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From: Madhavakkannan V (srivaishnavan_at_hotmail.com)
Date: Fri Jul 27 2001 - 06:25:07 PDT
SrI:
SrImathe Ramanujaya namah:
SrImathe Nigamantha mahadesikaya namah:
SrImAn venkatanAthAryaH kavitArkika kesarI |
vedAntAcArya-varyome 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,
I am continuing on my appeal and posts on Swamy Desikan.
Thoopul MaNdapam kaimkaryam for Swamy Desikan by Smt Shantha Kalyanarangan
of Thoopul trust. Sri Lakshmi N. Srinivasa also has created a web site for
this trust and also for this special kaimkaryam for Thoopul Pillai.
URL: http://www.geocities.com/lsriniva/thoopulappeal.html
It is my humble request to please contribute your mite towards this
kaimkaryam, as remembering Acharyan, and talking alone will not suffice.
Swamy Desikan has offered us 24 works in maNipravAlam, a sweet blend of
Tamil and Sanskrit. These are actually 35 in number including the
commentaries.
The first work under this group is SatsampradAya parisuddhi. The Acharya
exhausted all the talents, as it were in demonstrating that the tradition
starting from Sri Ramanuja is perfectly flawless. There is no antagonism
between rahasyas, upanishadic doctrines, theories and practices in the
Srivaishnava Sri Ramanuja Sampradayam, The apparent contradictions that are
raised on the import of the three rahasyas are resolved in a very judicious
manner.
The second and third works are called Tatva padhavi and Rahasya Padavi
respectively. The way is to know the tattvas, that is, Realities like soul,
matter and God and the means of getting final release. RahasyapadavI deals
with the way of knowing the sense of three rahasyas.
Tatvanavaneetham and Rahasyanavaneetham are the fourth and fifth works. The
word navaneetham, which means butter, is sued here to show that the cream of
what is otherwise hard to comprehend is presented here. The nature of the
enjoyer (soul), of matter which is enjoyed and God who directs them is well
treated in Tatva navaneetham. Similarly all the component parts of the three
rahasyas are dealt with suitable references in the source books in the
Rahasyanavaneetham.
Maatrukai is work forming part of the Titles Tatva maatrukai and Rahaysa
maatrukai the sixth and seventh works. The work matruka means the source of
the letters which are represented in Sanskrit language by the squabbles
beginning with “a” and ending with Ksa. These squabbles are fifty one in
number. Treatment of tattva and Rahasya in each of these two works is
offered in fifty one in number. Treatment of these two works is offered in
fifty one sentences.
Sarvajna Singappa Nayaka, son of king Madhava, became a disciple of Vedantha
Desika and desired to know the tattvas and Rahasyas. Vedanta Desika wrote
Tattva sandhEsam, Rahasya SandhEsam and Rahasya SandhEsa vivaraNam and sent
to the king. Hence the title ends in the word SandhEsam. These are the 8th,
9th and 10th works. The last mentioned work adds further explanation on
Prapatti.
Eleventh work is TatvarathnAvaLi in which the matters dealt with are like
gems and so the whole work is like a garland of gems. The Acharya offers, in
the 12th work TattvarathnAvaLipratipadyasamgraha, the summary of the
previous work.
Similar are the 13th and 14th works having the names RahasyaratnAvaLi and
RahasyaratnAvaLihrudhayam on the three rahasyas.
The work chuLakam forms part of the titles TattvatrayachuLakam and
RahasyatrayachuLakam of the 15th and 16th works. The word chuLaka means palm
of the hand. This word tells that the Tattvas and Rahasyas that are treated
in these two works are made easily understandable through these words.
The SaradIpa, the 17th work is lost with the exposition of the three
rahasyas. The abhayapradAna sAram, the 18th work is in ten sections dealing
with all aspects of Prapatti. The essential features of Sri Rama’s offering
security to VibhIshaNa are vividly described.
TattvasikhAmaNi and RahasyasikhAmaNi are the 18th and 19th works, the former
of which is lost. In the latter work, the Acharya discusses the nature of
the PurANas and their status as supplements to the Vedas.
PradAnasathakam, the 20th work (refer URL: http://www.srivaishnava.org/sgati
SaraNagati electronic journal for translation in English by Sri V Satakopan
Swamin) enumerates one hundred topics that are of great significance in
Vaishnavism. The 21st work, UpakArasangraham (also available in Saranagati
journal written by Sri Vijayaraghavan Srinivasan) lists the actions of God,
which have been of much help to his devotees. Saarasangraham, the 22nd work
gives the gist of the three rahasyas. The 23rd work is Saarasaka an epitome
of Srimad Rahasyatrayasaaram.
