SrI sArasAram -- I(14)

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SrI sAra sAram – I (14)

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I – ThirumantrAdhikAram

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The Significance of the ‘a’ in PraNava (continued)

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SwAmi Desikan is giving us the essence of the first

syllable of the praNava, ‘a’. So far, he gave us a

general view of its significance. Now, he takes up a

detail presentation:

“vEdAnthangkaLiRpaDiyE, inku muRpaDap parathaththva

lakShaNamAna kAraNathvam aRiyavENDum. ‘kAraNamE

SarNyam’ enRu Sruti-siddhamAkaiyAlE, SaraNyathaikku

mikavum upayukthamAna rakShakathvamum aRiya-vENDum.

ASritharuDaiya pERu than pERAka rakshikkumenRu

aRikaikkAka SEshithvamum aRiya-vENDum. AkaiyAlE,

Sriyah-patiyinuDaiya sarva kAraNathvamum sarva

rakShakathvamum sarva SEshitvamumAkiRa

pradhAna-arthangkaL ingE pradhAna-pratipAdyangkaL.

ivaRRAlE, ‘onRum-dEvum’ ityAdikaLiRpaDiyE

thrimoorththi-sAmyAthikaLum kazhiyum.” --

The syllable ‘a’ conveys three important aspects of

the greatness of the Lord, which everyone should know.

First, it reveals that He is the Ultimate Cause of the

universe; secondly, He is the Protector of all

creations; and thirdly, He is the SEshi (Master) of

all. These are the central essence of VedAnta, that

is, the Upanishads.

Now, we shall try to understand sentence by sentence:

“vEdAnthangkaLiRpaDiyE, inku muRpaDap parathaththva

lakShaNamAna kAraNathvam aRiyavENDum.” --

According to the Upanishads, which are the end of the

Vedas, the Lord, SrIman nArAyaNa is the Highest

Reality, the Para Tattvam. There is none either equal

or greater to Him. The essential nature of His being

the Ultimate Reality is that He is the ultimate cause

for everything, including sentient beings and

non-sentient objects. Every human being who has been

gifted with the power of knowing must realize this

causal-ism of the Lord. The only source for knowing

this is the Upanishad part of the Sruti (Vedas). As

stated earlier, the Thirumantra, which is also known

as ashTAkshara mantra, contains in it the essence of

the teaching of the Upanishads. The praNava which is

the first word of this mantra has within it the core

of this essential knowledge. Of the three syllables

that make this praNava, the first syllable, ‘a’ is the

natural name of the Lord, VishNu. No one else is fit

for being named as ‘a’ which is being the roodi-name

of the Lord. This syllable is also the first sound

that appeared at the very beginning of creation. In

this way, it is also the source of creation. As there

cannot be two sources for creation, ‘a’ which is

referred to as ‘akAram’, is the Lord Himself. If it

is so, then it should contain all the aspects of the

essential nature of the Lord, Who is the Ultimate

Reality. In order to show us this truth, SwAmi Deikan

now takes us to further depths of the significance of

this syllable, which looks like a big world.

First, we must learn, from this syllable ‘a’, that

the Lord is the ultimate cause of the creation.

SrI rAmAnuja stated in the VEdArtha-sangraha that by

the first letter of praNava, that is, ‘a’, which is

the origin of all words, is denoted nArayaNa, Who is

the origin of all things denoted by these words. From

this, it follows that Bhagavan is both the material

and the instrumental cause of the whole world and

that, as may be inferred from this, He is both

omniscient and omnipotent and has other such

qualities.

“’a’ iti bhagavtO nArAyaNasya prathamAbhidhAnam

abhdhatA kim nAma mangaLam na krutam” (Commentary on

the PaNini Sutras)

(By using the syllable ‘a’ which is the first name of

nArAyaNa, what an excellent benedictory prayer has

been made!) All this is evident from the Nighantus and

the usage of scholars.

When this syllable, ‘a’ denotes the Supreme Ruler

(sarvESvarah), it is derived according to VyAkaraNa

SAstra (the science of grammar), from the verbal root,

‘ava’, which means ‘to protect’, ‘to please’ etc. (the

termination ‘va’ is dropped here) and the word refers

to one who is a protector. Though this root has many

meanings, the best one is ‘to protect’. It is this

meaning that is relevant especially with regard to the

praNava.

