SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImadh varavaramunayE nama:
avathArikai (Introduction)
Further, through some more examples, piLLai lOkAchAryar says that one should not give up the easily accessible AchAryan and desire for bhagavAn who is difficult to attain.
sUthram 449
vidAy piRandhapOdhu karasthamAna udhagaththai upEkshiththu, jImUtha jalaththaiyum sAgara salilaththaiyum, sarith salilaththaiyum vApI kUpa payassukkaLaiyum vAnjikkak kadavan allan.
Simple Explanation
When one is thirsty, one should not ignore the water in one’s hand and desire for water from cloud, ocean, river, pond and well.
vyAkyAnam (Commentary)
vidAy piRandhapOdhu …
Just as a person who is very thirsty, throws away the water in a vessel in one’s hand considering it being easily drinkable as the reason and searches for the water in cloud etc as (1) in sky which is unreachable, (2) in sea which is on the earth, yet far away (3) in river, which is present nearby but will have water only during floods and not during dry seasons (4) in pond, well etc where water is present always, yet one needs tools to dig the ground to bring it out, when a chEthana desires to be protected, one should not ignore AchAryan who is present to help him considering his easy accessibility as the reason, and search for bhagavAn’s various forms as in (1) parathvam which is present in paramAkASam (SrIvaikuNtam) and is difficult to reach (2) vyUham which is in this world, but only help those who can go up to kshIrAbdhi (milk ocean) (3) vibhavam (incarnations) where bhagavAn descends close to people of this world, yet is helpful only for those who lived in such times and not for the future generations (4) archAvathAram, where bhagavAn is present in close proximity but does not interact through discussions etc with chEthanas and (5) antharyAmi, who is present right where the chEthana is present, yet can only be seen through yama, niyama etc which are limbs of ashtAnga yOga.
This is explained in “chakshur gamyam gurum thayakthvA SAsthra gamyam thu ya: smarEth | karastham udhagam thyakthvA ganastham abhivAnchathi ||” (Ignoring the visually seen AchAryan, one who thinks about ISvaran who is to be seen through SAsthram, is similar to the one who abandons water in hand and searches for water from the cloud) and in gyAna sAram 33 “etta irundha guruvai iRai anRenRu vittu Or paranai viruppuRudhal pottenathan kaN sembaLithirundhu aithuruthi nIr thUvi ambudhathaip pArththirupAn aRRu” (Same meaning as previously explained).
adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan
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