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Slokam 50
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Today , adiyEn will cover the Fiftieth slOkam
of Sri SaraNAgathi DhIpikai , where Swamy Desikan
uses his exquite skills in Logic (Tarka sAsthram)
to take up his case for the krupA of the Lord
as an adhikAri , who has performed prapatthi:
yadhvaa madharTa parichinthanayA tavAlam
samj~nAm Prapanna ithi saahasikO Bhibharmi
yEvam sTithE Thavad apavAdha-nivrutthayE mAm
paathri-kurushva Bhagavan Bhavatha: KrupAyA:
SrI SaraNAgathi DhIpikai: SlOkam 50
Meaning:
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Oh ViLakkoLi EmpermAnE! Let me present one more
fact! Please listen . Please do not engage in
research as to whether adiyEn performed prapatthi
in the proper way prescribed by Your sAsthrAs or not
and whether adiyEn deserves to recieve Your MahA Krupai .
With enormous pride and bravado ,adiyEn has
taken on the name of one who has performed prapatthi
(Prapannan) . If You take this into account , You
have the duty to protect adiyEn. If You elect to
ignore adiyEn , You would have gone against Your own
well known declaration that You will come to the rescue
of any one , who even pretends to have done prapatthi
unto You.The whole world will then recognize You as
the One , who has gone against His own word and berate
You and blame You as as untrustworthy . Please think about
this aspect of Your reputation being ruined atleast and hence
rush to adiyEn's rescue in self-defense.
Additional Comments
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The Taarkic skills ( Logic skills) of Swamy Desikan
are abundantly evident here besides his poetic skils.
He is after all "Kavi-Taarkika Simham " ( LION among
Poets and Logicians).
He addresses the Lord as "Bhagavan" here . This deliberate
choice of addressing the Lord as "Bhagavan " is the first salvo .
Bhagavaan means the Supreme Being , who is endowed with the six
attributes of Knowledge, Power , Strength , Lordship, Virility
and Splendour". Upanishads recognize that " BhagavAn as
NaarAyaNan ( ChAndhOgyam ), VishNu in VishNu PurANam ,
Hari in Harivamsam , RaamA in RaamAyaNam ,VaasudEvA in
the Bhagavad-GitA , KrishNA in BhAgavatham and NrusimhA
in Nrusimha-Taapaneeya Upanishad ". The deck is now loaded
with the specific choice of addressing the Lord
as "Bhagavan". Our Lord can not deny His six attributes of
Jn~Aa-Bala-Veerya-Sakthi-Isvarya and Tejas. If he does so ,
He will no longer be fit to be called BhagavAn.
Now , Swamy Desikan fires the next salvo and states
right upfront that Lord DhIpa-PrakAsan should not engage
in research about his qualifications as a Prapannan
( Tava madh-arTa parichinthanayA alam ).He provides
the logic behind such request to cease and desist in
researching about his fitness as a Prapannan :
(1) adiyEn has boldly taken on the title of Prapannan
(viz).,One who has performed prapatthi at Your feet
( Saahasika: Prapanna ithi samjn~Am Bhibharmi).
That title may be well earned or just a symbol (Samj~nA).
You have however stated publicly that You will come
to the rescue of anyone, who even pretends that he
has done prapatthi.
(2) when that is so (yEvam sTithE ), You must make me
the target of Your immense KrupA ; otherwise , You will
have the apavAdham ( pazhicchol or blame) that You have gone
against Your own word. The efficacy of Prapatthi as
a means to MokshA will be under question. You are hailed as
Sarva-rakshakan ( One who is ready to redeem all jeevans
from SamsAram ) ; You are saluted as SaraNAgatha Vathsalan ,
who has innate loving disposition to those , who seek
Your refuge. You are revered as Sahaja-suhruth or
friend of all by nature ; You take great pride in
being recognized as Sarva-SakthimAn (Omnipotent )and
Sathya Sankalpan ( One whose promise to the PrapannAs
never go false).
If You abandon adiyEn after Prapatthi , because it is
imperfect or true , Your statements as GitAchAryan
to Arjuna and the assurances given by You on the Ocean side
will turn false and you can not afford to acquire
this blasphemy . The relevant assurances of the Lord
are:
(1) Sarva DharmAn Parithyajya mAmEkam SaraNam vraja
aham thvA sarva-pApEbhyO mOkshayishyAmi maa sucha:
-- Charama SlOkam of Bhagavad-GitA , XIII.66
(2) sakrudEva prapannAya tavAsmeeti ca yAchatE
abhayam sarvabhutEbhyyao dadAmyEtat vratam Mama
-- Lord RamachandrA's words : Yuddha KaaNDam VI.18.31
The Rahasya Thrya Saaram ( Charama SlOkAdhikAram)
and the ChillaRai rahasyam ( Abhaya PradhAna
Saaram ) , Mumukshuppadi explain in great detail
the meanings of the above slOkams dealing with
the central message given by the Lord that He is
the Unfailing SaraNAgatha Rakshakan.
Swamy Desikan pleads with the Lord not to acquire
any damage to His reputation as Prapanna Jana
vathsalan .It is indeed very tough for the Lord
now to refute the line of logic of Swamy Desikan.
This 50th slOkma of SrI SaraNAgathi DhIpikai
is thus an extension of the thought of the 49th
slOkam , where Swamy Desikan mentoned to the Lord that
he performed AchArya Nishtai and could not therefore
perform Sva-nishtai or Ukthi-nishtai.The reasoning there
was that he could only do one kind of Prapatthi
and the other choices became therefore superfluous .
In this slOkam , Swamy Desikan appeals to the Lord
not to examine whether his prapatthi was perfect or not.
He requests the Lord not to abandon him , since he has done
Prapatthi (perfect or imperfect) and any abandonment of him
by the Lord would only lead to damage to the Lord's
reputation as a never-failing protector of SaraNAgathaas.
Lord is cornered now with the power of the logic of
Swamy Desikan . In the next slOkam , Swamy Desikan
continues with this line of appeal and asks the Lord
to examine further the pros and cons of abandoning him
as a Prapannan and the consequences of such an act .
Swamy Desikan hints that there is too much at stake
if the Lord decides to abandon him.