Jump to content
IndiaDivine.org

dEvarAja ashtakam

Rate this topic


Guest guest

Recommended Posts

srImathE SaTakOpaya namah

srImathE rAmAnujAya namah

srImathE anantArya mahAguravE namah

srImathE vara vara munayE namah

 

dear bhAgavathAs,

 

svAmi vEdAnta dEsika says in a stOTra on the Lord VaradarAja of

kAnchipuram - "asthi mE hasthi SailAgre vasthu paithaamaham dhanam" -

rough translation is "There exists in the hill of hasthigir, the

greatest wealth beqeathed to me by my forefathers". Lord VaradarAja

has been key to our sampradAyam - It was He who looked after Ramanuja

during His formative years; it was He who gave Ramanuja the absolute

truth about our philosophy through the six aphorisms via svAmi thiru-

k-kachchi nambi. It was He, who nurtured svAmi vEdAnta dEsika; Our

AchAryAs also believe that svAmi piLLai lOkAchArya is His avatAram;

It can be argued that without Lord VaradarAja, our sampradAyam would

not exist as we know today. So, the statement of svAmi dEsika is

something that applies to perhaps every one of us - our greatest

wealth is the Lord of Hasthigiri.

 

Lord VaradarAja also nurtured perhaps the greatest srIvaishNava

AchArya of the past century - srI prathivAdhi bhayankaram

aNNangarAchAriAr. He, perhaps, is the embodiment of all of our

AchAryAs - Just like svAmi vEdAnta dEsika, svAmi aNNangarAchariAr

wrote numerous stOtrAs on the Lord and AchAryAs and wrote several

great works on vEdAnta establishing the supremacy of visistAdvaita;

Just like svAmi maNavALa mAmuni, svAmi aNNangarAchAriAr wrote

commentaries on pUrvAchAryA works - in fact, like vyAkhyAna

chakkaravarti svAmi periyavAchchAn piLLai, svAmi aNNangarAchAriAr

wrote commentaries on just about all pUrvAchArya works - be it

aruLichcheyal of the AzhvArs, the stOtras of the AchAryAs or the

itihaasa purANas.

 

This is a translation of svAmi aNNaNgarAchAriAr's commentary on

dEvaraaja ashtakam.

 

svAmi thiru-k-kachchi nambi's dEvarAja ashtakam

 

Salutations to Sri thiru-k-kachchi-nambi:

 

srImath kaanchee munim vandhE kamalaapathi nandhanam

varadhaanGhri sadhaa sangha rasaayana paraayaNam

 

I offer my respects to kaanchipoorNa (thiru-k-kachchi nambi, in

Tamizh), who is immersed in the "rasaayana" service of having

unceasing, uninterrupted love and devotion at the feet of Lord

Devaraja (Lord Varadaraja), and who is the son of kamalaapathi.

 

The word "kanchee munim" in the saluatation denotes "kaanchee poorNa

munim" (kanchee poorNa is the samskrit name for thiru-k-kachchi

nimbi). From this salutation, we can infer that the name of sree

thiru-k-kachchi nambi's father should have been "kamalaapathi". Even

though one can interpret the sloka according to the vyutpaththi –

"kalamaapathim nandhayatheethi kamalaapathi nandhana:", and learn

the meaning as "one who does things that makes the Lord happy" for

the phrase kamalaapathi nandhana, it is not clear that congruity

(ouchityam) exists for that meaning. {In samskrit, ouchityam is one

of the attributes used to determine the exact meaning of a word in a

sentence}. The meaning of the second sentence is very apt (one who is

always with Lord Varadaraja – varadhaanGhri sadhaa sangha) as

kaanchee poorNa performed the fanning service for the Lord, and was

physically present with Him always without any break. "Rasaayana" is

a word used to denote a specific medicine in AyurvEda. It is said

that those who eat the "rasaayana", they will gain great strength

that is unfleeting. For kaanchee poorNa, the unceasing devotional

service at the feet of Lord Varadaraja is the "rasaayana", and it

gave him great strength.

 

dhEvaraaja dhayaapaatram sree kaanchee poorNam uththamam

raamaanuja munEr maanyam vandhEham sajjanaasrayam

 

I worship sree kaancheepoorNA, who is the container for the grace of

Lord dhEvaraaja, who is very special and worthy of devotion of

Ramanuja, and who is the place of refuge for all good qualities.

