Hayagriva Swami

07-14-2004, 10:54 AM

Hi,
I am trying to get more information on Hayagriva swami, I was wondering if anyone here knows more about Him. All I have until now is that he is an incarnation of vishnu. I am trying to search the web, but most of the information out there is about some Buddhist Tibetian deity. So, if anyone here knows anything about Hayagriva - Vishnu incarnation, then please share it here with me, I am very curious about it.

07-14-2004, 02:15 PM

I think he is the part of ten avatars of Vishnu and has a head of a horse.

shambu · 07-14-2004, 02:38 PM

I found a few references in the Srimad Bhagavatam pertaining to your question. Here they are:

SB 2.7.11: The Lord appeared as the Hayagriva incarnation in a sacrifice performed by me [Brahma]. He is the personified sacrifices, and the hue of His body is golden. He is the personified Vedas as well, and the Supersoul of all demigods. When He breathed, all the sweet sounds of the Vedic hymns came out of His nostrils.

SB 6.8.17: May Sanat-kumara protect me from lusty desires. As I begin some auspicious activity, may Lord Hayagriva protect me from being an offender by neglecting to offer respectful obeisances to the Supreme Lord. May Devarsi Narada protect me from committing offenses in worshiping the Deity, and may Lord Kurma, the tortoise, protect me from falling to the unlimited hellish planets.

SB 6.9.40: O Lord, O personified three worlds, father of the three worlds! O strength of the three worlds, in the form of the Vamana incarnation! O three-eyed form of Nrsimhadeva! O most beautiful person within the three worlds! Everything and everyone, including human beings and even the Daitya demons and the Danavas, is but an expansion of Your energy. O supremely powerful one, You have always appeared in Your forms as the various incarnations to punish the demons as soon as they become very powerful. You appear as Lord Vamanadeva, Lord Rama and Lord Krsna. You appear sometimes as an animal like Lord Boar, sometimes a mixed incarnation like Lord Nrsimhadeva and Lord Hayagriva, and sometimes an aquatic like Lord Fish and Lord Tortoise. Assuming such various forms, You have always punished the demons and Danavas. We therefore pray that Your Lordship appear today as another incarnation, if You so desire, to kill the great demon Vrtrasura.

There is also a demon called Hayagriva. He stole the Vedas and was killed by Sri Hari. This is mentioned in the 8th Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam [24.8-9]

Raghavan · 07-14-2004, 04:13 PM

Hayagriva who is incarnation of Shree Hari was the one who gave the world the famous "Lalitha Sahasranam" thousand names of Lord's energy and one who chants this everyday will get rid of all sins.

Sage Agasthiya was praying to Shree Hari performing severe penances to find a way to remove the sufferings of material world. Mahavishnu appeared in front of him and told him to approach Hayagriva Rishi who is His incarnation and will give the solution. When Agasthiya approached Hayagriva, He blessed him with Lalitha Sahasranama and told that one who chants this with purity of mind and cleanliness will be rid of all sins and papakarma.
ONe who chants this by keeping a vessel of pure water in front of them and after chanting, if they pour that water on top of their head, is supposed to be rid of all doshas and curse.

Another interesting incident of Lalitha Sahasranama is it is mentioned in Sankara's life history that when He wanted to write the commentary for Lalitha sahasranama and asked one of His disciples to bring the chuvadi (roll of dry leaves iin which they used to write in old days) and he brought the Vishnu sahasranama. He told him to bring Lalitha Sahasranama chuvadi. By then since sun set has already begun, after he meditated, he decided to begin the writing the next day. When Sankara after meditation sat to start writing, He again found Vishnu sahasranama on his desk and not Lalitha Sahasranama. So He felt that Lord wants HIM to write that first and hence after finishing the commentary on Vishnu Sahasranama, he wrote the commentary for Lalitha Sahasranama.

