Guest guest Posted November 5, 2003 Report Share Posted November 5, 2003 SrI: SrImathE Nigamantha Mahadesikaya namah: SrImAn venkatanAthAryaH kavitArkika kesarI | vedAntAcArya-varyo me sannidhattAm sadA hRdi || May the glorious Venkatanatha, the greatest of teachers of Vedanta, and the lion among poets and debaters, reside forever in my heart. Dearest Srivaishnavas, Let us begin to enjoy the sthOthra granthas of Swamy Desikan [in alphabetical order] Nyasa-dasaka (Decad on self-surrender) The doctrine of self-surrender is the life-breadth of Sri Vedanta Desika and it can be said that there is no work of his in which there is not some kind of reference to it. There are at least half a dozen stotras and thirty-three Rahasya- works which are completely and exclusively devoted to the treatment of this Doctrine. Nyasa-dasaka, is in ten verses in Sanskrit, is the shortest Stotra Sri Desika has written on this doctrine of self-surrender. But, it is complete and all informing. He speaks of the surrender of the self at the feet of Sri Varadaraja of Kaanchi. The ten verses give us all information about Prapatti-the method of doing the self-surrender(1), its five auxiliaries(4), Service to Paramatma in the post- prapatti period(5,6), protection from sense(8). He concludes by saying in the last verse that the Lord made him adopt the Prapatti and has relieved him of all his burden. Generally, Sri Vedanta Desika makes mention of himself as the composer of the stotra and of the fruit of its recitation in the colophon. This stotra does not have it because the self has already surrendered to the Lotus feet and where is the question of name or composer. But, there is good reason to decide that it has been composed by him since the third sloka of Stotra is quoted verbatim in his magnum-opus, Rahasya-Traya-Sara. This is confirmed by Sri Desika Vaibhava Prahaasika also which deals in detail with the life and works of Sri Desika. Let us also enjoy the sloka by sloka translation for everyone's enjoyment: [posted by Sri Satakopan Swamy, USA few years ago] Sri NyAsa Dasakam is associated with the Prapatthi that Swami Sri Desikan performed at the sacred feet of Kanchi VaradarAjan . The topics covered are: (1) The method of performing nyAsam or Bhara SamarpaNam (2) the five limbs of nyAsam (3) the method of enacting sAthvika thyAgam (4) his prayer to the Lord for moksham at the end of his life on His earth (5) his prayer for the blessings of service to the Lord during his life on His earth (6) his appeal for the Lord's grace for tolerating any sins committed during his days as a prapannA. aham madhrakshaNabharO madhrakshaNa palam tathA | na mama SripathErevEthyAthmAnam nikshipEth bhudha: || A viveki ( one with discriminating intellect ) should surrender at the Lord's feet his AthmA (svarUpa samarpaNam ) , the responsibilities for his protection ( Bhara samarpaNam ) and the fruits of that protection ( phala samarpaNam ) . He should perform bhara nyAsam in this manner and understand that his AthmA ,protection and the fruits of such protection does not belong to him , but only to Sriman NaarAyaNan. nyasyAmakinchana: Sriman anukUlOanyavarjitha: | viswasa prArthanApUrvam AthmarakshAbharam thvayi || Oh my Master ! Sriman-NaarAyanA ! I surrender at Your lotus feet the total responsibilities for my protection . I have no other means . I will perform only the duties that please You ( AnukUlya sankalpam ). I will not transgress the codes of conduct prescribed by You in Your sAstrAs ( PrAthikUlya varjanam ) . I am totally unfit for pursuit of any paths of deliverance ; hence I stand before You with utter humility about my helplessness ( kArpaNyam ) . I have total and enduring faith in Your coming to my protection ( MahA visvAsam ) and I entrust my protection entirely to you with this prayerful appeal ( Gopthruva VaraNam ) . Here Swami Sri Desikan performs prapatthi with its five limbs . SwAmI svasEsham svavasam svabharathvEna nirbharam | svadhattha svadhiyA svArtham svasmin nyasyathi mAm svayam || Srima NaarAyaNan is the supreme Lord of all . As His bonded servant , I am completely under His control . He blessed me with the knowledge about Himself out of His own accord. He has accepted me as His responsibility for protection. He has thus removed all my worries about my protection with that gift of knowledge. The fruits of my protection belong entirely to Him . He frees me from any connection to the fruits resulting from His protection out of His own free will and accepts me . In this slOkam , Swami Sri Desikan refers to his performance of Saathvika thyAgam constituted by its three parts : (1) Karthruva thyAgam (2) mamathA thyAgam (3) pala thyAgam . Sriman abheeshta Varada tvAmasmi saraNam gatha: | yEdhaddEhAvasAnE mAm tvadh paadham prApaya svayam || Oh my Lord who is always with Your consort ! Oh Master who is hailed as Varadhan because of Your disposition to grant all the boons that Your devotees ask for ! I have now performed bhara nyAsam at Your sacred feet . Please grant me the boon of reaching Sri Vaikuntam at the end of my stay on this earth and perform nithya