Divine revelations of lOkAchArya – 10

bhagavAn who is the supreme master will consider the activities of the jIvAthmA as subservient to him, since the jIvAthmA himself is subservient to him.


Translator’s note: When a jIvAthmA surrenders to bhagavAn, bhagavAn takes full control of jIvAthmA’s life. piLLai lOkAchAryar
explains this principle in mumukshuppadi 258th sUthram while explaining
charama slOkam. In charama slOkam, krishNa says to arjuna “mOkshayishyAmi” (மோக்ஷயிஷ்யாமி) – I will protect you. piLLai lOkAchAryar highlights in his sUthram “ini unkaiyilum unnaikkAttith thArEn, en udambil azhukkai nAnE pOkkik koLLEnO?” (இனி உன்கையிலும் உன்னைக்காட்டித் தாரேன், என் உடம்பில் அழுக்கை நானே போக்கிக் கொள்ளேனோ?) – I will not let you take care of yourself, Will I not clean the dirt on my body myself?”. Here mAmunigaL‘s
commentary is classic. Let us see the gist of it. krishNa says “Thus far,
you have been thinking yourself as independent. But now you have
surrendered unto me after understanding yourself as a totally dependent
entity just as the body is totally dependent on the soul”. krishNa comforts arjuna by saying that it is his own responsibility to remove the ignorance from the mind of arjuna and protect him fully.

bhagavAn descends as various incarnations to dispel the miseries of his devotees. For the benefit of the ones who are born after his incarnations are complete (so they dont miss out on his mercy), he comes and lies down at various temples like srIrangam, etc.


Translator’s note: In bhagavath gIthai 4.5 to 4.9, kaNNan emperumAn reveals the purpose of his many incarnations. He says that he appears time and again to protect his devotees, annihilate the miscreants and establish the dharmam. But these major incarnations happen once or twice in every yugam. In dhvApara yugam, bhagavAn appears as krishNan. For the ones who missed his grace during rAmAvathAram, krishNAvathAram, etc., bhagavAn appears as archAvathAram and stays in various dhivyadhEsams. This principle is explained by thirumangai AzhwAr in thirunedunthANdagam 10th pAsuram “pinnAnAr vaNangum sOthi thirumUzhikkaLaththAnAyE” (பின்னானார் வணங்கும் சோதி திருமூழிக்களத்தானாயே) – For the benefit of the ones who missed out on your parathvam, vyUham and vibhavam, you have accepted this most radiant form in thirumUzhikkaLam.

For the ones who have absolute faith in dhivyadhEsams such as thirumalai, srIrangam, etc. which are very dear to emperumAn himself, everything in such dhivyadhEsams will be desirable.


Translator’s note: dhivyadhEsams are most dear to emperumAn. He descends to dhivyadhEsams to bless his most accessible forms to his devotees and to gather new devotees. Thus, our AzhwArs and AchAryas have shown great attachment towards dhivyadhEsams. For the ones with great faith and attachment towards dhivyadhEsams, everything that is present in dhivyadhEsams are desirable and favourable. Couple of incidents in our pUrvAchAryas lives highlight this. When ananthAzhwAn once descended down from thiruvEnkatam hill, he opened his package of prasAdham and observed some ants in them. He immediately closed his package and rushed back to the hill and let the ants free there. He was fully faithful to the words of AzhwArs who declared even nithyasUris accept various forms to come and serve thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn in thirumalai. In srIrangarAja sthavam, parAsara bhattar identifies that nithyasUris accept the forms of trees and plants in srIrangam.

samsthAnam – form; aprAkrutha samsthAnam – divine (spiritual) form. bhagavAn transforms his own divine form (which is untouched by any blemish) into human, animal, etc.,forms as part of his incarnations. He facilitates the jIvAthmAs to meditate on such divine appearances and forms and there by stop their cycle of birth and death.


Translator’s note: bhagavAn manifests his divine/blemishless form (that is seen in paramapadham) in this world also. This is explained by nammAzhwAr himself in thiruvAimozhi 3.5.5 “angu vaiththu ingup piRanthu” (அங்கு வைத்து இங்குப் பிறந்து) – nampiLLai in eedu vyAkyAnam beautifully highlights from bhagavAn’s own words from gIthA slOkam 4.6 “… prakruthim svAm adhishtAya …” (ப்ரக்ருதிம் ஸ்வாம் அதிஷ்டாய) – I descend with my divine form into this world. And for ones who become attached to his divine birth – they will be freed from the cycle of birth and death. krishNa himself says in bhagavath gIthA 4.9 – “janma karma cha mE dhivyam Evam yO vEththi thathvatha: thyakthvA dhEham punar janma naithi mAm Ethi sOrjuna” (ஜந்ம கர்ம ச மே திவ்யம் ஏவம் யோ வேத்தி தத்வத: த்யக்த்வா தேஹம் புநர் ஜந்ம நைதி மாம் ஏதி ஸோர்ஜுன) – Oh arjuna! One who truly understands my divine birth and divine activities, once they give up their body in this life, they will never be born again in this samsAram.

When some one approaches bhagavAn for something other than bhagavAn himself (worldly pleasures, kaivalyam – enjoying ones own AthmA), they can leave bhagavAn once their goal is achieved. But there is no reason to leave bhagavAn for the ones who approached him with him as the goal. This is the position of the ones who are immersed in bhagavAn fully.


Translator’s note: Our nature is to serve bhagavAn without any expectation in return from him. The various types of people who approach bhagavAn are explained by kaNNan emperumAn himself in bhagavath gIthA. In 7.16, he explains this beautifully:


chathur vidhA bhajanthE mAm janAs sukruthinOrjuna
ArththO jigyAsur arththArthI gyAnI cha  bharatharshaba

• vishNu manthram – shadakshari – 6 lettered – Om namO vishNavE – this simply says he is pervading based on the etymology of the word vishNu (vishl – vyApthi – pervasive). 

• vAsudhEva manthram – thiru dhvAdhasAkshari – 12 lettered – Om namO bhagavathE vAsudhEvAya – “sarvasya vasathi ithi vAsudhEva” – one who pervades everywhere. while this says bhagavAn is pervading everywhere, it does not explain the full auspicious nature of bhagavAn – though, “bhagavathE” in this manthram identifies the 6 auspicious qualities of bhagavAn – its still not complete in all aspects.

• nArAyaNa manthram – ashtAkshari – eight lettered – Om namO nArAyaNAya (also known as thirumanthram) – nArAyaNa explains bhagavAn’s full auspicious nature. From this name, we understand that bhagavAn is residing in all chith and achith (sarva vyApakathvam) and both chith and achith are also sustained/held by bhagavAn (AdhArathvam). Since bhagavAn‘s true nature is fully revealed in this manthram, this is considered as the top most manthram. 

dhvaya mahA manthram is further expansion of thirumanthram and it reveals the relationship with srIman nArAyaNan and srI mahAlakshmi clearly. Thus our AchAryas held this manthram in high esteem and showed great attachment towards it.