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Swamy Desikan-9 NikshEpa raksha- thUppul maNdapam kaimkaryam apeeal

From the Bhakti List Archives

Madhavakkannan V • August 24, 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 and appeal for 
Thuppul maNdapam kaimkaryam. 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.

Let us continue to enjoy SwamyÂ’s GREAT works.

VaaditrayakaNdana is held to be the work of the Acharya refuting the views 
of Sankara, Bhaskara and yaadavaprakasa. The authorship of this for the 
Acharya is doubtful.

The sixth work is SeswaramImAmsa which intends to prove that the 
PoorvamImAmsa system is part of Vedantha system. Jaimini is stated to have 
treated in his sutras the deeds (karma) in order that people could attend to 
their duties without leaving them altogether. It is further shown that 
Jaimini was not against admitting Brahman as the Ultimate Reality. This 
independent work, containing criticisms and elaborate expositions of the 
system of Jaimini, though, it appears, on the face of it, to be a commentary 
on the adhikaraNAs 1 and 2 of the first chapter; beyond which the work was 
not written.

MImAmsapAdukA is the seventh work in 173 stanzas giving a summary of the 
tenets of the mImAmsa system as acceptable in the light of those of the 
Vedanta system.

The second group contains three works all ending with the work raksha in 
their titles. Among these, NikshEpa raksha which is written in the saastraic 
lines of reasoning and arguments, has two parts. The first part states the 
prima facie (Poorva paksham) view that the doctrine of self –surrender is 
invalid in as much as its nature, characteristics and difficulties in 
putting it into practice loom large. Besides there is no valid authority in 
its favour.

The author devotes the latter part of the work to the rejection of this view 
and establishes the doctrine on valid grounds. The title nikshEparaksha 
receives justification on the ground that the doctrine of self-surrender 
(saraNagathy) gets well fortified.

Prapatti or SaraNagathi was being observed as a direct means to mOksham, 
even before Ramanuja and Ramanuja gave a reorientation to it in his 
Gadyatrayam. It is known from the jitantE sthOthram, that prapatti is a 
direct and sufficient means to mOksham. Even for the commencement of Bhakto 
yOgam, Prapatti is absolutely essential. It is the grace of the Supreme Most 
compassionate Lord who grants the fruit of any sAdhana as siddOpAyam, while 
Bhakti yOgam and Paraptti is the saadhyOpAyam.

Swamy Sri Vedantha DesikanÂ’s Srimad Rahasyatraya saaram has stood as an 
authority on the religion of SaranAgathy. Desika deals exclusively with 
SaraNagathi in a number of his sthOthras also, such as nyAsa dasakam, 
SaraNagathi Deepika, nyAsa thilakam, Nyasa vimsathi. Aaikkalappatthu, a 
prabandham in Tamil, deals with this doctrine of self-surrender. More than 
all these, Vedantha Desika wrote a work in Sanskritm namely nikshEpa rakshaa 
in defense of prapatti. NikshEpa raksha os one of the finest granthas 
written by Swamy Desikan ( says Dr. Sri NS Anantharangachar in his article)

The second wwork of this kind is Saccharitharaksha, which is divided into 
three parts with the titles:

SudharsanapaanchajanyadhAranavidhi
UrdhvapuNdra dhAraNa vidhi
BhagavannivEdhithOpAyOga vidhi

Of these, the first enjoins the sacrament of a VaishnavaÂ’s having the marks 
of Chakra and Sanghu. The second division stresses the need to wear the 
UrdhvapuNdram (vertical sacred mark) on the forehead with white mud with 
streak of red or yellow ochre in the middle. Third division stresses that 
the food prepared for consumption is to be offered to the Lord first and 
then only to be partaken by others in their houses. These three acts mark 
the good conduct of a Vaishnava and Swamy Desikan establishes them with 
saashthra pramANam.

The Paancharaathraraksha is the third work in which Acharya indicates the 
validity of the Paancharaathra Agama. Siddhaantha vyavasthapana, 
Nithyanusanthanasthaapana and Nityavyakhyana are the titles of three 
divisions of this work. This Agama is of four kinds, which are Agama 
siddhaantha, Manthra siddhaantha, tanthra siddhaantha and Tantrantura 
Siddhaantha.  Each is defined and the scope of its application is indicated. 
The second division describes the practice of the daily routine which is 
divided into five parts, namely, abhigamana, upAdAna, IjyA, swAdhyAya and 
yoga. The third division is devoted to the exposition of Sri RamanujaÂ’s 
nithya, a work on the method of worshipping God. The Paancharaathra raksha 
thus establishes tenets of Paancharaathra, which are made well secured in 
this work of Vedantha AchArya.

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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