atyanta tEjaswiye stavishTane namO ninage
bhUta panchaka brahmAnDa oLA horage sarvastha
sutejasthama virANNAma purushane namaste
mArtAnDa badarAdigaLige tEjas pradAta
“O Vishnu,You are stavishTa, of excellent flawless brilliance, I bow down to You and offer my humble obeisances. You reside inside each and everything in the world that we cognize giving each one of the five bhutas their existence and ability to exhibit their properties. You pervade inside and outside this entire vast universe. Your boundless pure radiance is Your very nature. You are known as Virat Purusha who is completely full of auspicious attributes and pervades everywhere at all times. My sincere prostrations at Your magnificent feet. You provide the energy and effulgence to the Sun and moon.”
Here Prasanna Shrinivasa Dasaru has sung the glory of Vishnu as StavishTa . He leaves no doubt in the reader’s mind as to the ever-abiding blemishless brilliance of Vishnu. This world is made up of the five elements, the five bhutas namely space, air, fire, water and earth. All these have their respective energies only by His grace. His infinite energy propels everything. The Brihadaaranyaka Upanishad discloses the concept of Antaryaamitva of Paramaatma in all the five elements starting from Prithvi, appu, tejas, vayu and aakasha. The many dieties who are meant by these terms are told and the final meaning of each and everything term means Vishnu only who is represented by each and every word and sound. Example : aapaH – water. It is in feminine gender ,plural. This indicates that the abhimani deities of water are many and female. Ganga, Yamuna, Sindhu, Kaveri etc. Then the word Aapah for each of them is that pure water is sustenance for life. Without water, there is no life.
aasamantaat paalayati , aasamantaat paavayati… both mean aapah. It cleanses, purifies and gives life. The abhimani dieties of water control these properties of water. They are powered by Mukyaprana at a higher level, who is the life-giving energy for all beings including them. Mukyapraana is then aapaah as He enables the water to be ingested and accepted by the body ,thereby sustaining it.
dvidaLapadmavu shObhipudu kaM
Thadali mukhyaprANa tannaya
sudatiyiMdoDagUDi haMsOpAsaneya mALpa
udakavannAdigaLigavakA
shadanu tAnAgiddu dAnA
bhidhanu shabdava nuDidu nuDisuva saRvajIvaroLu…HKAS_08-07
Here Udaana is both Mukyapraana as well as his antaryaami ,Paramatma.
Finally aapah is Paramatma as He is the one who actually positions each and everyone including Mukyaprana and nadi abhimaanis etc to perform their respective jobs . He provides them energy continuously and gives the direction and inspiration for each and every action. Thinking of Him as “aapaH” cleanses and purifies us. This infinite power is filled everywhere in the Universe as well as resides in each and every being as the inner controller too.
His radiance is Supreme and flawless! “sutEjasthama” Why so? It is because it is inherent in Him and is never exhausted or dulled at anytime. It is independent of anything, unlike other sources of light that we know. The radiance of the Sun is dependent. The Sun shines everyday, yet its brillaince increases during summer and decreases during winter, it is affected by the presence of clouds and rain. It is affected by eclispses . Further in the Gita ,Shri Krishna declares that the effulgence of the Sun and moon are due to His power.
yad aditya-gatam tejo
jagad bhasayate ’khilam
yac candramasi yac cagnau
tat tejo viddhi maamakam B.G 15.12
Obviously, these dependent source of light which we heavily depend on for our existence on earth are there by the whim of God. .When the Universe is dissolved by the all powerful Supreme, these two also have to go. On the other hand,the light and power of Shri Hari is always existing independently and infinitely.