Guest guest Posted March 28, 2007 Report Share Posted March 28, 2007 SrimathE rAmAnujAya namaH SrImathE varavaramunayE namaH Panguni, Vyaya AzhvAr 6, Acharya 2 Panguni uthram – and Gadyathrayam lakshmyA saha hrishIkESA dEvyA kAruNya rUpayA rakshakaH sarvva shiddhAnthE vEdAnthEpicha gIyathE (lakshmi thanthram) vandE vEdAntha karppUra chAmIkarakaraNdakam rAmAnujAryamAryANAm chUDAmaNImaharnisham Day and night, I prostrate the venerable Ramanuja, the crest jewel of the noble and the casket containing the camphor called Vedas The SaraNAgathi During the panguni uthsavam in Srirangam starting from periya perumAL thirunakshathram on panguni rEvathi, a most significant incident of the year commences on Panguni uthram day. During the festival, two days before panguni uthram, NamperumAL leaves to ThiruvuRaiyUr, and performs kalyANOthsvam with uRaiyUr nAcchiyar. After that he rushes back to srirangam, to be on time on periyapirATTiyAr sannidhi for panguni Uthram sERthi. PeriyapirATTiyar in srirangam is paDithANdA patthini, so NamperumAL visits her to her shrine, and both bless us in Eka simhAsanam. Considering this as the most appropriate occasion, fear of samsAra crossed Swami EmperumAnAr's mind and he fell at the holy feet and conveyed his total surrender seeking the Lord's protection. One must remember that " SaranAgati Gadya " was delivered –The SaraNAgathi was done –for the sake of our deliverance. Why a Repeat? As everyone knows, Sri RamAnujA had initiation –AshrayaNa (initiation) at the feet of his Acharya MahApUrNa (Periya Nambi). And prapatthi is done only once Sakrut Eva prapannAya. It should not be repeated formally doubting the faith on the Lord. Here the repetition of surrender is done only out of eagerness, a sense of longing for performance of eternal service (prApya tvara). This being so, one is not able to remain passive till the owner seeks to do what He pleases with his property, in view of authorities such as " unnAlallAl yAvarAlum onnum kuRai vENdEn (ThiruvAimozhi 5.8-3) " ; " kaLaivAy thunbam kaLayAthozhivAy kaLai kaN matthilEn (ThiruvAimozhi 5.8-8) " ; " Thathasya sadirSam bhavEth " (SitAs words from her prison in lankA-sundarakAnDam 39-30). Why should swami Ramanuja repeat the prapatti? The answer is as follows: He cannot remain passive because of his overwhelming anxiety and eagerness in realizing the goal, and so, surrenders his all and seeks the fruit of kainkaryam, service. This is the state of our Azhvars too. The same is the case of our Acharyas who follow in their (Azhvars) footsteps. A fear of samsAra as well as the desire to realize the goal keep on increasing, all that they (Azhvars) could do was to seek the protective refuge of the Lord nine times (many times) in much the same way as they did once. Thus swami Ramanuja seeks the protective refuge of the great Lord's Divine feet, the sure-fire means for relief from samsAra and acceptance for performing eternal service at His lotus feet. Should Udayavar-needs to do this act of Surrender? NamperumAL had granted salvation to Udayavar. Sri ThiruvENkatamudaiyAn had corroborated this fact. Not only for EmperumAnar but for his associates-sambandha sambandhigaL. Having been so, is this act of surrender necessary by him, is a natural query which may arise. Sri RamAnujA's this act of surrender reflects his deep sense of care for us and also acts as a demonstrating effect. It is for our sake that he performed this act rather than for his. It is well known that EmperumAn assured salvation to those who are in one way or other associated with EmperumAnAr. Keeping this well in mind, Sri RamAnuja performed this act for our sake. In Sri Vaishnava sampradAyam, Gadyatrayam ranks in importance in the proper understanding of rahasya thraya (thirumanthram, dwayam, charamaslokam) and Thathvathraya ( chith, achith, Isvaran) with the ultimate result of total Surrender