Sri HayagrIva Sthothram: Part XVII--SlOkam 8

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SrimathE RaamAnujAya nama:

 

Dear BhakthAs:

 

From slOkma 6 upto 31 , Swamy Desikan addresses

Sri HayagrIvan directly and prays for his

anugrham. In the sixth slOkam , He mentioned

that he is a mughdhan (aRiyAp PiLLai/ignorant one)

and hence deserved to be the object of the mercy-laden

glances of the Lord of Vidhyais . In the seventh

slOkam , he acknowledged that DakshiNA Moorthy,

Sarasvathi Devi , VyAsa-VaalmIki-ParAsarAs noted

for their Vaak-siddhi shine by the power of a

fraction of Lord HayagrIvan's prowess.

 

Here in the eighth slOkam , Swamy Desikan

salutes the apAra (limitless) karuNai of

the Lord , who saved Brahma Devan from

the lot of being a stupid one through

His benovolent UpadEsam on the VedAs .

 

The eightth slOkam is as follows:

 

mandhO-abhavishyan niyatham VirinchO

vaachAm nidhE vanchitha bhAgadhEya:

dhaithyApaneethAn dayayiva bhUyOapi

adhyApayishyO nigamAn na chEth thvam

 

(meaning): Oh VaachAm nidhE ( the treasure house

of all kalais/vidhyAs)! Oh HayagrIva Bhagavann!

You performed upadEsam on the Vedams and

their esoteric meanings for Your son , BrahmA.

The two asurAs by the name of Madhu and Kaitabhan

stole those VedAs from Your son , when he was

temporarily distracted. Brahma was totally

incapable of performing his srushti duties

as a result of the loss of the vedaas . He was

dumbfounded and actionless. Out of Your karuNai

for BrahmA , You recovered the VedAs for him and

reinstructed BrahmA on those vedAs and their

meanings once again. If You had not performed

the UpadEsam for the second time , what would

have been the lot of BrahmA ? He would have stayed

dumb and remained incapable of performing

his assigned duties.

 

This slOkam deals with the avathAra KaaraNam of

Lord HayagrIvan , which was for the purpose of

upadEsam for BrahmA on the VedAs once again.

Sri D. Ramaswamy Iyengar quotes here the Upanishadic

pasage: " yO brahmANam vidhaathi poorvam , yOvai

yOvai VedAmcha prahiNOthi tasmai " to refer to

the teching of the VedAs to BrahmA for helping

him with his assigned duties of creation

after his loss of the VedAs to Madhu and KaitabhA .

 

Swamy Desikan says to Lord HayagrIvA in this

slOkam : " Oh Lord ! Had You not restored

the VedAs from the two asurAs and instructed

BrahmA once again ( thvam dhaithya-apaneethAn

nigamAn DayayA yEva BhUya: api na adhyApayishyaya:

chEth),then BrahmA would forever be a mandha-mathi

(dim witted) and lost his bhAgyam and status as

the creator of the janthus as ordained by You

( Virincha: vanchitha bhAgadEya: niyatham mandha:

abhavishyath). It certainly would have been

so(niyatham).

 

BrahmA's prayer was of the form that we come

across in Taittiriya AraNyakam III.15.1:

 

" Harigum haranthamanuyanthi dEvA visvasyEsAnam

vrushabham matheenAm , BrahmasarUpammanu

mEdhamAgAdhayanam maa vivadhee: vikramasva "

 

(meaning): Like loyal servants, dEvAs follow

Hari , who is the Lord of the Universe , who

leads all thoughts as the Supreme leader and who

absorbs into Himself the Universe at the time of

PraLayam . May this path to liberation taught in

the vedAs open itself to me! Oh Lord deprive me

not of that bhAgyam ! Please strive to secure

that anugraham for me !

 

Brahma devan prayed to the Lord with

manthrams like ThrisuparNa manthrams

invoking His intervention to to restore

his intellect (medhA and opraj~nA)

to resume his assigned duties:

 

" BrahmEthu maam , madhumEthu maam ,

BrahmEva madhumEthu maam , yaasthE sOma

prajA vathsOapi sO aham -- "

 

This set of manthrams are recited by those

who seek divine knowledge and who wish to burn

away all sins that stand in the way of

enlightenment . This section of Upanishad means:

" May the Supreme Brahman reach me! May

the blissful one ( Sathyam Jn~Anam anantham BrahmA )

reach me! May the Supreme One (ParamAthmA) that is

blissful and svathasiddham reach me! Oh Lord being

one among Thy creatures , I am Thy child ..destroy

my sorrow! .I offer myself as an oblation unto Thee !

 

The Lord answered BrahmA back and revealed

the warp and woof of the world to be created

as DharmA through instruction on the profound

manthrAs like the ones below:

 

" dharma ithi dharmENa sarvamidham parigruhItham

dharmath athidusccharam tasmAth dharmE ramanthE "

-- Sri mahA NaarAyaNOpanishad: 78

 

(Meaning): Some consider that performance of

dharmam (scriptural duties here ) is the means of

liberation . By the performance of dharmam ,

all the world is held together. There is nothing

more difficult to practise than dharmam ordained

by the scriptures. There are many obstrcutions

that present themselves while one goes about

doing his ordained dharmams to eliminate

selfish feelings and destructive passions

which interfere with the development of a

life of harmony with his fellow beings.

 

" DharmO visvasya jagatha: prathishtA lOkE

dharmishta prajA upasarpanthi , dharmENa paapam

apanudhathi , dharmE sarvam prathishtitham ,

tasmAth dharmam paramam vadanthi "

--Sri MahA NaarAyaNOpanishad: Section 79

 

(meaning): Dahrmam (rutham) is the support of

all the Universe. Every one draws near a person ,

who is fully devoted to the practise of Dharmam.

Through the observance of his dharmam , a person

banishes all the sins.All are supported by DharmA.

Hence , they say that DharmA is the supreme means

of liberation .

 

BrahmA's confusion was removed. He was blessed

with dhivya Jn~Anam by Lord HayagrIvan to resume

his dharmam.In the next slOkma , Swamy Desikan

describes the anugraham of Lord HayagrIvan

to the dEva guru, Bruhaspathi , when his mind

was full of doubts.

 

Sri Hayavadhana ParabrahmaNE nama:

Srimath Azhagiya Singar ThiruvadigaLE saraNam

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SatakOpan