Swamy Desikan-5 (maNipravALa works)- Thoopul maNdapam kaimkaryam appeal

[Guest guest]

SrI:

SrImathe Ramanujaya namah:

SrImathe Nigamantha mahadesikaya namah:

SrImAn venkatanAthAryaH kavitArkika kesarI |

vedAntAcArya-varyome sannidhattAm sadA hRdi ||

 

May the glorious Venkatanatha, the greatest of teachers of Vedanta, and the

lion among poets and debaters, reside forever in my heart.

 

Dearest Srivaishnavas,

 

I am continuing on my appeal and posts on Swamy Desikan.

 

Thoopul MaNdapam kaimkaryam for Swamy Desikan by Smt Shantha Kalyanarangan

of Thoopul trust. Sri Lakshmi N. Srinivasa also has created a web site for

this trust and also for this special kaimkaryam for Thoopul Pillai.

 

URL: http://www.geocities.com/lsriniva/thoopulappeal.html

It is my humble request to please contribute your mite towards this

kaimkaryam, as remembering Acharyan, and talking alone will not suffice.

 

Swamy Desikan has offered us 24 works in maNipravAlam, a sweet blend of

Tamil and Sanskrit. These are actually 35 in number including the

commentaries.

 

The first work under this group is SatsampradAya parisuddhi. The Acharya

exhausted all the talents, as it were in demonstrating that the tradition

starting from Sri Ramanuja is perfectly flawless. There is no antagonism

between rahasyas, upanishadic doctrines, theories and practices in the

Srivaishnava Sri Ramanuja Sampradayam, The apparent contradictions that are

raised on the import of the three rahasyas are resolved in a very judicious

manner.

 

The second and third works are called Tatva padhavi and Rahasya Padavi

respectively. The way is to know the tattvas, that is, Realities like soul,

matter and God and the means of getting final release. RahasyapadavI deals

with the way of knowing the sense of three rahasyas.

 

Tatvanavaneetham and Rahasyanavaneetham are the fourth and fifth works. The

word navaneetham, which means butter, is sued here to show that the cream of

what is otherwise hard to comprehend is presented here. The nature of the

enjoyer (soul), of matter which is enjoyed and God who directs them is well

treated in Tatva navaneetham. Similarly all the component parts of the three

rahasyas are dealt with suitable references in the source books in the

Rahasyanavaneetham.

 

Maatrukai is work forming part of the Titles Tatva maatrukai and Rahaysa

maatrukai the sixth and seventh works. The work matruka means the source of

the letters which are represented in Sanskrit language by the squabbles

beginning with “a” and ending with Ksa. These squabbles are fifty one in

number. Treatment of tattva and Rahasya in each of these two works is

offered in fifty one in number. Treatment of these two works is offered in

fifty one sentences.

 

Sarvajna Singappa Nayaka, son of king Madhava, became a disciple of Vedantha

Desika and desired to know the tattvas and Rahasyas. Vedanta Desika wrote

Tattva sandhEsam, Rahasya SandhEsam and Rahasya SandhEsa vivaraNam and sent

to the king. Hence the title ends in the word SandhEsam. These are the 8th,

9th and 10th works. The last mentioned work adds further explanation on

Prapatti.

 

Eleventh work is TatvarathnAvaLi in which the matters dealt with are like

gems and so the whole work is like a garland of gems. The Acharya offers, in

the 12th work TattvarathnAvaLipratipadyasamgraha, the summary of the

previous work.

 

Similar are the 13th and 14th works having the names RahasyaratnAvaLi and

RahasyaratnAvaLihrudhayam on the three rahasyas.

 

The work chuLakam forms part of the titles TattvatrayachuLakam and

RahasyatrayachuLakam of the 15th and 16th works. The word chuLaka means palm

of the hand. This word tells that the Tattvas and Rahasyas that are treated

in these two works are made easily understandable through these words.

The SaradIpa, the 17th work is lost with the exposition of the three

rahasyas. The abhayapradAna sAram, the 18th work is in ten sections dealing

with all aspects of Prapatti. The essential features of Sri Rama’s offering

security to VibhIshaNa are vividly described.

 

TattvasikhAmaNi and RahasyasikhAmaNi are the 18th and 19th works, the former

of which is lost. In the latter work, the Acharya discusses the nature of

the PurANas and their status as supplements to the Vedas.

