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Dear Shri SrEvaishNavites,
 
I request all the sRevaishNavites to kindly go through these three parts of the writte up by Sri TCA Venkatesan sWamy and please devote some time for this purpose exclusively.
 
The result automatically follows.
 
Thanks to TCA swAmy.
 
dASan
vanamamalai padmanabhan
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, October 29, 2005 11:54 PM
Subject: [ramanuja] Thennacharyas and Desikar - 3 - PBA Swami's Article

Sri:

Attached is a translation of an article by Sri P.B.
Annangaracharyar Swami explaining how closely Desikar
followed Periyavachchan Pillai's Srisuktis.

By the way, it has come to my attention that some
people are interpreting what I have said so far as
an attempt to put down Desikar. Nothing could be
further from the truth. I am only pointing out the
logical flaws on certain claimed events. What needs
to be realized is that Desikar's greatness stands on
its own. It does not need any of these stories. In
fact, such stories are the ones that tend to bring
down his stature. As an example, consider this:
Is it greater to realize that Desikar wrote the
Padhuka Sahasram as a celebration of the Lord, His
divine padhukas and Swami Nammazhvar or to claim
that he wrote it for a contest?

Finally, please note the final paragraph in the
attached article. These words should be marked in
gold.

adiyEn madhurakavi dAsan

--

Desikar and Periyavachchan Pillai's Sri Suktis:

In the Srivaishnava sampradhayam, there are many works
created by our ancestors of both kalais. Let us not
worry about the works of acharyas such as Manavala
Mamunikal whose time came after that of Swami Desikan.
There are not many who know the closeness of the
acharyas such as Periyavacchan Pillai and Pillai
Lokacharyar who were present at the same time or just
prior to Desikar's time.

That Periyavacchan Pillai is ahead of Desikar's time
is shown very clearly by Desikar himself in one of
his sri suktis.

Periyavacchan Pillai's vyakhyanams had become well
known by Desikar's time. In his Rahasya Traya Saram,
in PrabhavavyavastAtikara, Desikar says the following:
"kulam tharum engiRa pAttukku vyAkhyAnam paNNina
abhiyuktharum 'janmaththAl vruththaththAl kuRainthAn
oruththanukku bhagavath sambandham uNdAnAl avanai
ivai udaiyAn oruththan thAza ninaikkak kUsa
vENdumpadiyAyiRRu bhagavath prabhAvam irukkumpadi.
AnAl ivargaLOdu peN koduththuk koLLugiRathillaiyE
ennil athu jAthi nibandhanam, slAkhai guNa
nibandhanam' enRu nirkarshiththArkaL." In this,
Desikar has quoted the words from Periyavachchan
Pillai's vyakhyanam. It is the determination of all
vyAkhyAtas up till Srimad Injimettu Azhagiya Singar,
that Desikar is talking about Periyavachchan Pillai
in this statement with the use of the word
'abhiyukthar'. It is therefore clear that
Periyavachchan Pillai's time is ahead of that of
Desikar.


Stotra Bashyam:

If one reads Desikar's Stotra Bashyam along with
Periyavachchan Pillai's vyakhyanam, it will be
easily understood how much Desikar has followed
the path of Periyavachchan Pillai's words.

This can be in the first shloka "namochintyAdbhuda:"
itself. Desikar uses nearly 80% of Periyavachchan
Pillai's Sanskrit pramANas. This is not a false
claim. Both works are easily available and anyone
can examine them both and see for themselves. Not
only the pramANas, but Desikar also takes the
delightful inner meanings shown in Periyavachchan
Pillai's vyakhyanams.

A hundred examples can be shown for these and a few
are taken up here.

In the first shloka, in the phrase "njAna vairAgya
rAshayE", the common meaning that most would think
of is that Nathamunigal is a collection of such
qualities as njAna and vairAgya. This is not
incorrect. Desikar too determined this meaning first.
Periyavachchan Pillai considered the bahuvrIhi
samAsa here and taking the meaning of rAsi as a
samUha, applied it to both njAna and vairAgya and
said that he posseses collections of njAna and
vairAgya. Considering that njAna and vairAgya are
single, he then questioned himself whether they can
be refered to as collections. He answered that by
saying that because the divine nature/qualities of
the Lord are many, the knowledge about them is also
many. And because there are many things that have
to be given up, vairAgyam is also many. Desikar has
translated this exact meaning into his bashyam.

Further in this shloka, comes the phrase "agAdha
bhagavad bhakti sindhavE". Here, Periyavachchan
Pillai, instead of taking the meaning that
Nathamunigal is an ocean for the quality of bhakti,
takes the meaning that bhakti is an ocean (as per
the divya sUktis "kAdhal kadal puraiya viLaiviththa",
"kAdhal kadalin migap perithAl", etc) and states
that he possesses the ocean that is bhakti. Desikar
took this meaning and wrote "bhaktim vA sindhudvEna
rUpayitvA bahuvrIhi:".

