Thuppul PiLLai- 29- Ashtabhuja ashtakam- eight on eight armed Lord

[Guest guest]

SrI:

SrImathE Nigamantha Mahadesikaya namah:

SrImAn venkatanAthAryaH kavitArkika kesarI |

vedAntAcArya-varyo me sannidhattAm sadA hRdi ||

 

May the glorious Venkatanatha, the greatest of teachers of Vedanta, and the

lion among poets and debaters, reside forever in my heart.

 

Dearest Srivaishnavas,

 

Let us begin to enjoy the sthOthra granthas of Swamy Desikan [in

alphabetical order]

The next sthOthra is ASHTABHUJA ASHTAKAM [Eight on the Eight –armed Lord

 

This is a sthotra in eight (+two) slokas on the Lord eight arms who is in

the shrine - ‘Ashtabhuja’ [eight armed], a suburb of Kanchi. Sri Vedanta

Desika makes a moving appeal to the Lord to come to rescue since he is in

the grip of sense-organs which are like crocodiles even as the lord rushed

in great haste to save Gajendra from the mouth of a crocodile. Sri Desika

declares that he is the servant of the Lord and will not seek the help of

any other deity. He prays that the Lord should bless him with His service

out of Mercy. The Stotra, according to Desika, is a packet of good food in

their journey to the world of the Lord to those who had sought refuge at the

Lord’s feet and is an infallible recipe for the illness of those who wish to

seek the Lord’s feet to attain Him.

 

This Lord is addressed as " ATTABUYAKARATTHEN..[eight armed honey OR Honey of

Attabuyakaram place] " by Thirumangal AzhwAr

Swami Desika gives an interesting explanation for the possession of eight

arms by Lord Ashtabhuja. The Lord’s hurry to raise His devotees from the

sufferings of the world is so intense that He has doubled his Four fold arms

and made them eight. He also prays that the merciful Lord should accept the

Sthotra with His eight arms with equal hurry.

[From the Life and works of Sri Nigamantha Mahadesikan- by Prof Sri A

Srinivasaraghavan]

 

Swamy Desikan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Regards

Namo narayana

dAsan

kavi-tArkika-simhAya kalyANa-guNa-SAline |

Srimate venkateSAya vedAntagurave namaH ||

 

Salutations to Sri Venkatesa, in whom all perfections reside, who is the

teacher of Vedanta and the lion among poets and debaters

 

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