SrI:
NamO VenkatEsAya !
Dear Swamy Desika BhakthAs:
Today is Mahaa Navami and Sarasvathi Pooja
dinam.
Today is Sukra Vaaram , where the Lord of
Sapthagiri
and AlarmEl Mangai ThAyAr enjoy their
Thirumanjanam.
It is an auspicious day to start the postings on
Desika
Prabhandham. May Lord HayagrIvan bless this effort
from
the top of His abode on Oushada Giri at
Thiruvaheendhrapuram !
AdiyEn's humble salutations to asmath AchAryan
,
HH SrI NaarAyaNa YathIndhra Mahaa Desikan of
AObila Matam at the start of this kaimkaryam.
My
praNAmams to Vaikunta Vaasi SrI SrIrama
DesikAcchAr
Swamy of Oppiliappan KOil, whose magnificent
text
that adiyEn will be following for this entire
kaimakryam.
He is my First AchAryan as a native son of
Oppiliappan
KOil .
NaarAyaNa ! NaarAyaNa! NaarAyaNa!
RaamAnuja DayApAthram Jn~Ana VairAgya
BhUshaNam
Srimadh VEnkatanATAryam VandhE VedAntha
Desikam
Desika Prabhandham : Types of Tamil
Poems
******************************************************
Swamy Desikan used three kinds of poetic
forms for His
405 Paasurams of His Prabhandham. These
are:
1) VeNN Paa (2) Aasiryappaa (3)
Kalippaa
Eighteen of the 405 Paasurams are set in VeNN Paa
(4.4%) .
One hundred and sixty eight of the 405 ( 41.5%) are
set in Aasiriyappaa format.
Majority of them ( 219) however are set inKalippa
form (54.1%) .
The genius of Swamy Desikan as a Tamil poet
and a great AchAryan
is abundantly evident in these treasures of
Paasurams .It would be our
good fortune to study and reflect on them.
Introduction to Desika Prabahndham
******************************************
SrIman Venkataraghavn of Bahrain has givena
succinct introduction to
Desika Prabhandhams that would be valuableto refer
to along with
the darsana soubhAgyam of Swamy Desikan inHis
RathnAngi:
There are 19 individual prabhandhams that house the
405 Paasurams.
The first of them is Amrutha Ranjani with 39
paasurams.
Amrutha Ranjani: The First Desika
Prabhandham
*********************************************************
Swamy Desikan took a lot of effort to remove
the many confusions
created by other philosophies ---based on Vedic
doctrines or otherwise---
in people's minds by composing a series ofSrI
Sookthis revered as
ChillaRai Rahasyams . They are written in MaNipravALa Format (Sanskritized
Tamil) . The first part of these ChillaRai Rahasyams contains 17 rahasyams
(esoteric upadEsams in contrast to
Sadhasyams, which are taught in public )
starting from SampradhAya Parisuddhi to Saara
DhIpam.The purpose of these
SrI Sookthis is for us to gain a clear
comprehension of the three Tatthvams
and three Rahasyams and to lead a blessed life
devoted to the service to
SrIman NaarAyaNan , the AchAryAs empowered by
Him and His BhaagavathAs ,
who are very dear to Him..
In each of these 17 rahasyams , Swamy Desikan in
his typicaly brilliant and
perceptive manner condenses the essence ofeach
rahasyam/Tatthvam at the beginning
and at the end in the form of a Paasuram .The
beginning and the end Paasurams
of these 17 rahasyams are assembled together in the
first of the Desika Prabhandham
revered by us as Amrutha Ranjani . Swamy Desikan
gave this name to this Prabhandham
because He believed that this would delight the
heart of the SrI VaishNavan who
reflects on it more than Amrutham (divine nectar )
would . Here, Swamy refers to the spiritual
upliftment that He recieved from His AchAryAs ; He
expands on the three Tatthvams
( ChEthanam , achEthanam and Iswaran) and reveals
the true meanings of the three
Rahasyams( AshtAksharam , Dhvayam and Charama
SlOkam ).
AMRUTHA RANJANI
*************************
1. AchAryan's irreplacable help
(UpakAram)
*****************************************************
The First and second Paasurams of Amrutha Ranjani
belong to
SampradhAya Parisuddhi Prabhandham , the First
ChillaRai Rahasyam .
