SrI deSika stotra-s - 17. SrI acyuta Satakam - Part 3.
From the Bhakti List Archives
• July 12, 1999
SrI deSika stotra-s - 17. SrI acyuta Satakam Part 3. 10. The Life of a prapanna: The main purpose to which a prapanna should devote his life in this world is to do two things: a) to serve Him without any desire for benefit; and b) to help other cetana-s by guiding them towards realizing Him. In a sense, this second item is one way of serving Him, and He keeps the prapanna in this world without taking him right away to SrIvaikunTham just so the prapanna can devote his time to this purpose in this world (61). This service of the prapanna serves as the bridge which the cetana-s can use to cross the ocean of samsAra (62). The prapanna is assured of moksham at the end of his/her life. In the interim, the prapanna accepts the pains and pleasures in the rest of this life as an expiation of the accumulated karma-s. Because of this, the prapanna does not have any fear of death, and looks at death as a bosom-friend visiting his home and welcomes death when it arrives, whole-heartedly (63). Seeing the aj~nAna or darkness in this world, the prapanna does service to the Lord and to this world by lighting the torch of brahmaj~nAna and passing it on to deserving Sishya-s. When this service is performed by the prapanna, bhagavAn considers the prapanna's life's objective to have been accomplished, and takes the prapanna to His abode of SrIvaikunTham (64). Here the prapanna joins the goshTi of garuDa, AdiSesha, and vishvaksena, and has uninterrupted bhagavad-anubhavam while having all the bhoga-s equivalent to bhagavAn Himself (65). 11. The Greatness of prapatti and prapanna-s: Bhakti and prapatti are the two means to attain moksham. Of these, bhakti yoga requires the j~nAna and the Sakti to perform the j~nAna yoga and the karma yoga, practicing which alone one will get the maturity to undertake the bhakti yoga. Knowing the uncertainty and the delay associated with this means for attaining moksha, people who probably had the required j~nAna and Sakti to undertake bhakti mArgam, still discard this as their preferred means for seeking moksham, and instead perform prapatti at bhagavAn's Feet and attain moksham without delay and with certainty (66). The veda-s declare that human life-form is subservient to the deva-s, and is meant to toil to please the deva-s. But while the human being who performs prapatti is assured of attaining moksham, the likes of indra who are superior to the human life-form by their position are still accumulating karma-phalam and are thus going to go through the cycle of birth and re-birth. These deva-s who had this human being as their servant, all of a sudden come and prostrate in front of this prapanna and worship him. The prapanna thus becomes the object of worship of the deva-s not only after they reach SrIvaikunTham but in this world as well (67). 12. The a'nga-s of prapatti: These have been covered a few times before (SaraNAgati dIpikA Slokam 27; nyAsa vimSati 18; nyAsa daSakam 2, 10; etc.). The prapanna in svAmi deSikan finds expression in Sloka-s 74 to 84. He submits to Lord devanAyaka that he is realizing that all the yAga-s and other kAmya karma-s that he has undertaken and continues to undertake are powerless to yield the ultimate benefit, and that His Mercy alone can retrieve him from the heaps of sins that he is committing all his life (74 to 80). He submits to the Lord the complete responsibility for his protection (81). 13. The Importance of practices such as nAma samkIrtanam: The most important first step for the darkness in our mind to disappear and for us to turn to Him for surrender, is bhagavAn's kaTaksham and anugraham itself (68). Simple practices such as nAma samkIrtanam (chanting bhagavAn's name sincerely) will lead to deep-rooted devotion to Him over time. These practices will remove the darkness in our mind, will rejuvenate the soul so that we devote ourselves to His service, and with His kaTaksham we will attain moksham. Thus the nAma samkIrtanam will serve as the strong root on which the tree of moksham will grow and rest. The nectar of nAma samkIrtanam has untold other benefits (69). 14. The Importance of karma (Actions) Done Without Desire For Fruits: svAmi deSikan has emphasized the essence of karma yoga in Slokam 70, as described in SrImad bhagavad gItA (2.40 and 6.40). Any work that is done with the ultimate benefit dedicated to Him and with no expectation of benefit from this action, will always lead to ultimate release from the bondage of samsAra. It is immaterial how small this effort is, or how incomplete it is. There is no sin or other negative effect even if this act is discontinued in the middle for any reason. This is conveyed to us by Lord kr*shNa through Sloka 2.40 in the gItA - nehAbhikrama nASo'sti pratyavAyo na vidyate | svalpamapyasya dharmasya trAyate mahato bhayAt ||, and also in Slokam 6.40 - pArtha naiveha nAmutra vinASastasya vidyate | na hi kalyANakRt kaScit durgatim tAta gacchati ||. 15. svAmi deSikan on anya-devatA worship: svAmi deSikan reiterates the simple reason why anya-devatA worship is unnecessary for those who seek any benefit at all in life, and why it does not make sense for one who is interested in moksha and nothing else, in Sloka-s 71 and 72. All the other gods get their power to bestow their devotee's wishes only by the Grace of SrIman nArAyaNa, through the power that He bestows on them. They can smile on their devotees only if He smiles on them. Without His Will, they don't have any power. And then at best they can bestow some small benefits compared to the ultimate benefit that He alone can give, viz. moksha. This being the case, one can worship bhagavAn directly and get anything one desires, instead of worshiping all the itara-devatA-s who are in between Him and us. There is an even more important reason why one who is interested in moksha and nothing else should only worship SrIman nArAyaNa and no one else. This has to do with a prapanna not even desiring any of the benefits that the anya-devatA-s can bestow on them. So the anya-devatA-s have nothing to give to the prapanna even if they are extremely pleased (itara tridaSAh prasannAh kim hitam karishyanti? - 72). Given that the only benefit that is sought by a prapanna is moksha and no other benefit, the only logical conclusion is that there is no other worship except that of SrIman nArAyaNa that makes any sense. There are two gems that we have come across before, where svAmi deSikan has conveyed the same idea, viz. nothing moves without His Will, through beautiful rhyming poetry. These are: 1. in kAmAsikAshTakam Slokam 8 - tvayi rakshati rakshakaih kimanyaih , tvayi cArakshati rakshakaih kimanyaih; and 2. tvayi pravr*tte mama kim prayAsaih, tvayyapravr*tte mam kim prayAsaih. Similar rhythmic poetry is what we see in the current Slokam also - aprasAde aprasannAh, tava prasAde dAsasatya prasannAh (71). To be continued... -dAsan kRshNamAcAryan _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
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