Sri Alavandhar's SthOthra Rathnam- invocatory verses [thaniyans]

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SrI:

SrImathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya namah:

 

Dearest srivaishnavas,

 

Traditionally and also in accordance with saasthrAs,

one needs to approach the Lord through Acharya alone

and during the grantha kaalakshepam also, one has to

pay first his obeisance to his respective Acharya

parampara and also ends the same with Acharya

vandhanam. Alavandhar also starts and ends the

sthOthram in the traditional way of salutations to his

AchArya. Swami Desikan states that this gem of a

sthothram is placed in the beautiful pot or vessel of

Acharya sthuthi. The pot generally has a narrow top

[neck] and also goes down in width at the bottom;

similarly, Alavandhar starts with three slokas on

Acharya first; and final end sloka on Acharya. The top

generally has a large narrow path; while the bottom

expands quickly. Hence three at the top and one at the

bottom. Not for others, Alavandhar has composed this

sthOthra. He has made the slokas appear as if he is

speaking for himself. And whenever every one who

recites this, it would given the reciter a feeling of

his own self praying in such moving manner to the Lord

and hence again, this verse is thus the grandest

moving One.

 

Beginning to praise the Acharya first, then

YamunAchArya, starts to praise the Lord. He becomes

diffident about his qualifications for the task and

yet wants to eulogize Him in the manner of VedAs and

Upanishads. His resolution gets diluted and he laments

over his lack of

qualifications and inadequacies and performs akinchana

[helpless] SaraNAgathi at the lotus feet of the Lord.

He then comforts himself by reflecting that even a

small deed as the means [upAyam] such as SaraNAgathi

can yield major auspicious results and that his goal

in performing SaraNAgathi is to do eternal service

[nithya Kaimkaryam] at the feet of the Lord in

SrivaikuNtam. He recognizes that the great sins that

he has accumulated obstruct progress in the

attainment of his desired goal. He states that he is

however not discouraged as a result of his awareness

of the Lord's DayA, mercy, compassion, vaathsalyam. He

appeals movingly to the Lord to strengthen his

SaraNAgathi efforts and to protect him from the

obstacles that stand in his way towards the

realization of his goal. He goes on to the next step

of prayer, where he begs the Lord to grow his Bhakthi

towards Him and to bless him to live with BhagavathAs

and to live in a state of utter humility KaarpaNyam

devoid of egotistic thoughts. He pleads with the Lord

for Acharya Sambhandham to realize the fruits of the

glorious Prapatthi and declares his MahA viswAsam in

the Lord's KshamA and anukampA to bless him with the

fruits of Prapatti.

 

The meaning of Dwayam is deftly interlaced in the body

of this sthOthra Rathnam - gem among hymns composed by

ALavandhAr. In the previous work,

Chathussloki, our Acharya made [recommendation request

–surrender] Purushakaara Prapatthi to Sri Mahalakshmi-

Periya PiraaTTi. Thereafter, as he starts to perform

BharanyAsam at the holy feet of the Lord, he completes

guru paramparAnusanthAnam as the first step as a

prerequisite. He elaborates next on the meaning of

NaarAyaNa sabdham and follows the arc of Dwayam and

completes the SaraNAgathi at the sacred feet of Sriman

NaarAyaNA. Thus, the slokams of Sthothra Ratnam can be

considered to cover the full meaning of the sacred

Dwaya Manthram. Earlier, we had already mentioned that

this sthOthram is also the Rahasya thraya saaram as

well.

 

Two Invocatory verses (Taniyans) for Sthothra Ratnam

 

Taniyan 1 :

 

svAdhayan iha sarveshAm thryyanthaartham sudurgraham I

sthothrayaamasa yogeendra: tam vandE YaamunAhvayam II

 

I salute Yaamuna Muni ( Yamunai Thuraivar ) , the

preeminent among the Yogis for blessing us with the

gem among sthothrams. He gave us this eulogy so that

we can all enjoy the delectable taste of the meaning

of the VedanthA, which in this world is very difficult

to realize on our own.

 

Taniyan 2 :

 

namO namO YaamunAya YaamunAya namO nama: I

namO namO YaamunAya YaamunAya namO nama: II

 

There are many nama: word [sabdhaas] in this Taniyan.

Each of the nama: sabdhaas have their own meanings.

The five meanings of the nama: sabdham are : My [mind]

Maanasa, [speech] Vaachika and Kaayika [body]

namaskArams to Sri yAmuna Muni; In addition to these

three Upaaya namaskArams, I salute yAmuna muni [who is

there] in Parama Padham for making it possible to reap

the benefits of my Prapatti [saranagathi]. May the

fruits of these namaskaarams not belong to me, but

only to Sri Yamunacharya as the [Master] Seshi. Thus

my namaskaram itself is swayam prayojanam.

 

Let us enjoy the verses from next post.

Alavandhar ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Regards

Namo Narayana

dAsan

 

 

 

 

 

 

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