Hayagreevasthothram

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Hayagreevasthothram by Vedanta Desika

Hayagriva stotra of Vedanta Desika

Vedantadesika has composed many stotras on the Lord and this is the first. He got the upadesa of Hayagreeva mantra from Garuda in thiruvaheendrapuram and he chanted this mantra from the hill top there and the Lord Hayagreeva appeared before him and this stotra was sung in His presence.Hayagreeva is the upasanamurti of desika and everywhere Desika is found along with Hayagreeva. The Lord Hayagreeva has a face of horse and a body of man and has four arms and in his right hands He holds chakra and jnanamudra and in His left, shanka and a book, supposedly the vedas.Those who worship Hayagreeva will get wisdom and knowledge. Many scholars have written commentries to the stortras of Desika but as Desika himself ahas said in his Yadhavabhyudhaya,'amrtham yadhi labhyetha kim na grhyetha maanavaih,' anything about the Lord is sweet no matter whoever tells it even with limited capacity.

 

1. jnanaanandha mayam dhevam nirmalasphatikaakrthim

Aadhaaram sarva idhyaanaam hayagreevam upaasmahe

 

We bow down to the Lord Hayagreeva who is the embodiment of knowledge and bliss whose form is like pure crystal and who is the source of all learning. He is the svarupa of knowledge and bliss. Akhandasacchidaananadasvarupa, that is existence, sat, knowledge, jnana and Ananda, bliss. He is Brahmasvarupa, which has been declared in the upanishads as , satyam, jnanam, anantam and Anandam.

He is of nirmala sphatika Akrti, a form like pure white crystal. White stands for suddhasattva and crystal for purity denoting that He is the parabrahamam. he is the adhaara, abode of all learning. Hayagriva means Hayavadana , horse faced. He took the form to instruct the vedas . Horse stands for wisdom among animals. That is why it is used in battle as it knows when the master is in distress and will carry him away from the battlefield.

 

 

2. svathassiddham Suddhasphatika maNibhoobhrth prathibhatam

sudDhaasadhghreecheebhiH dhyuthibhiH avadhaatha thribhuvanam

ananthaiH thrayyanthaiH anuvihitha heshaahalahalam

hathaaSeshaavadhyam hayavavadanam eedeemahee mahaH

 

Lord Hayagreeva is svatassiddha, meaning that He originated by Himself as the Purushsookta says, 'ajaayamaano bahudhaa vijaayathe,'one who is never born manifests Himself in various forms. Krishna says in the Gita, 'prakrthim svaam adhishtaaya sambhavaami aatmamaayayaa,'(BG.4-3) I assume matter and create myself through my maya.

He is described as suddha sphatika mani bhoobhrthprathibhata.The word bhoobhrth means a mountain-bhuvam bhibhrathi ithi, the mountains are supposed to support the earth,bhoo while the verb 'bhr' means 'to bear.' The mountain made of pure crystal is suddha sphatika mani bhoobhrt. The Lord is mentioned as the prathibhata of this mountain. Prathibhata means a challange or rival. Bhata is a warrior and prathibhata is one on the oppsite side, that is, an opponent or challenger.

With His form pure and white as crystal, He makes all the three worlds shine white with His light which is accompanied with the nectar of His grace..

The word sudha means nectar and sadhreechi means 'to accompany.' The light , dhyuthi,of His form is not fierce but soft and pleasing like that of the moon who is also called sudhaamsu, as it showers the nectar of His grace. The word dhyuthi is derived from the verb dhyu to shine. the Sun is called dhyumani. His light render all the worlds white, avadhaatha meaning white or spotless.

The sound of His neighing 'halahala,' is followed, anuvihitha, by the Upanishads. The breath of Hayagriva constituted the vedas and the sound that comes from Him is vedagosha.It is said that the Lord took the form of haygrieva to retrieve the vedas stolen by the demons Madhu and Kaitabha and instructed them to Brahma.

He destroys all imperfections, hatha aSesha avadhya, for His devotees. We worship such light, mahah, who is called hayavadana, the Horsefaced Lord.

