VaishNava Dinasari: The daily observances for Sri VaishNavAs, The 19th of the Desika Prabhandhams : Part 1

[Guest guest]

Dear BhakthAs :

 

One of the dear members of the Bhakthi list asked me

to write a summary of Swami Desikan's VaishNava Dinasari,

which deals with the rites to be observed by a Sri VaishNavan

every day in his life . The Sri VaishNavite ladies have their own

observances for the day , which ties in with the ones

dscribed by Swami Desikan .Here I will stay with the Desika-

Prabhandham of ten verses set in Tamil in a short metre

called kali Viruttham .

 

This prbhandham is dedicated to Swami Desikan's nithya

AarAdhana mUrthy , Sri Varadaraajan . At home or during his travels ,

Swami always performed AarAdhanam to Sri VaradarAjan and Sri HayagrIvan

after his daily unchivruthti .Those AarAdhana mUrthys travelled on

his head in his Madisanji ( the bag made of special cloth for carrying

Vasthrams , ThirumaNN petti and SaaLagramams and

Aaradhana mUrthys without theetu by VaidhikAs).

 

Like AchArya RaamAnujA , who left for us a Sanskrit

Sri Sookthi (auspicious literary work) named nithyam

to instruct us on the daily observances , Swami Desikan

out of his infinite mercy for us created this work

called Sri VaishNava Dinasari and placed it at the lotus

feet of Kanchi Sri VaradarAjan .

 

Structure of this Prabhandham

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A day in Sri VaishNavA's life is split into five parts.

Each of these five divisions in time from waking up in

the morning to resting at night is allocated one observance.

Thus there are five different observances for the five divisions

of the time , when a Sri VaishNavan is awake . These are ordianed

by SaasthrAs .The other observances known as snAnam ( bath) ,

Vasthra DhAraNam , Wearing of the PuNdrams ( ThirumaNN Kaappu),

Sri ChoorNa DhyAanam , SandhyA vandhanam forming part of

the Ushath Kaala dharmams ( rites at Dawn) are not included

in the Sri VaishNava Dinasari for the sake of brevity by

Swami Desikan . The manthrAs for all of these and other

procedures associated with them form the heart of Ahnikam .

The Ahnikam(daily observances ) is learned as formal

KaalakshEpam at our AchAryan's sacred feet prior to

Grantha Chathutaya KaalakshEpam (Learning of Sri BhAshyam ,

GithA BhAshyam , The AaRAyira PaDi of PiLLAn and Srimath

Rahasya Thraya Saaram by Swami Desikan ).

 

The ancient five observances described for our daily use are :

 

(1) Abhigamanam :The Sanskrit route , " Abhigam " means

going near or to approach . This is the approaching of

the Lord for permission (anuj~nai) to start the day

in the right frame of mind to celebrate Him . The Sri-

VaishNavan prays to the Lord to remove all obstacles

that might interfere with the daily observances ordained

by the Lord and seeks His blessings to ward them off .

 

(2) UpAdhAnam : This sanskrit word means acquisiton or obtaining.

It has two subdivisions :(a) The collection or acquisition of

TuLasi, Flowers and other items needed for Bhagavath AarAdhanam .

(b)Since one's purity of mind is very important for Bhagavath-

AarAdhanam , one recites the Sri Sookthis of AzhwArs and AchAryAs

for the purification of one's mind as one goes about collecting

the SaamagriyAs (required materials) for the daily AarAdhanam .

 

(3) Ijyai: This Sanskrit word arises from the root Yajj .Ijyai

means worship. It has also other meanings such as the Supreme

being and Union .For our purposes , we can translate Ijyai as

AarAdhanam for the Supreme Being in the Saasthraic manner

ordained by Paancha Raathra or VaikAnasa Aagamams .

 

(4) SvAdhyAyam : This celebrated Vedic word ( Taittiriya Upanishad:

SikshA Valli: Section 9; " Rutham cha svAdhyAya PravachanE cha--)

means the study and preaching of VedAs and Upanishads ( Sanskritic

and Tamil VedAs).

 

(5) Yogam: The meditation on the Lotus feet of the Lord and

the prayer for the lord to accept our head at His sacred

feet during our time of sleep as well .

 

Swami Desikan has two Tamil Verses for each of these five

divisions of the time of the day . Thus there are 10 (5X2)

verses in this Prabhandham dedicated to Athtigiri AruLALan

of Kaanchipuram presiding at Hasthigiri under

PuNyakOti VimAnam along with PerumdEvi ThAyAr.

 

In the next and concluding part , I will cover the meanings

of the ten verses of Sri VaishNava Dinasari by Swami Desikan

without quoting the original Tamil verses and provide breif

clarificatory points as needed .

 

Swami Desikan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,

Daasan ,Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan