SrI UpaskAra Sangraham - III (1)

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SrI rAma jayam

SrImathe SrI LakshmInrisimha Parabrahmane Namah

SrImathe rAmAnujAya Namah

SrImathe nigamAntha mahAdesikAya Namah

SrImathe AdhivaNsatakopa Yatheendra mahAdesikAya namah

SrImathe SrIvaNsatakopa SrI vedanta Desika Yatheendra

mahAdesikAya Namah

SrImathe SrI lakshmInrisimha divyapAdukAsevaka SrI

vaNsatakopa -

SrI nArAyana Yatheendra mahAdesikAya Namah

---

srI:

SrI UpakAra Sangraham - III (1)

--

niryANa adikAram

--

INTRODUCTION

In the previous Chapter, named as sAdanAdikAram, Swami

Desikan serialized the various favours the Lord does

to a person who adopts the means of mOkSha, be it

bhakti-yOga or prapatti - total surrender at His feet.

These are divided in to two parts -- those favours the

Lord does during the period of stay in this world

after adopting the means and those He does when the

prapanna leaves his physical body.

In the present chapter, which is named as niryANa

adikAram -- SwAmi Desikan describes the favours the

Lord does after the prapanna leaves the physical body

and gets into the Brahma-nAdi to proceed towards the

highest abode of the Lord.

There are several sections in this Chapter: 1)

Favours the Lord does to that mumukShu who has

completed the adoption of the means for mOkSha, after

he started moving out of his body; under which section

are sub-sections, namely, i) favours done upto

reaching the river Viraja which is at border of the

prakruti mandala; ii) favours done after he crosses

the Viraja river; 2) These, as shown by SrI nammAzhvAr

in his first pAsuram in Thiruviruttham, beginning with

“poininRa”; sub-sections in this section: i) word-by

word meaning; ii) the points to be learnt from this

paSuram; iii) six essential meanings reveled in the

pAsuram; iv) the main message conveyed by the pAsuram;

v) SwAmi Desikan’s concluding slOka in Sanskrit

followed by his two pAsurams.

Now, we shall take up for a detailed study the first

Section with the sub-sections under it:

Section - 9: The Favours the Lord does to a MumukShu

after he leaves his body

----

In this first section, SwAmi Desikan describes the

favours the Lord does to the mumukShu after he gets

into the Brahma-nAdi with His help.

 

[9.1 Favours being done until the mumukShu reaches the

shore of River VirajA]

-----

In this sub-section, SwAmi Desikan describes in

detail the favours done by the Lord to the

mumukShu-jIva from going out of the body through the

Brahma-nAdi, which is also called as moordhanya-nAdi.

It is the gate-way for proceeding on the path of

archirAdi from the gross body, which is called Brahma

puri, the city of Brahman, where the Lord stays in the

heart and hence he is known as ‘hArdan’. The jIvAtma

is taken out on the archirAdi path by the Lord, just

like an Emperor who walks with his charming little

prince in his hands. SwAmi Desika describes the favour

the lord does to the prapanna:

(i) ippadi nalvazhi nadatthukaikku oruppatta than --

bAla-kreedhA-vishEShatthAlE vazhi thappip-pOna

kumAranai arNya-pradEshatthil ninRum meettu

AsthAna-vishEShat-thaLavum supreeta-nAik koNdu

nadatthukiRa sArvabhouman than

sAmanthar-AnavarkaL-ellArum ikkumAranai

satkarikkumpadi paNNumAp pOlE -- thanakku

antarangarkaLAna arcirAdi-puruSharkaLai-yittu, tham

thAm ellaikaL thORum ivanai ethirkoNdu upacarikkumpadi

paNNumathuvum;

About the condition of the jIvAtma, SwAmi Desikan

describes in a parable:

“ippadi nalvazhi nadatthukaikku oruppatta than --

bAla-kreedhA-vishEShatthAlE vazhi thappip-pOna

kumAranai arNya-pradEshatthil ninRum meettu

AsthAna-vishEShat-thaLavum supreeta-nAik koNdu

nadatthukiRa sArvabhouman than

sAmanthar-AnavarkaL-ellArum ikkumAranai

satkarikkumpadi paNNumAp pOlE”

Let us see the story this prince:-

A certain king went out with his royal women and his

child-prince, to a forest on a hunting sport. When he

was deeply absorbed in hunting, the little prince lost

his way even before he knew who he was. While he was

wandering helplessly in the forest, some tribesmen

found him and brought him up in their hamlet. As he

grew older, the prince identified himself with the

people who brought him up and thought that he, too,

was a savage tribesman and learnt their language and

like their own sons, ate their food and lived their

life. Without knowing anything about his original

princely traditions, he was totally involved in the

tribal life, its good and evil acts, joy and sorrows

in an extremely gruesome way totally different from

the enjoyable royal life. While he was growing up for

sometime like this, some generous men who were aware

of his real birth in a royal family, made attempts to

save him from the savagery by some means or other.

