Archiradhi of Sri Pillai Lokacharya - Part 1

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Dear Members

 

Archiradhi is one of the 18 rahasyas of Sri Pillai Lokacharya. This text

describes the path to Vaikunth taken by a muktatma. This written in

Manipravala Style and grouped in four prakaranas (or chapters). The

first chapter address the typed of world and the longings of the soul to

reach paramapadam. The second chapter describes the path the soul takes

to reach paramapadam. The third chapter gives a detailed account of the

Vaikunthanatha starting with the thirumeni all the way down to the toe

nails. The final chapter describes a sample conversation between the

muktatma and Perumal, before the atma is admitted into Vaikuntham.

 

The translation presented here is from Ms.M. S. Ramesh's book on Divya

Desams published by TTD.

 

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Sri Pillai Lokacharya wrote 18 rahasyas i.e. books expounding the

fundamental vaishnavite philosophy and shastras. The Archiradhi is one

such rahasya, written in manipravala style i.e. a mixture of Sanskrit

and Tamil. It is believed that there are four ways or paths to attain

moksha. They are:

 

1.Garbhagathi

2.Yama gathi

3.Dhooma gathi

4.Archiradhi gathi

 

The first three are for ordinary, sinful mortals where the soul has o go

through Narakanubhavam i.e. hell before attaining moksha, if at all it

is blessed as to attain moksha. Archiradhi gathi however describes the

path to moksha exclusively reserved for mumukshus i.e. great souls.

Archiradhi means a praiseworthy, gathi means path to paramapada.

Archiradhi gathi has four prakaranas (chapters). This describes the path

taken by a muktatma (gnani) while ataining moksha. More or less the

description given here of the route to Vaikuntha compares with what

Nammalwar described in Soozh visumbu adi.

 

Chapter 1:

 

Lakshminayakan, the rahasya says is the master of the entire world. The

world consists of nitya vibhooti and leela vibhooti. Nitya vibhooti is

Paramapada. The rest of the world is leela vibhooti. The people living

in the nitya vibhooti are also referred to as those residing in Bogha

vibhooti that is to say, they are staying in Paramapada enjoying the

company of Baghavan. They are under the suzeranity of Baghavan Who rules

them seated under a white umbrella. That is to say God is the sole

monarch in Paramapada. He is the ultimate and only master. The use of

the words "Ekatha pathram" i.e. a white umbrella is used to denote the

usual insignia of a king. In other words, it refers to Eka

Chatradhipatyam or sweta chatradhipatyam.

 

Those who are staying in leela vibhooti are in direct contrast to the

lucky residents of Paramapada. Unlike the people in Paramapada those

living in leela vibhooti are not accustomed to implicit obedience of

orders. While those in Paramapada would bend their heads out of respect

before the sincere devotees of Perumal, those in leela vibhooti will

behave in the exact opposite manner and will show scant respect for the

pious devotees. Instead each and everyone of them claim that they are

the master. Having made the tall claim that they are the masters, they

think that all the things in the world belong to them. While those in

Paramapada worship only one God i.e. Narayana as the Supreme Lord, in

sharp contrast those living in leela vibhooti sing the praises of any

number of gods. In short, people in Leela vibhooti suffer from

"aharnkara" and "mamakara" i.e. from the illnesses of arrogance and

attachment.

 

It is said that the behaviour of the people in leela vibhooti will be as

follows:

 

Unlike the people in Paramapada these residents will lay claim to fame

or name. They are not intelligent. Unlike those in Paramapada whose body

has a shining glow of purity, those living in leela vibhooti have a

sinful body. While those in Paramapada will be praised by the devas as

great souls and will always have the sole objective of doing kainkarya

i.e. service to God, not so much to please themselves as to please Him,

those in leela vibhooti do not know what it is to render service to God.

Instead, they become the slaves of Manmadha and run behind sensual

pleasures. They do not realise that God is the one and only whole truth.

They do not bow down before the Perumal who holds the chakra and the

shanku in His hand. Instead they follow the path dictated by their

bodily pleasures. Instead of saying that their sole objective and

purpose in life is to attain God, they find various methods to get

separated from God and to go far away from God. They escape the long

reach of the benign helpful hands of Bhagavan. They get lost in the

evanascent pleasures of the world and go far away from the grace of the

God.

 

The above is the description of the people residing in the leela

vibhooti as given by Sri Pillai Lokacharya in his book. It is painful

and amazing that this description of the world given so long ago should

hold good even today.