devanayaka panchasat

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Eight SlOkam of SrI DevanAyaka PanchAsath
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SamrakshaNIyam amarAdhipathE Thvayaivam
dhUram prayAthamapi dhusthyajya-gADabandham
aakrushtavAnasi BhavAn anukampamAna:
soothrAnubhaddha sakuni-kramatha: Svayam mAm

Extended Meaning
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Oh DhaivanAyaka PerumAnE! adiyEn's previous karmAs
have borne their fruits and as a result adiyEn has been
tightly bound with samsAric bonds. It has not been
possible for adiyEn to free myself from these painful
bonds. This helpless and pitiable state of adiyEn has
positioned me far away from You and made it impossible
for me to approach You. Inspite of this hopeless situation ,
Your DayA has now focused on adiyEn. Who else can protect
adiyEn , if You do not decide to save adiyEn? Solely due to
Your limitless compassion , adiyEn has been pulled
near You and directed to travel on the auspicious
route of Moksha maargam to perform nithya kaimkaryam
to You at Your supreme abode at the end of the bodily
existence.

Oh Lord ! Your sport in locking adiyEn with SamsAric bonds
first and then pulling adiyEn out of that cruel fate reminds
adiyEn of the analogy of a wealthy man owning a bird .
That rich owner of the bird ties its leg with a long rope
and lets it fly away so that it can think it is free.
At the appropriate time ,the owner tugs at the rope at
his end and pulls the bird to his home . Oh DhaivanAyakA !
You are engaging in a similar sport by letting me roam in
the tempting bazzars of transient worldly pleasures
for a long time and now You have compassionately decided
to pull me home to be next to You. How can adiyEn give You
thanks to You for Your limitless DayA towards adiyEn ?

Additional Thoughts
****************

In this slOkam , Swamy Desikan emphasizes the tight
and inviolable bond between him and his Lord ("uRavu
ozhikka ozhiyAthu"). The bonds that tie Swamy Desikan
and the Lord is that of the unbreakable type present between
the Jeevan and Isvaran. Jeevan is the property of Isvaran ,
the owner of that Jeevan . Swamy Desikan refers to that
eternal and unbreakable bond between the Lord and
His property through the choice words of " dhusthyaja
ghADa bhandham ". This group of words can also mean
the tight and painful bonds of SamsAram that bound
the jeevan tightly to the flag post (yUpa sthambham) of
samsAram . Now the Lord has decided to loosen that
knot and pull the bird towards Him.

The Lord , who had tied the leg of the bird earlier with a long rope
(sUthrAnubhaddha Sakuni kramatha:) now decides to tug at that
rope to bring His bird travelling long distances away from
Him back home and next to Him driven by His own limitless
concern for the plight of His wandering bird (dhUram prayAthamapi
BhavAn anukampamAna: sUthrAnubhaddha sakuni kramatha: Svayam
aakrushtavAn asi).

The reference here is to an autobiographical incident
in the life of Swamy Desikan , who had lived for more
than 20 years at ThiruvahIndhrapuram enjoying DevanAyakan's
dhivya MangaLa Vigraham and performing MangaLAsAsanam.
In the early part of that long stay , Swamy Desikan decided
once to visit Kaanchipuram to perform MangaLAsAsanam of
Lord DevarAjan ( Kaanchi VaradharAjan) and started on
his journey to Kaanchipuram. He was resting for the night
at a village on the banks of PeNNai river. That night ,
Lord of ThiruvahIndrapuram appeared in Swamy Desikan's dream
and commanded him to return to ThiruvahIndhrapuram and engage in
the composition of a number of SrI Sookthis about Him . Swamy woke up
from that dream and returned immediately to ThiruvahIndrapuram
to commence his work on the task assigned to him by His Lord
and stayed at ThiruvahIndhrapuram for number of years there
before moving on to SrIrangam to engage in AchArya's duties.

Thus was born the PanchAsath on Lord DevanAyakan and other
sthOthrams on Lord DevanAthan of ThiruvahIndrapuram
like Achyutha Sathakam , MummaNikkOvai, Nava MaNi Maalai et al.

The Birth of Para Matha Bhangam at ThiruvahIndhrapuram
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The defense of VisishtAdhvaitham against Jainism and Budhdism
et al took place also on the bank of PeNNai river/Garuda nadhi
in front of Lord DhaivanAyakan and led to the creation of
the great work revered as "Para Matha Bangam" as a part of
the task assigned to Swamy Desikan by Lord DhaivanAyakan,
the Lord of ThiruvahIndhrapuram.

The structure , content & Significance of Para Matha Bhangam
**************************************************
Paramatha Bhangam is a monumental work with 24 chapters .
The first four chapters are :

1. PrasthAvana adhikAram ( Introductory remarks)
2. Jeeva Tatthva adhikAram ( Doctrine of Jeevan in our SampradhAyam)
3. Achith Tatthva adhikAram (Doctrine of insentients)
4. Para TatthvAdhikAram ( Doctrine of Isvaran as the Supreme One)

The chapters 2-4 focus on the BhOkthA, BhOgyam and PrEritha
as sentient , insentient and the One who commands both of them.
Swamy Desikan establishes in the front end , the Chith-achith-Isvara
Tatthvams according to VisishtAdhvaitham and defines any doctrines
outside those three tatthvams as Para mathams that need critical
evaluation and dismissal (Bangam) .

The fifth chapter is entitled SamudhAya DhOshAdhikAram .
Here Swamy Desikan sums up the common defects/fallacies of
the Para Mathams following the path shown by Swamy ParAsara
Bhattar in his celebrated SrI Sookthi , Para Matha dhUshaNa
Prakriyai. In the fifth chapter , Swamy Desikan establishes
the lack of Veda PramAna balam in the other Mathams .

From the sixth to 20th chapters of Para Matha Bhangam , Swamy Desikan
focuses on 15 individual Para mathams and shows their deficencies
to establish the Veda PramANam of VisishtAdhvaitham . The fifteen
Mathams analysed are : ChArvAkam , four branches of Buddhism
( SouthrAndhikam , Soonya Vaadham , YogAchAram and VaibhAshikam ).
The remaining ten are: Saankaram , Jainam , BhAskaram ,
Tatthva vichAram aspect of VyAkaraNars , VaisEshikam ,
Gouthama NyAyam , NirIswara MeemAmsakam , NirIswara Saankyam ,
Yoga Matham and Paasupatham. (Swamy Desikan will develop further
these criticism of Para mathams in Tatthva Muktha KalApam and
SarvArTa Siddhi).

In the 21st chapter of Para Matha Bhangam , Swamy Desikan
presents PaancharAhtra Saasthram as Bhagavath Saasthram
to defend it against the criticisms of Para Mathams.

The 22nd and 23rd Chapters point out that the Para Mathams
do not have either the UpAyam of Moksham(means for Moksha
siddhi) or the fruits of Moksham ( the phalan of Moksham).
The final chapter is known as NigamanAdhikaram , the summing
up chapter, where Swamy Desikan declares that the Bhagavath
RaamAnuja SiddhAntham based on VedAntha (Upanishadic )
PramANams is the only one , which will give the fruits of
MokshAnandham without fail.

The eighth slOkam of DEvanAyaka PanchAsath refers thus to
the Lord of ThiruvahIndhrapuram commanding Swamy Desikan
to create the RakshA granthams like Para Matha Bhangam
and ever-fragrant Sthuthis like Sri DevanAyaka PanchAsath,
SrI Achyutha Sathakam , MummaNikkOvai, NavaMaNi Maalai et al.