Meditation on God

 

Naaraayanaaya nalinaayata lochanaaya

Naamaavaseshita mahaabali vaibhavaaya

Naanaa charaachara vidhaayaka janmadesa

Nabheeputaaya prushaaya namah parasmai

 

This verse occurs in Bhoja Champu and describes vividly the picture of Sriman Narayana as He appeared to the Devas. This verse forms part of the Ramayana story composed by King Bhoja and Poet Kalidasa, at a time when King Bhoja was made aware of the fact that he had only ninety more minutes life in this world. This is a beautiful verse and contains rich ideas. The milky white ocean and the white Adisesha bed provide the necessary relief or background to the scintillating dark-blue body of Narayana. The very fact of His slumber is described as active vigil in the protection of all the worlds and their contents. It is this apparently dormant energy, which makes the entire universe function according to plan, that burst out into a dynamic force in the form of Narasimha.

 

King Bhoja tricked poet Kalidasa into reciting his (Bhojas) Charamasloka, elegy on the death of King Bhoja. Hearing that inspired poetry, King Bhoja, who was then in disguise, fell down dead. At the entreaty of Kalidasa, the Divine Mother enabled King Bhoja to live another ninety minutes. King Bhoja, when apprised of the situation, did not feel sorry for his imminent death, but decided to utilise the brief retrieve vouchsafed to him in singing the praise of the Lord. That is how the concise Ramayana containing the above verse came to be composed.

 

The moral is that we should employ even the few minutes of leisure we may be able to snatch in between jobs in the thought of God or in reciting His naama.

 

October 25, 1957