Meaning :
Here, Kulasekhara is nourished by the meditation on the beautiful limbs of the Lord and equates that invigorating experience to that of taking a deep dip in a cool pond in the middle of scorching summer. He compares the hands and feet of the Lord to lotuses blooming in that cool pond. He recognizes the fish swimming in the pond as the two eyes of the Lord. The waves of the pond remind him of the inviting shoulders of the Lord. He is reminded of the deep Bhagavat Tatvam, when he thinks about the depth of the pond.
The refreshing and joyous experience of immersing in that pond known as Hari and drinking its nourishing waters makes him think that, that experience is comparable to the state of a traveler in the torrid and dry desert sighting a cool pond in the middle of all of that waste land and getting relief from his sufferings by dipping into that inviting waters. His afflictions are gone. The afflictions are the sorrows of samsaric life caused by the Taapa Thrayam. Dipping in the Hari Saras is the sure way to quench those Taapaas.
Kulasekhara states that the dip in the cool emerald pond (Hari Saras) has cured him of the afflictions. Poets have used the analogy of a cool emerald pond in a summer to describe the invigorating and relief giving qualities of the meditation on the Lord.
Following this tradition, Swami Desikan states in Devanayaka Panchaasat,
” mama dhee: bhavantam greeshmeh tataakamiva seetham anupravishtaa”.
He states that his mind attained rest and vigor through meditation on the auspicious attributes of the Lord of Thiruvahindrapuram, just as one gets relief from the scorching summer heat by the act of dipping in a cool pond. One Azhwaar has described RAmA as “Dayarathan Perra Maragada Mani Thatam” (RAmA, the emerald pond born as the son of Dasaratha).
Commentary by: Sri Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan
