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srI:
SrI sAra sAram â I (33)
--
I â ThirumantrAdhikAram
--
The Significance of ânamahâ (continued)
---
SwAmi Desikan now gives a piece of information in advance, which is
part of the next word, ânArAyaNAyaâ, of Tirumantram:
âmEl caturthiyil prArthaneeyamAna kainkaryamum tadeeyaparyantam.â â
The Seshatvam, the nature of being a servant, of the jIva, extends up to the
last in the series of His devotees. This is sung by SrI nammAzhvAr thus:
âneekkamillA aDiyArtham aDiyAr aDiyAr aDiyAr eng
kOkkaL, avarkkE kuDikaLAic cellum nallakOTpAdE.â (TiruvAimozhi, 8-10-10)
(My ambition is to become the seventh-grade servant in the line of servants who
relish in serving the Lord without any break.)
Here, the AzhvAr prays to the Lord to grace him with the fulfillment of
this ambition of his. SwAmi Desikan informs us this most important point now
itself without waiting for the context that will come while dealing with the
last word of the Tirumantram. As he is so kind that Swami Desikan doesnât
want to keep us in suspense because of the time gap during which anything may
happen to us.
Once we come to know the highest purushArtha, we must seek it from the
Lord. That is the desire one will get after studying the significance of the
middle word, ânamahâ. This prayer is included in the affix of the fourth
case, âAyaâ of the next word, ânArAyaNAyaâ. This affix gives the
meaning, âwe exist for the Lord â. When this thought comes to us we pray to
the Lord for doing the service to Him. This service also extends up to His
devotees, not merely His direct devotees, but the devotees of those devotees
too. This goes on till the last devotee in the series. So it means that we must
do service to every one that we meet, as he may be a devotee of another devotee
of devotee of devotee of devotee of devotee who is the closest devotee of the
Lord. Then only our service to the Lord will become complete!
When we realize this significance fully, we will ever remain the most
humble, without giving any room for our ego to raise its head under any
circumstances.
At this juncture, it is natural for anyone to raise a question: âWhen
a jIva happens to be one who is the recipient of anotherâs service, he
becomes a Seshi. Is it not a contradiction of the same person being a Sesha and
a Seshi at the same time?â SwAmi Desikan says there is no contradiction in
this:
âoruvan thAnE vERoruvarukku athisayatthai viLaivikkiRa vEzhattAlE SEshanAi
avarAlE varum athisayatthukku ASrayanAna vEshattAlE SEzhiyumAkaiyAlE viruddam
allAmaiyAlE,â --
The one who receives honours from another is known as Seshi. The bhAgavtha who
does the honour to the other bhAgavatha is Sesha. The bhAgavatha when he
receives the honour from another is Seshi, while the same bhAgavatha becomes
Sesha when he does the honour to another bhAgavatha. There is nothing
contradictory in this, points out Swami Desikan. Hence, it is absolutely proper
for every bhAgavatha to consider another bhagavatha as his Seshi and to
consider himself as Sesha. Similarly, the other bAgavatha will consider this
person as his Seshi and consider himself as his Sesha. It is, therefore,
nothing wrong in both the positions coming to the same person.
In this connection, Swami Desikan gives three quotes â one in
Sanskrit and the two in Tamil:
ââprabhavO bhagavadbhaktA mAdruSAm satatam dvijaâ,
âunnaDiyArkkATpaDutthAiâ,
âaDiyArk kennayATpaDuttha vimalanâ
enkiRa anusanthAnam sarvabhAgavtarukkum samAnam.â
The first one is from the Scripture known as itihAsa samucchayam. Let
us consider the SlOka in full:
ânAradOhamanuprAptah tvaddarSana-kutoohalAt /
prabhAvO bhagavadbhaktA mAdruSAm satatam dvija //â (itihAasa samucchayam,
31-54)
(I, nArada, have come here eagerly longing to see you. To men like me, Oh
Brahmin, those who are bhaktas of the Lord are masters.)
The divine sage, SrI nArada, too consider the devotees of the Lord as
his Seshis.
Now, Sri ThoNDaraDippoDi AzhvAr prays to the Lord of Srirangam to make him a
servant of His devotees. He sets an example for jIvas to seek the Lordâs
grace for serving His devotees for ever. Here is the AzhvArâs prayer:
â.. .. .. .. .. .. .. â .. .. ..choozhpunal arangA!
thiDaiyottha thuLavamum kooDaiyum polinthu
thOnRiyathOL thoNDaraDip poDiyennum
aDiyanai aLiyanenRaruLi unnaDiyArkku
ATpaDutthAi paLLiezhuntharuLAyE.â (ThirupaLLiezhucchi-10)
(Oh the Lord of SrIrangam! Please get up from the bed and bless me, Your
servant, this ThoNDaraDippoDi, carrying the basket full of garlands made of
flowers and Tulasi, to serve Your devotees.)
The next quotation is from a verse sung by SrI ThirupANAzhvAr:
âaDiyArkkennai ATpaDuttha vimalanâ (amalanAthipirAn-1)
(The Lord, the blemishless! He made me, who have been indulging in
materialistic pleasures and who have been thinking myself as the Lord, to serve
the bhAgavathas who never approach any other than the Lord.)
SwAmi Desikan says that this kind of prayer for serving the Lordâs
devotees should be adopted by all the bhAgavathas.
(To continue)
dAsan
anbil S.SrInivAsan
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