Sri Hayagreeva Stotram

[Guest guest]

Dear Members of the group: The response to request for Participation

in the 108

Divya Desam project has been most gratifying. For the sake of offering a prayer

to

Sri Hayagreevan to bless us with the intellectual power to grapple this most

important

project, I thought I will post an article to offer ALL of our salutations to

the Lord of ALL Vidyaas.

Instead of verbatim translation, I will use the section of a text I prepared in

1988 for the

celebration of the 720th (Twelfth Shastiapta Poorthy of Swami Desikan).. On a

future date, I

will translate all of the individual slokas and request Sri Sunder Kidambi"s

help in

posting the Sanskrit Text , as he has done so well on earlier occasions:

 

SRIMATHE NIGAMANTHA MAHAA DESIKAAYA NAMA:

JEEVANAM JAGADHAM JEEYAT KIMABHYAPAGATASPRUHAM I

SWATANTRAM SARVATANTRESHU VENKATESAAVHAVAYAM MAHA: II

 

Sri Hayagreeva Stotram has 33 verses set in 6 different poetic meters. Our

Acharya's joyous praise of Sri Hayagreevan arose from the delectable

pleasure of seeing HIM in person at

the small hillock near the Thiruvahindrapuram temple known as Oushadhadri or the

 

hilllock of medicinal herbs. Sri Garuda Bhagavan initiated Swami Desikan into

Sri

Hayagreeva Mantram there.. The Aavritti or repeated recitation of this sacred

mantram resulted

in the appearance of Lord Hayagreevan before Swami Desikan. Lord Hayagreevan

has

the face and neck of a beautiful white horse and the body of a human being.He is

considered

as the Lord of ALL knowledge.His body has the lustre of Spatikam or White

Crystal .His four

hands carry the sacred disc (Sudarsanam), Conch (Paanchajanyam), a Book and

Jnana

mudra. He is normally seated with His consort Maha Lakshmi and is worshipped as

Sri Lakshmi Hayagreevan.

 

In the Yoga Hayagreeva icons, such as the one given by Garuda Bhagavan to Swami

Desikan,

He is seen alone in the Yogic pose.Swami reveals that the recitation of this

stotram on this jnana moorthy will confer supreme scholastic skills to the

devotees and lead them away from false knowledge (Avidya) to true knowledge.

 

In the first sloka of this stotram set in the Anushtub meter, Swami points out

that Sri Hayagreevan

is the basis of ALL knowledge and He is of the integrated form of Jnanam and

Aanandam (Bliss

supreme).:

Jnanaanadamayam Devam Nirmala Spatikaakritheem I

Aadharam Sarva Vidyaanaam Hayagreevam Upaasmahe II

 

In the second verse set in Sikarini meter, Swami praises the illustrious Jyothi

(effulgence)

Swaroopam (form/manifestation) of the Svayambhu (self incarnated) moortham of

Lord

Hayagreeva. Swami identifies the neighing sounds emanating from the throat of

the Lord as the echoes of the Upanishads and Vedas. The Vedic neighings of the

Horse-Faced Lord according to Swami Desikan have the effect of removing all

obstacles standing in the way of acquiring

Brahma -Jnanam.Thus, he says in the second Sloka that the sacred neighing sound

 

has the effect of Anishta Nivrutthi(Elimination of all obstacles).

 

In the third verse, Swami states that the "Hala-Hala" sound emanating from the

Lord's throat is

the assembly of Sama Vedic Rks, Condensed meaning of the Rg vedic mantras and

the essence of the Yajur Vedic utterances.This verse containing portions of the

Hayagreeva mantra set

again in the Sikkarani meter has a key place in the worship of the Lord of

Knowlege. According

to the Vaishnavite savant late Sri D.Ramaswamy Iyengar, the recitation of this

verse alone can help to realize Ishta Prapthi or the realization of all wishes

that one wants to realize in this and the other world. Sri Hayagreeva Bhagavan"s

body has been described as Mantra Maya or the essence of Mantras .He is also

known as Pranava Moorthy.Sri Hayagreeva mantram in its totality makes

reference to His Veda Swaroopam and His Pranava Swaroopam . Lord Hayagreeva

helped

Brahma to get back the Vedas that were stolen by two demons known as Madhu and

Katabha.

 

In the fourth verse, Swami Desikan prays for the blessings of the Lord for His

Vedic form to shine

within and in front of him always. The fourth verse is notable in that it is in

the Saalini meter.

Sri Sri Rama Desikaachar has pointed out that this is the only occasion,

where Swami Desikan used this rare meter in his poetic works.

 

Although each one of the verses of the Hayagreeva stotram is sacred and

beautiful, special mention must be made of the eleventh,fifteenth and the

thirty second slokas. The eleventh and the fifteenth slokas are set in the

Upajaati meter and have been identified as having profofound mantric

significance. The thirty second slokam is the Dhyana Slokam of Lord Hayagreeva

and hence it is sacred to the Hayagreva Upaasakaas like Swami Desikan.

 

The second half of the eleventh verse refers to the Pranva Swaroopam of this

incarnation of Sriman Narayana. The key passage here is "Akshara Maatrukaam

Tvaam visuddha Satwaa:

Tatvena Jananti ". Swami refers here that the pious people recognize the

everlasting Pranava Swaroopam of Lord Hayagreeva.

 

In the fifteenth verse, Swami Desikan states that the devotes ,who spend even

half a second in contemplation of the Pranava Swaroopam of Sri Hayagreeva are

bound to become great scholars blessed with unmitigated flow of speech. He says

that the devotees blessed by Sri Hayagreeva have thought processes and

accompanying speech faculty that exceeds in speed that of Akasa Ganga( Ganga

river flowing speedily from the crown of Lord Siva) .Here again ,the Pranava

Udhgeetha Vak of Sri Hayagreeva Bhagavan is alluded to as sanctified by the

Mantra Sastraas,

which offer their Salutations to Him as Vaageesa or the Lord of the Holy Speech

or Vedic

knowlege.

 

In the thirty second verse, Venkatesa Kavi blesses us with the Dhyana slokam for

Sri Hayagreeva

Bhagavan. He praises the first God of knowledge as the one with a lustre that

never diminishes (Amlaana Sri:) and visulizes Him as being seated on a beautiful

white Lotus (RuchirE

PundarikE Nishanna: ) . He sees in the hands of the Moorthy of unblemished

attributes(Anaga

Mahimaa), a book symbolizing sacred knowledge, Jnana upadesa mudra , the divine

disc and the Conch.

 

Sri Swami Desikan prays through this Dhyana Slokam to the God of Vedic Speech

and

knowledge and appeals to Him to appear in his mind and drench him with His

nectar like Suddha Satwa Swaroopam . At this point during the spontaneous

composition by Swami Desikan, Lord responded to the appeal of His devotee and

appeared before him at the hillock of Thiruvaheendrapuram and blessed him with

his Laalamrutham (nectar of His salaiva) and disappeared at the end of the

recitation of this stotram after promising Swami Desikan that

He will sit on the seat of his(Swami"s) tongue and help our Acharya to fulfil

his earthly mission to propagate and strengthen the tenets of Sri

Vishistaadwaita Siddhantham. Rest is history.

 

Srimathe Vedantha Desikaaya Nama:

 

V.Sadagopan

Yuva, Tula Krishna Navami.