kaimkaryam there for You . tvacchsEshathvE sthiradhiyam tvath prApthyEka prayOjanam | nishiddha kAmyarahitham kuru mAm nithya kinkaram || Oh VaradarAjA ! I am a prapannan at Your holy feet. I am firm of thought about my status as Your servant . That thought will never leave me. My mind is not seeking any fruits other than the enjoyment of Your limitless auspicious attributes. Please bless me not to engage in any acts forbidden by Your sAsthrAs . Please grant me the boon of uninterrupted service to you , while on Your earth . All of this will not happen without Your dayA . Please bless me ! dEvi bhUshaNa hEthyAdhi jushtasya bhagavamsthava | nithyam niraparAdhEshu kaimkaryEshu niyunkshva mAm || Oh my Lord ! You are served endearingly by Your beloved consorts. Your AbharaNams and Ayudhams serve You by association with Your auspicious body . I am deeply desirous of performing eternal service to You , who is accompanied by Your dEvis , weapons and AbharaNams . Please therefore bless me with the duties that are dear to Your heart and accept them . mAm madheeyam cha nikilam chEthanAchEthanAthmakam | svakaimkaryOpakaraNam Varadha sveekuru svayam || Oh Lord VaradarAjA ! Please accept out of the fullness of Your heart, myself , all that is mine and my kaimkaryam . Please make me an instrument of Your kaimkaryam and have the services to You done by Yourself through me. In this effort , please use all that is " mine". I have nothing left to do , nor even the power to place any thing at Your disposal since they - my Self , my worldly properties-- are and have been and were already Yours . tvadEka rakshyasya mama tvamEva KaruNAkara | na pravarthaya pApAni pravrutthAni nivarthaya || Oh Lord VaradhA , the ocean of Mercy ! There is no one except You to protect me. Please grant me the boon not to commit anymore sins . Please also destroy out of Your limitless compassion all the sins that I have accumulated so far . SlOkam 9 akruthyAnAm cha karaNam kruthyAnAm varjanam cha mE | kshamasva nikhilam dEva PraNathArthihara prabhO || Oh VaradarAjA known for destroying the samsAric sufferings of Your dear devotees! Your power has no limits. You are capable of executing whatever You desire. I have transgressed the injunctions of Your sAsthrAs; I have abandoned the karmAs prescribed by You in those sAsthrAs . Please forgive all of these trespasses of mine and protect me . The power of Your pardon alone can destroy my sins . SrimAn niyatha panchAngam madhrakshaNa bharArpaNam | acheekarath svayam svasmin athOhamiha nirbhara : || Oh Lord VaradarAjA always in the company of PerundEvi ThAyAr ! YOU have YOURSELF executed the bhara nyAsam for me at Your sacred feet . You have completed my prapatthi in its entirety with its five limbs . You have accepted now the responsibilities for my protection . I am therefore freed of any worries about my protection and lead my life as a prapannA with peace and tranquillity . Generally there is also a practice to recite this sthOthra during ThiruvArAdhanam everyday and further the last sloka of nyasa vimsathy is also recited which supplements beautifully: I have added here the same for our enjoyment: samSArAvarta vega praSamana Subha-dr*k deSika prekshito'ham samtyakto'nyairupAyair-anucita cariteshvadya SAntAbhisabshih | niS-Sankhah tatvat-dr*shtyA niravadhika dayam prArthya samrakshakam tvAm nysya tat-pAda padme varada nija-bharam nir-bharo nir-bhayo'smi || "I chose a good AcArya who could instruct me on how to get out of the whirl of samsAra, and had his divya kaTAksha. Because of the AcArya's teachings, I obtained the knowledge that could help me analyze and understand the difficulty of bhakti yoga and the realization that prapatti is the only recourse open to me, which I could perform easily, and attain the desired moksham by performing it once and only once. I learned the facts about prapatti and so had no doubt whatsoever about its efficacy. I sought refuge of peraruLALan with pirATTi as the sole refuge who could protect me. I surrendered all responsibility for my protection at the feet of peraruLALan and performed prapatti at His feet. Since I am now living the life of a prapanna, I feel completely relieved of all responsibility for my self from that point. Since all my acts from that point on have been directed to only kaimkaryam for bhagavAn, there is nothing more to fear about any accumulation of karma. So I continue to lead a life of nishkAmya kaimkaryam to bhagavAn while spending the rest of my life in this world, and deriving infinite happiness from it". How wonderful! ThUppul PiLLai ThUppul PiLLaithaan! Swamy Desikan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam Regards Namo narayana dAsan kavi-tArkika-simhAya kalyANa-guNa-SAline | Srimate venkateSAya vedAntagurave namaH || Salutations to Sri Venkatesa, in whom all perfections reside, who is the teacher of Vedanta and the lion among poets and debaters _______________ Download games, logos, wallpapers and lots more at MSN Mobile! http://www.msn.com.sg/mobile/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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