Śrī Dāmodara Aṣṭakam VERSE 7
कुवेरात्मजौ बद्धमूर्त्यैव यद्वत्
त्वया मोचितौ भक्तिभाजौ कृतौ च
तथा प्रेमभक्तिं स्वकां मे प्रयच्छ
न मोक्षे ग्रहो मेऽस्ति दामोदरेह
kuverātmajau baddha-mūrtyaiva yad-vat
tvayā mocitau bhakti-bhājau kṛtau ca
tathā prema-bhaktiṃ svakāṃ me prayaccha
na mokṣe graho me 'sti dāmodareha
SYNONYMS
kuvera-ātmajau: the two sons of Kuvera | baddha-mūrtyā: by Your form bound with ropes | eva: indeed | yad-vat: just as | tvayā: by You | mocitau: were released | bhakti-bhājau: made devotees | kṛtau: were made | ca: and | tathā: in the same way | prema-bhaktim: loving devotion | svakām: Your own | prayaccha: please give | na: not | mokṣe: in liberation | grahaḥ: eagerness | me: my | asti: is | dāmodara: O Dāmodara! | iha: here |
TRANSLATION
O Lord Damodara, in Your form as a baby Mother Yashoda bound You to a grinding stone with a rope for tying cows. You then freed the sons of Kuvera, Manigriva and Nalakuvara, who were cursed to stand as trees and You gave them the chance to become Your devotees. Please bless me in this same way. I have no desire for liberation into Your effulgence.
PURPORT
In this way, by the attributes of pure ecstatic love (prema-viśeṣa) one becomes infused with supreme longing and prays for direct audience with the Lord (sākṣāt-darśana). From the attributes of that prayerful longing arises ecstatic loving service (prema-bhakti), which demonstrates the supreme rarity of sākṣāt-darśana. This prema-bhakti is verily the only means for attaining His darśana; first establishing this as a fact, prayer is then offered to Him. Or else - if one does receive His vision but once, the mind is unsatisfied, and (due to not seeing Him the very next second) the agony of separation sets in. Holding an apprehension like this, which perpetually brings the Lord under one's sway, is a feature of prema-bhakti - which is the one and only means of maintaining such a condition. This being declared the case, then how could it possibly be accomplished by such an utmost offender like me? The answer to this concern is that Sri Bhagavan's quality of bhakta-vātsalya (affection for His devotees) makes the impossible quite possible. In order to resolve this for certain, the proposal of mokṣa is again rejected here in the seventh verse beginning with kuverātmajau, where the prayer is made purely for attaining prema-bhakti.
The words baddha-mūrtyā indicate that His śrī vigraha (divine bodily form) was bound with ropes tied to the grinding mortar by Sri Yashoda; by that śrī vigraha (He liberated the two sons of Kuvera). Thus by His dragging the mortar between (the two trees known as yamalārjuna) Bhagavan personally demonstrates the supreme fortune that comes in the form of sākṣāt-darśana (seeing His form), personally touching His form, and so forth, which are integral attributes of His supremely beautiful pastimes. (Even though He Himself was tied up, now it is described how he liberated Nalakuvara and Manigriva:) The word mocitau denotes that they were liberated not just from the curse of Sri Narada, but from saṃsāra (the material world) as well; they were not awarded with kevalam or impersonal liberation of merging into His all-pervading effulgence, but it is definitely stated that they were gifted with prema-bhakti. These two boys are described as bhakti-bhājau - they took shelter of bhakti as the supreme goal. Those who cannot give up the shelter of devotion in any way, shape or form are called bhakti-bhājam. (Krishna personally transformed them in this way). Thus it is the intention of the author to specifically declare that not only were they liberated, but that they were also awarded with prema-bhakti. In this regard, the Lord has declared to these two boys in the Bhagavatam (10.10.42):
"The sprout of prema for Me, which was your most supremely cherished goal, has now fully arisen in both of you. From this ecstatic mood, you will never take birth in the material world again."
(Srila Sanatana Goswami has elucidated upon this verse in his own commentary on the Bhagavatam). The purport is - The word vām ("You two") indicates that Lord Krishna was addressing the two boys thusly: "The most desire thing you have prayed for is parama-bhāva and you both have fully developed this prema for Me. Therefore you will never again experience bhāva, the repeated birth and death in the material world, nor will you feel the misery of saṃsāra even while living here."
Then, he dāmodara! tathā - just like that - svakam - the exclusive shelter (āśraya) of Your own lotus feet, or else - the exclusive objective (viṣaya) of such a beautiful form as Yours; namely prema-bhakti - me - unto me - prayaccha - please bestow it unto me in the most lavish way. (yaccha means "please give" and the prefix pra indicates prakarṣeṇa or "with profusion or intensity").
Verily, it is just like Lord Sri Krishna is saying, "O he! Why are you so enthusiastic for prema-bhakti? Just accept liberation like the two sons of Kuvera, whereby the miseries of birth and death in the material world are finished." To that, the answer remains the same - neti - no, thank you. Other than iha, this goal named prema-bhakti - na mokṣe graho me asti dāmodara - I have no eagerness for any other type of liberation, O Damodara! The purport of this is: one may think, "If the saṃsāra is destroyed by engaging in prema-bhakti, let it be." Or, "If prema-bhakti doesn't destroy the saṃsāra, then let me not develop it." I truly have no inclination for either mentality. The confidential mood is thus - if a cintāmaṇi lies in the palm of your hand, then all activities you undertake will be perfect; therefore what is the value of grasping a tiny, insignificant thing (like mokṣa)?
