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sanjaya
02 May 2010, 11:28 PM
I have a question about a specific mantra for Eastern Mind or anyone else who's familiar with these sorts of things. This weekend I visited my parents and found some of my old things dating back to my early high school years. Among them in a school folder, I found a piece of paper with the following mantra written on it:

Gnanananada mayam daivam
Nirmala spatika krutim
Aadharam sarva vignanam
Hayagrva upasmahe

I remember that my father had put this in my folder years ago, so I asked him what it meant. He only told me that it is a powerful mantra which can be uttered before I give presentations (which I do fairly often at work) or do other important tasks.

However I would like to know more. What is the literal translation? To what God is the mantra offered? And does it have some specific historical or theological significance?

Thank you to anyone who can help!

saidevo
03 May 2010, 02:03 AM
namaste Sanjaya.

This is the first verse of the SvAmi Desikan's hayagrIva stotram. We have it listed in our HDF library. Here is the link for the book that has the 33 shlokas with explanations:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/99748/Sri-Hayagriva-Sthothram

You need to become a member of scribd but it's free.

devotee
03 May 2010, 02:16 AM
Gnanananada mayam daivam
Nirmala spatika krutim
Aadharam sarva vignanam
Hayagrva upasmahe


Dear Sanjaya,

You may look at the explanation from the link given by Saidevo ji. In the mean time, I can give you some idea about the literal translation ( It may be a little erroneous as it is purely based on my understanding. Please bear with me.) :

Gnananandamayam = He who is full of wisdom and bliss (born of Gnana/knowledge)
Daivam = God
Nirmalam = Taintless
Sphatikaakritum = form like made of sphatik (as white as sphatik)
Aadhaaram = the source of (the basis of)
Sarva vidyaanam (vignaanam) = all vidyas (knowledge)
Hayagriva = Lord Hayagriva
UpAsmhe = I worship

OM

isavasya
03 May 2010, 02:37 AM
[However I would like to know more. What is the literal translation? To what God is the mantra offered? And does it have some specific historical or theological significance?]

Namaste sanjaya ji,

This is nice sloka from hayagrIva stotram, I am not good in sanskrit, so you can take the meaning as provided by devotee ji. Hayagriva Is primarily a form of lord vishnu , with a face of a horse. He is believed to be god of wisdom and learning. Also this shloka is usually chanted during a ritual called Aksharabhyasam, this is a ritual in which a child initiates his learning.That is practice of learning to write.This culture is fading in today's time. This shloka is also invoked during saraswati puja. Back 20 years ago, I remember in my hometown gaya we celebrated saraswati puja with immense joy and I was especially excited about the prsaad of the puja, but slowly and steadily I have seen importance of saraswati puja declining in our society, very few people celebrate it now.

sanjaya
04 May 2010, 03:20 PM
Thank you all for the explanation. This is exactly what I was looking for!

smaranam
04 May 2010, 04:07 PM
Gnanananada mayam daivam
Nirmala spatika krutim
Aadharam sarva vignanam
Hayagrva upasmahe

I remember that my father had put this in my folder years ago, so I asked him what it meant. He only told me that it is a powerful mantra which can be uttered before I give presentations (which I do fairly often at work) or do other important tasks.

However I would like to know more....

Namaste

Thanks for this stotra. I am such an ignorant being !

A story (not important, only if you would like to listen) :

I declared once that all these philosophies - Dvaita, Advaita are just different perspectives, and i see no contradiction anywhere.

To this others pointed out : "saying this is implying you know better than Madhawacharya". (He is the one who brought the Dvaita philosophy)

That was of course not my intention. They also said that glossing over the whole thing saying 'I don't see a difference, no contradiction' is arrogance, and these acharyas have worked so hard to establish siddhAnta.

I begged forgiveness of everyone there and also prayed that the acharyas will forgive me.

My view was that it was all Bhagvan's Leela of sending different acharyas at different points for the sake of different kinds of aspirants. So it was nothing against the acharyas.

Then one night the Lord - was as a being with a horse face. It was quite surprising to see Him in this form.... Hayagriva !!
He sent me to a place. I went in. Madhavacharya was sitting inside. I fell at his feet, apologized. He laughed and waved a hand - to say its alright. He seemed quite amused, but was so loving. He broke a small piece of coconut - fruit inside, from a half coconut - obviously prasad from the Lord. He gave me that and some rock sugar and said i am OK, not to worry, gave his blessings and asked me to leave. He was still laughing and smiling.

Then i went back to Lord who was Hayagriva.

Its a shame that i knew nothing about Hayagriva form except a vague memory of the Madhu-Kaitabh slaying story. Lakshmi as Yoga maya woke Him up from Yoga nidra ? ....

So the next day i did some search and found out that Hayagriva form is about knowledge ,wisdom, learning.
So as if a green signal on embarkment of the pursuit of knowledge.

---

vibhavari shesha aloka pravesha
nidra chari utho jeeva
bolo Hari Hari Mukunda MurAri
RAma KRshNa HAyagrIva

Om namo Bhagavate VAsudevAya