Bhadrapada/Purattasi - Rare Venkateswara Stotram

[K.N.RAMESH]

Courtesy: Sri.Krishanan Muralidharan

Dear Friends,

 

Greetings and Namaste. Tomorrow (18-Sep-2011) marks the beginning of the solar month Bhadrapada (Purattasi in Tamil). As we all know, Purattasi is synonymous with Lord Vekateshwara worship although Navaratri/Durga Puja/Dassera is also equally important. I am pleased to share a short but rare stotra on Lord Srinivasa by Sage Padmanabha in Tirupathi. This prayer appears in Skanda Puranam and a brief description of the context of the stotra is given in the preface of the stotra.

 

As usual a few snippets on the subject :

 

1. The Mahatmya of Venkatachala (Tirupathi) appears in a few purans - Skanda Puranam, Vaishnava Khanda, Venkatachala Mahatmya, Varaha Purana, Branmanda Puranam and a few others. Unfortunately these Mahatmyas (of various Kshetras) seem to be distributed in bits and pieces from the original purans (to which they are alluded to). For example, the print version of Varaha Purana does not contain the Mahatmyas of Venkatachala or Srimushnam as they are claimed to be.

 

Secondly, the names of pilgrimage places used in the puranas are very different from the current-day names (e.g. Champakaranya - Mannargudi, Shvetagiri - Thiruvellarai, Satyagiri - Thirumeyyam, Tejinivana - Thiruveezhimizhalai, etc.). It will be an wonderful service to the mankind if those places (appearning in many Purans) can be indexed in the ccurrent context by a knowledgeable source.

 

2. As far as I know, there are 3 x Venkatesha Ashtottarams and 2 x Venkatesha Sahasranamas (one from Brahmanda Puranam (the common one) and Padma Puranam (incomplete as it contains less than 1008 names) The latter does not appear in the Padma Purana print edition (or at least I am yet to locate it). There is also a short Kavacha called Venkatesha Vajra Kavacham. I am really puzzled why there is no Ashtottaram or Sahasranama for Thayar (Padmavathy) - maybe it is there and we have not yet discovered it.

 

3. There are lot of stutis mostly by Bhagavatas as the no. of stutis in Purans on Lord Venkateshwara are limited. There is one Venkatesha Stotram in Brahmanda Puranam which can be used for Archana also (but no. of names will be less than 108). If any of you need this stotra, please let me know.

 

4. Another famous Stuti is by Sri Ugra Narasimha Bharati (1817 - - 1869) of Sringeri Amnaya Mutt - titled Venkatesha Karavalamba Stotram. This is very much similar in pattern to Lakshmi Nrusimha Karavalamba Stotram by Sri Adi Shankara which everyone is aware. (The only other Karavalamba Stotra I am aware of is Subrahmanya Karavalamba Stotra by Sri Adi Shankara). This stotra is available in many websites but if you need this, please let me know.

 

It requires at least a very minimal set of qualification to even talk about Sri Ugra Narasimha Bharati. - which I can't imagine to have even an iota He was a great Narasimha Upasaka and a great Tapasvi. Several miracles are attributed to him. I remember reading his disciple's disciple's words (Sri Chandrashekhara Bharati - who again was a great Tapasvi) the real Aushadha (nectar) is drinking the Abhishekha Teertha at the Mahasamadhi of Sri Ugra Narasimha Bharati - it can cure deadliest of diseases.

 

5. It is given that one who worships Lord Venkatesha in Purattasi month with Tulasi or Bilva leaves gives unimaginable amount of benefits in all the worlds. It is magnified even further if one chants Venkatesha Sahasranama 5 or 7 times coninuously especially on special muhurtas such as Eclipse, Vyatipata, etc.

 

6. I am not sure how Bhadrapada/Saturday (Purattasi Sani) worship is attributed to Saturn and cure of Saturn's afflictions as Saturn is normally associated with Kurma Avatar in the Vaishnava Tradition.

 

May we all endeavor to seek the blessings of Lord Venkateshwara.

 

Thanks & Regards,

K. Muralidharan (Murali)

--
If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.
Happy moments, praise God.
Difficult moments, seek God.
Quiet moments, worship God.
Painful moments, trust God.

  Every moment, thank God