Śrī Dāmodara Aṣṭakam VERSE 6
नमो देव दामोदरानन्त विष्णो
प्रसीद प्रभो दुःखजालाब्धिमग्नम्
कृपादृष्टिवृष्ट्यातिदीनं बतानुगृहाणेश मामज्ञमेध्यक्षिदृश्यः
namo deva dāmodarānanta viṣṇo
prasīda prabho duḥkha-jālābdhi-magnam
kṛpā-dṛṣṭi-vṛṣṭyāti-dīnaṃ batānugṛhāṇeśa mām ajñam edhy akṣi-dṛśyaḥ
SYNONYMS
namaḥ: Obeisances | deva: O Lord! | dāmodara: O Dāmodara! | ananta: O Ananta! | viṣṇo: O Viṣṇu! | prasīda: be pleased | prabho: O Master! | duḥkha-jāla-abdhi-magnam: I am drowning in an ocean of sorrow | kṛpā-dṛṣṭi-vṛṣṭyā: by the rain of Your merciful glance | ati-dīnam: very fallen | bata: indeed | anugṛhāṇa: please uplift | īśa: O Lord! | mām: me | ajñam: ignorant | edhi: please become | akṣi-dṛśyaḥ: visible to my eyes |
TRANSLATION
O unlimited Vishnu! O master! O Lord! Be pleased upon me! I am drowning in an ocean of sorrow and am almost like a dead man. Please shower the rain of mercy on me; uplift me and protect me with Your nectarean vision.
PURPORT
Now, by the potency of prayer, feelings of spontaneous love arise and one especially craves to have the direct vision of the Lord. In this regard, when referring to topics about sākṣāt-darśana or direct vision of the Lord, only śrī nāma-saṅkīrtana is the parama sādhana or supreme method for this attainment. After fixing His beauty in the mind, one then offers sorrowful prayers by way of śrī nāma-kīrtana, as in this verse beginning with namo. In the text of a mūla-śloka such as this sixth verse, usually the word tubhyam ("unto You") would be found in order to complete the sense of the prayer; but in this case, the excitement of prema causes the reciter to neglect all feelings of awe or reverence. Therefore, in the mood of being in the personal presence of the Lord, the word tubhyam is neglected.
He prabho - means he madīya īśvara, O my controller! (Offering You my obeisances, I beg) prasīda - this word indicates prasādam, or be pleased with me and show Your mercy. (The reason for praying is) I am duḥkha-jālābdhi-magnam - immersed in the ocean of misery. Specifically, the word duḥkha (pain, misery, distress) indicates either the agony of repeated birth and death in the saṃsārika material world, or else the torment of not seeing You (resulting in feelings of ocean-like infinite desolation). Jalam - (meaning net, illusion, deception), and abdhiḥ (ocean) denotes the extreme vastness - (By the force of my own karma) I am thus magnam (submerged). (I am tortured by all these harsh afflictions); therefore I am ati-dīnam - very distressed.
Or else, another meaning of the word ati-dīnam is - I am completely bereft of the association of saintly persons, and consequently without their assistance I am extremely fallen. Or else, yet another meaning is - (due to not seeing You) I am just like a living dead man. In this regard, I am also ajñam - I am particularly ignorant about how to resolve this problem. Then kṛpayā dṛṣṭi-vṛṣṭyā - showing Your own mercy, please shower me with Your nectar-laden glances - anugṛhāṇa - thereby uplifting me and once more enthusing me with life. This alone is the purport of the prayer. Then akṣi-dṛśyo-edhi - please become visible before my eyes.
Prayers are usually made according to the sequence in which this one is prayed; as such it is not appropriate in this case to first mentioned the boon that is being requested, due to its nature of being the topmost of rarely attained benedictions.
The glory of attaining the direct vision of the Lord (sākṣāt-darśana) within the mind is explained very logically by the personal associates of the Lord (śrī bhagavat pārṣada) in the Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta, Uttara Khaṇḍa 3.179-182. From this passage one may gain specific knowledge of these topics.
(Now the devotional kīrtana of the Lord's names, used to address Him at the beginning of the mūla-śloka, will be explained:) In this sixth verse the word deva indicates he divya rūpa - O Lord of divine beauty! This beauty is the cause for desiring His darśana. The address of dāmodara intimates specifically that He is glorified for His excellence of bhakta-vātsalya, or affection for His devotees (up to the point of allowing them to bind Him around the waist). Therefore I will be qualified only by bhakti to see Him with my own eyes. He Who has no end (Whose mercy has no limits) is addressed as ananta. Therefore He will certainly shower His glance of mercy and thus favour me. The address prabhu connotes he acintya-ananta-adbhuta-mahā-śakti-yukta - O You Who are endowed with inconceivable, limitless, astonishingly grand potency! Therefore You Who cannot be perceived by the senses can only become visible to my eyes by dint of this same inconceivable śakti of Yours. Addressing Him as īśa suggests - he parama-svatantra - O You Who are supremely independent! In showing Your favour even to unfit souls, You are dependent on no one else. And moreover, the address viṣṇu means he sarva-vyāpaka - O You Who are all-pervading! Furthermore, it means - O You Who are fond of entering into Vrindavana's secluded caves and bower-cottages! Praying like this indicates that it is not difficult for Him to come before one's eyes; He does not have to labour hard to come from a distance.
