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H.H. Poundarikapuram Andavan"s UpanyAsam : Part 2

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Sadagopan • January 3, 1999 


Dear BhakthAs :

We will continue with the First focus theme of
the revered AchAryan in his upanyAsam yesterday .
That deals with the many meanings incorporated 
by Swami Sri Desikan in his first verse 
of UpakAra Sangraham that we will quote below
in its entirety . Srimath Andavan elaborated on 
the individual , powerful words of this verse
to illustrate the paramOpakArams of the SaraNya 
Dampathis.

2. Divya Dampathi's Many UpakAram to us 
****************************************

H.H. Srimath Andavan selected FIRST  the subject of
the upakArams done by the divya dampathis for us .
According to Swami Sri Desikan , they fall into 
three major categories :

(1) PoorvOpakAra ParamparAdhikAram
(2) SaadhanAdhikAram
(3) NirNayAdhikAram 

Swami Desikan has brilliantly summarized all of these 
upakArams in the first Tamizh Paasuram of UpakAra Sangraham.
Srimath Andavan anchored his first focus theme 
on the individual subsections of this verse that 
have very rich meanings :

anthamilA pErinbham arundha yERkkum 
  adiyOmai ARIVUDANE yenRum kaatthu 
munthai vinai nirai vazhiyil ozhuhAthemmai
  munnilayAm DESIKAR TAMM MUNNE SERTTHU 
MANTHIRAMUM MANTHIRATTHIN VAZHIYUMK KATTI 
  vazhippadutthi VAAN YERRI ADIMAIK KOLLA 
Tanthaiyena ninRa tanit ThirumAL ThALil
  Talai vaitthOm SatakOpan aruLinAlE 

This work of Swami Sri Desikan is understood as 
the VyAkhyAnam for the Sri Sookthi of NammAzhwAr 
revered as THIRUVIRUTTHAM and particularly its
first paasuram (poy ninRa Jn~Amum --ViNNaPPamE ).

The revered AchAryA of Poundrikapuram Aasramam selected 
this paasuram of Swami Desikan and dwelt on the selected 
words in this paasuram and linked it to other 
powerfull words from the other paasurams of 
NammAzhwAr's ThiruvAimozhi{TVM }, (e-g)., " annAL
nee tantha AAKKAYIN vazhi uzhalvEn " ( TVM: 3.2.1).

Sri Andavan pointed out that the Divya Dampathis 
help us in every way . Mainly , there are 54 incomparable
upkArams that are performed by them for us , SamsAris ,
with the view to join us to Their parama Padham 
in the spirit of NammAzhwAr's TVM Vaakhyam :
" Vaikuntham puhuvathu maNNavar VidhiyE " .

He reminded us of Sage MaarkanDEyA's Vaakhyam in
this context :lOkAnAm MaathA PithA cha MADHAVA :
The reference here was to " Tanthai yena ninRa 
Tanit ThirumAL ', section of the above verse to
the sarva vidha Bhandhu , SarvEswaran .

Before He joins us to Sri His Vaikuntam for nithya 
kaimkaryam , ThirumAl performs many upakArAms
that is hard for us even to keep track off
( NaaraNan maayayai aRibhavar yArO --TVM: 1.3.3 ,
AtthA nee seythana naan aRiyEnE! ).

His upakArams are giving us aakkai (sarIram ) 
to house the Jivan ; He  bleesed the Jivan 
to be eternal ( nithyan ) in svarUpam and blesses 
the Jivan with Dharma BhUtha JnAnam and makes it 
the Jivan's nithya guNam and protects thus the Jivan's
svarUpam and SvabhAvam .This is the connection to 
the paasura pasage , " adiyOmai yenRum aRivudanE kaatthu "
in the UpakAra sangraham .

Srimath Andavan went on to explain the other key passages in that 
important paasuram of Swami Desikan .The meanings are :

anthamilAp pErinbham arundha yErkkum adiyOmai =  for us , who
are fit to enjoy the limitless bliss of the great Moksha anubhavam

arivudanE yenRum kaatthu , munthai vinai nirai vazhiyil 
ozhuhAthu emmai  munnilayAm Desikar tamm munnE sErtthu =
blessing and protcting us with the eteranl dharma bhUtha
Jn~Anam and also protecting us from drowning in
the timeless flow of the river of karmAs and getting us to the 
safety of the bank by uniting us with SadAchAryAs for-- 

manthiramum manthiratthin vazhiyum kaatti vazhippaditthi =
(by uniting us with the sadaachAryAs )for upadesam of 
Your redeeming sacred manthram , the AshtAksharam and 
for learning about the inner meanings of that manthram
(viz)., the middle section of the manthram (nama: sabdham )
denoting Prapatthi and the end luptha chathurthi vibhakthi 
standing in for Bhagaavdh Kaimkaryam . The greatness of this 
acquisition of knowledge through upadesam has been celebrated
may times by AzhwArs and AchAryAs :

iha sangrahatha: SrimAn GopthA sEshi samAdhika dharidhra:
SaraNam sarva sarIri prApya; sEvyasccha saadhubhirbhAvya :

