The Coveted Birth

[Guest guest]

Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika

Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

 

The Coveted Birth

 

If there is something all scholars agree upon, it is the need

to get out of the unending cycle of SamsAra. Everyone is born, lives

out his or her lifespan, accumulating more and more of merits or sins

through their good and bad deeds, and when the time comes, passes

away. The matter, unfortunately, doesn’t end there. The person

is reborn with another body, name and ambience, to experience the

fruits of his earlier Karma. In the process of deleting some portion

of the Karma, we perform actions which lead to a fresh accretion of

the benumbing baggage, thus entangling us interminably in a cycle of

births and deaths, out of which there doesn’t appear any way.

Caught in the bewildering catacombs, we keep going round and round in

the maze, lost forever and wandering without direction.

 

It would be interesting to find out when and where it all began, to

discover which particular act of ours, shrouded in the distant past,

was responsible for our taking the initial birth, that has in turn

led to a million others. And any such act or abstinence could have

been done only by an embodied soul. If we already had a body when we

performed the initial and entangling act that formed the very first

millstone in the crippling baggage that we now carry, then what was

the act that brought our very first body into existence? In other

words, which came first—the body which performed the Karma and

led to more births, or the Karma, which forced us into the

maximum-security prison that is the body? Without a body, no Karma

would have been possible: equally, no praAkrita sharIram would have

been there, had it not been for some Karma, which necessitated it.

This is akin to the famous question, which came first, the chicken or

the egg, the seed or the sprout?

 

Shastras tell us that both Karma and Births are

timeless—“anAdi”—without a beginnning and an

end. Swami Desikan speaks of the “anAdi karma pravAham”,

likening the baggage of deeds, good and bad, to a swift-flowing

river, apparently without an origin, which sweeps us all inexorably

away in its torrents. Sri Bhashyakara too mentions the “anAdi

avidyA sanchita ananta asakya visramsana Karma pAsa

pragathita:”, likening Karma to an eternal bondage that is

impossible to unravel. And it is the aim of all religions, all sects,

to show us a way out of this apparently interminable entanglement.

 

The Scripture, which is but the luminous signpost set up by the Lord

to guide us on to the right path, lists no less than 32 Brahma

VidyAs, most of them difficult if not impossible to practice, as a

way out of this morass of SamsAra. Our Acharyas, in all their mercy,

have shown us the NyAsa vidyA or Sharanagati as the panacea for all

ills hounding us from time immemorial and as a way out of the

not-so-merry go-round of Janma—MaraNa chakram.

 

There is thus no difference of opinion that Liberation represents

freedom from births, deaths and attendant Karma pAsam. All Azhwars

and all Acharyas have fervently prayed to the Lord to rid them of the

crippling and constant SamsAra chakram. Sri Nammazhwar terms this

“pirandum setthum nindru idarum pEdamai”. Sri

Tondaradippodi calls this an absurdity—“avattamE piravi

tandAi arangamAnagaruLAnE!”. Considering that life, though it

appears long, is in fact too short for us to undertake any serious

endeavour for emancipation, Azhwar beseeches Emperuman to spare him

any further births—“AdalAl piravi vENdEn aranga mA

nagaruLAnE!”. And relief from such births is considered to be

the ultimate fruit anyone could aspire for. The Vishnu Sahasranama

Stotram, for instance, tells us that none who recites the Stotra with

sincerity and devotion, would be subject to births, deaths and

attendant maladies—“janma mrityu jarA vyAdhi bhayam na

Eva upajAyatE”. Sri Nammazhwar is in a hurry to leave these

mortal coils and to attain the state of

birthlessness—“koovi koLLum kAlam innum kurugAdO!”.

The Lord is equally eager to rid Azhwar of mundane

shackles—“viNNulagam taruvAnAi viraigindrAn”. Sri

Kulasekhara Perumal too expresses extreme distaste for births, even

if blessed with robust health and unimaginable

wealth—“oonEru selvatthu udal piravi yAn vENdEn”.

The unanimous chorus from all those in the know of things thus

appears to be to rid them of the phenomena of births and deaths.

 

Amidst all the voices praying in unison for Liberation and freedom

from further births, we hear a lone voice raised in dissent, which

seeks to be born in this world again. No, it is not the voice of a

philistine who seeks to return time and again to this earth to

immerse himself in the puerile pleasures this world has to offer.

When you look up to see who it is that prays for a birth, when all

other devotees of distinction crave freedom from SamsAra, we find

that these are the dulcet tones of no less a personage than Sri

Kulasekhara Azhwar. It is he, of all people, who insitsts on being

born in this despicable world. “AdalAl piravi vENdum”

appears to be his refrain, in total disagreement with the rest of the

elite club of divine minstrels.

 

It is not only that this Azhwar craves mundane births, but the things

as which he wishes to be born are also extremely trivial—a

tree, a fish, a bird and so on. We are quite surprised—first of

all, no one in their right mind would seek to be born again in this

world of sorrow and sadness, which has nothing to offer anyone except

pain and punishment. Secondly, even if a birth here were inevitable,

one would choose an exalted janma like that of an Emperor who would

never lack anything, a beautiful damsel with all the world at her

feet, a scholar of repute with the masses looking up to him for

enlightenment and so on—never as inanimate objects like trees

and rivers or lowly life forms like the fish and the bird. We wonder

why Azhwar should crave for birth as such humble beings, when he was

already a King of no mean bravery and accomplishments (“SEralar

kOn”).

 

When we go through the fourth decad of Perumal Tirumozhi, we find that

there are indeed reasons, and verymuch valid ones at that, for the

lowly births that Azhwar craves for.

