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Oppiliappan List Archive: Message 00253 Dec 2007

 
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--------------- 
srI:
SrI  upakAra  sangraham â?? 32
--- 
adikAram â?? 1
poorva upakAra paramparai
(The Foremost Series of Favours) 
---   
SECTION â?? 5 (4) 
(27 Favours of the Lord leading to the means for
MOKSHAM)  
-----   

        The next favour of the Lord, taken up by SwAmi
Desikan is the creation of a lineage of AchAryas:

(4) pravartaka-paramparai-yai srushtittavum;   

        Pravartaka means, setting on foot, founding,
advancing, promoting, furthering, producing, causing,
prompting, urging, inducing, instigating (in a bad
sense) (ref: Apte's dictionary) 
        Of these, advancing, promoting, furthering, prompting
and inducing may be suitable to understand the mind of
SwAmi Desikan. 
        
        We may be able to fix the exact meaning of this word
if study the other word used by him: 
        Paramparai -- means an uninterrupted series,
succession, lineage etc.
        All these will fit in this context. 
        So, pravartaka-paramparai can be understood as a
lineage for furthering, a succession to promote, a
un-interrupted series for furthering. 
        
        SwAmi Desikan says it is the Lord's another favour to
create a lineage for furthering, a succession to
promote, a uninterrupted series of AchAryas for
advancing. 
        
        The question may arise as to what is to be promoted,
what is to be advanced and what is to be furthering.
        
        We can arrive at the conclusion that SwAmi Desikan
means to say that the Lord created a succession of
leaders for propagating the ideals spelt out by the
Scriptures which He had created earlier. Since the
Lord's compassion is unlimited, he wanted to ensure
that the virtues and the conduct as proposed in the
scriptures continue to be followed by the generations
to come in the future. Without a strong succession of
personalities who are of good nature, these ideals
cannot be promoted. People will go astray if there are
no proper guides to take them on the right path. Then
only, the Lord can help individual souls to turn
towards Him to get them-selves liberated.
        
        This series of AchAryas has to begin with SrIman
nArAyaNa Himself as He is the Supreme Lord of all the
worlds, having cit (the sentient ) and acit (the
non-sentient - matter) as His inseparable attributes.
He is the "advaita-tatvam", the sole Reality, one
without a second. It is also an established fact that
He alone is the goal to be attained by one and all. He
also stands as the means to salvation.  
        
        SrIman nArAyaNa is the ultimate Reality. SrI is
LakshmI. SrI and nArAyaNa are inseparably united and
constitute the highest Brahman. So, He is referred to
SrIman nArAyaNa and as the "SarvEshvara", the Lord of
all. 
He is also the first Guru, Teacher. It was He who
first gave the Vedic knowledge to Brahma even before
the creation of all the lives began. 

        The Lord, who is the paramAcharya, taught the VedAs
to Brahma and restored them to him when they had been
snatched away from Brahma. He also gave out all the
scriptures through Brahma. It was He who made Brahma's
sons, Sanaka and others, to spread the dharma in the
worlds. Similarly, He ensured the succession of Gurus
to continue the transfer of spiritual knowledge
through the sages, like nArada, ParAsara and others.
He Himself took the incarnation as KrushNa DvaipAyana
VyAsa to produce various scriptures and the
MahAbhArata and Brahma-sootras. 

        The Lord Himself took various incarnations including
Sri Krishna to teach the Scriptures such as
Bhagvadgita etc., to the world, out of compassion.

        The Lord also ensured that His teachings are
established on a strong basis through highly
knowledgeable men like SrI BhIshma.

        The importance of AchArya to acquire the right
knowledge has been highlighted in VedAs and other
scriptures. For example, the MuNdakopanishad says,  

"tadvij~nAnArtham sa gurumEvAbhigacChEt"
(MuNdakOpanishad, 1-2-12)
(One should approach a teacher for knowing the
Brahman.)       
and also, 

"AchAryavAn purushO vEda" 
(Only he who has a good AchArya can realize Brahmam)

        The lineage of AchAryas go up to the Lord. This has
been stated in another scripture:

"sa ca AchAryavamshO j~nEyO asrAvasaviti AbhagavataH" 
(RahasyAmnAya BrAhmaNam)
(One should think of the line of his AchAryas upto the
BhagaVan.)
 
        This line of teachers has continued through the ages
and the great ideals have been kept up till today.

        Thus, SwAmi Desikan points out that this un-broken
succession of AchAryas is also a favour conferred upon
us by the Lord.  
                     
(To continue)
dAsan
Anbil S. SrInivAsan
----------  



      
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