Dear SrI Venkatesa BhakthAs :
You might recall the earlier postings on the
commentaries on the BrahmANDa
PurANam version of the 108 NaamAs of SrI VenkatEsa , which have been
archived in the following URL and made in to a CD
ROM with images of
the 108 dhivya dEsa Emperumaans:
This CD ROM was prepared with the help of a dear
devotee from California
and presented to Thirumala officials for their
review to check against
the possibility of the CD ROM being released as a
TTD
After that Kaimkaryam , adiyEn learnt that the 108
NaamAs of
Lord VenkatEsan used inside His sannidhi EVERY
DAY are not from BrahmANDa
PurANam(BP) but is from VARAAHA PURAANAM ( VP) .
The VP version focuses
more on the many happenings described in the Sthala
PurANam, where as
the BP Version has more Upanishadic and
esoteric references . It is very appropriate
that the VP versoion is used inside the Sannidhi
daily for the Lord , who settled down in
Adhi Varaaha KshEthram with the permission of SvEtha VarAha Moorthy , who had arrived
earlier .
Both Sriman K.Sadagopan IyengAr of Coimbatore known
to all of you
from his scholarly postings and myself have joined
together now to create
the comentaries of the Varaaha PurANam
Version of the SrI VenkatEsa
AshtOttharam .
With Bhagavaan VenkatEsA's blessings , it is our hope that the two
AshtOttharams of the Lord of Saptha Giri will be released by the
Thiruppathi
Thirumala DevasthAnam offiicals . We are getting ready to send our Text
commentraies on each of the AshtOtthara NaamAs with appropriate
images
to go along with them.
Following is the sampling of the text commentary
from us
on the FIRST ASHTOTTHARA NAAMA , WHICH HOUSES
THE MANTHRAM FOR LORD VENKATESA.
Please offer your prayers to Lord VenkatEsa for
successful
completion of this
Kaimakryam
FIRAT NAAMAA
********************
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 " 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:
li
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