This is reflected in the next sentence recorded by

Swami Desikan:

“‘kAraNamE SarNyam’ enRu Sruti-siddhamAkaiyAlE,

SaraNyathaikku mikavum upayukthamAna rakShakathvamum

aRiya-vENDum.” --

Since the Vedic message is ‘the Cause is the refuge’,

we must know the basis for being the refuge of all.

By the act of surrendering, one seeks refuge which in

turn aims at protection. The quality of protecting,

‘rakShakatvam’, is an essential nature of the Lord.

This quality of protector-ship is not limited in its

extent, but extends to all. Hence, protecting all is a

perfect quality of the Lord. The reason for this is

given by SwAmi Desikan next:

“ASritharuDaiya pERu than pERAka rakshikkumenRu

aRikaikkAka SEshithvamum aRiya-vENDum.” --

He is being the protector is strengthened by the

knowledge that He is the Master of all – This is the

quality of ‘Seshitvam’. What is Seshitvam? It is the

nature of accepting the service done by His devotees

who are his Seshas. Knowing this quality of the Lord,

the jIva will remain confident that He will definitely

protect him, as He considers it as His own favour. In

order to get this clarity, the jIva should know this

quality of SEshitvam.

“AkaiyAlE, Sriyah-patiyinuDaiya sarva kAraNathvamum

sarva rakShakathvamum sarva SEshitvamumAkiRa

pradhAna-arthangkaL ingE pradhAna-pratipAdyangkaL.” –

Therefore, the Lord, the Consort of SrI, is the Cause

of all, the Protector of all and the Master of all.

This three aspects are shown by this syllable, ‘a’.

SwAmi Desikan says that by these revelations, doubts

in our minds will also be cleared:

“ivaRRAlE, ‘onRum-dEvum’ ityAdikaLiRpaDiyE

thrimoorththi-sAmyAthikaLum kazhiyum.” ---

The doubts including that whether VishNu, Brahma and

Siva – all three Gods are equal, will be cleared by

knowing these facts from this syllable, ‘a’. Here,

Swami Desikan refers to the ten verses of Sri

nammAzhvAr, beginning with, ‘onRum dEvum’ in

ThiruvAimozhi (4-10). This group of verses establishes

that nArAyaNa is the Ultimate Lord:

“onRum thEvum ulakum uyirum maRRum yAthumillA

anRu, nAnmukan thannoDu thEvarulakODu

uyir-paDaiththAn

kunRampOl-maNi-mADa-neeDu thirukkurukoor-athanuL

ninRa AthippirAn niRka maTRaith theivam nADuthirE.”

(ThiruvAimozhi, 4-10-1)

(That time when there were no gods, their worlds,

creatures and no other things, the Lord created Brahma

and other gods, worlds and creatures. When that Lord

is readily available in Thirukkurukoor, why are you

going after other gods?)

From this first verse onwards, SrI nammAzhvAr gives

his piece of advice in every verse in this group of

ten:

2) This Lord created these gods just as He created you

all!

3) Even after knowing from the scriptures the actions

the Lord does for the protection of all the worlds,

you have not realized that He is the Para Brahman!

4) Even by inference, He is the Supreme Lord; this can

be inferred from the fact that He relieved Siva from

the effect of a sin committed by him.

5) He is the controller of all those who follow other

religious faiths and worship other gods, as He is

omnipresent as antharyAmi (inner soul of all).

6) If you ask, why he created all these Gods? The

answer is: He has made you as you are because, if

everybody gets salvation, this world may go waste,

with no one to do sins and virtuous activities.

7) You are aware that you have not derived any

permanent benefit by worshipping other gods and you

still remain caught in the circle of births and

rebirths.

8) It was only by the grace of the Lord nArAyaNa, Sage

MarkandEya, His devotee, got the protection from Siva.

 

9) Other religions cannot know the greatness of the

Lord, because He is immeasurable.

10) It will be befitting for you all to take refuge in

the Lord by surrendering to Him.

Thus, in view of the Lord’s all-pervading eminent

qualities of being the Cause of all, providing

protection to all and being the only Master of all,

all doubts including that whether He is one among the

three gods, will disappear, Says SwAmi Desikan.

 

(To continue)

dAsan,

Anbil S. SrInivAsan.

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