Virodhapariharaquestions39,40,41

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39. Evam chEthanasya sEshathvE api 'svayam mrthpindabhoothasya

parathanthrasya dhEhinah' ithi achEthanavath athyantha pArathanthrye

sasthravasyathA kaTham ghatathE?

 

 

 

Accepting that the jiva is sesha to the Lord, according to the

statement that the jiva is like a clot of mud and completely manipulated

by the Lord, how can he be influenced by the sasthras?

 

 

 

Further the opponent questions that when the jiva has no freedom of

action it is not appropriate to say that he is bound by his karma which

rsults in his subsequent entreaty to the Lord for freedom from the

samsara.

 

 

 

Desika replies:

 

 

 

nAchidhah sAsthravasyathvam na svathanthrasya thadhbhavEth

 

karmavasyavisEshaya sasthravasyathvam ishyathE

 

 

 

There can be no influence of the sasthras on the insentient,nor for the

independent. It is only those who are under the influence of karma,

sasthra can exert its influence.

 

 

 

The sentient being, the jiva, has the ability to know and to do.So he

has the freedom to act and hence he is influenced by the sasthra.Jiva is

dependent on the Lord to be able to know or to act and to experience the

result of the act. That is why he is mentioned as a puppet on string in

Mahabharatha. the vedantha texts also confirm that the jiva has the

jnathrthvam, knowership,karthrthvam, doership and bhOkthrthvam, capacity

to enjoy. Thus he is different from the insentient, for which there is

no relevance to sasthras and from the eternal souls who do not need the

sasthras.

 

 

 

 

 

40.Jeevasya sarvasareeriNam bhagavantham prathi

ADHEyathva-viDHEyathva-sEshathvAdhishu avisEshathayA anusanDHEyEshu

sEshathvamEva praDHAneekrthya kimarTham anusanDHeeyathE?

 

 

 

The jiva being supported by (ADHEyathva)dependent on His

will(viDHEyathva) and a sesha to the Lord, all three states being of

equal importance, how is it that only seshathva is held as most

important than the rest?

 

 

 

Desika gives the reason as

 

 

 

antharangam hi seEshathvam avikArAdhishu thrishu

 

thasmAth sEshathvamEvAhuh AchAryAh praTHamam guNam

 

 

 

Seshathva being the innermost of the three which are all unchangeable.

Therefore the acharya has declared the seshathva to be the foremost.

 

 

 

The AdhEyathvam defines the existence and nature of the jiva which shows

him to be fit for moksha. That is , by knowing his own nature he

becomes qualified for attaining mukthi. ViDHEyatrthva, the ordaining

his activities according to the will of the Lord shows the means of

attaining mukthi. But both of these will be of no help to the jiva if

thereis no aspiration to attain the Lord which is provided by the

knowledge of his seshathva to the Lord, which makes him engage himself

in the actions that would please the Lord, His kainkarya.The seshathva

is not something to be endured but it is to be experienced with joy and

with love for the Lord. This alone fetches the result, that is mukthi.

As the knowledge of the end and means of attaining it, though present,

will not help a man unless he makes an effort, the seshathva helps one

to attain the end. Hence it is stressed by Yamunacharya also who says in

his sthothrarathna that he does not care for anything else which is not

sesha to the Lord, not his body nor praANa and not even his soul.

 

 

 

 

 

41. NanvEvam sEshathvasya prADHAnyEna moolamanthrE sEshathvam praTHamam

abhiDHEEyathE----'manniyAmyathayA maddhAsyaikasvabhAva Athmasvarupah'

ithyAdhi pArathanthrasya praTHamAbhiDHAnam na yujyathE.

 

 

 

When the seshathva is mentioned first in the ashtAkshara and the

pArathanthrya later, "the nature of the self being My sEsha because of

the depemndence on Me" is not proper.

 

 

 

The reference here is to the sentence in saraNAgathigadhya of Ramanuja

where it is said that the individual self is the sesha of the Lord

because of his dependence,pArathanthrya, on the Lord, thus putting

the pArathanthrya first and sEshathva getting secondary importance.

 

 

 

The reply to this is ,

 

bhagavathpArathanthryENa sEshathvamapi siDHyathi

 

ithi vakthum kvachith poorvam pArathanthrasya varNanam

 

 

 

The sEshathva happens only due to the dependence,pArathanthrya, of the

jeeva to the Lord and the mention of the pArathanthrya first in some

places is to denote this only.But this is not in anyway undermining the

importance of sEshathva and wherever parathanthrya is mentioned first,

it emphasises only the importance of sEshathva. The attitude of

sEshathva to the Lord removes the mamakAra, the idea of 'mine' because

when one is sEsha to the Lord all that he has also belongs to the Lord.