Or else, the phrase he dāmodara! prema-bhaktiṃ svakaṃ me prayaccha means - this Bhagavan's belly is bound with ropes, so from Him one prays for prema-bhakti in order to perpetually bind His belly; the eagerness for this reciprocation makes it actually possible. Apprehending such, the prayer continues (na mokṣe grahaḥ, etc.), wherein the alarmed devotee offers - "Do I not have eagerness for You to become liberated from the ropes?" The purport is: "Yes, I certainly care." This is precisely the meaning. But all I want from You (in Your bound up form) is that You bestow my most cherished benediction of prema bhakti.
Or else, yet another meaning is - the word iha indicates "please bestow prema-bhakti here in Vrindavana" - this intention also follows. To interpret further,, one prays thus because Sri Vrindavana is the exclusive agent for the arising of prema-bhakti's unique happiness, also, only in Vrindavana Sri Krishna especially appears; also, the attributes of His sākṣāt-darśana are found there in that form) with His belly bound); and further, one prays for perpetual residence in Vrindavana because only there does Sri Bhagavan desire to especially manifest as the enjoyer of the forest - Vrindavana-Vihari. All this is additionally evidence. Further details of these topics could be ascertained as we have been doing herein. Thus ends Sanatana Goswami's Dig-Darshini-Tika on the seventh shloka of Sri Sri Damodarashtakam.
The words baddha-mūrtyā indicate that His śrī vigraha (divine bodily form) was bound with ropes tied to the grinding mortar by Sri Yashoda; by that śrī vigraha (He liberated the two sons of Kuvera). Thus by His dragging the mortar between (the two trees known as yamalārjuna) Bhagavan personally demonstrates the supreme fortune that comes in the form of sākṣāt-darśana (seeing His form), personally touching His form, and so forth, which are integral attributes of His supremely beautiful pastimes. (Even though He Himself was tied up, now it is described how he liberated Nalakuvara and Manigriva:) The word mocitau denotes that they were liberated not just from the curse of Sri Narada, but from saṃsāra (the material world) as well; they were not awarded with kevalam or impersonal liberation of merging into His all-pervading effulgence, but it is definitely stated that they were gifted with prema-bhakti. These two boys are described as bhakti-bhājau - they took shelter of bhakti as the supreme goal. Those who cannot give up the shelter of devotion in any way, shape or form are called bhakti-bhājam. (Krishna personally transformed them in this way). Thus it is the intention of the author to specifically declare that not only were they liberated, but that they were also awarded with prema-bhakti. In this regard, the Lord has declared to these two boys in the Bhagavatam (10.10.42):
"The sprout of prema for Me, which was your most supremely cherished goal, has now fully arisen in both of you. From this ecstatic mood, you will never take birth in the material world again."
(Srila Sanatana Goswami has elucidated upon this verse in his own commentary on the Bhagavatam). The purport is - The word vām ("You two") indicates that Lord Krishna was addressing the two boys thusly: "The most desire thing you have prayed for is parama-bhāva and you both have fully developed this prema for Me. Therefore you will never again experience bhāva, the repeated birth and death in the material world, nor will you feel the misery of saṃsāra even while living here."
Then, he dāmodara! tathā - just like that - svakam - the exclusive shelter (āśraya) of Your own lotus feet, or else - the exclusive objective (viṣaya) of such a beautiful form as Yours; namely prema-bhakti - me - unto me - prayaccha - please bestow it unto me in the most lavish way. (yaccha means "please give" and the prefix pra indicates prakarṣeṇa or "with profusion or intensity").
Verily, it is just like Lord Sri Krishna is saying, "O he! Why are you so enthusiastic for prema-bhakti? Just accept liberation like the two sons of Kuvera, whereby the miseries of birth and death in the material world are finished." To that, the answer remains the same - neti - no, thank you. Other than iha, this goal named prema-bhakti - na mokṣe graho me asti dāmodara - I have no eagerness for any other type of liberation, O Damodara! The purport of this is: one may think, "If the saṃsāra is destroyed by engaging in prema-bhakti, let it be." Or, "If prema-bhakti doesn't destroy the saṃsāra, then let me not develop it." I truly have no inclination for either mentality. The confidential mood is thus - if a cintāmaṇi lies in the palm of your hand, then all activities you undertake will be perfect; therefore what is the value of grasping a tiny, insignificant thing (like mokṣa)?
Or else, the phrase he dāmodara! prema-bhaktiṃ svakaṃ me prayaccha means - this Bhagavan's belly is bound with ropes, so from Him one prays for prema-bhakti in order to perpetually bind His belly; the eagerness for this reciprocation makes it actually possible. Apprehending such, the prayer continues (na mokṣe grahaḥ, etc.), wherein the alarmed devotee offers - "Do I not have eagerness for You to become liberated from the ropes?" The purport is: "Yes, I certainly care." This is precisely the meaning. But all I want from You (in Your bound up form) is that You bestow my most cherished benediction of prema bhakti.
Or else, yet another meaning is - the word iha indicates "please bestow prema-bhakti here in Vrindavana" - this intention also follows. To interpret further,, one prays thus because Sri Vrindavana is the exclusive agent for the arising of prema-bhakti's unique happiness, also, only in Vrindavana Sri Krishna especially appears; also, the attributes of His sākṣāt-darśana are found there in that form) with His belly bound); and further, one prays for perpetual residence in Vrindavana because only there does Sri Bhagavan desire to especially manifest as the enjoyer of the forest - Vrindavana-Vihari. All this is additionally evidence. Further details of these topics could be ascertained as we have been doing herein. Thus ends Sanatana Goswami's Dig-Darshini-Tika on the seventh shloka of Sri Sri Damodarashtakam.
