SrI deSika stotra-s - Part 2: daSAvatAra stotram.

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SrI deSika stotra-s - 2. daSAvatAra stotram.

 

This stotram was composed by SrI vedAta desika when he worshipped the Lord in

the daSAvatAra sannidhi in SrIrangam. The first Slokam is introductory in

nature, and SrI deSika offers obeisance to Lord ranganAtha and Mother

ranganAyAki whose ten divine incarnations he is going to cover in the stotram.

The next ten Slokams are devoted to the ten incarnations, one for each

incarnation. The twelfth Slokam summarizes all the ten incarnations in one

Slokam, and the thirteenth and last Slokam is a phala-Sruti.

 

The most striking aspect of this stotra for me was the poetic side of SrI

deSika that comes out so vividly in this composition. When this statement is

made, it is not to diminish the importance of the devotional fervor in the

stotra in any way. In praising the poetic gift of Sri deSika, one writer has

remarked that SrI deSika could compose a thousand pASurams in praise of SrI

RanganAtha's pAduka-s with ease in one night, whereas no other poet would have

found it easy to compose more than a handful of Sloka-s on the topic of

'sandals'. This is the poet that is revealed to us when we go through the

daSAvatAra stotram. Especially in the description of the first few

incarnations, this poetic expression is striking.

 

In his description of the matsya incarnation, the poet describes the beauty of

the eyes of the Lord thus - wherever He goes as a fish in the waters looking for

the lost veda-s, His eyes look like a traveling lotus garden. The huge waves

that He creates as He travels collide with each other and this looks like a

swing in the waters. And Our Lord is having fun enjoying this ride in this

swing as He is looking for the veda-s.

 

In the kUrma avatara, SrI deSikan imagines the Lord in the form of a tortoise

enjoying the massage by the mandAra mountain as it is used in churning the ocean

while supported on His back. This massage makes the Lord feel so comforted that

He falls asleep. His deep breathing results in the huge waves which again serve

the Lord as the water-bed on which He is present with His Consort, blessing all

of us.

 

The poet describes the sound emanating from the nose of the Lord in the varAha

incarnation (ghur-ghuraih) as reverberating across the worlds and purifying

them. The Lord takes this incarnation to retrieve the lost Earth from the

ocean, and once He has retrieved Mother Earth, He has Her firmly seated on His

canine teeth as He is rising out of the Ocean. She is enjoying the firm seating

on His canine teeth and creating all the forms from brahma all the way down to

the grass and all other beings as She is enjoying the ride.

 

When the Lord appeared as nr*simha in the pillar in hiranyakaSipu's palace, the

pillar became the 'mother' of the Lord, who Himself is the Father of brahma.

Thus the pillar managed to lose its sterility, and now became the grandmother of

brahma! Given that brahma himself is called the pitAmahan (grandfather), now the

pillar became the grandmother for the grandfather also. (How lucky is the

pillar that had the good fortune to give birth to the Lord!). Since the Lord

did not know He had to appear in the pillar (until prahlAda so wished), He did

not have His weapons for the slaying of hiraNyakaSipu. This is just as well,

because His nails obviously are more powerful than His other weapons!

 

As the foot of the Lord in His vAmana incarnation keeps growing, SrI deSika

imagines that His feet are carrying mahAbali's fame (for fulfilling His words to

the Lord happily) like the soldier announcing a victorious king's arrival. The

Ganges river that resulted from brahma's washing of the Lord's Holy feet as it

flowed down to earth looked like a white victory flag for the Lord.

 

The second aspect of the stotra that is noticeable is the description of the

incarnations of the Lord using strikingly extreme aspects of the avatAra as if

to illustrate that the Lord is all extremes at the same time. In the

description of the parasurAma and rAma incarnations, SrI deSika first points out

the extreme capability or actions that they either did or are capable of, and

then takes us down to the other extreme of their actions as if to contrast the

two extremes. Thus he first points out that ParSurAma destroyed 21 generations

of kshatriya-s as a revenge for the slaying of his father, and captured the

whole world for himself. At the other extreme, He sacrificed all his

possessions in one swoop to Sage KaSyapa. In rAma incarnation, SrI rAma was

capable of draining the whole ocean with the heat of His arrows. The power of

His arrows is far more, and is many times more tortuous than the agni that

devours the world mercilessly at the time of pralaya. This same Lord rAma has

as His vow the protection of those who surrender to Him just once.

 

The above are some instances in the daSAvatAra stotram where SrI deSika has

lost himself intensely in the bhagavad-anubhava as he is describing the

different incarnations. In addition to the descriptions of the above

incarnations, the stotram also has one Sloka each that is devoted to the

balarAma, kr*shNa and kalki incarnations.

 

Originally when I had the desire to go through each of the deSika stotra-s and

share a high-level summary of each, I had planned not to include the samskr*t

version of any Sloka or present detailed meanings. However, in the twelfth

Sloka

in this stotram svAmi deSikan summarizes all the ten incarnations in one Sloka.

So I am including this Sloka and its meaning briefly.

 

"IcchA-mIna vihAra-kacchapa mahA-potrin yadr*cchA-hare

rakshA-vAmana rosha-rAma karuNA-kAkutstha helA-harin |

krIDA-vallava kalka-vAhana-daSA-kalkin iti pratyaham

jalpantah purushAh punanti bhuvanam puNyaugha paNyApaNAh ||

 

"Oh Lord! Those who speak your name daily

 

as the One who took the form of a fish by your own free will, incarnated as a

tortoise for the purposes of having fun, took the form of a big boar, appeared

as Lord nr*simha when no one (including you) expected it, took the incarnation

of vAmana just for protecting everyone (through the contact with your feet),

presented yourself as the angry paraSurAma and also as rAma - the

personification of kindness and mercy, had the sport with the plough in the

balarAma avatAra and as the cowherd in your kr*shNa incarnation, and will ride

the white horse in your kalki incarnation,

 

make this world pure by the store-house of puNya that they have accumulated, and

are like the store where we can get all the puNya we need (i.e., by merely

associating with them)".

 

SrI deSika again gives vent to his poetic sentiments in describing these noble

souls as shop-keepers from whom we can get all the puNya that we want by

associating with them. In the concluding Sloka, Sri deSika points out that

even the desire to chant this stotram will lead to sarasvati-katAksham, in

addition to the spiritual development, purity of thought, and all kinds fame.

 

As in the case of the previous write-up on SrI hayagrIva stotram, it is hoped

that this high level description of the daSAvatAra stotram gives the desire to

look at the detailed meanings of the stotram, chant it regularly, and be

blessed by our Lord and our AcArya.

 

-dAsan kr*shNamAcAryan