Dear SrI Ranganatha BhakthAs :
Today , we will study the 17th SlOkam
of the First Jitante .
SlOkam 17
*************
ahankArTakAmEshu preethiradhyaiva
nasyathu
ThvAm prapannasya mE dEva
vardhathAm SrImathy Thvayi
(Meaning) : Oh Lord ! May the ahankAram ,
MamakAram ,
attachment to wealth and worldly desires
perish instantaneously
in me , who has sought Your sacred feet
as my sole rakshaNa
vasthu . May bhakthi blended with love
for You grow abundantly
in me !
Commentary : In the previous slOkam , Sounakar dwelt on
the expiatory rites to nullify the sins
accumulaed consciously
or otherwise by a Prapannan . Here , the
prayer is to wipe out
those causative factors ( ego , sense of
possession , pursuit of
worldly pleasures et al) that result in
the accumulation of
the sins . Afraid of the impact of poorva
janma VaasanAs
( residual impressions ) that propell one
to engage in pursuit of
undesirable karmAs that sets one back ,
Sounakar prays to
the Lord to overcome all these
deleterious temptations
once and for all .VairAgyam can not arise
unless the worldly
wants fuelled by ahamkAra-mamakArams
are not chased away .
Once the detatchment from worldly desires
is attained ,
the intense devotion to our
Lord will take root . This welcome
development can happen only with the
Krupaa of the Lord
and hence this prayer is addressed to Him
.
The importance of Prapatthi and the ideal
mind set of
a Prapannan are dealt with here .
Our Lord is the sole
recourse for crossing over the Prakruthi
( MaamEva
yE prapathyanthE MaayAm yEtham taranthi
tE---GitA 7.14) .
GeethAchAryan Himself prescribes the
recipe for crossing
the delusions caused by the Maayaa of His
: " TamEva
SaraNam gaccha sarva bhAvEna BhAratha "
and
" Sarva dharmAn Parithyajya MaamEkam
SaraNam vraja
aham thvaa sarva pApEbhyO
mOkshayishyAmi maa sucha:".
VishNu PurANa slOkam (1.9.73) describes
the futility in
the gaining of the fruits of Prapatthi
until one totally surrenders
at the sacred feet of the Lord , who
destroys all the sins
through that observance . Until that
SaraNAgathy with
the five angams is completed , all
the VaasanAs ( latent
impressions from the KarmAs ) will
persist and obstruct
the progress towards Moksha Siddhi. Until
that SaraNAgathy
is performed , the sorrows from the loss
of wealth (madheeyam) ,
the hankering for riches , the moham for
worldly pleasures ,
the anger over inability to gain those
lOka sukhams will
blind one's path to spiritual advancement
by SaraNAgathy .
It is suggested that SaraNAgathy is the
only route for
attaining the highest PurushArTam for all
the four kinds
of adhikAris: AarTan , ArTArthi, Kaivalya
Nishtan and
Bhagavath PrApthi Kaaman
.
NamO SrI Ranganathaya
,
Oppiliappan Koil V.Sadagopan
P.S: Dear SrI
Ranganatha BhakthAs : We are making
progress in finding
living quaters
for our Temple staff
( 5 Priests and one Cook)
close to the temple premises .
We would like to
unite them with their families as soon
as
Possible .
We need all of Your help to
realize this goal . Please go to
our temple web site and
send your contributions online :
Thank You all
for your valued support .