H.H. The Ahobila Matam Jeeyar's third UpanyAsam : Part III

[Guest guest]

ear BhakthAs :

 

In this concluding posting on Hitham ( SaraNAgathi),

I will cover the rest of the content of the divya

UpadEsam by the revered Jeeyar . He was speaking to us

from Srirangam . Hence Sri RanganAthA was very much on his mind

and he quoted the famous NyAsa Tilaka SlOkam of Swami Desikan ,

where he asks his mind to banish all worries because of

Sri Ranganathan accepting the SaraNAgathi performed by

the SadAchAryan ." DhatthE Rangi" were the key words .

He pointed out that the Lord looks for AchAryA's "order"

to approve SaraNAgathi of a Prapannan .

 

In this context , H.H. The Jeeyar quoted a slOkam from

Saakunthalam of the MahA Kavi, KaaLI Daasan , where Dushyanthan

as the just king consoles an orphaned girl . The merciful

king says : I will stand in the position of your father

and protect you; I will stand in the sthAnam of your mother

and stand by you . When he moves on to another role model ,

(viz)., husband , there is a delicacy . He senses it and

delicately side steps any misunderstanding , when he says

that he will stand in the position of her( orphaned girl )

husband and protect her from harm' way . King DushyanthA

states that he will stand in the sthAnam of her BharthA

and remove her worries .DushyanthA was not her husband and

hence there is delicacy in him offering to stand in the role

of her husband . He implies that he will stand in a sinless

way in the role of her husband . H.H. The Jeeyar pointed out

here that Our Lord the SaraNyan is not a karma bhandhu to

the suffering Jeevan , but a NirupAdhika Bhandhu .

Unlike karma ( sObhAdhika ) bhandhuthvam (relationship) ,

NiruphAdhika Bhandhuthvam has no conditions or limitations

or delicacies caused by time or environment or sarIram .

 

Blessed by sEshathva Jn~Anam , we comprehend our

inalienable bonds (relationship ) of ours as sEsha bhUthAs

to the SARVA SESHI . Thus He is our NiruphAdhika husband

as well . He is NiyanthA and we are niyAmyans . Our relationship

as pathnIs to the Lord is only natural . Unlike Dushyanthan's

well meant statement that he will stand in the role of

the husband , there is no delicacy associated with the

Lord's role as our BirthA (Husband ). He is indeed our

protector , Sarva Swami .

 

KaaLi DaasA's poem of consolation to the sorrowing girl

has the following key words in the body of the slOkam :

yEna yEna , ahamEva , sudhushkarENa , sOkathyA , thyajyantha.

Swami Desikan's imagination took off from this slOkam of MahA Kavi

and reorganized (elevated ) it to describe the role of the

Lord as Sarva Rakshakan . He pointed out that the thoughts

housed in that slOkam paraphrasing KaaLi Daasaa's kingly

statement is the essence of Charama SlOkam of the Emperor

of all Universes , Sri ParthasArathy and is the answer

to recover all of our nashta (lost )Isvaryam ( wealth /

svarUpa Jn~Anam as sesha bhUthans of the Sarva sEshi ).

Since this slokam is the essence of SaraNAgathi , Swami

Desikan gave it prominence in the Charama SlOkaadhikAram

chapter of his Rahasya thrya Saaram and Taatparya Chandhrikai .

The famous slOkam is a sfollows :

 

sudhushkarENa sOchEth yO yEna yEna ishta hEthunA

sa sa TasyaahamEvEthi charam SlOka sangraha:

 

Swami Desikan's imagination created this slOkam

a la KaaLi Daasan , but his PramANams came from

Ahirbhudnya Samhithai (ABS :37-25,26,27 )passages

dealing with the magnificence of the fruits of

SaraNAgathi (Moksham ) , which can not be attained

easily by Bhakthi or Jn~Ana or Karma Yogaa routes .

Our Lord stands in the place of all of these paths

and grants us Moksham through the practise of

easy-to-perform Prapatthi Yogam through an Acharyan .

 

Two of the ABS Samhithai slOkams housing these assurances

of the superiortiy of Prapatthi Yogam provide the basis of

Swami Desikan"s " SudhushkarENa --" slokam are :

 

yadhyEna kaama kaamEna na saadhyam sadhanAntharai :

MumukshuNA yath saankhyEna yOgEna na cha Bhakthitha:

 

prApyathE paramam dhAma yathO naavarthathE Yathi:

thEna thENApyathE tatth tAtthath nyAsEnaiva mahaamunE

ParamAthmA cha thEnaiva SaadhyathE PurushOtthama :

 

(meaning ) : Oh Great Sage ! Prapatthi yields for

a Mumkshu ( the one who longs for Moksham )the phalans

that are not attainable by the practise of Bhakthi , Karma

and Jn~Ana Yogams . That Phalans yielded unquestionably

by Prapatthi are freedom from the cycles of birth and

residence in ParamAthmA's Sri Vaikuntam from where one

never returns to the karma BhUmi again .

 

"ThEna ThEna" stands for the Karma , Bhakthi and Jn~Ana

Yogams . These are SaadhanAntharams (alternate routes) .

They do not lead

us to the supreme effulgence in Sri Vaikuntam ( Paramam

DhAmam ). That phalan is attained only by NyAsam

( NyAsainEva praapyathE ).

