Sri HayagrIva Sthothram: Part XVI--SlOkam 6

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SrimathE RaamAnujAya nama:

 

Dear Sri HayagrIva BhakthAs :

 

In this posting , adiyEn will cover the sixth

SlOkam of Swamy Desikan's tribute to the Lord

of VidhyAs. This slOkam is as follows:

 

" apourushEyairapi vaak prapanjai:

adhyApi tE bhUthim adhrushta pArAm

sthuvannaham mugdha ithi thvayaiva

kaarunyathO naatha kaDAkshaNeeya: "

 

(meaning): Oh Lord HayagrIvA ! Veda-VedAnthams

are not composed by anyone. They are apourushEyam

(authorless and vast).They struggle even today

in their efforts to describe adequately Your

SvarUpam, ThirumEni and Your anantha kalyAna guNams;

they can not see the limits (shores) to the ocean

of Your glories. Such is their magnitude of Your

countless glories ! Inspite of it , adiyEn has

come forward boldly to sing about those limitless

glories . It is indeed sheer foolishness on my part

to engage in this impossible endeavour. Please consider

me as one of Your children with limited intellect

and shower on me Your mercy-laden katAkshams

inspite of my saahasam (boldness). I am a fit object

for Your auspicious and merciful katAkshams .

 

Here Swamy Desikan records his unfitness to

engage in the act of praising the Lord's

glories adequately , when the great VedAs themselves

find that impossible. Later , Swamy Desikan is

going to refer to the futility of the VedAs

trying to comprehend fully the glories of

the Lord in GopAla Vimsathi ( nigamAnthai:

adhunApi mrugyamANam ). In Sri VaradarAja

PanchAsath (slOkam 2) , Swamy Desikan refers

again to his bold act (saahasam) in attempting

to praise the Lord's glories , while the Muni-

SaarvabhoumAs of sharp intellect have given up :

 

yasyAnubhAvam adhiganthum asaknuvantha:

muhyanthi apankura dhiyO Muni Saarvabhouma:

 

While the greatest of Munis stagger from

such an impossible task , Swamy Desikan

says that he is engaged in such an act

boldly out of foolishness and asks for

the Karisaila Naathan's pardon for

the apachAram committed :

 

tasyaiva tE sthuthishu saahasam asnuvAna:

Kshanthavya yEsha bhavathA Karisaila Naatha

 

It is customary for Swamy Desikan to acknowledge

his inadequacy to undertake the hopeless task

of praising adequately the full glories of

the Lord . In some sthOthrams, he will pray

for the Lord's blessings ( Sri HayagrIva sthuthi)

to undertake such an onerous task ;in others ,

he will seek the Lord's understanding

and pardon ( Sri VaradarAja PanchAsath); in some others ,

he will argue for his fitness as a logician .

An example of such a case , where he says that

he has the rights to praise the Lord in proportion

to his yogyathai, is found in Sri Deva Naayaka

Panchasath ( SlOkam 5):

 

nirvisyamana vibhavam nigamOtthamAngai:

sthOthum Kshamam mama cha dEvapathE bhavantham

gaava: piBhanthu gaNasa: kalasAmbhurAsim

kim tEna tarnaka gaNAs thruNm aadhadhAnA:

 

(Meaning ): Oh DaivanAyakA ! Just as the Upanishads

relish enjoying the act of singing Your glories ,

adiyEn also has the fitness to engage in such an

act of eulogy. What if the herds of adult cows

drink with gusto from the mighty milky ocean?

Their little calves engage only in partaking

small blades of grass as their invigorating food .

Thus , adiyEn is singing Your praise in proportion to

my meagre intellect, while the great Upanishads

engage in praising Your kalyAna guNams in a manner

appropriate to their lofty stature .

 

Sri D.Ramaswamy Iyengar points out that Swamy

Desikan is following the foot steps of his

PoorvAchAryArs --AaLavandhAr, KurEsar and

ParAsara Bhattar- in engaging in such act of

NaicchAnusandhAnam .

 

Swamy Desikan describes the VedAs in this slOkam

as apourushEyam (authorless) and Vaak Prapanchai:

( immense branches and manthrams). Swamy points

out that even these mighty and vast VedAs are

unable to determine the limit of the Lord's

glories and are engaged in their futile

searches even today ( adhya api adhrushta paaraam

tE bhUthi:). Your " bhUthi " or glories are

of such limitless nature to comprehend

and describe. While that is so , here I am

as a foolish youngster ( mughdha: aham )

attempting to priase Your vibhUthis.

Mughdha: means " aRiyAp piLLai " or a

foolish fellow , who does not know

what he is about to do. The word Mugdha:

reminds one of opposite kind (Muktha:) ,

who fully comprehends the true nature of

Tatthva-Hitha-PurushArthams and crosses

over to the other side of SamsAric ocean

to praise the Lord with the blessings of

the Lord Himself . Swamy Desikan therefore prays

for the karuNA katAksham of Lord HayagrIvan

to receive dhivya Jn~Anam to transfrom himself

from a " mugdhan " to a " Mukthan " .His prayer

is " KaaruNyathO Naatha KatAkshaNeeya: " .

 

Sri Hayavadhana Para BrahmaNE nama:

Srimath Azhagiya Singar ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SatakOpan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VedAs search in futile and

the upanishads struggle to describe satisfactorily

even one of the Lord's guNams. Muni SaarvabhumAs

are staggering

 

Swamy Desikan asks for the benovolent glances