[Advaita-l] Daya of isvara

[Kaushik Chevendra]

How much is the daya of narayana(any form of isvara).
Shri Madhusudhana saraswati in his gudartha dipika shows us how a baktha
assumes the daya of Lord. The confidence he has on the Lord is immeasurable
and so is the protection given by isvara.

In the commentary of 9.31 after the famous verse of 9.30 which talks about
greatness of bakthi,shri saraswati writes-

9.31." He soon becomes possessed ofa virtuous mind; he attains everlasting
peace. No devotee of Mine gets ruined! proclaim boldly, O son of Kunti,
that Even though he had been always evil-minded, he, through the glory of
worshipping Me, ksipram-soon, indeed; bhavati- becomes; dharmtm-possessed
of a virtuous mind, of a mind following the righteous path. The idea is
that he gives up his bad conduct quickly, and takes to good conduct.
Moreover, because of surpassing dispassion attains fully everlasting;
[äntim, peace, cessation of the hankering for enjoyment of objects) .

 It may be that some devotee of Yours, by not giving up evil actions
practised earlier, does not become pure-minded, and so he will surely be
ruined.
The Lord, as though angered, He being bound by compassion for his devotees,
says: Not so. O son of Kunti, do not think of this as strange. The
greatness of devotion for me is surely of this kind. Therefore, even in
front of those who hold an opposite view, pratijnihi, you proclaim boldly,
make a firm declaration, proudly and with indifference to them; na bhaktah,
no devotee, me, of Mine, of Vasudeva; pranasyati, gets ruined, even though
he be of great evil conduct; even if he be in the throes of death; even
though, in spite of being unfit (himself), he prays for what is very rare;
even if he is totally unenlightened and has none to resort to. On the other
hand, he surely becomes self-fulfilled. The well-known instances are of
Ajämila, Prahläda, Dhruva, Gajendra, and others. And there is also the
scripture, "For the devotees of Vasudeva, there is never any misfortune (V.
Sa., 131)".


The above can be taken as a eulogy of bakthi given by shri saraswati but
the confidence he has on the Lord and bakthi towards him, he has as a
jnani, goes in hand with the statement of bagavatham.