INTRODUCTION

This stotram celebrates the auspicious quality (Kalyana Guna) of Mercy (Dayaa) of the Lord of Thiruvenkatam. Of All the Kalyana Gunaas of Venkataadhri Sekhara Vibhu, His Dayaa is the most important one for the uplift of the Chetanaas. The concept of Prapatthi and Thiruvenkatamudayaan’s Dayaa to realize the fruits of that Prapatthi is the subject of Sri 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 the ten groups of slokas, each of which houses “ ten” slokas. The numbers of slokas and their poetic meters are as follows:

1. Slokaas 1-10: Anushtup meter
2. Slokaas 11-20: Aryaa meter
3. Slokaas 21-30: Oupacchandhasikam
4. Slokaas 31-40: Maalini
5. Slokaas 41-50: Mandhaakraanthaa
6. Slokaas 51-60: Nathkutakam
7. Slokaas 61-70: SikariNi
8. Slokaas 71-80: HariNi
9. Slokaas 81-90: Pruthvee
10. Slokaas 91-104: Vasantha Tilakaa
11. Slokaas 105& 106: Maalini again
12. Slokaas 107& 108: Sardhoola Vikriditham

In the tradition of Sri Sriraama DesikAcchAr Swamy, each set of the ten slokas 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 GuNams of the Lord of Thiruvenkatam. The ten meanings associated with the ten sets of ten slokas have been summarized by Srirama Desikaacchaar Swamy this way:

1. The Lord of Thiruvenkatam is the one, who can give Mokshaanugraham.
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 thru the glorious means of Prapatthi.
7. He will rush to the help of the lowest and the highest with 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.

Swami Desikan goes on to describe in detail the Anantha Kalyana Gunaas of Sriman Narayana in his Taatparya RatnaavaLi and Dramidopanishad Saaram. He is thus paying his tribute to Nammazhwaar’s Thiruvaimozhi in all of these three works. We will illustrate the ten essential meanings of Daya Satakam in the subsequent sections as revealed by Srirama Desikaacchaar Swamy in the tradition of his Achaarya, Navaneetham Krishnamaacchaar Swamy of Oppiliappan Koil.

13 Mar 2012

Slokam 101

niHsiima vaibhava juShaaM miShataaM guNaanaaM
stotur.h daye vR^iShagiriisha guNeshvariiM tvaam.h.
taireva nuunam.h avashair.h abhinanditaM me
satyaapitaM tava balaa dakuto bhayatvam.h..101

(MEANING):

Oh Dayaa Devi! Your Lord has many auspicious guNams such as Jn~Anam, Balam, Veeryam, Sakthi et al. These guNams have limitless Vaibhavams. As adiyEn eulogizes You, those guNams are watching me with open eyes wondering why they are not the object of my adulation. They are nonplussed about adiyEn not focusing on them. adiyEn’s choice to focus my attention on You alone is deliberate. You are the queen of all the other kalyANa guNams of Your Lord ( Thvam GuNa Iswari). They can not ever match the magnitude and quality of Your help. That is why adiyEn praised You alone instead of the other guNams. It is natural for those rejected guNams to get angry at me and for me to be afraid. adiyEn does not however experience any fear from them thanks to Your Balam supporting by me. The true feelings of the other guNams are: “Oh Dayaa GuNam! We recognize You as our Empress. Without You, we cannot be of use to the chEthanams. You are hence our fundamental cause for being We. We understand this reality clearly. Any praise of You is equivalent to watering the root of a plant so that the branches above will be nourished. We recognize devotee’s praise of You as the kaimkaryam for us as well”. Swamy Desikan states that the GuNams other than Dayaa are pleased with his praise of Dayaa Devi, their Empress and congratulate him on his daring initiative. Swamy says that the backing of his position by the other guNams has removed any fear that he might have had
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