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Stotras of Vedanta Desika
by Sri D. Ramaswamy Ayyangar
Page 10
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16. Daya Satakam
This stotra is unique in several respects. In the history of
religious literature, Vedanta Desika is the first poet-devotee to
sing a whole hymn in praise of the Lord's Daya (mercy, grace,
sympathy and compassion are some of the meanings which that term
connotes). In fact, Daya has been personified as Daya Devi and
made a Consort of the Lord. The other Consorts, Lakshmi, Bhu Devi
and Nila Devi are all dear to the Lord because they are
reflections of Daya Devi. (36). Among all the auspicious
attributes (kalyana-gunas) of the Lord, Daya is the Empress (30,
101). But for Daya's presence, all the other gunas will virtually
be dosha-s (faults) in the Lord so far as we are concerned (15),
as they will all help Him only to punish us for our sins. The
Lord Himself dons Daya as a protecting armour against our sins
which assail Him. (28). The two chief aspects of the Lord's
supreme glory, jagat-vyaapaara and releasing souls from samsara,
for which He is praised by the Vedas, are really Daya Devi's
achievements (68). Daya is defined as the Lord's wish (iccha) to
protect those in distress (71).
Slokas 1 to 100 are seen to consist of ten distinct
topics from the way each set of 10 slokas is couched in a
different metre (vrittam). On closer scrutiny, the ten decads
(units of 10 slokas) are seen to deal with the ten topics of the
ten hundreds of Nammalwar's Tiruvaymoli as demonstrated by Desika
in his Dramidopanishad Saram and Ratnavali (sevaa-yogya etc.).
Those very words are used in several places in the stotra. Thus
Daya Satakam is the essence of Bhagavad-vishayam, as Tiruvaymoli
is called. The word Daya, or one of its synonyms such as Kripa,
Anukampa or Karuna, occurs in every one of the 108 slokas except
two (8 and 46).
Lord Srinivasa of the Seven Hills (Tirumalai-Tirupati) --
the God of millions of men and women of Bharat who call Him
Venkatesa, Govinda, Balaji and so on -- is the Lord to whom this
stotram is dedicated in the sense that it is His Daya that is
eulogised here. For Himself, however, He has only one sloka in
His praise (9) and that too in terms of His Daya as an Ocean of
Mercy. Lord Srinivasa having Himself come down as Vedanta Desika,
it is in the fitness of things that He does not sing about
Himself. Daya is placed above the Lord in several slokas -- 11,
13, 63 and 64. The Lord Himself is all admiration for the way
Daya functions. It is at the command of Daya Devi that the Lord
takes the several incarnations (35). The part that Daya Devi
played in the several incarnations is dealt with in detail in the
ninth decad of the stotra (81 to 90). Daya is but an alter ego of
Sri or Lakshmi (6 and 72).
Daya Satakam is said to be the outcome of the Lord's own
Sankalpa or Will. In a happy mood the Lord gave it out through
Desika, like an expert musician playing on the Veena for his own
delectation (104).
Devanagari Text
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