विरचय मयि दण्डं दीनबन्धो दयां वा
गतिरिह न भवत्तः काचिदन्या ममास्ति ।
निपततु शतकोटिर्निर्मलं वा नवाम्भ-
स्तदपि किल पयोदः स्तूयते चातकेन ॥
viracaya mayi daṇḍaṁ dīna-bandho dayāṁ vā
gatir iha na bhavattaḥ kācid anyā mamāsti |
nipatatu śatakoṭir nirmalaṁ vā navāmbhas
tad api kila payodaḥ stūyate cātakena ||
(Stava-mālā: 1.16.1)
“O Friend of the humble,
You may administer punishment or grace upon me.
[Regardless,] I have here [i.e., in this world] no shelter
Other than you whatsoever.
A cloud may cast down
A thunderbolt or pure fresh water.
Still, it is certainly praised by the cātaka.”
Commentary
atha svasya kṛṣṇaika-gatikatām ayogyatve’pi kṛṣṇa-guṇena tad-āśāṁ cāha—viracayeti dvābhyām | … yathā cātakasya meghaṁ vinā nānyo nady-ādis tṛṣṇā-haraḥ, tathā tvāṁ vinā mamānyo vidhi-rudrādir na saṁsāra-tāpa-haraḥ ‘tam eva viditvātimṛtyum eti nānyaḥ panthā vidyate ayanāya’ iti śruteḥ, ‘varaṁ vṛṇīṣva bhadraṁ te ṛte kaivalyam ātmanaḥ | eka eveśvaras tasya bhagavān viṣṇur avyayaḥ ||’ iti smṛteś ca | iti bhakti-vṛddhi-hetutvād iyaṁ tāpa-nāśa-rūpa-mukti-spṛhā bodhyā |
(Excerpt from the Stava-mālā-ṭīkā of Śrī Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa)
“Now, even in the case of his own [feeling of] unfitness for being sheltered solely in Kṛṣṇa, he still states his desire for that with a quality of Kṛṣṇa [i.e., through a description of Kṛṣṇa’s quality of being compassionate] in two [verses]: viracaya … [i.e., he states this and the following verse]. … As a cātaka has no remover of [its] thirst, such as a river, other than a cloud [i.e., as a cātaka bird drinks only water from clouds and nowhere else], so I have no remover of the suffering of saṁsāra, such as Brahmā or Śiva, than you [i.e., so I take shelter in no one other than you], on account of the Śruti [i.e., the statement in Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 3.8], ‘Only by knowing him does one surpass death [i.e., attain mokṣa]; there is no other path to follow,’ and the Smṛti [i.e., SB 10.51.20], ‘[The devas say to Mucukunda:] May weell-being be unto you. Today, choose a boon from us apart from kaivalya [i.e., liberation from saṁsāra]. Verily the imperishable Bhagavān Viṣṇu alone is capable of that [i.e., of granting kaivalya].’ Thus [i.e., since in this verse the author professes pure śaraṇāgati, that is, one-pointedness (ekāntitā) upon Śrī Bhagavān and acceptance of Śrī Bhagavān’s shelter and dispensation in whatever form it may assume], this desire for mukti in the form of the removal of suffering [that was expressed by the author in the previous verse, that is, the fifth verse of the Tribhaṅgī-pañcakam] is on account of being a cause of the increase of bhakti [i.e., the author’s earlier prayer for the removal of the fear, that is, the sufferings of saṁsāra, (tvām iha dāmodara haladhara-sodara hara no daram) was made with the intent only of seeking the removal of obstacles to bhakti so that he could absorb himself in bhakti to Śrī Bhagavān all the more].”