Our AchaaryAs out of their limitless compassion for
us and Jn~Anam
took upon themselves the responsibility touplift
us ( the suffering jeevans)
from the dangerous ocean of SamsAram. They
instructed us on the deep
meanings of Tatthvams so that our minds will no
longer be agitated by
any thing .They helped us to perform Prapatthi ,
which delights the heart of
the Lord and thereby banished rebirth for us in
SamsAric world.We have become
now fortunate through the links to our SampradhAyam
established by AchAryAs
at the behest of SrIman NaarAyaNan and are
blessed to enjoy the bliss of
MokshAnandham.We thus have recieved the loftiest of
blessings of the Lord (Moksha
Sukham) by observing an easy to perform upAyam
(SaraNAgathy) that takes
very little time (KshaNa Karthavyam) to practise
.
2. Following the Path travelled by our
AchAryAs
**********************************************************
This Paasuram is also from SampradhAya
Parisuddhi.
A very long time ago, our Lord churned themilky
ocean and blessed
the DevAs with the nectar that He brought out. Our
AchAryAs blessed us
with some thing that is even more enjoyable
(bhOgyam) than the nectar
(amrutham ) itself (viz)., the Lord's Sacred Feet (
Thiruvadi) as the means
for our resurrection .We are deeply
engaged and committed to that sacred
anushtAnams of our AchAryAs and consider them
as the most revered way.
3. The Indispensability of the Jn~Anam about the
three Tatthvams
********************************************************************************
This Paasuram is from the ChillaRai Rahasyam of
Tatthva Padhavi.
Oh Sentient Being ! The direct reason (kAraNam) for
Moksham is
the blessing and grace (aruL) of our Lord.To
become qualified for that
grace, You should gain a clear understanding of the
three Tathtvams
( ChEthanam , achEthanam and Iswaran) and through
that knowledge
practise one of the two upAyams for
Moksham(Prapatthi or Bhakthi yOgam) .
4. The path to banish the sorrows caused by
SamsAram
*********************************************************************
This Paasuram is from the ChillaRai Rahasyam of
Rahasya Padhavi
Oh ChEthanam ! We can chase away the sorrows and
fears of SamsAram
when we understand the three rahasyams ( Moola
Mathram, Dhvayam and
Charama SlOkam ) with their meanings and then
perform the UpAyam for
Moksha Siddhi.
5. The glories of SrI Sookthis of
AchAryAs
***************************************************
This Paasuram is from the ChillaRai Rahasyam of
Tatthva Navaneetham.
The sentients and the insentients are the body
(sarIram) for the Lord.
He stays in there as the indweller (antharyAmi ) .
During the time of
the great deluge (praLaya kaalam) , He swallows the
entire Prapancham
and keeps it inside a small portion of His
stomach just as He swallowed
curd and VeNNai during His incarnation as Lord
KrishNa. Just as removing weeds
for the well being of the crops , He destroys the
evil-minded ones , who cause
harm to His devotees. On the wrists of this
glorious Lord are the Sri Sookthis
(Blessed works) of our AchAryAs shining like
brillinat bangles or like the
conch
in His hand. They are like an aabharaNams on His
wrists to signify that they are
trophies resulting from the victory over other
mathams . They also shine like
the divine conch because these SrI Sookthis grow
one's Jn~Anam.
6. The greatness of BhaagavathAs
****************************************
This Paasuram is also from the ChillaRai Rahasyam
of Tatthva Navaneetham.
Gifted poets compare the Lord salutedby the
apourushEya VedAnthams
( the VedAnthams and VedAs not created by human
beings ) as :
Waveless ocean of nectar , the nourishing
rain-laden cloud that has
absorbed the vast ocean , priceless indhraneela
mountain (blue gem),
the brightness of an unusual day resultingfrom the
combined lustre of
the Sunshine and the radiance of the Moon and
all such asambhAvitha
( lofty and difficult to imagine ) meanings .
There is however those ,
who have arrived at the Lord's sacred feet(HIs
BhaagavathAs) that are
even loftier than the Lord Himself.There is nothing
that the greatest poet
can concieve as comparison for theirglories.
Therefore BhaagavathAs are
greater in their Mahimai than the Lord (as He
Himself admits many times).
