kalai differences - Part 2

[Guest guest]

Dear Bhagavatas:

This is Part 2 on the subject highlighting the first 2 aspects out of 18

mentioned in the Sloka cited.

Dasoham

Anbil Ramaswamy

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BEdaH swAmi krupA- phalAni a-gathishu- shree vyApti- upAyatwayo

Tad vAtsalya- dayA- nirukti-vachasO- nyAsE- cha- tat-kartari /

Dharma thyAga virOdhayO:- sva-vihithE - nyAsA- Anga: - hetutvayO:

PrAyaschitta vidhou- tadeeya bhajanE- aNuvyApti- kaivalyayO://

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1. swAmi krupA

TK:

Grace of Lord is spontaneous i.e. " NirhEtuka " (reasonless mercy)

VK:

Yes. But, it operates only on such as strive to respond to it. i.e. It is

" SahEtuka " . Otherwise, the question why every individual should not attain

Moksha will remain unanswered.

While electric current pervades the universe, its effect is observed only by

bodies which come into contact with it. SwAmi Desika declares-

Mukunda karunAm vandE mugdEsu api adhika vatsalAm/

Svaroopa samstavou yasyAh nirhEtu-sa-hEtukah//

meaning

I bow to Mukunda's grace which flows freely even to the ignorant; a grace

which springs on its own but acts on a cause.

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2. PhalAni agathishu

Who enjoys the fruit of Prapatti?

TK:

The fruit is enjoyed by the Lord ALONE. To acquire something is a gain to

the master. So, it is the Lord who adds to the number of his servitors

really enjoys the result and it is not relevant to the soul which has

attained salvation. The effect is passed on to the Lord and the Prapanna is

deemed to have resigned all interests and does his actions without any care

for the result.

VK:

It is a fruit enjoyed by BOTH. It is mutual. For the Lord, there is the

'acquisition' of a new servitor. For the Prapanna, he gains the 'privilege

to serve' Him. This is surely a benefit to the released soul. The sentient

soul is not inanimate and must, therefore, to be considered rejoicing on

acquiring a benefit. Also, worship to the Lord carries the pleasure of

performing service, because the Jeeva's intrinsic propensity is Ananda

(though contracted) while this Ananda for the Lord is " Vikasita " (expanded

to its fullest extent).

 

Sri Anand Karalapakkam adds-

“But, the “Principal” bhOkta or “Phali” is Sriman Narayana. Regarding this,

Swami Desikan in his Srimad Rahasya Traya Saram gives the example of the

master feeding milk to a parrot in the cage”

 

While the words " SaraNam aham prapadhyE " convey the idea of surrender, the

word " aham " does not indicate any semblance of ego in the sense of

'ahamkAra'.

 

Sri AlavandAr observed in his StOtra Ratnam SlOkam 52 -

" Tad anyam tava pAda padmayO; aham adyaiva mayA samarpita: "

The words " aham " and " mayA " are significant.

The objection raised was- " What do you mean by " mayA " ?

Are you the owner?

SwAmi Desika explains-

" tvad dhatha karaNa kalEbhara buddhi shraddhA kArpaNyaaadhi sgAlinA "

He had included the word " adhyaiva " for the reason -

" itah param tvayA saha vivAdO mE bhavaishyaTi

iti abhiprAyENa aaha adyaiva iti "

 

Sri Anand Karalapakkam observes -

“According to SrI PuttUr SwAmi of thennAchArya SampradAyam,

the classification of muktAs according to his sampradAyam

is as follows (Ref: Bhagavad GIta; Discussion in 18th Chapter):

 

1. Those who aspire for jIvAtma-anubhavam and complete

jn~yAna yOga, attain Kaivalyam (for eternity), which is in

the outskirts of SrI VaikuNTham. This is a type of mOksha.

 

2. Those who perform upAsana as prescribed in Upanishads and

aspire for ParamAtma-anubhavam and obtain it at SrI Vaikuntam.

But, they also have " selfishness " in the sense of

(i) wishing to attain bliss for themselves ;

(ii) Importantly, " wishing to enjoy ParamAtma " .

 

As a result, they obtain only that type of mOksha which

is predominant with " SwArtha-Mixed ParamAtmAnubhavam " (SMP)

(i.e. With " I " -ness still present in their ParamAtma anubhavam).

For them, Kainkaryam (Service) is restricted to be SECONDRARY

Compared to their SMP which is PRIMARY for them.

 

Basically, performing bhakti-yOga (ie.upAsana) is

contradictory to the nature of a jIvAtma. Thus, those who

adopt it still have ahankAra. As a result, in SrI

VaikuNTham, the best type of mOksha is not obtained by them.

