PART X: Swamy Desikan's Taathparya RathnAvaLi: Seventh SlOkam

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Friday , Dec 21 , 2001

 

Sixth ThiruppAvai :" PuLLum Silampina KaaNN " Dinam

 

ANDAL ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

 

SrI:

 

Dear RasikAs of Swamy NammAzhwAr's Dhivya Prabhandhams:

 

On this Sixth ThiruppAavi day , adiyEn will continue with

the Seventh SlOkam of DTR.

 

Deva: SrImAn svasiddhe: karaNamithi vadan yEkamarTam sahasrE

sEvyathvAdhIn dasArTAn pruTagiha sathakir-vakthi tasTapanArTAn

yEkaikasyAth parathvAdhishu dasaka guNEshvAyathanthE taTAthE

tatthath-gATA-guNAnAm anuvidhadhathi tatth-pankthya: pankthisamkhyA

 

Comments: PerumAL becomes the UpAyam for Baddha Jeevans

to attain Him . This central doctrine could have been stated

in a single paasuram by Swamy NammAzhwAr . Instead , he used

"1000 paasurams " of ThiruvAimozhi to descibe this . Why ?

Azhwar decided to take that elaborate route , since he was

inextricably involved and deeply absorbed in the bliss of

enjoying the limitless auspicious attributes (anantha KalyANa

GuNams) of PerumAL.

 

Thousand is made up of ten individual hunderd counts

(10x 100 = 1,000). AzhwAr decided therefore to focus on

TEN particular GuNams of Sriman NaarAyaNan in the Ten

individual Patthus (Sathakams) of his sacred Sri Sookthi

of ThiruvAimozhi containing " 1000 paasurams ".He folded

these Ten GuNams into one guNam of the Lord as the integrated

message of this Prabhandham.The progression in AzhwAr's

hierarchy is the single Paasuram , the group of Ten paasurams

(Thirumozhi) , the group of 100 paasurams ( Patthu/Sathakam )

made up of Ten Thirumozhis of each Patthu . Ten Patthus together

make up the entire ThiruvAimozhi of "1000 Paasurams" .

In actuality , ThiruvAimozhi consists of 1102 Paasurams

grouped under the headings of Sathakams/Patthu,

Dasakams/Thirumozhis and individual paasurams.

 

Swamy NammAzhwAr has dealt with one GuNam in each of

the "1000 Paasurams". Thus there are Ten related GuNams

in each Thirumozhi.As the Ten Thirumozhis/Dasakams folds

into their next set of hierarchy, the Patthus /Sathakams ,

the Saaram of these 100 interrelated guNams is brought out

for each of the Ten Patthus.Those Saarams are distilled

further into a central message of the "1000 paasuram "

long ThiruvAimozhi. That Central and pervading message is

the quintessential meanings of the Four Vedas and their

1132 Upanishads ( 21 for Rg Vedam +101 for Yajus + 1001 for

Saama Vedam + 9 for ATarvam ).That Central message is about

the MahA GuNam of Sriman NaarAyaNan that He stands in

the place of UpAyam (means ) for the Bhaddha Jeevans

and He is the UpEyam ( Goal) for them as stated very

clearly in the Charama SlOkam of PaarthasArathy

( Maam yEkam SaraNam vraja--MokshayishyAmi maa sucha:).

 

adiyEn will now revert to the sacred upadEsam of Swamy

Desikan in this Seventh SlOkam about the totality

of the message of ThiruvAimozhi and its components

spread across the Sathakams , Dasakams and all

the way down to individual Paasurams . Looked at

from the other end , Swamy Desikan shows how

the building of the mansion of ThiruvAimozhi was

done by Swamy NammAzhwAr with one GuNam at a time.

Individual GuNams in each of the Paasurams seem to be

like the the building blocks to construct the mansion of

ThiruvAimozhi to celebrate the mahA GuNam of PerumAL.

 

Here are the passages from Swamy Desikan's Upadesam

quarter by Quarter of the slOkam:

 

" Deva: SrImAn SvasiddhE: KaraNam ithi vadhan

yEkamarTam SahasrE": PerumAL (Sriman NaarAyaNan)

reveals that the UpAyam (means) for the bound Jeevans

to attain Him is through Him ( " Tannai JeevarkaL peRa

ThAnE UpAyam aahirAn"). Surrender to Him is the UpAyam.

 

"SevayathvAdhIn dasArTAn pruTagiha sathakair-vakthi

tath-sthApanArTAn " : This upadEsam about His MahA

GuNam by PerumAL is built upon or established through

the ten Saara GuNams covered by the Ten individual Patthus

of ThiruvAimozhi such as Sevyathvam , BhOgyathvam et al ,

(which is covered in detail in the next slOkam of DTR.)

 

"yEkaikasyAth ParathvAdhIshu dasaka-gunaEshvAyathanthE":

Those ten saara GuNams of the individual Ten Patthus

such as Parathvam , Bhaktha ParAdhInathvam and others

are folded into the mahA GuNam of His UpAyathvam for

reaching Him as the ultimate goal (upEyam).

 

" TaTAthE tatthath-ghATA-guNAnAm anuvidhadhathi

tatth-pankthaya: pankthi-samkhyA:": The GuNam such as

Parathvam saluted in the First Patthu sets the stage

as it were for the Saara GuNam of the Second set of

Hundred( IraNDAm Patthu). This progressive movement

forward continues with the salutations to the rows

of GuNAs ( GuNa VarisaikaL). Each one take their bow

on the stage of ThiruvAimozhi in a time sequenced

manner reaching towards a thundering finale with

the integrated tribute to the MahA GuNam of the Lord

standing in as the UpAyam ( the light on the Hill to guide

our way to Him across the darkness of SamsAram).

 

Swamy Desikan is a special lamp in the rows of AchAryAs.

We will always be indebted to Him for His mahOpakArams

to chase away the ajn~Anam and for filling our minds with

sadupadEsams to develop the ruchi for Prapatthi and lead us to

a SadAchAryan for Prapatthi so that we can secure

the eternal gift of Moksham from Sriman NaarAyaNan.

Therefore , the uninterrupted NithyAraadhanams for Him

in His birth place of ThUppul and for DhIpa PrakAsan ,

the PerumAL of His birth place are vital Kaimkaryams

for every SrI VaishNavan . Please come forward and

support the NithyArAdhanam Project with whatever you can .

adiyEn will continue to appeal to You all until there is

strength in my hands to write about Swamy Desikan's

SrI Sookthis. Please do not hesitate to support.

 

Sri RanganAyaki SamEtha Sri RanganAtha ParabrahmaNE Nama:

Daasan, Oppiliappan Koil VardAchAri SaThakOpan