SrI deSika stotram - 4. abhIti stavam.

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SrI deSika stotra-s - 4. AbhIti stavam.

 

BhIti is fear. AbhIti is fearlessness. stavam means praise. abhIti

stavam is the stotram that has been composed by Sri deSika in praise of

Lord RanganAtha's guNa of removing the fear in the hearts of His

devotees.

 

There are three main aspects of this stotra that I will emphasize

below:

 

1. The plea to Lord ranganAtha by svAmi deSikan to protect the

SrIvaishNava-s from the muslim invasion of Srirangam and other

SrIvaishNava kshetra-s during svAmi deSikan's lifetime.

2. The expression of several aspects of SaraNAgati by svAmi deSikan in

this stotram.

3. Other interesting aspects of the stotram.

 

Disruption of worship to Lord ranganAtha in SrIrangam:

 

The main reason that svAmi deSikan composed this stotram was because he

was dismayed at the disruption to the orderly kainkaryam that had been

done by him and his disciples to the Lord at SrIrangam because of the

muslim invasion to plunder the temple properties, ornaments, idols, etc.

On receipt of the news that the muslim army was approaching, the

utsavamUrti was hastily taken to a hill near tirupati by a few

SrIvaishNavaite devotees and hidden there, while SrI deSika left

SrIrangam and stayed in a small village in Mysore State for several

years and observed his daily rites at the foot of an aSvattha tree near

a rivulet. It is during his stay here that he composed the abhItistavam

praying to Lord ranganAtha to drive away the muslim infidels from

SrIrangam and become reinstalled there so that the shrine will regain

its ancient glory and SrIvaishNava-s can live in peace there.

 

The immensity of the feeling of sadness in SrI deSika's heart is

striking when one goes through this stotram. It is not the fear for

himself that motivates him to pray to the Lord, but it is the harm that

has been done to the activities of the Lord's temple, and the disruption

that has occurred in the daily worship to the Lord that drives SrI

deSika's heart to sadness. It is evident that a true devotee cannot

bear to see any harm to His tiru-mEni.

 

Without directly referring to the muslim invasion or to the harm facing

the SrIranga divya kshetram, Sri deSika sings the glory of the Lord in

eliminating the fears of all kinds, including the samsAra bhayam, in the

first 19 Sloka-s of this stotram. Until Slokam 19 of the stotra, SrI

deSika does not refer to the muslim invasion on Srirangam or the harm

and disruption caused in the worship of the Lord except for a brief

reference in Slokam 9. In Slokam 9, he praises the Lord's guNa-s which

will offer protection to those who "desire the elimination of the

enemies who come in the way of performing worship to the Lord" -

dvishat-pramathana arthinAm kAtarI-haraNa jAgarUkAh kara-grahaNa

dIkshitAh prabho". But starting in Slokam 20 and in every Sloka up to

27, the AcArya explicitly expresses to the Lord his mind's concern. He

refers to the fear that has been caused to the SrIvaishNava-s in

SrIrangam who desire nothing else other than His sevA, prays for the

elimination of those who caused this situation (Srita vipaksham

unmUlaya - eliminate the enemies of the devotees right down to their

roots - so they will never rise again), and prays to Lord ranganAtha to

enable His devotees to once again resume the worship of His svayambhU

svarUpam and derive in SrIrangam itself the delight that the

nityasUri-s derive in SrIvaikunTham. In Slokam 21 his anxiety grows and

he pleads to the Lord to use His divine Ayudha-s to re-establish His

natural rule in places like SrIrangam. In the next Slokam, svAmi

deSikan's anxiety reaches the height of expression, and he prays to the

Lord to use brute force if necessary, and use all his five Ayudha-s and

eliminate the fear to the devotees that is growing from the buddhists,

the materialists, the muslims, the other foreigners, etc., who are like

the army accompanying the kali-purusha. In Slokam 23 he prays that the

cakra of the Lord should take over and re-establish dharma in His own

abode of SrIranga-kshetram. In Slokam 24, he asks the Lord, SrIdevi and

BhUdevi to protect the SrIranga vimAnam that has been worshipped by the

likes of Manu, and that is now being threatened by the enemies who are

worse than the asura-s. Then he seeks the Lord's blessing to ananta,

garuda, vishvaksena, kumuda, the gate-keepers of the temple, the

authorities in charge of the maintenance of SrI rangam etc., so that

they can protect the divya-kshetram from the enemies. In Slokam 26and

27 he continues his appeals to the Lord once more to control the enemies

who are destroying the peaceful worship of Him at Srirangam and other

kshetra-s soon (ma~nkshu).

