Sri :
Dear BhakthAs :
Swamy Desikan blessed us with an allegorical drama
named
Sankalpa SooryOdhayam . At one time , a
distinguished Adhvaitha
Scholar by the name , SrI KrishNa Misrar engaged
Swamy Desikan
in Vaadham and was defeated convincingly . At the
time of taking leave ,
this Scholar left the palm leaves (TaaLa
Kosam ) of a Sanskrit Naatakam
that he had
created with the name of "PrabhOdha ChandrOdhayam
"and
requested Swamy
Desikan to browse it . Swamy Desikan did not read it
but created a Naatakam of his own named "Sankalpa
SooryOdhayam ".
Sri KrishNa Misrar was astonished , when he looked
over Swamy Desikan's
Naatakam . Sudarsana Soori and other Sri VaishNava
AchAryAs looked at
both the Naatakams and recognized the soundness
and superiority of
Swamy Desikan's Naatakam to defend
VisishtAdhvaitha darsanam . They
also understood that Swamy Desikan's avathAra
VisEsham enabled Him to
write His own response without even looking at
KrishNa Misrar's Naatakam
as a response to KrishNa Misrar's
defense of adhvaitham in fine detail .
PrabhOdha ChandhrOdhayam was intended by the author to describe and
defend Adhvaitha Tatthvams . Sankalpa SooryOdhayam refutes Adhvaitha
Tathvams and defends our SiddhAntha Tatthvams
.
Sankapa SooryOdhayam is a drama in 10 acts . The
twin themes of
Sankalpa SooryOdhayam are : (1) SamsAric darkness
is banished only by
the SooryOdhayam in the form of BhagavAn's
sankalpam (2) How to gain
Bhagavath anugraham .
Swamy Desikan blessed this Sri Sookthi
for the benefit of aasthikAs ,
who might find it difficult to grasp the fine
points about our SiddhAntham .
Swamy describes his target group that he is
helping as " Lalitha ManasAm
preethyai ) . It is thus in his own words for the
benefit/upliftment of those
who might have different ruchis and awareness
of our SampradhAyic
doctrines . He refers himself as a poet , who out
of compassion for
the latter group , composed this Sri Sookthi in
the easily assimilable
form of a drama ( KavinA KaaruNikEna kalpithOasou
) . Swamy Desikan
blessed us with this Naatakam to wet the appetite
as it were of those ,
who may not study our Saasthrams and enter into
discussions (VichArams) .
In Adhvaitha Matham , the contention is that
Jn~Anam is the direct upAyam
for Moksham . In defense of this view , KrishNa
Misrar named his Naatakam
as " PrabhOdha ChandhrOdhayam " to indicate
that the Jn~Ana chandrOdhayam
is the direct MokshOpaayam
. ChandhrOdhayam however can not
banish
the enveloping darkness fully. Only SuryOdhayam
(Sunrise) can scatter
the darkness fully . Further , Jn~Anam alone does
not and can not grant
moksham directly . It is BhagavAn , who is pleased with the observance
of
Jn~Ana upAyam banishes the darkness of SamsAram
and grants Moksha Phalan .
Therefore , Swamy Desikan chose the title of
"(Bhagavath ) Sankalpa SooryOdhayam "
for this one and only Naatakam that he blessed us
with . This meaning comes out
in the first slOkam of Sankalpa SooryOdhayam
itself . This Naataam is therfore
famous by the name itself .
Thirukkudanthai Desikan , the author of "SwAmy
Desika Sahasra Naamam " included
25 naamAs ( 681 to 705) to highlight
the content of "Sankalpa SooryOdhayam ". We will
study together those NaamAs now and salute Swamy
Desikan through these 25 NaamAs .
We are following closely the Commentary of Dr.
V.VasudEvAcchAr Swamy of
the Famous NaavalpAkkam village
.
************************************************************************************************************************
(681) (PraNavam) Sankalpa
SooryOdhayadha: krutha pArakya NaaDakAya Nama:
(Meaning) : Salutations to that AchAryan , who
lowered the status of the other NaaDakam
through the construction of Sankalpa SooryOdhaya
NaaDakam .
(682) (PraNavam ) Sankalpa
SooryOdhya- adhyapadhya vyaktha sva-vaibhavAya nama:
(Meaning) : Salutations to that SrEshta AchAryamn,
who through the first set of slOkams
(adhyAni PadhyAni) of his NaaDakam
highlighted his Vaibhavams such as avathAram
in ViswAmithra Gothram and as the amsam of
ThiruvEngaDamudayAn's bell (GhanDaa) .
