Godha Stuthi - 29

ithi vikasitha bhakthE: utthithAm VenkatEsAth

Bahu guNa ramaNeeyAm vakthi GodhA sthuthim ya:

sa Bhavathi bahumAnya: SrimathO Rangabharthu:

CharaNa Kamala sEvAm SaasvathIm abhyupaishyan

MEANING:
Swamy Desikan states that GodhA sthuthi rose from him as a result of fully blossomed
Bhakthi for Her (Vikasitha BhakthE: utthitham). All sthOthrams of Swamy Desikan
blossomed forth from his Bhakthi. For example, he says Sri Sthuthi arose from
“upachitha Guru BhakthE:” Guru here does not mean AchAryan, but huge. In GodhA
sthuthi, Swamy says that the flower of his Bhakthi has fully blossomed like the
Senkuzhuneer Pushpam in Godhai's hastham.

ANDAL ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Godha Stuthi - 21

Rangeswarasya tava cha pranayAnubhandhAth

anyonya maalya parivrutthim abhishtuvantha :

vaachalayanthi VasudhE rasikAstrilokheem

nunoodhikathva-samathA- vishayairvivAdhai :

MEANING:

O GodhA dEvi, the amsam of Bhoomi Piratti (VasudhE)! Those fortunate rasikAs,

who attended the wedding between RanganAtha and You and had the joy of

witnessing, the exchange of garlands during that occasion; they fill this earth with the

sound of their noisy debates even today. At that time, RanganathA bent His head to

receive the garland worn by You and You reciprocated in the same way during the

time of the exchange of Garlands. Both of You wore each other's garland with great

affection and joy due to your mutual love. Those, who were blessed to be part of this,

joyous occasion are divided into three categories based on the sides that they take

about the relative superiority among both of You. One group avers that you are

superior because of His regard for You born out of His immeasurable love for You;

the second group believes that You are His obedient and affectionate wife and

therefore, Your Lord is superior to You. The third group is convinced that both of You

are equal to each other in every measure. All these three groups advocate their

positions loudly and the din arising from their debates on the subject echo loudly

around the eight directions of the Universe even today.

Godha Stuthi - 20

dhanyE samastha jagadhAm pithurutthamAnghE

tvanmowLimAlya bhara sambharaNEna bhooya :

indeevara srajamivAdhadhithi tvadheeyAni

AakEkarANi bahumAna vilokithAni

MEANING:

O GodhA pirAtti! Your Lord is the father of the universe. His siras becomes blessed by

wearing the garlands worn by You earlier. You become joyous over His expression of

affection resulting from Your Kaimkaryam. You cast Your shy glances at His crown

decorated with Your garlands. At that time, it appears as though an additional dark

blue lotus garland has been overlaid on the existing garlands there.

Godha Stuthi - 19

tungairaruthrima gira: svyamutthamAngai:

yam sarvagandha ithi saadharam udhvahanthi

AmOdham anyam adhigacchathi maalikAbhi:

sOapi tvadhIya kuTila aLaka vaasithAbhi:

Here Swami Desikan describes how RanganAthan adorned the SooDikkoduttha Maalais and gained a wonderful kind of fragrance.

MEANING:

GodhE! The apourushEya VedAs declare reverentially through their
siras (head =Upanishads) that Your Lord is the possessor of a divine
fragrance that surpasses any thing found in Prakruthi maNdalam
(sarva Gandhan). That Lord adorns the garlands that drew their fragrance
from Your curly, dark hair and enhances His sarva gandhathvam.
He becomes joyous over the enrichment of His own divine fragrance

through the association with Your SooDikkoduttha Maalai.
How can one therefore describe adequately the power of the garlands
worn by You first and then presented to Your Lord?

Godha Stuthi - 27

jaathAparAdhamapi mAmAnukampya GodhE

gopthree yadhi tvamasi yukthamidham bhavathyA

vAtsalya nirbharatayA jananee kumAram

sthanyEna vardhayathi dhashta payOdharAapi

MEANING:

O GodhA piratti! It is fitting indeed that You protect me out of Your limitless mercy,

even if I have committed many aparAdhams (acts not sanctioned by SaasthrAs). Is it

not true that a Mother nourishes her baby out of the great affection for it, even if that

baby bites the breast of the very mother feeding it? The mother does not get angry at

the child that she loves and does not stop feeding it. Thus, it is appropriate that You

protect me, the undeserving one.




