Fw: virodhaparihara-questions39,40and41

November 8, 2006

- Saroja Ramanujam

saranagathi-owner

Wednesday, November 08, 2006 12:38 PM

virodhaparihara-questions39,40and41

39. Evam chEthanasya sEshathvE api 'svayam mrthpindabhoothasya parathanthrasya dhEhinah' ithi achEthanavath athyantha pArathanthrye sasthravasyathA kaTham ghatathE?

Accepting that the jiva is sesha to the Lord, according to the statement that the jiva is like a clot of mud and completely manipulated by the Lord, how can he be influenced by the sasthras?

Further the opponent questions that when the jiva has no freedom of action it is not appropriate to say that he is bound by his karma which rsults in his subsequent entreaty to the Lord for freedom from the samsara.

Desika replies:

nAchidhah sAsthravasyathvam na svathanthrasya thadhbhavEth

karmavasyavisEshaya sasthravasyathvam ishyathE

There can be no influence of the sasthras on the insentient,nor for the independent. It is only those who are under the influence of karma, sasthra can exert its influence.

The sentient being, the jiva, has the ability to know and to do.So he has the freedom to act and hence he is influenced by the sasthra.Jiva is dependent on the Lord to be able to know or to act and to experience the result of the act. That is why he is mentioned as a puppet on string in Mahabharatha. the vedantha texts also confirm that the jiva has the jnathrthvam, knowership,karthrthvam, doership and bhOkthrthvam, capacity to enjoy. Thus he is different from the insentient, for which there is no relevance to sasthras and from the eternal souls who do not need the sasthras.

40.Jeevasya sarvasareeriNam bhagavantham prathi ADHEyathva-viDHEyathva-sEshathvAdhishu avisEshathayA anusanDHEyEshu sEshathvamEva praDHAneekrthya kimarTham anusanDHeeyathE?

The jiva being supported by (ADHEyathva)dependent on His will(viDHEyathva) and a sesha to the Lord, all three states being of equal importance, how is it that only seshathva is held as most important than the rest?

Desika gives the reason as

antharangam hi seEshathvam avikArAdhishu thrishu

thasmAth sEshathvamEvAhuh AchAryAh praTHamam guNam

Seshathva being the innermost of the three which are all unchangeable. Therefore the acharya has declared the seshathva to be the foremost.

The AdhEyathvam defines the existence and nature of the jiva which shows him to be fit for moksha. That is , by knowing his own nature he becomes qualified for attaining mukthi. ViDHEyatrthva, the ordaining his activities according to the will of the Lord shows the means of attaining mukthi. But both of these will be of no help to the jiva if thereis no aspiration to attain the Lord which is provided by the knowledge of his seshathva to the Lord, which makes him engage himself in the actions that would please the Lord, His kainkarya.The seshathva is not something to be endured but it is to be experienced with joy and with love for the Lord. This alone fetches the result, that is mukthi. As the knowledge of the end and means of attaining it, though present, will not help a man unless he makes an effort, the seshathva helps one to attain the end. Hence it is stressed by Yamunacharya also who says in his sthothrarathna that he does not care for anything else which is not sesha to the Lord, not his body nor praANa and not even his soul.

41. NanvEvam sEshathvasya prADHAnyEna moolamanthrE sEshathvam praTHamam abhiDHEEyathE----'manniyAmyathayA maddhAsyaikasvabhAva Athmasvarupah' ithyAdhi pArathanthrasya praTHamAbhiDHAnam na yujyathE.

When the seshathva is mentioned first in the ashtAkshara and the pArathanthrya later, "the nature of the self being My sEsha because of the depemndence on Me" is not proper.

The reference here is to the sentence in saraNAgathigadhya of Ramanuja where it is said that the individual self is the sesha of the Lord because of his dependence,pArathanthrya, on the Lord, thus putting the pArathanthrya first and sEshathva getting secondary importance.

The reply to this is ,

bhagavathpArathanthryENa sEshathvamapi siDHyathi

ithi vakthum kvachith poorvam pArathanthrasya varNanam

The sEshathva happens only due to the dependence,pArathanthrya, of the jeeva to the Lord and the mention of the pArathanthrya first in some places is to denote this only.But this is not in anyway undermining the importance of sEshathva and wherever parathanthrya is mentioned first, it emphasises only the importance of sEshathva. The attitude of sEshathva to the Lord removes the mamakAra, the idea of 'mine' because when one is sEsha to the Lord all that he has also belongs to the Lord.