Sri Lakshmi-Nrisimha-Karavalamba-Stotram - 1 - Adi Shankara

 

॥ ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥

Not many know that the Iṣṭadevatā of Ādi Śankara Bhagavatpāda was Bhagavān Lakṣmī-Narasimha. From childhood, I have simply loved the story of this Avatāra. 

Ādi Śankara had, on at least two occasions, according to his biography by Vidyāraṇya, sought urgent help from Bhagavān Lakṣmī-Narasimha. The foremost centre of Adi Śankara's disciplic succession is Śṛṅgeri where the residence of the Pontiff is called Nṛsimhavana. All the benedictions of the Pontiff end with the prayer "Śrī Nārāyaṇa Smaraṇam."     

Ādi Śankara's prayer, Śrī Lakṣmī-Nṛsimha-Karāvalamba-Stotram, is one of the most famous hymns to Narasimha. It is said to have a great Mantra-Śakti. I begin today, on the auspicious occasion of Śrī  Rāmanavamī, to write about this Stotram. I seek Ādi Śankara's blessings. The grammar follows tomorrow (18 April).

श्रीमत्पयोनिधिनिकेतनचक्रपाणे 

भोगीन्द्रभोगमणिरञ्जितपुण्यमूर्ते ।

योगीश शाश्वत शरण्य भवाब्धिपोत

लक्ष्मीनृसिंह मम देहि करावलम्बम् ॥१॥

Translation: Oh Lord resting in Your abode in the Milky Ocean, holding the ultimate weapon Sudarṣana Cakra, with Your auspicious form illuminated by the glittering sacred gems on the thousand hoods of the king of serpents, Ādiśeṣa (his body is the Lord's bed and his hood is His umbrella), You are the greatest Yogi and true Lord, the Eternal Being, the Supreme Refuge of all, the boat to make me cross the ocean of worldliness; Oh beloved Lord Lakṣmī-Narasimha! Be so kind as to give me Your supporting hand and raise me!

Notes: According to Śaṅkaradigvijayaḥ, the story goes that when Ādi Śankara was about to be declared the winner in the fierce debate with Maṇḍana Miśra, Maṇḍana's wife challenged Śankara to defeat her too as she was her husband's Ardhāṅginī (inseparable half). Śankara had to answer her queries about the connubial life of a householder, a subject he knew nothing about as he had been a Brahmacārin all his life. So he asked for time. He then chose to enter through transmigration into the corpse of a just deceased king so that he could live the life of a householder for some time to experience the life of a married man and gain answers to the queries raised by Maṇḍana's wife.

Everything was going well as the physical body of Ādi Śankara which was at present lifeless was being carefully preserved by his disciples lying in wait for the moment their Guru would relinquish the king's body and enter back into his own,  to go thereafter to resume the debate. But in the meanwhile, the king's ministers realised that this person who was in the king's miraculously resurrected body was not the king but some great soul. Their plan was to benefit the kingdom bby trapping that soul in the body for good. So they now wanted to hunt down and destroy that soul's original body (left behind to achieve transmigration). They hoped thus to ensure their king would be this wise man. So they searched high and low and finally found Śankara's body. They at once set it on fire. The sage's disciples now rushed to the palace and informed the sage what had happened. It is written that just then Ādi Śankara cried out to Bhagavān Lakṣmī-Narasimha desperately to save his monk's body and ensure he could leave the king's body and return to his original body. This is supposed to be the genesis of this hymn.

However, as we shall see in the subsequent stanzas, all the prayers are extremely other-worldly and seek the Lord's grace for Mukti and nothing else!

