BG2.78

The Lotus eyed Lord of Thirupperai is blessing the devotees with Sri Sudarsana discus in the right hand and Sri Panchajanya conch in the left hand. Here we may have two questions: one, why the conch is mentioned first by Alwar and others and then only the discus is mentioned? Second, what is the connection between His lotus like eyes and the Discus and Conch? Though Sri Sudarsana has many great qualities, when it is ordered to destroy someone, it has to necessarily leave the Lord’s hand and after sometime only it returns back to His right hand. But in the case of the Conch, there is no time when it has ever left the Lord’s hand. More than that, it is the Conch, which is kissed by the Lord when He wants to blow the Conch. This privilege Discus cannot have. To answer the second question, the Lord’s eyes are like the Lotus flower. The Lotus flower blossoms when Sun rises and closes its petals when the Sun sets or when the Moon is shining. The Discus has the brilliance of innumerous Suns and so the Lotus like eyes open as a lotus flower blossoms. The Conch, on the other hand is white like a moon and so seeing that, the eyes close, as a Lotus flower would do. So, it appears the eyes of the Lord open wide and close alternately and Alwar is mesmerized by this beauty and so mentions this as he sees the Sri Sudarsana and the Panchajanya. We can also visualize this in our memory and thereby we can involve our senses in this magnificent vision and get our senses controlled. Our mind need not wander on various persons as to what harm they did or what abuses were hurled at us. By visiting temples and after return, memorizing the brilliant image of the Lord our time would be spent better. This will cultivate the satva quality in us and the mind gets disciplined. The Pandya king who ruled this place brought 108 Sri Vaishnava devotees from Thiruvellarai [in Chola kingdom] and wanted to feed them with food offered to the Lord here. When the devotees assembled, the king found only 107 persons and there was a shortage of one. The king was worried as to how to fulfill his desire. At that time the Lord appeared as a devotee and claimed that He was the 108^th person and participated in the Dhadheeyaradhanai. So devotion to the Lord will enable us to have atman darshan. In the 69^th sloka Sri Krishna explained how the night for ordinary people who do not have a control over their senses, is daylight for persons who have atman darshan. When ordinary people are awake, that is they are active in the worldly pleasures, it is night for atman gyani. This is the highest state for such enlightened persons. Here the person does not see those worldly matters. But in the next sloka, Sri Krishna tells of an enlightened person, who comes into contact with such worldly matters and is not influenced or affected by them. This is a lower state than the person mentioned in the last 69^th sloka. Earlier we mentioned that the child devotee Prahlada was tortured by his father in many ways. Serpents were directed to bite Prahlada. But he saw the serpent as the bed of Sriman Narayana and so nothing happened to him; he was rolled down a hill and he saw Govardan, which was lifted by the Lord to protect the cowherds. He was given poison to drink and prahlada saw the blue hue of the Lord and so poison had no effect on him. He was drowned in the ocean and he saw it as the abode of the Lord and so he was saved. This devotion is a very superior state and what Sri Krishna mentions is of persons like us. The difference is that when they see a serpent or poison they do not show fear or run away but look at it indifferently. The snake or poison may kill these persons but they take it in their strides, as they are aware that body is perishable while their atman is eternal. In the earlier case the poison or snake never came in the sight of those persons; but here, though they come into contact with these they have no impact on these persons. Sri Krishna explains this with an example in the 70^th sloka:

apuryamanam acala-pratishtham
samudram apah pravishanti yadvat
tadvat kama yam pravishanti sarve
sa shantim apnoti na kama-kami

"A person who is not disturbed by the incessant flow of desires—that enter like rivers into the ocean, which is ever being filled but is always still—can alone achieve Moksham, and not the man who strives to satisfy such desires."

In the ocean all river waters mingle. With that inflow, the level of the ocean does not rise. Similarly, when the rivers are dry and when there is no inflow, the level of the ocean does not fall. It remains constant -acala. Tadvat- similarly, all worldly desires and miseries even when attack, the person, who has atman darshan, he does not change and remains unaffected. Such a person attains the supreme status of shantim or Moksham. Whereas Kama yami, the ordinary persons who are after worldly matter, will never reach this position.