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Sri HayagrIva SthOthram : Part II

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Sadagopan • August 9, 2000 


Sri Hayavadana ParabrahmaNE nama:
Srimath NarAyaNa YathIndhra MahA DesikAya nama:

Dear BhakthAs :

Sri Hayagriva tattvam as understood from
Swamy Desikan's Sthuthi is so profound that 
it defies description . The sookshmArthams
(subtle meanings )embedded in the sthuthi passages 
are sruthi sAram ( essence of VedAs and Upanishads).
It is no wonder that Swamy Desikan is known
by the title of NigamAntha MahA Desikan or VedAntha
Desikan .

As BhagavAn HayagrIvan appeared before him 
and blessed him , the twenty plus year old 
Sri VenktanAthan from Thuppul was elevated 
immediately to the noblest of AchArya Peetams . 
He became Swamy Desikan . He had Isavara-SaakshthkAram
of that Veda Moorthy, Sri HayagrIvan and that led to
his choice of the Vedic metre , Anushtup with 
32 syllables (8+8+8+8).This is one of the 64
slOkams that Swamy Desikan set in the anushtup
meter . It is interesting to note that the first
10 slOkams of DayA sathakam are also set in anushtup
meter as well . The entire ShOdasAyudha sthOthram
and the first slOkam of Garuda DaNdakam praising 
the veda Moorthy is set also in Anushtup meter. 
Garuda BhagavAn was the One , who presented
Sawmy Desikan with the archai of YogAsikaa
HayagrIvan and initiated him into HayagrIva
manthram  This then is the context of the avathAram
of the first slOkam of Sri HayagrIva SthOthram :

Jn~Anandamayam dEvam nirmala spatikAkruthim
aadhAram sarva vidhyAnAm HayagrIvam upAsmahE 

The key words of the first SlOkam
**********************************

Jn~Anandamayam dEvam , nirmala-spatikAkruthim
and AaadhAram Sarva VidhyAnAm are the key words
that flowed over the tongue of Swamy Desikan.

Isvara Tattvam is captured by Swamy Desikan 
exquisitely through the choice of words ,
"Jn~Anandamayam, nirmalam , AadhAram Sarva VidhyAnAm".
These words have such powerful connotations that 
we will be spending a lot of time in the subsequent 
postings to fully comprehend the Vedic significance of 
these carefully chosen words by Swamy Desikan .
In today's posting , we will focus on Sri HayagrIvAvathAram .

The AvathAram of Sri HayagrIvan
*********************************

Lord HayagrIvan is one of the avathArams of 
Para VaasudEvan .He is AniruddhAmsam. The day
of His incarnation is AvaNi ThiruvONam ,which
falls on September 10 this year.

He is saluted as Sarva VaagIsvarEsvaran ,
Sarva Vedamayan ,UdhgItha PraNava Moorthy,
ChimayAnandha Roopi and VisvOtthIrNa SvarUpan
in Sri HayagrIva Upanishad . 

In this avathAram, the face (Thirumuka MaNdalam)
alone is that of a majestic horse and the body is
like that of a human , except that it is sudhda
Satthva Mayam. He is the embodiment of PraNavam
(OmkAram). He is the First Lord of all Vidhyais.

During PraLayam , Moola Prakruthi reaches 
the subtle state of Tamas . The Jeevans get
embedded in that Tamas and suffer very much. 
VyUha VaasudEvan incarnates as Aniruddhan and
rests on the swirling torrent of PraLayam waters.
He engages in Yoga nidhrai and reflects on how 
He can create the world anew and save the suffering 
jeevans locked in Tamas .

During the Yoga Nidhrai, He creates Brahma Devan
from the Lotus arising out of His Naabhi. Next , 
He instructs Brahma Devan on the VedhAdhyayanam 
and the meaning  of all the Four VedAs. He also
blesses Brahma Deavan on the intricacies of
Srishti (Creation ).Before the creation of
Brahman , His sankalpam led to the existence of
two drops of water on the lotus leaf below 
the lotus flower . These two drops of water
became the asurans Madhu with TamO GuNam and 
Kaitabhan with rajO guNam. They entered the lotus
flower through the stem .There , BrahmA had just 
concluded creating four Vedas as four beautiful
children.The two asurans grabbed the four babies 
and ran off to the nether world (PaathALam).

BrahmA was heart broken over his inconsolable loss.
He could not continue with the creation of the world
without the help of the VedAs , which were his eyes 
and guides. Brahma devan approached Aniruddha BhagavAn
and begged for help .Aniruddhan took the form of
a VeLLai parimukhan ( Human Body and a Horse's
face down to His neck ). The hue of the avathAra
moorthy was clear white like  a spatikam . This 
is the HayagrIva Moorthy. He proceeded to the hiding
place of the two asurans in PaathALam and raised
the UdhgItha svaram. The asurans were frightened
on hearing the sound of UdhgItham. They dropped
the Four children (Vedams)and ran towards the direction
wherefrom the udhgItham originated. At that time ,
Sri HayagrIvan recovered the children and returned 
them to Brahma Devan and restarted His Yoganidhrai
as HayagrIvan. The asurans ran back to where they
stole the VedAs and found HayagrIvan engaged in
Yoga Nidhrai . The asurans made a lot of noise and 
woke up the Lord. Sri Hayagrivan got up from His
bed of Adhi Seshan and fought with the asurans 
and destroyed them. Afterwards , Sri HayagrIvan
reinstructed Brahma Devan on the secrets of creation
using the VedAs and returned to VyUha sthAnam. 

Thus Sri Hayagrivan is aniruddhAmsam .We will cover
the unique aspects of Aniruddhan as one of the Four
VyUha Moorthys to understand HayagrIva tattvam in
the next posting.

Sri Hayavadhana ParabrahmaNE nama:
Daasan, V.SatakOpan  
              


  
 

 
 




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