 

PradAnasathakam, the 20th work (refer URL: http://www.srivaishnava.org/sgati

SaraNagati electronic journal for translation in English by Sri V Satakopan

Swamin) enumerates one hundred topics that are of great significance in

Vaishnavism. The 21st work, UpakArasangraham (also available in Saranagati

journal written by Sri Vijayaraghavan Srinivasan) lists the actions of God,

which have been of much help to his devotees. Saarasangraham, the 22nd work

gives the gist of the three rahasyas. The 23rd work is Saarasaka an epitome

of Srimad Rahasyatrayasaaram.

 

RAHASYATRAYASAARAM: (24th work)

 

Sri Vedanta Desikan has written 32 Rahasyas, which contain the teachings of

the Upanishads about the Tattva, Hita and Purushaartha. Rahasyatrayasaara is

for the benefit of those who are not able to study the Vedic texts directly.

 

There is a rile in the saasthras that some ideas that are communicated to

all in public should be taught to those interested in them in private.

Hence, they are called Rahasyas and they have to be learnt from Acharyas.

Twentyeight of them are given the name of ChiilaRai Rahasyam (minor

Rahasyas); four are Major Rahaysas namely Atthigiri MahAthmyam, Paramapadha

Bangam, ParamapadasOpAnam and Rahasyatrayasaram. The last is the magnum opus

among the Rahasyas of Sri Vedanta Desikan.

 

Rahaysatraya is mainly intended by the Acharya to offer an elaborate

treatment of the three Rahasyas (moola manthra, Dwayam and Charama slOkam).

This work contains 32 chapters called AdhikAras. The number 32 is suggestive

of this work playing the role of 32 Brahma vidyas of the Upanishads. Every

chapter begins with a Sanskrit sloka on the matter treated in it followed by

its expansion in maNipravALam. A stanza in Tamil and a sloka in Sanskrit

mark the concluding portion of each chapter. The Acharya offers evidences

from Sanskrit sources to be followed by those from the AzhwAr’s prabandhas

in support of his arguments for and against certain problems. The passages

from the works of earlier Acharyas are frequently cited. It is needless to

remark that the Acharya has no equal through this work, not to speak of his

contributions made in other works on Sri vaishnavism.

 

Please refer to Sri Anbil Ramaswamy Swamin’s summary on Srimad

Rahasyatrayasaaram in Swamy Vedanta Desika web page

(http://swamydesika.tripod.com/srts.html#top )

The 25th work Guruparamaparsaaram stresses on the value of reciting the line

of preceptors. VirOdhaparihaaram, the 26th work clarifies the objections

that are likely to be raised against the Rahasyatrayasaram. Swamy imagined

what all could be thought of by us (J ) and answered each and every doubt

that could occur in our minds.

 

Among the works of Manipravala kind, mention must be made of commentaries on

Yamunacharya’s SthOthra Rathnam. There is a commentary is called “anjali

vaibhavam”, which conveys the power of anjali (folding the palms together by

way of reverence particularly to God). The other commentary is called

munivAhanabhOgam, meaning enjoyment of him who had a muni (Saarangamuni) as

his vehicle. This refers to ThiruppANAzhwAr who was carried by an eminent

Brahmin called Lokasaarangamuni. The third commentary is known as

Madhurakavihrudhayam, on the dacad composed by Madhurakavi AzhwAr on

NammAzhwAr and this is not extant.

 

It is also said that Acharya wrote the NigamaparimaLa a commentary on

ThiruvAymozhi which is not extant (but there is no evidence for admitting

this view).

 

HATHIGIRI MAHAATHMYAM: (we will see in the nest post)

 

Please donate according to your shakthi. The money can be sent to " Thuppul

Trust " and the address is:

 

Thuppul Trust

Old No.20, New No.24, Thiruvengadam Street

West Mambalam, Chennai-600033, India

Phone No: 91-44-4741559 / 91-44-3715771

 

Please contact Sri. V.K. Sudharshan at vksudarsh or Sri Lakshmi N

Srinivasa lsriniva (He can collect and send it as single amount

in USA).

 

The address:

 

Lakshminarasimhan Srinivasa

3 Old Towne Road, #212

Ayer, MA-01432

 

For those in the South East Asia, please contact me at

srivaishnavan . Please pass on this kaimkaryam to as many people

as possible in order to complete the same.

 

kavi-tArkika-simhAya kalyANa-guNa-SAline |

Srimate venkateSAya vedAntagurave namaH ||

 

Salutations to Sri Venkatesa, in whom all perfection resides, who is the

teacher of Vedanta and the lion among poets and debaters!

 

Swamy Desikan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Regards

Narayana Narayana

NarayaNa dAsan madhavakkannan

 

 

_______________

Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp