(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 rsulting from Your Kaimkaryam . You cast Your shy glances at His crown decorated with Your garlands .At hat time , it appears as though an additional dark blue lotus garland has been overlaid on the existing garlands there .

(Comments ) : Swami Desikan hints that the charmingly beautiful and dark eyes of GodhA piratti rested on the garland-decorated crown of Her Lord and appeared as though another garland of blue lotusflowers were added .

(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 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 immesauarable 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 .

Swami Desikan states here that the ThirumEni of Sri RanganAthan gains a rare multi-hued state similar to the neck of a peacock due to the proximity of Godhai and Sri Devi.

(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.

In the previous slOkam, the exchange of garlands between RanganAthan and Godhai as dampathis was described. Godhai is now standing next to Him and MahA Lakshmi is sitting on His chest. SevA SwamigaL visualizes the performance of MangaLa haaratthi for the newly wedded couple, who had just exchanged garlands. The jyOthi from that hAratthi falls on the Lord's ThirumEni and integrates the light green color of Godhai (dhUrvA daLa prathimai) and the golden yellow color of MahA Lakshmi ( gOrOchana Prathimai) and creates an integrated , eyefilling spectacle of a multihued ThirumEni reminiscent of the neck of a peacock.

In the previous slOkam , Swami Deikan described the presence of Godhai right next to Her Lord . He pointed out that Sevai would confer limitless auspicousness on the SaraNAgathAs. He recognized the transformation in the color of the ThirumEni of the Lord. Here, Swami Desikan covers the aspect of Godhai attaining archA nilai.

(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 .

SevA SwamigaL's insightful observations are very enchanting. We will hence follow his commentary for that reason entirely.

With the first word of this slOkam, "archyam" , Swami Desikan hints at the soulabhyam of Archai among the five states of the Lord and ANDAL joining in that archA state . "archithO dEva: priyathAm mE Janardhana:" is the saying. Archanam of the Lord with His devis is the recommended route to please the Lord.This archanam has to be samarchanam ( superior and saasthrEic archanam with true devotion and niyamams ). That is why Swami Desikan says: " Archyam samarchaya niyamai:"

Next Swami Desikan refers to " Nigama prasoonai: niyamai: samarchaya ". Nigama prasoonai: means flowers prescribed by the aagamAs . It could also be SvarNa pushpams or the eight aathma guNa pushpams ((ahimsA, indriya nigraham et al). Such a proper worship of the Lord with His ubhaya NaacchimAr will confer emperorship over the land for a very long time.

Second Paadham : Naatham thvayA KamalayA cha samEyivAmsAm

Here Swami addresses Godhai with the word "thvyaa" . He recognizes the Lord as " ThvayA samEyivAmsAm " ( YOur Lord accompanied by You). Then Swami includes Sri Devi : "ThvayA KamalayA cha samEyivAmsAm Naatham" ( Your Lord associated with You and with Sri Devi as well). Such a Lord with His two consorts needs to be worshipped for long soverignity over the kingdom . Swami Desikan gives prAdhAnyam (significance ) to Godhai over Sri Devi here , when he refers to the Lord, who is generally known as Sriya:pathi to indicate the importance of Periya PirAtti. Swamy Desikan follows the directions given by Purusha Sooktham here: "Hreesccha tE LakshmIsccha pathnyou ". Bhumi Piratti comes first here . Godhai is the amsam of Bhumi Devi and hence She is given prAdhAnyam over Kamalaa (Lakshmi) in Swamy Desikan's salutation.

Third Paadham: Maatha: chiram niravisan nijam aadhirAjyam

Swami says here that Manu and others enjoyed long term rulership as Kings by worshipping GodhA Naathan with niyamam .He hints that the stability of that long term state of emperorship is only possible with the grace of Godhai , who is almost like the DayA devi. SevA SwamigaL reminds us of the AadhirAjyam (rulership) mentioned by Swamy Desikan in dayA sathakam in this context . There Swamy Desikan says that dayA devi's anugraham was instrumental in realizing a different kind of emperorship for long times :

anithara SaraNAnAm AadhirAjyE abhishinjEth
samitha vimatha PakshA Saarnga dhanvAnukampA ".

In the next slOkam , Swamy Desikan describes how Godhai intercedes with Her Lord to forgive the trespasses of their Children and protects them .

(Meaning ) : O GodhE ! The assembly of ChetanAs trespass constantly the saastraic commands of Your Lord .They continue to committ 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 sess 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 in 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 ?

Here, Swamy Desikan describes how the independent nature of the Lord was interfered with by the gesture of the knitting of the brows of Godhai.
(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. The bhOga gesture of Godhai that makes the Lord lose His svathanthram is the knitting of Her beautiful brows ( BhrUkshEpam).That gesture intrigues the Lord with its BhOga Rasa aanukUlyam. It enhances His affection for Her.He comes under Godhai's spell and thus becomes Paaratantryan to Her Charms.The aparAdhams of the Jeevans are then overlooked by the Lord.Such indeed is the influence of Godhai over Her Lord.

Here , Swamy Desikan describes how Godhai becomes the nectarine river that removes all the SamsAric afflictions of the suffering jeevans.

(meaning): Oh GodhE! The Lord Of Srirangam is an auspicious , intense blue rain bearing cloud (KaaLa mEgam). MahA Lakshmi , who never leaves His side is the lightning flash inside that rain cloud. You (Godhai) are the river that flows with life-saving nectar created by the rain of dayA from that Karu muhil , KaaLa mEga VaNNan. As that river of nectar , You destroy the deadly poison of SamsAram. Those MahAns , who seek refuge at Your sacred feet immerse themselves in that flood of Your nectarine Sookthis and have all of their samsAric afflictions destroyed. PerumAL is NeelamEga ShyAmalan.On His chest, the HiraNyavarNai, MahA Lakshmi resides.She appears like a flash of lightning. Only the rain cloud with lightning can yield copious rains.That rain of KrishNAmbhudam (karu muhil) is the KrupA(dayA) of the Lord of Srirangam. That rain takes shape as a mighty river that flows swiftly and washes away all the sufferings of the SamsAris. Such is the power of the nectarine river, GOdhai!

(Meaning ) : O GodhA piratti ! It is fititng 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 .

(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 red lotus (Senkazhuneer malar= kalhAra pushpam or karuneithal malar)).She is slightly bent from the weight of Her lofty breasts . She overlooks all of our aparAdhams(trespasses) and showers us with Her matchless dayai. 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!

SevA SwamigaL points out that Swamy Desikan always includes a dhyAna slOkam in his sthuthis. Examples are :KalyANAnAm avikala nidhi:(Sri Sthuthi), VyAkhyA mudhram (Sri HayagrIva SthOthram ) , VyAtanvanA ( Sri VaradarAja PanchAsath), icchA meena vihAra kacchabha (Dasaavathara Sthothram) .The most compassinate Acharyan , Swami Desikan wanted us to have the fruits of the recitation of the full sthuthi by reciting the dhyAna slOkam alone.

Regarding the other groups of words used in this dhyAna slOkam , the first paadham recognizes the deep bluish hue of Godhai originating from her close association with Her Karu muhil VaNNan , KaNNan ( Sathamakha maNi neelA ).

The second paadham is : "Sthana bhara namithAngi saandhra vaathsalya sindhu:". She is saluted as the ocean of deep vaathsalyam for us , Her children. One of the 32 saamudhrikA LakshaNams is saluted with the choice words: "sthana bhara namithAngi". In Sri Sthuthi , Sawmy Desiakn described Sri Devi standing slightly bent by the weight of Her sthanams( tanvI thungasthana bhara nathA). In an earlier slOkam of GodhA sthuthi itself , Swamy Desikan compared the loftiness of Her sthanams (kuchams) as "KuchayOrapi TungabhadhrA".

The third paadham is " alavinihithAbhi: SraghbhirAkrushta NaathA ". She wore first the flower garlands to check whether She was beautiful enough to be the consort of Her Lord and then presented those flower garlands to Him . With those flower garlands ,She "bound" Her Lord completely (kattuNNappattAn) and enjoyed Him .That is what ParAsara Bhattar says in his dhyAna slOkam:

(meaning): May this obesiance of ours last forever and ever to GodhAi , who forcibly won Her Lord's favours by binding Him with the garland worn and discarded by Her.