SaraNAgathi. SrivachanabhUshaNam 41-43 says " Ithil prapatthi paNNum adhikArikaL mUvar " " Ajnjarum, jnjAnAdhikarum, bhakthi paravaSarum " " ajnjAnatthAlE prapannar asmadAthikaL jnjAnAdhikyatthAlE prapannar pUrvvAchAryarkaL, bhakthi pAravaSyatthAlE prapannar AzhvArkaL " The same is declared in Sri PancarAtram " idam saranamajNAnAm idamEva VijAnatAm idam titirksatAmpAram idam anantyamiccatAm " (The ignorant, the scholars, the great sages, the inimitable Azhvars and all, are eligible for 'prapatti'. Even so, the result thereof is universal) In 'prapanna pArijAttam' naDAdUr ammAL says, " bhakti prapatti yadi duskareva rAmAnujAryam bhajethEthi avAdIth " .(If one is too weak to perform bhakti or even prapatti, then meditate upon the glory of swami Ramanuja) All the SaraNAgathi's-prapatthi-nyAsam we do, to the present day is just a reminder to emperuman, of what emperumanar acquired that day for us. GadyathRyam The Gadyatrayam is a commentary on the exalted dvayamantra, the 'mantra ratna'. The dvaya-mantra should be learnt through the lineage of the traditional AchArya and should be meditated upon by the prapanna always – dvayam arthAnusandhAnEna saha yAvath sharIrapAtamatraiva SrIrangE sukhamAsva (Lord srI rAnganAtha to swami RamAnuja in Sharanagathi Gadyam). japthavyam guruparamparayum dwayamum – srivachana bhUshanam 274 In the SrIvaishNava sampradAyam Sri rAmAyaNam is called SaraNAgathi SAsthra and abhayapradAna sAram because of its completeness in describing the act of SaraNAgathi. We reverently call thiruvAymozhi as " dIrgha SaraNAgathi " Many people will think that prapatthi or SaraNagathi is only sampradAyic which is not true all major Upanishads carry references to the total surrender. " tasmAn nyAsamEsAm tapasAm atiriktamAhuh; nyAsa EvAtirEyavat " (Taittariya UttarA NarAyana 79-10) " yO brahmANam vidhathAthi pUrvam yO vai vedAnScha prahiNoti tasmai . tam ha devam Atam buddhi prakASam mumukshurvai, sharanamaham prapadyE " (SvEtAsvatAra) So is SrI vishNupurANam references " tvamEva Sharanam prApya nistaranti manishinah " Apart from all these in the commentary of SaraNAgathi gadyam periya-vAcchAn piLLAi takes up gIthA charamaSlOkam and conclude that only in accordance to the githa charamaslokams meanings emperumanar set up the SaraNAgathi gadyam. Githa charamaSlOkam being the further explanation of dwayam it makes perfect correlation. Gadyam A gadyam is a sAnskrit prose or any prose is a gadyam. But the way of setting in the SaraNAgathi gadyam is very special, nectar like words of emperumanar set in a champu way, adopting some poetry in the middle. The Saranagati gadyam The Saranagati gadyam is actually set as a conversation between SrI Ramanuja, SrI RanganAtha and His consort, srI ranganAyaki. In the beginning starting from Bhagavan nArayaNAbhimathAnurUpa….yathAvasthuthA avirathAsthumE empeurmAnAr surrenders to periyapirATTi for a smoother conduct of the forthcoming saraNAgathi. periyapirATTiyar blesses with the words asthuthE thayaiva sarvam sampathsyathE – let your saraNAgathi be fruitful This Gadyam commences with the words " akhila hEya prathyanIka kalyANaikathAna ---- pradpadyE " which truely reflects explanation of dwayam. After this usually every one recites dwayam once and emperumAnAr proceeds with the pitharam mAtharam dArAn… Like a father teaching his son, just for the welfare of the child, EmperumAnar not only demonstrated Gadhyam,but also prescribes do-s and dont-s.This reflects the mercy of EmperumanAr Happy with the SaraNAgathi namperumAL repeats what all emperumAnAr said, once again is starting from Evam bhUtha math kainkarya prApthi ---- to the end. Here an aithihyam is narrated. EmbAr asked emperumanar, how can we belive that these words are repeated by emperuman himself. To this emperumAnAr replied, " periyaperumAL showed me his all kalyANaguNAs, his own thoughts came out as my words, what all he did not