Swamy Desikan's SubhAshitha neevi : Part I

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SrI:

 

Dear BhakthAs:

 

Swamy Desikan ( 1268-1369 C.E) blessed us with five Kaavyams :

(1) Sri RanganAtha PaadhukA Sahasram (2) YaadhavAbhyudhayam

(3) Sankalpa SooryOdhayam (4) Hamsa SandEsam and (5) SubhAshitha

Neevi .

 

We will be covering all the 5 literary Master-pieces as seperate e-books

in the Sundarasimham Web site :

 

http://www.sundarasimham.org

 

Here are some brief comments on the 5 Kaavyams of Swamy Desikan:

 

1) Sri RanganAtha PaadhukA sahasram with all its 1,008 slOkams has already been released

as the 25th e-book . In more than 1000 slOkams , Swamy Desikan has praised the glories of

the PaadhukAs (sandals) of Lord RanganAtha . It has 32 Paddhathis (Chapters).

 

2) The Hamsa SandEsam is being prepared as an e-book now. An introduction to Hamsa

SandEsam is available at the Acharya(Swamy Desikan) section of the following web site :

 

http://www.sadagopan.org

 

Hamsa SandEsam is modelled after Poet KaaLidAsA's magnum opus: Mega SandEsam.

In this Kaavyam , Lord Raamachandran sends a message to His consort SitA devi languishing

in the prison of the cruel RaavaNan at Lanka . The messenger that the Lord chooses is a Hamsam

(Swan) , which represents an AchAryan in Sri VaishNavite Tradition .

 

 

3) Sankalpa SooryOdhayam : This is an allegorical play created by Swamy Desikan as his

response to an adhvaithin ( KrishNa Misra ) , who challenged Swamy Desikan to match the beauty

of his kaavyam named "PrabhOdha ChandhrOdhaya ". In a fitting manner , Swamy Desikan responded

and housed his message in ten chapters that distills the essence of VisishtAdhvaithic doctrines .

The twin messages of this Kaavyam are : (1)Bhagavath sankalpam ( Supreme power of the divine will)

is an absolute prerequisite to gain Moksham and (2) the human being affected by PuNya and Paapa

Karmaas should seek the intercession of a righteous AchArya to gain the divine grace .

 

4) YaadhavAbhudhayam: It is in 21 cantos and is about the glories of the scion of the Yadhu race,

Sri KrishNa.A great commentary by Appaya Dikshithar is available for this Kaavyam and currently

Dr.Saroja RaamAnujam is covering this Kaavyam in Oppiliappan List .

 

5) SubhAshitha Neevi : This is modeled after the Neethi Sathakam of poet Bharthruhari . Swamy

Desikan's SubhAshitha Neevi is a didactic lyrical Masterpiece comprising of wise and pithy sayings

to guide us about our conductance in day to day life . During 1995 , Desika Bhaktha Rathnam ,

U.Ve. SEva SwamigaL released a small monograph on SubhAshitha Neevi with 118 pages .

 

The Organization of SubhAshitha Neevi

*******************************************

It has 12 chapters , five of which covers the mind set of unrighteous ones ( theeyavar mana nilai).

The remaining 7 chapters describe the mental frame of the righteous Ones.

 

A disciple of Swamy Desikan was a king with the name of Singa BhUpAlan . He begged his AchAryan

to bless him and his citizens with sadhupadEsam ( auspicious codes of conduct ) and the compassionate

AchAryan responded to his sishyan's plea with this neethi kaavyam containing 146 slOkams.It has been

pointed out that one can intrepret the meanings of some slOkams in 20 different ways because of

their depth of thought .The upadEsams of Swamy Desikan has eternal relevance and is very appropriate

for the rightful conductance of modern day statesman and citizens.

 

(A) The first 5 chapters deal with the conduct of an asamarTan ( dullard and vicious one , who is unskilled).

The names of the 5 chapters associated witht he asamarTan are :

 

(1) anipuNa Paddhathi ( Dullard's state)

(2) Truptha (Garvee) Paddhathi ( Egotist's state)

(3) Kala Paddhathi ( DushtA's state)

(4) dhurvruttha Paddhathi ( state of one with heinous conduct)

(5) asEvya Paddhathi (State of one , who can not be approached).

 

The codes of conduct described in these 5 chapters have to be rejected by

any one , who wishes to follow a righteous way of life .

 

(B) The remaining 7 chapters deal with the conduct of the righteous ones for emulation by us all:

 

(6) Mahaa Purusha Paddhathi ( Mind set of Mahaans)

(7) Sama-chittha Paddhathi ( Mind set of one with equanimity)

(8) SadhAsritha Paddhathi ( Mind set of those , who seek the righteous ones)

(9) Neethimath Paddhathy ( Mind set of one , who does not swerve from rightful way)

(10) VadhAnya Paddhathi ( the conduct of the most generous)

(11) Sukavi Paddhathi and ( mind set of an auspicous poet/sukavi)

( 12) Pareekshitha Paddhathi ( mind set of one who has passed the tests).

 

The upadEsams housed in the above 7 chapters have to be implemented as

code of conduct for the righteous one.

 

The extraordinary wisdom of Swamy Desikan in analysing the conduct of the righteous

and the unrighteous (Saadhus and the dushtAs) is seen in this kaavyam . Out of his

compassion as a caring AchArya , Swamy Desikan bequeathed to us his SadupadEsams

in SubhAshitha Neevi to practise and gain "dhaiveem Sampath " that GithAchAryan discusses .

 

Swamy Desikan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,

Oppiliappan Koil V.Sadagopan