Source: here.
Vaṇśaṭhakōpadayā
lokācāryāya gurave kṛṣṇapādasya sūnave | saṃsārabhogisaṃdaṣṭajīvajīvātave nama:||
śrīmān veṅkaṭanāthārya: kavitārkika kesarī | vedāntācāryavaryo me sannidhattāṃ sadā hṛdi ||
The Concept of Charamopaya in Sri Vachana Bhushanam
“ācārya abimāṉame uttārakam”
This is the famous sutram of Pil̤l̤ai lokācārya which is the crux of his magnum opus work Sri Vachana Bhushanam. Recognised as the 5^(th) Upaya by Pil̤l̤ai lokācārya, this involves placing the ācārya himself as the means by the shishya.
He explains in Sri Vachana Bhushanam as to how the ācārya forms the means for the shishya. If the shishya surrenders to Srimannarayana directly, out of His own freedom He may or may not grant mukti. If one surrenders to an ācārya then one is essentially rid of any such doubts with regards to salvation.
Here, one may wonder whether such a thing was espoused by Vedānta Deśika too. We shall show that the concept of Ācārya Nishta which Deśika takes as a type of prapatti is essentially the same as the charamopaya of Shri Pil̤l̤ai Lokadeśika.
Acharya Nishta in Vedanta Desika’s Teachings
We now look at Deśikan’s definition of Ācārya Nishtai:
“ivarkal̤il ācārya niṣṭhan putra: preṣya: tathā śiṣya iti evaṃ ca nivedayet ĕṉṟu śāṇḍilya smrutyātikal̤il cŏllukiṟa ācāryaṉuṭaiya ātmātmīya bharasamarppaṇattil tāṉum antarpūtaṉ”
ācārya niṣṭhan is the one who is included in the prapatti done by the preceptor.
Analogies Explaining Acharya’s Role
He further explains this in his own nyāsa tilakam (s. 21):
andho’nandhagrahaṇavaśago yāti raṅgeśa yadvat
paṅgurnaukākuharanihito nīyate nāvikena |
bhuṅkte bhogān avidita nṛpa: sevakasyārbhakādi:
tvat saṃprāptau prabhavati tathā deśiko me dayālu: ||
Just like how a man with good eyesight leads a blind man, a boatman ferries a lame man across a river and a child of a servant of the king enjoys the benefits of its father’s position without any knowledge – in the same way in attaining the Lord the ācārya becomes the instrument for us.
Acharya Abhimana: The Acharya’s Grace Upon the Disciple
Now, Pil̤l̤ai lokācārya explains ācārya abhimāna in his work Arthapanchakam as follows:
“ācārya abhimāṉamāvatu ivaiyŏṉṟukkum caktaṉaṉṟikke iruppāṉŏruvaṉai kuṟittu, ivaṉuṭaiya viḻvaiyum, ivaṉaipĕṟṟāl īcvaraṉukku uṇṭāṉa prītiyaiyum anusantittu, stanantayapprajaikku vyāti uṇṭāṉālatu taṉ kuṟaiyāka niṉaittu auṣata sevaiyai paṇṇum mātāvaippole ivaṉukkāka tāṉ upāyāṉuṣṭāṉam paṉṉi rakṣikkavalla parama tayāl̤uvāṉa mahābhāgavata abhimānattile ŏtukki…”
ācārya abhimāna is that where the ācārya seeing his disciple having no capacity to do prapatti and his lowliness considers the fact that Ishvara will be joyous if He gets this person. Therefore, just like a mother who takes medicine for curing the disease of her child which is being breast fed, the ācārya does the Upaya anushtana on the behalf of the shishya. Pil̤l̤ai Lokam Jeeyar in his commentary mentions:
“inta cetaṉa nimittamāka ācāryaṉākiṟa tāṉ īcvaraṉai kuṟittu upāyāṉuṣṭāṉam paṉṉi varaṇattukkumuṭpaṭa ivaṉukku atikāramillāmaiyāle tāṉ prapattyupāyam paṇṇi ĕṉṟu karuttu”
As the Chetana has no adhikara to perform prapatti, the ācārya does so on his behalf.
viśadavāk śikhāmaṇi maṉavāl̤a māmuṉikal̤ too in his upadesa rathnamalai explains the concept of Ācārya Abhimana in the famous pasuram which is the very lifeline of his work.
“ñāṉam aṉuṭṭāṉam ivai naṉṟākave udaiyaṉāṉa
guruvai aṭaintakkāl – mānilattīr
teṉār kamalat tirumāmakal̤ kŏḻuṉaṉ
tāṉe vaikuntam tarum”
Oh people living on Earth! If you surrender to your AchAryan who has true knowledgeand activities aligned to that knowledge, śrīmannārāyaṇa, the lord of lakṣmī who dwells on the lotus full of honey, will grant vaikuṇṭha to you, on his own.
Pil̤l̤ai Lokam Jeeyar explains the above as follows:
“jñāṉam aṉuṭṭāṉam ityātiyāl: upāya adhyavasāya rūpamāyum upeya dvārā viṣayamāyum uṇṭāṉa aṟivu. ….. …ivaṉukkāka tāṉ upāyāṉuṣṭāṉam paṉṉi rakṣikkavalla parama tayāl̤uvāṉa mahābhāgavataṉ” ākaveṇumiṟe”
Here jnana represents the knowledge of the means as well as the goal. Anushtana is putting it into action with the words of surrender as done by Nammazhwar…Therefore a preceptor is the one with whom one should seek refuge. He should be the merciful one who performs surrender to bhagavan on behalf of the shishya.