 

3. Those who perform Prapatti as a upAya, and have got rid of

most of Swa-pravrutti (i.e. Indulgence by oneself for

obtaining Moksham). In other words, their Swa-pravrutti

is not worse than that of those who perform bhakti yOga.

As a result, they obtain the type of mOksha at SrI

VaikuNTham to perform SwArtha-mixed Kainkaryam (Existence

of " I " -ness while performing kainkaryam)as at (2) above,

but this is the overflow of “ParamAtma-anubhavam”.

For them the performance of kainkaryam is PRIMARY

and ParamAtma-anubhavam becomes SECONDRARY.

 

Thus, SrIman nArAyaNa makes “Swagata-sweekAram” for those who

adopt prapatti with the thinking of " Prapatti " as an upAya

and He awards only the above state of mOksha.

 

This is to make a point that Prapatti as followed by

Vadakalai Sampradayam will result only in this state

of Moksham and that they can't obtain superior state of

Moksham.

 

4. Those who do not indulge in performing any act for their

Moksham are those who have got rid of Swa-pravrutti. They

are aware that performance of acts such as upAsana etc is

contradictory to their essential nature of the jIvAtma.

 

These superior-most mumukshus leave also their “SvArthabaram”

unto the Lord. They are firm that, " what I perform

is not upAya; What Lord Himself performs is the upAya " .

For such mumukshus, Lord by His nirhEtuka kripa performs

the “Paragata SweekAram” and awards them the superior-most

state of mOksha, which is the performance of (pure

and untainted) “ParArtha kainkaryam” (kainkaryam for the sake

of enjoyment of ParamAtma only).

 

Thus, there are four types of muktas accordingly and this has

some resemblance with the theory of Dwaitins, who uphold

difference in the anubhavan(aananda) of muktas based upon the extent to

which they have performed bhakti prior to obtaining moksham

 

Viewpoint of Vadakalai AchAryas :

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1. The upAya viz. bhakti-yOga (upAsana) is not contradictory

to the essential nature of a jIvAtma. Since there

are strict injunctions in SAstras to perform it (eg: KrishNa

commanding Arjuna saying " mAm bhajasva " to attain Him

ie. commanding him to perform bhakti-yOga) as a means

to attain Lord, a Mumukshu with such adhikAram

(qualification) should necessarily perform bhakti-yOga.

 

Many Rishis of great fame like Sage Vasishta, Sage ParAsara,

Sage VyAya, Sage Suka and others have adopted bhakti-yOga

and they are not persons with dull-intellect to perform

an upAya contradictory to their essential nature. Even the

great SrI VaishNava like SrI Thiruk-kurugaik-kAvalappan

have performed upAsana to obtain Moksham, after having

duly obtained such upadEsam from SrI NAthamuni, who obtained

such upadEsam on the secrets of " Bhakti-yOga " from NammAzhwAr.

 

Also, Sri Nathamuni instructed Sri UyyakkondAr that the secrets of the

performance of bhakti-yOga be taught to AlavandAr, though it didn’t

eventually happen due to Bhagavad Sankalpam.

 

These great SrI VaishNava AchAryas wouldn't have performed

such upadEsam and practiced such acts which are contradictory

to one's own essential nature.

 

Actually, the Mumukshu performing bhakti-yOga neccessarily

observes “SAtvIka-tyAga” as explained well in Bhagavad GIta.

They can't be accused of being the possesors of “ahamkAra”

Though they perform a POSITIVE act, it is performed along with “Kartrutva

tyAgam “( a component of “SAtvika tyAga”) and thereby they are considered to

have renounced “mamata” and “phala tyAga” components.

 

2. Similarly, Prapatti is also a SAstric injunction to be

performed compulsorily by a Mumukshu of certain qualification,

in order to obtain Moksham. They also can't be accused of

having “ahamkAra” and “mamakAra” since they also perform “SAtvIka

tyAga”. Such Prapannas know that the fruit of such Prapatti

is for SrIman nArAyaNa’s pleasure only (with themselves obtaining the

bliss (as a by-product), due to being a chEtana with knowledge and feelings,

which is also as per Lord's arrangement only). They know that SrIman

nArAyaNa is their only (Siddha) upAya and Prapatti by itself is not the

upAya. The same points regarding SAtvika tyAga (mentioned at (1) above are

applicable here.

 

3. There are no distinctions amongst muktAs. All muktAs are

entitled to have perfect (selfless) ParamAtma-anubhavam and

its overflow namely selfless Kainkaryam (Divine Service) unto

SrIman nArAyaNa.

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Other aspects 3 to 18 will follow

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