-- Srimath Rahasya Thraya Saaram , Moola manthrAdhikAram
(Meaning ): Briefly , the Moola manthram recognizes our Lord 
as Sriya: Pathi (Srimaan )through akAra sabdham and rakshakan
( protector with many upakArams ) , in luptha chathurthi as
sEshi , and as one who has no equal or superior, in namas 
sabdham as upAyam ( prapatthi ) , in NaarAyaNa sabdham as
sarvAntharyAmi and in the final chathurthi as the One 
to be worshipped by Saadhu Janams as PrApyan and Sevyan .   

Srimath Andavan referred to the paasura vAkhyam ,
MaamAyA ! mikkAr  otthAr ilai ! There is no one 
equal to You or greater than You ( samAdhika Dharidhra :
in the above Rahasya Thraya SlOkam ). 

The VedAntha Jn~Anam imparted to us by SadaachAryAs 
(Mantharitthin vazhiyum kaati ) is another of these MahOpakArams 
of the Lord since it leads to the ultimate bliss of 
ascent by archirAdhi maargam ( vaanERRi adimaik koLLa)
and nithya kaimkaryam. That is the nall Vaazhvu 
referrred to by Thirumangai in his ThirunedumthANDakam (TNT )
paasuram passage :

anthaNar maattu anti vaittha MANTHIRATTHAI MANTHIRATTHAAL
maravaathu YENrUM VAAZHUTHIYeL VaZHALaM --TNT pasuram :4 

(Meaning ): Oh my foolish mind ! If you enjoy the Thirumanthiram ,
the saaram of the Vedantham , which is the wealth of the Brahmins ,
and if you reflect upon the meanings of that sacred manthiram ,
you will surely attain sadhgathi ( nall Vaazhvu ).

Srimath Andavan continued with the explanation of 
the fourth paadham of the UpakAra Sangraha SlOkam :

Tanthai ena ninRa tanit ThirumAl ThALil
tlai vaitthOm SatakOpan aruLAlE 

The Lord stood as the Forever-caring Father ,
who performs great upakArams ( tanthai ena ninRavan ).

He is a matchless EmperumAn with the mahimai of
PaadhAravindham that ha s no comparison in its 
redemptive and anugraha qualities ( Tanit ThirumAl
ThALil ) .

Next Srimath Andavan expalined as to what happened at 
these sacred feet of the Lord as a result of the 
grace of NammAzhwar our Prapanna SanthAna Jana kUtasthar .
The paasura Vaakhyam is : Tanit ThirumAl ThALil
talai VaitthOm SatakOpan aruLAlE . Through the Parama
KrupA of NammAzhwAr , we got to Sri Vaikuntam and laid our feet 
at the sacred feet of Sriman NaarAyaNA as the ultimate step
in Moksha Siddhi rsultign from SadAchArya Sambhandham and 
BhagavAn's paramOpakArams .

NammAzhwAr is the One , who showed us the way through his 
Prabhandhams . He used the purvOpakArams done by the Lord 
to anticipate the future upakArams to come and showed us the way .
He was blessed with Bhakthi and Jn~Anam from the Lord of 
Nithya Sooris . His enjoyment of the Lord blossomed as 
the Four divya prabhandhams . Thiruviruttham was the first 
of the Four prabhandhams .Here , he desribes his varalARukaL 
( Virutthams )and thus this prabhandham came to be known as
Thiruviruttham . In the very first paasuram ( Poy ninRa 
Jn~Amum-- ViNNappamE ), NammAzhwAr reflects on the purvOpakArams 
( or the upakArams done earlier through conferral of 
aathma Jn~Anam , Dharma BhUtha Jn~Anam )and sets that up as 
Infrastructure for the ensuing paasurams and prabhandhams 
containing his requests for other upakArams that culminate 
in Moksha Siddhi at the end of ThiruvAimozhi .In this Thiruvirutth a
Paasuram , NammAzhwaar addresses the Lord as ImayOr talaivA 
( sarva Seshi ) and himselfas adiyEn ( sesah bhUthan ). 
The sEsha-sEshi Sambhandham , Artha panchakam are covered here .
The connection of Artha panchakam with brahma SvarUpam 
is known as Shadatha nirUpaNam . That was what NammAzhwAr 
instructed .Swami Desikan wished to show us the paramountcy 
of this central message and crated UpakAra Sangraham .

Srimath Andavan of PoundarIkapuram Aasramam selected 
this verse deftly as the first theme in his upanyAsam .
We are indeed blessed .

AzhwAr , AchAryan ThiruvadugaLE saraNam
Daasan, Oppiliappan Koil varadAchAri Sadagopan
( To Be continued )