Swami Desikan in Kanchi

Swami Desikan in Kanchi

From Tiruvaheendrapuram Swami came to Kanchi to spend his time with :Lord Varadan.. After praying at the sannadhi of Jaganmatha Perundevi Thayar and with Her blessing Swami went to Perarulalan and submitted himself to the feet of Varadan ( Athma Samarpanam and Sarira samarpanam) –called Para Samarpanam and took permission from Lord to settle at Toopul. Swami’s literary genius flowed during this period.

Nayaya Dasakam, Adaikalappathu, Varadaraja Panchasat, Asthagiri Mahathmiyam, Vekasethu Stotram, Ashtabhujashtakam, Kamasikashtakam, Sri Vaishnava Dinasari, Artha Panchakam were all rendered during this period. Each work brings forth the total Bakthi of Swami Desikan and his cry to the Lord to free him from this earthly bondage. These works bring to us the greatness of Swami consider himself the poorest of poor for the Lord, accept that during his grahsthasrama period he has committed many sins-knowingly or unknowingly and ask the Lord to pardon him because he has done Saranagadi at Lord Feet.

The greatest contribution of Swami Desikan is the path he showed to attain the eternal Bliss of Sri Vaikundam – easiest and simple one in Nyasa Dasakam . Swami narrates the method of submitting the Prabathi- its five parts and finally the Sathveeka Thyagam.

Five Parts of Prabathi:

1. Submission of one’s soul with the body to the Lord.
2. Leaving the protection of Chethanan to the responsibility to the Lord.
3. Such act-result-the fruits- submit these all to the Lord – the first part-Swarupa Samarpanam, the second-Bara Samarpanam and the third- Bala Samarpanam

Five Angas of Prabathi.

1. To do such things that pleases the Lord-called Anukulya Sangalpam.
2. Not to do such things that is against the will of God-Prathikulya varjanam.
3. To realize that we are helpless with out the Lord and no other mode except surrendering to the Lord and renounce the Ego.-Karpanyam.
4. To have complete faith in the Lord that he alone can protect us-Maha Viswasam.
5. To request God to protect him-Gopthruva Varanam.

The concept of Prabathi is -One should understand that Narayana is the only Supreme God and the ultimate Benefactor and Master and we are all His servants. Such realization is expressed in Sathvika Thyagam. It has three essentials: 1) One should not feel that he has done a particular job successfully and the credit goes to him- Instead one should realize that it is God who has done and he is only a tool to get the work completed. 2) Any benefit achieved from the work entirely goes to God 3) and for the sake of God..
The first one is Karthruva Thyagam, second-Mamata Thyagam and the third one is Bhala Thyagam

Swami Desikan practiced the above and showed us that Saranagadhi is the only way left to us to reach the Abode of God when our soul depart from this body. Once we did this we should desist from the temptations of wordly pleasures. should not do such acts prohibited by the scriptures and do such acts that pleases the Lord. We are at the mercy of the Lord and our acts like food habit, movement, spiritual environment etc in consonance with the teachings of our Acharya- who initiated us the Baranyasa.

Swami brought out in Tamil Adaikalapathu –Tamil version of Nyaya Dasakam. In this Swami elaborates about Swanishtai, Uktinishtai, Acharya Nishtai, Bhagavathanishtai.

Swanishtai-about persons having full knowledge required for performing Prabathi.

Ugtinishtai- about persons who can not do Swanishtai take the guidance of Acharya about the ways of performing Prabathi.

Acharyanishtai-intended for persons who cannot do both the above surrender the Acharya and request him to perform the Prabathi on their behalf.

Bhagavathanishtai: To request the Lord to pardon a devotee to get rid of any Bhagavatha Apachara committed after undergoing Prabathi.

Nowadays Swanishtai is practiced by very few.
Ukti Nishtai and Acharya Nishtai are followed by Ahobila Mutt , Swanishtai and Bhagavatha Nishtain are followed by Munithraya Sampradaya.

Pundarikaksha was living in Vijayanagar as guide to the king. His wife is Appullar,s daughter. He was performing Aradhana to Lord Hayagriva. One day the Lord appeared in his dream and asked to hand over the idol to Swami Desikan accordingly the Swami received the idol and worshipped the Lord with Nithya Aradhana.

The above idol is now with Parakala Mutt as the Presiding Deity.

( to be cont )

R.Jagannathan.