vivekachUdAmani

[Vaidya N. Sundaram]

38)
durvaarasa.nsaaradavaagnitaptaM
    dodhuuyamaanaM duradR^ishhTavaataiH .
bhiitaM prapannaM paripaahi mR^ityoH
    sharaNyamanyadyadahaM na jaane ..

 I am scorched by the inextinguishable forest fire of samsAra. I am
deeply affected (shaken) by the winds of misfortune. I am overcome
by intense fear. I fall at your feet. Save me from death. I have
none else in whom I can seek refuge.

 SamsAra itself is a forest fire which spreads in all directions.
It is in extinguishable except by the jn~aana springing from the
guru's upadesha. When the forest fire is aided by the wind, the
flames spread out and scorch in all directions. The winds here are
said to be duradrstavaataah, i.e., winds of misfortune. They are
unfavourable winds. dodhUyamaanam : trembling greatly again and
again. If the wind is favourable, it carries the person away from
the flames. If it is unfavourable, either it carries him into the
fire or blows the fire on him. It is with the idea that the man
suffering from the heat of the forest fire will be rescued from it
by the downpour of the nectar that reference is made in the
previous sloka to the raining of the amrta of the guru's compassion
by the expression atIkaarunyasudhaabhivrstyaa making it an
adjective of drstyaa and the whole being taken as a bahuvrIhi -
compound. Instead, it may also be taken as tatpurusa - compound.
drstyaa - by your glance, atIkArunyasudhaabhivrstyaa: by the down
pour of infinite compassion through it. the purport of the sisya's
appeal is : If I obtain Atmajn~Ana by your grace, death in the form
of the exit of the vital airs from my body will not happen to me".
The sruti also says: na tasya prAnA utkrAmanti atraiva
samavanIyante (Brh): His (Atmajn~Anin's) prAnas do not go away;
they disappear (acquire laya) here itself. That is, the man does
not die as ordinary people do by their vital airs going out of the
body at death.


                        Vaidya N. Sundaram

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uddharedaatmanaatmaanaM naatmaanamavasaadayet.h |
aatmaiva hyaatmano bandhuraatmaiva ripuraatmanaH ||

Let a man raise himself by his own efforts. Let him not degrade himself.
Because a person's best friend or his worst enemy is, none other than his
own self. (BG 6.5)

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