SaraNAgathi Journal : Why ?

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SrimathE Vaatsya VaradArya MahA GuravE nama:

GuravE VaradAryAya kurvImahi namskriyAm I

yath padhAmbhOja sEvA na: sudhE VedAntha sampathAm II

 

Dear Friends :

 

NadAtUr ammAL is the other name of the great AchArya ,

who is revered as Vaatsa VaradArya MahA Guru . Lord

VaradarAjA Of Kanchi wondered loud , whether this

servant of His is His ammA ( Mother ) , because of

the tenderness with which he served the Lord milk

at the right temperature every day . It was, neither too hot

nor too cold , but of the most enjoyable soodu ( parama hitham ) .

The Lord of Kanchi was moved by the solicitiousness

of His bahkthA for His comfort during the occasion of

the drinking of the milk served at the right temperature

by NadAthur Vaatsya VaradAchAr . Lord VaradarajA ,

who has no parents inquired appropriately , " yen

ammAvO ? " . From then on , this parama bhakthA

of Kanchi VaradarAjan got the name of NadaathUr

ammAL . He came from the agrahAram

of NadAthur near Kanchipuram . Such a personal relationship

and affectionate kaimkaryam to the Lord is typical of MahA

BhakthAs of the Lord . Five centuries later ,

Saint ThyagarajA conversed with his upaasanA mUrthy ,

Sri RamachandrA at ThiruvayAru , and invited

Sri RamA with affection to partake the milk that he

had prepared for NaivEdhyam :" aaragimpavE ,

paalaragimpavE " ( Sri Rama ! my dear One !

pray drink this milk ) .

 

Sri NadAthuR ammAL was a renowned occupier of

the throne of intrepretation of Sri Bhaashyam of

AchArya RaamAnujA . Hence, he was revered as

Sri Bhaashya SimhAsanAdhipathi . He wanted to

personally initate Sri VedAntha Desikan . He felt

however that he was too old to complete the initiation

of Sri Vedantha Desikan .He recognized that

the child that stood before him with unusual tejas

in his kalakshEpa ghOshti at the temple of

of Kanchi VaradarAjan will one day blossom into

a great Sri VaishNavite AchArya and therefore he

entrusted the ubhaya VedAnthA instruction of

Sri VedAntha Desikan to his disciple , KidAmbi

ApuLLAr .

 

Sri NadAthur AmmAL blessed us with a grantham

revered as " Prapanna PaarijAtham " . It contains

150 slOkams put together by him as the essence of

Lakshmi Tantram , VishvaksEna samhithai and

other source works to help us understand the

intricacies of SaraNAgathi .

 

PaarijAtham is the kalpaka vruksham that confers

the desired boons on those , who seek such boons from it.

Since this grantham yields to the righteous (satthus)

prapannAs all they wish to know about the means of

attaining the Lord's sacred feet through prapatthi and

yields them ultimately Moksha Siddhi , it is called Prapanna-

paarijAtham . Commentators have observed that those

who read this grantham , understand it and observe

the doctrines recommended for practise there become

true prapannAs and attain Moksha siddhi .

 

This work deals with the following sub-topics :

 

1. The righteousness ( sev-vai) and the majesty of

the upAya Vishaya PramANam , Prapatthi

( the chapter , PramANa prapatthi deals with

the Vedic origins of Prapatthi )

 

2. The adhikAri for that Prapatthi

( AdhikAri prapatthi: Who is eligible ?)

 

3. The svarUpam of that Prapatthi

( SvarUpa Prapatthi : Nature of Prapatthi )

 

4. The conduct of PrapannAs ( those who engaged

in the practise of the Prapatthi yOgam ) towards :

(a) the AchAryAs (b) Lord / Thirumaal © Nithya sUris

and (d) BhagavathAs

 

Guru UpAsana paddhathi , Bhagavadh paricharyA paddhathi ,

Bhagavdh parijanOpAsanA paddhathi , sadhupAsanA

paddhathi are the chapter headings for discussions

on these topics.

 

(5) Their conduct in observing the most essential of the

recommendations of SaasthrAs (Vihitha VyavasthAna

paddhathi )

 

(6) Observances and acts that must be discarded

by them ( Varjaneeya Paddhathi )

 

(7) The fruit of that Prapatthi ( PalOdhaya Paddhathi ).

 

When one understands the SaraNAgathi/Prapatthi

vishayam assembled in the above chapters and

observes them as revealed to us by this great AchAryan ,

there is no doubt about gaining the full fruit of Prapatthi

yOgam and getting the boon of Nithya Kaimkaryam

to the Divya Dampathis in parama padham in

the company of Nithya sUris .

 

The saraNAgathi magazine was started recently to focus

on these areas to become familiar with source granthAs of

AchAryAs that preceded and followed NadAthUr ammAL .

Since the postings would be some what rich with original

quotations and therefore would be somewhat "heavy " ,

this SaraNAgathi journal was coceived to be a be

a compliment to the more informal postings in the Bhakthi list .

 

I will conclude this introductory posting with a definition of

the Compound word " SaraNAgathi " . NaadAthur ammAL splits

" saraNAgathi " into two words : SaraNam and aagathi .

SaraNam means upAyam ; aagathi means "varuhai " in

Tamil or arrival at the conclusion . When one unites the two

words , it refers to the conclusion of the PrapannA that

the Lord is the only upAyam for his or her protection .

PrapannA states clearly that the Lord alone is his or her

upAyam and concedes in a mature way that the rest of the upAyams

(means ) will not yield the fruit of moksham . The prapannan

lays thus the burden of protecting himself and the fruits of

such protection as not his , but that of the Lord as stated

in the first slOkam of NyAsa Dasakam :

 

aham madhrakshaNabharO madhrakshaNa palam tathA I

na mama SripathErEvEthi aathmAnam nikshipEth bhudha :II

 

Thus the prapannan practises saraNAgathi sAsthra anushtAnam

( SvarUpa , Bhara and pala samarpaNams ) and becomes

free from worries about his protection . This is the SaraNAgathi

with its five limbs ( AanukUlya sankalpam , PrAthkUlya

varjanam, KaarpaNyam , MahA vivAsam and gOpthruva

VaraNam ) known by its other names such as Bhara SamarpaNam ,

Aathma NikshEpam , Bhara NyAsam , Aathma nivEhanam

and prapatthi .

 

Sri VaradArya mahA GuravE nama:

 

ahimsA prathamam pushpam

pushpam indriya nigraha: I

sarva bhUtha dayA pushpam

kshamA pushpam visEshadha : I

j~nAnam pushpam Tapa: pushpam

DhyAnam pushpam tadhaiva cha I

sathyamashtavidham pushpam

VishNO: preethikaram bhavEth II

 

Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan