Swamy Desika Sahasra Naamam : Part V/ Priest Quarters Construction at Sri RanganAtha Temple

[Guest guest]

SrI:

 

Dear BhakthAs of Lord RanganAtha:

 

adiyEn will cover today the one Desika Sahasra Naamam

dealing with the fourth chapter of SRTS , ArTa Panchaka

adhikAram .

 

810) arTapanchaka tatvaj~nyAya nama:

 

(meaning ) : Salutations to Swamy Desikan , who understood

clearly the meanings of the five tatthvams that are important

for one seeking Moksham .

 

(Comments) : This chapter of SRTS deals with the five important

doctrines that one must understand . All the VedAs , IthihAsams

and PurANams speak principally about these five items for

the benefit of a Mumukshu .These are known as arTa Panchakam .

 

ArTa panchakam covers the meanings of five topics

that a Mumukshu has to know :

 

1) Praapyan : The ParamAthmaa , who is the object of attainment .

 

2) PrApthaa: JeevAthma , who seeks the ParamAthmaa , the PrApyan .

 

3) PrApthi UpAyam: The means for the Jeevan to gain ParamAthmaa.

 

4) Phalan: The fruit of attaining ParamAthmaa.

 

5) PrApthi VirOdhi: The obstacles for the Jeevan in attaining

ParamAthmaa.

 

One who seeks Moksham has to reflect on the five menings

of the above five items housed in the three rahasyams :

 

1. Svaroopam of ParamAthmaa: He never is without His DEvi.

He has immeasurable Jn~Anam and Aanandham. He is free

of any defects. He has limitless auspicious attributes.

He is the foundation (aadhAram) for all the world and its

beings . He has a divine and auspicious form ( dhivya mangaLa

vigraham) , which is not made up of panchabhUthams ( aprAkrutham).

That body is made entirely of suddha satthvam. He has as His body

both the LeelA VibhUthi and Nithya VibhUthi ( This earth and the other

world).He has as His leelA , the acts of creation , protection and

destruction of the worlds and their beings. This ParamAthmA is

enjoyed by the Jeevans in the state of Moksham.

 

2. JeevAthmA : It is of atomic size. It is also of Jn~Ana-aanandha

Svaroopam .It is an unconditional servant of the Lord. It is under

the Lord's control. It is destined to attain ParamAthmaa. The Jevans

are of three kinds : Bound ( Bhaddha) , liberated (Muktha) and eternally

unbound ( Nithya) Jeevans .

 

3. Upaayam: There are two Upaayams for securing Moksham:

Bhakthi yOgam and Prapatthi yOgam . For one , who does not have

the power to practise Bhakthi yOgam , Prapatthi is the easy -to-practise

upAyam .

 

4.Phalan: The fruit enjoyed in Moksham is to arrive at Sri Vaikuntam

and enjoy ParamAthmA there blissfully through uninterrupted

kaimkaryam to Him there .

 

5. Phala VirOdhi: avidhyai( false & vipareetha knowledge ) ,

poorva janma karmaas and their residual effects(vaasanais)

are the three VirOdhis (enemies) for Moksham .

 

Bhagavan gets angry over our many trespasses to His Saasthram

and is ready to punish us in number of ways:

 

(a) Creation of Prakruthi sambhandham and dulling our Jn~Anam

(b) making one a slave of one's indhriyams © birth in the wombs of

birds and animals , which are not bound by Bhagavath Saasthrams

(d) GIve viparItha buddhi to join in naasthika mathams even while

being born in human form (e) Tilting the mind of even aasthikAs

towards immersion in worldly pleasures , which ultimately

cause pain (f) goading one to accumulate sins by chasing after

transient pleasures (g) making one go round and round in repeated

cycles of births and deaths (h) goad one to perform worship for

insignificant devathAs , who themselves are under the influence of

their karmaas (i) make them deluded by the alpa phalans granted by

these insignificant devathAs (j) interfere with the pursuit of yOgam

that is not focused on BhagavAn (k) grant kaivalya sukham , which

ultimately brings the jeevan back to the samsAric world .

 

Thus BhagavAn's anger can cause many kinds of obstacles to

Moksham (Phala virOdhi) . The only way to overcome His nigraham

( seeRRam) is to perform SaraNAgathy at His sacred feet .

 

Swamy Desikan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,

Daasan , Oppiliappan KOil VaradAchAri Sadagopan

[Guest guest]

SrI:

 

Dear BhakthAs of Lord RanganAtha:

 

adiyEn will start the coverage today of the 17 Desika Sahasra

Naamams dealing with the fifth chapter of SRTS , Tatthva Thraya

chintanaa adhikAram . This Chapter is one of the toughest to

understand and traditional KaalakshEpam under the sacred

feet of one's AchAryan is absolutely essential to understand

clearly the Tatthva Thrayam .

 

For understanding our sampradhAyam , a clear knowledge

about the content of this chapteralone is sufficent . One has

to go over this chapter many times to understand and retain

the Jn~Anam on the cardinal doctrines covered here . Srimath NaarAyaNa

YathIndhra MahA Desikan's ( Prakrutham Srimath Azhagiya Singar's) coverage

of this chapter in the many issues of Sri Nrusimha Priya ( later assembled

in the form of a monograph on SRTS: Part I)

is very comprehensive and vital for us to develop a clearer omprehension

of these three Tatthvams .

 

Why is this Chapter Named Tatthva Thraya Chintanaa adhikAram ?

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There are three distinctly different Tathtvams in our SiddhAntham :

ChEtanam , achEtanam and Iswaran . They have unique svabhAvams

and have unique attributes that differentiate them ( Paraspara vilakshaNam).

 

It is very important to think deeply about them to understnad their true

nature and VyApAram . To remind us about this aspect of deep reflection on

them for our comprehension of their unique differences and relationships ,

Swamy Desikan deliberately named this chapter as " Tatthva Thraya

ChinthanAdhikAram " instead of " Tatthva Thraya adhikAram " .

 

These three tatthvams are already covered in the preceding ArTa Panchakam

chapter : PrApyam is Iswaran ; PrApthA is the Jeevan/ChEtanam and PrApthi

VirOdhi is the achEtanam like Sareeram . Even if we understand the

references to these three tatthvams in ArTa Panchakam , we still have to

know about the uniqueness of these three tatthvams and how they differ from

one another . Otherwise , one will be totally misled and will be subject to

one or more of the following dangers :

 

1. SareerAthma Brahmam: This is the conviction that this perishable body of

ours (Sareeram) is the same as the eternal AathmA .This will lead to the

thinking that Aathma persihes once the body falls down at death.

There will be little respect for the teachings of the Bhagavath-

saasthrams about the karmaas to be practised as well as the karmaas

to be abandoned . That will lead only to repeated miseries through many

births in this world . Therefore one has to know that the Jeevan , who has

no death is different than the Sareeram , which has a finite life span .

 

2 . SvantharAthma Bramam : This calamity is the second one , when one

does not understand the three tatthvams properly . This will make one

think that one is independent and not the eternal servant of the Iswaran ,

who is our Master and Commander in the execution of our karmaas. When one

thinks that he or she is independent of Iswaran , it will interfere with

Upaaya anushtAnam like Bhakthi or Prapatthi yOgam

and deflect them away from attaining Moksha siddhi.They will be mired

in SamsAric mud forever.

 

3. Nireeswara Vaadha Richi : For many jeevans , right from birth , there is

a prediliction to argue that there is no Iswaran as a result of their

anAdhi paapams . They will also be subject to the nigraham ( anger)

of the Lord and will end up in being locked without hope of release

from the endless cycles of births and deaths .There is no ujjevanam

for them .

 

To stay clear of the three terrible dangers mentioned above , one has

to reflect on the true meanings of the Tatthva Thrayam , observe

Prapatthi or Bhakthi yOgam and enjoy the parama PurushArTam of

nithya Kainkaryam to Iswaran in His supreme abode of Sri Vaikuntam.

 

Thirukkudanthai Desikan's summary of the Tatthva Thraya chinthanAdhikAram

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****

Thirukkudanthai Desikan is revered as Abhinava Desikan

(amsam of Swamy Desikan , Punar avathAram). Hence , it is no

wonder , he was able to summarize the upadEsams of this

adhikAram in just 17 Sahasra Naamams .

 

These 17 Sahasra Naamams dealing with one of the most

important chapters dealing with Tatthva Thrayam are:

 

811) . (PraNavam) Tatthva-thraya visEsha-vidhE nama:

 

812) . (PraNavam) SvAdheena-thrividha achicth-chith

svaroopa- sTithi-pravrutthi-dhrusee nama:

 

813) .(PraNavam) pramANagamya dharmi-svaroopa-roopaka

dharma vidhE nama:

 

814) . (PraNavam) Jeeva lakshaNa tatthvaj~nAya Nama:

 

815) . ( PraNavam) Bhaddha lakshaNa lakshithrE nama:

 

816) . ( PraNavam) Bhaddha sTithi pravrutthij~nAya Nama:

 

817) . ( PraNavam) Muktha lakshaNa lakshithrE nama:

 

818) . ( PraNavam) Muktha sTithi pravrutthij~nyA nama:

 

819) . ( PraNavam) Nithya LakshaNa lakshithrE nama:

 

820) . ( PraNavam) Nithya sTithi pravrutthij~nAya Nama:

 

821) . (PraNavam) NithyAth anyOnya bhEdhadhrusE Nama:

 

822) . (PraNavam) Nithya mukthAthma kaimkarya

Saarvavidhya niroopakAya nama:

 

823) . (PraNavam) ThriguNa sTithi pravrutthij~nyA nama:

 

824) . (PraNavam) Isa LakshaNa lakshithrE nama:

 

825) . (PraNavam) avathAra rahasyaj~nAya Nama:

 

826) . ( PraNavam) Para-vyUhAdhi bhEdhadhrusE nama:

 

827) . (PraNavam) Sri Jagath kaaraNathvAdhi sAdhakAnEka

yukthimathe nama:

 

AdiyEn will provide the meanings and notes on these 17 Sahasra

NamAs in the next posting .

 

( To be continued )

 

Swamy Desikan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,

Daasan , Oppiliappan KOil VaradAchAri Sadagopan

 

P.S : Please do not forget to support the Living Quarters for

the priests of Sri RanganAtha Temple .