[ a slightly delayed post which was actually meant for the 26th-Sep-2023's VaamanaJayanthi on the Bhaadrapada Shuddha Dwaadashi...🙂]
Matsya, Koorma, Varaaha, ManushyaSimha Vaamana... goes on a well known Shree Annamaachaarya Sankeertana......
[ http://annamacharya-lyrics.blogspot.com/2007/03/150machcha-kurma-varaha.html?m=1 ]
This 5th avataaram of Shree MahaaVishnu, is one of the most peculiar and special ones owing to its unfathomable magnanimity exuded in almost no time as and when Balichakravarthi offered him 3 feet of place...
This mighty TrivikramaakRuthi is celebrated in the form of a gigantic moorthy in the UlaghalandhaPerumaal temple (one of the 108 divyadesams) located in Kanchipuram of Tamilnaadu... attached is the
picture of the same..
[ I have listened to the greatness of this temple in sathguru ShreeChaaganti gaari pravachanams pertaining to Kanchi kshetra vaibhawam and was blessed to visit the same during my visit to Kanchi Kaamaakshi temple in 2018.....]
Let's look at some interesting aspects of ShreeVaamanaavataram.....
To speak in terms of the worldly legend associated with the Vaamanaavataaram.....
Once upon a time, ShreeMahaaVishnu had to interfere with Bali Chakravarti's status quo when the latter was being famed as a great donor, in-order to fulfil his word to the then Devendra, to reinstate him as Swargaadhipati......
However, the same ShreeMahaaVishnu gave a word to BhaktaPrahlaada in his Narasimhaavataaram, ( BaliChakravarti's father VirochanuDu is Prahlaada's son...
i.e, greatgrandson of demon Hiranyakashipa is Bali Chakravarti), saying that he wouldn't bother the BhaktaPrahlaada's clan though they are demons.... owing to the strongest magnitudes of BhaktaPrahlaada's staunch HariBhakti....
Hence, amongst the 4 paths of Saama, Daana, Bheda, Danda upaayams..., the usual approach of Dandanam i.e., quarrel/fight/war will not be applicable in the case of BaliChakravarthi.....
Extolling a demon wouldn't be of any use and no demon would be ready to listen to Shree MahaaVishnu's words to instill any kind of differences between BaliChakravarti and others.
Hence Saama and Bheda upaayam too will not work in the case of BaliChakravarti....
Hence, only Daanam is the most suitable case to handle BaliChakravarti's situation....
Shree MahaaVishnu very well knows that BaliChakravarti is proud of his riches and thus that of his donation saga, so much so that he considers himself as the giver of any and everything under the Sun to any and every person on the earth...
The primary goal of Shree MahaaVishnu in all his avatars is BhaktaRakshaNa as a part of which, if and only if it entails, he executes DushTaShikshana as appropriate....
The goal of vaamanaavataram is to make the then Devendra Swargaadhipati upon the latter's request and thus Shree MahaaVishnu wanted to achieve the same simply by leveraging Balichakravarthi's donation saga....
As we can see in the below ShreemadBhaagawata padyam, Bali Chakravarti thinks that a dwarf Brahmin boy has approached him for some donation upon which he utters as below...
*******************************************
8.550 - మత్తేభ ఛందస్సు
వరచేలంబులొ మాడలో ఫలములో వన్యంబులో గోవులో
హరులో రత్నములో రథంబులొ విమృష్టాన్నంబులో కన్యలో
కరులో కాంచనమో నికేతనములో గ్రామంబులో భూములో
ధరణీ ఖండమొ కాక యే మడిగెదో ధాత్రీసురేంద్రోత్తమా!
భావము :
ఓ బ్రాహ్మణోత్తముడా! నీకేం కావాలో కోరుకో. మేలైన వస్త్రములా, డబ్బులా, పండ్లా, అడవి సంపదలా, గోవులా, గుఱ్ఱములా, రత్నాలా, రథాలా, మంచి ఆహారాలా, కన్యలా, ఏనుగులా, బంగారమా, భవనాలా, గ్రామాలా, పొలాలా, భూభాగాలా లేకపోతే ఇవి కాకుండా ఇంకేమైనా కోరుకుంటున్నావా?
