
Acharya Swami
Desikan
Sri Ub. Ve. Vangipuram
Navaneetham Srirama-DesikachAr Swamy and his scholarship are legendary.
Since Swami Desikan's time, no one has attempted to write commntarties on
the AmruthasvAdhini Rahasyams. The enormous and painstaking efforts of
Navaneetham Swami to collect the palm leave manuscripts compare them for
authenticity, and comment on them and proof read the pages in print is
beyond imagination. We are truly blessed to gain insights into Swami
Desikan's multifaceted genius thanks to the elegant and clear commentary
of Navaneetham Swami .His ability to explain complex doctrines in an
easily understandable manner is a true gift for us. Even when Navaneetham
Swami was recovering from cataract operations and angina pectoris, he
continued with his extraordinary labour of love and blessed us with these
and other monographs on Swami Desikan's brilliant master pieces that serve
as foundation stones for our SiddhAntham .
SWAMI DESIKAN'S
GRANTHAS ************************
The prolific output of the
giant of an AchAryA is housed in 130 works summarized in Sri Viashnava
home page maintained by Sri Mani Varadarajan. They are usually divided
into the following six categories:
1. Those pertaining to
Philosophy and Religion in Sanskrit ( 25 works )
2. Kaavya granthAs & other
literary works ( 5 more )
3. SthOthrAs ( 30 items
)
4. Rahasya GranthAs in
maNipravALa ( 34 items )
5. Tamil Works ( 24 items
)
6. Miscellaneous Works (12
Items )
Rahasya
GranthAs ****************
These are the fourth among the
six categories of our AchAryA's illuminating works. There are 34 Rahasya
GranthAs in ManipravaLA. Among them, TattvasikhAmaNi, Madhurakavi
Hrudhaya, Steya sangraha and Saara DheepA are no longer available to
us.
Navaneetham Swami covered 16 of
the remaining 30 chillarai rahasyams in Part I of his series , four more
in Part II and the seven more in Part III . Only three are not covered in
this series:
(1) Srimadh Rahasyaytraya
Saaram ( RTS ) (2) GuruparamparaasArA , which is incorporated in the
beginning part of RTS (3) Paramatha Bhangam. Srimadh RTS and Para Madha
Bhangam are magnificient and huge treatises in their own right and hence ,
they have been covered separately. The GuruparamparAsAram gets folded into
Srimadh RTS.
The 16 works covered in Part I
to be
reprinted **********************************************
They fall into the Following
Categories :
(1)Padhavis: ( Tattva Padhavi ,
Rahasya Padhavi ). Padhavi means either a position or path .
2. Maathrukais :( Tattva
Maathrukai , Rahasya Maathrukai , Rahasya mathrukai Hrudhayam ). The term
MaatrikA connotes the 52 letters of sanskrit , which in turn relates to
the 52aspects of tattvAs including the three types of souls , three GuNAs
, the 24 divisions of Achith and its relationships to the other two
tatthvAs ( Chith and IsvarA ) .
3.SandEsams: ( Tattva SandEsam
,Rahasya SandEsam , Rahasya SandEsa VivaraNam ). SandEsam means a message
.
4. RathnAvaLis: ( Tattva
RathnAvaLi , Rahasya RathnAvaLi , Tattva RathnAvaLi PrathipAdhya Sangraham
) . RathnAvaLi means a necklace of Jewels .
5. Navaneethams : (Tattva
navaneetham , Rahasya navaneetham). Navaneetham refers to the delicious
mixture of VeNNai and sugar, the favorite food of Lord KrishNA
.
6. ChuLakams: ( Tattva Traya
ChuLakam , Rahasya Traya ChuLakam ). ChuLakam is the small shape of the
palm holding water for Achamaneeyam. This refers to a small tract of the
great doctrines.
7. Sri SampradhAya Parisuddhi
deals with the importance of AchAryAs in our sampradhAyam and the purport
of the three rahasya manthrAs . In this work , the most merciful AchAryA
emphasizes the need to avoid the schisms among the followers of Sri
RaamAnujA. He reminds us tactfully that among the different sishyAs of
AchArya RaamAnujA , there are no arthavirOdhams although there might be
Vaakhya YojanAbhedhams.
The topics covered in these 16
Rahasya Granthams are :
The three TattvAs ( Chith ,
Achith and Isvara/ soul , Matter and God ) , the nature of the Soul , the
three types of Souls , the four kinds of Achith, Kaalam, Sudhda sattvam
,Dharma BhUtha Jn~Anam, Prapatthi, Bhakthi, the meditation on the Lord and
the experience of reaching Him , Artha Panchakam, elaborations of
Athmasiddhi of YaamunAchArya , Reflections on the Mitha gadhyAs ( Sriranga
gadhyam and Vaikuntha Gadhyam ) of AchArya RaamAnujA , the significance
and purport of the three sacred Rahasya ManthrAs dear to Sri VaishNavAs
.
|