Recently, was listening to Sri Hari Sharanaashtakam, a devotional composition that expounds Sharanaagati to Lord Hari. The interesting point to note was that Lord Vishnu is addressed as "ShankaPani". I wondered about the specific choice of the name of the Lord. Some points come to my mind.
The first incident that comes to my mind is Dhruva Charitram. The divine child and bhakta meditated on the Lord to reclaim the affection of his father. The blessed child meditated on the Lord for several months on end, without food or water. He was blessed with the inner vision of Maha Vishnu. How fortunate to retain the vision of the Lord and be immersed in that joy !!! Contrast this experience with my visits to Tirupati. Each time after the visit, the only feeling that I am left is "Asai Mugram Maranthu Poche". Coming back to the story, Dhruv maharaj was immersed in infinite bliss, when Swami wanted to get Dhruv Maharaj out of his meditative experience. Lord Vishnu disappeared from the inner vision of Dhruv Maharaj and showed his glorious form in the external world. Having been in deep meditation for months on end, Dhruv Maharaj was unable to speak and express his joy on seeing the Lord. So, Lord Vishnu touches the right cheek of Dhruva, which his conch, to give him the gift of speech. I recollect another joyful interpretation of this incident from one of the upanyasams. So, it goes that Lord Vishnu was so dazzled by the tejas of his divine Bhakta after months of penance, that he wanted to compare it with the most dazzling object in his immediate possession. The only such object was his Shankha or Conch. So, he touched the divine child with his conch to compare if the dazzle of his Shankha matched the tejas in his divine bhakta's face. Now, its our guess on what was more dazzling, the tejas on Dhruv Maharaj's face or the divine Shankha :) One thing is apparent, when it comes to granting Bhaktas, the gift of Bhakti or Gyana or Vairagya, the merciful Lord will use his conch and hence, its justified to address him as Shankhapani in Sri Hari Sharanaashtakam.
The second is the leela of the Prabhu as Vithoba, or Panduranga in Pandarpur. The soulabhyam of the Lord and his immense mercy is seen in this avatar, where he appears with 2 hands, one holding the Shankha. The chronicles in Mahipati's Bhakta Vijayam, amply illustrates the infinite mercy of the Lord in Kaliyugam. He is not standing there in the Yoga peetam with his mutlifold astras to punish. He is standing there as a Karunaa moorthi, with the conch in hand, to bless his bhaktas just like he bless Dhruv maharaj. Here, he is no mood to punish :) His leelas in Bhakta Vijayam, shows how accessible he was to bhakta's and will help his Bhakta's tide over their problems just by nama samkeertanam.
So, Shankha paani it is :) it seems well justified to the address the Lord by this name, when we approach him with our multiple paapa punya accounts and ask for redemption :)
The first incident that comes to my mind is Dhruva Charitram. The divine child and bhakta meditated on the Lord to reclaim the affection of his father. The blessed child meditated on the Lord for several months on end, without food or water. He was blessed with the inner vision of Maha Vishnu. How fortunate to retain the vision of the Lord and be immersed in that joy !!! Contrast this experience with my visits to Tirupati. Each time after the visit, the only feeling that I am left is "Asai Mugram Maranthu Poche". Coming back to the story, Dhruv maharaj was immersed in infinite bliss, when Swami wanted to get Dhruv Maharaj out of his meditative experience. Lord Vishnu disappeared from the inner vision of Dhruv Maharaj and showed his glorious form in the external world. Having been in deep meditation for months on end, Dhruv Maharaj was unable to speak and express his joy on seeing the Lord. So, Lord Vishnu touches the right cheek of Dhruva, which his conch, to give him the gift of speech. I recollect another joyful interpretation of this incident from one of the upanyasams. So, it goes that Lord Vishnu was so dazzled by the tejas of his divine Bhakta after months of penance, that he wanted to compare it with the most dazzling object in his immediate possession. The only such object was his Shankha or Conch. So, he touched the divine child with his conch to compare if the dazzle of his Shankha matched the tejas in his divine bhakta's face. Now, its our guess on what was more dazzling, the tejas on Dhruv Maharaj's face or the divine Shankha :) One thing is apparent, when it comes to granting Bhaktas, the gift of Bhakti or Gyana or Vairagya, the merciful Lord will use his conch and hence, its justified to address him as Shankhapani in Sri Hari Sharanaashtakam.
The second is the leela of the Prabhu as Vithoba, or Panduranga in Pandarpur. The soulabhyam of the Lord and his immense mercy is seen in this avatar, where he appears with 2 hands, one holding the Shankha. The chronicles in Mahipati's Bhakta Vijayam, amply illustrates the infinite mercy of the Lord in Kaliyugam. He is not standing there in the Yoga peetam with his mutlifold astras to punish. He is standing there as a Karunaa moorthi, with the conch in hand, to bless his bhaktas just like he bless Dhruv maharaj. Here, he is no mood to punish :) His leelas in Bhakta Vijayam, shows how accessible he was to bhakta's and will help his Bhakta's tide over their problems just by nama samkeertanam.
So, Shankha paani it is :) it seems well justified to the address the Lord by this name, when we approach him with our multiple paapa punya accounts and ask for redemption :)
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