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PART V, Swamy Desikan's Taathparya RathnAvaLi: 2nd SlOkam .

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Sadagopan • December 16, 2001 


Dec 16, 2001: Marghazhi ThingaL Dinam

ANDAL ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam
                 
SrI:

Sri RanganAtha ParabrahmaNE Nama:

Dear RasikAs of Swamy NammAzhwAr's dhivya prabhandhams:

On this sacred day , adiyEn will continue with the second
SlOkam of DTR:

Praj~nAkhyE manTasailE praTitha-guNa-ruchim nEthrayan samprAdhAyam 
tatthal-labdhi-prasakthai: anupadhi vibhudhai:arTithO VenkatEsa:
talpam kalpAntha-yoona: SaDajith-upanishadh-dhugdha-sindhum vimaTnan 
graTnAthi svAdhu-gAdhA-lahari-dasasathI: nirgatham rathna-jAtham

(meaning): This VenkatanATan of ThUppul through the help 
of the churning rod (manTasailam) of VisEsha Jn~Anam 
acquired from his AchAryAs churned Swamy NammAzhwAr's 
ThiruvAimozhi (Upanishad Saaram in Tamil) with the rope of 
SampradhAyam just as Sriman NaarAyaNan churned once the milky 
ocean to bring out the nectar for the DevAs;that Sriman NaarAyaNan 
is forever youthful even at the end of a kalpam (KalpAntha
Yoona:). Swamy NammAzhwAr's ThiruvAimozhi is the bed of
milky ocean for the Lord. This VenkatanAtan of ThUppil
churned that milky ocean consisting of Upanishads
and through that effort generated the various ,multi-
splendored gems from the thousands of waves of bliss 
caused by the effort of dedicated churning.He assembled 
these wonderful gems that arose from the sweet milky 
ocean of ThiruvAimozhi and constructed a RathnAvaLi
(DhramidOpanishad RathnAvaLi). This VenkatEsa kavi of
ThUppul was requested by great scholars ( vibhudhai: arTithO
VenkatEsa:) to create this rathnAvaLi through the dedicated
analysis (Churning ) of the vyAkhyAnams of PoorvAchAryAs , 
who enjoyed the taathparyams of ThiruvAimozhi through their 
own unique anubhavams.

Additional comments:
********************
The Sri VaishNava PandithAs equal to DevAs in glory 
were very keen on comprehending the GuNams of the Lord
saluted by Swamy NammAzhwAr . They were aware of 
the individual focus on one or more GuNams of the Lord 
by the different commentators based on their enjoyment
of the dasakams and the sathakams .They wanted to know
more about the individual guNams celebrated by Swamy 
NammAzhwAr in each of the ThiruvAimozhi Paasurams .
Propelled by their desires , the PandithAs approached
Swamy Desikan to fulfill their wishes.Swamy Desikan
used the visEsha Jn~Anam growing out of the Jn~Anam
acquired from his AchAryAs to undertake this effort.
That VisEsha Jn~Anam served as the Churning rod to
bring out the visEsha Taathparyams housed in the individual
paasurams of ThiruvAimozhi. The rope used to move 
the churning rod was the sampradhAyam ( AchArya UpadEsam).

The object of churning was the SaThAri Soori's 
milky ocean of Upanishads( ThiruvAimozhi:SaThajith 
Upanishad dhugdha sindhu). What arose form that effort 
of churning the Milky ocean of ThiruvAimozhi 
was the most delectable thousands of sweet waves 
carrying amidst them the many-hued , splendid gems
( SvAdhu-ghAdhA-lahari-dasa-sathI-nirgatham rathna-
jAtham). 

The reason for Swamy Desikan equating ThiruvAimozhi
to the KshIrAbdhi (Milky ocean) is because the dhvaya Manthra
dhyAna slOkam is about the Lord reclining on AadhisEshan
in the Milky ocean. ThiruvAimozhi is well accepted as 
the commentary on Dhvaya manthram (DhIrga saraNAgathi).
Therefore , Swamy Desikan compares ThiruvAimozhi to
the milky ocean ( SaThajith-Upanishad-dhugdha-Sindhu) 
and his  churning of that ocean of upanishads (Sindhum
VimaTnan) to the effort of the Lord's amrutha Matanam .
Out of that churning of the thousand (dasa-sathI) arose
the delectable sweet waves in thousands (SvAdhu-ghAdhA-lahari-
dasa-sathI-nirgatham) bearing many splendid multi-hued gems.
Swamy Desikan collected them and strung them together 
to string a necklace (rathnAvaLi) in response to 
the requests of the scholars to enjoy the guNa ruchi of 
the individual Paasurams of ThiruvAimozhi of Swamy NammazhwAr.

ThiruvAimozhi is a Prabhandham . There are ten patthus .
Each of them have 100 plus paasurams (Sathakams). Each of
the Patthus have ten units called decads (dasakams).
Each of the dasakams have ten paasurams usually .

In intrepreting the meanings of these paasurams and 
the particulatr guNams behind the dasakams and
Sathakams , poorvAchAryALs had their own unique 
insights and anubhavams , which helped Swamy Desikan
to enjoy the traditional view points on Bhagavath guNms
( tatthal-labdhdhi-prasakthai: anupadhi). These different
emphasis during individual intrepretations by PoorvAchAryALs
is fully acceptable and these differences enhance the anubhavam 
of ThiruvAimozhi. For instance, Thirukkurhai PiLLAn PirAn 
--in his Six thousand PaDi-- emphasises Parathvam (Supermacy )
of the Lord. Others like PeriyavAcchAn PiLlai and Eedu grantha 
kartha focus on other kalyANa guNams of the Lord like 
Soulabhyam , Souseelyam , DayA et al. There is truly no 
conflict in these different intrepretations ( no abhiprAya
BhEdhams). Swamy Desikan says that he highlighted the different
focuses on the Lord's auspicous attributes ( anantha kalyANa 
GuNams of Sriman NaarAyaNan) by different commentators 
(sampradhAyam) and during that process created a necklace
made up of the gems (Taathparya RathnAvaLi) that resulted 
from his effort of churning the milky ocean of ThiruvAimozhi.
 
Sri RanganAyaki SamEtha Sri RanganAtha ParabrahmaNE Nama: 
Daasan, Oppiliappan Koil VardAchAri SatakOpan 




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