                          

Godha Stuthi - 26

SLOKAM 26

RangE TaDithguNavathO Ramayaiva GodhE

KrishNAmbhudasya gaDithAm KrupayA suvrushtyA

dhourgathya Dhurvisha vinAsa sudhAnadhIm ThvAm

Santha: prapadhya smayanthyachirENa thApAn

Here, Swamy Desikan describes how Godhai becomes the nectarine river that removes all the SamsAric afflictions of the suffering jeevans. The blessed ones quell their SamsAra tApams by performing SaraNAgathy to You, who has incarnated in AchArya roopam through Bhagavath krupA.

Meaning

The key words of this slOkam are: “Santha: ThvAm prapathya achirEna tApAn

Samayanthy” The MahAns perform SaraNAgathy to You (immerse in Your nectarine flow) and immediately quench their samsAric taapams (heat, afflictions). What is the nature of this nectarine flow? It is “dhourgathya dhurvisha vinAsa sudhA nadhi”. It is a life saving nectraine pravAham (SudhA nadhi). What kind of life saving does it accomplish? It destroys the powerful Kaalakooda poison named the unfortunate samsAric sufferings (Dourgathya dhurvisha-vinAsa SudhA nadheem). How does it happen? It happens because of the krupai of the Supreme Being at Srirangam with the color of the dark rainy cloud, who is accompanied by the lightning creeper named RanganAyaki seated on His chest in a bhadra peetam (RangE sTithasya, Ramayaiva tadith-guNavatha: KrushNAmbhudhasya krupayA suvrushtyA taapAn samayanthy).

Godha Stuthi - 25

GOdhE guNairapanayan praNathAparAdhAn

BhrUkshEpa yEva Tava BhOga rasAnukUla:

karmAnubhandhi phala dhAna rathasya bharthu:

SvAthanthrya dhurvyasana marmabhidhA nidhAnam

MEANING:

Oh GodhE! Your Lord hands out impartially the fruits of the good and bad karmAs for

the chEthanans. If He did not do so, He would be considered as the One, who is

partial to some and erratic in His treatment of the chethanams. Oh GodhE! Your

overflowing compassion for the suffering jeevans is such that You find it difficult to

look at the punishments meted out by Your Lord even, when the chEthanams deserve

such punishments. You devise a method to interfere with the Lord's duties of

punishing the jeevans, deserving such punishment. You charm Your Lord with various

gestures of affection towards Him and He loses His sense of independence and

becomes completely under Your influence. The end result is that You protect the

Jeevans -that erred-from the wrath of Your Lord.

Godha Stuthi - 24

aardhrAparAdhini janEbhyabhirakshanArTam

Rangesvarasya RamayA vinivedhyamAnE

paarsvE parathra bhavathi yadhi tathra naaseeth

prAyENa dEvi vadanam parivarthitham syAth

MEANING:

O GodhE! The assembly of ChetanAs trespass constantly the saastraic commands of

Your Lord. They continue to commit these trespasses. The most compassionate

MahA Lakshmi pleads with Her Lord to forgive these repeated trespasses of the

Jeevans and begs Him to heed Her appeals. Your Lord gets disinterested some times

with Her appeals and turns His face away from MahA Lakshmi in semi-disgust. What

does He find there? He sees You there with compassion for the Jeevans even a shade

more than MahA Lakshmi, engaged in pleading the cases of these erring chetanAs.

He gives up resisting the appeals of MahA Lakshmi and Responds favorably to Her

earlier appeals. If MahA Lakshmi and You do not stand at each side of Him to plead

for and save the erring jeevans from the wrath of Your Lord, What would be their

plight? How could they be redeemed?

Godha Stuthi - 23

archyam samarchaya niyamai: nigama prasUnai:

Naatham thvayA KamalayA cha samEyivAmsam

Matha: chiram niravisan nijamAdhirAjyam

MaanyA-Manu prabruthayOapi mahIkshithasthE

MEANING:

Oh Loka MaathA GodhE! How did the great kings like Manu and MaandhAthA rule

their kingdoms with joy for many, many years? It was possible because of Your grace.

You are the amsam of BhUmi Devi. RanganAthan stands in union with You and Sri

Devi. These kings worshipped well RanganAthan with both of His consorts (ubhaya-

NaacchimAr) with various niyamams and attained the boon of long life as emperors.

