Subramhanya bhujangam – 3

In the verse 3, Adi Shankara offers his prayers to Murugan and we get 8 wonderful namas that describe His various attributes, some of them that can be visualized and the others, abstract. The meaning of the shloka is as below.

I offer my prayers –

• To the one who mounts the peacock
• To the one who is the meaning of the mahavakyas
• To the one with a charming body/form
• To the one who resides in the great mind
• To the one who is the Lord of the lord(s) of the earth
• To the one who is the essence of the Vedas
• To the one who is the child of Mahadeva (Siva)
• To the one who is the protector of the world

मयूर अधिरूढम् महावाक्य गूढम्  (mayUra adhirUDam mahAvAkya gUDam)

Peacock-mounted-the great sayings (from the vedas)- secret/hidden

मनोहारि देहम् महच्चित्त गेहम्  (manOhAri dEham mahaccitta gEham)

Enchanting (literally, capturing one’s mind) – Body -Great mind – residence

मही देव देवम् महा वेद भावम्  (mahI dEva dEvam mahA vEda bhAvam)

Earth – lord – Lord – Great – vedas – essence

महादेव बालम् भजे लोक पालम्  (mahAdEva bAlam bhajE lOkapAlam)

Mahadeva (Siva) – child – I pray -world – protector

mayUrAdhirUDa, manOhari dEha, mahAdEva bAlam and lOkapAlam can easily be visualized as these are straight forward and directly describe the appearance of Murugan and who He is. But for the other ones, there is some scope to delve deeper. Some more information below.

Mahavakyas – There are 4 mahavakyas or the great sayings/statements in the Upanishads, each from one of the 4 vedas. Many of us are aware of some or all of the mahavakyas given below.

1. tat tvam asi (sAma vEda)
2. aham bramhAsmi (yajur vEda)
3. ayam AtmA bramha (atharvana vEda)
4. prajnanam bramha (rig vEda)

Adi Shankara says that Lord Murugan is the ultimate meaning behind all these statements as well as the essence of all the 4 vedas – mahA vEda bhAvam.

In the famous song jagadhodharana, Purandaradasa describes Krishna as aNoraNIyana mahatO mahIyanA, the one who is smaller than the smallest of atoms and who is also much bigger than the biggest. The phrases mahAvAkya gUDam and mahAvEda bhAvam reminds me of just that. He (Murugan) is the meaning behind the smallest statements and He is also the one that is pointed by the expansive vedas.

Also, in the song Muruga muruga by Mahakavi Subramania Bharathiyar, Murugan is described as முடியா மறையின் முடிவே! (He is the end of the endless vedas, or the one who is the ultimate meaning of the vedas) and சுருதிப் பொருளே, வருக! (the meaning of vedas (suruthi ~ shruthi – vedas)).

Mahaccitta gEham – A very large number of works point that God resides within the self, in one’s heart and mind. pUsalAr nAyanAr is a great example to show that God indeed takes residence in the heart of the people who constantly contemplate on God. Muthuswamy Dikshitar, in his composition cEtah shri bAla krShNam mentions SItala hrdaya vihAram, that Rajagopala happily resides in the hearts that are cool. Those who are free from the desire or heats of passion have cool hearts. Those hearts that are filled with compassion, empathy and kindness are cool. Of course, the reverse is also true, presence of God in one’s heart or mind itself makes one a mahaccitta, great mind.

मही – Although this word is commonly used to denote earth, the other things it also denotes are- heaven (sky), army, cow, space, waters. So, depending on whichever we choose, mahI dEva dEvam could mean anything or all – That Murugan is the lord of bhUsuras, Indra, army (Murugan is the commander in chief of the deva army) and much more. In short, as per this description, He is the Lord of everything and everyone.

In addition to the beautiful descriptions, another take-away from this shloka is some simple grammar –samskrta vyakaraNam. (Totally optional to go through. Even if you don’t understand these details given below, you would still be able to enjoy the shloka. Just giving this for some additional information and as a way for me to recall things 😊)

1. This shloka is in dvitIyA vibhakthi or the second case. The ‘to’ in the points in the meaning section above is what the second case is about. It is same as the Tamil usage – ராமனை அழைத்தேன். To give an example from this shloka ‘மயில் மீதேறுபவனை வணங்குகிறேன்’. “I pray to Murugan” is the essence of this shloka, but Murugan is described in 8 different ways
2. The word bhajE is AtmanEpadI form of the root bhaj in first person singular. In Sanskrit we have two types of roots or verbs – AtmanEpadI and parasmaipadI. The former indicates that the result of what is done is for self, while the latter indicates that the result is for others. For eg. The root पच् (pac, pronounced as pach) means ‘to cook’. If we are using it as पचामि (pacAmi), it means I cook (for others) and if used as पचे (pacE), it means that I cook (for myself). Similarly, the usage of bhajE here means that the prayer is done primarily for the self. It has nothing to do with being selfish, though. The exact meaning is conveyed inherently by the usage itself and there is no need for additional words. Indeed, that’s why the language is called samskrtam – samyak krtam – That which is well done, just like all other wonderful languages