Meaning :
Dear wisest brahmin! Want what you want. If not fine clothes, money, fruits, forest wealth, cows, horses, gems, chariots, good food, maidens, elephants, gold, buildings, villages, fields, lands, do you want anything else?
*******************************************
A highly intelligent ShreeMahaaVishnu utters that he isn't here for all the "affluent stuff" being listed by BaliChakravarti and he would be all happy if his ask of "a 3 feet" of place as a great donation is fulfilled by the greatest donor in the world, the BaliChakravarti....
*******************************************
8.556 - ఆటవెలది ఛందస్సు
ఒంటివాఁడ నాకు నొకటి రెం డడుగుల
మేర యిమ్ము సొమ్ము మేర యొల్ల;
గోర్కిఁదీర బ్రహ్మకూకటి ముట్టెద
దానకుతుకసాంద్ర! దానవేంద్ర! "
భావము:
ఓ దానవరాజా! దానం చేయాలనే గట్టి కుతూహలం కలవాడా! బలిచక్రవర్తీ! నేను ఒంటరివాడిని. నాకు సొమ్ములూ భూములూ అక్కరలేదు. మూడడుగుల నేల మాత్రము ఇమ్ము. దానితో తృప్తిపడి బ్రహ్మానందం పొందుతాను.
Meaning :
Dear Balichakravarti, the king of the Demons, having a strong desire to donate...I am lonely. I don't want money and land. Give only three feet of ground. I will become very happy with it...
*******************************************
Shukraachaarya, the Guru of Demons, immediately interferes and suggests Balee as below...
"Hey BaliChakravarti, don't donate anything to this so-called short looking Brahmin boy who is none other than Lord ShreeMahaaVishnu..!! He will occupy all the worlds by donning a gigantic TrivikramaakRuthi and you will be left with nothing else... to which a great BaliChakravarti answers Shukraachaarya as below....
*******************************************
8-589-కందం
ధాత్రిని హలికునకును సు
క్షేత్రము బీజములు నొకటఁ జేకుఱు భంగిం
జిత్రముగ దాత కీవియుఁ
బాత్రము సమకూరునట్టి భాగ్యము గలదే?
భావము:
దున్నే రైతుకు మంచి పొలమూ, మంచి విత్తనాలు ఒక చోట దొరకడం అరుదు. అదే విధంగా దాతకు తగిన ధనమూ, దానిని తీసుకునే ఉత్తముడూ దొరికే అదృష్టం అపురూపం కదా.
Meaning :
It is rare for a farmer to find a good field and good seeds in one place. In the same way, the good fortune of the giver and the most eligible recipient to have it as a donation are indeed incredible..
8-590-శార్దూలం
కారే రాజులు? రాజ్యముల్ గలుగవే? గర్వోన్నతిం బొందరే?
వారేరీ సిరిమూటఁగట్టుకొని పోవం జాలిరే? భూమిపైఁ
బేరైనం గలదే? శిబిప్రముఖులుం బ్రీతిన్ యశః కాములై
యీరే కోర్కులు? వారలన్ మఱచిరే యిక్కాలమున్? భార్గవా!
భావము:
శుక్రాచార్యా! పూర్వ కాలంలో కూడ ఎందరో రాజులు ఉన్నారు కదా. వారికి రాజ్యాలు ఉన్నాయి కదా. వాళ్ళు ఎంతో అహంకారంతో ఎంతో ఔన్నత్యాన్ని సాధించినవారే కదా. కాని వా రెవరు సంపదలు మూటగట్టుకొని పోలేదు కదా. కనీసం ప్రపంచంలో వారి పేరైనా మిగిలి లేదు కదా. శిబి చక్రవర్తివంటి వారు కీర్తికోసం సంతోషంగా అడిగినవారి కోరికలు తీర్చారు కదా. వారిని ఈ నాటికీ లోకం మరువలేదు కదా.
బలిచక్రవర్తి రాక్షసరాజైనా సత్యసంధుడు, తనువు నశ్వరతను, సిరుల యస్థిరతను ఎరిగిన జ్ఙాని; కనుకనే ఆచార్యుడు శుక్రుడు చెప్పిన రాజనీతిని కాదని తన నిర్ణయం చెప్తున్నాడు.
Meaning :
Shukracharya! There were many kings in the past too. Do they have kingdoms? They have achieved great heights with great pride. But they did not hide their wealth. At least their name is not left in the world. People like Shibi Chakravarti happily fulfilled the wishes of those who asked for glory. The world has not forgotten them even today.
