SrI UpakAra Sangraham Part - 7

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srI: SrI upakAra sangraham – 7 --- adikAram – 1 poorva upakAra paramparai (The Foremost Series of Favours) (continued) --- Because of the favour extended by SrIman nArAyaNa, first in the form of Scripture full of unlimited compassion and

later in the form of a good-natured AchAryA, the jIvA advanced in to a stage in his worldly life and attained wisdom. The jIvA had so far been gaining knowledge of materialistic nature which helped him to lead his life in the world. His knowledge of good and bad was confined to worldly things. Things which first appeared as beneficial later turned out to be sour. He could not see the difference between the really good and the bad. Luckily, because of the causeless compassion of the Lord, he got into association of a good AchAryA who in turn taught him the spiritual knowledge with which he could distinguish the good from the bad. With the continued guidance of the AchAryA, he is now able to turn away from the bad and move

forward on the spiritual path. The nature of such knowledge is now described by SwAmi Desikan in the following words:- “Ini aRindEn”, “kaNNpuram ondRudaiyaanukku adiyEn oruvarkku uriyEnO” ithyAdhikaLin padiyE, samSyAdhi-rahitha-mAna sadhasath-vivEkam piRanthu …… SwAmi Desikan indicates the nature of jIva’s newly acquired discriminative knowledge through two pAsurams of two AzhwArs. The jIvA gains wisdom – discriminative knowledge, which is bereft of doubts etc. His mind is now very clear. Clear about what? That clarity is known from the two pAsurams quoted by SwAmi Desikan. We also now see them. The first quote is:- “ini aRindhEn” “ini aRindhEn” are the opening words of a pAsuram from the prabhanda of SrI Thirumazhisai AzhwAr, titled nAnmukan ThiruvandhAthi. It is the last pAsuram, numbering 96.. “ini aRindhEn” means “now I know”. What the jIvA has come to know? It will be known only if we go through the entire pAsuram. Let us take it up. The pAsuram is: “ini aRindhEn IsaRkum nAnmukaRkum dheivam ini aRindhEn emperumAn unnai – iniyaRindhEn kAraNan nee katRravai nee kaRpavai nee naRkirisai nAraNan nee nankaRindhEn nAn.” (nAnmukan thiruvandhAthi, 96) As a result of the knowledge imparted by the good-natured AchAryA, the jIvA realizes the foremost cause of everything. He expresses his happiness on attaining the vivEkam (wisdom), saying “I have now known .. (the fact)”. To understand what exactly he has come to know, we shall study this pAsuram in detail. The first commentary for this prabhanda was written by Sri PeriyavAcchAn Pillai. Based on it, the meaning of this verse is being given here. The jIva addresses the Lord: emperumAn! - O Lord! IsaRkum nAnmukaRkum dheivam ini aRindhEn – Now I come to know You on a firm basis. You are the Lord for Rudra and Brahma both. ini unnai aRindhEn – Now, I understood You as You are. As if answering to query, ‘what you have understood?’, the jIvA further says, kAraNan nee – You are the cause of the entire universe. katRravai nee -- Whatever material things known to me before are all Yourselves. kaRpavai nee – All the things which I will hereafter learn are also Yourselves. naRkirisai -- Yours are the good actions for the protection of all without any cause. nAraNan neei – You are NARAYANAN! nankaRindhEn nAn – I understood very well all these! This sort of wisdom blossoms at the time of liberation of jIvAtma from this samsAra. Such wisdom has been attained by the jIva because of the lessons he learnt from his AchAryA. He has now come to know that Ultimate Who is the Lord of everything including the gods whom he had earlier thought were the ultimate. He has also come to know, who is the real cause for the entire creation, which he has already seen; those which he now sees, and those he is going to see in the future. It is no one but SrIman nArAyaNan Himself. He has also come to understand that SrIman nArAyaNan always does beneficial deeds for every one, for no reason! He says that all these he understands thoroughly, without a speck of doubt, (samsaya-rahitha). Earlier, he came to know through the scriptures he studied. Now after listening to the upadEsa of his AchAryA, who is

full of compassion. His understanding has extended to the fact that it is the Lord Who provided such an AchAryA for him. This makes clear that this jIvA is well on the right path of spiritual realization which ultimately will lead him to ascend to SrI Vaikuntam to enjoy the company of the Lord and the liberated souls, continuously without a break and without the fear of return to this mundane world. Because, it is the Lord’s will. (to continue) dAsan Anbil SrInivAsan

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