(Some additional interpretations of the above-mentioned forms of address are now given:) Or else, he ananta means that He is aparicchinna or continuously existent without interval or separation. The address of viṣṇu means He is sarva-vyāpin or living everywhere. Therefore, he dāmodara proclaims Him thus - under the sway of His own parama-vātsalya-viśeṣa or supremely affectionate attribute, there is absolutely nothing that He cannot do. The purport of the other words used for addressing Him may also be understood in terms of these expanded indications. Thus ends Sanatana Goswami's Dig-Darshini-Tika on the sixth shloka of Sri Sri Damodarashtakam.
He prabho - means he madīya īśvara, O my controller! (Offering You my obeisances, I beg) prasīda - this word indicates prasādam, or be pleased with me and show Your mercy. (The reason for praying is) I am duḥkha-jālābdhi-magnam - immersed in the ocean of misery. Specifically, the word duḥkha (pain, misery, distress) indicates either the agony of repeated birth and death in the saṃsārika material world, or else the torment of not seeing You (resulting in feelings of ocean-like infinite desolation). Jalam - (meaning net, illusion, deception), and abdhiḥ (ocean) denotes the extreme vastness - (By the force of my own karma) I am thus magnam (submerged). (I am tortured by all these harsh afflictions); therefore I am ati-dīnam - very distressed.
Or else, another meaning of the word ati-dīnam is - I am completely bereft of the association of saintly persons, and consequently without their assistance I am extremely fallen. Or else, yet another meaning is - (due to not seeing You) I am just like a living dead man. In this regard, I am also ajñam - I am particularly ignorant about how to resolve this problem. Then kṛpayā dṛṣṭi-vṛṣṭyā - showing Your own mercy, please shower me with Your nectar-laden glances - anugṛhāṇa - thereby uplifting me and once more enthusing me with life. This alone is the purport of the prayer. Then akṣi-dṛśyo-edhi - please become visible before my eyes.
Prayers are usually made according to the sequence in which this one is prayed; as such it is not appropriate in this case to first mentioned the boon that is being requested, due to its nature of being the topmost of rarely attained benedictions.
The glory of attaining the direct vision of the Lord (sākṣāt-darśana) within the mind is explained very logically by the personal associates of the Lord (śrī bhagavat pārṣada) in the Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta, Uttara Khaṇḍa 3.179-182. From this passage one may gain specific knowledge of these topics.
(Now the devotional kīrtana of the Lord's names, used to address Him at the beginning of the mūla-śloka, will be explained:) In this sixth verse the word deva indicates he divya rūpa - O Lord of divine beauty! This beauty is the cause for desiring His darśana. The address of dāmodara intimates specifically that He is glorified for His excellence of bhakta-vātsalya, or affection for His devotees (up to the point of allowing them to bind Him around the waist). Therefore I will be qualified only by bhakti to see Him with my own eyes. He Who has no end (Whose mercy has no limits) is addressed as ananta. Therefore He will certainly shower His glance of mercy and thus favour me. The address prabhu connotes he acintya-ananta-adbhuta-mahā-śakti-yukta - O You Who are endowed with inconceivable, limitless, astonishingly grand potency! Therefore You Who cannot be perceived by the senses can only become visible to my eyes by dint of this same inconceivable śakti of Yours. Addressing Him as īśa suggests - he parama-svatantra - O You Who are supremely independent! In showing Your favour even to unfit souls, You are dependent on no one else. And moreover, the address viṣṇu means he sarva-vyāpaka - O You Who are all-pervading! Furthermore, it means - O You Who are fond of entering into Vrindavana's secluded caves and bower-cottages! Praying like this indicates that it is not difficult for Him to come before one's eyes; He does not have to labour hard to come from a distance.
(Some additional interpretations of the above-mentioned forms of address are now given:) Or else, he ananta means that He is aparicchinna or continuously existent without interval or separation. The address of viṣṇu means He is sarva-vyāpin or living everywhere. Therefore, he dāmodara proclaims Him thus - under the sway of His own parama-vātsalya-viśeṣa or supremely affectionate attribute, there is absolutely nothing that He cannot do. The purport of the other words used for addressing Him may also be understood in terms of these expanded indications. Thus ends Sanatana Goswami's Dig-Darshini-Tika on the sixth shloka of Sri Sri Damodarashtakam.