think, will not come in my writings, so these are namperumALs own words " And the gadyam ends with " athasthvam thava thathvathaH math jnjAna darSana prApthishu nissamSayaH sukhamAsva " The final line " anthya kAlE smrithiryAthu " praying for the Anthima smrithi, is a very later addition, it is not a part of the saraNAgathi gadyam. This is explicit from the commentaries of periya-vAcchAn piLLAi and dEsikan. As both did not comment on this sloka. SriRanga Gadyam-Sri VaikunTha Gadyam The shorter SrIranga gadyam is an abridged version of the SaraNAgati gadyam and is directly addressed to SrIranganAtha. The vaikunTha gadyam expresses the yearning of our jagadAchArya to reach SrI VaikunTha, the supreme abode of Vishnu and serve the Lord and His Consort. It recalls in spirit the last decades of the ThiruvAimozhi. Srivaikuntha gadyam, a detailed description of paramapadam, and the duties of a mukthathma is wonderfully described. reading that one will immediately realize only emperumanar who is the AdiSEsha himself, can write this, as he is the one who is seeing this every day. The language of the first two gadyas are like one speaks to himself but the language of vaikunda gadyam is like one speak to others. The language of the Gadyas is nectarine. According to periya thirumuDiadaivu, kUratthAzhvan is said to have written a commentary for gadya thrayam, but it is lost. The ones that are accessible to us are, • The maNipravAla commentary of swami PeriyAvAchchAn PiLLai, • The brief Sanskrit commentary of SruthaprakASikA bhattar and • the gadya bhAsya of swami VedAnta DeSikA Sri Bashyam and Prapatthi Having performed Prapatti, Why did not BashyakArar preach this in Sri Bashyam? Sri BAshyam, basically was intended to determine the essence of VEdhas with special attention towards kudhrushtigaL. Even there Sri RamAnuja did reveal the prapatti in a subtle manner. That approaching other deities is a means. That karmam is a means. GnAnam is a means. This was the tenet being promulgated by those who did not construe the real import of Vedic verses. BashyakArar, had to then, necessarily establish the true meaning of the verses. He, therefore, systematically and logically eliminated one by one the mistaken notions and derived that indeed the Vedic verse indicates bakthi is the means. Notwithtstaning this, to remove the fallacy that indeed Bakthi is ultimate means, EmperumAnar, out of causeless mercy, showered on us and revealed the subtle prapathi which was embedded in Sri BAshyam in a clear manner in SaraNAgathi Gadhyam. This is crystal clear from Sri Periya vAchAn piLLai's avatharikai to Sri VaikunTa Gadhyam. Bakthi vs prapathi Prapthi can be followed by all. It goes in consonance with the nature of the Atman. It is sidhOpAyam. It is promulgated as the best thapas by the upanishads while discussing this aspect in ascending manner. 'thasmAthu nyasamEshA: thapasAnthirutmahU:' The best thapas is prapathi. AarthEshu Aasu phalA tadanya vishayE api ucchinna dEhAntarA vahni AadE: anapEkshaNaat tanubhrutAm satya Aadivat vyApinee | srIirangEsvara yAvadAtma niyata tvat pAratantrya ucitA tvayi yEva tvat upAya dhee: apihita sva upAya bhAvA astu mE : nyAsa thilakam of swami dEsikan This slokam of svAmi Desikan hits on the bulls eye regarding the superior nature of prapathi. The unconditionality, the shortest time limit possbile, the fail-proof nature etc. score well over the bakthi . The Panguni Uthiram day falling on April 1, 2007, this year, is most appropriate day to not only revere the Gadhyam but also remember the mercy of EmperumAnar showered on us. lakshmI pathEr yathipathEScha dayaiga dhAmnOH yOsau purA samajanishTha jagad hithArthham prAchyam prakASayathu naH paramam rahasyam samvAda Esha SaraNAgathi manthra sAraH vara vara muni dasargaL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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