Sri HayagrIva SthOthram of Swamy Desikan : Part I

From the Bhakti List Archives

• August 7, 2000


Sri Hayavadhana ParabrahmaNE nama:
Sri NigamAntha MahA DesikAya nama:

Dear BhakthAs :

Sri HayagrIva Jayanthi falls on September 10
(AvaNi SravaNam)this year .It is an important day 
for all who worship Sri HayagrIvan as " AaadhAram
Sarva VidhyAnAm". Swamy Desikan's first sthOthram 
is on Lord HayagrIvA .Sri HayagrIvan presented 
Himself before Swamy Desikan at Thiruvahindrapuram's
OushadAdri Hill . Sri HayagrIva BhagavAn's
laalAmrutham fell on the tongue of Swamy Desikan
and blessed him to become the AchArya Saarvabhouman.

AdiyEn would like to post a series of articles 
on the most moving personal eulogy of Swamy 
Desikan revered as "Sri HayagrIva sthOthram". 
This sthOthram has powerful manthra siddhi
in adiyEn's experience .

These postings on Sri HayagrIva sthuthi are part
of the series of postings on other SthOthrams of
Swamy Desikan ( Sri SudarsanAshtakam , Sri GodhA Sthuthi , 
Sri Gopaala Vimsathi et al )that adiyEn posted in 
the Bhakthi list earlier.

Swamy Desikan has captured the essence of
Vedams , Upanishads , Brahma Soothrams 
and other sacred texts in choosing the words
in this sthOthram to eulogize the greatness of 
Sri HayagrIva BhagavAn and the ancient tattvam 
that He represents .

AdiyEn will attempt to comment on the deeper
meanings behind the selected passages and
word groups in the 33 slOkams of Sri HayagrIva
shtothram in the subsequent articles and try
to conclude this series with His anugraham 
by Sri HayagrIva Jayanthi day this year. 
May Sri HayagrIva Bhagavaan bless this meager
effort and accept it as a humble samarpaNam
at His lotus feet .

We must remember that Sri VedAntha Desikan of Thuppul
was only in his twenties , when he composed this
sacred sthOthram . By the tender age of twenty ,
Swamy Desikan had already mastered VedAdhyayanam , 
Dhivya Prabhandham , Tarkam , VyAkaraNam and
other saamAnya Saasthrams. His uncle Sri AppuLLAr,
a direct disciple of the famous NadAthUr ammAL 
was Swamy Desikan's AchAryan. AppuLLAr taught
Swamy Desikan Sri BhAshyam, Sri GeethA BHAshyam,
Rahasyaarthams and other AchArya Sookthis as well .
Swamy Desikan's pravachana sakthi and medhA
vilAsam even at the age of twenty was extraordinary.
AppuLLAr initiated his dear disciple further into
Garuda manthram , which was a family treasure.

After AppuLLAr ascended parama Padham ,
Swamy Desikan travelled to ThiruvahIndhrapuram
to worship Sri HemAbhja Valli samEtha Sri DEvanAthan.
One day , he climbed the small hillock in front of
Lord DeavanAthan's temple known as OushadhAdhri 
and sat under a big pupil tree. With immense 
tranquility descending on him , he began to
recite Garuda manthram for number of hours .
Garuda BhagavAn was immensely pleased with 
VedAntha Desikan's japam and appeared before latter,
blessed him and initiated VedAntha Desikan into
Sri HayagrIva manthram . Garuda BhagavAn also 
presented Swamy Desikan with a vigraham of 
Sri HayagrIvan in the Yogaasikai (seated in
YogAsanam) posture.

Swamy Desikan was immensely happy  with
PakshirAjAn's blessing and began to do 
Sri HayagrIva Manthra japam for many days.
Lord HayagrIvan was so pleased with 
Swamy Desikan that He appeared before latter 
to grant the boons of unsurpassed Pravachana
sakthi , visEsha Jn~Anam on para and apara
vidhyais and power to defeat the opponents 
in adhyAthmika saasthra debates and to raise 
the vijaya dhvajam of Sri Bhagavath RaamAnuja
Darsanam .

Sri Hayagriva SaakshAthkAram spurred Swamy Desikan 
to compose on the spot the sacred HayagrIva 
SthOthram as his reverential tribute to the Lord
of all Vidhyais for His dhivya anugraham .

The vigraham of Yoga HayagrIvan presented by 
Garuda BhagavAn became an ArAdhana Moorthy 
for Swamy Desikan along with VaradarAja PerumAL.
Another Vigraham of Lord HayagrIvan presented 
by Goddess sarasvathi to Sri BhAshyakArar at
Srinagar also reached Swamy Desikan through 
his AchArya paramparai . This vigraham is 
a Lakshmi Hayagriva Vigraham , which is today 
at the ParakAla matam and is the ArAdhana Moorthy
of the YathIsvarALs of that Matam at Mysore.
The YogAsikA Hayagrivan presented by Garudan 
is with Swamy Desikan at his sannidhi at 
ThiruvahIndhrapuram .BhakthAls have the darsanam 
of these two dhivya mangaLa vigrahams at 
the ParakAla matam web pages and at the home
pages created by Sri Mani VaradarAjan for
the ThiruvahIndhrapuram temple .

In the next post ,we will cover the avathAram 
of Sri HayagrIvan and start with the first 
slOkam of the HayagrIva sthothram . We will
focus on the first three words of the first slOkam
(Jn~Anadha-mayam dEvam) and relate them to 
the Vedic and Brahma Soothram passages that 
they echo.

BhakthALs are referred to an excellent article
on HayagrivAn in the AchArya RaamAnjuA
pages created by Srimans MadhavakkaNNan and 
Achutharaman of Singapore.

Hayavadhana hEshA hala hala: na: paathu
Daasan, Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SatakOpan        
 
  

  

   


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