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------------ 
SrI rAma jayam 
SrImathe SrI LakshmInrisimha Parabrahmane Namah
SrImathe rAmAnujAya Namah   
SrImathe nigamAntha mahAdesikAya Namah
SrImathe AdhivaNsatakopa Yatheendra mahAdesikAya namah
SrImathe SrIvaNsatakopa SrI vedanta Desika Yatheendra
mahAdesikAya Namah
SrImathe SrI lakshmInrisimha  divyapAdukAsevaka SrI
vaNsatakopa - 
SrI nArAyana Yatheendra mahAdesikAya Namah
---
srI:
SrI  UpakAra  Sangraham - III (1)
-- 
niryANa adikAram
-- 
 INTRODUCTION
In the previous Chapter, named as sAdanAdikAram, Swami
Desikan serialized the various favours the Lord does
to a person who adopts the means of mOkSha, be it
bhakti-yOga or prapatti - total surrender at His feet.
These are divided in to two parts -- those favours the
Lord does during the period of stay in this world
after adopting the means and those He does when the
prapanna leaves his physical body. 
        In the present chapter, which is named as niryANa
adikAram -- SwAmi Desikan describes the favours the
Lord does after the prapanna leaves the physical body
and gets into the Brahma-nAdi to proceed towards the
highest abode of the Lord. 
        There are several sections in this Chapter:  1)
Favours the Lord does to that mumukShu who has
completed the adoption of the means for mOkSha, after
he started moving out of his body; under which section
are sub-sections, namely, i) favours done upto
reaching the river Viraja which is at border of the
prakruti mandala; ii) favours done after he crosses
the Viraja river; 2) These, as shown by SrI nammAzhvAr
in his first pAsuram in Thiruviruttham, beginning with
?poininRa?; sub-sections in this section: i) word-by
word meaning; ii) the points to be learnt from this
paSuram; iii) six essential meanings reveled in the
pAsuram; iv) the main message conveyed by the pAsuram;
v) SwAmi Desikan?s concluding slOka in Sanskrit
followed by his two pAsurams. 
        Now, we shall take up for a detailed study the first
Section with the sub-sections under it:      
Section - 9: The Favours the Lord does to a MumukShu
after he leaves his body
---- 
        In this first section, SwAmi Desikan describes the
favours the Lord does to the mumukShu after he gets
into the Brahma-nAdi with His help. 

[9.1 Favours being done until the mumukShu reaches the
shore of River VirajA]
----- 
        In this sub-section, SwAmi Desikan describes in
detail the favours done by the Lord to the
mumukShu-jIva from going out of the body through the
Brahma-nAdi, which is also called as moordhanya-nAdi. 
It is the gate-way for proceeding on the path of
archirAdi from the gross body, which is called Brahma
puri, the city of Brahman, where the Lord stays in the
heart and hence he is known as ?hArdan?. The jIvAtma
is taken out on the archirAdi path by the Lord, just
like an Emperor who walks with his charming little
prince in his hands. SwAmi Desika describes the favour
the lord does to the prapanna: 
 (i)  ippadi nalvazhi nadatthukaikku oruppatta than --
bAla-kreedhA-vishEShatthAlE vazhi thappip-pOna
kumAranai arNya-pradEshatthil ninRum meettu
AsthAna-vishEShat-thaLavum supreeta-nAik koNdu
nadatthukiRa sArvabhouman than
sAmanthar-AnavarkaL-ellArum ikkumAranai
satkarikkumpadi  paNNumAp  pOlE  --  thanakku  
antarangarkaLAna arcirAdi-puruSharkaLai-yittu, tham
thAm ellaikaL thORum ivanai ethirkoNdu upacarikkumpadi
paNNumathuvum; 
        About the condition of the jIvAtma, SwAmi Desikan
describes in a parable:
?ippadi nalvazhi nadatthukaikku oruppatta than --
bAla-kreedhA-vishEShatthAlE vazhi thappip-pOna
kumAranai arNya-pradEshatthil ninRum meettu
AsthAna-vishEShat-thaLavum supreeta-nAik koNdu
nadatthukiRa sArvabhouman than
sAmanthar-AnavarkaL-ellArum ikkumAranai
satkarikkumpadi  paNNumAp  pOlE?  
        Let us see the story this prince:-  
        A certain king went out with his royal women and his
child-prince, to a forest on a hunting sport. When he
was deeply absorbed in hunting, the little prince lost
his way even before he knew who he was. While he was
wandering helplessly in the forest, some tribesmen
found him and brought him up in their hamlet.    As he
grew older, the prince identified himself with the
people who brought him up and thought that he, too,
was a savage tribesman and learnt their language and
like their own sons, ate their food and lived their
life. Without knowing anything about his original
princely traditions, he was totally involved in the
tribal life, its good and evil acts, joy and sorrows
in an extremely gruesome way totally different from
the enjoyable royal life. While he was growing up for
sometime like this, some generous men who were aware
of his real birth in a royal family, made attempts to
save him from the savagery by some means or other.
First they removed from his mind his false
identification of himself with the tribesmen and by
discipline and training, physical and spiritual,
enabled him to become gradually fit for princely
enjoyments and the means of attaining them. They made
him realize, both by precept and example, what
befitted him as a prince in conduct and character and
made him to hate the tribal way of life and to prefer
the highly refined princely life. Those good men
strived in every possible way to bring about a longing
for re-union in the mind of prince and the Emperor as
well. They finally helped the prince to re-unit with
his royal family. 
 ?AsthAna-vishEShat-thaLavum supreeta-nAik koNdu
nadatthukiRa sArvabhouman than
sAmanthar-AnavarkaL-ellArum ikkumAranai
satkarikkumpadi  paNNumAp  pOlE? -- 
        The Emperor, on his part, is so pleased about the
return of his prince to his kingdom that he makes all
his feudal chiefs to celebrate the happy occasion. He
also confers the status of the Royal Prince to his son
in the assembly of his Ministers, citizens and the
feudal chiefs.  
        As in the parable, the jIva, by identifying himself
with the body, loses his real character and assumes a
different nature. Some generous persons, who are
introduced to the jIva by parents and the like, help
him realize that the soul is neither god nor man nor
beast nor tree and that these differences of body and
shape are due to past karma. They enable him to
understand that the soul is different from the body
and adopt means to make him pursue the goal suited to
his essential nature and to follow the path that would
lead to it.  They induce in him wisdom which makes him
capable of distinguishing between what should be
rejected and what is worthy of adoption. As the
transformation came about in him, by some teachers
directed by the Supreme Lord, Who is all compassion
and themselves too being highly compassionate, appear
before him and reveal his real nature and as also what
is highly desirable and the means of attaining the
real position. As it has been stated in the scripture:
 
