In the Fourth slOkam , Swami Desikan referred to the many ThuRaikaLs by which we can descend down to enter the cool waters (Prabhandhams )of Godhai and quench our samsAric thApams (sufferings). In the fifth slOkam , Swamy delves deeper into the miracle of Godhai's KatAksham , which enables even great sinners to receive the anugrahm of Her Lord. He reveals the two approaches that Godhai takes to win Her Lord to our side .

(Meaning): Oh GodhE ! We are well known for Saasthra Ullankanam ( trespassing the Saasthraic injunctions of Your Lord, who is SaasthrapANi). We offend Him and generate His anger at us. It appears that we have this long term vow not to obey His Saasthrams and thereby generate heaps of Bhagavath and BhAgavatha apachArams .Your Lord forgives even us with such abundant bundles of ancient paapams . When we reflect on why our Lord suddenly blesses us inspite of our powerful offenses, two reasons for His transformation --from erstwhile nigraham to the present anugraham state-- become clear. The twin reasons are: (1) He is under Your spell as a result of the way in which You have bound Him with Your flower garlands that You Yourself have worn first as Soodikkoduttha NaacchiyAr (2)Further , Your eulogy of Him with Your sweet prabhandhams holds Him tightly in Your grip; when He hears Your delectable Vaak , which are like the captivating naadham arising from the VeeNA strings , He has no way to free Himself from Your spell. Therefore , He accepts Your appeals on our behalf and forgives us for our trespasses. This for Sure! The tribute here is to Godhai as PoomAlai Soodikkoduttha NaacchiyAr and PaamAlai paadikkoduttha NaacchiyAr

Here, Swami Desikan refers himself as belonging to the assembly of those , who abandon kruthya-KaraNam and devoutly relish in perfoming akruthya-KaraNam . SevA Swamigal comments that Kruthis (actions) are of two kinds:apakruthi(unfavorable ones ) and Upakruthi (Favorable Ones recommended by the SaasthrAs).

Apakruthi is PrAthikoolyam and has to belong to the catgory of varjanam ( to be avoided); Upakruthi is Aanukoolyam and has to be sought after. Swamy has us in mind and says that "asmAdhrusAm apakruthou chira DhIkshithAnAm".

For people like us apakruthi is the most natural one to practise and we have been experts in the performance of apakruthis for long , long times. Our taste for akruthya KaraNam is deep . It appears that we have taken a DhIkshA (vow) to perform ceaselessly all the acts prohibited by the SaasthrAs.We are not only DhIkshithALs in this regard , but "chira DhIkshithALs" ( vowed to do apakruthis over aeons).The end is not in sight for our apakruthis and that angers our Lord.

Second Paadham: ahnAya Devi dhayathE yadhasou Mukundha:

That angry Lord disgusted over our repeated offenses suddenly shows His dayA to us. That happens over the time period of one morning (AhnAya dayathE).His shower of DayA engulfs us. Here Swamy Desikan , who has been addressing the daughter of VishNuchitthA as "GodhE" until now switches and addresses Her as " Devi". Seva SwamigaL points out that Swamy Desikan wants to hint at Her Leela Rasa Pushti (strength of Her as BhOga Moorthy for her Lord). The Lord of Hers , who showers the DayA on the offenders is addressed as "Mukundhan". He is the one , who has been defined as the conferrer of Mukthi and Sukham in this world ( Mum cha Kum cha DhadhAthi ithi Mukundha:). The One who had turned His face away from us in disgust over our incorrigible nature suddenly looks at us with compassion and blesses us. That is a miracle made possible by the power of Godhai, His Devi.

This is for sure ( Tanniscchitham)! He has been bound by the flower garland that GodhA had worn earlier on her tresses.Under that influence, Mukundhan is helpless and obeys Her commands without resistance.DhAmnA means the rope. She had the garland tied on Her head ; the One who got tied next with that fragrant and enchanting "rope" is Mukundhan. Our Lord , who is the SarvaLoka NiyanthA (Commander) has now been bound by Godhai and is helpless.

