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srI:

SrI  sAra  sAram â I (3)
-- 
I â ThirumantrAdhikAram 
-- 
Introduction (continued)
---
        SwAmi Desikan now gives a general introduction in regard to the Dvaya 
mantra:
        âithil, padangkaLilE  SEshiyumAi, SaraNyamumAi  prApyamumAith 
thORRina para-tattvaththaip  patnI-vigraha-viSEshangkaLAlE viSishTamAka 
veLiyidukaiyAlum, madhyama-padaththil Sabda-artha-svabhAvangkaLAlE 
samkshiptamAith  thORRina upAya-viSEshaththai anushTaAna mukaththAlE 
kATTukaiyAlum, mantramAi, ashaT-karNamaka upadEsikka vENdina cErththiyAlum, 
thirumantraththilE piRanthu dvayaththilE vaLarnthu enkira kramaththAlum, 
anantharam dvayam anusandEyam.â 

Meaning:

        Once the jIva has learnt practicing meditation on the Thirumantra, he 
should then take up this Dvaya mantra for learning to practice. 
âithil, padangkaLilEâ -- From the words of this Thirumantra.
        SwAmi Desikan gives a gist of the knowledge obtained from the words 
constituting this mantra:
âSEshiyumAi, SaraNyamumAi  prApyamumAith thORRina para-tattvamâ --
The Ultimate Principle is known as the Master of all, the Protector and the 
Goal to be attained. 
Once these are known, the Dvaya mantra teaches us the special features of this 
Lord, says SwAmi Desikan:
 âpatnI-vigraha-viSEshangkaLAlE viSishTamAka veLiyidukaiyAlumâ --
The special features of the Lord that we come to know in the Dvaya are: He has 
SrI as His Consort; He has a special form. 
        SwAmi Desikan next takes up the word that constitutes as the middle of 
the Thirumantra:
âmadhyama-padaththil Sabda-artha-svabhAvangkaLAlE samkshiptamAith  thORRina 
upAya-viSEshaththai anushTaAna mukaththAlE kATTukaiyAlumâ--
The middle constituent of the Thirumantra reveals the best means to be adopted, 
that is, prapatti, in a precise manner, directly through the utterance of the 
word, and indirectly through the sense of the word. The Dvaya mantra teaches 
the practical aspect of this means. 
SwAmi Desikan refers to other features of the Dvaya:
âmantramAi,â -- It is also a mantra to be taught and learnt by the teacher 
and the disciple respectively.
Dvaya is also a mantra because it is taught in an exclusive manner, as in the 
case of the Thirumantra:
âashaT-karNamaka upadEsikka vENdina cErththiyAlum,â â This mantra also is 
to be taught in the one-to-one manner, so that it does not reach the ears of a 
third person. The term, âashaT-karNaâ means not to be heard by six ears. 
Every one of us has two ears. When the teacher instruct a mantra secretly to 
his disciple, besides the two ears of the teacher, it is heard by the 
discipleâs two years, the total number being four. If another person is close 
by, then the mantra will be heard by two more ears, bringing the total to six. 
According to the rule of mantrOpadEsa, if a mantra is heard by three persons, 
it no more remains a mantra. Three becomes a crowd, that is, a crowd of six 
ears. Such a situation should be strictly avoided while an important mantra is 
being instructed by a teacher to a student as a formality. This point is 
conveyed by SwAmi Desikan in the above-mentioned expression.  
        Swami Desikan makes yet another significant revelation:
 âthirumantraththilE piRanthu dvayaththilE vaLarnthu enkira kramaththAlumâ 
--
        When the first-ever mantra is received by a disciple from his AchArya, 
he is supposed to have been born.  There is no mystery in this. All of us are 
aware that a person who has undergone upanayana, when he is taught the GAyatri 
mantra, he is called âdvijAâ, twice-born. The first birth is when he comes 
out of the womb of his mother. At the stipulated time, if he gets GAyatri 
mantrOpadEsa, it is becomes another birth for him. This is for all. But, in the 
case of a SrI VaishNavite, he is considered truly born only when he becomes a 
vaishNavite, a devotee of the Lord VishNu. This occurs as soon as he gets 
upadEsa of the Thirumantra, after the samAsryaNam. When he receives the second 
mantra, that is, the Dvaya, from the AchArya, he is considered to have taken 
another birth, as in the case of Gayatri-upadEsa. On such a high pedestal is 
placed this Dvaya mantra. That is why it is called, mantra-ratnam, a precious 
gem among mantras. 
        As this is the order in which, this Dvaya mantra is taught, while 
practicing the japa too, the same order is to be followed. This is what SwAmi 
Desikan says through these words:
âanantharam dvayam anusandEyam.â -- The practice of the Dvaya mantra 
follows immediately after the Thirumantra anushTAnam.   

Explanation: 
In this paragraph, Swami Desikan gives the reasons for the Dvaya coming only 
after the Thirmantra. The reasons are four, according to SwAmi Desikan: 
1) In the Thirumantra, by the first word (praNava), that the Lord is the SEshi 
is established; by the second word (namah) is shown that the sentient being is 
taking the responsibility of surrendering as the means; by the third and last 
word, (nArAyaNAya), it is known that the Lord is the ultimate goal 
(parama-purushArtha), the Bliss to be enjoyed by the cEthana (the sentient 
being). Such a Lord along with His Consort, SrI and His beautiful form is 
revealed by the Dvaya mantra. 
2) The Dvaya mantra shows the way to practice the prapatti, which the second 
word in the Thirumantra reveals, both directly and indirectly, is the best of 
means. 
3) As the Thirumantra is to be instructed by the AchArya to his disciple in 
seclusion without the presence of a third person, the same rule is applicable 
in the case of the Dvaya mantra too. 
4)  Since one gets the knowledge about his essential nature from the 
Thirumantra, elders used to say that one is considered as truly born only after 
he gets this knowledge. As he learns the method of adopting the means from the 
Dvaya mantra, the sentient being is said to grow in the Dvaya mantra. It is 
because of this order, that is, growth is possible only after the birth of a 
person, the Dvaya mantra follows closely the Thirumantra. 

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



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