How to worship Hayagriva

 Who is Hayagriva

Hayagriva is an avatar of Maha Vishnu and is a Knowledge God along with Sri Dakshinamurti and Goddess Saraswathi. He features the head of a white horse and a human body with four arms. The meaning of the Sanskrit word, ‘Hayagriva,’ is the one with a horse head. He holds Panchajanya, a conch and Sudharshana, disc in his upper hands, and one of his lower hands has the four Vedas, while the other displays the Abhaya Mudra, the gesture assuring protection to his devotees and holds a Japa mala.

 

Legends of Hayagriva

There are two famous legends associated with the emergence of Hayagriva. According to Srimad Bhagavatam, during several yugas before, the two asura brothers, Madhu and Kaitabha, were hell-bent spread to spread anarchy and chaos in the world. They stole the Vedas, the four sacred texts, from Brahma, the creator. Without the Vedas, Lord Brahma could not carry on the task of creation, and chaos followed.

 

Unable to diffuse the situation on his own, Brahma surrendered to Maha Vishnu and prayed for his help. Moved by Brahma’s prayers and to ensure the continuation of the life cycle, Vishnu took the form of Hayagriva to kill the demons and retrieve the Vedas from them. Hayagriva fought the demons, killed Madhu and Kaitabha, saved the Vedas, and handed them over to Brahma.

 

According to Devi Bhagavatam, once the Devas faced huge distress from an asura called Hayagriva. He had a horse-head and got a boon from Mother Goddess that he could be killed only by a Hayagriva (horse-headed). Emboldened by the boon, the demon Hayagriva unleashed terror against devas and rishis. They surrendered to the Goddess and sought her intervention to save them from the torment. The Goddess appeared before them and consoled them that the evil deeds of Hayagriva had made his end imminent, and Vishnu would take the Hayagriva Avatar and kill the demon. As the Goddess promised to the Devas and sages, Vishnu took the form of the horse-headed Hayagriva and killed the demon.

 

The forms of Hayagriva

There are two forms of Hayagriva, Lakshmi Hayagriva and Yoga Hayagriva. In his Lakshmi Hayagriva form, he holds his consort, Lakshmi, on his lap and is seated on a lotus.

In the Yoga Hayagriva form, he is seated alone in a yogic form. Apart from the above forms, he is also found to be sitting in a padmasana pose.

There are not many individual temples for Hayagriva; however, most of the Vishnu temples of South India have separate Hayagriva shrines.

 

Hayagriva Stotram

Vedanta Desika, an erudite Sri Vaishnavaite scholar and acharya of the 13th century, and Sri Vadiraja, a famous Madhwa sect guru of the 15th century, are two famous devotees of Hayagriva. Both of them were incredibly devoted to Hayagriva and experienced his grace in full. There were many instances in their life that proved the greatness of Lord Hayagriva.

Both were scholars and have composed several stotras on Hayagriva. Even now, Vedanta Desika’s Hayagriva Stotram and Vadiraja’s Hayagriva Sampada Stortam are recited to invoke his blessings.

 

Desika Hayagriva Stotram

Desika Hayagriva Stotram consists of 33 shlokas, following are some excerpts from the Shloka.

Shriman Venkatnarthaye Kavitakirkkesari

Vedantacharyavaryo me Sannidhatam sada Hradi |

jñānānanda mayaṁ devaṁ nirmalasphaṭikākṛtim |

ādhāraṁ sarva vidyānāṁ hayagrīvam upāsmahe || 1 ||

 

svatassiddhaṁ śuddhasphaṭikamaṇi bhūbhṛtpratibhaṭaṁ

sudhā sadhrīcībhir dhutibhir avadātatribhuvanam |

anantaistrayyantair anuvihita heṣā halahalaṁ

hatāśeṣāvadyaṁ hayavadana mīḍī mahi mahaḥ || 2 ||

 

samāhārassāmnāṁ pratipadamṛcāṁ dhāma yajuṣāṁ

layaḥ pratyūhānāṁ lahari vitatirbodhajaladheḥ |

kathā darpakṣubhyat kathakakula kolāhalabhavaṁ

haratvantardhvāntaṁ hayavadana heṣā halahalaḥ || 3 ||

 

Hayagriva Sampada Stotram

jnaanaanamda mayam daevam nirmala sphatikaakrtim

adhaaram sarvavidyaanaam hayagreeva mupaasmahae ||

 

hayagreeva hayagreeva hayagreevaeti vaadinam

naram mumchamti paapaani daridramiva yoshita: ||

 

hayagreeva hayagreeva hayagreevaeti yo vadaet

tasya nissaratae vaanee jahnu kanyaa pravaahavat ||

 

hayagreeva hayagreeva hayagreevaeti yo dhvani:

visobhatae sa vaikumtha kavaatodghaatanakshama: ||

 

sloka trayamidam punyam hayagreeva padaamkitam

vaadiraaja yatiproktam pathataam sampadaam padam ||

 

Ithi Sri Madvadiraja poojyacharana virachita hayagreeva sampada stotram sampoornam ||

 

How to worship Hayagriva

• Performing of Hayagriva Homa at your home shall bring you Hayagriva’s blessings. If you are not able to conduct individual homa at home, you may participate in the collective Hayagriva homa performed at temples.
• You can visit Hayagriva temples and shrines and offer a garland made of cardamom.
• Reciting his stotrams and mantras will please him.
• Donating notebooks and stationaries to underprivileged children is an ideal way to invoke the blessings of Hayagriva.
• Donating grams and jaggery to horses is also an important ritual of Hayagriva worship.
• One can pray to Hayagriva before taking up exams or interviews.
• Before reciting Vedas, one can pray to Hayagriva and then start his recital as Hayagriva saved Vedas.

 

Benefits of Hayagriva worship

• One who worships Hayagriva will progress in knowledge.
• Hayagriva worship will shield the devotees from evil forces.
• Invoking Hayagriva helps to learn Vedas and other spiritual texts quickly.
• Children gain the confidence to face their exams without fear and score high marks.
• Hayagriva worship also ensures good career progress.