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Daya Shatakam & NavarAthri Celebrations :Glory of DayA Devi Part I

From the Bhakti List Archives

Sadagopan • October 9, 2002 


SrI :

Dear BhakthAs of ThiruvEngadamudayAn:

PurattAsi SravaNam is the birth day of both
Lord VenkatanAthan of Thirumalai and 
Swamy  Desikan , the incarnation of the Thirumalai
EmperumAn's Sannidhi hand bell(GhantA) . Even today,
the hand bell is not used inside the sannidhi of
ThiruvEnkadamudayAn. 

During this  PurattAsi month and NavarAthri season,
it is very appropriate to pay tribute to Saptha GirIsan 
and His GhatAvatharan, SrI VedAntha Desikan , our
ThUppul KulamaNi. 

Swamy  Desikan composed a unique sthOthram on 
ThiruvEkadamudayAn revered as "SrI DayA satakam " 
extolling the Lord's DayA or KaruNai . adiyEn will 
post here an article on SrI DayA Satakam , which will 
appear in the SrI VenkatEsa Home pages that will be
released on this PurattAsi SravaNam day .Both SrI Haresh 
BalasubramaNyan of Singapore and adiyEn are working on 
these home pages for few months now.  

SrI DayA Satakam
***************** 

Our Lord SrInivAsan has Five  Devis: SrI Devi, BhUmi PirAtti,
NeelA Devi , ANDAL and DayA Devi. Out of His great reverence 
for the Lord of Saptha Giri, Swamy Desikan composed an entire
satakam (100 plus verses) on the DayA GuNam of the Lord 
of the Seven Hills and identified His dayA guNam as 
one of the five divine consorts of the Lord at Thirumalai.

Swamy  Desikan's deep attachment to the Lord of Thirumalai
is saluted by Thirukkudanthai Desikan in his Swamy Desika
Sahasra nAmams :

(PranAvam) SrImath VenkatanATIya  MangaLAsAsana priyAya nama:

(Salutations to that AchArya Saarvabhouman , who enjoyed 
immensely the MangaLAsAsanam of ThiruvEngadamudayAn. SrImath
sabdham is used here as a prefix to recognize the presence of
SrI AlarmEl Mangai on the Lord's Chest as well as the presence
of His DayA Devi).

--89th  Swamy  Desika Sahasra Naamam

(PraNavam)  DayA sathaka VeeNA gIthi preetha SrInivAsakAya nama:

( Salutations to that SrEshta AchAryan , who pleased Lord
SrInivAsan through DayA Sathakam as his VeeNA GhAna naivEdhyam).

--90th Swamy  Desika Sahasra Naamam

Swamy  Desikan concluded that the DayA GuNam of the Lord 
personified as DayA devi is the most important guNam of
the Lord and dedicated a whole SthOtram to celebrate
that unique GuNam .

Commentary on the highlights of SrI Daya Satakam
************************************************** 
 
Sriman Venkata NaTArya: KavitArkika Kesari |
VedantAcharya VaryOmE sannidhatthAm SadA Hrudi ||

This stotram celebrates the auspicious Quality (Kalyana Guna )of Mercy
(DayA) of the Lord of Thiruvenkatam. Of all the Kalyana GunAs of
VenkatAdhri Sekhara Vibhu , His DayA is the most important one for the
uplift of the Chetanaas. Without this DayA guNam , all the other GuNams 
of BhagavAn --Jn~Anam , Balam , Isvaryam ,Veeryam , Sakthi and Tejas--
are considered as dhOshams by  Sawmy Desikan (15th slOkam of
SrI DayA satakam ),The concept of Prapatti and Thiruvenkatamudayaan"s
DayA to realize the fruits of that Prapatti is the subject of Venkatanatha
Kavi in this "Satakam". The structure of this stotram containing 108
slokas  (one for each of the Divya Desa Archaa Murthys of Sriman Narayana
perhaps )is extraordinarily impressive even by Swami Desikan's standards of
poetic  excellence . Our Acharya has used ten plus different meters to
compose  he ten groups of slokas , each of which house " ten" slokas. The
numbers of> slokas and their poetic meters are as follows:

  Slokaas 1-10 : Anushtup meter

  Slokaas 11-20 : Aryaa meter

  Slokaas 21-30 : Oupacchandhasikam

  Slokaas 31-40 : Maalini

  Slokaas 41-50 : Mandhaakraanthaa

  Slokaas 51-60: Nathkutakam

  Slokaas 61-70: SikariNi

  Slokaas 71-80 : HariNi

  Slokaas 81-90: Pruthvee

  Slokaas 91-104: Vasantha Tilakaa

  Slokaas 105& 106 : Maalini again

  Slokaas 107& 108 : Sardhoola Vikriditham

 In the tradition of adiyEn's maanaseeka Acharya , each set of the ten slokaas
have the essence of the ten Patthus of Thiruvaimozhi of Nammazhwaar. According
to this tradition , every set of ten reveals a particular meaning, which
together covers the Ananatha KalyaaNa GuNaas of the Lord of Thiruvenkatam.

 The ten meanings associated with the ten sets of ten slokas have been
 summarized by Vaikunta Vaasi SrI Srirama Desikaacchaar Swamy this way:

 1. The Lord of Thiruvenkatam is the one , who can give
 MokshAnugraham (Blessings of Moksham).

 2. He comprehends everything and He is capable of carrying out
 whatever He chooses to do.

 3. He destroys the enemies of those, who surrender unto Him and
 thereby seek His help.

 4. He is the means for attaining ALL worthwhile goals.

 5. He is the fruit of ALL worthwhile endeavours.

 6. He can be reached easily through the glorious means
 of Prapatti.

 7. He will rush to the help of the lowest and the highest with
 the same speed, when they appeal to Him sincerely for help.

 8. He is the Supreme principle standing on top of Thiruvenkatam.

 9. He is the one, who took the incarnations of Rama and Krishna.

 10.He is the one, who can offer the happiness associated with Moksha
    right here on this earth.

(To be continued)

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SadagOpan 



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