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Slokam 44
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Today , adiyEn will cover the Fourty Fourth slOkam
of Sri SaraNAgathi DhIpikai , where Swamy Desikan
continues to plead ardently with the Lord to assign
His DayA DEvi (Embodiment of His KaruNai/DayA )to stand
in the place of the fruit-granting upAyam :
karthavyam ithi anukalam kalayAmi akruthyam
Swamin! akruthyam ithi kruthyamapi thyajAmi
anyath vyathikramaNa jaatham anantham arTa-
sTAnE DayA bhavathu tE mayi SaarvabhoumI
SrI SaraNAgathi DhIpikai: SlOkam 44
Meaning:
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Oh ViLakkoLi PerumALE ! adiyEn continues to perform
acts , which have been prohibited by Your SaasthrAs as
though they must be done without fail. adiyEn abandons
those acts that have been prescribed by Your SaasthrAs as
"must-to-do" and think that they do not need to be done.
My trespasses and irrational acts do not stop with just
the nonobservance of prescribed deeds and the performance
of prohibited acts . There are indeed no limits to
my trespasses (aparAdhams). Oh Lord of ThirutthaNkA !
Who is there except you to come to my rescue and save
me from this deplorable and self-destructive state? It is
You alone with Your limitles auspicious guNams that can
save me . Among all of Your guNAs , if the Veeryam
and Sakthi guNams rush to save me , adiyEn has no
hope of being saved . adiyEn will be done for. adiyEn
appeals to You therefore to send the Empress of Your auspicious
guNAs , DayA GuNam and assign Her the responsibility of
standing in the place of Boon Grantor (arTa sthAnE thishtvA )
to pull me out of my self-imposed miseries and rescue me
from the horrors of SamsAric afflictions. Your DayA Devi
is known for seeking Parama hitham for the suffering
chEthanams like adiyEn. Please grant me my request !
Additional Comments (V.S):
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In the previous slOkam , Swamy Desikan invited the Lord
to witness his samsAra Naatyam in the hope that He will
take pity on his sufferings and come to his rescue. The Lord
was not paying attention .Swamy Desikan concluded that the Lord
was angry at the aparAdhams committed by him against His sAsthrAs.
Swamy Desikan strategized quickly and appealed now to the Empress of
the Lord's GuNAs, DayA GuNam to stand in the purushArTa sTaanam
and rescue him from the horrors of samsAra nAtyam. He begs
the Lord in this slOkam to depute His DayA Devi as His Prathinidhi
to provide the rakshaNam .
DayA Sathakam and the subject matter of this slOkam
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Swamy Desikan has blessed us with 108 slOkams celebrating
the DayA GuNam of the Lord (DayA sathakam). There , Swamy Desikan
extolled the supermacy of DayA GuNam among all of the Lord's
kalyANa guNams and recognized DayA as one of the Five Devis
(Consorts) of the Lord.
Passages from the incomparable DayA Sathakam would be
most appropriate to comprehend the references that
Swamy Desikan makes in this slOkam about DayA Devi's
status as Empress among the Lord's GuNams and her
special power to stand in the arTa sthAnam of UpAyam
to release us from the hopeles SamsAra-Naatyam.
1. Ranking of Sakthi , Veryam in status compared to DayA DEvi:
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anuchara sakthyAdhi-guNAm agrEsara-BhOdha-virachitha-aalOkAm
SvAdhIna-VrushagirIsaam Svayam prabhUthAm pramANayAmi DayAm
--Daya Sathakam : Verse 11
(meaning): ThiruvengadamudayAn's DayA Devi is the Supreme
Empress. As such She is accompanied by Her Lord ,wherever
She goes. Our Lord is under Her influence(Svadhina
VrushagirIsAm) . She is accompanied in Her SanchArams
by other guNams like Sakthi, Veeryam , Balam, Tejas et al
as part of the anu-yAthrA ghOshti. They follow Her.
