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Godhai, who incarnated as the daughter of PeriyAzhwAr has the bluish hue of sapphire (indra neelam). In one of Her hand, She adorns a white Lilly flower (Senkazhuneer malar = kalhAra pushpam)). She is slightly bent from the weight of Her heavy breasts. She overlooks all of our aparAdhams (trespasses) and showers us
with Her matchless daya. She removes the flower garlands worn on Her tresses and presents them to Her Lord and thereby brings Him under Her spell. May Godhai of these auspicious attributes reside in our hearts always!
SevA SwamigaL points out that Swamy Desikan always includes a dhyAna slOkam in his sthuthis. Examples are:
KalyANAnAm avikala nidhi: (Sri Sthuthi),
VyAkhyA mudhram (Sri HayagrIva SthOthram),
VyAtanvanA (Sri VaradarAja PanchAsath),
icchA meena vihAra kacchabha (Dasaavathara Sthothram)
The most compassinate Acharyan, Swami Desikan wanted us to have the fruits of the recitation of the full sthuthi by reciting the dhyAna slOkam alone.
Regarding the other groups of words used in this dhyAna slOkam, the first paadham recognizes the deep bluish hue of Godhai originating from her close association with Her Karu muhil VaNNan, KaNNan (Sathamakha maNi neelA).
The second paadham is: “Sthana bhara namithAngi saandhra vaathsalya sindhu:”. She is saluted as the ocean of deep vaathsalyam for us, Her children. One of the 32 saamudhrikA LakshaNams is saluted with the choice words: “sthana bhara namithAngi”. In Sri Sthuthi, Swamy Desikan described Sri Devi standing slightly bent
by the weight of Her sthanams (tanvI thungasthana bhara nathA). In an earlier slOkam of GodhA sthuthi itself, Swamy Desikan compared the loftiness of Her sthanams (kuchams) as “KuchayOrapi TungabhadhrA”.
The third paadham is “alavinihithAbhi: SraghbhirAkrushta NaathA”. She wore first the flower garlands to check whether She was beautiful enough to be the consort of Her Lord and then presented those flower garlands to Him. With those flower garlands, She “bound” Her Lord completely (kattuNNappattAn) and enjoyed Him. That is what ParAsara Bhattar says in his dhyAna slOkam:
“svOcchishtAyAm srajinigalitham
yaa bhalAthkruthya bhunkthE
GodhA tasyainama idhamidham
bhUyayEvAsthu bhUya:”
MEANING:
May this obesiance of ours last forever and ever to GodhAi who forcibly won Her Lord’s favours by binding Him with the garland worn and discarded by Her.
Swamy Deikan stops short and says:
“aLaka vinihithAbhi: sragbhi: aakrushta NaathA”
Once aakarshaNam is accomplished, then Her Lord becomes Her Paaratantryan (dependant). He is then totally under Her spell. In the final paadham of this dhyAna slOkam, Swamy Desikan prays for Godhai to take
permanent residence in OUR hearts. Instead of praying for Her residence in his heart (mama hrudhayam), our most merciful AchAryan prays for Her vaasam in all of OUR hearts including his (na: hrudhi GodhA vilasathu).
Observations of other commentators on the passages of this slOkam:
1. KalhAra Pushpam is Senkazhuneer Pushpam. It is a beautiful pushpam (ChAru KalhAram). ANDAL refers to it in Her ThiruppAvai Paasuram: “UngaL Puzhakkadai thOttatthu VaaviyuL vaay Senkazhuner”. It is known as
Sougandhikam in Sanskrit and is a fragrant, white Lilly blossoming in the evening)..
2. She is bluish in hue like an Indhraneela gem (neelam = NeeLA). She has the neela hue of a SathamakamaNi. This is Swamy Desikan’s memory link to Bhattar’s taniyan: “NeeLA tunga sthana giri–”, which itself is a summary of sorts of “Kutthu ViLakkeriya” paasuram of ThiruppAvai.
3. Sthana bara namithAngi: Her heavy breats (Sthana bara) make Her bent forward (namithAngi) a little.
4. Saandhra Vaathsalya sindhu: She is the ocean of Vaathsalyam (Vaathsalya sindhu:). She holds Her child tight to Her breasts and suckles the child with great affection. Saandhra means held tight.
5. She is our AchAryan. She is the daughter of an AzhwAr, who has always VishNu in his chittham (VishNuchitthAthmajA). She is the One who has got Sri RanganAthA under Her sway through the Soodikkoduttha Maalai (alaka vinihithAbhi: sragbhi:Aakrushta NaaTA).
6. GodhA Sthuthi starts with reference to VishNu chittha (Sri VishNuchittha kula nandhanakalpavalli) and ends with VihNuchitthA (Vilasathu hrudhi GodhA VISHNUCHITTHATHMAJAA NA:).
7. The prayer incorporated in the dhyAna slOkam is: “VishNuchitthAthmajaa GoodhA na: hrudhi vilasathu)” : May the Form and Image of GodhA PirAtti, the dear daughter of VishNuchitthA (PeriyAzhwAr) shine forth radiantly in our hrudhaya kamalams .
