Sri Vilakkoli Perumal, Thoopul/ThirutthaNkA dhivya Desam: Nithya AarAdhana Kaimkaryam for VilakkoLi PerumAL and Swamy Desikan : Part XXVIII: Twenty Fifth SlOkam

[Guest guest]

SrI:

 

Dear BhakthAs:

 

Today , adiyEn will cover the Twenty fourth slOkam

of Sri SaraNAgathi DhIpikai , where Swamy Desikan

commences His upadEsam on Prapatthi yOgam :

 

udhbAhu-bhAvam apahAya yaTaiva kharva:

prAmsum phalArTam abhiyAchathi yOgi-chinthya

yEvam sudushkaram upAya gaNam vihAya

sTAnE nivEsayathi tasya vichakshana: ThvAm

 

--SrI SaraNAgathi DhIpikai: SlOkam 25

 

(meaning): Oh Lord DhIpa PrakAsa , the fitting target

for the dhyAnam of the yOgis ! One dwarf had intense desire to

pluck the rip fruit on the branch that was too much beyond

his reach. He could not raise his own hands to pluck

the fruits . He was too short. He is clever and did not

waste his time with futile efforts. He requested a tall

man to pluck the fruits for him and enjoyed them . Similarly,

a wise sentient being realizes the performance of Karma

and Jn~Ana yOgams as a sequel to the performance of

the Bhakthi yOgam is too difficult and beyond his

capabilities. Therefore , he does not engage in

these yOgams and performs prapatthi instead and places

You (the SiddhOpAyan ) in place of the karma-Jn~Ana-Bhakthi

yOgams and accomplishes his heart's wish (viz)., Moksha Sukham.

 

Additional Comments(V.S):

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In the previous two slOkams , Swamy Desikan described

the SaalamBana and nirAlamBana yOgams and the fruits that

one can attain from the Lord . In this slOkam , Swamy

Desikan compares the Bhakthi yOgam with the Prapatthi

yOgam .In this context, Swamy Desikan addresses Lord

DhIpa PrakAsan as " yOgi chinthya " or as the One ideally

suited for dhyAnam by yOgis to qualify them for

the anushtAnam of the Bhakthi yOgam thru their

engagement first in saalamBana or NirAlamBana yOgic

practises .Swamy Desikan invites our attention to

a clever analogy. There is a dwarf (kharva:)standing

under a fruit tree full of ripe fruits ready for tasting.

The dwarf longs to have the taste of those fruits.

He is however too short and his raised arms (udhbAhu

BhAvam ) will not help him to reach out to those sweet

fruits hanging from the branches as if they are saying ,

" come and get me " . The dwarf looks around and sees

a tall traveller coming his way. The dwarf stops

the long limbed traveller and requests him to help

with the plucking of the fruits for his consumption.

The traveller obliges gladly and the dwarf gets his wish

fulfilled .The dwarf gave up his own efforts wisely,

when he realized that the task was impossible and he was

incapable of executing that task. He recognized jumping

up with raised arms was sudushkaram ( a tough task that

can not be accomplished by him ).He gives up to get

the fruit by his own efforts. He gets his wish

fulfilled however throught he help of the tall man.

 

Swamy Desikan compares the dwarf's decision to

that of a clever chEthanan , who relaizes quickly

that the UpAyams (means) like karma/Jn~Ana and Bhakthi

yOgams are very much beyond his capabilities and

abandons them as the means to get the purushArtam

of Moksham ( yEvam vichakshaNa: sudushkaram upAya

GaNam vihAya ).What does he do now ? He places

the Lord in place of those groups of upAyams ,

performs prapatthi yOgam ( Total surrender at

the Thiruvadi of the eagerly-awaiting Lord )and

gets his deep longing for Moksha Sukham fulfilled.

 

The Lord as SiddhOpAyan

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Swamy Desikan focuses here on Lord DhIpa PrakAsan

as SiddhOpAyan . He is siddhOpAyam , the means that exists

without ourselves needing to do anything. SaadhyOpAyam

on the other hand is an upAyam (means) that we have

to do such as Bhakthi yOgam or prapatthi (SaraNAgathy).

The SaadhyOpaayams like Bhkthi or Prapatthi changes

the anger or proclivity to punish us(nigraha sankalpam )

that the Lord had for our erstwhile trespasses of His

saasthraic injunctions. As SiddhOpAyan , He becomes

pleased with the effort taken (saadhyOpAyams) and

changes His nigraha sankalpam to anugraha sankalpam.

The three prerequisites for the change of heart of

the Lord from nigraham to anugraham are:

 

(1) Thirumukha Paasuram or PurushakAra Prapathti

to the most merciful Mother of ours , PirAtti.

We pray to her for the fruition of our saraNAgathi

and She readily responds and blesses us to fulfill

our wishes.AchArya RaamAnujA performed SrI Prapatthi

first and recieved Her anugraham and assurance and

then went on with His Prapatthi to Her Lord.

 

(2) Anugraham of a SrEshta AchAryan : The blessings obtained

from kaimkaryam to a great AchAryan to acquire visEsha

Jn~Anam as phalan. In the 23rd chapter of Srimath Rahasya

Thraya Saaram , Swamy Desikan cites the srEshta AchAryAs

like ParAsarar , MythrEyar and Sanjayar , who blessed

their respective sishyAs with such special Jn~Anam.

 

(3)The blessings of gaining links to SathsampradhAyam:

The devout sishyan filled with Saathvika guNams and

AchArya Bhakthi should acquire a SadAchAryan , who has

Jn~Anam, VairAgyam and compassion and thus link up with

SadAchArya Paramparai starting from SarvEsvaran.Through

upadesam from that SadAchAryan on Tathtvam-Hitham and

PurushArTam , sishyan will please the Lord and will

be the object of anugraha sankalpam.

 

In the next slOkam , Swamy Desikan celebrates Prapatthi

and refers to the five angAs ( limbs ) of Prapatthi.

 

SrI Maragathavalli SamEtha SrI DhIpa PrakAsa ParabrahmaNE nama:

Swamy Desikan , SrImath Azhagiya Singar ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SadagOpan/SaThakOpan