Nyasa Dashakam
Nyasa Dashakam in English · English
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✦ Meaning
The Nyasa Dashakam ('Ten Verses on Surrender') is a concise masterpiece by the great Sri Vaishnava acharya Swami Vedanta Desika that distils the doctrine of prapatti (saranagati) — total self-surrender to Lord Narayana — into ten Sanskrit verses. Composed as Desika's own act of surrender at the feet of Lord Varadaraja of Kanchipuram, it sets out the conviction that the Lord alone bears the burden of protecting the soul, along with the five limbs of surrender. Sri Vaishnavas recite it daily during their household worship.
Origin & Story
Nyasa Dashakam (a stotra of ten verses on saranagati / prapatti) · Vedanta Desika (Venkatanatha) · 13th-14th century CE
Swami Vedanta Desika composed the Nyasa Dashakam as his own formal act of prapatti (self-surrender) at the feet of Lord Varadaraja of Kanchipuram. In ten verses he summarised the whole teaching of nyasam — that the burden and the fruit of protecting the soul belong to the Lord alone, that one surrenders with the five prescribed limbs, and that the surrendered soul should live as the Lord's eternal servant. Because it captures the distilled essence of saranagati, it became a daily recitation in Sri Vaishnava households.
✦ As told in scripture
It is traditionally said that whoever sincerely makes the surrender expressed in these ten verses need fear nothing thereafter, for the Lord Himself — as the final verse declares — has accepted the burden of their protection; thus the prapanna lives 'nirbhara,' wholly free of anxiety, secure in the Lord's promise never to forsake one who has taken refuge.
Complete Text with Meaning
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ahaṃ madrakṣaṇabharo madrakṣaṇaphalaṃ tathā | na mama śrīpaterevetyātmānaṃ nikṣiped budhaḥ || 1 ||
Meaning:Let the wise one surrender his self with the conviction: 'The burden of protecting me, and the fruit of that protection, are not mine; they belong to Sripati, the Lord of Lakshmi, alone.'
nyasyāmyakiñcanaḥ śrīmannanukūlo'nyavarjitaḥ | viśvāsaprārthanāpūrvamātmarakṣābharaṃ tvayi || 2 ||
Meaning:Destitute of any other means, favourable to You and having abandoned all else, with faith and earnest prayer I place upon You, O Lord of Sri, the entire burden of my own protection.
svāmī svaśeṣaṃ svavaśaṃ svabharatvena nirbharam | svadattasvadhiyā svārthaṃ svasmin nyasyati māṃ svayam || 3 ||
Meaning:The Master Himself, by the very understanding He has granted, places me — His own dependent, subject to Him, His own responsibility — wholly upon Himself, free of all burden.
śrīmannabhīṣṭavarada tvāmasmi śaraṇaṃ gataḥ | etaddehāvasāne māṃ tvatpādaṃ prāpaya svayam || 4 ||
Meaning:O Lord of Sri, bestower of every desired boon, I have taken refuge in You. At the close of this body, lead me Yourself to Your feet.
tvaccheṣatve sthiradhiyaṃ tvatprāptyekaprayojanam | niṣiddhakāmyarahitaṃ kuru māṃ nityakiṅkaram || 5 ||
Meaning:Make me firm in the conviction that I am wholly Yours, with union with You as my sole aim, free from forbidden and selfishly-motivated acts — make me Your eternal servant.
devībhūṣaṇahetyādijuṣṭasya bhagavaṃstava | nityaṃ niraparādheṣu kaiṅkaryeṣu niyuṅkṣva mām || 6 ||
Meaning:O Lord, adorned with Your Consort, Your ornaments and weapons, engage me forever in faultless services unto You.
māṃ madīyaṃ ca nikhilaṃ cetanācetanātmakam | svakaiṅkaryopakaraṇaṃ varada svīkuru svayam || 7 ||
Meaning:O bestower of boons, accept me and all that is mine — the entire sentient and insentient — as instruments of Your own service.
tvameva rakṣako'si me tvameva karuṇākaraḥ | na pravartaya pāpāni pravṛttāni nivāraya || 8 ||
Meaning:You alone are my protector; You alone are the abode of compassion. Do not let me fall into sins; and the sins already begun, ward them away.
akṛtyānāṃ ca karaṇaṃ kṛtyānāṃ varjanaṃ ca me | kṣamasva nikhilaṃ deva praṇatārtihara prabho || 9 ||
Meaning:O Lord who removes the distress of those who bow to You, forgive entirely my doing of forbidden acts and my neglect of prescribed duties.
śrīmanniyatapañcāṅgaṃ madrakṣaṇabharārpaṇam | acīkaratsvayaṃ svasminnato'hamiha nirbharaḥ || 10 ||
Meaning:The Lord with Sri has Himself caused this offering of the burden of my protection, complete with its five limbs, to be made unto Himself; therefore I now rest here utterly free of all anxiety.
Word-by-Word Meaning
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Benefits of Chanting Nyasa Dashakam
Embodies the complete doctrine of prapatti (saranagati) — total surrender to the Lord — in just ten verses
Frees the devotee from anxiety by placing the entire burden of self-protection upon Narayana
Recited daily by Sri Vaishnavas before household aradhana as a renewal of surrender
Cultivates the attitude of being an eternal servant (nitya-kinkara) engaged in faultless service
Seeks the Lord's forgiveness for all faults of commission and omission
Prays for the soul to be led to the Lord's feet at the end of this life
How to Chant Nyasa Dashakam
Sit cleanly before an image of Lord Narayana / Varadaraja, ideally after bathing. Recite the ten verses slowly with full awareness of their meaning, offering them as your own prayer of surrender ('I take refuge in You', 'protect me', and so on). Sri Vaishnavas traditionally recite the Nyasa Dashakam within their daily aradhana for Sriman Narayana. Conclude by resting in the conviction of verse ten — that the Lord has accepted the burden, and one is now free of anxiety.
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