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Swamy Desikan-5 (maNipravALa works)- Thoopul maNdapam kaimkaryam appeal

From the Bhakti List Archives

Madhavakkannan V • July 27, 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.

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 RamaÂ’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 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  )
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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