 

Swami Desikan took the cue from ThEna ThEna in the samhithai

passage , heard the echoes of KaaLi Daasan's slOkam

Passage , "yEna yEna " and constructed the Charama

slOka sangraham :

 

SudhushkarENa sOchEth yO yEna yEna ishta hEthunA

sa sa TASY AHAM YeVA ITHI Charama slOka sangraha:

 

It is useful to understand the word by word meaning

of this important anushtup slOkam of Swami Desikan that

H.H.The Jeeyar quoted as a pramANam :

 

Ya: = the One

sudhushkarENa = by the act that is difficult to execute

yEna yEna= this , that and other means

ishta hEthunA = inability to perform those upAyams ( Bhakthi

Yogam et al )

sOchEth = and grieves over that incapacity

tasya = for him (maa sucha: )

sa: sa: = in place of those upAyams

aham yEva= I myself stand and fulfil them

through the simple and easy to perform

act of prapatthi to Me (aham thvA mOkshayishyAmi).

Charama slOka sangraha: = This is the quintessence of

BhagavAn's Charama slOkam

(MaamEkam SaraNam vraja).

 

( meaning ): The essence of CharamaslOkam is that

the Lord stands in place of the difficult to practise Bhakthi ,

Karma and Jn~Ana Yogams and grants the disspirited mumkshu

Moksham through the simple act of Prapatthi .

 

In the above anshtup metre slOkma of 32 aksharams ,

the first three quarters(paadhams) contain the essence of

Charama slOkam . The fourth paadham is the heading .

 

H.H. The Jeeyar quoted the SaraNAgathi gadhyam passages

of AchArya RaamAnujA's prayer to perform nithya kaimkaryam

to Sri RanganAthA inspite of his incapacity to perform

upayAntharams and appealing to the Lord to stand in

the place of those upayAntharams like Bhakthi and karma

yOgams and accept his prapatthi . He also referred to

GajEndhran's and Droupathi's prapatthis in their utter state

of helplessness. "yEna yEna " stands for these alternative ,

difficult-to-practise means ( upaayAntharams ).

 

Next , H.H.The Jeeyar quoted another slOkam of

KaaLi dAsA from Raghu Vamsa KhAvyam . At the beginning

of this mahA khAvyam , KaaLi dAsA compars his inabilities

to undertake this monumental task of creating a khAvyam

about the illustrious descendants of the Raghu lineage .

The poet compares himself to a dwarf , who jumps vainly

to reach the fruit on top of a tall branch of a tree .

He says people will laugh at his brave act (saahasam ).

The sudhushkaram act evoked by KaaLi dAsA in Raghu Vamsam

forms the basis of Swami Desikan's inspiration about

the futile efforts of the dwarf trying to santch the ripe

fruit on the top of a tall tree . H.H. The Jeeyar illustrated

the importance of AchArya Nishtai ( one of the methods of

Prapatthi ) to overcome our limitations of being dwarfs

( asakthAs , who do not have the power to practise

successfully the Bhakthi and other yOgams ) and yet

longing for the fruit of Moksham . He compared the AchAryAs

to a tall man , who can reach out and pick the fruit for

us effortlessly .

 

Swami Desikan in his 21st slOkam of NyAsa Tilakm compares

us with deficencies in practise of the other yOgams

to the blind one , who needs to be held by hand byto

one , who can see to reach his destination .He compares

us to the lame , who can not swim across ariver , but hs to

be transported by a boat man across the river and equates

the AchAryAs to those DayALus (most merciful ones )and

their help as AchArya Nishtai methosd of prapatthi .

Swami Desikan's exact words are :

 

tvath samprApthou prabhavathi tathA DesikO mE DhayALu :

( in the matter of reaching You, my Lord , the most

merciful AchAryAs are the most capable to help ).

 

H.H. The Jeeyar pointed out that donations of

millions of rupees as DhAnam for noble causes

would not lead us to Moksham . He instructed us that

dhAnams given without the performance of SaraNAgathi

will not lead us to Moksham . The first thing we have to do

is to return to the Lord His vasthu ( aathma ) and

cease thinking that it is ours . AathmApahAram has

to be recognized as the most heinous sin that stands

in our way to gain Moksham .H.H. The Jeeyar quoted the

48th SlOkam of Sri Deva Naayaka PanchAsath , where at

the end , Swami Desikan presents his aathmA to

the rightful owner and performs SaraNAgathi :

 

aathmApahAra rasikEna mayaiva dhattham

anyai: adhAryam adhunA VibhudhaikanAtha

sveekruthya dhArayithum arhasi maam tvadheeyam

ChOra upaneetha nija nUpUravath svapaadhE

 

This is one of the most beautiful slOkams with

layers of meaning and is about aathma samarpaNam

begging the Lord to take back His own property .

Swami compares the viparitha jn~Anam that makes one

think that he is the owner of the AathmA .

He compares it to the act of a thief ,

who steals the jewelery of the Lord and considers it as

his own property . When the thief gets true Jn~Anam

thru AchArya and understands his inability to protect

himself against the wrath of the Lord , he returns

the jewelery to the Lord and seeks His pardon

and is rightfully rewarded . H.H. The Jeeyar

quoted the first section of Parasara Bhattar's

Thirumanjana Kattiyam, where the deluded Jeevan

argues with the Lord about the ownership of AathmA

( thvam mE, ham mE , Kuthas Tath--) and concedes

finally that the Lord is the owner .This Kattiyam

has been covered in an earlier posting on

Parasara Bhattar .

 

This third UpanyAsam concluded with the recital

of the famous First NyAsa Dasaka SlOkam and

an appeal for us to reflect on its meaning

and perform SaraNAgathi as the parama Hitham :

 

aham madhrakshaNabharO madhrakshaNa pahalam tathA

na mama SripathErEvathyAthmAnam nikshipEth Budha:

 

The meanings of this and other nine slOkams of

NyAsa dasakam and its companion piece ,Adaikkalap-

patthu in Tamil has been covered in earlier saraNAgathi

Journal postings .The NyAsa dasakam is the most important

grantham for us to understand the importance

and grandeur of SaraNAgathi and the way to

perform it .

 

Azhagiya Singhar ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SadagOpan