(Comments ) : The tradition in Sanskrit dramas is
to have the recitation of Naandhi
SlOkam first and for the SoothradhAran of the
Naatakam to introduce the Kavi
and his Naatakam to start the play . The
Naataka abhinayam will commence
thereafter . In the observance of this tradition ,
there are a few slOkams that serve
as eulogies on the Vaibhavam of the
creator of this Naatakam and the uniqueness
of Sankalpa SooryOdhayam as a SrI Sookthi
.
(683) (PraNavam) chAthra- Bhaddha
dhvajOdhbhAsi dasasA soudha maNDalAya Nama:
(Meaning) : Salutations to that AchAryan , who
planted the flags of victory in all
the ten directions ( Circles of Palaces) through His own sishyAs
.
( Commentary ) :
The SoothradhAran announces at
the beginning about the Vaibhavam
of the Naataka KarthA , Swamy Desikan
this way : " chAthra-jana-niBaddha jaithra-dhvaja
prasAdhitha dasa disaa soudha: " (He established the victory flag over Para Matha
Vaadhins
in all directions through
His sishyAs
) .
Swamy Desikan's PradhAna sishyar was
PeraruLALa Jeeyar .He defeated a MahA VidhvAn
from Northern India in Vaadham and recieved the
title of "Brahma Tantra Svatantra Jeeyar "
from Swamy Desikan Himself .
The same distinguished sishyar went to
Kaancipuram
and defeated a PaNDithar from Kaasi
in a debate . KumAra VaradAcchAr Swamy
,
the son of Swamy Desikan and another important
sishyar of Swamy Desikan defeated
adhvaithins in Tamil Naadu in debates .KunAra
VaradAcchAr's title and salutation
from this victory is : " SrimallakshmaNa yOgIndhra
siddhAntha vijaya dhwajar " .
(684) (PraNavam) Sri Vaikunta
vinOdhinE Nama:
(Meaning) : Salutations to the AchAryan with the
name of "Vaikunta VinOdhi" or one who
pleases SrI Vaikunta NaaTan .
(Commentary ) : Swamy Desikan gives Himself the
name of Vaikunta VinOdhi through
the speech of SoothradhAran : " The many
ParamaikAnthis from dhivya Desams
assembled here have commanded adiyEn to create a
Naatakam for removing the SamsAric
afflictions to gladden the minds of rasikAs .
adiyEn is the son of SanthOsha Paalakar ,
who is the disciple of the Para Matha UpAdhyaayar
( Naatya Saasthra AchAryar) ,
SanmArga Vardhanar . adiyEn bears the commands of
the ParamaikAnthis on my head
in enacting this Naatakam . Thus , Swamy
declares that he is creating this Naatakam
at the request of ParamaikAnthis and selects the
name of Vaikunta VinOdhi ' for himself
as the author of this Naatakam
.
(685) (PraNavam) Sathkavi
Naataka lakshma dhrusE nama:
(Meaning) : Salutations to that AchAryan , who was
conversant with the lakshaNams
(attributes ) of good poets and the features of
good dramas .
(Commentary ) : Swamy Desikan made Saraswathy
(Speech/Vaak ) happy with
the exquisite use of rasams and alankArams in this
drama and got the title of Kavi
( Sa Kavi: kaTyathE srashtA )
.
SoothrakAran states further : In Sankalpa
SooryOdhaya Naatakam , the kaavya
lakshaNams are abundantly present .In a manner
acceptable to rasikAs , rasa
paripOsham ( the wealth of rasams) are seen
everywhere . The author is none
other than the abode of
the wealth of VidhyA , Kavi SrEshtar ,
SrI VenkatEsa Kavi .
This thirunAmam is
based on the 21st and 22nd SlOkams
of Sri Sankalpa SooryOdhayam .
Swamy Desikan's Naatakam is an Utthama Naatakam filled with Naadaka lakshaNams ,
Saantha rasam and serves to explain the Veda - VEdAntha arthams in the form
of a story .
(686) (PraNavam) SaanthyEka rasa
bhAvaj~nAya nama:
(Meaning) : Salutations to that AchAryan , who
knew the existence of
Saantha Rasam .
(Commentary ) : In Kaavyams , the nine rasams are
famous. The nine are :
" SrungAram , Haasyam , KaruNaa , Roudhram ,
Veeram , Bhayam , Bheepathsam ,
adhbhutham and Saantham " . Some NaatakAchAryAs do
not accept Saantham as
a rasam in their counts and recognize only eight
rasams . In Swamy Desikan's
Naatakam , Saantha rasam is PradhAnam . Swamy
responds through the statement
of SoothradhAran that those who reject Saanthi as
rasam do not fully understand
Sage BharathA's teachings on Naatya Saasthram . He
concedes that it is not easy
to place Saanthi rasam as PradhAna rasam and
perform abhinayam for it . Swamy
holds that Saanthi rasam alone can remove the
sorrows of the heart .
