You are here: SriPedia - Ramanuja - Archives - May 2004

Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00005 May 2004

 
May 2004 Indexes ( Date | Thread | Author )
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]


Sri Parthasarathi thunai

Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

Sri Vara Vara munayE Namaha

Sri vAnAchala mahA munayE Namaha



For the past 23 postings we have been enjoying the similarity in the words of 
the geethacharyan in his Srimad bhagavath geetha and the kadai kutti azhvar, 
Sri Thirumangai azhvar in his charama prabhandam thirunedunthAndakam. But at 
the end of the previous posting we had a small doubt are they both 
contradicting in the last line? No, azhvar will never talk against emperuman's 
words. Let us see how they both convey the same meaning.



Prappathi or saranagathi is of two types say our acharyas. It can be either 
svagatha sveekAram (we holding on to his feet) or paragatha sveekAram 
(emperuman catching us and putting us into his divine feet). Both types of 
prapaththi have been conveyed by our dear geethAcharyan in the 18th chapter of 
the bhagavad sAstram. In the 62nd sloka Sri Krishna says,



"tamEva sharaNam gachcha sarva bhAvEna bhAratha I

tat prasAdhAt parAm sAnthim stAnam prApsyasi sAshvatham II (18-62)



[Oh! the one born in bharatha kula consider the paramatma (myself) to be your 
soul saviour in all ways. Due to his divine grace you will get away from this 
sAmsAric pressures and will also attain the divine abode of emperuman, the 
paramapadam]



In the previous sloka, Krishna said that only that emperuman vAsudevan rules 
over all the jeevatmas and due to his maya makes them act held in the cycle of 
the three gunas sattvam, rajas, tamas and act accordingly In the next sloka he 
advises arjuna to fall to the divine feet of emperuman and get rid of the 
samsAric hurdles and attain moksha by the divine grace of emperuman. 
Immediately in the next sloka he says, "yethEchchasi tatA guru" I have told you 
all the ways to attain moksha viz., karma, jnana, bhakthi and prapaththi yogas 
all these are prime secrets but since you are very close to me I have disclosed 
all these secrets to you now. Now it is your chance to choose the suitable 
method for you to attain moksha and act accordingly. Here Lord Krishna gives 
arjuna an independence to choose the way in which he wants to attain emperuman. 
This is svagatha sveekaram by which the jeevatma holds on to emperuman. If 
arjuna was interested in prapathi he would have immediately said "karishyE 
vachanam tava" [18-73] and would have fallen to the divine feet of emperuman. 
But all along he has been in the pravriththi mArkam (used to do something) and 
hence he wasn't interested with the nivriththi mArkam (Just leave everything 
and fall to emperuman's feet, "mArpilE kaivaiththu vuranga prApthi" is the 
essence of sharanAgathi according to our acharyas). So arjuna felt highly 
confused and didn't know what to do. Earlier his confusion was due to ignorance 
but now that emperuman has given him all the knowledge still he was confused 
not knowing what to do. 



Understanding arjuna's state of mind, Parthasarathi emperuman continues to show 
the path that would interest arjuna at the same time make him attain the 
ultimate result. This is the path of bhakthi yoga that emperuman has already 
shown arjuna in the 9th chapter. Emperuman repeats the same sloka in the 18th 
chapter,



"manmanA bhava math bhakthO mathyAjee mAm namaskuru I

mAmEvaishyasi sathyam thE prathijAnE priyOsi mE" [18-65]



[Meditate on me with deep concentration on my divine qualities, develop a deep 
love for me, further do pooja to me, fall to my feet with all your three 
karanas (mano, vak, kayam). By this you will attain my divine feet. I promise 
that this is truth as you are so close to me]



In the next sloka, Krishna gives the ultimate rahasya, the essence of geethA 
sAstram, charama slokam, to arjuna and instructs arjuna to leave all dharmas 
and fall to his feet.



"sarva dharmAn parithyajya mAm Ekam sharaNam vraja

ahamtvA sarva pApEbhyO mOksha ishyAmi mAsucha: " [18-66]



Here emperuman orders arjuna to leave all dharmas and fall to his feet as a 
rule. This is paragatha sveekAram. Here Parthasarathi says, "Leave all your 
dharmas and consider me alone to be your soul protector (upayam and upEyam) and 
I will realise you from all your sins and grant you the divine moksha. Don't 
worry" There have been a lot of discussion between our acharyas on the 
interpretation of this sloka mainly what all dharmas the word 'sarva dharmAn' 
includes and what all sins are removed by the lord whether this is anga 
prapaththi or svathantra prapaththi etc. There is a slight interpretational 
difference between the thennAcharyas and swamy desikan in this sloka also. All 
these are not dealt by us here in detail as it is better to be learnt from a 
well versed acharya to avoid any unwanted confusion. 



What is necessary for us now here is Lord Krishna says fall to my feet and I 
will remove your sins and grant you moksha and Azhvar says, "talir puraiyum 
thiruvadi en thalai mElavE" That lord who has stood in my form now has placed 
his divine feet on my head. So without azhvar trying to do anything emperuman 
himself has done all the necessary things ("bhakthi vuzhavan" is the name given 
by thirumazhisai azhvar to emperuman) and now finally has even placed his 
divine feet on top of azhvar's head. Azhvar says, "Emperuman sowed the seed of 
bhakthi in the heart of azhvar, he put the necessary fertiliser and watered the 
plant regularly and now that the tree has grown adiyen is enjoying the fruit 
that is the sweet divine feet of emperuman on top of my head. What did I do to 
attain this fruit? Nothing all was done by that karunA sindhO! (Ocean of 
mercy!)". This is only termed as 'paragatha sveekAram'. As geetha was given by 
emperuman himself he puts it as a rule to educate all of us using arjuna as the 
medium. But since thirunedunthAndakam is the words of azhvar he shows us the 
result he has obtained by the divine grace of geethAcharya. That is why our 
acharyas regard the words of azhvars (tattvadarisi vachanam) more important and 
valid than even the words of emperuman (tattva vachanam). 



Hope now it is clear that there is no contradiction in the words of thirumangai 
azhvar and geethAcharyan Sri Parthasarathi emperuman. 



(To be continued)



Azhvar EmperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharanam



Adiyen ramanuja dAsee

Sumithra Varadarajan













[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]





[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index ] [Thread Index ] [Author Index ]
Home Page
http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia
ramanuja-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
To subscribe to the list