<< Previous<\/a><\/p>\n We have seen how the auspicious qualities of bhagavAn<\/a> come as waves from a great ocean, in the previous part. We shall continue from there.<\/p>\n Who is that entity, having such svarUpa rUpa guNas? He is …<\/p>\n paramapurusham bhagavantham nArAyaNam <\/strong>– He is nArAyaNan<\/a>. What sort of an entity is he? He is..<\/p>\n paramapurusham<\/strong> – superior entity. The word “purusha<\/em>” is common to both jIvAthmA<\/a> and ISvaran<\/em><\/a>. In order to point out to the correct entity, the adjective “parama<\/em>” has been added to purusha<\/em>. “parO mA asmAdhithi parama:<\/em>” – there is no one superior to him, hence he is paramapurushan<\/em>.<\/p>\n Is there any name for this most wondrous entity?<\/p>\n bhagavantham<\/strong> – One who has the 6 primary qualities of gyAna bala aiSvarya vIrya Sakthi thEja:<\/em> (we have seen the meanings of these terms several times) and who is responsible for the creation, protection and destruction of universe is called as bhagavAn<\/a>. But then, we know of several personalities who are called as bhagavAn such as vyAsa \u00a0bhagavAn<\/em> (vyAsa, who wrote the epic, mahAbhAratham and various other profound works such as brahma sUthram), nAradha bhagavAn<\/em>, a muni<\/em> (sage) and son of brahmA, and several self-styled bhagavAns. The title “bhagavAn” to these people has been given as a mark of respect and not in real sense of the term. \u00a0However the term fits only one entity and not these persons. To make things clear, now he says…<\/p>\n nArAyaNam<\/strong> – He is nArAyaNan<\/a>, who has no one superior to him, as mentioned in vEdham (nArAyaNAdhbrahmA jAyathE<\/em> (brahmA was born out of nArAyaNa), nArAyaNAdhrudhrO jAyAthE<\/em> (rudhra was born out of nArAyaNa)). nArAyaNa is responsible for the creation of brahmA, rudhra et al. He is paramapurushan<\/em>, bhagavAn<\/a><\/em>, possessing the 6 primary auspicious qualities (gyAna, bhala, aiSvarya, vIrya, Sakthi, thEja:<\/em>). Usage of the two terms nArAyaNam<\/em>\u00a0and paramapurusham<\/em>\u00a0is from purusha sUktham<\/em>. The term\u00a0bhagavAn<\/em>\u00a0has been taken from rahasya AmnAyam<\/em>\u00a0which says that pavithram vAsudhEvO bhagavAn, sankarshaNO bhagavAn, pradhyumnO bhagavAn, anirudhdhO bhagavAn<\/em>, implying the 6 most auspicious qualities of bhagavAn (sankarshaNan, pradhyumnan and anirudhdhan are forms of vyUha vAsudhEva<\/em>\u00a0(bhagavAn in thiruppARkadal or kshIrAbdhinAthan). Of them, sankarshaNan<\/em> is the God for destruction, pradhyumnan<\/em> for creation and anirudhdhan<\/em> for protection and each of these three Gods takes 2 qualities from the 6 mentioned earlier; sankarshaNan has as major qualities gyAna<\/em> and bala<\/em>, pradhyumnan<\/em> has aisvarya<\/em> and vIrya<\/em> while anirudhdhan<\/em> has Sakthi<\/em> and thEjas<\/em>). Taken together, all these would conclusively affirm that the vEdhams refer only to nArAyaNan<\/a> <\/em>in the beginning, middle and end.<\/p>\n Until now the superiority of the entity that we attain (on surrendering) has been described. From here, the prayer that SrI rAmAnuja<\/a> offers for carrying kainkaryam<\/em> (service to bhagavAn<\/a>) is described.