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Swamy Desikan- 6 (Srimad Rahasyatrayasaram- brief write up) Thooppul maNdapam

From the Bhakti List Archives

Madhavakkannan V • August 3, 2001 


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. Thanks to those 
contributors listed in Sri Lakshmi N Srinivasa's email. I request each one 
of you to contribute at least $ 20/- and about 500 of us, will make 
$10,000/- which amounts to about Rs 5 lakhs. It is equivalent to eating out 
for your family during a weekend. Sacrifice one such outing and contribute. 
Those of you who do not have paraannam, excellent. You have saved so much 
and hence can contribute many times 20 dollars:-) For the Asia Pacific 
contributors, adiyEn will match dollar for dollar and contribute.

Please read, enjoy (and also contribute) the Great works of Swamy Desikan.

URL: http://www.geocities.com/lsriniva/thoopulappeal.html

In this website, you would have seen and read the Srimukams from H.H Srimad 
Azhagiyasingar, H.H Srimad ParavakkOttai Andavan Swamy, H.H Srimad 
SrimushNam Andavan and Sri NS Ramanujathathachariar swamin.

So, your Acharyan has blessed the kaimkaryam and has supplemented the 
appeal. And it is for the Acharyasaarvabhouman Swamy Nigamantha Mahadesikan. 
Which lienage of Srivaishnavam does Swamy Desikan not belong to? NONE. What 
are we hestitating for? I thought we are waiting for the 1 st of the month 
for money to be credited into your bank account(pay day:-) ). Even that has 
come day before.

So, the money is there. The Blessing (of AchAryan) is there. The appeal is 
there. The details are all available at the end of this post. The web page 
has all the details of the kaimkaryam. All that it needs is your pledge. A 
simple email saying, " I pledge $ __/- " and click send.

Srimad Rahasyatrayasaram:

In the last post, we saw that 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 rule 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 AzhwArÂ’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 SwaminÂ’s summary on Srimad 
Rahasyatrayasaaram in Swamy Vedanta Desika web page 
(http://swamydesika.tripod.com/srts.html#top  )

I would like to reproduce what Prof. A Srinivasaraghavachariar writes about 
this magnum opus in his book on The Life and works of Sri Vedantha Desika.

There is a chapter Guruparampara saram by name which is at the beginning, 
separately as a prelude. It gives the succession of Acharyas which begins 
with Paramaathman Sriman Narayanan as the first Acharyan. After giving the 
names of Several Acharyas and their works, it edns with Sri Ramanuja who had 
five Acharyas of whom Sri MahapoorNar (Periya Nambhi) is the one who 
performed Pancha samskaaram to Sri Ramanjuar. There are four Acharyas in the 
middle between Sri Ramanjua (1017- 1137) and Swamy Desikan (1268-1369)

This rahasya is classified into four heads:

1.	Artha anusasana bhaga (Chapters 1 to 22) deals with the teaching of chief 
doctrines
2.	Sthireekara bhaga (Chapters 23 to 26) deals with the establishement of 
the system of clarifying doubts and disputed points.
3.	Padavakya yojana Bhaga (Chapter 27 to 29) deals with the interpretations 
of the meaning of the three rahasyas in details.
4.	Sampradya prakriya (Chapters 30 to 32) deals with the path of Spiritual 
traditions.

1.	Artha anusasana bhaga (chapter 1 to 22) is divided into three heads:

a.	Tatva (chapters 1 to 6)
b.	Hita (Chapters 7 to 12)
c.	Purushartham (Chapters 13 to 22)

Tatva: The first two chapters are introductory. The hritage of the Jivaathma 
and how he lost it, a parable how a prince became a huntsman and his rescue 
by his acharyas, the determination of the greatness of the three mantras as 
the best spiritual literature, the essence of what all should be known from 
various ancient sources of knowledge. That there are countless matters to be 
known need not defer our aspirant from losing hopes for futurity and that 
the three rahasyas are alone to be known is stresses in the 2nd chapter.

