Vairagyapanchakam of Desika

[Guest guest]

Jai Srimannarayana!

 

2.

silam kim analam bhaveth analam oudharam baadhithum

payah prasoothipoorakam kimu na dhaarakam saarasam

ayatna malamallakam yadhi pataccharam kaccharam

bhajanthi vibudhaa mudha ahaha kukshithah kukshithah

 

Are not some grains scattered on the field is enough to satisfy the hunger and

is not the handful of water from a pond enough to sustain life? Will the soiled

cloth found on the road be not enough to use as a loin cloth? Even the learned

ones resort to the mean kings for the sake of their livelihood. How shameful!

 

Desika ridicules the patronage of kings calling them kukshithah, , and says that

even learned people, vibuDhaah, resort to them out of the need to fill their

stomach, kukshithaH. He asks them if it is only for food water and cloth , the

three basic needs of man, can they not get it by picking up few grains,

scattered on the fields, silam, or by drinking a handful of water ,

prasoothipoorakam, from the pond, saarasa, or by taking any cloth soiled with

mud, malamallakam pataccharam, from the street? This attitude show the extreme

detachment as made out by Sankara in Bajagovindam,

 

'suramandhiratharu moolanivaasaha

sayyaa bhoothalam ajinam vaasaha

sarvaparigrah bhogathyaagaha

kasya sukham na karothi viraagah.'

 

He dwells under a tree outside the temple, and sleeps on the floor and

wears a skin-cloth. The real joy is only in giving up all possessions

and who will not revel in it?

 

When you do not have any desire except the basic requirements for sustenance

there is no need to approach anyone for food, cloth or drink, not even for a

dwelling. This is the idea conveyed by the sloka.

 

Desika used to live by unchavrtthi, which was not begging but simply going

around singing the glory of the Lord and the people used to respect them and

give them rice etc necessary for their living. Thyagaraja also lived in

unchavrtthi . The Lord looks after their needs because they have surrendered

completely to Him. There are many stories to prove this. The richest man on

earth is not the one who has amassed millions but only the one who has no wants

and lives happily with what he has.

 

Once when Vedantadesika came back from his unchavrtthi, his wife noted some gold

pieces thrown in by some well-wisher and showed it to him. He told her that

they were garbage and asked her to throw them out and she did! That is the

vairagya of the great saint devotees.

 

Jai Srimannarayana!