Six Steps

रणद्धंसके मञ्जुलेऽत्यन्तशोणे
मनोहारिलावण्यपीयूषपूर्णे ।
मनःषट्पदो मे भवत्क्लेशतप्तः
सदा मोदतां स्कन्द ते पादपद्मे

ranathamsake manjuleth yanthashone, manohaari laavanya peeyusha poornae
      manash : - shatpadho me bhava klesha taptha :, sadaa modathaam skanda te paada padme

Above is the 9^th Stanza from Shri Subrahmanya Bhujangam

Different meanings

1)

let the mind like a bee burdened with domestic troubles become happy by hovering around thy Lotus feet which is adorned with a jingling ringlets made of rings and beads red in colour indicating grace filled with the nectar of beauty and attracts the minds of devotees

2)

May my mind like a tired wandering bee settle down and revel on Thy roseate lotus feet, soft, captivating and dripping with nectar.

3)

My way of interpretation

in a situation of my mind rattling and loaded with destructive loads, Skanda, it rejoices ever in your lotus feet which is beautiful,ever graceful ( in connotation with the crimson colour), mind captivating, overflowing with the nectar of grace and charm.

This meaning is available in the internet for anybody to see; but I was wondering Adi Sankara a master in his field of philosophy and scholar in Sanskrit would just mean any literal meaning only.

lets see the word by word meaning

ranath—ringing/rattling/sounding

dams—destruction/load/burden

manjula—beautiful

athyantha—endless

sona—crimson

manohari—mind captivating

lavanya—charm/grace

peeyusha—turn into nectar

poorna—full

manaha—mind

shadpada—6 steps( feet)

mei—me

bhava—existence

klesa—torment

taptam—in a hot manner

sada—always

moadadae—rejoice

te—his

padapadme—lotus feet

the wonder is on 2 counts

1)      6 steps

2)      his grammatical skill in using “te padapadme”

His six heads represent the six siddhis bestowed upon yogis over the course of their spiritual development. This corresponds to his role as the bestower of siddhis.

also his six faces are :Sathyojatham, Vamadevam, Thathpurusham, Eesanam, Aghoram and Atho).

We will have separate discussion on this later on.

Coming to the point “shadpadaho mei bhavaklesa dhaptaha” could mean, the six steps could torch my survival troubles “; no author has explained from this point.

Note: it is 12 midnight; I have office tomorrow; will see you tomorrow

With lots of love

rajagopal

05.03.2012