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SrI:
SrImathE Nigamantha Mahadesikaya namah:
SrImAn venkatanAthAryaH kavitArkika kesarI |
vedAntAcArya-varyo me sannidhattAm sadA hRdi ||

May the glorious Venkatanatha, the greatest of teachers of Vedanta, and the 
lion among poets and debaters, reside forever in my heart.

Dearest Srivaishnavas,

Thanks for your personal email appreciation for the posts.
One Bhagawatha pointed out that Sankalpa suryodhaya of Swamy Desikan was not 
described in detail though it was briefly mentioned.
Here it is heeding to that request. [as sent by Smt Padmini Ranganathan - as 
written by Sri U Ve Dr NS Anantharangachar Swamy]

In Sanskrit, there are a number of allegorical dramas. Of these, Prabodha 
Chandrodaya (PC) and Sankalpa
Suryodaya(SS) are the best known. PC, written by Krishna Misra is devoted to 
the exposition of the
doctrine of Advaita philosophy. Krishna Misra is said to have written this 
drama to teach the Advaita
doctrine to those who were interested in Kavya and not philosophy. Sankalpa 
Suryodaya expoounds the doctrine of Vishishtadvaita.

Before entering into a comparative study of these two plays, we will do well 
to understand the summary of those plays and then devote ourselves to the 
understanding of the doctrinal differences that are depicted in these 2 
plays.

The plot of Prabodha Chandrodaya:

The meaning of the term Prabodha Chandrodaya is therising of the moon of 
spiritual knowledge.
"prabodha chandrodayasya udaya:" This is an allegorical drama where 
different qualities take the
role of characters and appear before us. "purusha" is the main character. 
According to Advaita, purusha is identical with the Supreme Self or Brahman. 
'maya' or illusion is purusha's wife. 'manas' or mind is the son of maya. 
This mind has 2 wives namely 'pravrtti' and 'nivrtti'.i.e.activity and 
renunciation. The issue of 'pravrtti' is 'mOha' or delusion whereas 
'nivrtti' gives birth to 'vivEka' or discremenation. The purusha
is bound by 'manas' assisted by 'ahankAra' or egoism. 'maya' deludes him.

How can this purusha be brought back to his real nature" It is only thro' 
the rise of knowledge (vidya) and 'prbodha' (spiritual awakening).

How can this knowledge arise?
Knowledge is possible only when the mind is quiet and when there is 
discremenation. This discremenation is to be united with the 'upanishads'.

How can this be achieved?
This can be achieved with the assistance of vishnu bhakti.

The struggle between the two forces of the two sons of the mind namely 
'moha' and 'viveka' continues. The followers of moha aree 'charvaka','kama', 
'krodha', 'lobha'. 'charvaka' is a friend of moha. Kama krodha and lobha are 
ministers. The 'mithyAdrsti' or error is the wife of moha. 'vibhramavathi' 
is his wife's friend.  The wife of kama is rathi, of krodha is himsa and of 
lobha is trsNA. They are all on the side of moha.

The followers of viveka are as follows.

Reason or maathi and santosha or contentment are friends. Enquiry into the 
reality of things or
'vastuvichara' is the servant and the others that serve viveka are 
'vishnubhakti', 'shanti', shraddha',
'kshama', karunA', 'upanishat' and others.

The battle ensues between these two forces. For uniting with the upanishads, 
with the blessings of the
mind, vishnubhakti isalso honoured by manas. When the mind becomes calm, the 
purusha gains his real nature. When the mind has become quiet, the mind 
discards 'pravrtti, and nivrtti becomes his favourite.On account of viveka 
and upanishads, purusha realises the oneness of paramEswara. On account of 
the command of vishnubhakti, nididhyasana (medidation) enters purusha. At 
that moment, vidyaa bursts out of the chest of manas and swallows moha and 
his followers and disappears immediately. Now praabodha reigns supreme. 
Purusha realises oneness with vishnu.