The Lord was also tied by another factor : The sweet naadham of Goddhai's Vaak sounding like the melodious Naadham arising from the strings of the VeeNA tied Him down further. He( Sarva Loka NiyanthA) became niyamithah by the power of the assembly of Vaak (girAm nigumbhai:) arising from Godhai.Seva SwamigaL poins out the Use of NishAdha Sabdham (Svaram) thrice by Swami Desikan in the third and the fourth Paadhams of this slOkam: Niscchitham, Niyamitham , NinAdham and Nighmubhai: NishAdham has close ties to Veda Naadham .Godhai's Vaak is the essence of VedAs.

In the fifth slOkam , Swami Desikan described the gains obtained by us from the PaamAlais ( garland of verses) and PoomAlais ( garland of flowers ) of Godhai. Here, Swami Desikan visualizes Godhai as Six puNya (sacred) nathikaLs (rivers) flowing swiftly and majestically . These sacred rivers are :SONA , Thungabhadhrai, Sarasvathi , Virajai , GodhAvari and NarmadhA .Swamy Desikan once again uses his samathkArAm (clevenrness))as a kavi- Saarvabhouman to achieve the comparsion of the limbs and attributes of Godhai with the specific features of the six individual rivers.

(Meaning ): Oh Devi GodhE ! Thou art like rivers SONA ,ThungabhadhrA , Sarasvathi with its swift currents, the clear VirajA of Sri Vaikuntam , GodhAvari and NarmadhA . The inner meaning is that Godhai's lips ar red like the waters of SONA river . Her breasts have a majestic appearance as ThiungabhadrA river. Her necatarine speech is like the veritable Sarasvathi river also known as Vegavathi (One with speedy flow ).Her Prabhandhams are full of anubhavams based on the Satthva guNams like a veritable VirajA river , which is outside this prakruthi mandalam. She is like GodhAvari in being naturally gracious and is like river NarmadhA , which gladdens the heart of Her Lord through teasing speech. There is a double meaning behind the name of each of these six rivers.adiyEn has added special meanings beyond the vykhyAnam of Seva SwamigaL know as ParimaLam .The Vedic aspects of the names of the rivers have been added especially.

(1) SoNai is a river , which has red colored waters. It originates in Gondavana and merges with GangA near Pataliputra.SONathi means to move , to go forward and to become reddish in hue. Godhai's lips are referred to here , when the image of SONai is invoked. The red color symbolizes the Raagam ( longing , desire) of Godhai for Her Lord expressed beautifully in NaacchiyAr Thirumozhi.Typically the beautiful red lips are equated to ripe (red) BhimbhA fruit or red coral . Swamy Desikan equates them here to the red river,SONai.

(2) Godhai is also Tunga-bhadra, a river resulting from two separate streams in KarnAtakA . One is Tunga and the other is BhadrA . Godhai's two majestic sthanams are invoked by the imagery of Tunga-bhadhrA . Tungam means high, elevated or lofty. It is saamudhrikA lakshaNam for Padmini ladies to have lofty breasts as a mark of beauty. Bhadra(m) is a celebrated Vedic word( Bhadram KarNebhi: SruNAyAma:). Bhadra means happiness, prosperity , welfare and auspicousness. The saying is " Bhadram bhadram vithara BhagavAn bhUyasE mangaLAya". The Vedic significance of Bhadram is celebrated in atleast half a dozen Rg Vedic Verses. Let us enjoy one of them , which happens to be the shortest Rk in the whole of Rg Vedam ( Bhadram nO api vaathaya Mana:/Rg .X.20.1) with ten syllables. Bhadram here is meant as a propitiation according to Saayana BhAshyam ( Sambhandi sthOthra karaNE prEraya / Let us be inspired to eulogize you and Your associated auspicious attributes). One who has Bhadram is BhadrA or BhadrAvathi. Godhai is clearly BhadrA with utthunga sthanams .Hence , She is aptly addressed as TungabhadrA.

