Sri Pillai Lokacharya's Mumukshuppadi - 005

[Guest guest]

Sri:

Srimathe Ramanujaya Nama:

lOkAchArya gurave krishna pAdasya soonavE

samsAra bhOgi sandaShta jeeva jeevAtavE nama:

 

Original Sutra:

5. SamSArikaL thankaLaiyum Isvaranaiyum maRanthu Isvara

kainkaryaththaiyum izhanthu izhanthOmenkiRa izhavum inRikkE

SamSAramAkiRa perunkadalilE vizhunthu nOvupada, SarvEsvaran,

than krupaiyAlE, ivarkaL thannai aRinthu karaimaram sErumpadi

thAnE sishyanumAy AchAryanumAy ninRu thirumanthraththai

veLiyittaruLinAn.

 

Meaning:

The baddha chetanas who are trapped in this samsaric world,

- forget that they are in His service,

- forget that Sriman Narayana is their Lord,

- do not live in service of the Lord,

- are not concerned that they have lost the most valuable

thing that they posessed, &

- stay trapped in this samsaric ocean which is difficult to

cross.

 

Seeing this, the Lord Sriman Narayana out of His kindness

(His nirhEduka krupa), in order to make these jIvas know

Him and facilitate their crossing samsara and reaching Him,

Himself became Nara the disciple and Narayana the acharya

and taught the Thirumanthra which is the essence of Artha

Panchakam.

 

Sri PBA Swami's Sarartha Deepikai:

Here the origination of the Thirumanthra is explained to show

its greatness. The samsaric chetanas due to association with

this prakruti which is timeless get trapped in the endless

cycle of birth and death and forget themselves and the Lord.

 

What does forgetting themselves mean?

All souls are naturally servile to the Supreme Soul; without

difference whether they are in this world or the other world

their only and true characteristic is that they are enslaved

to the Lord; forgetting this fact of their natural servitude

to the Lord is forgetting themselves.

 

What does forgetting the Lord mean?

Forgetting His supreme and all encompassing leadership

 

Thus forgetting their nature as well as the nature of the Lord

they lose the supreme goal of service to Him. Not only do they

lose it, they even lose the feeling that they have lost such a

valuable thing.

 

Seeing the souls suffer thus and stay trapped in the samsaric

ocean, He took great kindness in His divine lotus heart toward

them. He thought that they need to know Him so that they can

cross this ocean and reach Him. Thus He Himself became Nara

the sishya and Narayana the acharya and expositioned that

Thirumanthra which holds in it the meaning of all Sastras and

which shows clearly the artha panchakam.

 

I seek refuge at the lotus feet of Pillai Lokacharya

I seek refuge at the lotus feet of Naamzhvar, Ramanuja

and Manavala Mamuni

adiyEn madhurakavi dAsan

TCA Venkatesan