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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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