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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00033 Jul 2002

 
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Sri:
Srimathe Ramanujaya Nama:

Dear BhAgavatas,

During my recent trip to India, adiyEn picked up a 
copy of the Mumukshuppadi Sarartha Deepikai by Sri
P.B. Annangaracharya Swami. This work written in
simple Tamil for easy understanding by one and all,
was written by Swami based on the vyakhyanam by 
Sri Manavala Mamunigal on Sri Pillai Lokacharyar's 
Mumukshuppadi.

As HH Sri Vanamamalai Jeeyar Swami is currently 
conducting a weekly discourse on Mumukshuppadi on
the tele-bridge, adiyEn thought a translation of
PBA Swami's work, albeit a poor one, might be 
complementary.

I will try to keep posting the translation of one 
choornai per day, and so this service should run 
for about 10 months or so. I will keep adding the
translations to http://www.acharya.org for easy
reference to any prior posts. I seek all the 
bhAgavatas blessings in completing this task to 
their and Emperuman's satisfaction. I also seek
your corrections to errors in any of the posts 
which naturally would be no one's fault but mine.

In this post, I will attach the translation of the
Foreword of PBA Swami to this work.

Azhvar Emperumanar Jeeyar Thiruvadigale Saranam

adiyEn madhurakavi dAsan
TCA Venkatesan
http://ww.acharya.org

--

Sri:
Srimathe Ramanujaya Nama:


Pillai Lokacharyar aruLis seytha ashtadasa rahasyankaLil 
pathinettAvathAna 

Mumukshuppadi


Mumukshuppadi Sarartha Deepikai by Sri PB Annangaracharya 
Swami based on the vyakhyanam by Sri Manavala Mamunigal

Translated by Madhurakavi dAsan TCA Venkatesan


Foreword:
All beings who are born repeatedly in this world and 
suffer in the samsaric cycle have to understand many 
things in order to obtain Moksha (liberation). Of these 
many things, one of the most important is the 
understanding of Artha Pancakam. The understanding of 
1. Nature of the Supreme, 2. Nature of the Jiva, 3. 
The means to attaining liberation, 4. The nature of 
the goal to be attained, and 5. The obstacles in 
attaining the goal seeked, are known as Artha Pancakam.

The knowledge of these five is given clearly by the 
three rahasyas, Thirumanthiram, Dvayam and Carama 
slokam and as such the understanding of the rahasya-
thrayam is very important for Mumukshus.

The origin of the rahasyathrayam is as follows. The 
Thirumanthram, also known as Periya Thirumanthram and 
Moola Manthram, originated in Badri. It was taught to 
Nara by Narayana. Dvayam which is also known as Manthra 
Rathnam, was revealed to Sri Mahalakshmi in Vishnu Loka 
by Sriman Narayana. Carama Sloka is part of the 
Bhagavad Gita and as such was told to Sri Arjuna by Sri 
Krishna. Thus the originator of all three rahasyas is 
Lord Sriman Narayana. Therefore, He is the first 
acharya in the Guru parampara. It is thus that Sri
Kooraththazhvan said "Lakshminatha samarambam ... 
vande guruparamparam".

Therefore this rahasyathraya even though short in 
words has very many great, rare and majestic meanings 
and as such our acharyas have studied it extensively 
and taught their meanings carefully to their disciples. 

Prior to Swamy Ramanuja the acharyas guarded the 
rahasyathraya and their meanings and taught them 
exclusively to select disciples only. Bhagavad 
Ramanuja in his broad mind and large sympathy for 
those caught in the samsaric cycle, exceeded the 
norms of the day and himself and through his disciples 
taught the rahasyathraya and their meanings to all 
who were interested. This is shown in Upadesa
Raththinamalai as 

OraaNvazhiyAy upathEsiththaar munnOr,
eraar ethiraasar innaruLaal - paarulagil
aasaiyudaiyOrkkellam aariyarkaaL kooRumenRu
pEsi varambaruththaar pin

>From the time of Sri Ramanuja the meanings of these
rahasyas were taught but there is no evidence that 
during his time their special meanings were recorded 
in written form by acharyas. There is a possibility
that a rahasyathraya vyakhyanam was made into a 
grantha by Sri Koorathazhvan. Sri Vedantha Desikar
in his Rahasyathrayasaram, in the Carama Sloka 
section talks about the Carama Sloka vyakhyanam of
Azhvan. However, if there was such a grantha, it is 
not available now.

Sri Bhattar who is the son of Sri Koorathazhvan
wrote the composition Ashtasloki as the essence of
the rahasyathrayam. Even though this composition is
short, Bhattar has included in it tremendous meanings 
of these manthras.

Sri Pillai Lokacharyar who is the son of Sri Vadakku
Thiruveethi Pillai and who is considered the avathara
of Sri Varadaraja, has composed the Ashtadasa Rahasyam
which is a phenomenal collection of the meanings of 
rahasya granthas. Later Sri Achan Pillai also wrote 
rahasya arthas through works such as Parantha Rahasyam.

Amongst the Ashtadasa Rahasyas, Yathruccikappadi, 
Paranthapadi and Sriyapathippadi contain the meanings 
of the rahasyathraya vyakhyanams but it is Mumukshuppadi
that has gained fame in many ways. The other granthas
suffer from drawbacks such as being extensive or being
very short or that they contain a mixture of Sanskrit
and Tamil words. Mumukshuppadi does not have any of
these drawbacks. Also, this work contains special and
rare meanings that are not present in the other 
granthas. Thus, this work occupies a special place in
the purvacharya works and in the minds of Srivaishnavas.


Pillai Lokacharyar Thiruvadigale Saranam
Azhvar Emperumanar Jeeyar Thiruvadigale Saranam

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