 

Kaanchee poorNa is worthy of devotion of Ramanuja (raamaanuja munEr

maanyan) due to the following, and other incidents – per the request

of Ramanuja, Svami thiru-k-kachchi nambi obtained the six basic

tenets of our Religion from Lord Varadaraja and gave them to Ramanuja.

 

The above two salutations that are recited traditionally, are present

in a work called "sree kaanchee poorNa sathakam", that was composed

by a sishya of Svami piLLai lOkam Jeeyar named "iraamaanusa-p-piLLai".

 

pEraruLaaLan PerundEvi thayar thiruvadigaLE saraNam

DEVARAAJAASHTAKAM

 

 

namasthE hasthisailEsa sreeman ambuja lOchana

saraNam thvaam prapannOsmi praNathaarththi haraachyutha 1

 

The Lord of the hill of hasthigiri! The divine consort to Sri

PerundEvi thaayaar! The Lotus eyed One! The One who makes the

sadnesses/difficulties of His devotees go away! The One who never

lets the devotees down! Salutations to You! I become the one who has

surrendered to You!

 

It is well known that there are five forms for the Lord – (i) para

(ii) vyooha (iii) viBhava (iv) archcha and (v) antaryaami. In this

sloka, one can enjoy those five forms of the Lord. The five

exclamative words in the sloka (hasthisailEsa!, sreeman!,

ambujalOchana!, praNathaarththihara! and achyutha) refer to the Lord

in those five forms. The exclamative "hasthisailEsa" denotes the

archcha form; sreeman! refers to the para form paravaasudEva, as is

evident from the sloka - "vaikuNtEthu parE lOkE sriyaa saarththam

jagadpathi:! aasthe.."; ambujalOchana! refers to the Lord's viBhava

forms where the Lord took reincarnations on this earth as Rama and

KrishNa – the referral to the beauty of the Lord's eye (Lotus eyed

one! AmbujalOchana) should be taken as referring to the complete

beauty of the Lord's different parts of the body when He was on this

earth in these forms; "praNathaarththihara" refers to the vyooha form

where the Lord is present in the divine milk ocean (ksheera saagara) –

the Lord stays in the milk ocean (just outside of sree vaikuNTa)

only to be ever ready to listen to His devotee's distress calls and

take away their difficulties; achyuta! refers to the antaryaami form –

the meaning of the word achyuta is "one who is present everywhere,

without any exceptions".

 

 

samastha praaNi santhraaNapraveeNa karuNOlbaNa

vilasanthu kataakshaasthE mayyasmin jagathaam pathE 2

 

The One who has the skills to save all souls! The One who is full of

grace! The Lord of all the Universes! May your graces brighten this

soul!

 

This sloka can be considered as expounding on the two exclamatory

words in the previous sloka – sreeman! ambujalOchana!. As He is

sreemaan (the divine consort of Sree), he is bound by duty to save

all the souls; With this meaning in mind, svaami thiru-k-kachchi

nambi composed the first line (samastha praaNi santhraaNapraveeNA

karuNOlbana); As He is "ambujalOchana", with the meaning "May the

beautiful lotus eyes blossom upon me" svaami thiru-k-kachchi nambi

composes the second line (vilasanthi kataakshaasthe mayyasmin

jagathaam pathE).

 

Instead of separating the word "praveeNa" {praveeNa means "clever,

skilled or well versed with", in this context, it refers to the

meaning}, we can also enjoy the first line as one word; in that case,

the meaning becomes "The One who is very superior as He has the

Supreme Grace that is capable of saving all the souls".

 

nindhithaa chaarakaraNam nivrththam krthyakarmaNa:

papeeyaamsam amaryaadham paahi maam varadha praBhO 3

 

Oh the Lord who grants all boons! Please save adiyEn (this soul), who

always does the deeds that are prohibited by the saasthraas, who

stays away from the deeds that are enjoined by the saasthraas, who

has accumulated uncountable sin, and lives beyond the boundaries of

behaviour (defined by the saasthraas).

 

This sloka seems to expound on the exclamative

word "praNataarththihara" that is present in the first sloka. The

saasthraas are of the nature where they say "Do this, Do not this".

