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PART X: Swamy Desikan's Taathparya RathnAvaLi: Seventh SlOkam

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Sadagopan • December 20, 2001 


Friday , Dec 21 , 2001
 
Sixth ThiruppAvai :" PuLLum Silampina KaaNN " Dinam

ANDAL ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam
                 
SrI:

Dear RasikAs of Swamy NammAzhwAr's Dhivya Prabhandhams:

On this Sixth ThiruppAavi day , adiyEn will continue with 
the Seventh SlOkam of DTR. 

Deva: SrImAn svasiddhe: karaNamithi vadan yEkamarTam sahasrE
sEvyathvAdhIn dasArTAn pruTagiha sathakir-vakthi tasTapanArTAn
yEkaikasyAth parathvAdhishu dasaka guNEshvAyathanthE taTAthE
tatthath-gATA-guNAnAm anuvidhadhathi tatth-pankthya: pankthisamkhyA

Comments: PerumAL becomes the UpAyam for Baddha Jeevans
to attain Him . This central doctrine could have been stated
in a single paasuram by Swamy NammAzhwAr . Instead , he used 
"1000 paasurams " of ThiruvAimozhi to descibe this . Why ? 
Azhwar decided to take that elaborate route , since he was 
inextricably involved and deeply absorbed in the bliss of 
enjoying the limitless auspicious attributes (anantha KalyANa 
GuNams) of PerumAL. 

Thousand is made up of ten individual hunderd counts
(10x 100 = 1,000). AzhwAr decided therefore to focus on 
TEN particular GuNams of Sriman NaarAyaNan in the Ten 
individual Patthus (Sathakams)  of his sacred Sri Sookthi 
of ThiruvAimozhi containing " 1000 paasurams ".He folded
these Ten GuNams into one guNam of the Lord as the integrated 
message of this Prabhandham.The progression in AzhwAr's 
hierarchy is the single Paasuram , the group of Ten paasurams
(Thirumozhi) , the group of 100 paasurams ( Patthu/Sathakam )
made up of Ten Thirumozhis of each Patthu . Ten Patthus together 
make up the entire ThiruvAimozhi of "1000 Paasurams" .
In actuality , ThiruvAimozhi consists of 1102 Paasurams 
grouped under the headings of Sathakams/Patthu, 
Dasakams/Thirumozhis and individual paasurams. 
 
Swamy NammAzhwAr has dealt with one GuNam in each of
the "1000 Paasurams". Thus there are Ten related GuNams 
in each Thirumozhi.As the Ten Thirumozhis/Dasakams folds
into their next set of hierarchy, the Patthus /Sathakams , 
the Saaram of these 100 interrelated guNams is brought out 
for each of the Ten Patthus.Those Saarams are distilled 
further into a central message of the "1000 paasuram " 
long ThiruvAimozhi. That Central and pervading message is 
the quintessential meanings of the Four Vedas and their 
1132 Upanishads ( 21 for Rg Vedam +101 for Yajus + 1001 for 
Saama Vedam + 9 for ATarvam ).That Central message is about 
the MahA GuNam of Sriman NaarAyaNan that He stands in 
the place of UpAyam (means ) for the Bhaddha Jeevans 
and He is the UpEyam ( Goal) for them as stated very 
clearly in the Charama SlOkam of PaarthasArathy
( Maam yEkam SaraNam vraja--MokshayishyAmi maa sucha:).

adiyEn will now revert to the sacred upadEsam of Swamy 
Desikan in this Seventh SlOkam about the totality 
of the message of ThiruvAimozhi and its components 
spread across the Sathakams , Dasakams and all
the way down to individual Paasurams . Looked at
from the other end , Swamy Desikan shows how 
the building of the mansion of ThiruvAimozhi was
done by Swamy NammAzhwAr with one GuNam at a time.
Individual GuNams in each of the Paasurams seem to be
like the the building blocks to construct the mansion of 
ThiruvAimozhi to celebrate the mahA GuNam of PerumAL.

Here are the passages from Swamy Desikan's Upadesam
quarter by Quarter of the slOkam:

" Deva: SrImAn SvasiddhE: KaraNam ithi vadhan 
yEkamarTam SahasrE": PerumAL (Sriman NaarAyaNan)
reveals that the UpAyam (means) for the bound Jeevans
to attain Him is through Him ( " Tannai JeevarkaL peRa
ThAnE UpAyam aahirAn"). Surrender to Him is the UpAyam.

"SevayathvAdhIn dasArTAn pruTagiha sathakair-vakthi 
tath-sthApanArTAn " : This upadEsam about His MahA 
GuNam by PerumAL is built upon or established through 
the ten Saara GuNams covered by the Ten individual Patthus 
of ThiruvAimozhi such as Sevyathvam , BhOgyathvam et al ,
(which is covered in detail in the next slOkam of DTR.)

"yEkaikasyAth ParathvAdhIshu dasaka-gunaEshvAyathanthE":
Those ten saara GuNams of the individual Ten Patthus 
such as Parathvam , Bhaktha ParAdhInathvam and others
are folded into the mahA GuNam of His UpAyathvam for
reaching Him as the ultimate goal (upEyam).

" TaTAthE tatthath-ghATA-guNAnAm anuvidhadhathi
tatth-pankthaya: pankthi-samkhyA:": The GuNam such as
Parathvam saluted in the First Patthu sets the stage
as it were for the Saara GuNam of the Second set of
Hundred( IraNDAm Patthu). This progressive movement 
forward continues with the salutations to the rows 
of GuNAs ( GuNa VarisaikaL). Each one take their bow
on the stage of ThiruvAimozhi in a time sequenced 
manner reaching towards a thundering finale with
the integrated tribute to the MahA GuNam of the Lord
standing in as the UpAyam ( the light on the Hill to guide 
our way to Him across the darkness of SamsAram).

Swamy Desikan is a special lamp in the rows of AchAryAs.
We will always be indebted to Him for His mahOpakArams
to chase away the ajn~Anam and for filling our minds with
sadupadEsams to develop the ruchi for Prapatthi and lead us to 
a SadAchAryan  for Prapatthi so that we can secure 
the eternal gift of Moksham from Sriman NaarAyaNan.
Therefore , the uninterrupted NithyAraadhanams for Him 
in His birth place of ThUppul and for DhIpa PrakAsan , 
the PerumAL of His birth place are vital Kaimkaryams 
for every SrI VaishNavan . Please come forward and 
support the NithyArAdhanam Project with whatever you can .
adiyEn will continue to appeal to You all until there is
strength in my hands to write about Swamy Desikan's
SrI Sookthis. Please do not hesitate to support. 

Sri RanganAyaki SamEtha Sri RanganAtha ParabrahmaNE Nama: 
Daasan, Oppiliappan Koil VardAchAri SaThakOpan 



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