Śrī Veṅkaṭeśa Suprabhātam, verse 29

We have now come to the final verse of the Suprabhātam. The final verse of such hymns is known as a phala-śruti: it tells us the results of reciting this hymn. By singing it every morning—or even by at least making an effort to sing it, for those of us who may not be able to sing it—we are promised an extremely special result. Let us see what it is now.

itthaṃ Vṛṣâcala-pater iha Suprabhātaṃ
ye mānavāḥ prati-dinaṃ paṭhituṃ pravṛttāḥ |
teṣāṃ prabhāta-samaye smṛtir aṅga-bhājāṃ
prajñāṃ parârtha-sulabhāṃ paramāṃ prasūte || (VSu 29)

इत्थं वृषाचल-पतेर् इह सुप्रभातं
ये मानवाः प्रतिदिनं पठितुं प्रवृत्ताः ।
तेषां प्रभात-समये स्मृतिर् अंग-भाजां
प्रज्ञां परार्थ-सुलभां परमां प्रसूते ॥

For those people
        who make an effort to sing
                every morning
        this greeting of awakening
                to the Lord of Bull Hill
                        seeking to serve Him,

their daily recollection of Him
invariably produces in them
        the supreme wisdom
                for attaining the Highest Goal.

Now, many phala-śruti verses promise extravagant results: infinite wealth, entire kingdoms, destruction of one’s enemies, and so on. In comparison, this verse promises a seemingly minor result: it merely says that our dawn recollections of the Lord and Lady of Tiru-Veṅkaṭam will produce wisdom and insight in us. What’s the big deal? Isn’t it better to get a kingdom than to get mere “wisdom”?

But this is no ordinary wisdom we are promised: it is insight into the nature of the Divine, which will lead us to Them directly. As Tŏṇḍar-aḍi^p-pŏḍi Āḻvār says at the beginning of the Tiru-mālai:

ic-cuvai tavira yān pōy Indira-lōkam āḷum
ac-cuvai pĕṟinum vēṇḍēn, Araṅga-mā-nagaruḷānē! (TM 2cd)

இச்சுவை தவிர யான் போய் # இந்திர லோகம் ஆளும் #
அச்சுவை பெறினும் வேண்டேன் # அரங்க மாநகருளானே !

Other that this taste (of worshipping You),

I do not crave a taste of anything else,
        not even lordship over Indra’s heavenly realm,

o Lord who lives in the great city of Śrīraṅgam!

The Āḻvār would rather have the śuvai (literally “taste”, speaking to the immediacy and the inexpressible power of this direct experience or anubhava) of singing the glories of Lord Raṅganātha in all of His various manifestations, than to taste the trifling, trivial, transient pleasures of svarga.¹

This idea is also present in the 29^th verse (Śiṯṯṟañ-ciṟu-kālē) of the Tiru^p-pāvai,² in which Āṇḍāḷ sings:

yĕṯṯṟaikkum ēḻ-ēḻ piṟavikkum uṉḏṟannōḍu
uṯṯṟōmē āvōm, unakkē nām āṭ-cĕvyōm
maṯṯṟai nam kāmaṅgaḷ māṯṯṟu (TP 29fgh)

எற்றைக்கும் ஏழேழ் பிறவிக்கும் உன் தன்னோடு
உற்றோமே ஆவோம் உனக்கே நாம் ஆட்செய்வோம்
மற்றை நம் காமங்கள் மாற்று

For ever and ever,
For seven births and seven more beyond,

we should be inseparably attached to You;
we should serve You and only You:

Change all of our other desires accordingly.

Śrī-Padmāvatī-nāyikā-sameta-Śrī-Śrīnivāsa-parabrahmaṇe namaḥ

An integrative view of religious thought and practice

There is a tendency among some who prefer to over-intellectualize (a preference strongly present in myself!) to disregard ritual worship and to downplay the importance of devotion, and instead to focus on the philosophical and intellectual elements of religion. But in a religious tradition as steadfastly integrative as the Śrīvaiṣṇava sampradāya, temple worship and ritual prayers are just as important as intellectual investigation. As a matter of fact, ritual observance is a prerequisite for embarking on a rigorous intellectual study of the core Śrīvaiṣṇava mysteries, and the two remain deeply intertwined in subtle ways.

