Dear Friends, Seven hundred and thirty-four years ago, in the year 1268 CE, on this day, Swami Desikan was born as Venkatanathan to his parents, Anantha Suri and TotAmba, in a small village called Thuppul on the outskirts of the famous town of Kanchi. Today we in Kuwait are gathered here this evening to celebrate the memory of Swami Vedanta Desikan on his 'tirunakshtram' and to offer him our obeisance. We may ask ourselves, "Why are we doing this?", and the answer is: If only we knew enough about this great soul, his life, personality and his works, we would realize it is important to commemorate him not only once every year on his 'tirunakshatram' but every day of our lives. How should we know him? One of the easiest ways to get to know about the life and work of SvAmi Venkatanathan is through the prefatory verse, called 'tanian', with which you are all familiar. We recite it at the beginning of all his works. And also through the colophon recited at the end viz.: srimAn venkata nAThArya kavitArkika kEsari vEdAntAchArya varyOmE sannidhatAm sadAhrudi kavitArkika simhAya kalyANa guNashAlinE srimathE venkateshEyA vEdAnta guravE namaha In the first verse we say, "May Venkatanathan ever reside in our hearts" ("venkata nathArya ... sannidhatAm sadAhrudi"). And through the second, we say, "Our obeisance to Venkatanathan" ("venkatEshAya... namaha"). Now, why do we express such sentiments of deep reverence to Swami Venkatanathan? Is it because he was: (1) a "kavi-kEsari" -- a glorious poet? (2) a "tArkika-simham" -- a lion amongst philosophers? (3) a "kalyANa guNa shAlin" -- a person of rare and sublime human qualities? (4) a "vEdAntAchAryA" or "vEdAnta-guru" -- a preceptor or guru who showed The Way, the "Art of Living", to followers not only of his times but to posterity as well? The answer is: The memory of Swami Venkatanathan deserves to be remembered for all 4 reasons above but especially for the last mentioned i.e. as a Vedantic 'guru' he showed us how we must live out the time given to us on earth and the purpose to be achieved. Let us begin however with the first of the 4 reasons: As a "kavi-kesari", a poet in many languages, Venkatanathan was peerless in his times and after. Before him, the only poet of perhaps equal stature, in terms of both quality and output, was the legendary KalidAsa. To this day scholars find it impossible to adequately describe the range and power of his poetic prowess. Desikan wrote extensively in Sanskrit and Tamil and to a lesser extent in PrAkrut and ManipravAlam. His collection of Tamil poetry is known today as 'dEsika-prabhandham' and enjoys a status equal to that of the inspired outpourings of the mystic AzhwArs. In Sanskrit, he composed well over 2000 stanzas of exquisite Sanskrit poetry on a variety of religious themes but mostly in praise of Deities of famous temple-towns like SriRangam, Tiruvengadam, Kanchi and a host of others. His poetry flowed in a dazzling variety of forms such as short couplets and long quatrains, 'stOtra', 'gadyam', 'dandakam', all in every known metric rhythm possible -- from the simple 'mAlini' metre to the long-winded 'sArdUlavikreedita'. In his famous work praising the Lord at Tiruvengadam, titled 'dayA-satakam', Desikan composed 108 stanzas in 10 different metres each being most appropriate to the underlying theme of the verse. Desikan's poetic inspiration was pure magic and almost superhuman in genius. One evening in SriRangam, where Desikan lived and worked several years, a rival poet contemptuously challenged him to compose poetry on the most shabby and un-poetic of themes on earth -- a pair of common footwear! Next morning Desikan astounded the rival, and the rest of the world too, with a poetic work of 1000 stanzas entitled "PadukA-sahasram"! One thousand stanzas in Sanskrit of the highest order, in praise of the sacred Sandals of Lord Ranganatha, the Deity of the temple! Written in one sitting within the course of one night! Desikan was hailed "kavi-kEsari" also because he was an acknowledged master of phonetics and linguistics. He could create beautiful sounds out of words. He could also weave, with equal ease and felicity, meaningful words out of pure sound. As an example of the first case, we can turn to 2 particular verses in the 'stotra' of "kAmAsikAshtakam" where Desikan evokes the fearsome, awe-inspiring image of "jvAla-nrsimha", the man-lion 'avatAr' of NarayAnA. In these 2 stanzas, composed as they are of hard syllables and harsh, guttural-sounding consonants, the words are made to sound like the roars of an angry lion. Listen to the following: vikasvara nakha svaru xata hiraNya vaxaH sthalii nirargala vinirgalad.h R^idhira sindhu sandhyaayitaaH. avantu madanaasikaa manuja pa~ncha vaktrasya maam.h aham.h prathamikaa mithaH prakaTitaahavaa baahavaH.. 6 saTaa paTala bhiiShaNe sarabha saaTTaa haasodbhaTe sphurat.h kR^idhi parisphuTad.h bhR^ikuTike.api vaktre kR^ite. kR^ipaa kapaTa kesarin.h danuja Dimbha datta stanaa saroja sadR^ishaa dR^ishaa vyativiShajya te vyajyate.. 7 If the above verses show us how words use pure sound to create images, in the 'pAdukA-sahasram' Desikan demonstrates how the reverse effect can also be achieved with equally telling effect -- where meaningful words are woven out of pure sound: pAdapA pAdapA pAdapA pAdapA pAdapA pAdapA pAdapA pAdapA pAdapa pAdapA pAdapA pAdapA pAdapA pAdapA pAdapA pAdapA (939 Paduka-Sahasram) Now if any poet of lesser stature than Swami Desikan were to pen lines like the above, and try and pass it off as poetry, it is likely he will be taken to be a raving lunatic. But Desikan's genius shows us how even seemingly senseless sound can be made to contain lofty poetic meaning. The above stanza when read as follows: pAdapA-apAdapA-aapAda-pApA-dapA, pAdapA, pAda-pApA-dapA-apAdapA pAda,pApAda, pApAda-pApAda-pApAda, pApAdapApA-adapApAdapA yields the following meaning in very rough English translation: "The pAdukAs of Lord of SriRangam -- render sinless all things and all beings of this world -- protect all beings in this world and the other -- reward all men who do their bounden duty by their parents and punishes those that fail in it -- elevates the devotees of God in the eyes of all the worlds -- maintains eternal order in both heavenly and earthly spheres". No wonder indeed, it was then as it remains today, that Swami Desikan was hailed by one and all as "kavi-kEsari". ******* ******* ********* (to be continued) dAsan, Sudarshan __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? 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