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Sri HayagrIva Jayanthi Day : Sri HayagrIva sthOthram : Part IV

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Sadagopan • August 14, 2000 


Sri Hayavadhana ParabrahmaNE Nama:
Srimath Azhagiya Singar ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Dear BhakthAs:

Today it is Yennappan , Sri HayagrIvan's birthday.
As my UpAsanA Moorthy , He has blessed adiyEn many 
times over to create the ruchi for His PaadArchanam 
and manthra Japam .

On this special day , adiyEn reflects on this
Jn~Anandamaya Moorthy and will start with 
the commentaries on the First slOkam of 
Swamy Desikan's Sri HayagrIva Sthothram.

In the previous article , adiyEn referred to 
Swamy Desikan's nirUpaNam of the Isvara Tatthvam
of Sri HayagrIva BhagavAn. AdiyEn mentioned that
the five distinguishing hall marks of Isvarathvam
--Sathyathvam, Aanandhathvam , Amalathvam , Jn~Anathvam 
and Ananthathvam-- have been proven by Swami Desikan
to reside in the Suddha-sathva Dhivya MangaLa Vigraham 
of Sri HayagrIvan . In this posting , adiyEn will 
begin the process of rolling out the Vedic and Upanishadic
and other Sruthi-based references to the Isvarathvam
of "VeLLai Parimukhar".

First SlOkam of Sri HayagrIva SthOthram
*****************************************  

"Jn~Anandhamayanm dEvam nirmala SpatikAkruthim
 aadhAram sarva VidhyAnAm HayagrIvam upAsmahE "

(meaning): We meditate upon that Supreme One,
who has the neck and face of a horse and who
is the embodiment of Jn~AnA (divine Knowledge)
and AnandhA ( Bliss) .He has a ThirumEni (body ) 
like a radiant , blemishles Spatikam (Crystal)
and is the abode of all VidhyAs (branches of 
Learning).

This slOkma set in the Vedic anushtup meter
is the dhyAna slOkam for BhagavAn HayagrIvan.

The Madhva Sampradhya AchAryAs also use this 
slOkam as the DhyAna slOkam for their upAsanais.
A great HayagrIva UpAsaka by the name of VaadhirAja
Theerthar of Udippi Sri KrishNa Mutt used to meditate
on Sri HayagrIvan ,while holding cooked horse oats(KoLLU)
on his head and Lord Hayagrivan approached His
upAsakan as the most beautiful white Horse and
partook the naivEdhyam noisily .This happened 
every day at Udippi , when Sri VaadhirAja Theerthar
invoked Lord HayagrIvan during his AarAdhanam .

For the HayagrIva UpAsakAs , Sri VaasudEva-AnuruddhAmsa 
HayagrIvan is meditated upon in this manner:

na HayagrIvAth Param asthi MangaLam
na HayagrIvAth Param asthi Paavanam
na HayagrIvAth param asthi Dhaivatham 
na HayagrIvam PraNipathya seedhathi

This slOkam is modelled by adiyEn after the one ,
which starts with "na VaasudEvAth Paramasthi
MangaLM --" .The meaning of this slOkam is:

There is no other auspiciousness which is 
grater than HayagrIvan; there is nothing 
more sacred than Sri HayagrIvan to destroy 
our accumulated sins; there is no God superior
to HayagrIvan;No one grieves after performing 
SaraNAgathi at the sacred feet of HayagrIvan .

Such is the MahAthmyam of this Veda Moorthy.
He is the AkarArthan . He is the all protecting
AkAra SvarUpan . Akaaram is the firat letter in 
the Pranavam and as such , the meaning of akAram 
is recognized in Vaaman PurAnam as :

" akArENa akhilAdhAra: ParamathmA abhidhIyathE "

(meaning): Akaaram represents BhagavAn , who
is the aadhAram (Support ) for every thing .
This akAram can then be extrapolated to
Sarva-vyApaka NaarAyaNa-HayagrIvan by HayagrIva
UpAsakAs. He is then " the sarva rakshaNa
Dhikshitha" HayagrIvan.As akAra Vaachyan , 
He is never with out MahA Lakshmi. Parodying 
a Lakshmi Tanthra SthOthram , adiyEn would
like to say :

