jitante stotra

 most temples play this stotras regularly

Introduction :- Jitante stotram is a Rigveda khilam meaning an infrequented portion. Just as Purushasuktam which propounds the tenets, exists in all Sruthis, so all so, this Jitante is proclaimed in the scripture and itihAsa purAnAs as a mahamantram and classified as confidential on par with tirumantram. This Jitante, being a portion of the Apourusheya vedas, it may be questioned as to how it exists in the other man-made works like ItihAsa and PurAnas. The answer is :- Khilam is a highly infrequented portion. The Sutrakaras have studied vedas with khilam portions. They have mentioned and included Jitante as a mantram in ItihAsa PurAnas as evidenced by the quotation " Jitanta iti mantreNa " .

The residents of SwetadwIpa, who have yielded their hearts to the virtues of KshIrAbdhi nAtha like His beauty and handsomeness, sing this Jitante hymn. It is graded as a stotram as it is dearest to the lord, who is fond of praises (stavapriya). This stotram appears in a place hard to access even to BrahmA and others. How possibly could it then find a place in ItihAsa and PurAnas and become accessible to humans? Here is how :- When Narada bhagavan was on his way to Sweta DwIpa to visit and worship KshIrAbdhi NAthan, who is the God revealed by this mantram, he saw sages Ekata Dvita and Trita doing penance. Narada thought, "how can I hope to see the object which even these sages are unable to approach" and returned and asked them "What is then appropriate for me to do?". They replied, "In this place, the stotram, with which, the residents of Sweta dwIpa, praise KshIrAbdhi NAthan has been obtained and learnt by us by virtue of our long penances. You may learn it from us and recite it every day". Narada learnt this Jitante from them and was on his way , when on a mountain called Jayantha, one Kutumbi (sic) , who came to know from Narada of the episode of the birth of this stotram from BrahmA, insisted on learning it and accepted it from Narada. From then on, it was written (by Kutumbi) in ItihaAsa and PurAnas and became available to all devotees of the God.

When we contemplate on the inner meaning of this stotram it appears like the commentary on prapatti. Sri Parasara Bhattar has said of this, in a muktaka (free) slokam,

avidyAto deve paribhridhatayA va viditayA
sva bhakter bhUmnA va jagati gatimanyAm aviduShAm
gatir gamyashchAsow haririti jitantAhvaya mano:
rahasyam vyAjahre sa khalu bhagavAn Shaunaka muni:

meaning that the eligible candidates for prapatti are ajnas, sarvajnas and bhakti paravashars. ajna is one who does not have jnana and shakti for attaining God; sarvajna is one who knows that God can not be measured in terms of space, time, and other mundane objects and thus does not put any effort to attain God, knowing that God is unattainable by any other means; bhakti paravashan is one who although having the necessary jnana nd shakti is unable to follow the prescribed rules for attaining God due to addiction to bhakti. These three types of persons know of no other means except God. For them the target and means of reaching it are both, the Lord Himself. This is the actual secret meaning, of the mantram called Jitante, which was expounded by that omniscient sage bhagavan Saunaka.

Atma is an asset and God is its owner. One who is solely the servant of the Lord alone can be the adhikari for dvayam. This swami-dasa relationship exists since time sans a beginning. Not realising this due to a long connection with Nature, and due to Ahankara and Mamakara, the Atma usurps the Lord's qualities of swamitva and swatantrya and becomes a robber of the soul (Atmaapahaari). The lord seeing the Atmas which are under opposition to Him as exemplified by Hiranyakasipu saying "paramesvara samjno ajna kimanyo mayyavasthite" and Ravana saying " dvidhaa bhajyeyam apyevam na nameyam tu kasyachit", thought that these Atmas can not be redeemed with the help of Shaastras; they are addicts to sense objects; so let me attract them using their own addiction by showing My beauty and other gunas. He first generated their taste for beauty and once attracted by beauty He became their means of reaching Himself and once they stuck to Him as the Upaaya, He became their prapya. These aspects are dealt with in this prabandham of Jitante.

Thus, the first slokam briefly states the target and the mode of reaching it. The further slokams elaborate on this aspect as opined by Sri Parasara Bhattar in his nirvaham.

Alternately, the first two slokas describe the prapya and prapaka and the further slokams justify the above by describing the Sharanyatva of the Lord according to TiruNaraiyur Araiyar's nirvaham. When it is appropriate to state first, the Sharanyatva and then describe the prapya and prapaka, why is it done in the reverse here? Araiyar opined that this is done in the analogy of the first occurrence of God's union in "tiruvaaNai ninnaaNai " and then followed by separation as "peraavaaNai" in muniye nAnmukane decade.

Jitante pundarIkAkSha namsthE vishvabhAvana
namasthE stu hriShIkEsha mahApuruSha pUrvaja

pundarIkAkSha - oh lotus eyed, this object called soul has been conquered by you
nama: - this is not mine
tE - This is yours
vishvabhAvana - oh creator of all the universe
HriShIkEsha - controller of senses
mahApuruSha - oh greatest among the givers, munificent
pUrvaja - born prior to all
namstEstu - this soul should be divested of my ownership and should become your rightful possession.

This sloka tells how the Lord conquers the straying person by displaying His beauty and makes him pray to Him as the decided goal.

