Swamy Desikan-9 NikshEpa raksha- thUppul maNdapam kaimkaryam apeeal

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SrI:

SrImathe Ramanujaya namah:

SrImathe Nigamantha mahadesikaya namah:

SrImAn venkatanAthAryaH kavitArkika kesarI |

vedAntAcArya-varyome sannidhattAm sadA hRdi ||

 

May the glorious Venkatanatha, the greatest of teachers of Vedanta, and the

lion among poets and debaters, reside forever in my heart.

 

Dearest Srivaishnavas,

 

I am continuing on my appeal and posts on Swamy Desikan and appeal for

Thuppul maNdapam kaimkaryam. URL:

http://www.geocities.com/lsriniva/thoopulappeal.html

It is my humble request to please contribute your mite towards this

kaimkaryam, as remembering Acharyan, and talking alone will not suffice.

 

Let us continue to enjoy Swamy’s GREAT works.

 

VaaditrayakaNdana is held to be the work of the Acharya refuting the views

of Sankara, Bhaskara and yaadavaprakasa. The authorship of this for the

Acharya is doubtful.

 

The sixth work is SeswaramImAmsa which intends to prove that the

PoorvamImAmsa system is part of Vedantha system. Jaimini is stated to have

treated in his sutras the deeds (karma) in order that people could attend to

their duties without leaving them altogether. It is further shown that

Jaimini was not against admitting Brahman as the Ultimate Reality. This

independent work, containing criticisms and elaborate expositions of the

system of Jaimini, though, it appears, on the face of it, to be a commentary

on the adhikaraNAs 1 and 2 of the first chapter; beyond which the work was

not written.

 

MImAmsapAdukA is the seventh work in 173 stanzas giving a summary of the

tenets of the mImAmsa system as acceptable in the light of those of the

Vedanta system.

 

The second group contains three works all ending with the work raksha in

their titles. Among these, NikshEpa raksha which is written in the saastraic

lines of reasoning and arguments, has two parts. The first part states the

prima facie (Poorva paksham) view that the doctrine of self –surrender is

invalid in as much as its nature, characteristics and difficulties in

putting it into practice loom large. Besides there is no valid authority in

its favour.

 

The author devotes the latter part of the work to the rejection of this view

and establishes the doctrine on valid grounds. The title nikshEparaksha

receives justification on the ground that the doctrine of self-surrender

(saraNagathy) gets well fortified.

 

Prapatti or SaraNagathi was being observed as a direct means to mOksham,

even before Ramanuja and Ramanuja gave a reorientation to it in his

Gadyatrayam. It is known from the jitantE sthOthram, that prapatti is a

direct and sufficient means to mOksham. Even for the commencement of Bhakto

yOgam, Prapatti is absolutely essential. It is the grace of the Supreme Most

compassionate Lord who grants the fruit of any sAdhana as siddOpAyam, while

Bhakti yOgam and Paraptti is the saadhyOpAyam.

 

Swamy Sri Vedantha Desikan’s Srimad Rahasyatraya saaram has stood as an

authority on the religion of SaranAgathy. Desika deals exclusively with

SaraNagathi in a number of his sthOthras also, such as nyAsa dasakam,

SaraNagathi Deepika, nyAsa thilakam, Nyasa vimsathi. Aaikkalappatthu, a

prabandham in Tamil, deals with this doctrine of self-surrender. More than

all these, Vedantha Desika wrote a work in Sanskritm namely nikshEpa rakshaa

in defense of prapatti. NikshEpa raksha os one of the finest granthas

written by Swamy Desikan ( says Dr. Sri NS Anantharangachar in his article)

 

The second wwork of this kind is Saccharitharaksha, which is divided into

three parts with the titles:

 

SudharsanapaanchajanyadhAranavidhi

UrdhvapuNdra dhAraNa vidhi

BhagavannivEdhithOpAyOga vidhi

 

Of these, the first enjoins the sacrament of a Vaishnava’s having the marks

of Chakra and Sanghu. The second division stresses the need to wear the

UrdhvapuNdram (vertical sacred mark) on the forehead with white mud with

streak of red or yellow ochre in the middle. Third division stresses that

the food prepared for consumption is to be offered to the Lord first and

then only to be partaken by others in their houses. These three acts mark

the good conduct of a Vaishnava and Swamy Desikan establishes them with

saashthra pramANam.

 

The Paancharaathraraksha is the third work in which Acharya indicates the

validity of the Paancharaathra Agama. Siddhaantha vyavasthapana,

Nithyanusanthanasthaapana and Nityavyakhyana are the titles of three

divisions of this work. This Agama is of four kinds, which are Agama

siddhaantha, Manthra siddhaantha, tanthra siddhaantha and Tantrantura

Siddhaantha. Each is defined and the scope of its application is indicated.

The second division describes the practice of the daily routine which is

divided into five parts, namely, abhigamana, upAdAna, IjyA, swAdhyAya and

yoga. The third division is devoted to the exposition of Sri Ramanuja’s

nithya, a work on the method of worshipping God. The Paancharaathra raksha

thus establishes tenets of Paancharaathra, which are made well secured in

this work of Vedantha AchArya.

 

Please donate according to your shakthi. The money can be sent to "Thuppul

Trust" and the address is:

 

Thuppul Trust

Old No.20, New No.24, Thiruvengadam Street

West Mambalam, Chennai-600033, India

Phone No: 91-44-4741559 / 91-44-3715771

 

Please contact Sri. V.K. Sudharshan at vksudarsh or Sri Lakshmi N

Srinivasa lsriniva (He can collect and send it as single amount

in USA).

 

The address:

 

Lakshminarasimhan Srinivasa

3 Old Towne Road, #212

Ayer, MA-01432

 

For those in the South East Asia, please contact me at

srivaishnavan . Please pass on this kaimkaryam to as many people

as possible in order to complete the same.

 

kavi-tArkika-simhAya kalyANa-guNa-SAline |

Srimate venkateSAya vedAntagurave namaH ||

 

Salutations to Sri Venkatesa, in whom all perfection resides, who is the

teacher of Vedanta and the lion among poets and debaters!

 

Swamy Desikan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Regards

Narayana Narayana

NarayaNa dAsan madhavakkannan

 

 

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