I, Balichakravarti, am a demon king who is truthful and wise.. who knows the impermanence of the body and instability of riches....
*******************************************
After such multiple discussions between Shukraachaarya and BaliChakravarti, the latter quite vehemently states that irrespective of any and every reasoning by the former, he cares more for his word to that Brahmin boy who came all the way to ask a 3 feet of place and he shall certainly donate whatever has been asked by that witty Brahim boy...Let him be Shree MahaaVishnu or Shiva or Brahma...Let him have everything that can be had by him....and so on and so forth....and asks his wife Vindhyaavali, an equally noble woman, to bring water to perform saShaastreeya sankalpa sahita 3 feet of Bhoodaanam to this Brahmin boy....
Soon after the samantraka water touched the palm of that Vaamana boy, he transformed himself in to
ShreeMahaaVishnu, and started taking the mighty TrivikramaakRuthi upon which all the worlds were spellbound to look at Shree MahaaVishnu's never before displayed Vishwaroopam as described by Shree Potanaamatya in his eternally cherished ShreemadBhaagawata padyams/poems below....
8-622-శా.
ఇంతింతై, వటుఁడింతయై మఱియుఁ దా నింతై నభోవీథిపై
నంతై తోయదమండలాగ్రమున కల్లంతై ప్రభారాశిపై
నంతై చంద్రుని కంతయై ధ్రువునిపై నంతై మహర్వాటిపై
నంతై సత్యపదోన్నతుం డగుచు బ్రహ్మాండాంత సంవర్ధియై.
8-623-మ.
రవిబింబం బుపమింపఁ బాత్రమగు ఛత్రంబై శిరోరత్నమై
శ్రవణాలంకృతియై గళాభరణమై సౌవర్ణకేయూరమై
ఛవిమత్కంకణమై కటిస్థలి నుదంచద్ఘంటయై నూపుర
ప్రవరంబై పదపీఠమై వటుఁడు దా బ్రహ్మాండమున్ నిండుచోన్.
8-625-మ.
ఒక పాదంబున భూమి గప్పి దివి వే ఱొంటన్ నిరోధించి యొం
డొకటన్ మీఁది జగంబు లెల్లఁ దొడి, నొండొంటిన్ విలంఘించి. ప
ట్టక బ్రహ్మాండకటాహముం బెటిలి వేండ్రంబై పరుల్ గానరా
కొకఁడై వాగ్దృగలభ్యుఁడై హరి విభుం డొప్పారె విశ్వాకృతిన్.
భావము:
విశ్వరూపాన్ని ధరించిన త్రివిక్రముడు తన ఒక పాదముతో భూలోకాన్ని కప్పి, మొదటిఅడుగుగా స్వర్గలోకాన్ని దాటి రెండవ పాదముంచాడు. రెండవ అడుగుగా వేసిన పాదముతో పైలోకాలను అన్నింటినీ దాటిపోయాడు. ఆ మహారూపం పట్టకపోవడంవలన బ్రహ్మాండభాండం పైపెంకు పెటపెటలాడి బ్రద్దలైపోసాగింది. ఆయన తప్ప ఇంకెవరూ కనిపించకుండా పోయారు. ఆ విశ్వరూపుడు మాటలకు చూపులకు అందరానివాడై సంశోభించాడు.
Meaning :
Trivikrama, wearing the form of the universe, covered the earth with his one foot and crossed the heavens as the first step and took the second foot. He crossed all the worlds with his second step. Due to the lack of space to accommodate that Vishwaroopam, the Brahmandabhaandam started collapsing. Nothing else can be seen other than the Trivikramaakruti. That universal person became impervious to speech and sight.
*******************************************
Finally, when Trivikrama alias Vaamana, the so-called dwarf boy, asked BaliChakravarti saying.....
"All the worlds have been measured with my 2 feet..Now what shall my 3rd feet have and where shall it be placed...?"
to which a humbly stood BaliChakravarti stated.....
"Oh Mahatma, O Trivikrama....I have never refrained from the given word in my entire life and so shall be the case now..!