The straying person has taken a vow as it were of deviating and diverging from God (cf. yAdAnum paRRi nIngum viratam) and indulging in other sense objects. The Lord on the other hand, chases the person as it were, severs his interest in the sense objects, inculcates svarUpa jnAna in him, and pledges not to return without the gaining ownership of the person. Whenever he strays to other objects of interest, He displays His beauty and conquers him (cf. irundAn kandukondu). Being pleased with the person's defeat, He asks "who is defeated?" ; then the person replies (cf. tORROm mada nenjam emberumAn nAraNarku) that "victory is Yours. Is there something that You cannot conquer by the brahmAstra of Your lotus like eyes. (pundarIkAkShatva)". After all it is only by way of the eyes that living beings can impress influence and enslave each other. So here it says that You are conquering us with the help of lotus-eyes. (cf. iNaik koottham kolO ariyEn)

A self-willed person can be brought around by shAstras but to bring around a viShaya pravaNa, (one who indulges in sense objects), is there any other implement better than beauty.

namastE - Now who conquered whom and whose property? I have stolen the Atma belonging to You. You conquered me and took back Your property. (cf. aham api na mama bhagavata Eva aham asmi). The word - nama: - denotes surrendering. namastestu -- kindly prevent the usurpation of the soul by me and appropriate it for Yourself. When God is helping me by creating my interest in Him for His benefit, why should I, a chetana rush and solicit for His slavery (kainkaryam) ? The moment He created interest for a chetana in Him and enlightened him with svarUpa jnAna, the next spontaneous thing for the chetana is to wake up and solicit for His kainkaryam, in line with what is appropriate for his svarUpa.

When the hunchback dwarf (kubjA) woman's hunch was removed by Lord krishna, she requested krishna to come to her house for enjoyment. (cf. vastrE pragrihya govinda , mama gEham vrajEti vy). Likewise, here too God removes a hunch of the Atma - chetana, in the form of ahankAra and mamakAra by displaying His beautiful eyes. When the svatantrya of the chetana is removed and pAratantrya shines through, he becomes fit for the spirit and taste of kainkaryam.

Similarly, the Lord impressed the florist, mAlAkArar, by His beauty, made him fall at His feet several times and made him offer all the garlands and accepted his services (cf. puna: puna: praNamyAha mAlAkArO ativismita:).

vishva bhAvana -- creator of the universe. For a Person who could create this woe-begone universe from nothing, can He not infuse goodness in me who am existing? Is it a difficult task for Him? After all, what is His objective in creation -- to pick out atleast a few mumukShus after the refinement of chetanas. Obtaining mumukshus is for His pleasure. hriShIkEsha -- At the beginning of creation, there was no diversion for the souls to stray from God. Now there are the incorrigible sense organs and the objects for indulgence, to drag the souls away from God. Hence You can control the senses and help me by reining my senses. "Yo vAchi tiShThan , yashchakShuShi tiShThan " etc. I, the chetana, is ever since creation, submissive to the sense organs.

Even if one is omnipotent why will anyone do what all he can? - because You are MahApurusha -- You are omnipotent, but do You use Your potency? yes, You are the greatest of all liberal, munificent persons. You gift the desires of Your bhaktas so profusely that they do not have to beg You again. You and Your assets are all spread out for the benefit of Your devotees. (cf. sa sarvAn arthinO drishTvA samEtya pratinandya cha). This munificence is explained in practice, next. pUrvaja -- in creation, in incarnation and in being upAya, You are at the head of all gains and losses. In every event, the gains, fruits and losses are primarily Yours. Just as in 'bahusyam prajAyEya' the benefit and pride of descending through many bodies, is His own, so also, in 'EkAkI na ramEta', the displeasure of loneliness is also His own. Even in incarnation, as in 'sambhavAmi Atma mAyayA' the incarnation is by His free will for the sake of steering a few good souls towards Himself. If one asks that He took birth owing to the pleas of devas, as in 'sa hi devair arthito jajne' ; the answer is no; it was an excuse; but protection of saadhus was His main benefit; as in ' paritrANAya sadhUnAm'. This is just as in the case of Arjuna; in the guise of encouraging him to wage war, Krishna discoursed on the yoga of bhakti towards Himself. As in 'upAyopEyatve tadiha tava tatvam', just as the virtue of upEyatva is eternal to Him, so also the virtue of upAyatva. His upAyatva does not surface merely when a chetana accepts Him. Sri Parasara Bhattar said in SriRangarajastavam --

"Upanishat declares that SrimanNarayaNa, appropriates for Himself for His own benefit, all the chits and achits by the processes of creation, control and protection. So UpAyatva and UpEyatva are His Svarupa and not mere qualities. Therefore, You who sleeps in Srirangam, I do take refuge in You without any pretext and subterfuge ".

Even during the time of bhoga or enjoyment, He, to show His precedence over the gopis in five lakh houses, keeps the flute over His mouth and plays it. And for a chetana who develops a keen desire to sustain this bhoga, uninterruptedly, He shows him the way so that he may not have to search for Him and awaits his arrival at the Vaikuntham along with His consort Shree. (ShriyA sArdham jagatpati: AsthE Vishnur achinthyAtmA bhaktair bhAgavathais saha).