SrI deSika stotra-s - 17. SrI acyuta Satakam - Part 3.

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SrI deSika stotra-s - 17. SrI acyuta Satakam Part 3.

 

10. The Life of a prapanna:

 

The main purpose to which a prapanna should devote his life in this

world is to do two things: a) to serve Him without any desire for

benefit; and b) to help other cetana-s by guiding them towards

realizing Him. In a sense, this second item is one way of serving Him,

and He keeps the prapanna in this world without taking him right away

to SrIvaikunTham just so the prapanna can devote his time to this

purpose in this world (61). This service of the prapanna serves as the

bridge which the cetana-s can use to cross the ocean of samsAra (62).

 

The prapanna is assured of moksham at the end of his/her life. In the

interim, the prapanna accepts the pains and pleasures in the rest of

this life as an expiation of the accumulated karma-s. Because of this,

the prapanna does not have any fear of death, and looks at death as a

bosom-friend visiting his home and welcomes death when it arrives,

whole-heartedly (63).

 

Seeing the aj~nAna or darkness in this world, the prapanna does service

to the Lord and to this world by lighting the torch of brahmaj~nAna and

passing it on to deserving Sishya-s. When this service is performed by

the prapanna, bhagavAn considers the prapanna's life's objective to

have been accomplished, and takes the prapanna to His abode of

SrIvaikunTham (64). Here the prapanna joins the goshTi of garuDa,

AdiSesha, and vishvaksena, and has uninterrupted bhagavad-anubhavam

while having all the bhoga-s equivalent to bhagavAn Himself (65).

 

11. The Greatness of prapatti and prapanna-s:

 

Bhakti and prapatti are the two means to attain moksham. Of these,

bhakti yoga requires the j~nAna and the Sakti to perform the j~nAna

yoga and the karma yoga, practicing which alone one will get the

maturity to undertake the bhakti yoga. Knowing the uncertainty and the

delay associated with this means for attaining moksha, people who

probably had the required j~nAna and Sakti to undertake bhakti mArgam,

still discard this as their preferred means for seeking moksham, and

instead perform prapatti at bhagavAn's Feet and attain moksham without

delay and with certainty (66).

 

The veda-s declare that human life-form is subservient to the deva-s,

and is meant to toil to please the deva-s. But while the human being

who performs prapatti is assured of attaining moksham, the likes of

indra who are superior to the human life-form by their position are

still accumulating karma-phalam and are thus going to go through the

cycle of birth and re-birth. These deva-s who had this human being as

their servant, all of a sudden come and prostrate in front of this

prapanna and worship him. The prapanna thus becomes the object of

worship of the deva-s not only after they reach SrIvaikunTham but in

this world as well (67).

 

12. The a'nga-s of prapatti:

 

These have been covered a few times before (SaraNAgati dIpikA Slokam

27; nyAsa vimSati 18; nyAsa daSakam 2, 10; etc.). The prapanna in

svAmi deSikan finds expression in Sloka-s 74 to 84. He submits to Lord

devanAyaka that he is realizing that all the yAga-s and other kAmya

karma-s that he has undertaken and continues to undertake are powerless

to yield the ultimate benefit, and that His Mercy alone can retrieve

him from the heaps of sins that he is committing all his life (74 to

80). He submits to the Lord the complete responsibility for his

protection (81).

 

13. The Importance of practices such as nAma samkIrtanam:

 

The most important first step for the darkness in our mind to disappear

and for us to turn to Him for surrender, is bhagavAn's kaTaksham and

anugraham itself (68). Simple practices such as nAma samkIrtanam

(chanting bhagavAn's name sincerely) will lead to deep-rooted devotion

to Him over time. These practices will remove the darkness in our

mind, will rejuvenate the soul so that we devote ourselves to His

service, and with His kaTaksham we will attain moksham. Thus the nAma

samkIrtanam will serve as the strong root on which the tree of moksham

will grow and rest. The nectar of nAma samkIrtanam has untold other

benefits (69).

 

14. The Importance of karma (Actions) Done Without Desire For Fruits:

 

svAmi deSikan has emphasized the essence of karma yoga in Slokam 70, as

described in SrImad bhagavad gItA (2.40 and 6.40). Any work that is

done with the ultimate benefit dedicated to Him and with no expectation

of benefit from this action, will always lead to ultimate release from

the bondage of samsAra. It is immaterial how small this effort is, or

how incomplete it is. There is no sin or other negative effect even if

this act is discontinued in the middle for any reason. This is

conveyed to us by Lord kr*shNa through Sloka 2.40 in the gItA -

nehAbhikrama nASo'sti pratyavAyo na vidyate | svalpamapyasya

dharmasya trAyate mahato bhayAt ||, and also in Slokam 6.40 - pArtha

naiveha nAmutra vinASastasya vidyate | na hi kalyANakRt kaScit

durgatim tAta gacchati ||.

 

15. svAmi deSikan on anya-devatA worship:

 

svAmi deSikan reiterates the simple reason why anya-devatA worship is

unnecessary for those who seek any benefit at all in life, and why it

does not make sense for one who is interested in moksha and nothing

else, in Sloka-s 71 and 72. All the other gods get their power to

bestow their devotee's wishes only by the Grace of SrIman nArAyaNa,

through the power that He bestows on them. They can smile on their

devotees only if He smiles on them. Without His Will, they don't have

any power. And then at best they can bestow some small benefits

compared to the ultimate benefit that He alone can give, viz. moksha.

This being the case, one can worship bhagavAn directly and get anything

one desires, instead of worshiping all the itara-devatA-s who are in

between Him and us.

 

There is an even more important reason why one who is interested in

moksha and nothing else should only worship SrIman nArAyaNa and no one

else. This has to do with a prapanna not even desiring any of the

benefits that the anya-devatA-s can bestow on them. So the

anya-devatA-s have nothing to give to the prapanna even if they are

extremely pleased (itara tridaSAh prasannAh kim hitam karishyanti? -

72). Given that the only benefit that is sought by a prapanna is

moksha and no other benefit, the only logical conclusion is that there

is no other worship except that of SrIman nArAyaNa that makes any

sense.

 

There are two gems that we have come across before, where svAmi deSikan

has conveyed the same idea, viz. nothing moves without His Will,

through beautiful rhyming poetry. These are: 1. in kAmAsikAshTakam

Slokam 8 - tvayi rakshati rakshakaih kimanyaih , tvayi cArakshati

rakshakaih kimanyaih; and 2. tvayi pravr*tte mama kim prayAsaih,

tvayyapravr*tte mam kim prayAsaih. Similar rhythmic poetry is what we

see in the current Slokam also - aprasAde aprasannAh, tava prasAde

dAsasatya prasannAh (71).

 

To be continued...

 

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan

 

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

These slokas of Vedanta Desika are wonderful. It just shows that practice

is more important than learning. I guess learning shastras / slokas are

important because it will tell us what is right and wrong. But doing what

is right and avoiding what is wrong is altogether a different matter. I

guess that is the difficult part. I guess adiyen has failed miserably on

the practice side, even after studying shastras for a considerable time.

 

adiyen Krishna