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Dhadhibhandan's clay pot

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sadagopan iyengar • November 5, 2001 


 
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   Moksham for DhadhibhandanÂ’s Clay Pot
Dhadhibhandan and his clay pot
---------------------------------
 dear bhgavatas,people say that good things flow out
of good things. this is indeed true, for the earlier
beautiful qestion about dhadhibhandan and his clay pot
has prompted shri sudarsan's excellent narrative.
 The question posed was, if Dhadhibhandan's claypot
could attain moksha without any effort or elaborate
mokshopaya, why at all are bhakti or prapatti required
for us ?
 Swami Desikan is quite categorical_"EdEnum oru
prakAram AgavumAm, ArEnum oruvar anushttikka AgavumAm,
prapattikkau alladu sarVesvaran moksham kodukka
irangAn endradu Ayitru"- that is, unless prapatti is
performed by oneself or by someone acting on behalf of
one, or in some fashion if not directly by the atma
concerned, the Lord would not grant moksha.
 how to reconcile these two positions? 
 The spirit of the Rahasyatraya sara sreesookti is as
follows, as applied to the present question-
 The clay pot, in its poorva janma, must have
definitely adopted Bhakti Yogam, and its janma must
have come to an end before the bhakti could fructify.
hence in its next janma as the clay pot, it had the
fortune of bhagavat thirumeni sambhandam, and attained
moksham without any apparent effort on its part. the
question could be asked- if it were such a puNyAtmA,
why did it take birth as a clay pot at all? but one
has to only refer to the history of mahatmas like jada
bharata, to conclude that the ultimate janma of gnAnis
need not even be human.   It is only thus that one
could explain the pasuram, "narpAl ayOttiyil vAzhum
charAcharam mutravum narpAlukku uytthanan" (even the
blades of grass in Ayodhya were given moksha by Sri
Rama).  if this were not agreed to, then the elaborate
moksha mArgAs prescribed by various Upanishads, Sri
Geeta, and poorvAchArya anushttAnam,etc. would become
irrelevant and uncalled for.
       And as for prapatti performed by acharyas for
animals,etc., Sri Chandilya Smriti,( as quoted by
swami Desikan in Srmad RAhastrayasaram) lays down-
  "pasu:manishya:pakshi vA yEcha Vaishnava samsritA:
   tEnaiva tE prayAsyanti tad vishno: paramam padam"
  This makes it clear that whether it be animals,birds
or other beings, if they seek the refuge of a Sri
Vaishanava, they too are assured of liberation. So,
there is no wonder in acharyas performing bharanyasam
for animals,etc., and their attaining moksha without
any apparent effort on their part, as did
DhadhibhAndan's pot.
 without any pretence of having dealt  with the
weighty question adequately, adiyen trusts adiyen has
been able to throw some light on the matter, to the
best of adiyen's limited faculties.
-dasan,sadagopan.




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