devanayaka panchasat

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Thirty First SlOkam ( The Abaya Hastham )
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akshOpaNeeya karuNAmbhudhi vidhrumAbham
bhakthAnuranjanam AmartyapathE Thvadheeyam
nithyAparAdha-chakithE hrudhayE madheeyE
dhatthAbhayam sphurathi dakshiNa paaNi padhmam

General Meaning:
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Oh Dhaiva NaayakA! Your uplifted right hand grants
freedom from fear (abhayam) to Your adiyArkaL and
makes them happy. This abhaya hastham is like the coral
born from the Ocean of Your mercy and with its red hue
shines with exquisite and divine beauty. This sacred hand
of Yours stands firmly in adiyEn's heart and comforts adiyEn,
who constantly acquires pApams and is afraid of their fruits.

Additional Comments:
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Lord's KaruNA samudharam (KaruNAmbhudhi) is described
as " AkshOpaNeeyam " or one which is imperturable or unagitated.
That ocean of Mercy is vast and still. Out of that Ocean of mercy
and compasison for His adiyArs rises the right hand of the Lord ,
which is like the beautiful red coral (VidhrumaAbham) born out of
that ocean of KaruNA. When a suffering jeevan sees that
reassuring abhaya hastham , all his sorrows are forgotten
and his mind is filled with joy ( Bhaktha anuranjanam Thvadheeyam
DakshiNa PaaNi Padhmam).That powerful hand of Yours offering
protection to all janthus shines in my heart , which is afraid
of the daily trespasses to Your saasthrEic injubctions .

That Abhaya Hastham ( outstretched Palm)appears to say halt ;
that gesture suggesting to stop indicates that it
is enough to perform SaraNAgathy to the Lord only once
and there is no need to repeat that performance of SaraNAgathy
to be assured of His protection. He seems to say through His
abhaya hastham , "alam" (pOthum /enough).He is easily satisfied
with that one time SaraNAgathy through AchAryAs and does
not need any more persuasion to protect the Jeevan after
that act of Prapatthi (UpAya anushtAnam ).

PerumAL has a title as SaraNAgatha Samrakshakan
and that He demonstrates through His abhaya hastham.
It is the manifestation of His DayA Kaaryam.

Swamy Desikan salutes the Lord's inner hand (abhaya
hastham) as having the hue of a red coral. To comprehend
the origin of the redness of His Abhaya Hastham pointed towards
the SaraNagatha Janams , one has to refer to the SrI VardarAja
Sthava slOkam of KurEsar(46th SlOkam). Here KUresar
gives three reasons for the Lord's palms having a tender
red color (like Coral or the tip of a creeper). The AchAryan
wonders whether that coral like color was acquired during
KrishNAvathAram , where He had to crawl on His knees
and hands as an infant at the houses of the Gopis ,
which led to the reddening of His palms (Vraja sadana anganEshu
rinkhAtha kim?) . He wonders whether another contributing
factor for the reddening of the Palms could be due to
the constant handling of the stick (kOl) used for grazing
cows and leaning heavily on it ( gOpa gOshtyAm gOyashti
grahaNavasAth vaa?) . Yet another reason is given
to us holding the ropes and prodding stick (Haya naya
tOtthrayOr vaa?) as PaarthasArathy at Kuru KshEthram .