<\/p>\n swAmithvEna guruthvEna suhruthvEna cha parigruhya<\/strong> – the larger meanings of the word nArAyaNa<\/em>\u00a0are explained in these terms. There are four main qualities associated with the entity\u00a0nArAyaNa<\/em> – swAmithva<\/em>\u00a0(owner or master), saulabhya<\/em> (easy to access), sauseelya<\/em> (not seeing any difference between self and ASrithars (followers) and moving in a friendly manner with them) and vAthsalya<\/em> (treating faults as virtues in ASrithars). swAmithvEna<\/em> directly refers to his quality of swAmithvam<\/em> (he is the Lord). guruthvEna<\/em> refers to his quality of saulabhya<\/em>\u00a0as he came down from SrIvaikuNtam to become the first AchAryan<\/em> (guru or teacher). saulabhyam<\/em> is associated with teacher as teacher comes down to the level of student to explain difficult terms. suhruthvEna<\/em>\u00a0refers to sauseelyam<\/em> as suhruth<\/em>\u00a0means a person with a good heart (feels for the difficulties of others) and sauseelyam<\/em> as a quality means being friendly with people\u00a0without looking at the difference in levels (level could be one of wealth or intellect or practices). The fourth quality vAthsalya<\/em> is referred to in the term “cha<\/em>” in the above mentioned verse. There is another interpretation given by vyAkhyAthA (commentator) periyavAchchAn piLLai<\/a>. Initially there were three terms, paramapurusham, bhagavantham, nArAyaNam<\/em>. Now there are three terms, swAmithvEna, guruthvEna, suhruthvEna<\/em>. He now compares each of the terms in the first set with each of the terms in the seconod set, in the same order. Thus paramapurusham<\/em> is compared with swAmithvEna<\/em>, bhagavantham<\/em> with guruthvEna<\/em> and nArAyaNam<\/em> with suhruthvEna<\/em>. In purusha sUktham<\/em> (one of five sUkthams<\/em> which were mentioned in vEdhams<\/em> to glorify SrIman nArAyaNa<\/em> and his consorts, SrI, bhU<\/em> and neeLAdhEvi<\/em>), the term purusham<\/em>\u00a0denotes bhagavAn<\/a> being a swAmy; thus there is correlation between the terms paramapurusham<\/em> and svAmithvEna<\/em>. In the treatise rahasya AmnAyam<\/em>, sankarshaNa<\/em> is referred to as sankarshaNO bhagavAn <\/em>(please see the term nArAyaNam above where this has been explained in detail). Since sankarshaNan possesses gyAna<\/em> as prime quality,\u00a0it is tantamount to saying that he is guru<\/em> as only guru<\/em> teaches gyAna<\/em>. Since sankarshaNan<\/em> is called bhagavAn<\/a>, we can infer that there is direct correlation between bhagavAn and guru<\/em> and hence we can see that guruthvEna<\/em> is the equivalent of\u00a0bhagavantham<\/em>. In nArAyaNa anuvAkam (nArAyaNa sUktham), it is said “anthar bahiScha thath sarvam vyApya nArAyaNa: sthitha:”\u00a0<\/em>which means that nArAyaNan<\/a> pervades both inside and outside throughout. Thus he is antharyAmi (one who resides inside). Since he resides inside the heart (hrudhaya<\/em>), he is suhruth<\/em>. And since he is nArAyaNan<\/em>, we can say that nArAyaNan<\/em> is suhruth<\/em>. Thus we establish correlation between nArAyaNam<\/em> and suhruthvEna<\/em>. The vyAkhyAthA gives a third interpretation to bring out the equivalents between the two sets of terms. We are discussing SaraNAgathi (surrendering). swAmithvEna brings the context of sva-swAmy<\/em> relationship (sva<\/em> means property, \u00a0the possession and swAmy<\/em> means Lord, the possessor). guruthvEna<\/em> brings out the Sishya-AchArya<\/em> (student-teacher) relationship. suhruthvEna<\/em>\u00a0refers to friendly relationship as in SaraNam suhruth gathir nArAyaNa:<\/em> (from subAlOpanishadh<\/em>). Hence suhruthvEna corresponds well to nArAyaNam. Thus we have seen correlation among the two sets of terms, paramapurusham, bhagavantham, nArAyaNam<\/em> and swAmithvEna, guruthvEna,<\/em> suhruthvEna<\/em>.