The meanings of Rahasyams blessed tous by
the AchAryAs
*************************************************************************
This Paasuram is from the chillaRai rahasyam of
Rahasya Navaneetham.
The SadAchAryAs fully conversant with the inner
meanings of the Lord
(who grants us
Moksham and who is saluted by the VedAs)
instructed
us onthe nine
meanings associated with the three rahasyams :
a) the THREE meanings of Thirumanthiram
( AshtAksharam/Moola Manthram) are:
i) Presentation/offering of our Svaroopam
(SamarpaNam ) to the Lord
ii) Offering of the burden and duty of
protecting us
iii) Offering of the fruits of our protection to
Him.
b) The THREE meanings of Dhvayam are:
i) UpAyam (ii) Phalan (iii) the destruction
of the enemy of avidhyA/ajn~Anam
c) The THREE meanings of the CharamaSlOkam
are:
i) The act to be performed by the one performing
SaraNAgathy(Prapannan)
ii) The act performed by the Lord onbehalf
of the SaraNAgathan
iii) The way of life to be observed by SaraNAgathan
after performing SaraNAgathy
8. The VaikunthA Life right here on
earth
***************************************************
This Paasuram is also from the ChillaRai Rahasyam
of Rahasya Navaneetham.
We are now freed from the vipareetha (
inauspicious and erroneous ) jn~Anam
of believing that I am my own Master
(Swamy) , the responsibilities of
protecting me are my own and the fruits of
such protective actions belong
to me. Fully understanding that all of these belong
to our Lord , we have
placed the duties and fruits of our protection at
the sacred feet of the Lord,
who is our unquestioned Lord. We have taken our
Lord's sacred feet as
our UpAyam and Phalan.We have performed the UpAyam
of Prapathi taught
by the Lord to Arjuna . We have now recieved all
the boons granted by the Lord
to us as PrapannAs.We are staying on this earth
reflecting on the great happiness
of traveling by the path of light (archirAdhi
maargam ) to arrive at SrI Vaikuntam
to perform nithya Kaimkaryam to the Lord and enjoy
there ParipoorNa BrahmAnubhavam.
All our worries (klEsams) are removed now.Our
existence on His earth ( LeelA
VibhUthi) from here on is equivalent to that of the
lives of the eternally liberated
souls (Nithya sooris) at SrI Vaikuntam (Nithya
VibhUthi).
9.The Essence of AchAryA's UpadEsams
*************************************************
This Paasuram is from the ChillaRai Rahasyam of
Tatthva Maathrukai.
The quinessence of the UpadEsams of
our AchAryAs is the instruction on
the Svaroopams ( Uniqueness/Dharmi ) and
SvabhAvams ( the
nirubhAdhikams)
of the three Tatthvams by our SadAchAryAs. The sacred feet of our
SadAchAryAs
that revealed this MOkshOpAyam (Meansfor
Moksham) is the refuge for us in this
world and the fruits enjoyed in the other world
(SrI
Vaikuntam).
10. The act of those with discriminating knowledge
(VivEkis)
************************************************************************
This Paasuram is also from the chillaRai rahasyam
of Tatthva Maathrukai.
The VivEkis learn the Svaroopams and SvabhAvams of
the three Tathtvams
(ChEthanam , achEthanam and Iswaran) from their
SadAchAryans at the time
when their good fotunes ripen . They also learn and
hold dear the meanings of
AshtAksharam that they learnt from their revered
AchAryans and as a result
are totally engaged in their ujjeevanam (
upliftment) without any distraction
whatsoever.
11. The Tatthvams revealed by
SadaAchAryans
********************************************************
This is the third paasuram from the chillaRai
rahasyam of Tatthva Maathrukai.
The indwelling Lord who protects us is the
cause of every thing (Jagath KaaraNan) .
He shines with His Divine consort as SarvEswaran and rains the nectar of
His
DayA as the most merciful dark rainy cloud ( KaaLa Megam). The Jeevans,
who
are His body have the duty and privelege of competing with each other to
perform
Kaimkaryams to Him in SrI Vaikuntam without let. The achEthana doctrines
like
Moola Prakruthi, Kaalam and Suddha Sathvam exist in gross form (SthUla
roopam)
as His body as well.We are sharing these Subtle meanings about the
Tatthvams
as revealed to us by our poorvAchAryAs.
(To Be continued).
Swamy Desikan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam
Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan
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