Desika sthothramala

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8.

mandho abhavishyat niyatham virincho

vaachaam nidhe vanchiyhabhaagadheyaH

daithyaapaneethaan dayayaive bhooyo api

aDhyaapayishyo nigamaan na cheth thvam

 

Brahma would have certainly become dull and would have been

robbed of his good fortune if You, the abode of speech, had not retrieved the

Vedas from the asuras and taught to him again.

 

Here there is an explicit reference to the purpose of the

Hayagreeve avatara. The Vedas were stolen by the asuras Madhu and Kaitabha from Brahma when he was asleep and the Lord

retrieved them after killing the asuras and instructed Brahma again. Desika

says that if He had not done that Brahma

would have been ignorant of the Vedas.

The word nigama used to denote has a special significance and it is

derived as nigamyathe anena, the verb gam with ni means

`to attain.' The Veda is caklled nigama because by the Vedas the fulfillment of

wishes in this world and the next as well as the final salvation, mukthi are attained. Not only

Brahma would have been ignorant but he would have cheated of his blessing of

having obtained the Vedas from the Lord in the first place.

 

9.

vitarkadolaam vyavaDhooya satthve

brhaspathim varthayase yathasthvam

tenaiva deva thridaSeSvaraaNaam

asprshtadoaalaayitham aadhiraajyam

 

 

Oh Lord You alone saved Brhaspati , the preceptor of the

devas from oscillating in doubt and made his conviction of reality firm and

established as a result of which the kingdom of the gods stopped oscillating.

 

As made out in the previous two verses, The Lord in the

form of Hayagreeva is responsible for the knowledge of Brahma, Sarasvati etc.

and hence he alone could have made Brhaspati for what he was. The name

Brhaspati has come to mean wisdom. And his wisdom was acquired through the

grace of the Lord. To be able to impart knowledge to others one must have firm

conviction. As long as the mind is riddled with doubts wisdom will not arise.

The knowledge of reality, brahmajnana alone can resolve all doubts and create enlightenment,

as the Upanishad says, by `bidhyathe hrdhyagranThih cChidhyanthe sarva

samSayaah; ksheeyanthe asya karn maaNi thasmin dhrshte paraavare.' The

obstacle to knowledge is the doubt, the clearance of which is prevented by

karma which creates knots in the mind which in their turn prevent

understanding. When the brahmasaakshaathkaara, the realization of the truth

dawns which happens only with the grace of the Lord. `yamevaishavrNuthe

thena labhyathe, says the Upanishad,

meaning, only who He chooses obtains enlightenment.

 

Hence Desika says the Lord chose to make the mind of

Brhaspathi free of oscillations due to misconceptions in order to make the

kingdom of the devas firm and free from oscillation, meaning the ups and downs

of fortune. He makes Brhaspathi cast off his swing, dolaa, of vitarka,

arguments for and against based on misconceptions, and made him firm in his

resolve. And the kingdom of the devas was made firm by the advice of Brhaspathi

and was no more oscillating , dolaayitham, between good and bad

fortunes. Asprshtam means `not touched by.' The aadhiraajya, the

sovereignty of the devas ,tridhaSeSvara, is untouched by vagaries of

fortune. Devas are called thridasaah as they have only three states of

life, namely, childhood, SaiSava, boyhood, koumaara and youth, youvana.

 

 

10.agnou samiddhaarchishi sapthathanthoh

aathasThivaan manthramayam Sareeram

akhandasaarah havishaam pradhaanaih

aapyaayanam vyomasadhaam viDhathse

 

Oh Lord ! You manifest Yourself in the altar as the manthras chanted during the

performance of yajna while the flame of the sacrificial fire burn bright and

accepting the offerings which are rich with essence You give it to the devas .

 

saptathanthoH samiddharchishi agnou – the fire, agni, which is

burning brilliant, samiddharchish in

the sacrificial altar. Saptathanthu means a yajna as it is tanvathe, performed by sapthabhih,

the seven chandhas, metrical hymns or by the fire which is known as sapthaarchish

or sapthajihvaa, seven tongued,

namely,kaalee, karaalee manojavaa, sulohithaa DhoomravarnNaa, sphulinginee,

viSvadaasaa.

 

Lord Haygreeva is the embodiment of manthras and as such

enables the devas to get their share of the offering through the manthras.

Actually the fire itself is the manifestation of the Lord. In Srisuktha it is

explained that the invocation of jaathavedas or fire to secure the grace

of Lakshmi is actually addressed to the Lord Himself who is invoked in the for

of fire.

 

The havis offered in the yajna is akhandasaara, of boundless essence as it secures the

fulfillment of wishes by ensuring the cooperation of the devas who only act as

the agents of the Lord. Hence it is said that He makes the devas partake the

offering thus effecting the fulfilment of the yajna.

 

11.yanmoolam eedhrk prathibhaathi thatthvam

yaa moolam

aamnaaya mahaadhrumaaNaam

thatthvena

jaananthi viSuddhasatthvaah

thaam aksharaam

aksharamaathrkaam thvaam

 

Thos whose mind is filled with pure satthva know You as

the cause of this universe and the root

of the tree called Vedas, You being the Pranava, the mother of all letters.

