Mumukshuppadi - Foreword

[Guest guest]

Sri:

Srimathe Ramanujaya Nama:

 

Dear BhAgavatas,

 

During my recent trip to India, adiyEn picked up a

copy of the Mumukshuppadi Sarartha Deepikai by Sri

P.B. Annangaracharya Swami. This work written in

simple Tamil for easy understanding by one and all,

was written by Swami based on the vyakhyanam by

Sri Manavala Mamunigal on Sri Pillai Lokacharyar's

Mumukshuppadi.

 

As HH Sri Vanamamalai Jeeyar Swami is currently

conducting a weekly discourse on Mumukshuppadi on

the tele-bridge, adiyEn thought a translation of

PBA Swami's work, albeit a poor one, might be

complementary.

 

I will try to keep posting the translation of one

choornai per day, and so this service should run

for about 10 months or so. I will keep adding the

translations to http://www.acharya.org for easy

reference to any prior posts. I seek all the

bhAgavatas blessings in completing this task to

their and Emperuman's satisfaction. I also seek

your corrections to errors in any of the posts

which naturally would be no one's fault but mine.

 

In this post, I will attach the translation of the

Foreword of PBA Swami to this work.

 

Azhvar Emperumanar Jeeyar Thiruvadigale Saranam

 

adiyEn madhurakavi dAsan

TCA Venkatesan

http://ww.acharya.org

 

--

 

Sri:

Srimathe Ramanujaya Nama:

 

 

Pillai Lokacharyar aruLis seytha ashtadasa rahasyankaLil

pathinettAvathAna

 

Mumukshuppadi

 

 

Mumukshuppadi Sarartha Deepikai by Sri PB Annangaracharya

Swami based on the vyakhyanam by Sri Manavala Mamunigal

 

Translated by Madhurakavi dAsan TCA Venkatesan

 

 

Foreword:

All beings who are born repeatedly in this world and

suffer in the samsaric cycle have to understand many

things in order to obtain Moksha (liberation). Of these

many things, one of the most important is the

understanding of Artha Pancakam. The understanding of

1. Nature of the Supreme, 2. Nature of the Jiva, 3.

The means to attaining liberation, 4. The nature of

the goal to be attained, and 5. The obstacles in

attaining the goal seeked, are known as Artha Pancakam.

 

The knowledge of these five is given clearly by the

three rahasyas, Thirumanthiram, Dvayam and Carama

slokam and as such the understanding of the rahasya-

thrayam is very important for Mumukshus.

 

The origin of the rahasyathrayam is as follows. The

Thirumanthram, also known as Periya Thirumanthram and

Moola Manthram, originated in Badri. It was taught to

Nara by Narayana. Dvayam which is also known as Manthra

Rathnam, was revealed to Sri Mahalakshmi in Vishnu Loka

by Sriman Narayana. Carama Sloka is part of the

Bhagavad Gita and as such was told to Sri Arjuna by Sri

Krishna. Thus the originator of all three rahasyas is

Lord Sriman Narayana. Therefore, He is the first

acharya in the Guru parampara. It is thus that Sri

Kooraththazhvan said "Lakshminatha samarambam ...

vande guruparamparam".

 

Therefore this rahasyathraya even though short in

words has very many great, rare and majestic meanings

and as such our acharyas have studied it extensively

and taught their meanings carefully to their disciples.

 

Prior to Swamy Ramanuja the acharyas guarded the

rahasyathraya and their meanings and taught them

exclusively to select disciples only. Bhagavad

Ramanuja in his broad mind and large sympathy for

those caught in the samsaric cycle, exceeded the

norms of the day and himself and through his disciples

taught the rahasyathraya and their meanings to all

who were interested. This is shown in Upadesa

Raththinamalai as

 

OraaNvazhiyAy upathEsiththaar munnOr,

eraar ethiraasar innaruLaal - paarulagil

aasaiyudaiyOrkkellam aariyarkaaL kooRumenRu

pEsi varambaruththaar pin

 

>From the time of Sri Ramanuja the meanings of these

rahasyas were taught but there is no evidence that

during his time their special meanings were recorded

in written form by acharyas. There is a possibility

that a rahasyathraya vyakhyanam was made into a

grantha by Sri Koorathazhvan. Sri Vedantha Desikar

in his Rahasyathrayasaram, in the Carama Sloka

section talks about the Carama Sloka vyakhyanam of

Azhvan. However, if there was such a grantha, it is

not available now.

 

Sri Bhattar who is the son of Sri Koorathazhvan

wrote the composition Ashtasloki as the essence of

the rahasyathrayam. Even though this composition is

short, Bhattar has included in it tremendous meanings

of these manthras.

 

Sri Pillai Lokacharyar who is the son of Sri Vadakku

Thiruveethi Pillai and who is considered the avathara

of Sri Varadaraja, has composed the Ashtadasa Rahasyam

which is a phenomenal collection of the meanings of

rahasya granthas. Later Sri Achan Pillai also wrote

rahasya arthas through works such as Parantha Rahasyam.

 

Amongst the Ashtadasa Rahasyas, Yathruccikappadi,

Paranthapadi and Sriyapathippadi contain the meanings

of the rahasyathraya vyakhyanams but it is Mumukshuppadi

that has gained fame in many ways. The other granthas

suffer from drawbacks such as being extensive or being

very short or that they contain a mixture of Sanskrit

and Tamil words. Mumukshuppadi does not have any of

these drawbacks. Also, this work contains special and

rare meanings that are not present in the other

granthas. Thus, this work occupies a special place in

the purvacharya works and in the minds of Srivaishnavas.

 

 

Pillai Lokacharyar Thiruvadigale Saranam

Azhvar Emperumanar Jeeyar Thiruvadigale Saranam

 

 

 

Sign up for SBC Dial - First Month Free

http://sbc.