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Experiencing Swamy Desika -- #100


SrI:
Shrimate Shri Lakshmi Nrusimha Parabrahmane Namaha:
Shrimate Shri Seetha Ramachandra Parabrahmane Namaha:
Shrimate Shri Ramanujaya Namaha:
Shrimate Nigamantha Maha Desikaya Namaha:
Shrimate Shrivan Satagopa Shri Narayana Yateendra Mahadesikaya Namaha:

"SrimAn VenaktanAthArya: kavithArkika kEsarI!
VedAnthAchArya varyO mE sannidhatthAM sadhA hrudhi"!!


A person with vivEkam (vivEki) does not have desires that
yield temporary fruits. His only objective is kainkaryam
and prays to the Lord to enable him to perform kainkaryam
to the Lord and to His Devotees.

The last step in the Adhikara is the Bheeti-Parva. A person
initially gets virakti on the Jivatma, paramatma and sariram
and gets a feeling that he is a dasan to the Lord. He has all
along been thinking that he is independent and so had incurred
the mahA pAvam of being a thief => the theft here is because he
thinks that the atma is his, while it actually belongs to the
Lord. Once he realises his dAsatvam, the theft of having stolen
the atma goes off. He stops committing mistakes because he regrets
his earlier behaviour. Over a period he gains a lot of vairAgyam
and gives up all material desires. So, he does not perform kAmya
karmas which binds him into the rope of samsAra.

After attaining such a state he thinks of his karmas which are
anAdhi. It has not been exhausted and so has been cumulated. He
has not even done any prayaschittam to cancel it. Some karmas
have started bearing fruits and some are yet to start. He realises
that it is beyond one's capacity to exhaust the karmas, either by
undergoing it or by doing Prayaschittam. As a result of this one is
forced to take a lot more births with innumerable sariras. He then
gets caught into the cycle of being in the womb, taking birth,...
old age, death ... The depth of this sorrow knows no bounds. A
viraktan realises these realities.

To get relieved of these troubles, one cannot go in search of anya
devatas. It is a great mistake even to think of approaching anya
devatas. Even if a person worships them and reaches Svarga, these
Devas push him down. So, how are they ever going to help men?
One should have two important qualifications if men have to
approach him for help -

1. The intention to help
2. Capacity to help.

>From the above it is very clear that the anya Devatas do not have
any intention to help. They just treat humans as sacrificial beings
and get work done thro' men.

When we speak of the capacity to help, none of these Devas have
the capacity to confer Moksham. Infact, they are not even eligible
to enter into Paramapadam. So, they cannot in anyway help us
attain Moksha.

So, irrespective of which anya devata we reach, we are sure to have
all kinds of problems.

A person thinks of the troubles one would encounter when the yama
dootAs throw their pAsha rope. The yama dootAs are prone to using
harsh words. The path through which they take one to naraka is
dreadful. After reaching naraka, the troubles encountered are just
too much. These are explained in Shri Vishnu Puranam, when one listens
to this he really gets a lot of fear in his mind.

A person overcome by fear at the thought of sufferings here and
in hell!

He would consider Moksha as his only requirement and take up the
required Upaya. The upAyas can be Bhakti Yoga or Prapatti.

The next section is the Upaaya Kanda. Prasaadana Parva is the only
parva in Upaaya Kanda. This is the next(fifth) step to the
transedental World!

Due to the birth of vivEkam, frustration of mind, vairAgyam, fear etc
a person is affected by two diseases viz., Punya and pApA. What is
the medicine to get rid of these?  Who is the doctor? Brahma, SIva,
Indra and other anya devas are not even aware of the medicine of
the disease of samsara. Our Lord is the only greatest doctor! He has
assigned two medicines called Bhakti Yoga and Prapatti for this.
A person hence seeks the help of God to mercifully liberate him by
making him perform bhakti or Prapatti.

Bhakti Yoga, underlines the importance of complete & total devotion
by which we can please the Lord thereby Lord accepting us in his
abode. The Bhakti yogi should not worship anybody other than the
Lord. The other Devas worship him. To perform Bhakthi yoga with
the angas, we need proper gjnana, sakthi, the patience to bear
with the delay in reaching Moksham, ...
A person who cannot take up Bhakti yoga and believes in the Lords
mercy alone should take up Prapatti. Prapatti underlines the fact
that we have to perform total surrender at the Lotus feet of the
Lord. After he does this, there is no other upAya that needs to be done.
The Lord who is a ocean of mercy, takes care of a Prapanna!

When this Prapatti is an anga of Bhakthi Yoga it is called Anga-prapatti,
when it is a direct means to mOksha it is called svatantra Prapatti.
The greatness of Prapatti can be equated to the greatness of Brahma
because Prapatti is a sAdhana to attain Brahma!

Bhakti and Prapatti are thus the prayaschitta for all the pApAs.
A person who does svatantra Prapatti is considered to have done all the
yAgas. He is relieved of all the past Karmas which have not begun to
yield fruits (Sancita Karmas) and Karmas done in the present which will
yield fruits in the future lives (Agami Karmas).

Only Prarabdha Karmas i.e., Karmas, which have started giving fruits
in the present life will remain untouched. Thus, a Saranagata will
divest oneself of all the fruits of one's past and present Karmas
and will be fit to reach God.

For persons who have taken up one upaya to attain Moksha and who have
been accepted by the Lord, the pramAnas state that the troubles of
getting caught with yama, suffering in naraka etc are not there. A
true devotee thus lives without any fear, does not expect anything
from anyone, is relieved of the burden of protecting himself and
has no fear about naragam etc.

The above write up is based on "Rahasyartha Vivaranam" by
Shri RamadEsikachAriyar Swami and "Life and works of
Sri Nigamanta Maha Desika" by Prof. A. Srinivasaraghavan.


"Kavi Taarkika Simhaaya Kalyaana guna SaalinE!
SrimatE VenkateshAya VedAnta Gurave nama !!"

...To be continued!

dEsikan tiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

Praveena nAmni Ramanuja dasi