Agrepasyaami is the sloka rendered in Narayaneeyam, a summary study in poetic form of the Bhagavata Purana. It was composed by Melpathur Narayana Bhattathiri, a devotee-poet who lived in the Indian state of Kerala, in the sixteenth century AD .The Narayaneeyam condenses the Bhagavata Purana into 1036 verses, divided into one hundred dasakas, or cantos.
Legend of Narayaneeyam:
According to local legends, Bhattadri had a Guru by the name of Achyuta Pisharati, who fell victim to a severe attack of paralysis, and suffered unbearable pain. Bhattadri desired to find a cure for his master and fervently prayed for the disease to be transferred to himself, freeing his Guru from suffering. According to the legend, Lord Krishna granted Bhattadri his wish, and he soon became a cripple.
Once, when Bhattadri, was carried into the Guruvayur temple, he met Tunchath Ezhuthachan, an eminent Malayalam poet of the time. Ezhuthachan advised Bhattadri that he could be cured if he "began his treatment with fish". The disciples of Bhattadri who heard this were shocked because Bhattadri was a devout Hindu and therefore a vegetarian who would consider it sinful to eat fish. Bhattadri however understood what Ezhuthachan really meant - that he would be cured if he could compose a hymn glorifying the incarnations of Lord Krishna beginning with the fish incarnation, known as Matsya.
Accordingly, he started composing the Narayaneeyam. It is said that he would recite one dasaka, consisting of ten verses, every day. The local legend says that on the hundredth day he had a vision of the Lord, and rendered a graphic description of this form, after which he was immediately cured of his disease. So it meant that one who recites Narayaneeyam, would be cured of all sorts of ailments with blessings of Lord Krishna.
Agrepasyaami is the 100th daskam of Narayaneeyam that visualizs Lord Krishna.
AgrE pasyAmi ThEjOniBhidatarakalaayaavaleelObhaneeyam
PeeyooshaaplaavithOham Tadhanu ThadudharE DhivyakaisOravEsham
ThaaruNyArambharamyam ParamasukharasaaswaatharOmaanchithaangai-
Raaveetham NaaradhadhyairvilasadhupanishathsundareemaNDalaisccha ||
The sloka means: " Oh Guruvaayurappa ! I see in your sannidhi a bright blue thEjas(effulgence) having the hue of KaasAmpoo (KalAya Flower) pushpa cluster .I am now immersed in that deep nectarine experience . Next I see in the middle of that blue effulgence , a beautiful child at the beginning of youth and surrounded by admirers like Sage NaaradhA with joyous horripulation and the various Upanishads in the form of lovely ladies singing Your praise" .
