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Re: satvika tyagam

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Mani Varadarajan • September 1, 1998 


> Dear Mani:  how do you interpret the words swasmei and
> swaprityei?
> One can derive pleasure in serving God.
> AdiyEn
> Narasimhan
> (Nedathur Narasimhachari)

Dear Sri Narasimhan,

The sAttvika tyAga as said before the commencement
of any religious ritual is "bhagavAn eva ... sva-seshabhUtena 
                            ^^^^^^^^^^^^
... svasmai svaprItaye svayam eva kArayati."
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Here the meaning is:

          bhagavAn eva     -- God Himself
          sva-seshabhUtena -- through His servant as His instrument
          svasmai          -- for Himself 
                              ^^^^^^^^^^^
          svaprItaye       -- for His own pleasure
                                  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^  
          kArayati         -- is having this performed 
          svayam eva       -- by Himself
            

The operative particles here are "sva", which
refers to the first word "bhagavAn". Our pleasure
plays no part at all, except insofar as we derive
pleasure from seeing bhagavAn pleased. Such is
the meaning of sAttvika tyAga as I have understood
it.

In the Prabandham, the Alvars have expressed this 
feeling countless times.  In "siRRam siRukaalE" in
the thiruppaavai, Andal requests the Lord "maRRai
nam kaamangaL maaRRu" -- change all our remaining
desires, other than our desire to serve you ("unakkE
nAm AtchEyvOm.")  I have been told more than once 
that even the desire for pleasure should be left up 
to the Lord.

Mani