Thiru Adhyayana Uthsavam at Lord RanganAthar Temple at Pomona , NY , Part XIV: Swamy Desikan's Taathparya RathnAvaLi: Eleventh SlOkam( Third to the Seventh GuNams of TVM 1.1.1)

[Guest guest]

Wednesday , Dec 26 , 2001

 

Tenth ThiruppAvai (nORRu cchuvarkam puhuhinRa )Dinam

 

ANDAL ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

 

SrI:

 

Dear RasikAs of Swamy NammAzhwAr's Dhivya Prabhandhams:

 

On this Tenth ThiruppAavi day , adiyEn will continue with

the additional guNams covered in the eleventh SlOkam of DTR:

 

3) anantha leelAspadham

4-6)SvAyatthAsEsha-satthA-sTithiyathanabhidhA Vaibhavam

7) Vaisva Roopyam

8) Thrayaksha-BrahmAthma BhAvam

9) sadhasadhava gathi

10)sarva TatthvEshu poorthi GuNam

 

Third GuNam/Third Paasuram(TVM 1.1.3): anantha LeelAspadhathvam

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We may think that He is the Lord of hEya Vasthus( Isvaryams/

VibhUthis with blemishes ) and hence He should not be considered

as " uyaRvaRa Uyar Nalam Udayavan " . Although He is the Lord of

limitless vasthus/vibhUthis as His Isvaryam , even you and me

with blemishes can approach Him , our Lord , since we are His

Isvaryam as well .He is sarva sulabhan and His unmatched

greatness does not therefore diminish .Hence this paasuram

salutes the LeelA VibhUthi aspects of His Ubhya VibhUthi /

twin Isvaryams: LeelA VibhUthi with its chEthanams and

achEthanams here on this earth and Nithya VibhUthi

of Sri Vaikuntam with MukthAs , Nithyasooris and His DEvis).

 

The Meaning of the TVM 1.1.3 (Ilanathu--) by Dr.VNV:

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" It is not possible to distinguish things of the world

(Leela VibhUthi) as belonging to Him as not His.

Because , all is His! In each of the seven worlds ,

insentient things , with different forms , and sentient

beings are but aspects of the Lord's splendour. Our sense

organs experience the presence of objects , in which He is

present but impalpably to our senses. Those objects too

would not imply His nature or His presence. He pervades all

things , in which respect , He has no second. We have come

near such a One , by some great good fortune. "

 

Fourth GuNam/Fourth (naamavan ivanuvan--) Paasuram:

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This Paasuram says that " All of us (all chEthanams and

achEthnams) are but He. All are but aspects of His splendour "

as saluted in the earlier three verses. The svaroopams of

Vasthus as " this man, that woman, this object , that object ,

things there or here " , ALL are aspects of His Vaibhavam .

 

the Svaroopam of all Vasthus , their exalted or low

svabhAvam ( UtharOtthara Sthithi), pravrutthi (engagement

to get alpa sukhams like wealth , svargam and kaivalyam )

and nivrutthi vyApArams/dharmams ( engagement in activities

leading to the permanent bliss of Moksham)and their specialties

are under the control of the Lord. This is His vaibhavam.

All of these (Svarroopams) have no existence(sthithi)without Him.

They are different from Him and are under His control (adhInam).

This Vaibhavam is pointed out as one of the GuNams celebrated by

the Fourth Paasuram (TVM 1.1.4) according to Swamy Desikan:

" svAyattha-sEsha-satthA-sTithyathanabhidhA Vaibhavam " .

The 5th and 6th guNams are also included in this above

lengthy salutation .

 

Fifth GuNam /Fifth paasuram( Avaravar Tamatamathu--):

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The sthithi (maintenance) of the world may be atributable

to DevathAntharams , but those DevathAs are under the control

of Sriman NaarAyaNan and take orders from Him as He stays

as their antharyAmi and directs them.The sTithi associated with

DevathAntharam is indeed ParamAthma-adhInam ( as the inner soul of

the boon-giving dEvathAs , their controller and ultimate source of

the power of these dEvathAs like Brahma , who creates and

Rudran, who destroys ).

 

Sixth GuNam /Sixth Paasuram( ninRanar irunthanar kidanthanar):

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The above paasurams instructed us that all nivrutthi

vyApArams are under the control of the Lord. Here , all

pravrutthi vyApaarams (all things, processes, actions

and inaction) are also subject to His will(sankalpam).

Thus both pravrutthi and nivrutthi dharmams are under

His full control.

 

From 1 to 6 Paasurams , the First AdhyAyam of Brahma Soothram

( samanvayAdhyAyam) , is covered by Swamy NammAzhwAr and

Swamy Desikan brings this out with the focus on six guNams.

From paasuram six to eleven, the second adhyAyam of

Brahma Soothram (avirOdhAthyAyam) is covered by Swamy NammazhwAr

and Swamy Desikan brings that out also through focus on relevant

guNams of the Lord .

