SrI UpakAra Sangraham Part - 68

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srI:

SrI upakAra sangraham – 68

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adikAram – 1

poorva upakAra paramparai

(The Foremost Series of Favours)

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SECTION – 5 (23)

(27 Favours of the Lord leading to the means for

MOKSHAM)

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We just saw that the Lord does favour in making the

sincere disciple to have a firm faith in whatever he

learnt from his AchArya, without being carried away by

the arguments of poorva-meemAmsakas who speak like

nAstikas (non-believers in God). Once this stage

comes, the disciple acquires a determined wisdom,

which is pointed out in this sub-section by SwAmi

Desikan:

(23) “anRunAn piRanthilEn; piRanthapin maRanthilEn” ,

“inRAka nAlaiyEyAka iniccirithu ninRAka ninaruL

enpAlathE” enkiRapadiyE,

vivEka-vyavasAya-vishEShangkaLaip piRappitthathuvum;

Here, SwAmi Desikan opens the sub-section with two

quotations from the Divya Prabandam:

“ninRathu enthai oorakatthu, iruunthathu enthai

pAdakatthu,

anRu vehkaNaik kidanthathu, ennilAtha munnelAm,

anRu nAn piRanthilEn piRanthapin maRanthilEn,

ninRathum irunthathum en nenjuLE.”

 

(Thirucchantha-viruttham, 64)

 

(My Lord took the standing posture in Thiruvoorakam;

the sitting posture in ThirupAdakam; and the

lying-down posture in ThiruveHkA. At that time, I was

not born since I didn’t acquire wisdom of my being a

servant of the Lord; now, after getting the knowledge,

I have not forgotten it. Hence, the Lord has taken

these postures of standing, sitting and lying-down in

my heart. )

In this first quotation, SwAmi Desikan shows that the

sAttvik jIva feels that he is born only when he

acquired the spiritual wisdom of his being a shESha of

the Lord. Before that even if he had been moving about

in the world, it was an un-realized person. Once he

got the wisdom of discrimination, that is, the ability

to see what is right and what is not, he feels as if

he is born just now.

SrI Thirumazhisai AzhvAr teaches us a supreme lesson

through this verse. All our studies under a sadAchArya

will become a waste if we don’t acquire the special

wisdom, which is mentioned by Swami Desikan as

“vivEka-vyavasAya-vishEShangkaL”. Here, “vivEka” means

wisdom, i.e., discriminatory knowledge. “vyavasAya”

means determination or firmness; and “vishEShangkaL”

means skills. Mere literary knowledge of the

scriptures is not enough. He should meditate on the

knowledge he obtained from the AchArya to develop it

into an unshakable firm faith. Then only he is

supposed to have acquired the special skill of

discriminatory knowledge.

A question may arise: How can we say that it was due

to the Lord that the AzhvAr got this wisdom? That is

why the AzhvAr makes it clear that he got this wisdom

only because the Lord came down to these holy places

or wherever he went and made Himself present in

different postures with the idea of capturing the

AzhvAr. He captured the AzhvAr by showing physical

beauty in the archA form in these holy places. But, we

have evidence in scriptures about the Lord enchanting

many by His qualities. Was it not a favour done by the

Lord to such a sAttvika soul? LakShmaNa speaks to

HanumAn about how he was enchanted by SrI RAma:

“ahamasyAvrO bhrAtA guNairdAsyam-upAgatah /

krutaj~nasya bahuj~nasya lakShmaNo nAma nAmatah //”

(KiShkindhA-kANdha, 4-12)

 

(I am his younger brother, LakShmaNa by name, who have

been compelled by His virtues to become His slave,

appreciating as He does the services, rendered to Him

and making much of even small services.)

Here, one is reminded of the saying of SrI

nammAzhvAr:

“appanai enRu maRappan? ennAkiyE,

thapputhalinRit thanaikkavi than colli,

oppilAt theevinaiyEnai uyyak koNdu,

ceppamE ceythu thirikinRa ceer kaNdE.”

(ThiruvAimozhi, 7-9-4)

 

(He got through me poems sung on Himself; He did this

to enchant me, the worst sinner I am; How can I forget

Him, after witnessing His virtues; Who has been doing

only good to me?)

SrI Thirumazhisai AzhvAr’s verse reminds us of a

scriptural statement in this regard:

“asannEva sa bhavati / asad brhamEti vEda cEt / asti

brhamEti cEt vEda / santamEnam tatO viduh /”

 

(TaittiriyOpanishad, Anandavalli - 6)

 

(If one knows that there is no Brahman, he himself

becomes non-existent. If any one knows that the

Brahman does exist, then he thinks that he exists on

account of that knowledge.)

Thus, the disciple’s knowledge gets deepened by this

discriminatory wisdom.

The second quotation which SwAmi Desikan mentions is

from the nAn-mukan ThiruvanthAthi, which is also of

SrI Thirumazhisai AzhvAr:

“inRAka nALaiyEyAka inicchiRithum

ninRAka ninaruL enpAlathE -- nanRAka

nAn unnai anRi ilEn kaNdAi nAraNanE

neeyenai yanRi yilai.”

(nAnmukan ThiruvandAthi, 7)

(nArAyaNa! Today or tomorrow or even later, Your grace

will be on me in full measure. Because, I do not exist

without You; nor do You without me.)

The AzhvAr means that both cannot be without each

other. By naming the Lord as “nArAyaNa”, the AzhvAr

reveals his knowledge about the significance of this

name. The name is formed by the combination of two

words, “nAra” + “ayana”. “nAra” signifies jIvas. As He

is both the means and the goal, He is called

“nArAyaNa”.

The AzhvAr tells the Lord, through the expression,

“inRAka nALaiyEyAka inicchiRithum ninRAka ninaruL

enpAlathE” -- By this he means that the Lord has to,

by virtue of his being one with the AzhvAr, shower His

grace on him. But, it may happen at any time, today,

or tomorrow itself. If it is even later, it doesn’t

matter, because, His grace will sure to come to him

any way.

Our ParamAchArya, SrI AlavandAr, in his

StOtra-ratnam, says in the same way:

 

“tadaham tvddrutE na nAthavAn maddrutE tvam

dayaneeyavAn na ca /

vidhinirmitamEtamanvayam bhagavan pAlaya mA sma

jeehapah // ”

 

 

(stOtrarathnam- 51)

(Therefore, without Thee I have none as my Lord; and

without me Thou have not a worthy recipient for Thy

compassion; preserve this relation, Oh Lord; spurn me

not!)

 

Thus, this kind of firm and determined

wisdom comes to the disciple, as a favour of the Lord,

says SwAmi Desikan in this sub-section.

 

(To continue)

dAsan

Anbil S.SrInivAsan

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