SrI deSika stotram - 15. SrI paramArtha stutih.

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SrI deSiks stotra-s - 15. SrI paramArtha stutih.

 

The meaning of the title is "Praise on the parama artha or the Ultimate

Goal". The title is chosen by svAmi deSikan himself, and is included in the

tenth and concluding Slokam of the stotra. SrI deSikan composed this in

praise of Lord rAma in the kshetra by name tirup-put-kuzhi near kA~nci. puL

means bird, and kuzhi mean "pit". This is the kshetra where Lord rAma laid

jaTAyu to rest in a pit and did the final cremation for jaTAyu, and this is

the basis for the name of the kshetra. Because of the connection of this

kshetram with jaTAyu, the pushkariNi here is called gr*dhra-saras (The Eagle

Lake?). As is the purpose of all the other stotra-s of svAmi deSikan, he

teaches us the SrI vaishNava precepts through the medium of SrI paramArtha

stuti, the topic of the current write-up.

 

1. Perhaps the most important lesson we learn from the life of jaTAyu is

covered in Slokam 7 of this stotram. When we do not seek the four kinds of

benefits in life - dharma, artha, kAma, and moksha, and instead dedicate our

life selflessly to the service of bhagavAn, He takes responsibility to

confer all benefits including moksha to such a jIvAtmA. This is evidenced

by the life of jaTAyu.

 

2. bhagavAn is like the pArijAta tree and bestows all that His devotees seek

from Him. For Him there is no distinction between His devotees - high and

low - when it comes to bestowing fruits or phalam (tu~ngaih atu~ngaiSca

praNataih gr*hyate phalam - Slokam 1). We all know that He is the only one

who can give the Ultimate Fruit viz. moksha, and this is guaranteed to

anyone who has surrendered to Him through prapatti. SrI rAmadeSikAcArya

svAmi nicely points out that irrespective of whether the devotees are rich

or poor, high caste or low caste, "tall or short", they all have to

ultimately stoop down (surrender) in order to get the fruit from this Tree.

Thus there is no distinction between the different jIva-s when it comes to

getting the fruits from this Tree. This also means that there is no

pre-requisite or pre-qualification for prapatti other than the sincere

commitment to prapatti.

 

3. Two great teachings are embedded in Slokam 2. svAmi deSikan conveys

these through his own example. In this Slokam, he expresses his deep

gratitude to bhagavAn and says that it is because of His blessings alone

that svAmi deSikan has been blessed with guru-s who are themselves

constantly meditating on Him, and it is as a result of their teachings that

he is now able to be always immersed in the guNa-s of bhagavAn and then to

proceed to compose these stotra-s on bhagavAn.

 

The lesson for us is that our AcArya-s play a major role in our attaining

bhagavAn. The second is that it is only by bhagavAn's Grace that we get

the right AcArya whose instructions turn our mind towards bhagavAn. The

greatness of AcArya-s and the role they play in our attaining Him have been

covered by svAmi deSikan in detail in his nyAsa vimSatih. There he points

out that the AcArya should be treated and worshipped like bhagavAn Himself

because of the great kindness and selfless dedication with which they steer

us in the path of prapatti.

 

4. In Slokam 3 svAmi deSikan prays to the Lord to bless him with the state

of mind where he will constantly meditate on the tirumeni of bhagavAn with

His divya Ayudha-s, AbharaNa-s, etc. The lesson to take for us that this

is one simple way to realize Him. In SaraNAgati dIpikA Sloma 22, he points

out:

 

- With a pure mind, if one meditates on bhagavAn's tirumeni, with His

lotus face and eyes, His divya Ayudha-s and AbharaNa-s, this is one way to

realize Him and derive unending peace of mind. This is called sAlambana

yoga, and is simple to follow. All sins are removed from such meditation.

 

5. Meditating on bhagavAn's nAma results in overcoming the internal enemies

to dhyAna such as desire, anger, etc., and it also gets rid of external foes

to the devotees. The first letter of praNavam represents protection which

is His function, and so He is in the forefront of protecting His devotees.

BhagavAn's being just seated in the front seat of the chariot of arjuna was

sufficient to ensure victory for arjuna and destruction of his enemies,

without the need for bhagavAn to do anything more (Slokam 4).

 

6. BhagavAn's determination to protect His devotees is like His undertaking

a yAga. svAmi deSikan nicely describes this guNa of bhagavAn in this

Slokam. He is constantly accompanied by His dharma patni, periya pitATTi,

which is a requirement for performing any yAga. For any yAga, there are

r*t-vik-s or the priest who officiate at the ceremony. In this case,

bhagavAn's kalyANa guNa-s such as His Infinite dayA are the officiating

priests. This is like the ahIna yaj~na (an unimpaired and long-lasting

yAga) that bhagavAn has undertaken to perform (Slokam 5).

 

7. The life of a prapanna, which has been described in detail by svAmi

deSikan in stotra-s such as nyAsa vimSatih, is summarized here in one Slokam

(Slokam 6). The people with true knowledge who know the difficulty of

performing bhakti yoga resort to prapatti mArga and surrender to that Ocean

of Mercy. They neither devote their mind to worship of other devatA-s, nor

do they expect any benefit from their worship other than moksha. They

devote themselves fully to His kaimkaryam and derive the pleasure of SrI

vaikunTham even this world.

 

8. The SaraNAgata vatsalan that bhagavAn is (SaraNAgata rakshaNa vratI), is

brought out in Slokam 8. Lord rAma declared during vibhIshaNa SAraNAgati

that even if the sinful rAvaNa came and sought surrender from bhagavAn, it

is His dharma to forgive the sinner and offer His protection. So all we

have to do to get His dayA is just unconditionally surrender to Him and do

selfless kaimkaryam to Him. It is this opportunity and anubhavam to do

selfless kaimkaryam to Him that nitya sUri-s such as tiru ananta AzhvAn and

periya tiruvaDi enjoy in SrI vaikunTham, and this same anubhavam and

enjoyment are

ours when we do prapatti to Him in this world and devote the rest of our

life to His selfless service (Slokam 9).

 

svAmi deSikan concludes the stotram by advising that this stotram in praise

of the perumAL in tirupputkuzhi should be chanted with SraddhA by

prapanna-s on a daily basis. He refers to this perumAL by the names raNa

pu~ngavan and Ahava pu~ngavan (He who excels in the art of warfare)

throughout the stotra (Sloka-s 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10). PerumAL here is also

known as SrI vijaya rAghavap perumAL, anAma with the same meaning (The

Victorious Lord rAghavan). It is easy to note that perumAL's soulabhya,

souSIlya, vAtsalya, vIrya, parAkrama, dayA, the ease and unfailing result of

prapatti, the importance of AcArya, etc. are all brought out in by svAmi

deSikan so vividly in such a short span of 10 Sloka-s.

 

-dAsan kr*shNamAcAryan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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