<\/p>\n parigruhya<\/strong> – to hold on firmly. Instead of only one \u00a0person (bhagavadh SrI rAmAnuja<\/a>) holding on to him, here the reference is to all the people living in samsAram (materialistic realm) who are holding firmly onto him. Another \u00a0interpretation is – holding on to him in all ways (as mentioned in SAsthrAs, as tutored by AchAryas and as practiced by bhagavAn<\/a> himself). Once he thought about the swAmithvam<\/em> of bhagavan, SrI rAmAnuja thinks about the kainkaryam to be performed to bhagavAn which is the quality of a servitor.<\/p>\n aikAnthika Athyanthika thath pAdhAmbhuja dhvaya paricharyaika manOratha:<\/strong> – aikAnthika<\/em> – with single focus; Athyanthika<\/em> – without end; thath<\/em> – that; pAdha<\/em> – exalted feet; ambhuja<\/em> – lotus like; dhvaya<\/em> – two of them; paricharyA<\/em>\u00a0– to carry out kainkaryam; Eka<\/em> – only; manOratha<\/em> – desire of mind.<\/p>\n aikAnthika<\/strong> – EkAntha sambhandhi<\/em>\u00a0(only bhagavAn<\/a> and servitor; no one else). This word can join with ‘thath<\/em>‘ or with ‘thath pAdhAmbhujadhvaya<\/em>” or with ‘paricharyai<\/em>‘. When it joins with ‘thath<\/em>‘ (that bhagavAn), i.e. thath aikAnthika<\/em>, it refers to the close relationship with bhagavAn, without any cause or reason. If it is taken together with ‘thath pAdhAmbhujadhvaya<\/em>‘, i.e. thath pAdhAmbhujadhvaya aikAnthika<\/em>, it refers to the deep love that the servitor has towards the exalted feet of the master and this is said to be in keeping with the svarUpam<\/em> of the servitor.<\/p>\n thath pAdhAmbhujadhvaya<\/strong> – kainkaryam<\/em> always means carrying out service to bhagavAn<\/a>‘s two exalted feet. His feet secrete honey just like the secretion of a lotus flower. ambhuja<\/strong>\u00a0(lotus) is brought in as a simile to indicate that the enjoyment for the servitor will be sweet and desirous.<\/p>\n dhvaya<\/strong> refers to two feet which are the path (means) for reaching bhagavAn<\/a>. Also, as purushArtham<\/em> (fruit of attaining bhagavAn) it refers to perumAL<\/em> (bhagavAn) and pirAtti<\/em>\u00a0(his consort) together for whom the kainkaryam is carried out.<\/p>\n paricharyA<\/strong> – charyA<\/em>\u00a0– history or carrying out or kainkaryam. Here the meaning to be considered is kainkaryam<\/em>.\u00a0paricharyA<\/em>\u00a0– all types of kainkaryam. Another meaning for paricharyA<\/em> is to keep circling (whether to have dharSan<\/em> of bhagavAn<\/a> or circum-ambulating the garbhagruham<\/em>\u00a0(sanctum sanctorum) of bhagavAn) repeatedly to do kainkaryam.<\/p>\n EkamanOratha:<\/strong> – leaving out all the other prayOjanam<\/em>\u00a0(benefits of attaining bhagavAn<\/a>), focusing only on carrying out kainkaryam to bhagavAn, with devotion and determination.<\/p>\n thath prApthayE<\/strong> – to attain that manOratham (desire of mind) of doing kainkaryam.<\/p>\n cha<\/strong> – also. Is there anything else to be attained and along with that, attain kainkaryam too? Why is he mentioning ‘cha<\/em>‘ here which would indicate that there is more than one prApyam<\/em> (fruit of surrendering)? The vyAkyAthA comes up with a very beautiful explanation here: What is the meaning of “thath pAdha<\/em>” in the words “thath pAdhAmbhujadhvaya paricharyaika manOratha:<\/em>“? It is nothing but ASrithar\u00a0<\/em>(follower). This is because it is the ASrithar<\/em> who is bhagavAn<\/a>‘s exalted feet. Hence SrI rAmAnuja<\/a> is praying for doing kainkaryam not only to bhagavAn but also to his ASrithar\u00a0<\/em>or\u00a0bhAgavathar<\/em>. This is brought out by thiruppANAzhwAr<\/a>‘s first pAsuram “adiyArkku ennai Atpaduththa vimalan<\/em>” (the faultless bhagavAn engaged me in carrying out kainkaryam to his ASrithars<\/em>). Another interpretation given for “cha<\/em>” is that bhagavadh SrI rAmAnuja is not only having the desire for carrying out kainkaryam but he also wants to carry out<\/em>\u00a0that kainkaryam. Thus it is one thing to have desire for kainkaryam and the other thing is to carry out that kainkaryam. Hence the word “cha<\/em>” has been added.<\/p>\n Up to now, he has described upEya svarUpam<\/em> (the true nature of carrying out kainkaryam to bhagavAn<\/a>). Now he describes the upAya nishkarsham<\/em> (the certainty of the path to reach bhagavAn) and its anushtAna prakAram<\/em> (the method of carrying out SaraNAgathi). He divides this into three parts. Starting with thath pAdhAmbhujadhvaya prapaththE:<\/em>\u00a0and ending with manvAna:<\/em> he ascertains the path to reach bhagavAn. Then, starting from thasya<\/em>\u00a0and ending with charaNAravindha<\/em> he describes how the path (upAyam<\/em>) will be. Finally, starting with\u00a0ananyAthma\u00a0<\/em>and ending with\u00a0anuvarajEth\u00a0<\/em>he describes how he surrendered.<\/p>\n thath pAdhambhujadhvaya prapaththE:<\/strong> – thath<\/em> – that; pAdha<\/em> – foot; ambhuja<\/em> – lotus like; dhvaya<\/em> – two of them; prapaththE:<\/em> – hold on to firmly or surrender. Earlier we had seen these same terms in thath pAdhAmbhujadhvaya paricharyaika manOratha:<\/em>\u00a0wherein he had described how the two exalted lotus-like feet were readily available for carrying \u00a0out kainkaryam (this is called as upEyam<\/em> or prApyam<\/em> – the fruit of surrendering). Here he says that he is holding on to the two feet as upAyam<\/em> (path to reach bhagavAn<\/a>). This is also referred to by another term, prApakam<\/em>. Thus we see that prApyam<\/em> is also prApakam\u00a0<\/em>(both being attained through the two exalted feet of bhagavAn). This is also confirmed in dhvaya mahAmanthram<\/em> where, in the first line, we hold on to SrIman nArAyaNan<\/em>‘s two feet for reaching him (upAyam or prApakam<\/em>) and in the second line, we carry out kainkaryam to SrIman nArAyaNan (to his feet) which is upEyam<\/em> or prApyam<\/em>.<\/p>\n anyanna mE kalpakOti sahasrENApi sAdhanam asthi ithi manvAna:<\/strong> – anyath<\/em> – other; na<\/em> – not; mE<\/em> – to me; kalpakOti sahasrENApi<\/em> – for very long time; sAdhanam<\/em> – means (path); asthi<\/em> – available; ithi<\/em> – like this; manvAna:<\/em> – in thought. Roughly translated this means that: “As far as my thoughts go, there is no means available for reaching bhagavAn<\/a>, other than his exalted feet, even if one were to search for such means for thousands of crores of kapla”<\/em> (one kalpa is a period in brahmA’s life time, which is equivalent of 1000 times 43,72,000 years of our time).<\/p>\n anyath<\/strong> – other (means for attaining bhagavAn<\/a>). The “means” other than prapaththi<\/em> (surrender). Included in this list are bhakthi, gyAna, karma<\/em>\u00a0etc which are mentioned in SAsthram. If mentioned in SAsthram, wouldn’t these qualify to be means for attaining bhagavAn?<\/p>\n na mE asthi<\/strong> – not available for me. These may be adopted as means by those who have the will power to practice them – rishis, yOgis et al may adopt these means. SrI rAmAnuja<\/a> says that he has been born in this samsAram for thousands of times and he is agyan<\/em> (ignorant), ![\"namperumal-thiruvadi\"](\"https:\/\/divyaprabandham.koyil.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/namperumal-thiruvadi-e1439360825693.jpg\")
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