 

A discussion of abhIti stavam will be incomplete if we do not mention

the fact that within svAmi deSikan's lifetime, (after a gap of about 40

years when the deity was kept away from SrIrangam), Lord ranganAtha

heeded his prayers, and the muslim invaders were driven out by a Hindu

chieftain by name goppaNArya, and the Lord was re-established in

SrIrangam, the daily worship resumed, and svAmi deSikan returned to

SrIrangam and got his wish fulfilled. So great was svAmi deSikan's

feeling of gratitude at this event that he composed two Slokams in

praise of goppaNArya, which are even now displayed in the walls outside

the Sanctum Sanctorum. This is very significant given that our

AcArya-s do not sing the praise of man even at the cost of hardship and

suffering to them. In one Slokam, SrI deSikan refers to goppaNARya as

the "mirror of fame" - yaSodarpaNo goppaNARyah. In the second Slokam,

he refers goppaNARya's re-establishment of the Lord and his worship to

the Lord as comparable to the ArAdhanA done by brahma in the kr*ta-yuga

(sarojodbhava iva). This shows the greatness of the kainkaryam of

goppaNArya to the SrIvaishNava cause.

 

SaraNAgati tattva-s:

 

An important aspect of this stotra is that we see different aspects of

SaraNAgati expressed in the Sloka-s by svAmi deSikan. This is only

natural since the total removal of fearlessness from the ocean of

samsAra results for one who completely surrenders to the Lord, and the

tile of the stotram itself is "A Hymn for Fearlessness".

 

1. goptr*tva varaNam - The deliberate choice of mahAvishNu as the sole

protector: The stotram starts with a statement that Lord ranganAtha

along with mahAlakshmi is the sole protector who is above all the other

gods such as rudra, indra, brahma etc. Slokam 4 again reiterates the

concept that rudra, indira, yama, and all other gods perform their

assigned functions under His direction.

 

2. kArpaNya or absolute humility bordering on lowliness and honest

awareness of one's own ignorance and powerlessness - In Slokam 3 SrI

deSika says to the Lord that his mind, body, actions and words are being

torn and kicked around by the three qualities of sattva, rajas and tamas

and he can't think any more of what is good and what is bad - guNa

grathita kAya vA~ngmanasa vr*tti vaicitryatah, atarkika hita ahita krama

viSesham). He considers himself of small or limited intellect (mita

buddhinA), bahuLa moha bhAjA mayA (one who is abundant in aj~nAna), and

says he is praying to Him all the same, whether it is right or not. In

Slokam 14 again he talks about his being completely helpless - "if You

don't take pity on me, who else can help me; also, who else can deserve

your help more than me?"- ka itthamanukampitA tvadanukampanIyaSca kah?

 

3. mahA-viSvAsa - irrepressible and great faith that His compassion is

always readily available, and that He will not fail us: In Slokam 10

he points out that the Lord's dayA takes over to protect the devotees at

the time of need irrespective of their repeated refusal to follow His

path.

 

4. Atma-nikshepaNa - placing oneself completely and directly in God's

care - In Slokam 17, svAmi deSikan says that he is full of pApam -

vr*jinottarah, and it is His responsibility to protect him well as Lord

ranganAtha has been designated as SrI deSika's nAtha or Lord - mayA

niyata nAthavAn.

 

Other interesting aspects of the stotram:

 

An interesting observation made by SrI D. Ramaswamy Iyengar in his

commentary on this stotram is the reference to Lord ranganAtha as

"kimapi" mahah - an "indefinable" effulgence, in the first Sloka. The

reason He is an indefinable effulgence is because this great effulgence

is comforting unlike the lesser effulgences of the Sun, fire etc., which

will burn and hurt or kill. The same word "kimapi" is used by SrI

deSika in the first Sloka of bhagavad-dhyAna sopAnam also, where again

he describes the Lord as "jyoti" - antarjyotih kimapi...".

 

Slokam 7 is interesting in that it is a "daSa-nAma stotram" on

mahA-vishNu. In the first two lines of this Slokam, SrI deSika has

composed a "daSa-nAma arcana" for the Lord -

 

"ramA-dayita ra~nga-bhU-ramaNa kr*shNa vishNo hare

tri-vikrama janArdana tri-yuga nAtha nArAyaNa |

 

"Lord of ramA or Lakshmi! One who happily dwells in SrIrangam! Kr*shNa!

One who pervades everything! One who removes all sins! One who measured

worlds in three steps! One who removes us from birth cycle! One who is

full of the six qualities! One who is the SeshI or Lord of all!

nArAyaNa!"

 

In the last two lines of this Sloka, SrI deSika gives the "phala Sruti"

for chanting the first two lines of this Sloka!

 

"itIva SubhadAni yah paThati nAmadheyAni te

na tasya yamavaSyatA naraka-pAta-bhItih kutah ||

 

"The mere chanting of these names of the Lord is sufficient to remove

the fear of yama, leave alone the issue of going to narakam".

 

The last Slokam is the phala-Sruti where SrI deSika points out that

praying to Lord ranganAtha by chanting this Sloka will remove any and

all fears to the devotee. Slokam 5 of this stotram is also a very

appealing "phala Sruti" Slokam in this context. Here SrI deSika points

to the efficacy of meditating on bhagavAn's nAma or guNa in any way or

form. "bhavantam iha yah panAyati namasyati smarati vakti paryeti vA,

gunam kamapi vetti vA, kadAcana kutaScana kvacana tasya na syAt bhayam -

There is no fear at any time, from anywhere, at any place, for one who

praises You, worships You, meditates on You, says your name, does

pradakshiNa to You, or just gets the knowledge of even one of Your

guNa-s".

 

-dAsan kr*shNamAcAryan