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Dear Bhagavatas,

 

The following is a commentary by Sri Muralidhar Rangaswamy on Hayagriva

stotram. adiyen found it very enjoyable and trust that the rest of you will

find it so enjoyable too.

 

adiyen Ramanuja daasan,

jagan.

 

>Sri:

>

>SrimatE Gopaladesika MahadesikAya Namaha,

>

>Dear Sriman Sadagopan Swamin,

>

>Thank you very much for your kind note and for the command to

contribute to

>shlokams 16 and 17. Adiyen submits the following notes

>to your excellent summary.

>

>16. Swami Desikan embeds a profound concept of great

philosophical

>importance in this verse. The Narayana Upanishad glorifies the

role

>of Lord Narayana, in creating, preserving and destroying the

universe

>through the salution " Atha puruShOhavi NarayaNO kAmayatha:

>prajAsrujEyEthi.....NarayaNE pravarthanthE NarayaNE

praLIyantE " .

>Swami Desikan points out that these are merely acts of sport

of the Lord and

>adds that the Lord is accompanied by Daya Devi during these

>acts. Daya Devi, who is none other than Sri, is never

separated from

>the Lord due to eternal residence in the Lord's vakshasthalam.

>Swami Desikan formally extols Thayar's participation in the

sport of

>creation, preservation and destruction in the Sri Stuthi

salutation

> " JanmasthEma praLaya rachanA jangamA jangamAnAm " , wherein the

sport is

>characterized as a game of dice played by the Divine Couple

and

>witnessed by Nithya Suris who have secured eternal residence

in

>Parama Padam. JivAtmas, Devas such as Brahma, Indra, Rudra and

all

>sentient and insentient beings are mere pawns in the sport

enacted

>by the Divine Couple. Therefore, Daya Devi's participation in

this

>sport can be understood in the context of the role of Sri.

>

>Next, all beings are bonded by Karma from beginingless time.

As a

>result, they are immersed in a seemingly endless ocean of sins

from

>the time of the world's creation. Swami Desikan wonders if

there is

>any respite from sin for these beings and provides a most

insightful

>reply based on sound logic. Specifically, the Lord carries out

the task of

>destruction at the behest of Daya Devi to provide a brief

respite from sin

>before the new cycle of creation begins. This is due to the

fact that during

>MahapraLaya, nothing on the world-stage exists. Consequently,

there is no

>room for committing any sins. Thus, even PraLaya is in fact an

act of

>compassion (Daya) on the Lord's part.

>

>17. The Lord' role in creating the universe is celebrated in

the Narayana

>Upanishad salutation " Atha puruShOhavaI narayaNO kAmayatha:

prajA

>srujEyEthi " . Swami Desikan emphasizes that creation of life

with form

>(sentient beings) from insentient matter is an act of extreme

compassion on

>the part of the Lord. In this verse Swami Desikan

>subtly embeds another message of great philosophical

importance.

>Every jivatma is bonded by karma from time immemorial. The two

established

>paths to freedom from the bondage of Karma are Bhakthi

>yoga or Prapatti yoga. The former has extremely exacting

requirements,

>while the latter is relatively easy to follow. In this verse

Swami

>Desikan is laying the groundwork for delving deeper into the

margam

>of Prapatti by extolling the elevated role of Daya Devi.

>

>It is instructive to note the exclamation of Daya Devi in this

context. Daya

>Devi is moved beyond measure at the helpless state of

>all beings during Maha PraLaya. She then takes pity upon the

various

>jivans and confers upon them the senses, body, and the ability

to

>think and act well. The implication here is that Daya Devi

provides

>them another opportunity to redeem themselves and seek Moksham

through the

>margam of SharaNagati. It is important to note the usage

>'the faculty to think and act well'. Here Swami Desikan has in

mind,

>the fact that every jivan thus created will act in accordance

with

>the Shastras. What do the Shastras prescribe? The Shastras

provide knowledge

>of the creation of the universe, its preservation,

>and destruction, the relationship between a jivatma and the

universe,

>the relationship between Lord Narayana and the universe, the

relationship

>between the Lord and the jivatma and finally the means to

attain Lord

>Narayana. The easiest path prescribed for attaining

>Lord Narayana is the margam of SharaNagati which is an

unconditional,

>complete surrender of the jivatma to the Lord's feet. In the

context

>of the Daya Shatakam it must also be remembered that the Lord

of

>Seven Hills denotes the Charma Shlokam, which is the most

forthright

>declaration of the margam of SharaNagati. In order to uphold

the

>His promise in the Charma Shlokam, the baddha jivan must

unconditionally

>surrender at the Lord's lotus feet. For this,

>the jivatma must possess the faculty to think and act in

accordance with the

>Shastraic injunctions. This is facilitated by the

>extreme compassion of Daya Devi.

>

>Namo Narayana,

>

>SriMuralidhara Dasan

 

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