śrī vyaṃkaṭeśa āratī

The Marathi āratī of Veṅkaṭeśa, sung with the refrain jaya deva jaya deva jaya Vyaṅkaṭeśā, calling him simply an ocean of compassion who fulfils what is hoped for. It opens by naming the hill rather than the god — you are the descent upon Śeṣācala, the one who carries us across — and notes that gods, sages and ordinary people all serve him with the same feeling, which is the levelling claim these Marathi āratīs tend to make. The second stanza is the more personal one: I meditate on you calling this place my own Vaikuṇṭha, and you show your qualities to all people alike; seeing your form, a strange happiness arises, and the mind grows firm in contemplating you. Vyaṅkaṭeśa is the Marathi form of the name, and the presence of this āratī reflects how far the Tirupati devotion travelled west.