to change our method of prayer.