"LakshmyA Saha HayagrIvO DevyA KaaruNya RoopayA
 Rakshaka: Sarva SiddhAnthE VedAnthEapi geeyathE "

(meaning): All PaancharAthra SiddhAnthams and 
VedAnthams(Upanishads) declare with a single 
voice that the Lord (HayagrIvan/VishNu/NaarAyaNan)
protects this world and its beings together with 
the embodiment of Mercy , MahA Lakshmi, His beloved 
Consort .Therefore , when we think of 
Sri Hayagrivan ,He is always visualized 
as LakshmI HayagrIvan,the archA moorthy worshipped 
today by the YathIsvarALs of ParakAla matam. This
dhivya mangaLa vigraham is the One presented to
AchArya RaamAnujA by Sarasvathi Devi at Kashmir
and worshipped later by Swami Desikan Himself.

" Jn~Anandamayam dEvam , nirmala spatikAkruthim " is
the first Paadham of the HayagrIva sthOthra 
slOkam set in the Vedic Anushtup meter.Let us 
reflect on the Jn~Aanandhamaya Devan " first.

Jn~Ana+Anandha Maya Devan: HayagrIvan
***************************************

Brahma Soothrams declare that Brahman is 
the embodiment of Bliss (aanandhamayam).
The eight SoothrAs housed in Aanandha-mayAdhikaraNam
( Brahma Soothrams I.1.13 and the following)
is a condensation of the Aanandha Maya Brahma
VivaraNam found in TaittirIya Upanishad.
The main Brahma soothram (I.1.13) describing
Braman and NOT Jeevan as the embodiment of
Bliss principle is:

" aanandhamaya: abhyAsAth " .. I.1.13

AchArya RaamAnujA devotes many pages for 
intrepreting the deep meanings of
this particular soothram dealing with the 
" Aaananda Mayam " of Brahman .This is the Bliss 
recognized as Brahman beyond the scope of 
humans and celestials. The above and the subsequnt
seven soothrams convey the siddhAntham that
Brahman is full of Bliss (aanandha mayam ).
The distinguishing charactrestrics of 
this JnAnandha Maya Brahman based on 
Brahma SoothrAs has been elaborated under 
the following 8 categories by Dr.S.M.S.Chari 
in his scholarly treatise" The Philosophy 
of the VedAntha SoothrAs " this way:

1. Brahman as SarvAthmA or the Self of all
2. Brahman as AttA or the Eater
3. Brahman as the AntharyAmin or the inner controller
4. Brahman as the Akshara or the Imperishable reality
5. Brahman as VaisvAnarA or the Ruler of All souls
6. Brahman as Aayatana Or the abode of Heaven and Earth
7. Brahman as BhUmA or the Infinitely great
8. Brahman as DaharAkAsan or the dweller in 
   the subtle space within the human heart

Sri VedAntha Desikan invoked all these meanings
and attributes of Brahman by addressing Veda Moorthy,
Sri HayagrIvan as " Jn~Anandha Mayam devam " at the very
first quarter of the two Line slOkam . This Jn~Anam 
linked with Aanandham has to be connected with
the Famous TaittirIya Upanishad Passage:
"Sathyam Jn~Anam anantham BrahmA" This means that 
savisEsha Brahman , Sri Lakshmi HayagrIvan is
with the distinguishing attributes of Reality (sathyam), 
Knowledge(Jn~Anam ) and Infinitude (anantham) . 

In the next posting , adiyEn will focus on
the Jn~Ana, Nirmala and Sarva VidhyAdhara 
aspects of HayasiRO Hari .

Veda karthA Veda BharthA VedAharthA vidhAmvara:
PunghAnu pungha hEshADyA PoorNa ShADguNya Vigraha:
Tam asvagreevAyA namO Nama:

DaasAnu Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil SatakOpan   
  
 
   


  



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