RAHASYATRAYASAARAM: (24th work)
Sri Vedanta Desikan has written 32 Rahasyas, which contain the teachings of
the Upanishads about the Tattva, Hita and Purushaartha. Rahasyatrayasaara is
for the benefit of those who are not able to study the Vedic texts directly.
There is a rile in the saasthras that some ideas that are communicated to
all in public should be taught to those interested in them in private.
Hence, they are called Rahasyas and they have to be learnt from Acharyas.
Twentyeight of them are given the name of ChiilaRai Rahasyam (minor
Rahasyas); four are Major Rahaysas namely Atthigiri MahAthmyam, Paramapadha
Bangam, ParamapadasOpAnam and Rahasyatrayasaram. The last is the magnum opus
among the Rahasyas of Sri Vedanta Desikan.
Rahaysatraya is mainly intended by the Acharya to offer an elaborate
treatment of the three Rahasyas (moola manthra, Dwayam and Charama slOkam).
This work contains 32 chapters called AdhikAras. The number 32 is suggestive
of this work playing the role of 32 Brahma vidyas of the Upanishads. Every
chapter begins with a Sanskrit sloka on the matter treated in it followed by
its expansion in maNipravALam. A stanza in Tamil and a sloka in Sanskrit
mark the concluding portion of each chapter. The Acharya offers evidences
from Sanskrit sources to be followed by those from the AzhwAr’s prabandhas
in support of his arguments for and against certain problems. The passages
from the works of earlier Acharyas are frequently cited. It is needless to
remark that the Acharya has no equal through this work, not to speak of his
contributions made in other works on Sri vaishnavism.
Please refer to Sri Anbil Ramaswamy Swamin’s summary on Srimad
Rahasyatrayasaaram in Swamy Vedanta Desika web page
(http://swamydesika.tripod.com/srts.html#top )
The 25th work Guruparamaparsaaram stresses on the value of reciting the line
of preceptors. VirOdhaparihaaram, the 26th work clarifies the objections
that are likely to be raised against the Rahasyatrayasaram. Swamy imagined
what all could be thought of by us (J ) and answered each and every doubt
that could occur in our minds.
Among the works of Manipravala kind, mention must be made of commentaries on
Yamunacharya’s SthOthra Rathnam. There is a commentary is called “anjali
vaibhavam”, which conveys the power of anjali (folding the palms together by
way of reverence particularly to God). The other commentary is called
munivAhanabhOgam, meaning enjoyment of him who had a muni (Saarangamuni) as
his vehicle. This refers to ThiruppANAzhwAr who was carried by an eminent
Brahmin called Lokasaarangamuni. The third commentary is known as
Madhurakavihrudhayam, on the dacad composed by Madhurakavi AzhwAr on
NammAzhwAr and this is not extant.
It is also said that Acharya wrote the NigamaparimaLa a commentary on
ThiruvAymozhi which is not extant (but there is no evidence for admitting
this view).
HATHIGIRI MAHAATHMYAM: (we will see in the nest post)
Please donate according to your shakthi. The money can be sent to "Thuppul
Trust" and the address is:
Thuppul Trust
Old No.20, New No.24, Thiruvengadam Street
West Mambalam, Chennai-600033, India
Phone No: 91-44-4741559 / 91-44-3715771
Please contact Sri. V.K. Sudharshan at vksudarsh@vsnl.com or Sri Lakshmi N
Srinivasa lsriniva@hotmail.com (He can collect and send it as single amount
in USA).
The address:
Lakshminarasimhan Srinivasa
3 Old Towne Road, #212
Ayer, MA-01432
For those in the South East Asia, please contact me at
srivaishnavan@hotmail.com . Please pass on this kaimkaryam to as many people
as possible in order to complete the same.
kavi-tArkika-simhAya kalyANa-guNa-SAline |
Srimate venkateSAya vedAntagurave namaH ||
Salutations to Sri Venkatesa, in whom all perfection resides, who is the
teacher of Vedanta and the lion among poets and debaters!
Swamy Desikan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam
Regards
Narayana Narayana
NarayaNa dAsan madhavakkannan
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