PART V, Swamy Desikan's Taathparya RathnAvaLi: 2nd SlOkam .

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Dec 16, 2001: Marghazhi ThingaL Dinam

 

ANDAL ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

 

SrI:

 

Sri RanganAtha ParabrahmaNE Nama:

 

Dear RasikAs of Swamy NammAzhwAr's dhivya prabhandhams:

 

On this sacred day , adiyEn will continue with the second

SlOkam of DTR:

 

Praj~nAkhyE manTasailE praTitha-guNa-ruchim nEthrayan samprAdhAyam

tatthal-labdhi-prasakthai: anupadhi vibhudhai:arTithO VenkatEsa:

talpam kalpAntha-yoona: SaDajith-upanishadh-dhugdha-sindhum vimaTnan

graTnAthi svAdhu-gAdhA-lahari-dasasathI: nirgatham rathna-jAtham

 

(meaning): This VenkatanATan of ThUppul through the help

of the churning rod (manTasailam) of VisEsha Jn~Anam

acquired from his AchAryAs churned Swamy NammAzhwAr's

ThiruvAimozhi (Upanishad Saaram in Tamil) with the rope of

SampradhAyam just as Sriman NaarAyaNan churned once the milky

ocean to bring out the nectar for the DevAs;that Sriman NaarAyaNan

is forever youthful even at the end of a kalpam (KalpAntha

Yoona:). Swamy NammAzhwAr's ThiruvAimozhi is the bed of

milky ocean for the Lord. This VenkatanAtan of ThUppil

churned that milky ocean consisting of Upanishads

and through that effort generated the various ,multi-

splendored gems from the thousands of waves of bliss

caused by the effort of dedicated churning.He assembled

these wonderful gems that arose from the sweet milky

ocean of ThiruvAimozhi and constructed a RathnAvaLi

(DhramidOpanishad RathnAvaLi). This VenkatEsa kavi of

ThUppul was requested by great scholars ( vibhudhai: arTithO

VenkatEsa:) to create this rathnAvaLi through the dedicated

analysis (Churning ) of the vyAkhyAnams of PoorvAchAryAs ,

who enjoyed the taathparyams of ThiruvAimozhi through their

own unique anubhavams.

 

Additional comments:

********************

The Sri VaishNava PandithAs equal to DevAs in glory

were very keen on comprehending the GuNams of the Lord

saluted by Swamy NammAzhwAr . They were aware of

the individual focus on one or more GuNams of the Lord

by the different commentators based on their enjoyment

of the dasakams and the sathakams .They wanted to know

more about the individual guNams celebrated by Swamy

NammAzhwAr in each of the ThiruvAimozhi Paasurams .

Propelled by their desires , the PandithAs approached

Swamy Desikan to fulfill their wishes.Swamy Desikan

used the visEsha Jn~Anam growing out of the Jn~Anam

acquired from his AchAryAs to undertake this effort.

That VisEsha Jn~Anam served as the Churning rod to

bring out the visEsha Taathparyams housed in the individual

paasurams of ThiruvAimozhi. The rope used to move

the churning rod was the sampradhAyam ( AchArya UpadEsam).

 

The object of churning was the SaThAri Soori's

milky ocean of Upanishads( ThiruvAimozhi:SaThajith

Upanishad dhugdha sindhu). What arose form that effort

of churning the Milky ocean of ThiruvAimozhi

was the most delectable thousands of sweet waves

carrying amidst them the many-hued , splendid gems

( SvAdhu-ghAdhA-lahari-dasa-sathI-nirgatham rathna-

jAtham).

 

The reason for Swamy Desikan equating ThiruvAimozhi

to the KshIrAbdhi (Milky ocean) is because the dhvaya Manthra

dhyAna slOkam is about the Lord reclining on AadhisEshan

in the Milky ocean. ThiruvAimozhi is well accepted as

the commentary on Dhvaya manthram (DhIrga saraNAgathi).

Therefore , Swamy Desikan compares ThiruvAimozhi to

the milky ocean ( SaThajith-Upanishad-dhugdha-Sindhu)

and his churning of that ocean of upanishads (Sindhum

VimaTnan) to the effort of the Lord's amrutha Matanam .

Out of that churning of the thousand (dasa-sathI) arose

the delectable sweet waves in thousands (SvAdhu-ghAdhA-lahari-

dasa-sathI-nirgatham) bearing many splendid multi-hued gems.

Swamy Desikan collected them and strung them together

to string a necklace (rathnAvaLi) in response to

the requests of the scholars to enjoy the guNa ruchi of

the individual Paasurams of ThiruvAimozhi of Swamy NammazhwAr.

 

ThiruvAimozhi is a Prabhandham . There are ten patthus .

Each of them have 100 plus paasurams (Sathakams). Each of

the Patthus have ten units called decads (dasakams).

Each of the dasakams have ten paasurams usually .

 

In intrepreting the meanings of these paasurams and

the particulatr guNams behind the dasakams and

Sathakams , poorvAchAryALs had their own unique

insights and anubhavams , which helped Swamy Desikan

to enjoy the traditional view points on Bhagavath guNms

( tatthal-labdhdhi-prasakthai: anupadhi). These different

emphasis during individual intrepretations by PoorvAchAryALs

is fully acceptable and these differences enhance the anubhavam

of ThiruvAimozhi. For instance, Thirukkurhai PiLLAn PirAn

--in his Six thousand PaDi-- emphasises Parathvam (Supermacy )

of the Lord. Others like PeriyavAcchAn PiLlai and Eedu grantha

kartha focus on other kalyANa guNams of the Lord like

Soulabhyam , Souseelyam , DayA et al. There is truly no

conflict in these different intrepretations ( no abhiprAya

BhEdhams). Swamy Desikan says that he highlighted the different

focuses on the Lord's auspicous attributes ( anantha kalyANa

GuNams of Sriman NaarAyaNan) by different commentators

(sampradhAyam) and during that process created a necklace

made up of the gems (Taathparya RathnAvaLi) that resulted

from his effort of churning the milky ocean of ThiruvAimozhi.

 

Sri RanganAyaki SamEtha Sri RanganAtha ParabrahmaNE Nama:

Daasan, Oppiliappan Koil VardAchAri SatakOpan