SrI sArasAram -- I(33)

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srI:

SrI sAra sAram – I (33)

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I – ThirumantrAdhikAram

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The Significance of ‘namah’ (continued)

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SwAmi Desikan now gives a piece of information in advance, which is part of the

next word, ‘nArAyaNAya’, of Tirumantram:

“mEl caturthiyil prArthaneeyamAna kainkaryamum tadeeyaparyantam.†–

The Seshatvam, the nature of being a servant, of the jIva, extends up to the

last in the series of His devotees. This is sung by SrI nammAzhvAr thus:

“neekkamillA aDiyArtham aDiyAr aDiyAr aDiyAr eng

kOkkaL, avarkkE kuDikaLAic cellum nallakOTpAdE.†(TiruvAimozhi, 8-10-10)

(My ambition is to become the seventh-grade servant in the line of servants who

relish in serving the Lord without any break.)

Here, the AzhvAr prays to the Lord to grace him with the fulfillment of this

ambition of his. SwAmi Desikan informs us this most important point now itself

without waiting for the context that will come while dealing with the last word

of the Tirumantram. As he is so kind that Swami Desikan doesn’t want to keep

us in suspense because of the time gap during which anything may happen to us.

Once we come to know the highest purushArtha, we must seek it from the Lord.

That is the desire one will get after studying the significance of the middle

word, ‘namah’. This prayer is included in the affix of the fourth case,

‘Aya’ of the next word, ‘nArAyaNAya’. This affix gives the meaning,

‘we exist for the Lord ’. When this thought comes to us we pray to the Lord

for doing the service to Him. This service also extends up to His devotees, not

merely His direct devotees, but the devotees of those devotees too. This goes on

till the last devotee in the series. So it means that we must do service to

every one that we meet, as he may be a devotee of another devotee of devotee of

devotee of devotee of devotee who is the closest devotee of the Lord. Then only

our service to the Lord will become complete!

When we realize this significance fully, we will ever remain the most humble,

without giving any room for our ego to raise its head under any circumstances.

At this juncture, it is natural for anyone to raise a question: ‘When a jIva

happens to be one who is the recipient of another’s service, he becomes a

Seshi. Is it not a contradiction of the same person being a Sesha and a Seshi at

the same time?’ SwAmi Desikan says there is no contradiction in this:

“oruvan thAnE vERoruvarukku athisayatthai viLaivikkiRa vEzhattAlE SEshanAi

avarAlE varum athisayatthukku ASrayanAna vEshattAlE SEzhiyumAkaiyAlE viruddam

allAmaiyAlE,†--

The one who receives honours from another is known as Seshi. The bhAgavtha who

does the honour to the other bhAgavatha is Sesha. The bhAgavatha when he

receives the honour from another is Seshi, while the same bhAgavatha becomes

Sesha when he does the honour to another bhAgavatha. There is nothing

contradictory in this, points out Swami Desikan. Hence, it is absolutely proper

for every bhAgavatha to consider another bhagavatha as his Seshi and to consider

himself as Sesha. Similarly, the other bAgavatha will consider this person as

his Seshi and consider himself as his Sesha. It is, therefore, nothing wrong in

both the positions coming to the same person.

In this connection, Swami Desikan gives three quotes – one in Sanskrit and

the two in Tamil:

“‘prabhavO bhagavadbhaktA mAdruSAm satatam dvija’,

‘unnaDiyArkkATpaDutthAi’,

‘aDiyArk kennayATpaDuttha vimalan’

enkiRa anusanthAnam sarvabhAgavtarukkum samAnam.â€

The first one is from the Scripture known as itihAsa samucchayam. Let us

consider the SlOka in full:

“nAradOhamanuprAptah tvaddarSana-kutoohalAt /

prabhAvO bhagavadbhaktA mAdruSAm satatam dvija //†(itihAasa samucchayam,

31-54)

(I, nArada, have come here eagerly longing to see you. To men like me, Oh

Brahmin, those who are bhaktas of the Lord are masters.)

The divine sage, SrI nArada, too consider the devotees of the Lord as his

Seshis.

Now, Sri ThoNDaraDippoDi AzhvAr prays to the Lord of Srirangam to make him a

servant of His devotees. He sets an example for jIvas to seek the Lord’s grace

for serving His devotees for ever. Here is the AzhvAr’s prayer:

“.. .. .. .. .. .. .. … .. .. ..choozhpunal arangA!

thiDaiyottha thuLavamum kooDaiyum polinthu

thOnRiyathOL thoNDaraDip poDiyennum

aDiyanai aLiyanenRaruLi unnaDiyArkku

ATpaDutthAi paLLiezhuntharuLAyE.†(ThirupaLLiezhucchi-10)

(Oh the Lord of SrIrangam! Please get up from the bed and bless me, Your

servant, this ThoNDaraDippoDi, carrying the basket full of garlands made of

flowers and Tulasi, to serve Your devotees.)

The next quotation is from a verse sung by SrI ThirupANAzhvAr:

“aDiyArkkennai ATpaDuttha vimalan†(amalanAthipirAn-1)

(The Lord, the blemishless! He made me, who have been indulging in materialistic

pleasures and who have been thinking myself as the Lord, to serve the

bhAgavathas who never approach any other than the Lord.)

SwAmi Desikan says that this kind of prayer for serving the Lord’s devotees

should be adopted by all the bhAgavathas.

 

(To continue)

dAsan

anbil S.SrInivAsan

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