Seva SwamigaL says that the people of ShimOga call TungabhadrA as "PaalARu" . He extrapolates the meaning as Jn~Ana Paal AaRu ( the river of Jn~AnappAl or the milk of Jn~Anam).

(3) Sarasvathi: " VaachAm PravAha nivahE Sarasvathi Thvam " is the salutation of Swamy Desikan . He says that Godhai is indeed Sarasvathi (Sarasvathi Thvam) due to the pathinettAm Perukku like flow of the assembly of Her speech . Sarasvathi again is a Vedic metaphor . She is one of the three Speeches: Sarasvathi , ILA , Bharathi . Near Kaanchipuram, She flowed with immense speed and got the name of Vegavathi and the Lord had to take the role of a Sethu (dam ) to control Her fury. Sarasvathi generally refers to the Goddess of speech and learning. It is also a antharvAhini river, which is flowing hidden under the sands of the great desert .During the Vedic age, Sarasvathi was BahirvAhini. Sarasvathi is also the name of a plant mentioned in Atharva Vedam as JyOthishmathi or the One with supreme JyOthi .Such are the rich connotations of the word Sarasvathi.

(4) VirajA River: "aprAkruthai: rasai: VirajA" is the mangaLAsAsanam of Swamy Desikan. VirajA is not of this world and it flows at the border of Sri Vaikuntam. Viraja means free from dust or passion. Viraja is also an epithet for Lord VishNu. The river that flows in Sri Vaikuntam is suddha satthvam and is totally devoid of RajO or TamO guNams . The soul ascending to Sri Vaikuntam takes a dip in the VirajA river to cleanse itself and transform itself to be"akarma Vasyan" (beyond the influence of KarmAs . A dip in the VirajA river makes the Jeevan manifest in its own nature ( SvEna rUpEna abhinishpadhyathE-ChAndOgya Upanishad ). A dip in the VirajA like Prabhandhams of Godhai makes us qualified to become Muktha Jeevans traveling in the archirAdhi maargam.

(5) GodhAvari River: "SvabhAvAth GodhEapi thvam " is the mangaLAsAsanam of Swamy Desikan. The many meanings of GodhA have beeen covered in earlier articles of adiyEn. GodhAvari is the name of the river in Andhra PradEsh , which has been mentioned in Srimath RaamAyaNam. SithA Piratti sported with Her Lord on the banks of GodhAvari. "Varivas" is a Vedic word meaning wealth, pleasure and Happiness . "Variman" means excellence , superiority and pre-eminence . Swamy Desikan seems to say that Godhai is by Her very nature (svabhAvAth GodhAvari) because She is Varivath and Varivas . Because of blessing us with pre-eminent Prabhandhams , She is GodhAvari.

(6) NarmadhA River: " Devi Kamithu: nanu NarmadhAsi" is Swamy Desikan's salutation. Kamithu: means the Lord, EmperumAn. "Kamithu: NarmadhA asi nanu" queries Swami Desikan . Are not You the NarmadhA river for Your Lord ? NarmadhA is a river ,which rises in the VindhyA mountain and joins the ocean at the gulf of Cambay . The other meaning of NarmadhA is ParihAsam or Jestful or amorous past time . Narma is also a kind of Vaak , ParihAsa Vaak. Godhai's skills in wining over Her Lord through Her amusing ways is symbolized by the choice of NarmadhA-suhrudh svarUpam .

SevA SwamigaL points out that the first two lines of this Sixth SlOkam includes three rivers(SONA, ThungabhadrA and Sarasvathi) and the the last two lines house three more rivers ( VirajA , Godhavari and NarmadhA). The first three rivers dealing with the Adharam (lips), Sthanams and Vaak represent PrAkrutha rasam and the other three rivers deal with AprAkrutha (other worldly) rasam . Thus ,Godhai shines with apraakrutha rasam in archai and vibhavam and is by the side of Her Lord as Narmadhai always