व्याकरणांशाः
श्रीमत्पयोनिधिनिकेतनचक्रपाणे भोगीन्द्रभोगमणिरञ्जितपुण्यमूर्ते ।
योगीश शाश्वत शरण्य भवाब्धिपोत लक्ष्मीनृसिंह मम देहि करावलम्बम् ॥१॥
श्रीमत्-पयोनिधि-निकेतन-चक्रपाणे, भोगीन्द्र-भोग-मणि-रञ्जित-पुण्य-मूर्ते, योगि-ईश, शाश्वत, शरण्य, भव-अब्धि-पोत, लक्ष्मी-नृसिंह, मम, देहि, कर-अवलम्बम्
सन्धयः
योगि+ईश, कर+अवलम्बम् = अकः सवर्णे दीर्घः
श्रीमत्+पयोनिधि=झलां जशोऽन्ते, खरि च
आकाङ्क्षा-अन्वयः
श्रीमत्-पयोनिधि-निकेतन-चक्रपाणे भोगीन्द्र-भोग-मणि-रञ्जित-पुण्य-मूर्ते योगि-ईश शाश्वत शरण्य भव-अब्धि-पोत लक्ष्मी-नृसिंह मम देहि करावलम्बम्
Oh Lord resting in Your abode as You are in the Milky Ocean, holding the ultimate weapon Sudarṣana Cakra, Your auspicious form illuminated by the glittering sacred gems on the thousand hoods of the king of serpents, Ādiśeṣa (his body is the Lord's bed and his hood is his umbrella), the greatest Yogi and true Lord, the Eternal Being, the Supreme Refuge of all, the boat to make me cross the ocean of worldliness; O h beloved Lord Lakṣmī-Narasimha!Be so kind as to give me Your supporting hand and raise me!
सुबन्तप्रक्रिया
श्रीमत्-पयोनिधि-निकेतन-चक्रपाणे = इ, पुं, १.१ सम्बोधनम्, सुँ, ह्रस्वस्य गुणः, एङ्ह्रस्वात् सम्बुद्धेः
भोगीन्द्र-भोग-मणि-रञ्जित-पुण्य-मूर्ते = इ, स्त्री, १.१ सम्बोधनम्, सुँ, ह्रस्वस्य गुणः, एङ्ह्रस्वात् सम्बुद्धेः
योगि-ईश, शाश्वत, शरण्य, भव-अब्धि-पोत, लक्ष्मी-नृसिम्ह = अ, पुम्, १.१, सुँ, एङ्ह्रस्वात् सम्बुद्धेः
मम = अस्मद्, ६.१, ङस्, युषम्दस्मद्भ्यां ङसोऽश्, तवममौ ङसि, अतो गुणे, शेषे लोपः
करावलम्बम् = अ, पुं, २.१, अम्, अमि पूर्वः
तिङन्तप्रक्रिया
देहि = दाण् दाने,भ्वादिः, परस्मैपदी, लोट्, मध्यमपुरुषः, एकवचनम्
समासाः, तद्धिताः, कृदन्ताः
श्रीमत्-पयोनिधि-निकेतन-चक्रपाणे= चक्रः पाणौ यस्य सः, बहुव्रीहिः, श्रीः अस्य अस्तीति श्रीमान्, पयांसि निधीयन्तेऽत्र सप्तमीबहुव्रीहिः, श्रीमान् पयोनिधिः कर्मधारयः, श्रीमत्पयोनिधिः निकेतनम् यस्य सः, श्रीमत्पयोनिधिनिकेतनः, निकेतनश्चासौ चक्रपाणिश्च, कर्मधारयः, हे
भोगीन्द्र-भोग-मणि-रञ्जित-पुण्य-मूर्ते= भोगिनां इन्द्रः भोगीन्द्रः, भोगः मणिः भोगमणिः कर्मधारयः, भोगीन्द्रस्य भोगमणिः, ६तत्, मणिभिः रञ्जिता पुण्या मूर्तिः, कर्मधारयः, मूरिः यस्य सः, बहुव्रीहिः, हे
योगि-ईश= योगी च ईशश्च, कर्मधारयः, हे
शाश्वत= शश्वद् भवः अण्, तद्धितः, हे
शरण्य= शरणे साधुः यस्य, बहुव्रीहिः, हे
भव-अब्धि-पोत= भव एव अब्धिः, अवधारणापूर्वपदकर्मधारयः, अब्धेः तरितुं पोतः, मध्यमपदलोपी, हे
लक्ष्मी-नृसिंह = लक्ष्मीयुतो नृसिंहः केवलसमासः, हे
कर-अवलम्बम् = करस्य अवलम्बः, ६तत्, तम्

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॥ ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