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Oppiliappan List Archive: Message 00325 Jan 2008

 
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srI:
SrI  upakAra  sangraham ? 68
--- 
adikAram ? 1
poorva upakAra paramparai
(The Foremost Series of Favours) 
---   
SECTION ? 5 (23)  
(27 Favours of the Lord leading to the means for
MOKSHAM)  
-----   

        We just saw that the Lord does favour in making the
sincere disciple to have a firm faith in whatever he
learnt from his AchArya, without being carried away by
the arguments of poorva-meemAmsakas who speak like
nAstikas (non-believers in God). Once this stage
comes, the disciple acquires a determined wisdom,
which is pointed out in this sub-section by SwAmi
Desikan: 
(23) ?anRunAn piRanthilEn; piRanthapin maRanthilEn? ,
?inRAka nAlaiyEyAka iniccirithu ninRAka ninaruL
enpAlathE? enkiRapadiyE,
vivEka-vyavasAya-vishEShangkaLaip piRappitthathuvum; 
        Here, SwAmi Desikan opens the sub-section with two
quotations from the Divya Prabandam:
?ninRathu enthai oorakatthu, iruunthathu enthai
pAdakatthu,
  anRu vehkaNaik kidanthathu, ennilAtha munnelAm,
  anRu nAn piRanthilEn piRanthapin maRanthilEn,
  ninRathum irunthathum en nenjuLE.?                  
       
         (Thirucchantha-viruttham, 64)

(My Lord took the standing posture in Thiruvoorakam;
the sitting posture in ThirupAdakam; and the
lying-down posture in ThiruveHkA. At that time, I was
not born since I didn?t acquire wisdom of my being a
servant of the Lord; now, after getting the knowledge,
I have not forgotten it. Hence, the Lord has taken
these postures of standing, sitting and lying-down in
my heart. )
In this first quotation, SwAmi Desikan shows that the
sAttvik jIva feels that he is born only when he
acquired the spiritual wisdom of his being a shESha of
the Lord. Before that even if he had been moving about
in the world, it was an un-realized person. Once he
got the wisdom of discrimination, that is, the ability
to see what is right and what is not, he feels as if
he is born just now.  
        SrI Thirumazhisai AzhvAr teaches us a supreme lesson
through this verse. All our studies under a sadAchArya
will become a waste if we don?t acquire the special
wisdom, which is mentioned by Swami Desikan as 
?vivEka-vyavasAya-vishEShangkaL?. Here, ?vivEka? means
wisdom, i.e., discriminatory knowledge. ?vyavasAya?
means determination or firmness; and ?vishEShangkaL?
means skills. Mere literary knowledge of the
scriptures is not enough. He should meditate on the
knowledge he obtained from the AchArya to develop it
into an unshakable firm faith. Then only he is
supposed to have acquired the special skill of
discriminatory knowledge. 
        A question may arise: How can we say that it was due
to the Lord that the AzhvAr got this wisdom?  That is
why the AzhvAr makes it clear that he got this wisdom
only because the Lord came down to these holy places
or wherever he went and made Himself present in
different postures with the idea of capturing the
AzhvAr. He captured the AzhvAr by showing physical
beauty in the archA form in these holy places. But, we
have evidence in scriptures about the Lord enchanting
many by His qualities. Was it not a favour done by the
Lord to such a sAttvika soul? LakShmaNa speaks to
HanumAn about how he was enchanted by SrI RAma:
?ahamasyAvrO bhrAtA guNairdAsyam-upAgatah /
 krutaj~nasya bahuj~nasya lakShmaNo nAma nAmatah //?  
      (KiShkindhA-kANdha, 4-12)

(I am his younger brother, LakShmaNa by name, who have
been compelled by His virtues to become His slave,
appreciating as He does the services, rendered to Him
and making much of even small services.)
        Here, one is reminded of the saying of SrI
nammAzhvAr: 
?appanai enRu maRappan? ennAkiyE,
 thapputhalinRit thanaikkavi than colli,
 oppilAt theevinaiyEnai uyyak koNdu,
 ceppamE ceythu thirikinRa ceer kaNdE.?               
         (ThiruvAimozhi, 7-9-4)

(He got through me poems sung on Himself; He did this
to enchant me, the worst sinner I am; How can I forget
Him, after witnessing His virtues; Who has been doing
only good to me?)
        SrI Thirumazhisai AzhvAr?s verse reminds us of a
scriptural statement in this regard:
 ?asannEva sa bhavati / asad brhamEti vEda cEt / asti
brhamEti cEt vEda / santamEnam tatO viduh /?          
                                                     
(TaittiriyOpanishad, Anandavalli - 6)

(If one knows that there is no Brahman, he himself
becomes non-existent. If any one knows that the
Brahman does exist, then he thinks that he exists on
account of that knowledge.)
        Thus, the disciple?s knowledge gets deepened by this
discriminatory wisdom.
        The second quotation which SwAmi Desikan mentions is
from the nAn-mukan ThiruvanthAthi, which is also of
SrI Thirumazhisai AzhvAr:
?inRAka nALaiyEyAka  inicchiRithum
 ninRAka ninaruL enpAlathE -- nanRAka
 nAn unnai anRi ilEn kaNdAi  nAraNanE 
 neeyenai yanRi yilai.?                               
          (nAnmukan ThiruvandAthi, 7)
(nArAyaNa! Today or tomorrow or even later, Your grace
will be on me in full measure. Because, I do not exist
without You; nor do You without me.)
        The AzhvAr means that both cannot be without each
other. By naming the Lord as ?nArAyaNa?, the AzhvAr
reveals his knowledge about the significance of this
name. The name is formed by the combination of two
words, ?nAra? + ?ayana?. ?nAra? signifies jIvas. As He
is both the means and the goal, He is called
?nArAyaNa?. 
The AzhvAr tells the Lord, through the expression,  
?inRAka nALaiyEyAka inicchiRithum  ninRAka ninaruL
enpAlathE?  -- By this he means that the Lord has to,
by virtue of his being one with the AzhvAr, shower His
grace on him. But, it may happen at any time, today,
or tomorrow itself. If it is even later, it doesn?t
matter, because, His grace will sure to come to him
any way. 
        Our ParamAchArya, SrI AlavandAr, in his
StOtra-ratnam, says in the same way:

?tadaham tvddrutE na nAthavAn maddrutE tvam
dayaneeyavAn na ca  /
 vidhinirmitamEtamanvayam bhagavan pAlaya mA sma
jeehapah // ? 
                                                      
                                              
(stOtrarathnam- 51)
(Therefore, without Thee I have none as my Lord; and
without me Thou have not a worthy recipient for Thy
compassion; preserve this relation, Oh Lord; spurn me
not!)

          Thus, this kind of firm and determined
wisdom comes to the disciple, as a favour of the Lord,
says SwAmi Desikan in this sub-section.

(To continue)
dAsan
Anbil S.SrInivAsan
---------      




      
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