Experiencing Swami Desika - 100

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SrI:

Shrimate Shri Lakshmi Nrusimha Parabrahmane Namaha:

Shrimate Shri Seetha Ramachandra Parabrahmane Namaha:

Shrimate Shri Ramanujaya Namaha:

Shrimate Nigamantha Maha Desikaya Namaha:

Shrimate Shrivan Satagopa Shri Narayana Yateendra Mahadesikaya Namaha:

 

" SrimAn VenaktanAthArya: kavithArkika kEsarI!

VedAnthAchArya varyO mE sannidhatthAM sadhA hrudhi " !!

 

 

A person with vivEkam (vivEki) does not have desires that

yield temporary fruits. His only objective is kainkaryam

and prays to the Lord to enable him to perform kainkaryam

to the Lord and to His Devotees.

 

The last step in the Adhikara is the Bheeti-Parva. A person

initially gets virakti on the Jivatma, paramatma and sariram

and gets a feeling that he is a dasan to the Lord. He has all

along been thinking that he is independent and so had incurred

the mahA pAvam of being a thief => the theft here is because he

thinks that the atma is his, while it actually belongs to the

Lord. Once he realises his dAsatvam, the theft of having stolen

the atma goes off. He stops committing mistakes because he regrets

his earlier behaviour. Over a period he gains a lot of vairAgyam

and gives up all material desires. So, he does not perform kAmya

karmas which binds him into the rope of samsAra.

 

After attaining such a state he thinks of his karmas which are

anAdhi. It has not been exhausted and so has been cumulated. He

has not even done any prayaschittam to cancel it. Some karmas

have started bearing fruits and some are yet to start. He realises

that it is beyond one's capacity to exhaust the karmas, either by

undergoing it or by doing Prayaschittam. As a result of this one is

forced to take a lot more births with innumerable sariras. He then

gets caught into the cycle of being in the womb, taking birth,...

old age, death ... The depth of this sorrow knows no bounds. A

viraktan realises these realities.

 

To get relieved of these troubles, one cannot go in search of anya

devatas. It is a great mistake even to think of approaching anya

devatas. Even if a person worships them and reaches Svarga, these

Devas push him down. So, how are they ever going to help men?

One should have two important qualifications if men have to

approach him for help -

 

1. The intention to help

2. Capacity to help.

 

From the above it is very clear that the anya Devatas do not have

any intention to help. They just treat humans as sacrificial beings

and get work done thro' men.

 

When we speak of the capacity to help, none of these Devas have

the capacity to confer Moksham. Infact, they are not even eligible

to enter into Paramapadam. So, they cannot in anyway help us

attain Moksha.

 

So, irrespective of which anya devata we reach, we are sure to have

all kinds of problems.

 

A person thinks of the troubles one would encounter when the yama

dootAs throw their pAsha rope. The yama dootAs are prone to using

harsh words. The path through which they take one to naraka is

dreadful. After reaching naraka, the troubles encountered are just

too much. These are explained in Shri Vishnu Puranam, when one listens

to this he really gets a lot of fear in his mind.

 

A person overcome by fear at the thought of sufferings here and

in hell!

 

He would consider Moksha as his only requirement and take up the

required Upaya. The upAyas can be Bhakti Yoga or Prapatti.

 

The next section is the Upaaya Kanda. Prasaadana Parva is the only

parva in Upaaya Kanda. This is the next(fifth) step to the

transedental World!

 

Due to the birth of vivEkam, frustration of mind, vairAgyam, fear etc

a person is affected by two diseases viz., Punya and pApA. What is

the medicine to get rid of these? Who is the doctor? Brahma, SIva,

Indra and other anya devas are not even aware of the medicine of

the disease of samsara. Our Lord is the only greatest doctor! He has

assigned two medicines called Bhakti Yoga and Prapatti for this.

A person hence seeks the help of God to mercifully liberate him by

making him perform bhakti or Prapatti.

 

Bhakti Yoga, underlines the importance of complete & total devotion

by which we can please the Lord thereby Lord accepting us in his

abode. The Bhakti yogi should not worship anybody other than the

Lord. The other Devas worship him. To perform Bhakthi yoga with

the angas, we need proper gjnana, sakthi, the patience to bear

with the delay in reaching Moksham, ...

A person who cannot take up Bhakti yoga and believes in the Lords

mercy alone should take up Prapatti. Prapatti underlines the fact

that we have to perform total surrender at the Lotus feet of the

Lord. After he does this, there is no other upAya that needs to be done.

The Lord who is a ocean of mercy, takes care of a Prapanna!

 

When this Prapatti is an anga of Bhakthi Yoga it is called Anga-prapatti,

when it is a direct means to mOksha it is called svatantra Prapatti.

The greatness of Prapatti can be equated to the greatness of Brahma

because Prapatti is a sAdhana to attain Brahma!

 

Bhakti and Prapatti are thus the prayaschitta for all the pApAs.

A person who does svatantra Prapatti is considered to have done all the

yAgas. He is relieved of all the past Karmas which have not begun to

yield fruits (Sancita Karmas) and Karmas done in the present which will

yield fruits in the future lives (Agami Karmas).

 

Only Prarabdha Karmas i.e., Karmas, which have started giving fruits

in the present life will remain untouched. Thus, a Saranagata will

divest oneself of all the fruits of one's past and present Karmas

and will be fit to reach God.

 

For persons who have taken up one upaya to attain Moksha and who have

been accepted by the Lord, the pramAnas state that the troubles of

getting caught with yama, suffering in naraka etc are not there. A

true devotee thus lives without any fear, does not expect anything

from anyone, is relieved of the burden of protecting himself and

has no fear about naragam etc.

 

The above write up is based on " Rahasyartha Vivaranam " by

Shri RamadEsikachAriyar Swami and " Life and works of

Sri Nigamanta Maha Desika " by Prof. A. Srinivasaraghavan.

 

 

" Kavi Taarkika Simhaaya Kalyaana guna SaalinE!

SrimatE VenkateshAya VedAnta Gurave nama !! "

 

....To be continued!

 

dEsikan tiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

 

Praveena nAmni Ramanuja dasi

13th Sep 1999