Swamy Deikan stops short and says : " aLaka vinihithAbhi: sragbhi: aakrushta NaathA" Once aakarshaNam is accomplished , then Her Lord becomes Her Paaratantryan(dependant). He is then totally under Her spell .

In the final paadham of this dhyAna slOkam , Swamy Desikan prays for Godhai to take permanent residence in OUR hearts. Instead of praying for Her residence in his heart (mama hrudhayam ), our most merciful AchAryan prays for Her vaasam in all of OUR hearts including his (na: hrudhi GodhA vilasathu). The key word therefore is "na:".

SlOkam :

Phala sruthi SlOkam

ithi vikasitha bhakthE: utthithAm VenkatEsAth
Bahu guNa ramaNeeyAm vakthi GodhA sthuthim ya:
sa Bhavathi bahumAnya: SrimathO Rangabharthu:
CharaNa Kamala sEvAm SaasvathIm abhyupaishyan

Sri MuraLi Rangaswamy has described beautifully the purport of the last paadham of this Phala sruthi slOkam earlier today.

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.

SevA SwamigaL points out a subtle prayOgam of Swami Desikan , when he says in the second paadham , " Bahu guNa ramanIyAm VAKTHI GodhA sthuthim Ya:". With the use of "Ya: Vakthi" in his 29th slOkam , Swami Desikan according to the Desika Bhaktha Rathnam reminds us of Godhais words "ingu parisuraippAr" in Her 30th paasuram of ThiruppAvai. Swamy Desikan hints further that One will get the Kaimkarya Sri of nithya Sevai at the lotus feet of Sri RanganAthan, whether one understands the meaning of the slOkams of GodhA sthuthi or not. The mere recitation by One (Ya: vakthi) will confer such an exalted boon .That reciter will also become very dear to the Lord of Srirangam, the dearst consort of Godhai ( Ya: vakthi , Sa: Sreematha: Rangabharthu: bhaumAnya: bhavathi, Sa: Sreematha: Rangabharthu: SaasvathIm SaraNa Kamala sEvAm abhyupaishyathi)besides attaining Kaimkarya Poorthi.

Vikrama Varsha AadippUram season has been a blessed one for adiyEn in that Godhai blessed adiyEN to write about the anubhavam of Swami Desikan going back to seven hundred years. Hearty thanks are to Desika Bhaktha rathanm, SevA SwamigaL and Sri Vaikunta Vaasi , U.Ve.Oppiliappan Koil Srirama DesikAcchAr Swamy .

adiyEn's sister and her friends were blessed to recite Swamy Desikan's sthuthi on Godhai at Godhai's own ThirumALikai in front of the five PerumALs seated on GARUDAN saluted by Swamy Desikan in Sri Garuda PaanchAsath's FIFTH slOkam as " Saptha Svara Gathi " (NishAdha , Rishabha, GhAndhAra , Shadja , Madhyama , Dhaivatha ,Panchama svarams constituting Saama Vedam ).DhanyOsmi , DaasOsmi , AnugrihIthosmi!

Adiyen will conclude this series on GodhA sthuthi with a slOkam from SevA SwamigaL's sthothram on GOdhA:

kim Saasthram , kimu kaavya rathnam
athavaa bhakthi pradhAnA sthuthi:?
kim vaa naaDakamanyadEva
rachanam PourANikI kim kaThA?
aascharyaamala sEmushI vilasitham
kim vaaa rahasya thrayam ?
GodhA gIthamidham paDanthi
Bhuvi yE tE dhanyadhanyA janaa:

(meaning): Why (study ) Saasthrams or Kaavya rathnams or other sthOthrams laden with Bhakthi or PurANams or for that matter even the most auspicious and blemishless Rahasya Thrayam ? For the One , who recites GodhA sthuthi given to us as our Kula dhanam , that blessed person becomes the wealthiest of the wealthy people on this earth. His Isvaryam has no match.

Such indeed is the power of GodhA sthuthi! Let us recite these 29 slOkams tomorrow and receive our ThAyAr's paripUrna anugrahms.

Godhai ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam,
Daasan, Oppilaippan Koil VaradAchAri SatakOpan