First they removed from his mind his false

identification of himself with the tribesmen and by

discipline and training, physical and spiritual,

enabled him to become gradually fit for princely

enjoyments and the means of attaining them. They made

him realize, both by precept and example, what

befitted him as a prince in conduct and character and

made him to hate the tribal way of life and to prefer

the highly refined princely life. Those good men

strived in every possible way to bring about a longing

for re-union in the mind of prince and the Emperor as

well. They finally helped the prince to re-unit with

his royal family.

“AsthAna-vishEShat-thaLavum supreeta-nAik koNdu

nadatthukiRa sArvabhouman than

sAmanthar-AnavarkaL-ellArum ikkumAranai

satkarikkumpadi paNNumAp pOlE” --

The Emperor, on his part, is so pleased about the

return of his prince to his kingdom that he makes all

his feudal chiefs to celebrate the happy occasion. He

also confers the status of the Royal Prince to his son

in the assembly of his Ministers, citizens and the

feudal chiefs.

As in the parable, the jIva, by identifying himself

with the body, loses his real character and assumes a

different nature. Some generous persons, who are

introduced to the jIva by parents and the like, help

him realize that the soul is neither god nor man nor

beast nor tree and that these differences of body and

shape are due to past karma. They enable him to

understand that the soul is different from the body

and adopt means to make him pursue the goal suited to

his essential nature and to follow the path that would

lead to it. They induce in him wisdom which makes him

capable of distinguishing between what should be

rejected and what is worthy of adoption. As the

transformation came about in him, by some teachers

directed by the Supreme Lord, Who is all compassion

and themselves too being highly compassionate, appear

before him and reveal his real nature and as also what

is highly desirable and the means of attaining the

real position. As it has been stated in the scripture:

 

“eeshvarasya ca sauhArdam yadrucachA-sukrutam tathA /

viShNOh kaTAkShamadvEyam Abhimukhya ca sAtvikaih //

sambhAShaNam ShaDEtAni hyAcArya-prAptihEtavah //”

(God’s love, good deeds done by chance, the gracious

glance of God, freedom from hatred, willingness to

learn and the conversation of good men -- these are

six causes that lead to the acquisition of an

AchArya.)

Like the good men in the parable, the gurus reveal to

the jIva the intimate relation existing between him

and the Lord, Who rules this universe and the world of

VaikuNta without even the least exception:

“nAyam dEva na martyO vA na tiryak sthAvarOpi vA /

j~nAnAnandamayastvAtmA shEShO hi paramAtmanah//”

[The soul is neither God nor man, neither beast nor

tree. Its essential nature is knowledge and bliss and

it is entirely dependent on the Supreme Being and

exists solely for His purposes (shESha).]

“dAsbhootAh svataSsarvE hyAtmanah paramAtmanah /”

(MantrarAjapada StOtram)

(The souls are indeed the servants by nature of the

Supreme Lord.)

Accordingly, the gurus, who are close to the Lord,

try earnestly to help the jIva to attain the Lord:

 

“thanakku antarangarkaLAna

arcirAdi-puruSharkaLai-yittu, tham thAm ellaikaL

thORum ivanai ethirkoNdu upacarikkumpadi

paNNumathuvum”---

As the Emperor in the parable, the Lord also is

pleased to have the jIva who had gone astray, back on

the spiritual path. As the jIva proceeds on the

archirAdi path, the rulers or devatas of the different

regions on this path receive the jIva in their

respective areas. They are: agni-deva, the deva of the

day, the deva of the shukla pakSha, the deva of

uttarAyaNa, the deva of the year (samvatsara deva),

Vayu deva, Surya deva, Moon deva, the deva of

lightning, Varuna , Indra and PrajApati, before the

jIva reaches the bank of river Viraja at the border of

the material world. The jIva then crosses the river

and gets on to the other shore where is situated SrI

VaikNtam, the Lord’s Abode. SwAmi Desikan summarises

this in a slOka:

“jvalana-divasa-jyOtsnApakShOttarAyaNa-vatsarAn

pavana-tapana-prAlEyAmshoon kramAdaciradyutim /

jaladhara-patim dEvAdheesham prajApatimAgatah

tarati virajAm doorE vAcastatah paramadbhutam //”

(SrImad Rahasya-traya-sAram - 46)

[Fire (archis), day-time, the bright half of the month

(shukla-pakSha), uttarAyaNa and the year, then VAyu,

Soorya, Chandra and then Lightning, VaruNa, Indra,

PrajApati or Brahma -- having traversed this path in

the order given above, the jIva crosses the river

Viraja; then follows the wonder that defies all

description in words.)

This is the first favour done by the Lord for the

prapanna jIva after he steps out of his gross body

through the Brahma-nAdi.

 

(To continue)

dAsan

Anbil S.SrinivAsan

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