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Sri PVP vyakhyanam of Prathama Jitante stotram shlokam 10.

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M.N.Ramanuja • November 8, 2002 


Sri PVP vyakhyanam of Prathama Jitante stotram shlokam 10.


            		Srimate Ramanujaya Nama:

               Sri PeriyaVachchan Pillai tiruvadigaLE sharaNam 


              shrImat kriShNa samAhvAya namO yAmunasUnavE ;

            yatkaTAkShaika lakShyANAm sulabha: shrIdhara: sadA.


**10.  tvatpAda kamalAd anyan na mE janmAntarEShvapi 

       nimittam kushalasyAsti yEna gachchAmi sadgatim.**


Meaning::-- yEna --By which (means). --sadgatim -- good goal . 
--gachchAmi-- I would attain. --tasya kushalasya-- for such  means. 
--nimittam-- causative initial good deed. --tvat pAdakamalAt anyat-- other 
than thine lotus feet. --mE-- for me. --janmAntarEShu api na asti-- is not 
there in any birth including present and future.


Introduction::-- (tvatpadakamalat etc) God says " Even though I am both 
the  means and goal, the samsAri has been facing away from me and 
attaching himself to sense objects from times sans a beginning. If love 
for Me, preceded by dislike for sense objects have to be born in him, 
is'nt it necessary that he have some initial good deed in his account? 
Is'nt it that once the adoration to me is born in him due to some initial 
good deed, only then true knowledge will be born in him?  Is'nt it that 
from that true knowledge, discrimination of  acceptable and eschewable 
things is born in him? Is'nt it that then only the means for the 
attainment of the goal preceded by avoidance of eschewable things becomes 
desirable to him? Is'nt it thence that the attainment of the goal arises?  
is'nt it necessary that the initial good deed that is the root cause of 
all these must be done by him? ".  In answer man says " that initial good
deed is Your feet alone; I have no other go". This shlokam reiterates the 
previous idea that both the means and the goal  are He Himself. The  means 
and the goal have been identified in the shlokams "tava charaNa dvandvam  
vrajAmi" and "yOgAnAm paramAm siddhim paramam te padam vidu:". 


vyakhyAnam::-- (tvat pAda kamalAt anyat kushalasya nimittam me nAsti) 
For me, just as You alone are the goal as well as the means to attain it, 
so also even the initial good deed for deserving it, is none other than 
Your feet alone. When it was enough to say "tvat anyat kushalasya nimittam 
me nAsti" (there is none other than You as the prerequisite good deed for 
deserving You as the means) why use "pAda kamalam"? For, these two words 
remind one of the goal and the means. The word 'kamala" reminds of the 
enjoyability of the goal whereas the word "pAda" reminds of the means. In 
the verse "charana dvandvam sharaNam vrajAmi" the feet have been 
identified as the means. 

(kushalasya nimittam)  the initial good deed for obtaining the auspicious 
means for attaining the goal. But, as stated in "bahUnAm  janmanAm ante 
jnAnavAn mAm prapadyate", the initial good deed  is  the knowledge of God, 
being a result of good deeds of many births and finally leading to the 
acceptance of the means. So how can we say as in "tvat pAda kamalAdanyat 
nAsti" that there is no other initial good deed than Your own feet? Well, 
(mE nAsti) even though I am ignorant, there is no go other than Your feet. 
Why? Well, what is the effect of good deed?  it is to steer and revert 
one's soul,  away from indulgence in pleasures of sound etc and arousing 
love for God.  And when that is done as explained in  "jitante 
pundarIkAkSha" by the beauty of the Lord,  the initial good deed is also 
His feet alone, as far as I am concerned.     

(janmAntarEShvapi) What if, if one argues that even the reverting of a 
soul by displaying God's beauty could be the consequence of some special 
good deed done in some birth? Well, to revert a person who indulges deeply 
in sense objects, there is no expectation of a good deed and so there is 
no need for some good deed in some birth also. This concept is verily the 
base for Alvar gracefully saying "en Aviyai naduve vanduyyak koLginra 
nAthanai" 

(yEna kushalEna sadgatim gachchAmi)  sadgati means a very great unique 
goal. That is, as in "yogAnAm paramAm siddhim paramam te padam vidu:" the 
paramapadam. Hence the connection is "yena kushalena sadgatim gachchAmi,  
tasya kushalasya nimittam janmAntareShvapi  tvat pAda kamalAt anyat mE 
nAsti". That cause, which would provide the means by which, I would attain 
good goal,  is none other than Your lotus feet, for me, even in other 
births.  In another interpretation, "yena upAyena sadgatim gachchAmi, 
tasya sadgati rUpasya kushalasya hetu bhUtam,  upAyam, janmAntareShvapi, 
tvat pAdakamalAdanyat mE nAsti" meaning, by which means I would attain 
good goal-- for that welfare in the form of sadgati, the causative means, 
even in other births, there is none other than Your lotus feet, for me. 

If the first shlokam is a summary, this verse explains, the word pUrvaja.


contd......


dasan

Ramanuja   



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