PLOT OF SANKALPA SURDODAYA:

WE will now briefly note the plot of Sankalpa Suryodaya. Suryodaya means 
sunrise. Sankalpa means the
divine will to save man. So the meaning of this term is :- dispelling the 
dark night of samsara by the will
of the Lord. This is here equated with sunrise.In this drama also, qualities 
are different characters.They
are similar to the characters of prabodha chandrodaya. There are certain 
additional characters also. For
e.g.'vyavasaya' (human effort), 'tarka' (logic). Vyavasaya is the commander 
in chief of viveka. The
king and the queen working for the good are Viveka and Sumathi. The opposite 
side is represented by
'Mahamoha' and 'Durmathi'. They fight against goodness. Purusha is the 
battlefield for these warring
elementss. This can be compared to the forces of good and evil mentioned in 
the case of Pandavas and
Kauravas. With the final victory of viveka, there will be good. After the 
victory of Viveka, the Sankalpa
Suryodaya(divine will to save) arises and then the Purusha attains moksha.

Viveka explains to Sumathi that the cause of samsara is the 'avidya' or 
karma of the Purusha. Moksha or
liberation can be bestowed on Purusha only by 'Srimannarayana'. That grace 
of the Lord dawns on him
only when purusha gets rid of all his vices and surrenders unto the Lord. 
For this, a guru is
absolutely essential. It is abssolutely essential to have a proper 
understanding of the shastras in a
correct manner. So, one has to know the defects of schools of thought to 
discard them. A discussion is
therefore necessary to refute the representatives of vaarious schools. So, 
in this drama, a guru (Sri
Ramanuja) and shishya (Sri Vedanta Desika) are shown as refuting the various 
view points of other schools in the presence of Viveka and vyavasaya. This 
is important as it expounds the authenticity of the
'siddhanta'. The conflict between 'rAga', dwEsha and vairagya is pictured 
and vairagya succeeds.
Vishnubhakti and vairagya go to Viveka and help him to gain his goal. 
Purusha can gain moksha only thro' the grace of the Lord. The enemies like 
kama, krodha are defeated. The Purusha has gained vairagya and therefore 
dambha, darpa and others fail to entice him. Now Purusha needs a suitable 
place for meditation of the Supreme being . Viveka assisted by tarka makes a 
search of a suitable place for meditation throughout the country and come to 
Srirangam and find that 'Vrshagiri' and 'Hastigiri' are suitable places. But 
Viveka realises  that the best place for meditation is the pure heart that 
is devoid of all impurities. The next search is for a pure form of God for 
the purusha's meditation. The several auspicious forms of the Lord in 
various incarnations are thought to be more appropriate. Now Purusha needs 
an acharya who has to initiate the holy 'Moola mantra' and Purusha now 
appears on the stage. The purusha with the help of Viveka and Vishnubhakti 
gets rid of all his sins thro'self surrender and wins the grace of the 
Lord(Sankalpa Surya). He is now fit to attain the highest abode thro' the 
archiradi. This is the short summary of the play 'Sankalpa Suryodaya'.

Thanks to Smt Padmini for giving permission.

Also Swamy mentions in Sankalpa suryodaya pointing the experience of 
entering Brahmam and enjoying that unique bliss by jeevans is reminiscent of 
us taking a plunge in the cool waters of a pond during
the scorching days of summer ( GreeshmE seethamiva hrutham bahuguNam Brahma 
Pravishtam muni: )

Someone asked as to why I took 65 posts for this series. It so happened. And 
later, thinking of, it is also a coincidence that the letter 65 is the sum 
total of ashtaksharam + dwayam and charama slokam (8 +25+32)- as beautifully 
mentioned by Swamy Desikan himself when he writes a Bhashyam for SthOthra 
rathnam of Alavandhar wherein 65 sthothras are there, which are none other 
than the essence of Rahasya thrayam- a sum total of ashtaksharam, Dwaya and 
charama sloka.

Thanks again to one and all.

Swamy Desikan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam
AchAryan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam
Regards
Namo narayana
dAsan
kavi-tArkika-simhAya kalyANa-guNa-SAline |
Srimate venkateSAya vedAntagurave namaH ||

Salutations to Sri Venkatesa, in whom all perfections reside, who is the 
teacher of Vedanta and the lion among poets and debaters

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