Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Sudarshana Jayanthi - A Couple of Rare Stutis

Courtesy: Sri.Krishnan Muralidharan

Dear All,
Greetings and Namaste. Sri Sudarshana Jayanthi falls on 28-Jun-2012 (Thu) and in that connection, I am happy to attach a couple of rare stotras.
1. Sri Sudarshana Kavacham by Sri Vallabhacharya - Sri Vallabhacharya is one of the four Vaishnava Acharyas representing Rudra (Vishnuswami) Sampradaya following Shuddha Advaita philosophy. Though this is titled a Kavacha Stuti, the structure does not quite resemble a Kavacha structure (which typically prays protection of different parts of body using different names of the deities). Another unique difference seems to be that,though there is a Sudarshana mantra in the beginning,the stotra portion is on Lord Krishna himself (in other words, no differentiation is made between Lord Sudarshana and Lord Krishna).
2. Sri Narayana Stuti - Sage Durvasa - Brahma Vaivarta Puranam (Krishna Janma Khanda, Chapter 25). This hymn was created by Sage Durvasa when he was chased by Sudarshana Chakra after his ill-conceived giving of trouble to King Ambarisha (during his famous Ekadashi Vrat/Dwadashi Parana). Sage Durvasa goes to different celestial abodes and seeks protection but they refuse as being helpless. Lord Shiva scolds him for behaving like a Murkha and asks him to take refuge in Lord Narayana himself and hence this prayer. It is given that this prayer is known as Jagan Mangala Stotram and is capable of relieving one's extreme distress (whatever form). The story here is slightly different - in other versions, Lord Narayana asks Sage Durvasa to pray to Lord Sudarshana Himself.
As usual a few tidbids:
1. Sri Vallabhacharya lived between 1479-1531 and is considered one of the four Vaishnava Sampradaya Acharyas. His lineage is currently known as Pushtimarg. Like others, he has also created a commentary (Bhashya) of Brahma Sutra using Shuddha Advaita philosophy. He also has composed Purushottama Sahasranama, a collection 1008 names of Lord Purushottama (Vishnu) which is a collection of 1008 names used in Srimad Bhagavatam (I will share this in due course).
It is also given that he participated in a grand debate between Dwaitis (Madhvas) and Advaitis (Shankara lineage) in the court of Krishna Devaraya and he won with his Shuddha Advaita philosophy arguements. [This sort of debates have happened in the life times of all Acharyas of medieval times and different Acharyas won at different times - e.g Shankara winning over others, Ramanuja winning against Advaita, Madhva winning against both Advaita and Vishishtadvaita, etc. etc. So, an instance of win of one in the debate does not necessarily nullify other philosophies. For, Padma Purana mentions that there are four bona fide philosophies within Vaishnavism in Kali Yuga - so there is no question of philosophies being nullified when a debate is won. We could perhaps construe as a result of a particular debate and debating skills].
2. Though there are several Sudarshana Stutis, there are very few in the Purans as most of them are by Bhaktas. I have come across only a handful of Sudarshana Stutis in Purans. Ahirbudhnya Samhita and Vihageshwara Samhita are two of the texts that contain elaborate Sudarshana Worship. There are two ashtottarams and two Sahasranamas on Lord Sudarshana, as I am aware of. One of the Sahasranama is incomplete. There are several Kavachas.
3.As per Purans, Sudarshana Chakra was created by Lord Shiva to defeat Jalandhara and later given to Lord Vishnu. This is given elaborately given in several purans, although controversies exist. There is a separate Shiva Sahasranama created by Lord Vishnu in this regard.



Posted by at 9:05 PM

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