Oct 9, 2008

Stanza-057

महर्षिः कपिलाचार्यः कृतज्ञो मेतिनीपतिः।

त्रिपदस्त्रिदशाध्यक्षो महाशृङ्गः कृतान्तकृत्॥

മഹര്ഷിഃ കപിലാചാര്യഃ കൃതജ്ഞോ മേതിനീപതിഃ

ത്രിപദസ്ത്രിദശാധ്യക്ഷോ മഹാശൃന്ഗഃ കൃതാന്തകൃത്

மகார்ஷி கபிலாச்சார்யா கிரிதஞோ மேதிநீபதி

திரிபதஸ்திரிதசாத்யக்ஷோ மஹாஸ்ரிங்க கிரிதாந்தகிரித்

ಮಹರ್ಷಿಃ ಕಪಿಲಾಚಾರ್ಯಃ ಕೃತಞೋ ಮೆತಿನೀಪತಿಃ

ತ್ರಿಪದಸ್ತ್ರಿದಶಾಧ್ಯಕ್ಷೋ ಮಹಾಶೃಞ್ಗಃ ಕೃತಾನ್ತಕೃತ

మహర్షిః కపిలాచార్యః కృతఞో మేతినీపతిః

త్రిపదస్త్రిధశాధ్యక్షః మహాశృంగః క్రితాన్తకృత్

maharshih kapilaachaaryah kritajno medineepatih
tripadastridasaadhyaksho mahaasringah kritaantakrit

531. Maharshih Kapilaachaaryah - One who has manifested as the teacher Kapila, the great sage. “Rishi”, the sage, is one who has mastered a portion of the Veda, and one who has mastered the entire Vedas is called “Maharshi” in the Hindu tradition. The preceptor Kapila, who is a great master of the entire Vedic literature, is the propounder of the Saankhya philosophy. The glory of kapilaachaarya is endorsed by Lord Krishna Himself in the Geeta when He declares, “Of the perfected-ones, I am sage Kapila.”
532. Kritajnah - The created and the knower of the creation. Kritam means “the universe that has been created.” Jna means “the knower of all the objects.” The Supreme Self is the material cause for the “knower” ego (Jna), and the effects constitute the world of things and beings (Kritam). He who is the very substratum for both cause and effect is the Absolute Self, the Lord. He is unconditioned by the outer matter vestures such as body etc. and thus Lord Sri Narayana is the Absolute Reality. Nowadays, this word (Kritajna) has come to mean “gratitude” or “thanks-giving”. It is a cheap application of this deep meaning. To express to my benefactor that “I have known (Jna) what he had done (Kritam) to help me” is thanksgiving, and hence, this usage is today very popular in our vernacular.
533. Medineepatih - The Lord of the Earth, Sri Narayana. The Preserver Vishnu as the husband of the inert matter, Earth, is a concept at once immensely beautiful and deep, philosophic and poetic.
534. Tripadah – “The One who has taken the three steps.” This indicates, the Vamana-incarnation, and how He measured, in just three steps, the entire universe. The jeeva, the limited ego, meaning the seeker, has also to take three steps forward, to reach across the delusion of the three worlds of sleep, dream and waking. The meditator can measure these three “worlds” in three steps and arrive at his own original Real Nature in his inner mystic experience.
535. Tridasaadhyakshah – “The Lord of the three steps”-the ‘three steps’ are waking, dream and deep-sleep. One who is the Witness of the ‘three steps’ is the Self. It can also mean that One who assumes, in His play, the three qualities of Sattva, Rajas and Tamas-and yet, Himself, is not affected by anyone of them.
536. Mahaasringah – “The Great-Horned.” The term indicates how the Lord in the Fish-incarnation tied the ship to his great horn and sported in the waters of the deluge.
537. Kritaantakrit - He is the destroyer of the “creation.” He is the Creator, in our subjective life, of the inactive (taamasa) and positive (saattvic and raajasa) vaasanaas- the sins and the merits. When the merits are more, the Lord provides a heaven for them to exist and when the sins are more, they move into the lower wombs, where sin-vaasanaas, too, get exhausted. An individual seeker when he exhausts all the above vaasanaas, rises to the realm of the Self and gets totally identified with the Self. Therefore, Sri Narayana is that State Divine, wherein all created vaasanaas (Krita) get destroyed (Anta). Thus, the end (Anta) of the vaasanaas (Krita) is called “total liberation” (Kritaantam). He who is the giver of the’ krita’, Him- self is the giver of “total liberation” (Kritaanta-krit)…. We find it also interpreted to mean that the Lord is one who has destroyed (Krindanam) Lord Death (Kritaanta) himself. One who is the destroyer’ Kritaanta’, in this sense we can take this term as meaning the Lord who has taken the form of Rudra, the Destroyer-Lord Siva.

Followers

Credits

Inspiration & courtesy:
Contribution of Shivkumar Kalyanaraman, Professor, Department of ECSE, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, U.S.A.

Sanskrit script Courtesy:
Shri. N. Krishnamachari