Chapter 3 deals with the most important doctrine of Visishtadvaita. The 
fourth chapter contains the treatment of arthapanchakam i.e the five things 
to be learnt. The soul, matter and God constituting the Tattvatraya are 
treated in fifth chapter. The truth about the Supreme Sriman Narayanan is 
proved excellently in the sixth chapter.

Hita: Man should feel that he must get freedom from bondage i.e. the longing 
for emancipation. This is explained in Chapter 7. It is necessary to 
classify the qualified persons. This is mentioned in chapter 8. The ninth 
chapter discusses the methods available for obtaining final release. Chapter 
10 deals with the fitness of Self-surrender. The classification of its (self 
surrender) accessories are given in Chapter 11 and in Chapter 12, observance 
of self –surrender and accessories are dealt with.

Purushartham: Chapter 13 deals with the one who has followed the injunction. 
The recognition of the merits of the person in the proper stage is dealt 
with in Chapter 14. Chapter 15 deals with the duties in the Post prapatti 
(Self surrender) period. Our final goal and its extent form the matter of 
Chapter 16. Chapter 17 deals with the scriptural ordinances and Chapter 18 
expiation for offenses. Chapter 19 deals with the suitable places of 
residence. The categorical statement that a holy place is only that where 
people repeat Sriman NarayanaÂ’s names and talk of and listen to the 
narrations of Him is stressed here. The Chapter 20 describes the departure 
of soul from the body and Chapter 21 the prescribed route. Full experience 
of Bliss of Brahman is furnished in chapter 22.

Sthireekara Bhaga- (Chapters 23 to 26): Ch 22 and 24 contain a very 
elaborate discussion on BrahmanÂ’s note in adopting the path of Self 
surrender. These two chapters give the determination of the means already 
existent and the determination of the means to be adopted. Restriction in 
the power of means and the confirmation of powers are indicated in Ch 25 
i.e. great status of one who has surrendered himself to the Almighty and to 
hold the means in all stability.

Padavakya Yojana Bagha- (Chapters 27 to 29) The three rahasyas (moola 
manthra, Dwaya and Charama sloka) receive a very detailed exposition in 
these three chapters respectively.

Samparadya Parikriyaa- (Chapters 30 to 32) Chapter 30 deals with the Acharya 
and his duties.
Chapter 31 – disciple and his duties and Chapter is Conclusion.

A study of this Rahasya will equip a person with complete knowledge for 
leading religious life here and attainment of Bliss hereafter.

HASTHIGIRI MAHATHMYAM: Hasthigiri Mahathmyam deals with the Greatness of 
Lord Varadarajan (PeraruLALan) of Kanchi known as Sathyavratha kshEthra in 
the Brahmanda Puranam. It is a unique composition of Sri Vedantha Desika 
which is in the form of a musical episode about which he himself writes- it 
is to be sung for the delectation of devout souls with emotion and sympathy. 
Keeping time with cymbols in hands (Bhava, Ragha, and Taala) as laid down in 
Bharatha Saasthra. Brahma (Four faced Brahma) the world creator wanted to 
aswamEdha yaagam (Horse sacrifice) in order to realize God and meditate upon 
Him. A divine voice advised him to choose the elphant hill (Hasthigiri) the 
holiest of shrines for the altar and he acted upon it.

Lord Varadarajan appeared (rose) from the altar as a Blue hued fire and 
accepted all the sacrificial oblations of Brahma and blessed him. Brahma 
prayed that lord should continue to stay in the same form for all time to 
come to bless the humanity.

The fundamental tenet of Srivaishnavism that Bhagawan Narayana is the 
Supreme deity to be worshipped as the Greatest means and the Goal. Sri 
Desikan gave it the name Meiviradhamaanmiyam which is also named 
Sathyavratha KshEthra mahathmyam in colophon.

Swamy Desikan wrote 12 works in Sanskrit which can be grouped under three 
heads. (We will see in Next 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
adiyEn Narayana dAsan Madhavakkannan

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