Daya Shatakam & NavarAthri Celebrations :Glory of DayA Devi Part I

[Guest guest]

SrI :

 

Dear BhakthAs of ThiruvEngadamudayAn:

 

PurattAsi SravaNam is the birth day of both

Lord VenkatanAthan of Thirumalai and

Swamy Desikan , the incarnation of the Thirumalai

EmperumAn's Sannidhi hand bell(GhantA) . Even today,

the hand bell is not used inside the sannidhi of

ThiruvEnkadamudayAn.

 

During this PurattAsi month and NavarAthri season,

it is very appropriate to pay tribute to Saptha GirIsan

and His GhatAvatharan, SrI VedAntha Desikan , our

ThUppul KulamaNi.

 

Swamy Desikan composed a unique sthOthram on

ThiruvEkadamudayAn revered as "SrI DayA satakam "

extolling the Lord's DayA or KaruNai . adiyEn will

post here an article on SrI DayA Satakam , which will

appear in the SrI VenkatEsa Home pages that will be

released on this PurattAsi SravaNam day .Both SrI Haresh

BalasubramaNyan of Singapore and adiyEn are working on

these home pages for few months now.

 

SrI DayA Satakam

*****************

 

Our Lord SrInivAsan has Five Devis: SrI Devi, BhUmi PirAtti,

NeelA Devi , ANDAL and DayA Devi. Out of His great reverence

for the Lord of Saptha Giri, Swamy Desikan composed an entire

satakam (100 plus verses) on the DayA GuNam of the Lord

of the Seven Hills and identified His dayA guNam as

one of the five divine consorts of the Lord at Thirumalai.

 

Swamy Desikan's deep attachment to the Lord of Thirumalai

is saluted by Thirukkudanthai Desikan in his Swamy Desika

Sahasra nAmams :

 

(PranAvam) SrImath VenkatanATIya MangaLAsAsana priyAya nama:

 

(Salutations to that AchArya Saarvabhouman , who enjoyed

immensely the MangaLAsAsanam of ThiruvEngadamudayAn. SrImath

sabdham is used here as a prefix to recognize the presence of

SrI AlarmEl Mangai on the Lord's Chest as well as the presence

of His DayA Devi).

 

--89th Swamy Desika Sahasra Naamam

 

(PraNavam) DayA sathaka VeeNA gIthi preetha SrInivAsakAya nama:

 

( Salutations to that SrEshta AchAryan , who pleased Lord

SrInivAsan through DayA Sathakam as his VeeNA GhAna naivEdhyam).

 

--90th Swamy Desika Sahasra Naamam

 

Swamy Desikan concluded that the DayA GuNam of the Lord

personified as DayA devi is the most important guNam of

the Lord and dedicated a whole SthOtram to celebrate

that unique GuNam .

 

Commentary on the highlights of SrI Daya Satakam

**************************************************

 

Sriman Venkata NaTArya: KavitArkika Kesari |

VedantAcharya VaryOmE sannidhatthAm SadA Hrudi ||

 

This stotram celebrates the auspicious Quality (Kalyana Guna )of Mercy

(DayA) of the Lord of Thiruvenkatam. Of all the Kalyana GunAs of

VenkatAdhri Sekhara Vibhu , His DayA is the most important one for the

uplift of the Chetanaas. Without this DayA guNam , all the other GuNams

of BhagavAn --Jn~Anam , Balam , Isvaryam ,Veeryam , Sakthi and Tejas--

are considered as dhOshams by Sawmy Desikan (15th slOkam of

SrI DayA satakam ),The concept of Prapatti and Thiruvenkatamudayaan"s

DayA to realize the fruits of that Prapatti is the subject of Venkatanatha

Kavi in this "Satakam". The structure of this stotram containing 108

slokas (one for each of the Divya Desa Archaa Murthys of Sriman Narayana

perhaps )is extraordinarily impressive even by Swami Desikan's standards of

poetic excellence . Our Acharya has used ten plus different meters to

compose he ten groups of slokas , each of which house " ten" slokas. The

numbers of> slokas and their poetic meters are as follows:

 

Slokaas 1-10 : Anushtup meter

 

Slokaas 11-20 : Aryaa meter

 

Slokaas 21-30 : Oupacchandhasikam

 

Slokaas 31-40 : Maalini

 

Slokaas 41-50 : Mandhaakraanthaa

 

Slokaas 51-60: Nathkutakam

 

Slokaas 61-70: SikariNi

 

Slokaas 71-80 : HariNi

 

Slokaas 81-90: Pruthvee

 

Slokaas 91-104: Vasantha Tilakaa

 

Slokaas 105& 106 : Maalini again

 

Slokaas 107& 108 : Sardhoola Vikriditham

 

In the tradition of adiyEn's maanaseeka Acharya , each set of the ten slokaas

have the essence of the ten Patthus of Thiruvaimozhi of Nammazhwaar. According

to this tradition , every set of ten reveals a particular meaning, which

together covers the Ananatha KalyaaNa GuNaas of the Lord of Thiruvenkatam.

 

The ten meanings associated with the ten sets of ten slokas have been

summarized by Vaikunta Vaasi SrI Srirama Desikaacchaar Swamy this way:

 

1. The Lord of Thiruvenkatam is the one , who can give

MokshAnugraham (Blessings of Moksham).

 

2. He comprehends everything and He is capable of carrying out

whatever He chooses to do.

 

3. He destroys the enemies of those, who surrender unto Him and

thereby seek His help.

 

4. He is the means for attaining ALL worthwhile goals.

 

5. He is the fruit of ALL worthwhile endeavours.

 

6. He can be reached easily through the glorious means

of Prapatti.

 

7. He will rush to the help of the lowest and the highest with

the same speed, when they appeal to Him sincerely for help.

 

8. He is the Supreme principle standing on top of Thiruvenkatam.

 

9. He is the one, who took the incarnations of Rama and Krishna.

 

10.He is the one, who can offer the happiness associated with Moksha

right here on this earth.

 

(To be continued)

 

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SadagOpan