In the phrase "na ninditam karma tadasti lOkE",
Desikar first gave the ordinary meaning 'worldly'
for the word lokE. However, seeing that Periyavachchan
Pillai had used the meaning 'Sastra' for it in his
vyakhyanam, Desikar too stated the same in his bashyam.

For the phrase "vasI vadAnyO guNavAn", Desikar explains
the twelve divine qualities following the vyakhyanam of
Periyavachchan Pillai.

For the shloka "achintyadivyAtbudEdhya ...", Desikar
has translated Periyavacchan Pillai's avatharikai and
added to it.

For the phrase "bhaktajanaika jIvitam", Periyavachchan
Pillai provides two meanings: 1. that He provides all
sustenance for His devotees and 2. He has His devotees
as His sustenance. Desikar too says the same in his
bashyam.

Next, let's look at the word "samartham". Here too
Desikar follows Periyavachchan Pillai's vyakhyanam.
Here, it is said that the Lord is capable and
qualified. However, lowly as we are, we too are
celebrated as being capable. Therefore, the capacity
of the Lord cannot be something simple. So,
Periyavachchan Pillai looked to see what special
meaning can be understood here. And knowing Alavandar's
divine heart, he said "aLavudaiyarAna nithya sUrigaL
anubavikkum thannai, nithya samsArigaL anubavikkum
idaththil 'ARRa nalla vagai kAttum ammAnai" enkiRapadiyE
Sathmikka SAthimikka anubavippikkum SAmarththyaththai
udaiya". Truly, this is the great capacity of the Lord.
Desikar practically translated this as "AsritAnAm
sAtmya bOghap pradAnE". The term sAtmya is a rarely
used one. This is specially used in the divya granthas
of our acharyas. This is used by Periyavachchan Pillai
in his avatharikai for Thiruvaymozhi 1.9 ("ivaiyum
avaiyum uvaiyum") as the Lord giving His anubhavam to
Azhvar ("SAthmikka SAthmikka koduththaruLinAr").
Desikar takes that and states the same in his
Dramidopanishad Tatparya Ratnavali as "vipumanubhujE
sAtmya yOgapradAnAt". It is in the same meaning that
he has used this word in Stotra Bashyam as well.


Sachcharitra Rakshai:

In Saccharitra Rakshai, in the second adhikara which
discusses Urdhva Pundram, Desikar explains the meaning
of the Thiruvaymozhi pasuram 4-5-6 "kariya mEni misai
veLiya nIRu siRithEyidum, periyakOla thandangkaNNan" by
saying "chakshushi tattAraNam tatra vihitamiti anjana
paratvamAhur AchAryA:". Here, it is unshakeably clear
that Desikar is refering only to Periyavachchan Pillai
by the word "AcharyA:". Why? Thirukkurugai Piran Pillan's
vyakhyanam for this  pasuram is as follows: "nIlamEga
nipadhivya rUpOchitha dhivyAngkaragaththAlE anulipthanAy,
adhivisAlamAy adhiramaNIyamAy iruppathoru thAmaraith
thadAgam pOlE iruntha thirukkaNgaLai udaiyanAy". From
this, the meaning for 'veLiya nIRu' can be taken as
dhivyAngkarAgam and the whole first line 'kariya mEni
misai veLiya nIRu siRithEyidum' can be taken as
refering to the Lord. Periyavacchan Pillai's vyakhyanam
here is much different from that of Pillan. The meaning
of 'veLiya nIRu' is taken to be anjana chUrNam (veLiyam
is anjanam). The first line is therefore not taken as
refering to the Lord, but as refering to the Lord's
eyes ('thadangkaN'). The meaning then of the pasuram
is that the Lord who has the divine dark eyes which
has anjana chUrNam. This meaning is seen only in
Periyavacchan Pillai's vyakhyanam and is different
from Pillan's vyakhyanam. In Pillan's vyakhyanam, for
the word 'nIRu', neither anjana paratvam is shown nor
chakshushi tAraNam is shown. Therefore, the word
"AchArya Ahu:" that Desikar uses cannot be said to
refer to Pillan and has to be taken to be refering to
Nampillai's vyakhyana parampara and therefore
Periyavachchan Pillai.


Tatparya Ratnavali:

That Desikar gathered knowledge of Ubhaya Vedantas from
his acharyas is clear. When no vyakhyanams had been
written for Thiruvaymozhi, pUrvAcharyas learned its
meanings with the help of the original text and by
listening to its meanings from their acharyas. After
Pillan's Arayirappadi, they would have used it to
learn the meanings. Nanjiyar's Onbathinayirappadi
is also short. Once Periyavachchan Pillai wrote his
detailed and delightful Irupaththunalayirappadi, they
started using it for understanding its meanings. Even
though, Nampillai's Idu Muppaththariyrappadi was written
down then, since it was hidden for a while before being
brought out, in that middle period, everyone including
Desikar would have used Periyavachchan Pillai's work
as the kAlakshepa grantham for Thiruvaymozhi. This has
been proven with many examples.