Acharya’s Role in Performing Prapatti on Behalf of the Disciple
In vilakṣaṇa mokṣādhikāri nirṇayam too, Erumbiyappa mentions the following echoing Vedānta Deśika’s Nyasa Tilaka shloka as well as Pil̤l̤ai lokācārya’s arthapañcakam:
“upāyatvamāvatu, svarūpānurūpamāṉa vruttiviśeṣaṅkal̤aiccŏṉṉāl aṟiyattakka jñāṉa vaiṣatyamum anuṣṭikkattakka caktiyumillāta bālamūkajaṭānta paṅkubatirātikal̤ bhagavannirhetuka kaṭākṣa prasaraṇamuṇṭāy sāmsārika karma pravruttiyil viraktiyum janmajarāmaraṇāti cokaṅkal̤il pītiyum janittu ārttarāṉavivarai kaikkŏṇṭu tayāparavacarāy jñāṉānuṣṭāṉanopateca yŏkyataiyillāmaiyāle avarkal̤ukkāka tāme śaraṇavaraṇampaṇṇi auṣatasevāyokyataiyillāta stanantayaprajaikku vyātiyuṇṭaṉāl tāṉ auṣatasevaippaṇṇi taṉ stanyapāṉattāle rokattai nivruttippikkum mātāvaippole ivarkal̤aittāmapimāṉittu..”
The ācārya becomes the means as follows: Due to the causless mercy of the Lord, people who have no knowledge nor practice get fear of the sufferings in this material world due to births and deaths. The ācārya accepts them and as they don’t have any qualifications for receiving knowledge, practice he himself does sharanagati on their behalf just like how a mother takes medicine to cure a breast-fed baby. He gets them under his glances and therefore lifts them out of this material world.
All these are summarized by Periyavachan Pil̤l̤ai in his sakala pramāṇa tātparyam. He calls those who have surrendered through their ācārya as para-nyasta bharar.
“svayam nyasta bhararākiṟār: sadācārya krupaiyāle labda jñānarāy svadoṣattai anusandittu hitaparaṉāṉa sarvecvaraṉ śrīpātattai tāṅkal̤e ācrayikkavañci sarvecvaraṉukku patniyāy vallapaiyāy sarvātmākkal̤ukkum svāminiyāy mātāvāy avaṉoṭe nityasamyuktaiyāṉa pirāṭṭi prasātattāle payaṅkĕṭṭu vātsalyāti samastakalyāṇakuṇakaṇaviciṣṭaṉāṉa śriya: patiyiṉuṭaiya tiruvaṭikal̤ai tammuṭaiya aniṣṭa nivruttikkum iṣṭaprāptikkum upāyamāka āśrayikkumavarkal̤.paranyastabhararākiṟār: taṅkal̤ukkāka ācāryaṉāle anuṣṭikkpaṭṭa etātruśa nyāsattai uṭaiyavarkal̤”
svayaṃ nyastabharas are those who through the grace of their preceptor gain knowledge and realising their own drawbacks surrender to the feet of śrīmannārāyaṇa by themselves. They surrender first at the feet of lakṣmī who is the spouse of the Lord, ruler of all souls as well as their mother being inseparable from the Lord. By her grace they proceed to surrender at the feet of śrīmannārāyaṇa who is endowed with all auspicious attributes as the means.
paranyastabharas are those whose ācāryas have done the above surrender on their behalf.
Swami Deśikan in his rahasya ratnāvalī mentions these briefly in a sutram:
“issamarpaṇattai tāṉ anuṣṭikkavumām, taṉakkāka ācāryātikal̤ aṉuṣtikkavumām”
Conclusion: Unity in Thought Between Pillai Lokacharya and Vedanta Desika
It is well known that during the process of pancha samskaram ācāryas of Shri Pil̤l̤ai lokācārya’s sampradayam recite churnikas from gadya trayam and surrender to bhagavān with the mediation of rāmānuja and lakṣmī requesting Him to protect the shishya.
This is typically done as a part of yāga saṃskāra representing the process of ātmasamarpaṇa which is taken to be a great sacrifice. Nampillai while commenting on the phrase “cĕyta vel̤viyar” in Tiruvaimozhi 5.7.5 refers to those who have accepted bhagavan as the means as having performed the true sacrifice. Therefore claims that those belonging to Pil̤l̤ai lokācārya’s sampradayam do not have bharanyāsam done to bhagavān are unfounded.
All these show that the caramopāya of Pil̤l̤ai lokācārya is the same as Ācārya Nishta as expounded by Vedānta Deśika. There is variation only in terminology but not in the essential understanding. This proves Deśika’s statement made in his saṃpradāya pariśuddhi:
“śrībhāṣyakāraruṭaiya siṣya-sampratāyaṅkal̤il ŏṉṟilum arthavirodhamillai. vākyayojanābhedame ul̤l̤atu.”