My head is ready for your 3rd feet...Please grace your foot on my head..."
to which ShreeMahaaVishnu concedes and sends BaliChakravarti and his folks to Sutala lokam /plane and tells them to live there happily....
and also states that in the upcoming Saavarni manvantaram, he would adorn the throne of Swargaadhipati Devendra as a result of his daana balam to none other than ShreeMahaaVishnu avataram of Vaamana/TrivikramaakRuthi.....
Now let's discuss this legend from a tattwa perspective and see what all it has to bless all the devotees listening with due faith and respect....
The roles of....
BaliChakravarti / Shukraachaarya.....
Devendra / Bruhaspati...
Vaamana, asking 3 feet of place, and becoming Trivikrama, entire visible universe getting captured with 2 feet, 3rd feet on BaliChakravarti's head,
sending BaliChakravarti to nether worlds and blessing him with Devendrapadavi in the upcoming Saavarni manvantaram........
might sound like a complex legend with many ambiguous points in place.....like
1. If everything is covered with the first 2 feet how is that BaliChakravarti alone is excluded from that 2 feet and thus is covered by the 3rd feet...?
2. After the samantraka daanam is performed by the BaliChakravarti, he becomes daata...and Vaamana becomes gruheeta....
What's the point in gruheeta ordering his mount Garuda to bind the daata with Varunapaashamulu when BaliChakravarti's opinion on the 3rd feet of place isn't yet considered by Vaamana ..?
3. If the intent of ShreeMahaaVishnu was to suppress BaliChakravarti to the nether worlds...
Why did he bless him as the future Swargaadhipati..?
and so on and so on forth....
Devaguru Bruhaspati leads Devendra the Swargaadhipati.....and his aim is to ensure that all the dikpaalakas are ruled well by Devendra which will inturn automatically take care of all the worlds....
Raakshasaguru Shukraachaarya leads all the demons and his goal is to make some or the other demon as Swargaadhipati....
Our sathbuddhi is Bruhaspati that leads us towards sagourava sthiti / sthaanam / mariyada from all the wise and intellectual community.....
represented by the Swargaadhipatyam...
Our durbuddhi is Shukraachaarya that leads us towards all sorts of egoistic, selfish, sensual pleasure oriented activities with aggressiveness / raakshasa pravrutti....
Both of these planes go hand-in-glove for every human being in a non-dual fashion and based on which takes more precedence at a given point in time, it decides our executional velocity in the chosen activity as appropriate....
For example, a friend takes us to a bhaktabrundam group in the morning in a temple where we see that all the devotees are behaving very humbly in taking only one banana as prasadam from the distributors....and our consciousness immediately gets tamed accordingly and we too humbly take only one banana as prasaadam...
For example, another friend takes all his friends to his banana orchard and tells that it is open for all his friends and they can grab as many bananas as they want...looking at all his friends behaving almost like wild monkeys to snatch as many bananas as they can, our consciousness immediately becomes wild and behaves like another wild monkey amongst all those monkeys to snatch as many bananas as we can....
ShreeMahaaVishnu becoming a dwarf Vaamana and asking the demon king BaliChakravarti a donation of 3 feet of place signifies, the concept of our existence in the 3 planes namely Jaagrat, Swapna, Sushupti....
When we are in the jaagrat avastha.....
we point towards any and everything in the world to say or state something about it and usually it is always about saying...this is mine and that is mine and I have this and I have that or I want this or I want that....etc...
Hence, this Jaagrat avastha is a strong carrier of
" I ", that which creates, sustains, dissolves all the world around us from morning thru night....
When we are in the Swapna avastha, our consciousness becomes universal and it starts roaming across several worlds....
When we are in the Sushupti avastha..,
(i.e., Slumber / deep sleep or aatyantikapralaya sthiti)
our consciousness gets dissolved completely.
In the meritorious words of sathguru ShreeChaaganti gaaru, deep sleep is a state of
" mana manasu + sakala indriya Shakti, buddhi loaki,...buddhi aatma loaki, layinchi undea sthithi..."
The same happens when samaadhi sthiti is attained in the YogaParibhaasha....
and it is perceived by the supra consciousness as "SahasraaraambhujaarooDhaa Sudhaasaaraabhivarshinyai namaha..." when a yogi makes himself/herself a witness to such an exalted state by the blessings of paramaatma....
Our consciousness is capable of recalling the Jaagrat and Swapna avastha's happenings... but not the ones that happen in the Sushupti avastha...
