You are here: SriPedia - ebooks - Vedanta Desikan - Experiencing Swami Desikan

Index - Articles: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108

Experiencing Swamy Desika -- #99


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 ideal Prapanna, spends his days by fully enjoying the Lord.
The ultimate objective of a Prapanna at the end of this life
is to reach the highest destination => Paramapadam. To reach
Srivaikundam, Swami Desika has given us nine things in the
form of steps in Paramapada sOpAnam.

ParamapadasOpanam is a short rahasya which gives in a nut
shell all that a pious Srivaishnava should know and do for
his emancipation. The nine parvas which can be broadly
divided under three heads -

1. Adhi kara - The first four sections are on Qualifications.

2. Upaaya Khanda - The fifth chapter is on means of attainment.

3. Phala Khanda - The sixth to ninth steps are on the fruits
of attainment.


Adhi kara

Viveka Parva : This Parva is on the discriminatory knowledge.
This knowledge is based on the various experiences and
incidents that we come across in life.

It is our Lord's upakAram that we reach an Acharya and get
His UpadEsam. It is the duty of a sishyA to prostrate to the
Acharya, and request him for UpadEsam. The sishya should be
very attentive during the upadEsam.

The Acharya explains about the nature of Lord and that of
the Jivas. This enables the sishya to understand the meanings
of Thirumandiram and the Upanishads. He understands the
realities for his survival and his Viveka starts growing.

The Viveka Parva deals with the three tattvas Viz. Chetana,
Achetana and Iswara and declares the chetana is neither
creator, nor a protector nor a master.

2. Nirveda-Parva : After understanding the meanings of the
Thirumantram, the sishya regrets for the deeds he had done
earlier. He realises that by not seeking refuge in the Lord,
he has wasted a lot of births. He further realises that Lord
is the only seshi!

These regrets are positive. It helps him remove the veil
qualities in himself, makes him devoid of ego and cultivates
atma gunas and makes him eligible to take up the upAyA for
moksha.

A person has distaste for all earthly and heavenly pleasures
including those of Brahma and other Gods, which are trifles
and transitory.

3. Virakti-Parva : Non-attachment for men and things, seeing
that they are not free from defects and detachment from
the enjoyment of one's own self (Kaivalya).

Other than Moksha he understands that every other association
has limitations. So he is detached from samsArA. All the
happiness in this world end up in sorrow only, the life in the
world is full of sorrow and our relatives are not going to help
us. Even the kings enjoying luxury have had enough and more
tough times which explains to us that these luxuries have
limitations.

He also understands the limitations of Svargam (heaven) etc.
A person does yAgas to ascend to svargam. There he takes up
a form of a deva and serves the Devas just as cows serve us.
He performs the works as instructed by the devas and stands
there like a slave.  The karmas like yAga which he performed
will keep decreasing as he gets the svargAnubavam. After the
effect of the karma gets over, he will be pushed from there.
He looses the deva form and will fall upside down.

He now has to fall into the same cycle of birhts and rebirths.
Taking a birth is an extremely painful process. The Jiva should
reach the moon in the sookshma form and from there take steps
stage by stage to mix with sky, breeze, clouds, rain, grains
etc and enters the body of the man which might materialise
into the Jiva obtaining the human form. By the time the Jiva
is born it suffers a lot. If a person realises all this he
will never have temporary desires like going to Svarga etc.
Similarly the positions like Siva and Brahma are also not
worth desiring.

Kaivalyam is atmAnubhavam. This also has its own limitation
because the anubhavam is restricted to Jivatma and it does
not enjoy ParamATma.


Thus, because of vivEkan has removed the desire on other
results, will not pray to anya Devatas which give temporary
benefits. Will pray to Lord only for kainkaryam and nothing else.


The above write up is based on "Rahasyartha Vivaranam" by
Shri RamadEsikavhAriyar 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