Godha Stuthi - 22

DhUrvAdhaLa prathimayA tava dEha kaanthyA

gOrOchanA ruchirayaa cha ruchEndhirAyA:

aasIdhanu~jnitha sikhAvaLa kaNTa SObham

MaangaLyatham praNamathAm Madhuvairi gAthram

MEANING:

Oh GodhE! The darsanam of Your Lord's SubhAsrayam (ThirumEni) confers on all

His adiyArs sarva mangaLams (madhuvairi Gaathram praNamathAm

MaangaLyatham). That SubhAsrayam has the bluish hue of dark rainy clouds. When

You stand next to Him, Your light green hue (like aruham pul) reflects on Him. MahA

Lakshmi has HiraNya VarNai (Golden hue). She is resident on Your Lord's chest

(ahalahillEn YenRu). When His own dark bluish hue has the confluence with the

green hue of Your ThirumEni and the golden hue of Periya PirAtti's ThirumEni, His

ThirumEni achieves a rare multi-hued effulgence like the beautiful neck region of the

peacock. It is a rare and unforgettable sight.

Godha Stuthi -18

chooDApadhEna parigruhya tavotthareeyam

maalaamapi tvadhaLakairadhivaasya dhattAm

prAyENa rangapathirEsha bhibharthi GodhE

sowbhAgya sampath abhishEka mahAdhikAram

MEANING:

O GodhE! Your Lord, RanganAthA wears with great affection Your upper garment as Parivattam on His crown. Next, He wears with great affection, the divinely fragrant garlands associated with Your curly, black tresses. Through these two acts, He enhances His auspiciousness and achieves the capabilities to confer auspiciousness on His devotees. His enrichment is a direct result of the vaibhavam of your upper garment and the flower garlands worn by you!

                                          

Godha Stuthi - 28

Sathamakha maNineelA chAru kalhAra hasthA

sthanabhara namithAngi saandhra vaathsalya sindhu:

aLakavinihithAbhi: sragbhirAkrushta NaathA

vilasathu hrudhi GodhA VishNuchitthAthmajA na:

MEANING:
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!

Godha Stuthi - 17

(The Lord's high regard for the Garlands worn by GodhA dEvi)

viswaayamaana rajasA kamalEna naabhou

vaksha: sthalE cha kamalA sthana chandhanEna

aamOdhithOapi nigamai : vibhurangri-yugmE

dhatthE nathEna sirasaa tava MowLi maalaam

MEANING:

Your Lord has the Lotus in his Naabhi. The pollen dusts from that sacred lotus have a divine fragrance that fills the air. MahA Lakshmi is seated on His chest region. The fragrance of the sandal paste worn on Her breasts is enjoyed by Him as well. The divine fragrance of the Arya Vedhams and the TamiL marai saluting the glory of His sacred feet is also enjoyed by Him. Thus, His whole body is covered with these divine fragrances and yet, He seems not to be fully satisfied. He waits eagerly for the garlands worn by You and receives them from Your father with his head bent out of love for You and becomes filled with a superlative fragrance that finally satisfies Him.


                                                                

Godha Stuthi - 16

SLOKAM 16

thvanmouLi dhAmani VibhO: sirasA gruhIthE

svacchandha kalpitha sapeethi rasa pramOdha:

manjusvanA madhulihO vidhadhu: svayam tE

svAyamvaram kamapi MangaLa thoorya-GhOsham

The auspicious sounds of MangaLa Vaadhyams associated with the wedding of Godhai are heard here by Swami Desikan.

MEANING:

Oh GodhE! Your Lord wears with relish Your sooDikkoduttha Maalai on His crown. The honeybees are attracted by the divine fragrance of the Maalai and gleefully enter the garland and drink the honey to their heart's content. Their joy over that lusty feast rises up and comes out in the form of sweet reenkAram. Those sounds appear like the MangaLa Vaadhya GhOsham raised especially for Your svayamvaram.

Godha Stuthi - 15

aamOdhavathyapi sadhA hrudhayangamAapi

rAgAnvithAapi lalithAapi guNOttharAapi

MouLisrajA tava Mukhundha kirITa bhAjA

GodhE! bhavathyadharithA khalu VaijayanthI

MEANING:

Oh GodhE! The famous garland Vyjayanthi worn by Your Lord is indeed full of

fragrance. It is desired by Him and hence given a prominent place on His chest. It is

indeed constructed from tender forest flowers, which never fade. Inspite of all these

glories, it is worn on the chest and not on Your Lord's head over His KirItam (Thiru

AbhishEkam). The garland that You wore and presented to the Lord is accepted by

Him with joy and worn with love on His KiriTam (sarvEsvara Chinnam) to

demonstrate Your garland's superiority over Vyjayanathi maalai. Your Lord's respect

by wearing the garland worn by You earlier at a high place (over His crown) indicates

His affection and reverence for it over the Vyjayanathi maalai.

