SrI: Dear BhakthAs: Today , adiyEn will cover the Fourty Ninth slOkam of Sri SaraNAgathi DhIpikai , where Swamy Desikan reminds the Lord that he deserves to be saved by Him , since he has performed Prapatthi already: aasthAM prpatthir-iha Desika-saakshikA mE siddhA tadhukthir-anagA Thvad-avEkshitha-arTA nyasthasya poorva-nipuNais-Thvayi nanvidhAnIm poorNE Mukundha punaruktha upAya yEsha: SrI SaraNAgathi DhIpikai: SlOkam 49 Meaning: ******** Oh MukundhA! You are looking at me and asking why adiyEn is appealing to You to destroy my sins and thus save me . You are asking me further , whether adiyEn has surrenderd totally at Your Thiruvadi by adopting one of the three methods of Prapatthi (viz)., Sva-nishtai or Ukthi nishtai or AchArya nishtai. adiyEn's answer is in the form of a question to You : Is it n't so that Sva-nishtai is used as an upAyam (means)by those ,who have learnt the way of performing it from their AchAryAs correctly and have the Jn~Anam and Sakthi to complete such a demanding kind of Prapathti ? Let that be ! For those , who are not endowed with such paripoorNa Jn~Anam and Sakthi , they repeat the Prapatthi vaakyams that the AchAryA utters . They become fulfilled with the anushtAnam of this kind of Prapatthi known as Ukthi nishtai. This Ukthi nishtai shines as blemishless means to gain mOksham with the guidance of the benovolent SadAchAryan. Even if adiyEn does not understand fully the meanings of the manthrams recited by the AchAryan as the essence of Prapathti , You ,My Lord certainly understand them and relate to them . Since adiyEn's poorvAchAryALs have placed me as Your refuge , adiyEn has chosen AchArya nishtai as UpAyam .The other two equally effective Prapathti maargams (Sva-nishtai and Ukthi Nishtai) are now superflous/redundant to me. Your SaasthrAs declare that one should perform prapatthi only once. adiyEn can therefore choose only one of the three types of Prapatthi.adiyEn has performed AchArya Nishtai. Therefore You must come to my rescue since adiyEn has completed my Prapatthi with the grace of my AchAryan. ( Swamy Desikan draws a careful line here between the three different kinds of Prapatthi without extolling one as being superior to the other ; He takes pain to point out that all the three yield the same fruit of Moksham .He points out that one can do only kind of prapatthi and therefore other two prapatthis become superfluous ). Additional Comments ******************** In the previous slOkam , Swamy Desikan addressed the Lord as SaraNAgatha Vathsalan and begged Him to use His matchless and magnificent sakthi (Power) to destroy his limitless sins. In this slOkam , he talks about the three kinds of Prapatthi and that he has performed one of the three kinds of Prapatthi prescribed by SaasthrAs and begs the Lord to save him from samsAric afflictions and grant him Moksham . He deliberately addresses the Lord here as "Mukundhan " or the Moksham-granting Lord . SVA-NISHTAI ************ Swamy Desikan starts this slOkam with reference to Svanishtai: " Iha ( in the matter of destroying my sins), Desika SaakshikA prapatthi aasthAm ( let Sva-nishtai realized from SadAchArya UpadEsam be !). It is not for every one , since it demands complete and clear Jn~Anam about the relation between angi (Bhara samarpaNam /Prapatthi) and its five limbs(angaas ) of Prapatthi(Aanukoolya Sankalpam, PrAthikoola varjanam , MahA visvAsam , KaarpaNyam , gOpthruva varaNam). All the five angAs should be present in equal measure for the Prapatthi to be successful. If anyone of them are missing , then Prappathi will fail. One perfoms Svanishtai and achieves the fruits of SaraNAgathi only after gaining clear grasp of the Angi-angaa relationship and places the soul at the feet of the Lord.This is known as SaangAnushtAna Sva-nishtai. UKTHI NISHTAI ************** The second upAyam (means for performing Prapatthi) is Ukthi nishtai.This is for one , who does not have the kind of sharp intellect and tapas needed to perform Sva-nishtai. Ukthi nishtai is blemishless. It is based on the utterance of the sacred words by a SadAchAryan and the Mumukshu ( One who desires Moksham) repeating after his/her SadAchAryan. The Mumukshus , who do not possess special Jn~Anam about aanukoola sankalpam ( the vow to do only those acts that please the Lord)place their total faith in the Lord's power to protect them , when asked for such protection , perform UKTHI NISHTAI by repeating the prapatthi manthrams uttered by their AchAryan . This Nishtai like the other two Nishtais seeks Moksham at the end of one's life and blemishless kaimkaryam to SrIman NaarAyaNan , one's AchAryan and the Lord's BhagavathAs during the remaining days of life on earth. In this slOkam , Swamy Desikan refers to Ukthi Nishtai this way: " Thvath avEkshitha arTA: anagA tath Ukthi: SiddhA " ( For some , Ukthi Nishtai encompassing the blemishless prapatthi manthrams recited by SadAchAryan and whose meanings are fully familiar to You are the UpAyam/ Means for the realization of the fruits of Prapathti.adiyEn may not understand the full meanings of these manthrams , but You do.) ACHAARYA NISHTAI **************** Swamy Desikan says here tha the adopted AchArya Nishtai: " Thvayi Poorva-nipuNai: nyastha: ". adiyEn has adopted AchArya Nishtai as a result of my poorvAchAryALs placing adiyEn at Your sacred feet .That AchAryan of adiyEn , who blessed me with rahasyArTams has included me in the prapatthi that he did on my behalf.Svaroopa , Bhara,Phala SamarpaNams has been done on behalf of adiyEn by my SadAchAryan , Swamy AppuLLAr. Now that adiyEn has observed AchArya Nishtai , Sva Nishtai and Ulthi Nishtai become unnecessary . Why? adiyEn can perform prapatthi only once according to Your saasthrAs.They become like punarukthi (redundant) now( idhAim yEsha: upAya: punuruktha nanu?). ACHAARYAA'S AS SAAKSHI *********************** AchAryA's anugraham and DayA is present in every one of these three nishtais. Following slOkams from KurEsar and ParAsara Bhattar quoted in the AdhikAri- vibhAgAdhikAram of SrImath Rahasya Thraya Saaram are pertinent here: paapIyasOapi saraNAgathi sabdhabhAjO nOpEkshaNam mama TavOchithamIsvarasya Thvadh Jn~Ana-sakthi-KaruNAsu satheeshu naiva paapam parAkramithum arhathi mAmakInAm --athimAnusha Sthavam: SlOkam 61 (meaning): It is not appropriate for You in Your role as Isvaran to reject adiyEn, who uttered the word of SaraNAgathi even if adiyEn is a mighty sinner.When Your Jn~Anam , Sakthi and KaruNA guNams are there, my paapams would have no effect. ( This slOkam could be connected to Ukthi Nishtai). saraNa-varaNa Vaagiyam yOdhithA na bhavathi vatha saa-api dhee-poorvikA ithi yadhi dayaneeyathA mayyahO Varadha! Tava BhavEtthatata: prANim (Meaning): Oh Varadha PrabhO! The saraNAgathi Vaakyams uttered by adiyEn has not arisen from knowledge-based utterance (buddhi-poorvakam). Alas ! Please take heed of this deficency and yet have compassion for me so that adiyEn will be rescued from SasAram and gain Moksham. ( This slOkam can be connected with Ukthi Nishtai). ---SrI VaradharAja Sthavam: SlOkam 84 yaTAsi yAvanasi yOasi yadhguNa: Kareesa! yaadhrugvibhavO yadhingitha: taTAvidham ThvAhamabhktha-dhurgraham prapatthee-vaachaiva neerIkshithum vruNE --SrI VaradarAja Sthavam: SlOkam 92 (Meaning): adiyEn desires to visualize You, who has great Vaibhavam and who is out of reach for those without Bhakthi ;adiyen desires to visualize You through the utterance of prapatthi Vaakyams .( This SlOkam may be connectable to Sva-Nishtai). Tava BharOhamakArishi dhArmikai: SaraNamithyapi vAchamudairiram ithi SASAAKSHIKANNIDHAM adhya maam kuru bharam Tava Ranga-dhurandhara --SrI rangarAja Sthavam: 2-102 (Meaning): Oh RanganATA ! adiyEn has been placed at Your sacred feet for protection by the noble and righteous AchAryAs of Yours.adiyEn has also uttered the word "SaraNam ".You must accept the responsibility for my protection bearing these two factors as witnesses for this request. ( The reference here could be to either Sva-nishtai or AchArya Nishtai). Some of the today AchAryAs follow the Ukthi Nishtai. This is the case with SrI Sannidhi (asmath AchArya Paramparai of AhObila Matam ). Some others follow AchArya Nishtai ( Srirangam Andavan and PoundarIkapuram Andavan Aasrama Yathis) . Sva-nishtai is hardly followed . One must recognize that anyone of the three nishtais observed properly will yield exactly the same Phalan (Moksham ) and should not consider one nishtai superior to the other. It is all based on the qualifications of the adhikAri , who seeks Moksham. There are times in which the Same AchAryan will choose AchArya Nishtai over Ukthi nishtai due to uniqueness of the circumstances. AchAryan may be far away and a person may be nearing the last moments of life. It would be impossible for the mumukshu to travel to the side of the AchAryan to utter the Prapatthi Vaakyams recited by the AchAryan. In such cases , the AchAryan on prayerful request by relatives performs AchArya Nishtai to enable the soul to gain Moksha Siddhi. Also in the case of children , who may not be able to repeat after the AchAryan (as in Ukthi nishtai) , the compassionate AchAryan performs AchArya Nishtai to protect the jeevan inside the body of that child. This 49th slOkma of SrI SaraNAgathi DhIpikai is thus a powerful one containing the essence of the elaborations of the thoughts found in chapters 7, 8 and 9 of SrImath Rajasya Thraya Saaram . NamO NamO SrI VedAntha DesikAya , SrImath Azhagiya Singar ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam, RaamAnuja Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SadagOpan
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