38)
durvaarasa.nsaaradavaagnitaptaM
dodhuuyamaanaM duradR^ishhTavaataiH .
bhiitaM prapannaM paripaahi mR^ityoH
sharaNyamanyadyadahaM na jaane ..
I am scorched by the inextinguishable forest fire of samsAra. I am deeply affected (shaken) by the winds of misfortune. I am overcome by intense fear. I fall at your feet. Save me from death. I have
none else in whom I can seek refuge.
SamsAra itself is a forest fire which spreads in all directions. It is in extinguishable except by the jn~aana springing from the guru's upadesha. When
the forest fire is aided by the wind, the flames spread out and scorch in all directions. The winds here are said to be duradrstavaataah, i.e., winds of
misfortune. They are unfavourable winds. dodhUyamaanam : trembling greatly again and again. If the wind is favourable, it carries the person away from
the flames. If it is unfavourable, either it carries him into the fire or blows the fire on him. It is with the idea that the man suffering from the heat of
the forest fire will be rescued from it by the downpour of the nectar that reference is made in the previous sloka to the raining of the amrta of the guru's compassion
by the expression atIkaarunyasudhaabhivrstyaa making it an adjective of drstyaa and the whole being taken as a bahuvrIhi - compound. Instead, it may also be taken as tatpurusa - compound.
drstyaa - by your glance, atIkArunyasudhaabhivrstyaa: by the down pour of infinite compassion through it. the purport of the sisya's appeal is : If I obtain Atmajn~Ana by your grace, death in the form
of the exit of the vital airs from my body will not happen to me". The sruti also says: na tasya prAnA utkrAmanti atraiva samavanIyante (Brh): His (Atmajn~Anin's) prAnas do
not go away; they disappear (acquire laya) here itself. That is, the man does not die as ordinary people do by their vital airs going out of the body at
death.