Godha Stuthi - 14

Thavth Bhuktha maalya SurabhIkrutha ChArumouLE:

hithvA bhujAnthara-gathAmapi VyjayanthIm

pathyus tavEswari mitha: prathighAtha lOlA:

BahArtha pathra ruchim aarachayanthi bhrungA:

MEANING:

Oh IsvarI, who controls the Lord, who Himself controls the entire world! Oh

ANDavanai aaLum ANDALE! Your Lord has the famous, never fading vana maalai

known as VyjayanthI on his shoulders and chest. The divine fragrance of that garland

attracts the honeybees. They hover around that garland on the Lord's chest. At this

time of morning, Your father brings the flower garland, which was worn earlier on

Your tresses and presents it to the Lord. Your Lord bends His neck, receives it and

wears that special garland with the sambhandham of Your kesam on His head as

Kesavan. Immediately, there is a big rushing by the bees from VyjayanthI maalai to

the garland of Yours on the head of the Lord. They jostle with each other to get there

first and circle around and thus form a black umbrella as it were over the head of the

Lord. The honeybees seem to vote to indicate the superiority of the fragrance of Your

garland over that of the VyjayanthI maalai from their expert perspective.

Godha Stuthi - 13

NaagEsaya: sutanu: PakshiraTa: Katham tE

Jaatha: svayamvarapathi: Purusha: PurANa:

Yevam vidhA samuchitham praNayam bhavathyA:

Samdarsayanthi ParihAsa Gira: SakheenAm

MEANING:

Oh Godhai of the most beautiful and tender limbs! How did it happen that this old man, who sleeps on a bed of snake and has a bird for his transport become the man of Your choice as Your husband? Your dear husband of choice does not even have a proper bed for You; further, if you wish to travel to a destination of Your desire, You have to sit with Him uncomfortably on a bird .You can not go round the town on a procession on foot. You can only use the bird to fly way high up. The worst of it all is that Your husband is an ancient(old) one, when it comes to His age , while You are of tender age. How come You overlooked all these negative factors, while making Your choice of Him as Your future husband? What happened? Thus Your friends tease You.

Godha Stuthi - 12

prAyENa dEvi bhavathI vyapadEsa-yOgAth

Godhaavari Jagadhidham payasA puneethE

YasyAm samEthya samayEshu chiram nivAsAth

BhAgIraTI PrabhruthayOapi bhavanthi puNyA:

In the earlier slOkam, Swamy Desikan described the glories that came to the Southern

direction thru the avathAram of Godhai. Here, he describes the glories attained by the

river GodhAvari by having the name of Godhai.

MEANING:

Oh GodhA Devi! The river GodhAvari seems to purify the world with its waters by bearing Your name. Isn't it so that the great rivers like Ganga reside in GodhAvari for a long time to become PuNya nadhis?

Godha Stuthi - 11

dhik dakshiNAapi paripakthrima puNya lAbhAth

sarvottarA bhavathi dEvi tavAvathArAth I

Yathriva RangapathinA bhaumAna poorvam

nidhrALunA apniyatham nihithA; kataakshA : II

MEANING:

O GodhA dEvi! The southern direction has also excelled over the northern direction as a result of the ripened puNyam arising from your birth in the south (at Srivilliputthur). Your Lord RanganaathA's glances were directed there with great respect even when He was engaged in Yoga NidrA (at Srirangam)

Godha Stuthi - 10

thaathasthu tE madhubidha: sthuthi lesa vasyAth

karNAmruthai : shtuthi sathai : anavAptha poorvam

tvanmowli ghandha subhagAm upahruthya maalaam

lEbE mahatthara padhAnuguNam prasAdham

MEANING:
O GodhE! Your Lord is easily pleased by even a small eulogy. He becomes overcome as a result with affection for the one, who sings His praise. Your father, Bhattar PirAn and the other AzhwArs before You had sung His praise through many pleasing songs. He did not however respond to them too much. Your father however took the garlands worn by You and presented them characterized by their divine fragrance. He immediately became very much attached to Your father. He praised Your father for his welcome kaimkaryam and honored him with the name, “PeriyAzhwAr” or the senior most AzhwAr and became his son-in-law later. Thus, Your Lord”s great affection for You, GodhE, inspired Him to confer the honorific title of PeriyAzhwAr on Your father. He had heard Your father's Paasurams before and was not sufficiently moved to do something extraordinary such as conferring the title befitting Your father's unique kaimkaryam.