Question

[Guest guest]

Sri:

SrimathE Ramanujaya Namaha:

Azhwar emperumAnAr Jeeyar thiruvadigalE Saranam

Appan thiruvadigalE Saranam

 

Dear Members,

 

I was going over some sections of Tatvattrayam and came across a

statement, roughly tanslates as follows:

 

"The differences in forms of nityodita and sAntodita are beyond the

scope of this work and are difficult to understand" .... 193

 

This is the first time I am comming across these two terms. Where can

I find more inforamtion about these two terms.

 

Does Sri Pillai Lokachariyar himself refer to these two as complex

terms and difficult to understand or is it the translation that is

incorrect.

 

thanks

 

Adiyen

Venkatesh Elayavilli

http://www.srivaishnava.org

[Guest guest]

srImathE rAmAnujAya namah

 

dear bhAgavathAs,

 

srI venkatEsh eLayavalli had asked

 

> "The differences in forms of nityodita and sAntodita are beyond the

> scope of this work and are difficult to understand" .... 193

>

> This is the first time I am comming across these two terms. Where

can

> I find more inforamtion about these two terms.

 

the following is my attempt in providing clarification. Please

forgive me if there are errors.

 

 

srImathE rAmAnujAya namah

 

srI venkatEsh eLayavalli had asked regarding

the difference between nityOditha and chAndOditha,

in the context of tattvatrayam 193.

 

This sUtra (193) is in Isvara prakaraNa, where

assertions are made regarding the concept of the LOrd,

His different forms and His qualities.

 

In the immediately previous (182 and after)

sUtrAs, svAmi piLLai lOkAchAriAr starts elaboration

on the 5 forms of the Lord - para, vyUha,

vibhava, antharyAmi and archa. sUtra 183 defines

the para form. 184 defines the vyUha form.

185 talks about the speciality of the para

and vyUha forms. 186 talks about sankarshaNa

and pradhyumna forms. 187 talks about pradhyumna

form. 188 talks about anirudhdha form. 189

is an introduction about the vibhava form.

 

189: "vibhavam ananthamAy gowNa mukhya

bhEdhaththAlE pEthiththu irukkum"

 

i.e. the vibhava forms of the Lord are

countless in number, and are in two

sub-categories; gowNa and mukhyA.

{svAmi maNavALa mAmunigaL's commentary

beautifully describes the relative

lowliness of the gowNa vibhava

avathAra compared to mukyha vibhava

avathAra - a topic for a later discussion

in this group?}

 

190, 191 and 192 talks about the forms

that are important to truth-seekers and

those that are unimportant.

 

193 is a big sUtra. Here, svAmi talks about

the differences that are apparent among

the various forms (and subforms) of the

para/vyUha/vibhava avatArAs (like

having different number of hands, differnt

colours etc..), and concludes that he

will not expand on those because these

differences are secrets (avatAra rahasyAs)

and will be difficult to understand by

anyone.

 

That sUtra starts with one type of difference -

 

"nityOditha chAndhOdhithAdhi bhEdhamum"..

 

here nityOdita = means "being praised/revealed

by the words of the nityAs"

 

chAndOditha = "being praise/revealed by the

words of the vEdAs" {or by

the words of experts in vEdAs}

chAndasa: can refer to both

vEdA and those who are very

learned in the vEdAs.

 

 

In simple terms, nityOdita refers to paravAsudEva,

the form that is being worshipped/enjoyed by

the nityAs and mukthAs. chAndOdita refers to

vyUha vAsudEva form that is outside of srIvaikuNtam.

 

i.e. the difference between the paravAsudEVa

form and the vyUha vAsudEva form is what is

meant by "nityOdita chAndOditaadhi bhEdamum".

 

In svAmi maNavALa mAMunigaL's commentary, svAmi

mentions one more detail. He quotes svAmi vEdAnta

dEsika:

"naalum uNdaayirukka moonRu enkiradhu vyUha

vAsudEva rUpaththukku para rUpaththiR kAttil

anusandhEya guNabhEdham illAmaiyaalE"!

i.e. even though there are four vyUha forms

(vAsudEva, sankarshNa, pradyumna, anirudhdha),

it is classified as three sometimes because

there is no difference in the qualities and

mode of meditation/worship between para

vAsudEva and vyUha vAsudEva.

 

AzhvAr emperumAnAr jIyar thiruvadigaLE saraNam,

adiyEn madhurakavi dAsan,

varadhan