Raghavan · 07-14-2004, 04:16 PM

The following is the sloka that is chant to meditate upon Hayagriva Swami

Gnananandha Mayanthelam nirmala spatikarkritham
Aadharam sarva Vidhyaanaam Hayagriva Upaasmahae

vanamali · 07-16-2004, 10:43 AM

Hayagriva--- "haya means horse,greeva means neck the horse faced form of Vishnu, is the Supreme God of Vidya or knowledge and prosperity according to Vaishnavite scriptures. Any one who prays Hayagriva shall be blessed with all knowledge and wisdom. (Hayagriva is also the name of an important deity among Budhhists believed to be the fearful aspect of Avalokatishwara and chases away all ignorance). He is on par with Saraswathi in being the deity of Vidya or knowledge."

Hayagrivaswamy is associated with Vidyalakshmi, one of Mahalakshmi's eight forms:

Vidya Lakshmi

"An illiterate man is compared to a quadruped. People worship Saraswati, goddess of learning, also known as Vidya Lakshmi, to acquire learning. Once upon a time, Devdutta, a Brahmin, brings upon himself a curse that the son he gives birth to will be dumb and mentally retarded child. When the son is born, the Brahmin names him Utadhya. Despite the father’s efforts, the son remains illiterate and dumb. The father evicts him from his house. Thus banished, the son flees to a forest and begins to cry. A kind sage, passing by, advises him to worship Vidya Lakshmi. The son, despite being dumb, manages to utter sounds resembling the praise of the goddess. Pleased with his devotion, Vidya Lakshmi showers learning upon him. "

07-16-2004, 11:05 AM

it is true. I see many people in India praying to Saraswati and believe me, they are the dumbest. It isn't easy to beat karma, it shall always have the last laugh. If you are destined to be dumb, you'll be dumb, no matter what. Prayers cannot destroy prarabdhas (past karmas). EVen the Kalidas story might not be true, someone must've cooked it up real nice.

07-16-2004, 11:31 AM

If people in India are the dumbest, then why the software industry is booming there and Indians are at demand for work?

In India religious worship and prayers are part and parcel of our life....Praying to different forms of Lord is actually paying respect to Shree Hari and hence we pray to every form and dont disrespect any of them. Everyone knows that Shree Hari is The Supreme Personality of Godhead and yet its mentioned in our puranas that one who disrespect Demigods or the lesser forms of Shree Hari are actually disrespecting Shree Hari. If you call such people dumb, actually it only shows that you are not reading Gita properly or have not understood properly.

07-16-2004, 12:59 PM

I never said Indians are dumb, I said some of them are 'dumbest', despite their efforts at chanting etc. ANyway, my point is that karma is all-powerful, you can't get rid of it as easily as all that, whether thro' meditation or prayer or what you will. So if someone says you can become creative by worshipping saraswati or you can become strong by meditating on kali etc., that 'someone' is obviously lying or is terribly misinformed. That was my point, which obviously wasnt an attack on Indians or their mode of worship. Far from it.

vanamali · 07-16-2004, 09:06 PM

Vidya Lakshmi is not a demigoddess. She is one form of Hari's Sri sakthi. She is a feminine form of Him, so please respect. I can tolerate any insults to me, but Lakshmi Mata...

As for demigods and demigoddesses, you can get some things from them, because they are actually parts of Hari (like ministers in a government), but that is not the full worship of God...

>>>>> I said some of them are 'dumbest', despite their efforts at chanting etc <<<<<

Anyway, I hope you will soon stop calling people dumb. It's not good to call people (especially devotees) "dumb" because Krishna loves His devotees very much. It is really not good, so for your own sake, please don't do that...

My humble obiesances at your lotus feet...

Raghavan · 07-17-2004, 12:36 AM

One who prays to any forms of Lord either towards His whole form or his substitute lesser form certainly are not dumb or should not be called as dumb, because for a soul to get the realization of doing prayer itself is a blessing and hence they are not dumb. Everyone is intelligent in one way or other way. Mathematician Ramanujam who was an ardent devotee of Shree Hari and Ranganayaki Thayar in SriRangam was good only at Maths, but poor in other subjects and he was not classified as dumb but highly revered throughout the world.