She goes ahead of of all of them as SaarvabhouminI (Empress)
with the radiance of Her Jn~Anam (BhOdha Virachitha aalOkAM )
making Her self-effulgent. adiyEn invokes DayA Devi as my
foundation of hope (DayAm pramANayAmi).(When Lord SrinivAsan
protects the ChEthanams with His DayA GuNam , He recognizes
their sufferings with compassion (DayA ) and then uses His
Sakthi, Veeryam and Bhalam (GuNAs) to protect them).
Reference 2: DayA DEvi's status as Saviour : SlOkam 14
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KrupaNa-Jana-KalpalathikAm kruthAparAdhasya nishkriyAm aadhyAm
VrushagirinATa dayE ThvAm vidanthi SamsAra-tAriNIm vibhudha:
Oh Dayaa Devi of ThiruvEngadamudayAn! You are the boon-granting
kalpaka creeper to the helpless samsAris.You are the First
prAyascchittham to remove the sins of those , who trespass
Your Lord's saasthrAs. The wise ones recognize You as the One,
who gets the aparAdhis safely across the ocean of SamsAram.
Reference 3: DhOshams of Other GuNams : SlOkam 15
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Vrushagiri-gruhamEdhi-guNA: BhOdha-Bala-Isvarya-Veerya-sakthi-mukhA:
DHOSHAA bhavEyurEthE yadhi naama DayE ThvayA vinAbhUthaa:
(meaning):Oh DayA Devi! For the Lord observing gruhasthAsramam
at Thirumalai , His guNAs like Jn~Anam, Bhalam , Isvaryam ,
Veeryam and Sakthi et al will be only dhOshams (blemishes) ,
when they are not accompanied by You .
Reference 4: Passage from SlOkam 20
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"KaruNE!-- ThvayA yEva dhrushta: janimAn apavargam
akrushutapacchyam anubhavathi " ( Oh DayA Devi! when
a chEthanam is seen by You at the time of birth ,
he enjoys Moksha Sukham effortlessly . He is blessed
with MokshAnugraham.)
Reference 5: The Lord becomes DayALu through DayA Devi
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SlOkam 26: KaruNE! KamalA Nilaya: Thvyaa DayALu:
( Oh DayA Devi! Lord SrInivAsan becomes imbued
with DayA (DayALu:) through Your sambhandham).
Reference 6: SlOkam 27: Reduction of the Lord's anger
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Your Lord gets enraged at the repeated
trespasses of the chEthanams , which transgress
His saastraic injunctions ( DayE ! abhIkshNam adhilangitha-
sAsanEshu vijrumbhitha UshmA Vrushasaila adhipathi);
He wants to punish them . At that time , You goad
the offenders to perform appropriate prAyascchitthams
to banish the anger of the Lord and keep Him under
Your control . Your Lord blesses thus the chEthanams
through Your timely intervention .
Reference 7: SlOkam 30
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aham asmi aparAdha chakravarthI
KaruNE Thvam cha GuNEshu SaarvabhoumI
vidhushI sTithim IdhrisIm svayam
VrushasailEswara pAdasAth kuru Thvam
Oh DayA Devi! I am the Emperor of Sins .You are
the Empress of all auspicious GuNAs .You who
understand my pitiable state should enable me
to be seated at the sacred feet of Your Lord .
Reference 8: Standing in UpAya sTanam of Fruits
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anubhavithu agha Ogam nAlam aagAmi kaala:
prasamayithum asEsham nishkriyAbhir-na sakyam
svyamithihi DayE Thvam SvIkritha-SrInivAsA
siTilitha-bhava-bhIthi: SrEyasE jAyasE na:
--DayA sathakam: SlOkam 34
Oh DayA Devi! For experiencing the mountains of
Sins accumulated by me, the future times wont be
sufficient . The prAyascchitthams wont be able to
destroy all of those abubdant sins. Recognizing
the magnitude of this problem , You have endeared
Lord SrinivAsan and brought Him under Your control.
You thus become the destroyer of all of our aparAdhams
and bless us with sarva mangaLams through Him .
Summary:
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All of these thoughts flash through Swamy Desikan's
mind , when he seeks the intervention of DayA Devi
in the 44th SlOkam of SaraNaagathi DhIpikai and
requests Her to stand in the place of arTa sthAnam
to yield the fruit of UpAyam (SaraNAgathi ).