- Author : Vidwan D Guruprasad Bhat
- Translation : Akshay Venkatesh
- Image courtesy : mydailysadhana.org
Kavi, a knowledgeable person hailing from the dynasty of Priyavrata, explains the eleventh canto of Bhagavata which outlines the importance of offering the three-fold form of duties to the Lord. We have read the importance of offering the duties performed by the body in the previous release of the publication. Now, he explains the importance of offering the actions performed by the “tongue” to the Lord.
The Lord has given all beings a body for the purpose of achieving realisation; in that body the primary facilitator is the tongue. This organ of speech also aids knowledge and action. Since it gives us the esence of knowledge, it is jnaanendriya. Since it aids speech, it is karmaendriya. As in the saying ‘brAhmaNOsya muKhamAsIt’, the brAhmaNa varNa was born from the Lord’s face. Since, the tongue too was born out the face, the tongue is the strength of brAhmaNAs. Vāci vīryaṁ dvijānāṁ, rasaṁ viprāgnijihvābhyāṁ, speech is the strength of brAhmaNas, and it is tasteful for both brAhmaNas and the fire.
Lord Agni (Fire God) is the controller (aBhimAni) of the principle of speech. brAhmaNas pray to Lord Parashurama through Lord Agni to attain the mystic power of speech (vaak-siddhi), hence according to the scholar Kavi, it is important to dedicate the pious deeds performed through the tongue to the Lord. As stated in the Bhagavata, pleased with Dhruva’s penance, the Lord appeared before him and asked Dhruva to express his desire, Dhruva said – ‘yO antha pravishya mama vAcham imAm’, meaning – Hey Lord, please reside in my tongue and make me ask for what is the best for me”; this thought process of Dhruva is to be highly praised. In the Talavakaara Upanishad, the five faced Lord Rudra, asks the four faced Lord Brahma, as to who gave the sense of speech to the tongue. Lord Brahma gives a wonderful answer to this question. He says – “Him, who gave the sense of sight to the eyes, who gave the sense of sound to ears, who gave the sense of smell to the nose, who gave the sense of touch to the skin, He gave the sense of speech to tongue”. This way, Lord Brahma, gives a mysterious answer in a twisted way. Thus we should be thankful of the Lord for gifting this wonderful sense of speech. In this world, not everyone is blessed to have a fully functional sense of speech. Some people are born dumb because of the sins from their past lives (prarabdha karma). Hence we should be thankful to the Lord for giving us a functional tongue and the power of speech, and thus with this thought we should dedicate all the deeds performed by tongue to the Lord.
In speech, we can bifurcate them into good words and bad words. The Lord himself should reside in our tongue and make us speak good words. As in Acharya Madhwa’s cautioning words – ‘tadalam bahulOkavichintanayA pravaNam kuru maanasamIshapadE’, we should concentrate on the Lord and chant his name with the tongue.
Ramaa-kalatrana Daasa-vargake Namipenanavarata || Always at the humble feet of Sri-Hari’s dasas!!