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Sri Venkateswara Ashtotthram |
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1) Venkatesaaya Sri Venkatesaaya Nama:
Salutations to Lord of Venkatesa , who
destroys one's sins
just like fire destroys(burns) cotton thrown in to
it !
The Manthram for Lord Venkatesa is (Pranavam)
" Namo Venkatesaaya "
preceded by the Pranavam . This is a eight
lettered manthram like the Moola
Manthram (Pranavam) Namo Naaraayanaaya . It is a
very powerful manthram
to worship the Lord of Thiruvenkadam . All the
intrepretations to Pranavam,
Nama: sabdham and Naaraayanaaya sabdham with its
fourth case
for the Moola Manthram (Thirumanthiram) is equally
applicable to
this Venkatesa Ashtaakshari manthram (Vide:
SrImath Rahasya Thraya
Saaram of Swamy Desikan ) .
There are two intrepretations for the naama ,
"Venkatam " .
First , " vEm (paapam) kadathi (dahathi) ithi
Venkata: " . Since
the Lord burns completely all the sins of His
devotees , He is
called Venkatesan( the Lord of Venkatam) .
" agnisthUlamiva-agha yO dadhatyatha dadhAthi
cha "
The BhavishyOttara Puraana furnishes the example
of a brahmin called Maadhava, who had slipped from being a pious and devout
paragon of virtues, to a condemnable existence with all sorts of unbecoming
conduct. The moment this Madhava accidentally set foot on the Venkatachala
Hills, all the sins residing in his person burnt themselves out and exited
from his body with a great noise and flame, proving to the astounded onlookers
the efficacy of the Hills and of its presiding deity in destroying accumulated
misdeeds, just as the fire annihilates rubbish.
The second definiton is: " vEmkaarO
amrutha bheejam thu
kadam isvaryam uchyathE , amrutha-iswarya
sangathvAth
VenkadAdhri ithi " . vEmkaara sabdham denotes
nectar
and kadam stands for immeasurable wealth (mahath
Iswaryam) .
The union of amrutham (life rejuvenating nectar)
with mahath
Iswaryam leads to the VenkatEsa Naamam .
Venkatesa Mahthmya slokams eulogize the Lord of
Venkataachalam
in many moving ways:
" Sarvaadhaara: Sarva saakshee
Sarvotthamasccha
Sarvaj~na: Sarva Swami "
He is indeed the basis of all, witness to all
events , the loftiest
of all, omniscient and Master of all .
One of the slokams visualizes Him as having the
lustre of a precious blue
stone and housing in His heartland Sri and
Bhumi Devis .
Another slokam visualizes the presence of Brahma ,
Sivan and Devaas
in different limbs of His body :
Srinivaasa Ramaa Naatha Thvannaabhyabhje
chathurmukham
Gireesam antha: karaNE angeshvindhraadhi devathaa:
Oh Lakshmi Kaanthaa ! Srinivaasa ! The god Brahma
, Your son ,
resides in a lotus born out of Your navel . The
deity Rudra , Your grandson ,
resides in Your soul (others view Rudhran
occupying the right side
of the Lord) . Indhra and other devaas are found
in other parts of
Your auspicious body (Subha tanu) . You are thus
the support for all.
Yet another slokam praises His svaroopam as the
embodiment of Dayaa .
" Beyond the seven oceans , there is an
eighth ocean called Your grace ,
the endless bliss and happiness. In that ocean of
grace, You are immersing
the devotees by
fulfilling all their desires (i-e)., not only are You granting all
the material things that they seek but also grant
Mohsha sukham as well to them ."
Here the union of the amrutha bheejam and Iswaryam emerge
as Venkatesan .
Lord Venkatesaa's beautiful lotus feet (
Athisundara Paadha Padhma yugaLam)
have their own mysteries . The right foot is called "Su" symbolizing
Jn~Ana
Svaroopam and the left is called " var " to represent
blissful Aanandha svaroopam .
The pair of sacred feet is thus the union of amrutha bheejam (vEmkaaram)
and Isvaryam .One has to meditate on both the Paadha Yugalam .
Those sacred feet are the source of Virajaa
theerttham , Maana sarovaram waters
and Dhanushkoti . Above great and sacred
waters are resident at Lord
Venkatesan's sacred feet ; from those lotus feet ,
these sacred waters flow down
to earth to yield prosperity ( Iswaryam and
nectarine bliss) to all the chethanams
on the earth .
Virajaa MaanasasarO DhanushkOti mahaaghahruth
Gangaadhi sarva theertthaani Thvath paadhaabhje
vasanthi hi
--Venkatesa Mahaathmyam: 2.38
The power of the sacred feet of Lord Venkatesa and
the good fortune of
those , who think and write about their glories is
saluted by another slokam:
Paadha Pankaja Mahaathmyam likhithvaiva
sva-hasthatha:
dhaathrunaam Vaishnavaagrebhyo mahaaghoughaadhri
bhedhanam
-- Venkatesa Mahaathmyam: 2.48
(meaning): The great souls , who have the sacred
knowledge of SrI VishNu
tatthvam and who propagate the grace
and beauty of Your blessed feet through
writing about them and by other means are
always liberated from all types of
bondages through Your abundant grace.
Of all the gunams of Lord Venkatesan , His Dayaa
Gunam is the most
celebrated one. Swamy Desikan has composed hundred
slokams to
single out the uniqueness of Lord's Dayaa
gunam . This great Achaaryan visualizes
this Dayaa Gunam as a separate Devi (Divine
Consort ), Dayaa Devi . Here are
two excerpts from this Achaaryan's
extraordinary sthothram (Dayaa Sathakam):
Kamapyanavadhim vandhe karuNaa VaruNaalayam
Vrushasaila tadastaanam svayam vyakthim upaagatham
--Dayaa Sathakam : Slokam 9
(meaning): On its own , there is an ocean that has
arisen for
the eternal enjoyment of those , who live near the
Thiruvenkatam
hills. The waters of this ocean is Dayaa. This is
the unique and
most merciful ocean revered as
Thiruvenkatamudayaan. The dimensions
of this most compassionate ocean can not be
calibrated by place ,
time or materials( Desam, Kaalam and Vasthu).
akinchana nidhim soothim apavarga thrivargayo:
Anjanaadhreesvara dayaam abhishtoumi niranjanaam
--Dayaa Sathakam: Slokam 10
(meaning): The dayaa of Anjana Giri's Lord (Venkatesan)
is
a magnificient treasure . One does not need
magical colyrium to
locate and enjoy this treasure. Those who wish to
benefit from
this treasure do not need to undertake the
difficult saadhanaas
like Bhakthi yogam. They can use the means of
Prapatthi and
gain any one of the four kinds of Purushaarthams
that they desire.
This dayaa of the Lord is blemishless. It spreads
to every one
without making any distinction about their
status (high or low),
gender or caste.
This first Naama of the Ashtotharam of the Lord of
Venkataadhri
( Venkatesaaya Nama: ) from the Varaaha PuraaNam
is the same
as the first naama in Brahmaanda Puraana version
of Sri Venkatesa
Ashtottharam. Extensive commentary on the
Brahmaanda Puranam
naama of Venkatesaaya Nama: is housed in the
companion section:
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