Sri piLLai lOkAchAryA's yaadruchchika-p-padi: Thirumantra prakaraNam: English Translation by Sri T.A.Varadhan

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srImathE krishNa sUrayE namah

srImathE vara vara munayE namah

srImathE lOkAchArya guravE namah

srImathE anantArya mahAguravE namah

srImathE rAmAnujAya namah

srImathE saTakOpAya namah

srIyai namah

srIdharAya namah

 

Dear and respected Devotees. Please accept our humble pranam:

 

Sri piLLai lOkAchAryA's yaadruchchika-p-padi

 

 

lOkAchAryAya guravE krshNa paadasya sUnavE |

yat kataakshaika laksyaaNaam sulabah: srIdhara: sadaa ||

 

 

Thirumantra prakaraNam:

 

For the person desiring liberation from the cycle of birth, whom the

spontaneous, voluntary, unexpected grace of the Lord has blessed with a

favourable mind towards Him, and has made the person surrender at the feet of a

true AchArya, it is necessary to constantly reflect upon the three sacred

verses. Of those three verses, the Thirumantram, which is occupied with the

exact determination of the natures of the soul and the Lord, and hence is fit to

be reflected upon first, illustrates the natures of the soul and the Lord, and

the ultimate goal that conforms to the natures of the soul and the Lord.

 

The charama sloka ordains the adoption of the ultimate means that conforms to

the nature of the ultimate goal.

 

The dwayam illustrates the acceptance and adoption of the ordained means, and

the qualities (or properties) of the ultimate goal.

 

The Thirumantram consists of eight syllables and three words. Of these, the

first word, which is the pranavam (Aum), has three letters. The first letter,

"a" (akaaram) denotes the servitude to the Lord who always protects and saves

all the souls in all places, at all times, and in all states. The second letter

"u" (ukaaram), which has the purpose of restricting to a certain instance to the

exclusion of others, denotes that the servitude is NOT to any other being, other

than the Lord. The third letter, "ma" (makaram), which is the twenty-fifth

letter in the Samskrit alphabet, and denotes knowledge, denotes that the

recipient of the quality of not having servitude to anyone else other than the

Lord (as explained by the ukaaram above) is the soul, which is separate,

different and distinct from the body.

 

The second word of the Thirumantram – nama:, has two letters – "na", and "ma".

The letter "na" denotes not. The letter "ma" denotes "for myself". Both the

letters together denote the meaning "Not for myself" – i.e. the meaning I do not

belong to myself.

 

The third word "nArAyaNaaya" denotes the necessary prayer of wanting to perform

eternal services to the master of everything, Lord Sriman nArAyaNa. The word

nArAyaNa means the refuge for all naaraas. The word naara denotes the collection

of all imperishable entities. They (the imperishable things) are basically

everything in the Universe except for the Lord Himself. ayana denotes that the

Lord is the refuge of all the imperishable entities. The word nArAyaNa also

denotes the One who dwells in all these imperishable entitities! The two

meanings above illustrates two qualities of the Lord – superiority (mEnmai), and

the qhhuality of mixing with everything (neermai). The fourth case ending in the

word (aaya, in naarayaNaaya), denotes the prayer of requesting the Lord to take

all types of service in all places, at all times and in all states.

 

Thus, the Thirumantram denotes the prayer (or desire) – "I, who belongs to the

Saviour of everything (Lord Sriman nArAyaNa), and do NOT belong to any other

entity, and do not belong to myself, desire the state of performing eternal

service exclusively to the master of everything Lord Sriman nArAyaNa"

 

 

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AzhvAr emperumAnAr jIyar thiruvadigaLE saraNam,

adiyEn Madhurakavi dAsan,

Thirumalai AnandAnpiLLai SrInivAsa Varadhan

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