Fw: [rangapriya] Swami Desikan's gopAla vimshatiH

[Guest guest]

SrI :

 

Dear Sri Krishna BhakthAs :

 

For your enjoyment during this Sri Jayanthy Season .

 

Sri GeethAchAryan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,

V.Sadagopan

-

" prasanna5 " <prasanna5

<rangapriya >

Friday, August 26, 2005 3:34 AM

[rangapriya] Swami Desikan's gopAla vimshatiH

 

 

> Please find the text of the letter written by Sri Sadagopan Mama in

> 1996 on the day of Sri Jayanti. Also find the pdf file uploaed int he

> files section which contains Swami Desikan's gopAla vimshatiH and Sri

> Sadagopan Mama's translation. It may also be accessed at

> http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/acharyas/desika/stotras/gopalavimsati.html

>

>

> Dear Members of the Prapatti group,

>

> Today is the birthday of our Lord Krishna (Sri Jayanti). On this simha

> SrAvaNa month (AvaNi), when the eighth day of the waning moon is

> united with the constellation Rohini, our Lord was born. Swami Desikan

> composed 20 verses (vimSati) in praise of Him and prayed that he

> should be blessed with thoughts exclusively about HIM during his final

> moments (antima SmRti) on this earth. Swami composed these twenty

> verses when he was overcome by the beauty of the arca-murti of Sri

> Rajagopalan in the divyadesam of Tiruvahindrapuram. For more than 700

> years, these verses have been sung prior to Sri Vaishnava

> tadIyArAdhanams -- group partaking of food presented to the Lord

> earlier -- to seek the Lord's blessings and, also, during the occasion

> of marriages to confer the blessings of the Lord on the bride and the

> bridegroom. On Krishna Jayanti, the murti of Sri Rajagopalan is taken

> in procession around the streets of Tiruvahindrapuram and the Sri

> Gopala Vimsati of our acharya is recited.

>

> Swami Desikan paints a word picture of the incomparable beauty of Sri

> Gopalan. He describes the structure of His mantram and affectionately

> recalls the many mischievous deeds performed by bAla Gopalan in

> Gokulam and Brindavanam to the utter delight of the humans and the

> celestial beings.

>

> Sri Gopala Vimsati must have been very dear to Swami Desikan as

> indicated by his inclusion of the twelfth verse of this stotram in his

> esoteric masterpiece Sankalpa Suryodayam. There, he depicts Narada

> descending from heaven singing joyously the above verse during his

> journey to meet Purushan and initiate him into the mahAmantram of the

> Lord .

>

> May our thoughts be blessed with the delectable experience of Swami

> Desikan! I salute Sri Vedanta Desikan prior to attempting to provide

> an English translation to these bhakti-laden verses dedicated to Sri

> Rukmini Satyabhama sameta Raja Venugopalan.

>