(687) (PraNavam) SrungArAdhi
rasadhvagnE nama:
(Meaning) : Salutations to that AchAryan , who
rejected rasa bhAvams
like SrungAram .
(Comments) : Swamy Desikan felt that rasams like
SrungAram are not
the best . He viewed Saantha Rasam as the highest
rasam . SrungAra rasam
is not ideal for adoption to perform in the middle
of many . Veera rasam
celebrates one being defeated by the other .
Adhbhutha rasam creates
incredible things for the sake of enhancing our
sense of wonderment .
The rasams like Bheepathsaa are insignificant
(alpa saaram) rasams .
Hence Swamy Desikan holds that Saantha rasam is
the best among
the nava rasams .
( 688) (PraNavam) GouDa
Vaidharbha PaanchAla mAlAkAra vachOdharAya Nama:
(Meaning) : Salutations to that AchAryan , who had
vachanams in his play ,
which were like garlands made up of Goudam ,
Vaidharbham and PaanchAlam .
(Comments) : GouDee Rithi stands for very
soft sabdhams in the slOkams.
Vaidharbha Reethi stands for hard and difficult
sabdhams ( KaDina Sabdham).
PaanchAli reethi stands for the sabdhams in
between the GouDee and Vaidharbha
Reethis . SlOkams constituted by these three
reethis are like garlands made of
these sabdhams .
(689) (PraNavam) Paathrikrutha
VivEkAdhi guNAdhishtAthru dhaivathAya nama:
(Meaning): Salutations to that AchAryan , who
etched as actors and actresses ,
the adhishtAna dEvathais of guNams like VivEkam
.
(Commentary ) The Naataka Katha Paathrams break up
into the two classes of
aathma and anAthma guNams of the human beings. One
may question as to how
one can cast guNams ( non-chEtanams) as Naataka
Paathrams . Swamy answers :
" There are dEvathAs for the guNams like VivEkam .
It is those dEvathAs behind
the guNams that are invoked as Paathrams and not
the guNams themselves ."
In SvEtha dhveepa kingdom , the King is
VivEkam (n) . The queen is Sumathy.
SEnApathy(the Commander inchief ) is VyavasAyam .
Saarathy (Charioteer) is Logic
(Tarkam ) . GuNams like KshAnthy , Virakthy are on
the side of VivEkam(n).
In the MaayA RaajadhAni/kingdom , Moham is
the king.The queen is Dhurmathy .
Kaamam , Darpam(ahankAram) , KrOdham (anger) are
on the side of king Moham.
Thus Swamy Desikan made use of guNams as the cast
.
(690) Sandhi panchaka samvEsa
NaaDakasTAna kOvidhAya Nama:
(Meaning) : Salutations to that AchAryan ,
who used the five sandhis
following Naataka Saasthra grammar .
(Commentary ) : Great kavis will establish the
five sandhis in srEshta
Naatakams . The play will follow the PradhAna
story line . The parts of nAtakam
will focus on the individual sub-stories needed to
be assembled in support of
PradhAna story . These sub-stories are known as
Sandhis . When Bheejam ,
Bindhu , aarambham , Prayattham unite , Sandhi
results .
Swamy Desikan has observed brilliantly these five
sandhis in his Naatakam :
(a) First angam( Bheeja aarambha samanvayam ):
Here , VivEkan expounds on
his matham , which is for gaining the Moksham
by Purushan . This is Mukha sandhi .
(b) Second angam
( Prathimukha sandhi ) :
Bhindhu-yathna samanvayam ; the refutaton
of Para Mathams that stand in the way of
one's Moksham.
(c) Third to Eight angams( Garbha Sandhi ):
This is known as PadhakAprApthyAsA
samanvayam . This deals with the destruction of
the enemies and realization of
desire in MOksham .
(d) Ninth angam (avamarsa Sandhi) : This is known
as Prakaree niyathAbhdhi samanvayam .
The determination (nirdhAraNam ) after examination
(VichAram) of the realization of
the Phalan .
(e) Tenth angam ( Nirvahana sandhi) : This is
known as Kaarya-PhalAgama sandhi .
The gaining of Moksha Phalan is the objective here
.
Swamy Desikan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,
Daasan Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan
Sri MalOla PaadhukA Sevaka Sri
VaNN SaThakOpa NaarAyaNa Yatheendhra
MahA DesikAya
Nama:
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