Arayirappadi avatharikai vyakhyanam for pasurams such as
Thiruvaymozhi 1-8 "Odum puLLERi", 1-10 "porumA nILpadai",
2-8 "aNaivatharavaNai mEl", etc are quite different from
the Irupaththunalayirappadi avatharikai vyakhyanam for
the same. Desikar has followed Irupaththunalayirappadi
vyakhyanam in his Dramidopanishad Tatparya Ratnavali
and Dramidopanishad Saram.

Thiruvaymozhi 10-1 is "thALa thAmarai" pasuram in which
Azhvar's anubahavam of Thirumogur Lord takes place. In
his avatharikai for this pasuram, Pillan states this
much only: "Thirukkannapuraththil emperumAnai
anubaviththu ippOthu thirumOgUril emperumAnai
anubavikkiRAr". In the following pasurams too, he
presents only the simple meanings. Other acharyas
show a special meaning here: Azhvar has determined
his passage to parampadam previously in the pasuram
"saraNamAgum" in Thiruvaymozhi "mAlai naNNi". Having
determined his archirAdi mArga gathi, Azhvar is now
said to be seeking Thirumogur Kalamegap Perumal to
help him in that path ("vazhith thuNai"). Manavala
Mamunigal in his Thiruvaymozhi Nurranthathi states
"thAL adainthOr thangkatkuth thAnE vazhith thuNaiyAm,
kALamEgaththai gathiyAkki". Acharya Hrudayam too
states "mArkkabandhu chaithyam mOhanaththE maduvidum".
Periyavachchan Pillai presents this meaning in his
vyakhyanam "kALamEgap perumALai vazhith thuNaiyAga
paRRugiRAr". Pillan's vyakhyanam does not say anything
like this, other than saying that Azhvar worships
Thirumogur Appan. Now let us look at Desikar's
Dramidopanishad Tatparya Ratnavali and Saram.
In Ratnavalai, in shloka 104 "taithyAnAm ithyAdi",
he says "srAntihAritvamukhyai rAgArais satgatis
syAt". All those who wrote vyakhyanam for "satgatis
syAt" state here that "kALamEgap perumALE vazhith
thuNai". In Dramidopanishad Saram also, Desikar
says "satpadavyAm sahAyam srIsam prAha" as the
meaning of this pasuram.

This does not mean that we are saying that Desikar
did not like Arayirappadi. Because it is a smaller
work, Desikar used it a little and because
Periyavachchan Pillai's work was more detailed and
had more interesting interpretations, he used it as
his kAlakshepa grantham.


Bhagavad Gita:

There are a couple of rare and very important matter
in Bhagavad Gita. One time a pundit came to Nampillai
and asked "Why is there no reference to archAvataram
in Gita?". Nampillai replied "In the fourth adhyaya,
where it says 'ye yatAmAm prapadyante tAn tadaiva
bhajAmyaham', it includes archAvataram". This is
recorded in Varththamalai. It is shown in Idu and
Irupaththunalayirappadi that Nampillai determined
that Thiruvaymozhi pasuram 8-1-4 "umaruganthugantha
uruvam nin uruvamAgi" as refering to archAvatAram
and that he used this Gita shloka as the pramANam
for it. This determination is done by Nampillai
only and it is not present in Ramanuja's Gita
Bashyam. This is also shown by Desikar in his
Tatparya Chandrikai in the 'ye yatA mAm' shloka as
"atra krushNAvatAra vrutthAntena saha archAvatAra
vrutthAntOpi sangruhIta:".

There is an even more important point. One time
Nampillai was doing an upanyasam and was refering to
the Nachchiyar Thirumozhi pasuram "thammai ugappAraith
thAm ugappar". He then took the "ca"kAram in the Gita
shloka "priyo hi njAninotyarttham aham sa ca mama
priya:" and stated "njAni en pakkalil seyyum prIthiyai
upAthiyAkki avan pakkalil nAn prIthi paNNuvathu
perithO?". Seeing this, Desikar stated at the end of
his Tatparya Chandrikai "sa ca mam priya: itpatra
nirathisayaprIthim kurvatopi mahotArasya IshvarasyApi
tatprIthyupAdhikaprIthikaraNAt athruptis suchiteti
kesitAchAryA:". The veneration shown using the word
'kesitAchAryA:' instead of 'kesitAhu:' should be
understood here.


The focus of what has been said thus far is not to try
to bring down the greatness of Desikar. It was done
only to show the respect that Desikar had toward the
srIsUktis of Periyavachchan Pillai.

There are many who state that Desikar and other acharyas
have great differences of opinion in the sampradhaya
meanings. If they give up their personal stands and
opinions and study the srIsUktis of all acharyas, the
oneness of their thoughts will become very clear.

If they wish so, they don't even have to accept that
Desikar followed the srI sUktis of Periyavachchan Pillai
and Pillai Lokacharyar. Let it be that these acharyas
followed Desikar in their works. It is only important
for us to accept that they all spoke with one voice
("pEsiRRE pEsum Eka kaNdarkaL") and one thought.

--




            TT>

azhwAr emberumAnAr jeeyAr thiruvadigalE saranam




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