Sri Vedanta Desikar's lOkachArya Panchasat - Text 1

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Sri:

Srimate rAmAnujAya nama:

Sri Vara Vara munaye nama:

 

Text No. 1

 

kAverI pulinAntarALa lahari kallOla mAlA

lasat paryangIkrta pannagEshvaratanau nidrA nibaddhA dharam |

kastUri tilakAncitam kamalajEnArADhitam SrisaKam

vastu svIkrta kaustuBam dhishathuna: svAsti prashastam svata:

 

Meaning:

 

kAverI pulinAntarALa - In the midst of the shores of Kaveri; lahari kallOla mAlA

lasat - which appears as small and large waves; paryangIkrta - made as a bed;

pannagEshvara tanau - on the beautiful body of AdisheshA, the leader of the

snakes; nidrA nibaddha Adharam - has liking to lie on and sleep; kastUri

tilakAncitam - which is bedecked with the Kasturi Tilaka; svIkrta kaustuBam -

that has the beautiful Kaustubha gem on its chest; kamalajEna - by the

four-headed Brahma; ArADhitam - being worshipped; svata: prashastham - which

stands the very best on its own; SrisaKam - which has Lakshmi as its consort;

vastu - the original object; na: - upon us; svasti dishathu - shower all

auspiciousness

 

Commentary:

 

kallOla mAlA lasat vastu - The milky white waves of the kaveri are flowing on

the front and rear of the beautiful Lord who is the original person, whose

complexion resembles the dark monsoon cloud. When two objects of opposite

colours are placed next to each other, it is called "parApagam", which is

"pagaiththodai" in tamil. Although the word "vastu" refers to any object, here

the mentioning of the key words such as AdiSesha, the bed, kastUri tilakam,

kaustubham, Lakshmi (his consort) and the fact that it is being worshipped by

Brahma, makes us infer that the object refers to Lord Sri RanganAthA himself.

 

This Lord RanganAthA was earlier worshipped by Brahma (ArAdhanA) in Sathya lOkA.

Once Lord Brahma handed Him (the Lord) to ikshvAku, the Lord of the sUrya vamsa,

He was worshipped by his descendants since then, till Lord rAmA gifted Him to

vibheeshanA, who in turn consecrated Him on the island in the middle of the

Kaveri. This is the famous history of Sri RanganAthA.

 

Let such a Lord shower the highest of auspiciousness on us : Swami Desikan thus

offers mangalAsAsanams in the first verse. Starting from the next verse till the

10th Shloka, Swami Desikan offers prayers to 2) Sri RanganAchiAr, 3) Senai

Mudaliar (Vishvakshenar), 4) NammAzhwAr, 5) emperumAnAr (rAmAnujA), 6)

KooraththAzhwAr, embAr, Bhattar, nanjeeyar, 7) nampiLLai, 8) vadakku

thiruveedhip piLLai, 9 &10) piLLAi lOkAchAryar, azhagiya manavALap perumAL

nAyanAr, after which he then moves on to offer prayers to Swami piLLAi

lOkAchAryar.

 

In the first 8 shlOkAs, Desikar salutes the Guruparampara which starts with the

phrase "lakshmInAtha samArambhAm", thereby offering his prayers to Lord Sriman

nArAyaNA, his consort Lakshmi, VikshvakshEnar, Aazhwar, emperumAnAr, in that

order and in the ninth shlOkA, he meditates on PiLLai lOkAchAryar and his

brother nAyanAr and goes on introducing them.

 

Sri piLLAi lOkAchAryar thiruvadigaLe saranam.

 

Sri VEdAnta dEsikar thiruvadigaLe saranam.

 

AzhwAr emperumAnAr jeeyar thiruvadigaLe saranam.

 

dAsan,

 

Kidambi Soundararajan.

 

 

 

 

 

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