SrI deSika stotra-s - 14. SrI kAmAsikAshTakam. Krishnamachari, N (nkrish@lucent.com) Mon, 2 Nov 1998 13:55:52 -0600 Dear bhAgavata-s: I thought I had sent this earlier, but I found the copy stored in the "Drafts" section in my PC. So I assume it was not sent earlier. I hope it is not a repetition. -dAsan SrI deSkia stotra-s - 14. SrI kAmAsikAshTakam. This stotram is about SrI nar*simha mUrti in the divya kshetram in kA~nci by name vELukkai or veL irukkai. vEL in tamizh means "by One's own will"; irukkai means to be seated or to be located. Since perumAL made this His place by His own will, the place is called tiru vEL irukkai. The samskr*t name of this stotram echoes the same meaning - kAma - by His own will, AsikA - being seated, ashTakam - consisting of 8 Sloka-s. PerumAL's name here is kAmAsikA narasimhan. svAmi deSikan refers to this emperumAn as kAmAsikA harih and kAmAsikA kesarih in this stotram. In tiruvELukkai, bhagavAn is in the yoga narasimha form and is seated in the yogic posture of parya~nka bandha. He has three eyes in His narasimha form in this kshetra. svAmi deSikan points out that His being seated in the yogic posture of parya~nka bandham suggests that He is seated with the determination to help all His devotees (Slokam 4), and chose this posture in order to give live instruction to all of us on how to perform yoga in order to attain Him (Slokam 5 - prAyeNa praNipedushAm prabhurasau yogam nijam Sikshayan). Even though the point should have been obvious, it is worth pointing out that the AcArya's stotra-s, in addition to praising bhagavAn and giving us an easy way of chanting His guNa-s, seem to have as one of their objectives the propagation of the basic tenets of SrIvaishNavism by repeatedly re-emphasizing and re-stating them in storam after stotram. Thus we see in this storam also svAmi deSikan bring out out several basic aspects of his and our pUrvAcAryas' teachings. These are: 1. He is the object of the uttara bhAga (final part) of the veda-s, viz. the upanishad-s (Slokam 1). 2. bhagavAn is the only one who can remove our tApa-traya-s. These tApa-s are referred to by svAmi deSikan in SaraNAgati dIpikA Slokam 23 - tApatryeNa vihatim na bhajanti santah etc. In the current Slokam, svAmi deSikan prays to kAmAsikA harih, the perumAL of this keshetram, to burn the three tApas-s that result from samsAra with his three eyes (the sun, the moon, and agni). The tApa-s are: a) AdhyAtmikam - belonging to to the individual, such as headache, cold, anger, desire, fear, etc. b) Adhi bhaudikam --those resulting from other bhUta-s such as the birds, animals, other people etc., and c) Adhi daivikam - those resulting from devatA-s such as from the wind, sun, rain, etc. 3. He appears in His arcA mUrti form in many of these divya-kshetra-s out of His sheer Mercy towards us, just so that He is easily accessible to us. It is as if bhagavAn gave up the great regard for SrI viakuNTha vAsam (vimukta vaikunTha bahumatim) so that He can be a nitya vAsi in this beautiful kshetram and be accessible to all of us (Slokam 3). His vibhava incarnations are for the purpose of destroying His enemies and protecting His devotees. Thus, in His narasimha incarnation, He came to protect prhalAda and other devotees from hiraNyakaSipu. This is one of the rahasya-s of His incarnations. This is explained by svAmi deSikan in SaraNAgati dIpikA Slokam 17 (AtmIya rakshaNa, vipaksha vinASanArthaih). In the current stotram, he praises this aspect of bhagavAn and seeks His protection. He has the anubhavam of kAmAsikA narasimhan's hands fighting with each other in their desire to perform this function (aham prathamikA mithah prakaTita AhavAh bAhavah - Slokam 6). 4. bhagavAn is the only true relative we all have (bandhum akhilasya jantoh). All the other relatives such as father, mother, etc. are only transient relatives, and are related this way purely because of our mutual karma-s (Slokam 4). 5. bhagavAn is the one who assigns functions to, and controls, all the other devatA-s so that they perform their assigned duties without violation (sva-sthAneshu marud-gaNAn niyamayan - Slokam 5). This has been referred by svAmi deSikan in abhIti stavam Slokam 4 also (marut taraNi pAvaka tridaSa nAtha kAlAdayah svakr*tyam adhikurvate tadaparAdhato bibhyatah). bhagavAn is also the One who controls all our indriya-s (svAdhIna sarvendriyah). His nAma of hr*shIkeSa signifies this. 6. bhavAn's anger knows no limits when anyone commits apacAram towards His devotee. The narasimha incarnation is a typical example of this. svAmi deSikan describes through almost identical Sloka-s in dayA Satakam Slokam 84 and Slokam 7 in the current stotra, His making His appearance reflect His intense anger towards His devotee's enemy. However, the wonder of bhagavAn's leelA is that at the same time His appearance reflects intense anger towards hiraNyakaSipu, He makes His appearance to prahlAda one of intense Mercy and kindness reflecting that of a mother feeding her young child (datta sthanA saroja sadr*SA dr*SA samudita Akr*tir-dr*Syate - dayA Satakam, datta sthanA saroja sadr*SA dr*SA vyatibhishajya te vyajyate in the current stotram). Such is the nature of His kr*pA or dayA to His devotees. 7. bhagavAn is the only one who can protect us. If He does not protect us no one else can protect us, and if He decides to protect us, we don't need anyone else's protection. This concept is conveyed in Slokam 8 - tvayi rakshati rakshakaih kim ananyaih, tvayi ca arakshati rakshakaih kim ananyaih. The same idea was conveyed in SrI ashTabhujAshTakam Sloka-s 5 and 6: bhayam kutah syAt tvayi sAnukampe, rakshA kutah syAt tvayi jAtaroshe (Slokam 5), and tvayi pravr*tte mama kim prayAsaih, tvayyapravr*tte mama kim prayAsaih (Slokam 6). This is the basis of goptr*tva varaNam (the deliberate choice of bhagavAn as the Sole Protector) which is one of the a~nga-s of prapatti. 8. In the ninth and final Slokam of SrI kAmAsikAshTakam svAmi deSikan reminds us that if one chants this stotram even once with faith and with devotion, bhagavAn will forgive their sins even if they be huge like elephants, and will bestow any benefits that the devotee seeks. It appears svAmi deSikan intentionally chose to compare our sins to huge 'elephants', since it is the kAmAsikA kesari (lion) who is going to eliminate the sins. -dAsan kr*shNamAcAryan