It is interesting to note the extensive vocabulary of Desika which shows his mastery over the language. Here he uses the word eedeemahi, derived from the verb 'eed' to worship. One could attain proficiency in sanskrit by merely studying his works.

 

 

3.Samaahaarah saamnaam prathipadham rchaam Dhaama yajushaam

layaH prathyoohaanaam laharivithathiH boDhajalaDheH

kaThaadharpakshubhyath kaThakakulakolaahalabhavam

harathu antharDhvaantham hayavadhanaheshaahalhalravaH

 

The neighing sound of the horse-faced Lord i sthe collection (samaahaara) of all the hymns of Samaveda. It is the synonym of Rkveda and the abode of yajurveda.The word Dhaama means the resort as well as light. As the sound throws light on the purport of the yajurveda it is called Dhama.

The Sama veda consists of metrical hymns sung in praise while Rkveda abounds in manthras. The yajurveda is the collection of prose relating to the rituals. The Lord

Hayagriva is the samagana which arises only from Him who is the Vaageesa. Praising the Lord by the words which come only due to His grace is like what we say in Tamil, `vellappillaiyaraikkilli nivedanam'that is, giving back to Him what came from Himself.

His neighing is described as the synonym, prathipadham, of Rk manthras as He is the power behind the manthras. Similarly the purport of the rituals is only to attain Him and hence He is their abode.

His neighing sound destroys all the obstacles in the way of learning. The word ooha means to comprehend and prathi +ooha denotes the impedimint to it.Hence His neighing which is nothing but the sabdabrahman destroys all obstacles to knowledge.

Not only it clears the intellect but also produces the successive waves of the sea of knowledge, laharivithathi of boDhajalaDhi.

The one who is thus blessed with the grace of the Lord Hayagreeva is able to quell the tumult of agitation created by those who are arrogant of speech, to which Desika himself is a witness. kathaa means speech (kathyathe ithi kathaa) and darpa is arrogance through which one gets agitated, kShubhyath. The one who speaks in arrogant manner is the kathaka who creates a great tumultous noise. The sound that comes from the Lord through His devotees is enough to destroy the darkness of ignorance of the people who are deluded by these psuedo wise men.

 

4. praachee sanDhyaa kaachith antharniSaayaah

prajnaa dhrshteH anajaSreeh apporvaa

vakthree vedhaan bhaathu me vaajivakthraa

vaageeSaakhyaa vaasudevasya moorthiH

 

May the form of Vasudeva, named VaageeSa, the one with the face of a horse, appear to me, the dawn to the inner darkness and the unique collyrium to the eyes of wisdom.

 

The inner darkness (antharniSaa) is due to ignorance and the fornm of the Lord Hayagreeva , when it shines in the heart, acts as the dawn (praachee sanDhyaa) to kill the darkness of ignorance. Desika prefixes the word sanDhyaa with praachee, eastern, in order to differentiate it from the dusk which appears in the West. The form of the Lord brings a new perception of reality as a colyrium applied to the eyes, to give it a new vision of wisdom.

 

The words vaageeSaakhayaa vaasudhevasayamurthiH, has a reference to the avatara of Hayagreeva , who is none other than the Lord Narayana, that is Paravasudeva, Himself , taken in order to instruct the Vedas to Brhama, (vakthree vedhaan-the speaker of Vedas). That is why He is known as VaageeSa, the Lord of speech. The word, vaajivakthra, means a horse-faced one, vaaji meaning a horse.

 

The first four slokas are invocatory and the actual sthothra,I the form of the praise and prayer starts with the 5th.

 

 

5. viuddha vijnaana ghana svaroopam

vijnaana viSraaNana baddhadheeksham

dhayaanidhim dhehabhrthaam SaraNyam

dhevam hayagreevam aham prapadhye

 

 

I surrender to Lord Hayagreeva, the reservoir of mercy, who is the refuge of all embodied beings and whose nature is that of unalloyed mass of pure knowledge and who has taken the vow of giving out the wisdom to all.

