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Slokam 37
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Today , adiyEn will cover the Thirty Seventh slOkam
of Sri SaraNAgathi DhIpikai , where Swamy Desikan
begins the description of the exit of the jeevan
from its body during the last moments of life :
vaagAdhikam manasi tath pavanE sa jeevE
bhUthEshvayam punarasou Thvayi Thai: samEthi
sAadharaNOthkramaNa karma samAsrithaNam
YanthrA Mukundha Bhavathaiva yaTA YamAdhE:
--SrI SaraNAgathi DhIpikai: SlOkam 37
Meaning:
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Oh ViLakkoLi PerumALE ! When the Jeevan is ready to leave
the body , the ten indhriyams beginning with Vak join Manas.
The Manas with the assembly of ten indhriyams joins next the PrANa
Vaayu. That PrANa Vaayu gets merged thereafter with the Jeevan.
JeevAthmA in turn joins the subtle part of the Pancha BhUthams .
All these efforts make the Jeevan very tired . At that time ,
My Lord , You embrace the Jeevan to remove the strain arising from
those strenous efforts.Thus , You are the One , who exits
the Jeevan from the erstwhile home of SarIram (body).
This embrace of the jeevan by You at the time of death
is common to both paapis and PuNyasAlis. This procedure ,
where You take an active role is common also for DevAs
like Yaman at the time of their Jeevans exiting their bodies.
This process is managed by You as the indweller of all Jeevans
(antharyAmi Brahman) .You enter into them and command the process
of exiting of the Jeevans from their bodies in a controlled manner.
Additional Comments (V.S):
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Here , Swamy Desikan focuses on the happenings at
the time of the shaking of the mortal coils (sarIram )
by the Jeevans during their last moments of life .
This process is called UthkramaNam . The exiting goes
quickly through a series of steps in a synchronized
manner. Our Lord is the YanthrA or active leader
in this important process . He takes the initiative
as the indweller and commander for this orderly process
for all Jeevans independent of the fact that they are
sinners or paramaikAnthis. Swamy Desikan purposely
addresses Sri DhIpa PrakAsan as Mukundhan here because
the name Mukundhan stands for Moksha daayakan
( the One who confers Moksha anugraham).Swamy
Desikan says: " Mukundha! SaadhAraNa UthkramaNa Karma
Bhavathiava". The steps of exiting the jeevan from
the body is common to all and is manged by You alone.
Indhriyams are not limbs of the body . They are ten
in number: Five Jn~Ana indhriyams and Five KarmEndhriyams.
They are present in subtle forms (Sookshma dhravyams) at
different parts of the body to help the Jeevan during life.
The Five Jn~Endhriyams are: Thvak, GrANam , RasanA ,
Chakshus and SrOthram . Thvak is the sense of Touch
and is present all over the body; GrANam is smell and
is focused in the nose; RasanA is taste and is present
subtly in the tongue; Chakshus or sight is present in
the eye; SrOthram is in the ear cavity.
The Five KarmEndhriyams are Vaak, PaaNi , Paadham , paayu ,
and Upastham . Vaak/speech is a dhravyam that is present in eight
different places: Hrudhayam/Heart , Throat, back of the tongue ,
jaws, teeth , lips, nose, and head . The KarmEndhriyam of
PaaNi is at the fingers.Paadham is at the feet; Paayu is
at the rectum and upastham is present subtly at the signs of
Men and women.
These Ten IndhriyAs (DhravyAs ) join with Manas (mind)
at the time of the exit of the Jeevan from the body
that housed it at the command of ParamAthmA , who dwells
inside the Jeevan ( Vag adhikam Manasi samEthi).
That Manas incorporating all the ten indhriyams
unites next with the PrANa Vaayu ( Tath PavanE
SamEthi). The PraNa Vaau now takes the next step
at the command of the Lord and unites with the jeevan.
That Jeevan incorporating PrANa Vaayu joins the subtle
aspects of the Pancha BhoothAs ( AaakAsam , Vaayu ,
Agni, Appu/Jalam and PruthvI/Earth) (Sa Pavana:JeevE
samEthi; ayam jeeva: bhUthEshu puna: samEthi).
That Jeevan joins with You (asou thai: Thvayi SamEthi).
Swamy Desikan gives thus a clear , step-by-step
description of the UthkramaNa karmA performed by
the Lord for ALL at the time of bodily dissolution
(dEha VyOham). Swamy Desikan acknowledges and
salutes SrI DhIpa PrakAsa-Mukundhan for the duty
that He performs to exit the Jeevan from the body
that it had before death occurs.
In the next slOkam , Sawmy Desikan will
describe how the Lord facilitates the entry of
Prapanna Jeevan in the 101st Naadi to start its
ascent to SrI Vaikuntam via the archirAdhi maargam.