 ?eeshvarasya ca sauhArdam yadrucachA-sukrutam tathA /
  viShNOh kaTAkShamadvEyam Abhimukhya ca sAtvikaih //
  sambhAShaNam ShaDEtAni hyAcArya-prAptihEtavah //? 
(God?s love, good deeds done by chance, the gracious
glance of God, freedom from hatred, willingness to
learn and the conversation of good men -- these are
six causes that lead to the acquisition of an
AchArya.)
        Like the good men in the parable, the gurus reveal to
the jIva the intimate relation existing between him
and the Lord, Who rules this universe and the world of
VaikuNta without even the least exception: 
 ?nAyam dEva na martyO vA  na tiryak sthAvarOpi vA /
 j~nAnAnandamayastvAtmA shEShO hi paramAtmanah//?
[The soul is neither God nor man, neither beast nor
tree. Its essential nature is knowledge and bliss and
it is entirely dependent on the Supreme Being and
exists solely for His purposes (shESha).]
?dAsbhootAh svataSsarvE  hyAtmanah paramAtmanah /?  
(MantrarAjapada StOtram)
(The souls are indeed the servants by nature of the
Supreme Lord.)
        Accordingly, the gurus, who are close to the Lord,
try earnestly to help the jIva to attain the Lord:    
   
?thanakku   antarangarkaLAna
arcirAdi-puruSharkaLai-yittu, tham thAm ellaikaL
thORum ivanai ethirkoNdu upacarikkumpadi
paNNumathuvum?--- 
        As the Emperor in the parable, the Lord also is
pleased to have the jIva who had gone astray, back on
the spiritual path. As the jIva proceeds on the
archirAdi path, the rulers or devatas of the different
regions on this path receive the jIva in their
respective areas. They are: agni-deva, the deva of the
day, the deva of the shukla pakSha, the deva of
uttarAyaNa, the deva of the year (samvatsara deva),
Vayu deva, Surya deva, Moon deva, the deva of
lightning, Varuna , Indra and PrajApati, before the
jIva reaches the bank of river Viraja at the border of
the material world. The jIva then crosses the river
and gets on to the other shore where is situated SrI
VaikNtam, the Lord?s Abode. SwAmi Desikan summarises
this in a slOka:
 ?jvalana-divasa-jyOtsnApakShOttarAyaNa-vatsarAn
    pavana-tapana-prAlEyAmshoon kramAdaciradyutim /
 jaladhara-patim dEvAdheesham prajApatimAgatah
   tarati virajAm doorE vAcastatah paramadbhutam //? 
(SrImad Rahasya-traya-sAram - 46)
[Fire (archis), day-time, the bright half of the month
(shukla-pakSha), uttarAyaNa and the year, then VAyu,
Soorya, Chandra and then Lightning, VaruNa, Indra,
PrajApati or Brahma -- having traversed this path in
the order given above, the jIva crosses the river
Viraja; then follows the wonder that defies all
description in words.)  
        This is the first favour done by the Lord for the
prapanna jIva after he steps out of his gross body
through the Brahma-nAdi.

(To continue)
dAsan
Anbil S.SrinivAsan
------ 



      
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