“”VEnkatatthu KOnEri vAzhum kurugAi pirappEnE”

 

“MeenAi pirakkum vidhi udayEn AvEnE”

 

“SheNbagamAi nirkkum tiru udayEn AvEnE”

 

“Venkata malai mEl tambakamAi nirkkum tavam udayEn AvEnE”

 

“KanArAi pAyum karutthudayEn AvEnE”

 

“neriyAi kidakkum nilai udayEn AvEnE”

 

“padiyAi kidandu un pavaLa vAi kANbEnE”

 

We find that all the births that Azhwar craves for are connected with

the glorious Tirumala, where the Lord reigns supreme as the

VEnkatEsa, venerated by mundane mortals and the immortal celestials

alike. Azhwar is so enamoured of this king among hills which forms

the abode of the Lord of the Lords, that he would prefer any odd

birth, as even the lowliest of low beings, on Tirumala, rather than

being the most exalted Emperor elsewhere. He deems it his eminent

good fortune to be born in the divine hills as a mere fish, which

would keep the “KOnEri” (the Lord’s tank) clean of

moss and algae, clean for the Lord’s tirumanjanam and for the

ablutions of His devotees. He considers himself to be blessed to be

born as a flowering shrub on Tirumala, so that he might contribute to

the Lord’s floral adornments. He would similarly prefer the

janma of a step right opposite Emperuman’s sanctorum, so that

the holy feet of all the devotees leave their imprints on him. He

would deem it a huge favour if he were permitted a birth as the

pathway across the seven hills, sanctified by the stepping of

millions of devotees.

 

The common thread running through all these births the Azhwar seeks is

therefore Tirumala—he considers any birth on Tirumala, however

lowly it is, to be the highest of prizes. He doesn’t really

mind what the janma is, as long as it is in the hills of

VEnkatam—“Emperuman pon malai mEl EdEnum AvEnE”.

And as we already saw, it is Azhwar’s kainkarya ruchi, that

insatiable appetite for service to the Lord, that makes Kulasekhara

Perumal seek all these births, while other Azhwars seek a relief once

for all from the Janma Chakram.

 

And when we look hard enough, we find other Azhwars and Acharyas too

refusing to leave this world, with all its failings, for the

incomparably greener pastures of Sri Vaikuntam. Sri Tirumangai Mannan

would rather stay on in this mundane morass and perform kainkaryam to

the arcchA moorthies at various divyadesams, than hanker after the

distant and unseen Sri Vaikuntam and ParamapadanAtha (“ErAr

muyal vittu kAkkai pin pOvadE!”).

 

Sri Alavandar, for instance, prefers a birth as a mere worm (below

which one possibly cannot go, in the totem pole of existence)

inhabiting a crevice in the household of mahAtmAs whose only delight

is in kainkaryam to the Lord—vis-à-vis such good fortune, he

spurns a birth even as the Chaturmukha BrahmA, renowned as the

Creator—

“tava dAsya sukhaika sanghinAm bhavanEshu astvapi keeta janma mE

itara AvasatEshu mAsma bhoot api mE janma ChaturmukhAtmanA”

 

Not to be outdone, Sri Bhattar deems it a privilege to be born as a

lowly dog living off the streets of Srirangam, rather than being an

exalted celestial steeped in pleasure—

“na jAtu peetAmrita moorcchitanAm nAkoukasAm nandana vAtikAsu

RangEsvara! Tvat puram AsritAnAm rathyAsunAm anyatamO bhavEyam”

 

And we have Swami Desikan swearing to the Lord of Hastigiri that he

would much prefer to stay on in this world and SamsAra, witnessing

the Lord’s utsavams to his heart’s content, rather than

ascend to Sri Vaikuntam—

“Satyam shapE VaraNa saila nAtha! Vaikunta vAsEpi na mE abhilAsha:”

 

A poet of more recent times too follows the foot steps of the great

ones mentioned above, by praying to the Lord for a birth as a mere

blade of grass in the hallowed BrindAvanam (“pullAi piravi tara

vENum,BrindAvanam adil oru pullAi piravi tara vENum”), so that

Sri Krishna’s tiruvadi or atleast that of one of His cows or

calves, steps on the grass to make it more fortunate than the

celestials.

 

We therefore find that Azhwars and Acharyas are not very particular

about a birthless berth at Sri Vaikuntam and all that it stands for,

if they are able to attain the infinite pleasure of kainkaryam in

this mundane world itself, with all its maladies. They were prepared

for births as lowly as those of a fish, a dog or even a worm, if it

meant opportunity for performing incessant and intimate kainkaryam to

the Lord or His devotees. When Sri Nammazhwar seeks ceaseless service

at the tiruvadi of TiruvEnkatamudayAn for all time to come

(“ozhivil kAlam ellAm udanAi manni vazhuvilA adimai seyya

vENdum nAm”), he doesn’t incorporate a stipulation

limiting the duration of the kainkaryam till the time comes for

ascent to Paramapadam. Left to himself, Azhwar would have perhaps

lived on in this leelA vibhUti itself, delighting in continual

service to Tirumalayappan, rather than be elevated to the Promised

Land. It was the ParamapadanAtha, who couldn’t bear separation

from the Azhwar anymore, who took the latter to His own abode.

 

We thus find as much rationale in the fervent prayers of some,

“AdalAl piravi vENdEn”, as in the diametrically opposite

demand of some other devotees—“AdalAl piravi

vENdum”.

 

Srimate Sri LakshmINrsimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri

Narayana Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

Dasan, sadagopan