NOTE: Readers having difficulty in reading the text may need to change their encoding to UTF-8. ------------ srI: SrI upakAra sangraham ? 67 --- adikAram ? 1 poorva upakAra paramparai (The Foremost Series of Favours) --- SECTION ? 5 (22) (27 Favours of the Lord leading to the means for MOKSHAM) ----- The message conveyed in the previous sub-section is being continued by SwAmi Desikan further in this sub-section: (22) ?dEvatA-teerta-tapasAm bhAratAt yasya nirNayah / na janyatE nAstiktA tasya meemAmsakairapi //? enkiRapadiyE oruvrAlum nAstikyam pukuravidavoNNAthapadi, ?AstikO dharmasheelashca? ityAtikaLil conna shiShya-lakShaNa-poortiyai uNdAkkinathuvum; We just saw how the Lord prevents the down-fall of the disciple after receiving the spiritual knowledge from his AchArya. His duties towards his AchArya were also described. Thus the characteristics of an ideal disciple will be complete only when he stands firm in his faith in the knowledge given by his AchArya. He should be firm not only in his faith in the scriptures, but also in executing the dhArmic rites as enunciated in the scriptures as practiced by his AchArya and the previous ones. This is what stated as ?AstikO dharmasheelashca? ityAtikaLil conna shiShya-lakShaNa-poortiyai uNdAkkinathuvum; -- The firm faith in the scriptures and the firm practice of the dhArmic activities prescribed make a disciple perfect. Even then, there is a possibility of the disciple facing challenges from other faiths, particularly, the poorva-meemAmsakas, who also follow Vedic scriptures. One who studies the basics of their system is likely to be carried away by them. But those who have gained a definite knowledge about the existence of devatas, holy rivers and religious austerities, will not be turned non-believers even by the poorva-meemAmsakas. This is what that is asserted by the slOka mentioned above: ?dEvatA-teerta-tapasAm bhAratAt yasya nirNayah / na janyatE nAstikatA tasya meemAmsakairapi //? (The person who has gained a firm knowledge about the gods, holy-places and austerities from Sri MahAbhArata, cannot be shaken by meemAmsakas (poorv-meemamsakas) to give up his belief. That is, he will not be turned into a nAstika [non-believer].) He will continue to perform his duties as taught by his AchArya and remain a real disciple. The Poorva-meemamsa System denies the existence of devatas in the form of intelligent beings. It stresses that the Vedas are the supreme authority and the performing of karmas as outlined in the Vedas alone give the benefits desired by a person and those benefits are given by the yagnas performed and not the devatas. The names mentioned in the mantras with which one performs the rites are mere names only. Actually no intelligent beings indicated by those names exist. The benefits which are to be gained after one?s death are conferred by a thing called ?apoorvam? which is created by the performance of the karma by the person concerned. The highest goal one can attain by the performance of the karma is heaven for a period for which the particular karma was performed. After that period is over, he will be born again in the world and has to perform another karma for a similar or different benefit. Since the poorva-meemAmsakas say they believe in the existence of God too, but by inference. Even though the meemAmsakas established the existence of Atma as a separate entity different from the physical body through logic, those who follow the Brahma meemAmsa can remain safe as this Atma-vicAram can be got from the Vedanta portion of the Vedas, and do the karmas as a bhagavad ArAdhanam. What poorva-meemAmsakas preach is pravrutti dharma, which promotes this worldly existence and activities, while the real beneficial path is nivrutti dharma, which is renunciation of the fruits of the karmas done by us. MeemAmsa shAstra is of a total of 20 chapters, as established by SrIbhAshyakAra in his ShrIbhAshyam, as opposed to the stand of the poorva-meemAmsaka that only the first 16 chapters are alone valid for study as they deal with karmas and related subjects. If one believes in their concept he is like a blind who falls into an abandoned well. In order to prevent this, SwAmi Desikan has left us three works, namely, ?Paramata Bhangah?, ?shEShvara MeemAnmsa? and ?MeemAmsa PAdukA?. The truth has also been brought out in his other grantas like ?Tattva-teekai?. It would be useful to keep these two verses of SwAmi Desikan?s ?Paramata Bhangam? in our mind, to avoid being carried away by the arguments of people on the line of poorva-meemAmsaka siddhAnta: ?eeacanum maRRaNangkum ilathenRu, ezhilnAn maRaiyil pEciya nalvinaiyAl, perumpAzhukku neer iRaikkum neesarai neethikaLAl nigamAnthatthin noolvzhiyE mAcilmanam kodutthum maRu mARRangkaL mARRuvamE.? (MeemAmsakas do not accept Ishvara and other devatas like Indra. They maintain that the fruits of the rituals performed by persons for such purpose, are given by a factor which they call ?apoorvam? arising out of those rituals. For them, sound is the devata. In their system, they do not accept the physical existence of devatas, nor do they accept that such devatas are pleased to receive the havish from the rituals and later shower the fruits on the performer of those rituals as a result. They are akin to those who water the waste lands. We will condemn these lower-graders with the help of logic based on the Vedanta shAstras, with a spotless mind.) ?kamaikadal pOl oruneerAm cootthiratthaik kavanthanaiyum irAkuvaiyum pOlak kaNdu ninaivudanE nilaittharumam ikanthu niRkum neecar nilai nilai-nAdA vaNNam eNNi vinaiparavu caiminiyAr vEdanoolai vEdAntha nooludanE virakAl kOttha munaiyudaiya muzhumathi nam munivar conna mozhivazhiyE vazhiyenRu muyanRittOmE.? (Our siddhAnta considers both the former and latter meemAmsas as a single scripture. It is just like, though the ocean is only one, it used to be called ?this sea and that sea? by people for practical purposes. Similarly, the single scripture is divided in to two parts as poorva meemAmsa and uttara-meemAmsa. PoorvAchAryas like BhOdAyanar, AlavandAr, SrIbhAshyakArar have established that both meemAmsas are a single scripture with two parts, the earlier part being about the karmas to be performed as bhagavad-ArAdhana and the later part being about the BhagavAn. We follow the path shown by these wise men as the best for us.) Therefore, one who has gained a superior knowledge by the study of the uttara-meemAmsa and is adopting the means to attain mOkSha will not be carried by these petty attractions, like wealth in this world or heaven. It may appear that the previous sub-section and this subsection speak about the same matter. But it will not appear so if we look at them closely. The previous sub-section dealt with the duty of a disciple in having full faith in his AchArya who, out of compassion, taught him the essence of the spiritual scriptures, while this sub-section dealt with the need for the disciple to have a firm faith in the subject matter taught by the AchArya. This faith should not be shaken by the superficially good-looking arguments of the poorva-meemAmsakas who don?t believe in the existence of the Lord. The creation of this firm belief is another favour done by the Lord, points out SwAmi Desikan in this sub-section. [Note: It may appear that this part is not relevant to the present age. It is, however, emphasized that, it is relevant considering the presence of people who do not believe in the existence of God or in the Vedic scriptures and they are being in influent position. It is likely some of us may be influenced by their propaganda. Hence, this sub-section is necessary.] (To continue) dAsan Anbil S.SrInivAsan ---------- ____________________________________________________________________________________ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping Oppiliappan Koil Varadachari Sadagopan http://www.sadagopan.org Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Oppiliappan/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Oppiliappan/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:Oppiliappan-digest@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx mailto:Oppiliappan-fullfeatured@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: Oppiliappan-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
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