 

Lord Hayagreeva denotes the solid mass of wisdom , pure, viSuddha vijnana Ghana, and divine and He is also, being the treasure house of of mercy, promises that knowledge to all who resort to Him, vijnanaviSraaNanabaddhadheeksham.

 

 

He is also dayanidhi, His omniscience and omnipotence will be formidable without His daya.

The rest of the slokas are addressed to the Lord presumably in front of Him when He made His appearance.

 

 

6. apourusheyairapi vaakprapanchaih

adyaapi the bhoothim adhrshtapaaraam

sthuvannaham mugdha ithi thvayaiva

kaaruNyatho naaTha kataakshaneeyah

 

Oh Lord! The Vedas which are not composed by anyone but apourusheya, are not able to describe the boundless glory of Yours even today. I have started to praise You, who cannot be understood even by the Vedas, by being naïve and hence I deserve Your merciful glances for the effort to be successful.

 

Vedas have originated from the Lord as His niSvaasa, exhaling breath and hence they are apourusheya, not man-made. In spite of that the Vedas are not able to describe Him in full. This statement and the declaration of his inability are found in many of Desika"s works. For instance in His Yadhavabhyudhaya he says yadekaaikagunapraanthe Sraanthaah nigamavandhinah yaThaavath varNane asya,' meaning that the Vedas, as bards, start to sing His glory as such but they become tired even by describing one of His infinitely auspicious qualities. And later in the same kavya he says that even though he is dull-witted he has started to write about the story of Krishna because the people will relish it even when it is told by an incompetent person. It shows the humility of Desika.

 

The Vedas are referred to as vaak prapancha, the world of speech as the veda is called sruti, heard and not written, which includes all the parts of the Vedas, hymns, sthothras and Upanishads.

Bhoothi is glory which is adhrshtapaara, of which the paara or the end is not to be seen, adhrshta. Mugdha means a foolish person or a naïve one, here the latter agrees more with the context because he says the Lord should cast His merciful glances at him as though to a child trying to do something beyond his capacity.

 

 

7. dhaakshinyaramyaa girisasya moorthih

dhevee sarojaasanadharmapathnee

vyaasadhayo api vyapadhesyavaachah

sphuranthi sarve thavasakthileSaih

 

 

The form of Siva as Dhakshinaamoorthi, the goddess Sarasvati and the sages like Vyasa whose eloquence has been proved, are all only a part of your eminence.

 

 

In this sloka Desika identifies Hayagreeva with Brahman, of course Narayana of Visishtadvaita in all His forms being synonymous with Brahman, which he elaborates in a later sloka. As such all knowledge originates from Brahman and the known divine forms of knowledge like the Dhakshinamurthi and Sarasvathi form the part of Brahman. Similarly the wisdom of sages like Vyasa also come from the grace of Brahman only, as delared by the Upanishad, `yamaivesha vrnuthe thena labhyathe,' only the one who is graced by Brahman gets the knowledge of reality.

 

The form of Siva, Girisa, so called as he abides in the Himalayas, (girou Sethe- rests in a mountain) known as Dhakshinamurthi, is referred to as dhaakshiNya ramyaa , the beautiful form in south as he faces north. The word dhakshina also means dexterity or cleverness, that is wisdom. His form is ramya , radiant and hence beautiful.

 

Sarasvathi is the wife, pathnee, of sarojaasana, the four-faced brahma, seated, aasana, on the lotus, sarojam. The word pathnee among the words meaning wife is used to denote the one who takes part in all vedic and dharmik activities of the husband. The prefix dharma added to pathnee gives vehemence to the meaning. If we examine the meaning with respect to Sarasvathi she assists in the dharma of Brhama which is creation by supplying the knowledge required for it. Without her on his tongue, where she is said to reside because she is the goddess of vak,, the creator would not have been able to master the Vedas or carry on his creation according to the Vedas.

 

Vyasa etc. which includes Valmiki and the rest who have established their names as masters of words, also represent a part of the power of speech from the lord.