It implies, we can easily impart / offer all that is tangible and visible to God, i.e.... represented by the capture of everything with the 1st and 2nd feet of TrivikramaakRuthi.....
However, it takes a lot of determination and courage to say that we can offer ourselves to God as a tool for his executions... which is represented by the BaliChakravarti offering his head for the 3rd feet of capture by ShreeMahaaVishnu....
Hence BaliChakravarti is extolled as a representative of the utmost complex form of Bhakti, "AatmaNivedanam" in the navavidha bhakti maargamulu..... namely...
Shravanam Keertanam Vishnoh
Smaranam Paadasevanam....
Archanam Vanadanam Sakhyam
Daasyam Aatamanivedanam
In the YogaParibhaasha, this scenario is termed as attaining JeevaBrahmaikyaSiddhi only by the grace of God when he graces his divine feet in the state of our mind's exalted consciousness....
In the Vaamanaavataaram, ShreeMahaaVishnu dons the role of a witty Brahamin boy...and it is generally a very well known and an established fact that Braahmana varna sanjaata sathpurushulu are not only very intelligent and wise but also very sensible, humble, generous, polite while asking / taking / grabbing anything from others owing to their sathguna saandrata.....
Moreover, as explained by sathguru ShreeChaaganti gaaru, ShreeMahaaVishnu manifested himself as "AnaghaaLakhshmi sahita Vaamanamoorthy".....
[
In the below magnanimous Sankeertana, Shree Taallapaaka Annamaachaarya explicitly extolls Lord ShreeVenkateshwara as "AnaghuDu" in the last / 3rd charaNam though there isn't a need to say so...
It is said so, because he derives that name with the virtue of the AnaghaaLakhshmi residing in his palm more explicitly since Vaamanaavataaram....
సిరిదొలంకెడి పగలు చీకటా యితడేమి
యిరవు దెలిసియు తెలియనియ్య డటుగాన
తలపోయ హరినీలదర్పణంబో ఇతడు
వెలుగుచున్నాడు బహువిభవములతోడ
కలగుణం బటువలెనె కాబోలు లోకంబు
గలదెల్ల వెలిలోన కనిపించుగాన
మేరమీరిన నీలమేఘమో యితడేమి
భూరిసంపదలతో పొలయుచున్నాడు
కారుణ్యనిధియట్ల కాబోలు ప్రాణులకు
కోరికలు తలపులో కురియు నటుగాన
తనివోని ఆకాశ తత్వమో యితడేమి
అనఘుడీ తిరు వేంకటాద్రివల్లభుడు
ఘనమూర్తి ఆటువలెనెకాబోలు సకలంబు
తనయందె యణగి హుద్భవమందుగాన
]
Hence, now that the goal of taking the Swargaadhipatyam from BaliChakravarti in order to give it back to the then Devendra has been
successfully fulfilled by the Vaamanaavataram in the name of some so-called donation seeking...,
ShreeMahaaVishnu wanted to nullify all the sanchita karma lampaTam of BaliChakravarthi, owing to which he had to be born into a demon family, by asking Garuda to tie him with Varunapaashamulu and after all his sanchitam's karma accumulation got washed way to become as good as a blank white page, with the merit of adorning the mighty ShreeMahaaVishnu's paadam
(by the virtue of the AnaghaaLakhshmi residing in his palm) on his head he has become one of the most meritorious beings and is thus sent to Sutala loakam to have the punyaanubhawam / sukhaanubhawam gained via all his daana balam...after which he is to be coronated as the Swargaadhipati in the upcoming Saavarni manvantaram to balance his act of donating the same to some previously adorned soul via Vaamana / Upendra avataaram of Shree MahaaVishnu, when he was BaliChakravarti in his past life....
May the remembrance of the holy feet of lord ShreeMahaaVishnu's vaamanaavataram bestow the devotees with all the goodness and happiness...💐🙂🍨🍕🍧🌼
రేఖామయధ్వజసుధాకలశాతపత్ర
వజ్రాంకుశాంబురహ కల్పకశంఖచక్రైః
భవ్యైరలంకృత తలౌ పరతత్త్వ చిహ్నైః
శ్రీ వేంకటేశ చరణౌ శరణం ప్రపద్యే. ॥ 5 ॥
🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
