SrI sArasAram -- I (22)

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srI:

SrI sAra sAram – I (22)

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I – ThirumantrAdhikAram

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The Significance of the ‘m’ in PraNava

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After explaining in detail the significance of the second syllable, ‘u’ of

the PraNava, SwAmi Desikan now takes up the third syllable, ‘m’ for

explaining its significance:

“truteeya-aksharam keezhc conna cEshatvattinuDaiya ASrayatthaik kATTukiRthu.

itthai ‘mana j~nAnE’, ‘manu avabOdhanE’ enkiRa dhAtukkaLilE

nishpanna-mAna padamenRum, chAndasa-prakriyaiyAlE asmac-chabdatthilE lupta

SEshamAi niRkiRathu enRum yOjippArkaL. ithu jIva vAcakamennumiDam

Atma-samarppaNa-vidhi vAkyAtthAlE samarppaNeeyanAna AtmAvukku prakASamAkap

pariSEsha-siddha-mAkaiyAlum kakAram muthalAi makAram iRuthiyAna varNangkaLaip

pancavimSati tattvangkaLukku vAcakangkaLAkat tatvasAgara-samhitAdikaLilE

collukaiyAlum ‘makAram jeevabhootam tu’, ‘AtmA sat u makArOyam

pancavimSaha prakeertitah’ enRu viSEshikkaiyAlum siddham.â€

Before studying SwAmi Desikan’s presentation, we must keep in mind the truths

which have been already revealed by him. The first syllable, ‘a’ represents

the Lord Who is the Cause of everything, the Protector and the SEshi, Master of

all. He is the only one Master is derived from the second syllable, ‘u’. It

was pointed out earlier that the SEsha, that is servant comes later in the form

the third and final syllable, ‘m’, who is the jIva. This means he is the

possessor of this SEshatvam, that is, the nature of being the servant of the

Master. This what Swami Desikan says in the first sentence:

“truteeya-aksharam keezhc conna cEshatvattinuDaiya ASrayatthaik

kATTukiRthu.†-- The third syllable shows the jIva where the quality of

SEshatvam rests.

How is it? – The learned explain this in the following way, says SwAmi

Desikan:

“truteeya-aksharam keezhc conna cEshatvattinuDaiya ASrayatthaik kATTukiRthu.

itthai ‘mana j~nAnE’, ‘manu avabOdhanE’ enkiRa dhAtukkaLilE

nishpanna-mAna padamenRum, chAndasa-prakriyaiyAlE asmac-chabdatthilE lupta

SEshamAi niRkiRathu enRum yOjippArkaL.†--

The syllable ‘m’ – which in Sanskrit, is said to have evolved from the

verbal root, ‘man’. This verbal root, ‘man’ has two meanings: 1)

knowledge: ‘mana j~nAnE’; and 2) possession of knowledge: ‘manu

avabOdhanE’. By the first meaning, we come to know that the jIva is knowledge

itself. By the second, we derive that he does possess knowledge as an

attribute. Therefore, from the verbal root ‘man’, evolves the syllable,

‘m’. It is also said that by another way too the syllable ‘m’ is

evolved. That is, according to the Vedic nighanDu – vocabulary of Vedic words

– in the Sanskrit word ‘asmat’ which means, the first person word,

“Iâ€, ‘m’ is the middle syllable, with ‘as’ being the pre-fix and

‘at’ being the suffix. That is, ‘as’ + ‘m’ + ‘at’ = ‘asmat’.

With the pre-fix and the suffix removed, the balance left is ‘m’, which

indicates the jIvAtma.

We have already noticed that the PraNava is an independent mantra uttering

which one performs prapatti – surrendering our Atma at the feet of the Lord.

It is, therefore, necessary that this aspect is reflected in the praNava. This

is what SwAmi Desikan states next:

“ithu jIva vAcakamennumiDam Atma-samarppaNa-vidhi vAkyAtthAlE

samarppaNeeyanAna AtmAvukku prakASamAkap pariSEsha-siddha-mAkaiyAlum†–

That this syllable, ‘m’ represents the jIvAtma, is known from the sentence

in the form of an injunction, in which ‘m’ refers to the thing that is being

surrendered. This is known from the balance syllable left.

This is explained thus:

We know that the first syllable, ‘a’ mentions the Lord to whom the

surrender is made. The second syllable, ‘u’ refers to the exclusiveness of

His being the Master or His Consort, Lakshmee. The left over syllable in the

praNava, is therefore, ‘m’. This ‘m’ clearly represents the jIvAtma that

is being surrendered to Sriya-patih, the Consort of Lakshmee. This is one way of

fixing the syllable, ‘m’ as indicative of the jIva.

