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Sri HayagrIva Sthothram: Part XVII--SlOkam 8

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Sadagopan • September 21, 2000 


SrimathE RaamAnujAya nama:

Dear BhakthAs:

>From slOkma 6 upto 31 , Swamy Desikan addresses 
Sri HayagrIvan directly and prays for his 
anugrham. In the sixth slOkam , He mentioned 
that he is a mughdhan (aRiyAp PiLLai/ignorant one) 
and hence deserved to be the object of the mercy-laden
glances of the Lord of Vidhyais . In the seventh 
slOkam , he acknowledged that DakshiNA Moorthy, 
Sarasvathi Devi , VyAsa-VaalmIki-ParAsarAs noted
for their Vaak-siddhi shine by the power of a
fraction of Lord HayagrIvan's prowess.

Here in the eighth slOkam , Swamy Desikan 
salutes the apAra (limitless) karuNai of
the Lord , who saved Brahma Devan from 
the lot of being a stupid one through 
His benovolent UpadEsam on the VedAs .

The eightth slOkam is as follows:

mandhO-abhavishyan niyatham VirinchO
 vaachAm nidhE vanchitha bhAgadhEya:
dhaithyApaneethAn dayayiva bhUyOapi
 adhyApayishyO nigamAn na chEth thvam

(meaning): Oh VaachAm nidhE ( the treasure house 
of all kalais/vidhyAs)! Oh HayagrIva Bhagavann!
You performed upadEsam on the Vedams and
their esoteric meanings for Your son , BrahmA.
The two asurAs by the name of Madhu and Kaitabhan 
stole those VedAs from Your son , when he was 
temporarily distracted. Brahma was totally
incapable of performing his srushti duties
as a result of the loss of the vedaas . He was 
dumbfounded and actionless. Out of Your karuNai 
for BrahmA , You recovered the VedAs for him and 
reinstructed BrahmA on those vedAs and their
meanings once again. If You had not performed 
the UpadEsam for the second time , what would 
have been the lot of BrahmA ? He would have stayed 
dumb and remained incapable of performing
his assigned duties.

This slOkam deals with the avathAra KaaraNam of
Lord HayagrIvan , which was for the purpose of 
upadEsam for BrahmA on the VedAs once again.
Sri D. Ramaswamy Iyengar quotes here the Upanishadic 
pasage: "yO brahmANam vidhaathi poorvam , yOvai 
yOvai VedAmcha prahiNOthi tasmai " to refer to
the teching of the VedAs to BrahmA for helping
him with his assigned duties of creation 
after his loss of the VedAs to Madhu and KaitabhA . 

Swamy Desikan says to Lord HayagrIvA in this
slOkam : " Oh Lord ! Had You not restored 
the VedAs from the two asurAs and instructed 
BrahmA once again ( thvam dhaithya-apaneethAn 
nigamAn DayayA yEva BhUya: api na adhyApayishyaya: 
chEth),then BrahmA would forever be a mandha-mathi
(dim witted) and lost his bhAgyam and status as 
the creator of the janthus as ordained by You 
( Virincha: vanchitha bhAgadEya: niyatham mandha: 
abhavishyath). It certainly would have been 
so(niyatham).

BrahmA's prayer was of the form that we come
across in Taittiriya AraNyakam III.15.1:

"Harigum haranthamanuyanthi dEvA visvasyEsAnam
 vrushabham matheenAm , BrahmasarUpammanu
 mEdhamAgAdhayanam maa vivadhee: vikramasva"

(meaning): Like loyal servants, dEvAs follow
Hari , who is the Lord of the Universe , who 
leads all thoughts as the Supreme leader and who
absorbs into Himself the Universe at the time of 
PraLayam . May this path to liberation taught in 
the vedAs open itself to me! Oh Lord deprive me 
not of that bhAgyam ! Please strive to secure
that anugraham for me !

Brahma devan prayed to the Lord with
manthrams like ThrisuparNa manthrams 
invoking His intervention to to restore 
his intellect (medhA and opraj~nA)
to resume his assigned duties:

" BrahmEthu maam , madhumEthu maam ,
  BrahmEva madhumEthu maam , yaasthE sOma
  prajA vathsOapi sO aham --"

This set of manthrams are recited by those
who seek divine knowledge and who wish to burn
away all sins that stand in the way of
enlightenment . This section of Upanishad means:
" May the Supreme Brahman reach me! May 
the blissful one ( Sathyam Jn~Anam anantham BrahmA )
reach me! May the Supreme One (ParamAthmA) that is
blissful and svathasiddham reach me! Oh Lord being 
one among Thy creatures , I am Thy child ..destroy
my sorrow! .I offer myself as an oblation unto Thee !  

The Lord answered BrahmA back and revealed 
the warp and woof of the world to be created 
as DharmA through instruction on the profound 
manthrAs like the ones below:

"dharma ithi dharmENa sarvamidham parigruhItham
 dharmath athidusccharam tasmAth dharmE ramanthE"
-- Sri mahA NaarAyaNOpanishad: 78

(Meaning): Some consider that performance of 
dharmam (scriptural duties here ) is the means of 
liberation . By the performance of dharmam ,
all the world is held together. There is nothing
more difficult to practise than dharmam ordained
by the scriptures. There are many obstrcutions
that present themselves while one goes about
doing his ordained dharmams to eliminate 
selfish feelings and destructive passions 
which interfere with the development of a
life of harmony with his fellow beings.

"DharmO visvasya jagatha: prathishtA lOkE 
 dharmishta prajA upasarpanthi , dharmENa paapam
 apanudhathi , dharmE sarvam prathishtitham ,
 tasmAth dharmam paramam vadanthi"
 --Sri MahA NaarAyaNOpanishad: Section 79

(meaning): Dahrmam (rutham) is the support of 
all the Universe. Every one draws near a person ,
who is fully devoted to the practise of Dharmam. 
Through the observance of his dharmam , a person
banishes all the sins.All are supported by DharmA.
Hence , they say that DharmA is the supreme means
of liberation .

BrahmA's confusion was removed. He was blessed 
with dhivya Jn~Anam by Lord HayagrIvan to resume
his dharmam.In the next slOkma , Swamy Desikan
describes the anugraham of Lord HayagrIvan
to the dEva guru, Bruhaspathi , when his mind 
was full of doubts.

Sri Hayavadhana ParabrahmaNE nama:
Srimath Azhagiya Singar ThiruvadigaLE saraNam 
Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SatakOpan 
   

  
   
 


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