I mention this because this verse illustrates for us how even the simple practice of reciting the Śrī Veṅkaṭeśa Suprabhātam every morning is effectively equivalent to deep study of the Vedānta. The study of the Vedāntic texts in traditional format is supposed to follow a three-step process:

• śravaṇa (“hearing” the text, memorizing it)

• manana (“thinking” through the arguments of the text, getting it to make sense), and

• nididhyāsana (“deeply contemplating” the hidden meanings and connections of the text with everything else we know, ideally in a reflective mental state).

And as per this verse, people devoted to Lord Veṅkaṭeśvara:

• begin with paṭhana (“recitation” of the text, which of course would be preceded by learning it through śravaṇa anyway),

• build up to a steady and constant smṛti (“recollection”) of the meanings of the verses of the text, and finally

• attain a state of parā prajñā (“superior insight”), in which they trigger a deeper spiritual transformation that leads to the Supreme Goal.

Thus,

reciting this Suprabhatam will give us a gift far greater than any mere material gift: it will alter our very consciousness and our relationship to the Divya Dampati, drawing us closer to Them and Them closer still to us.

Conclusion

This brings us to the end of the Śrī Veṅkaṭeśa Suprabhātam, but this is far from the end of the morning recitations to Lord Veṅkaṭeśvara! Indeed, this hymn is followed by the mellifluous Śrī Veṅkaṭeśa Stotram, the dense and profound Śrī Veṅkaṭeśa Prapatti, and finally wrapped up with the benedictory Śrī Veṅkaṭeśa Maṅgalam. With the anugraha of Lord Śrīnivāsa eternally accompanied by Padmāvatī Tāyār, I hope to continue translating those hymns. I will, however, be taking a bit of a break over the next couple of months as I work on another project that I have been working on in bits and pieces: another translation and commentary of a very short text but with extremely powerful insights. I am also planning a bit of an experiment with this new text in which I might provide an audio summary of each verse that is very similar to the written text of the post.

It has been an indescribably delightful experience for me to read, think about, translate and commentate upon the verses of the Śrī Veṅkaṭeśa Suprabhātam. No doubt there are numerous errors and confusions throughout this series, for which I beg your indulgence, Gentle Reader, and pray to Lord Veṅkaṭeśvara to forgive me and guide me. But if there is anything here that has been helpful or insightful to you, it is all entirely the blessing of Lord Śrīnivāsa who has chosen to communicate that insight to you, using me as an instrument. This humble effort is for Him, and for those who are for Him.

Please continue to share your thoughts with me, both on the comments section here and in private, and if you find these posts valuable or thought-provoking, please do share them with other like-minded folks from around the world.

|| Śrī-Padmāvatī-nāyikā-sameta-Śrī-Śrīnivāsa-parabrahmaṇe namaḥ ||

1. The use of the Tamil śuvai in this sense of an aesthetic-cum-religious experience closely parallels the use of the word rasa in Sanskrit (whether in aesthetic contexts or in devotional ones). It also calls to mind the Arabic word ذَوْق ḏauq “taste” used by Ṣūfī mystics to describe the nature of their direct encounter with the Divine.

2. Incidentally, Sri Prativādi-Bhayaṅkara Aṇṇan Swāmī composed the Śrī Veṅkaṭeśa Suprabhātam with 29 verses, just like Swāmī Deśikar composed his Godā-Stuti with 29 verses. Both chose to keep their works shorter by one verse than Āṇḍāḷ’s Tiru^p-pāvai (which is, after all, also a suprabhatam dedicated to Lord Kṛṣṇa). While Swāmī Deśikar chose to sing about Āṇḍāḷ Herself, Aṇṇan Swāmī chose to sing on the same theme as Āṇḍāḷ’s composition.