There is also another way, says SwAmi Desikan:

“kakAram muthalAi makAram iRuthiyAna varNangkaLaip pancavimSati

tattvangkaLukku vAcakangkaLAkat tatvasAgara-samhitAdikaLilE collukaiyAlum†--

According our siddhAnta, there are 25 tattva-s, realities, besides the 26th

reality, Parabrahman, SrIman nArAyaNa. They are as follows:

In the descending order:

jIva,

prakruti,

Intellect (Mahat),

Ego (AhankAra),

Five TanmAtrA-s (Sound, Touch, Colour, Taste, Smell)

Five Elements (Ether, Air, Fire, Water, Earth.)

Mind

Five organs of Knowledge (eyes, ears, tongue, nose, skin)

Five organs of Action (hands, feet, organ of evacuation, organ of generation)

In the ascending order, these start from the organs of action (5), organs of

knowledge (5), Mind (1), Elements (5), TanmAtrA-s (5), Ego(1), Intellect(1),

Prakruti (1) and finally end with jIvAtma (1). In all, there are 25 in number.

SwAmi Desikan gives the pramANa – authority in support of this theory:

“‘makAram jeevabhootam tu’, ‘AtmA sa tu makArOyam pancavimSaha

prakeertitah’ enRu viSEshikkaiyAlum siddham.â€

Some Samhitas specifically state the syllable, ‘m’ as representing the

jIva. SwAmi Desikan refers to the above mentioned two quotes.. Let us consider

these quotes in detail:

The first one is a part of a SlOka:

“makAram jeevabhootam tu SreerE vyApakam nyasEt†(Source of the quote is

not known)

{One should perform nyAsam (surrender) with makAram which indicates the jIva

tattva.}

This is one type of nyAsam to be done while muttering the mantra.) And the

second quote,

“AtmA sa tu makArOyam pancavimSaha prakeertitah†is from the PAdmOttara

Samhita. We shall consider this along with all the related SlOkas both in this

Samhita and the Tattva-sAgara Samhita:

“pancArNAnAm tu pancAnAm vargANAm paramESvarah /

samsthitah kAdimAntAnAm tattvAtmatvEna sarvadA //†(TattvasAgara Samhita)

{The five groups of consonants, in the Sanskrit alphabet, each containing five

letters beginning with ‘k’ and ending with ‘m’ denote the twenty-five

tattvas or realities.}

“bhootAni ca kavargENa cavargENEndriyANi ca /

TavargENa tavargENa j~nAnagandhAvayastathA //

Manah pakArENaivOktam phakArENa tvahamkrutih /

bakArENa bhakArENa mahAn prakrutirucyatE //

AtmA tu sa makArOyam pancavimSah prakeertitah //†(PAdmOttara Samhita, 4-25 to

27)

{The five letters in the ka group denote the five elements (bhootas); those in

the ca group denote the five senses of action (karmEntriyas); those in the ta

group denote the five tanmAtras (like smell); the pa denotes the mind; the pha

denotes ahankAra; ba denotes mahat; and the bha denotes prakruti.. The jIvAtamA

is denoted by the letter ‘m’ and he is the twenty-fifth tattva or reality.)

This is illustrated as follows:

k,kh,g,gh,ng denote the five elements -- ether, air, fire, water and earth.

c,ch,j,jh,nj denote the five senses of action – hands, feet, the organ of

speech, the organ of evacuation and the organ of generation.

T,Th,D,Dh,N denote the five senses of knowledge -- eyes, ears, tongue, nose and

skin.

t,th,d,dh,n denote the five tanmAtras -- sound, touch, colour, taste and smell.

p,ph,b,bh,m denote respectively the mind, ahankAra (ego), mahat, prakruti and

the jIvAtma.

Starting from ‘k’ (kakAram) and ending with ‘m’ (makAram), the

syllables represent the 25 tattvas (realities), say the samhitas. The 25th

principle is the jIvAtma, represented by the syllable, ‘m’.

Thus, it is now clear that the third syllable, ‘m’ refers to the jIvAtma

which is the 25th reality just preceding the 26th tattva, the Ultimate Reality,

Who is the Parabrahman, SrIman nArAyaNa.

 

(To continue)

dAsan

Anbil S.SrInivAsan

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