I will tell you an example. I had been to Hare Krishna temple in one of the major cities of US in April of this year. I noticed at the end of the day a couple brings their son and he sings bajan on Krishna during aarathi time. That boy is found retarded by all means and his parents with so much devotion towards Lord taught that boy to sing one song on Krishna every day when they visits to the temple. ALl that the boy knows is only that song and nothing else....What would you call this little boy just because he does not do things like you and me....What is there in his mind when he sings that particular song everyday, Baghwan only knows....So would you call him dumb?

I would call him as the most blessed soul and his parents are the real devotees who is helping that physically and mentally challenged boy to think and sing on Krishna.

Its not right for anyone to classify someone as dumb as each one of us are dumb in certain things or many things especially when it comes to spirituality and spiritual maturity and intelligent in certain few things only by the Grace of Lord.

07-17-2004, 07:19 AM

Th school where 80-odd children were burnt alive was called Saraswati school, right next to Sri Krishna school. Wow, am I the only one to appreciate the f*****g irony of it all? Oooo, I shouldn't disrespect Lakshmi Mata, she might, well, shall we say, burn me, like she did those children? And of course, i should love krishna also, because he has been kind enough to teach those kids a lesson on how to play with fire, the fun way.

Well, Vanamali, you still believe that Saraswati is awakening people's intelligence, when she can't even maintain a damn school?

Avinash · 07-17-2004, 07:49 AM

You keep on mentioning various sufferings in this world. Do you do anything to relieve people of these sufferings? Of course, you cannot relieve them of all sufferings, but do you provide as much help as you can.

There are people so poor that they do not know when they will get next food. There are those who sell their own children for such a small amount that many of us spend that much amount in just one day. There are those who cannot afford to send their children to school. There are those who die due to lack of money. There are those who helplessly watch their children die just because they cannot afford proper treatment. People are suffering from these and many other problems.
Do you do anything for them? Do you provide them with money, food, books etc.? If somebody is suffering from a disease and is so poor that his family cannot afford his treatment, then do you provide money for his treatment?

By asking these questions, I am not trying to claim that you do not help people. May be you do. May be you don't. The reason I asked these questions is that I have found many people who think they have been proved to be very kind and caring just because they have blamed God for all the problems in the world.

krsna · 07-17-2004, 08:15 AM

[img]/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img]

krsna · 07-17-2004, 08:24 AM

Atheists Beware

[img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

vanamali · 07-17-2004, 11:00 AM

>>> Th school where 80-odd children were burnt alive was called Saraswati school, right next to Sri Krishna school. Wow, am I the only one to appreciate the f*****g irony of it all?

--- Considering that every other business, school, person in India is named after God, then... well, does that mean no one should ever die in India?

Anyway, God is with us in life, and in death also. Everybody dies, not just theists. Not just athiests. Not just Hindus, Christians, Muslims... but find a faith that makes living easier, and which makes death easier to approach. If Hinduism is not for you, then choose something else; but for me I am able to look death squarely in the face with Krishna in my heart, so that is why I follow Him.

07-17-2004, 11:24 AM

I respect your beliefs. But somehow, I can't get myself to go through all the pain involved in believing and hoping and waiting...for the red-letter day. I just can't.

Yours,
Nastika

07-17-2004, 11:26 AM

Quote:

Oooo, I shouldn't disrespect Lakshmi Mata, she might, well, shall we say, burn me, like she did those children? And of course, i should love krishna also, because he has been kind enough to teach those kids a lesson on how to play with fire, the fun way.

Looks like you're a little "hot under the collar" already. Maybe you could return here after you've cooled down enough to engage in reasonable conversations.

shambu · 07-19-2004, 01:42 PM

I-Agree-Va with whatever you have said.

And I nod my Horsehead down............