 

Seventh GuNam /Seventh Paasuram(TVM 1.1.7:ThidavisumperivaLi):

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The GuNam brought out is " Vaisvaroopyam " .BhagavAn's sarIra

LakshaNa sthApanam ( the world as His sarIram )is established

here.This is a very important guNam central to VisishtAdhvatham.

SaamAnyaadhikaraNam regards Brahman and world as identical.

Swamy NammAzhwAr rejects that and proves that the world is

prAkAra or VibhUthi or Isvaryam of the Lord. As such , He is

" the cause , sustainer and controller as well as the soul

/indweller) of ALL things and beings. This concept is so

central to VisishtAdhvaitham that the first commentator on

ThiruvAimozhi (Thirukkurhai PirAn PiLLAn in his 6,000 Padi)

used 48 Veda manthrams and 25 other pramANams in support of

this central doctrine. Swamy Desikan described this guNma

of the Lord in one word pregnant with meaning: " Vaisvaroopyam " .

 

Eighth GuNam/8th paasuram( SuraRivaru nilai--):

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Thrayyaksha-BrahmAthma BhAvam is the 8th GuNam . Here

the Lord is described as the inner power(antharyAmi) of

both Brahma and Rudra engaged in the acts of creation of

the universe and its destruction .In these two activities ,

Our Lord , Sriman NaarAyaNan blessed Brahma with vedic

knowledge to create and gave Rudran (Thrayykshan /MukkaNNan ),

the power to destroy.Swamy Desikan sums up this GuNam

as " Thrayyaksha-Brahma- aathma BhAvam " . Aathma BhAvam

denotes His indwellership to empower these activities.

 

Ninth GuNam/Ninth Paasuram( uLan yenil uLanavan--)

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" Sadhasadhavagathi " is the ninth guNam saluted by TVM 1.1.9.

The key meaning of the Paasuram containing the description of

this GuNam is as follows(Dr.VNV):

 

" ---Thus Being and Non-Being are both His attributes .

With them , He is present in all things , pervading each ,

fully and as the soul to the body " .

 

Here Swamy NammazhwAr discusses the relation between

the Lord's existence as Being (Sadh) and Non-Being(asadh)

states and rejects Soonya Vaadham (nonexistence), which is

also known as BhavAthiriktha Vaadham . The Asadh acording to

vedam is the presence in subtle form (Sookshmam) that is

not easily perceived by the senses as gross/sthula form (sadh).

Therefore ,the Lord is always present and is never non-present.

Swamy Desikan describes this guNam celebrated by this paasuram

with the gathi of " sadhasadhava gathi).

 

Tenth GuNam/Tenth Paasuram (TVM 1.1.10:Parantha TaNN ParavayuL--):

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Sarva TatthvEshu Poorthy GuNam is identified as the 10th guNam.

" anthar-bhaisccha Tath sarvam SARVAM vyApya NaarayaNa: sTitha: "

is the Vedic reference for this GuNam .Infact , the subtle

meaning is that He does not only pervades them (vyApthi) , but

fills them completely (poorthi). He is PoorNan and is in all

Tatthvams (ChEthanam and achEthanam )at all levels . He is present

in the minutest atom .He is present " in every thing ,in every

place as well. He is present in the soul (jeevan) with a self-

effulgence of Jn~Anam since He is the soul of souls. "

 

Swamy NammAzhwAr concludes this first Thirumozhi with

the ten guNams relating to the Parathvam of

the Lord and goes onto perform upadEsam for us

in the next Thirumozhi ( TVM 1.2: Veedumin--).

 

Swamy Desikan points out that Swamy NammazhwAr saw

the Unquestionable Supermacy of the Lord over all gods

and commanded his mind to offer worship at the lotus

feet of that Lord ( Pasyan yOgI PARAM tathpadha-kamala-

nathou anvasAth aathma chittham ).

 

The genius of Swamy Desikan in distilling the essence of

the paasurams of the decad as ten guNams is incomparable.

He will proceed with this powerful style of rigorous analysis

for the remaining dsaakams and sathakams of ThiruvAimozhi.

We will enjoy two more dasakams in this series as examples

to develop the ruchi for this great Sri Sookthi of

Swamy Desikan.

 

Let us all pay our tribute to Swamy Desikan through

support of the NithyArAdhanam for Him at His sannidhi

in ThUppul. Please help in every way you can to realize

the core funds to miantain nithyArAdhanam without

interruption to Swamy Desikan at His birth place .

 

The next DTR slOkam will be on adiyEn's Kula dhaivam ,

ThiruviNNagarappan of OppilA appan Sannidhi (TVM 6.3).

 

Sri RanganAyaki SamEtha Sri RanganAtha ParabrahmaNE Nama:

Daasan, Oppiliappan Koil VardAchAri SaThakOpan