One should be of the nature where he does the things that are

enjoined, and refrains from doing the things that are prohibited. You

should reinforce (?) Your divine nature of removing the sorrows of

Your devotees by saving me, who acts opposite to the nature of soul

described above.

 

samsaara marukaanthaarE dhurvyaaDhivyaaGhraBheeshaNE

vishayakshudhra gulmaaThyE thrushaapaadha paSaalini 4

 

putradhaara gruhakshEtra mrugathrushNaambu pushkalE

kruthya akruthya vivEkaanDham pariBhraanthamithasthatha: 5

 

ajasram jaatha thrushNaarththam avasannaangam akshamam

ksheeNa SakthibalaarOgyam kEvalam klESasamsrayam 6

 

santhaptham viviDhai: dhukkai: dhurvchairEvamadhiBhi:

dhEvaraaja dhayaasinDhO dhEva dhEva jagathpathE 7

 

tvadheekshaNa suDhaasinDhu veechi vikshEpaSeekarai:

kaaruNyamaaruthaaneethai: Seethalai aBhiShincha maam 8

 

 

Oh dEvaraaja who is an ocean of mercy! dEvaadhi dheevaa (The Lord of

the all the dEvaas)! The mother and the father of the Universe! In

the wicked, unbearable forest that is the cycle of birth and death

(i) which is very dangerous due to the presence of tigers that are

the wicked diseases (ii) which is full of short shrubs that the

material things (iii) which is full of trees that are the material

desires (iv) which is filled with mirages that are relatives and

friends, wife, children, house,land etc., I am present. I am

undergoing indescribable suffering as (i) I do not have the

intelligence and judgement to decide "this is to be done, this is not

to be done" and hence I am wandering here and there in circles (ii) I

am always tired (iii) I am with a very weak body (iv) I am not

intelligent to do the right things and I do not have any strength of

mind, strength of body and health and (v) I am full of bad qualities.

May the cool, pleasant flood of nectar of Your grace, which is pushed

by the wind that is Your kindness, wet this soul that is undergoing

tremendous suffering (as described above).

 

As the five slOkas (slOkAs 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8) give a unified meaning,

this composition structure is called "kulakam".

 

Svaami thiru-k-kachchi nambi prays for the Lord to cool him (who is

full of fevers due to the cycle of birth and death) with the pleasant

rain of nectar of the Lord's grace.

 

The word "samsaara" denotes this Universe that gives ignorance to

everyone in it. Svaami thiru-k-kachchi nambi analogises this samsaara

to a very wicked, dangerous forest. In a forest, there are dangerous

animals like tigers and lions. In the samsaara, those dangerous

animals are the dangerous, insufferable diseases. In the forest,

there are many small shrubs that pull within themselves anyone who

steps on them. Samsaara has material things that attract the senses

as the shrubs. In a forest, there are many different kinds of trees.

In samsaara, the different material desires are the trees. A forest

has many mirages that create delusions. In samsaara, these mirages

are the relatives and friends that stand in the way between the soul

and the Lord (aabhaasa bandhu).

 

Some people raise the following question – Svaami thiru-k-kachchi

nambi describes the samsaara as "samsaara marukaanthaarE" (maru =

sandy desert); while that is so, he also describes the samsaara

as "thrushaapaadha pasaalini" (containing trees that provide shade

for the thirsty?); how can that be so? Elders provide the following

reconciliation – Even though there is no possibility for a desert to

contain large trees that provide shade, it does have dry trees, bald

trees and trees that have no leaves. One may assume that svaami thiru-

k-kachchi nambi had those trees in mind when he described the

samsaara as such. Just as those who are suffering from extreme heat

will derive pleasantness and coolness from rain that falls on them,

svaami thiru-k-kachchi nambi prays to Lord dEvaraaja to bless him

with the rain of the Lord's grace so that the insufferable heat of

samsaara that he is now experiencing can be cooled. With this prayer,

svaami thiru-k-kachchi nambi completes his stOtra on Lord varadaraaja.

 

Thiru-k-kachchi nambigaL thiruvadigaLE saraNam

pEraruLaaLan PerundEvi-th-thaayaar thiruvadigaLE saraNam

 

 

srI prathivAdhi bhayankaram aNNangarAchAriAr thiruvadigaLE saraNam,

adiyEn madhurakavi dAsan,

varadhan

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...