 

His universe consists of all types of beings, sentient and

insentient, classified as deva,manshya, thiryang,sthaavara, divine

beings, humans, animals and plants. The gross universe originated from the five

elements, which were in turn evolved from the subtle elements, thanmathras,

born out of the three kinds of ahamkara,satthva,rajas and thamas.The ahankara

itself is the evolute of mahat or buddhi the first evolvent of all being the

unmanifest prakrthi. These are known as thatthvas. 24 in number, the 25th

being purusha or the sentient soul. All this has Brahman as the cause as

mentioned in the upanishats, `sadheva soumya idham agra aaseeth ekameva advitheeyam, sath,

or Brahman was alone in the beginning, one only without a second. Then the

Upanishad goes on to say `thadhaikshatha bahusyaam prajaayeya , thatthejo

asrjatha, it willed to become many and created fire. This implies the

creation of akasa and vayu prior to that of

fire which was alone mentioned as it is the first manifest form of the

elements. Vedanta accepts the thatthvas which are actually the principles of

the school of sankhya but upholds the view expressed by the Upanishads that Brahman is

the cause of even the unmanifest prkrthi. Hence the Lord, who is the supreme

self, Brahman, is the moola or source from whom all this manifest

universe (prthibhaathi sarvam) came and also the root of the tree called Vedas.

 

The metaphor of the tree is seen in Katopanishad `oorDhvamoolo avAkshAkhah Esha

aSvatthah sanAthanah,(Kat.up.2-3-1) which has also been referred to in the fifiteenth chapter of the

Bhagavatgita.(BG.15-1)

 

 

The tree is said to have

branches below as the whole creation is originated from Brahman and proceeds

below, that is away from the reality, being the effect of karma causing bondage. The branches represent

the whole creation from devas to the lowest forms of life and also the

immovables. Its leaves are said to cchandhAmsi or Vedas. All karma that

are done with an expectation of fruit are enjoined in the Vedas and they are

necessary for the worldly life as the leaves are for the tree. Hence the Vedas

are compared to parNas, leaves. One who understands this will desist from

doing desire motivated karma which will cause the cycle of births and deaths.

Hence it is said that one who knows this tree, knows the Vedas, meaning that he will understand

the real nature of the Vedas, the real import of which is only Brahman.

 

Hence the root of Vedas compared

to a tree is the Lord. The Pranava is the source of all sound and synonymous

with Brahman and hence it is referred to as aksharaa aksharamaathrkaa.

 

This upanishadic declaration of the causation of Brahman is

further carried out in he next sloka and hence this and the next contain the

whole visishtadvaita in a capsule form.

 

 

12.avyaakrthaath

vyaakrthavaan asi thvam

naamaani roopaaNi cha yaani poorvam

Samsanthi theshaam charamaam prathishTaam

vaageeSvara thvaam thvadhupaJnavaachah

 

 

Oh Lord of speech! You become

the manifest world from your unmanifest state and give the name and form to

everything as before. The Vedas which were instructed by You praise You as the

ultimate goal.

 

The term avyaakrtha, meaning unmanifest, refers to the moolakrkrthi, the primordial nature of the sankhayas but what

Desika means here is the soolshmacidhacithviSishtabrahman of

visistadvaita. That is the Lord before

He manifests as the world. Brahman unmanifest is the cause and Brahman

manifest is the effect. The Upanishad

says, `yatho vaa imaani bhaoothaani jaayanthe yena

jaathaani jeevanthi yasmin abhisamviSanthi, thath vijijnaasasva thath brahma.' The

meaning of the passage is as follows:

Know that to be Brahman from whom

all these beings emerge, by whom they are sustained, and into which they merge

back. So all beings exist in Brahman in subtle state without name and form and

after creation they become manifest.

 

The passage quoted in the

previous sloka which describes the creation further proceeds with the statement, `anenajeeven aaathmanaa anupravSya

naamaroope vyaakaravaaNi.' The Brahman after creating the universe of

sentient and insentient beings, declares "I will enter into everything as its

self and give them name and form." This is what Desika denotes by the phrase naamaani roopaaNi cha yaani poorvam.' In each

kalpa the creation preceeds on a similar pattern as before. The lion is known

only as such and the ant is similarly known as such. The names and forms do not

change in different kalpa. This is because the Vedas are the same being apourusheya and anaadhi and the

creation has its basis on the Vedas.

 

Brahman entering as the inner

self is confirmed by the Upanishadic passages such as yah aathmani thishTan aathmanah antharah yam `aathmaa na veda

yasya aathmaa sareeram yah aathmaanam antharah yamayathi esha tha aathmmaa

antharyaami amrthah thath sathyam sa aathmaa thaththvam asi,' This means, the inner

immortal self is the one who is inside the individual self, whom the individual

self does not know, whose body is the

individual self , who controls the individual self from inside, this is the real self and `thou

art that.'

 

 

Similar description of this inner ruler is found

with respect to all elements all luminous bodies, all beings and all organs of

the body including mind and intellect and each passage ends with the words

'Esha tha AthmA antharyAmyamrthah' this is the immortal

inner self.

 

Therefore the Lord who is the inner self of all

is the ultimate import of everything, charama prathshTa. Ramanuja

says in his sribhashya that the identity of all beings, sentient and insentient with Brahman can be

established only through the sarira sariri bhAva. And as all that is other than

Brahman is His sarira the denotation of everything terminates only in Brahman.

This is the import of the Vedas, `Samsanthi theshaam charamaam prathishTaam

vaageesvara thvaam thavdhulpajna vaachah.'