Srimathe Ranga Ramanuja Maha Desikaya Namaha
Sri Ranganatha Divya Mani Padhukabhyam Namaha
Acharya parampara of Srimath Andavan Ashramam continues in this posting with
Srimath Thirukkudanthai Andavan - Sri Vedantha Ramanuja Mahadesikan
Srimath Thirukkudanthai Andavan: Thirunakshatram: Panguni - Pushyam
Thanian:
Srimath vedhantha ramanuja munikarunalabdha vedhantha yugmam
Srimath Srivasa yogeeswara gurupadhayorarpithaswathma bharam
Srimath Sri ranganathahvaya munikrupaya praptha mokshasramam tham
Srimath Vedhantha ramanuja munimaparam samsraye desikendram
Given below is the history of Srimath Thirukkudanthai Andavan ? Srivedantha
ramanuja maha desikan,who took Srirangam Srimath Andavan periAsramam to
glorious heights of growth spreading it literally across length and breadth of
the country.
Avataram
Srimath Thirukkudanthai Andavan was in the born in a small village called ?
karukudi? (situated next to Thirukkandiyur in Tanjore district) in the banks of
river Kaveri in the Parabhava year - Panguni month ?with pushyam as his birth
star -( 1907) to Sri. U.Ve. Padmanabhachariar and Komalavalli devi. He was
named as ?Srinivasaraghavan? He was fondly called by everybody as ?Kannan?.
Kannan swami was taken to Srirangam periAsramam many a times by his father
during His childhood days. He used to observe the paduka Aradhanam being
performed there and when he came back to kudanthai, he will play with friends
of his age posing himself as an acharya, wearing a cloth up to knee height and
will have a dhandam in his hand and proclaim himself as Andavan. He will carry
the water in ?kottankacchi? ? a dried coconut shell ( Srirangam periAsramam is
also called kottankacchi Asramam) and distribute the ?theertham? in the same
way Srimath thErezhundur Andavan used to do ( focusing both His eyes in one
direction). He will do all this with out the knowledge of his father.
Sri Padmanabhachar swami taught him the arulicheyalgals of Alwars ? Nalayira
divya prabhandham at a tender age and swami mastered the tamil vedham , before
he completed 14 years. He also learnt sAstras in Kottaiyur , under the tutelage
of Sri. Seshasayee
Sri padmanabhachAr swami sent his son to Raja patasala in Kamakshi josyar
street for some time to learn more on sastras. Later swami learnt tharka,and
meemamsa,vyakarana sastras under shri devanagar vilagam swami . He stood as a
paragon, gaining extensive knowledge in all the sastras . He also qualified
for Sanskrit Sironmani fromThiruvaiyaru Sanskrit college. Whenever Nammandavan
and Engalandavan visited Thirukkudanthai in their respective times, Sri Kannan
swami performed kalakshepams on adhyatma sastras under their lotus feet. One of
those times, Srimath Engalandavan performed ?Bhara samarpanam? to Sri Kannan
swami in Amudhan sannidhi. Swami had been performing kainkaryam to divya desam
perumals even much before becoming Andavan.
Life as a Gruhasta
By the age of 14, swami having mastered the whole of Divya prabhadham became a
leading member in the adhyapaka ghosti. At the age of 16, He got married to
Sri vedavalli ammal. She was the sixth daughter of Neduntheru krishnaswamy
Iyengar. For his livelihood, swami started giving upanyasams at a very young
age.
Swami used to visit Tanjore , every Sunday to render kalakshepams on Geetha
Bhashyam.
Four sons and two daughters were born to swami in his gruhasthasramam. After
his father?s demise, swami with the blessings of his Acharya, went to Chennai
to take care of his family needs.
Move to Chennai
When swami went to chennai, Akkur varadachar swami, an ardent devotee of
sreemad Akkur Andavan,and a great business magnet , requested Him to stay in
his thirumaligai and arranged for swami?s rendering of kalakshepams in various
sabhas through out the city.
Kannan swami had His own distinct and inimitable style of rendering upanyasam.
It simply mesmerized the listeners who were always seeking more at the end of
His upanyasams. At that time His contemporaries in upanyasams were stalwarts
such as karppangadu
venkatachariar swami, kanchi vidwan prathivadhi bhayankaram Annangarachariar
swami.
As a parent, Swami performed his duties very well by giving good education to
his children and led his gruhastasrama in a blessed manner
His Acharya Bhakti which was so deep rooted in his heart prompted him to visit
Srirangam several times to seek the blessings of Srimath Thembarai Andavan.
Srimath Thembarai Andavan,seeing his Acharya bhakthi not only ordained him to
look after the administration affairs of the Asramam ( by appointing him as Sri
karyam of the Asramam) but also commanded Him to stay permanently in Srirangam.
In 1963, Srimath Thembarai Andavan became very weak and emaciated due to strict
Ahara niyamams and old age and wanted to nominate His successor to adorn the
Acharya peetam. Sri Kannan swami who had unassuming Acharya bhakthi,
rigorous observance ofanushtanams, and great administrative skills immediately
came to his mind. This very thought made Srimath Andavan feel happy and His
Holiness apprised Sri kannan swami about this and was optimistic that Sri
Kannan swami would oblige.
Taking up sanyasam
Srimath Thembarai Andavan became weaker as the days passed by. So His Holiness
gave upadesam on ?Preksha manthram? and ?Mokshasrama Ahnika Anushtanam? to
three vidwans of the Asramam - U.Ve. Sri. Kannan swami(the incumbent for the
succession,) U.Ve. Sri. Mysore GopalachAr swami( who later on became Srimath
Mysore Andavan in the year 1988) and Mannargudi Ganapadi vidwAn U.Ve. Sri.
Narasimhacharya swami , to be ready and take up sanyasam any time when called.
When swami was in chennai, Srimath Andavan?s niyamanam kept on occurring to
his mind and swami appeared to be reluctant in taking up sanyasam due to
family circumstances.,.
Sri. Kannan swami?s son, Sri. Gopalan told his father that he had dreamt about
Srimath Thembarai Andavan telling him that He had gone to viraja nadhi and come
back and asked him to send his father immediately and take up sanyasam. GopAlan
also told his father that he would take care of his mother (swami's dharma
pathni) and asked him to proceed to Srirangam. Sri Kannan swamy finally
decided to prepare himself for sanyasam and accept Srimath Thembarai
Andavan?s Niyamanam.
On April 4th 1963, Srimath Andavan's condition became worse Sree karyam Sri.
U.Ve. kannan swami was informed of Srimath Andavan?s health and immediately
kannan swamy
rushed up to Srirangam. On His arrival, arrangements were speeded up for His
thureeyasrama sweekaram.
Early morning the next day i.e. on 5th april, 1963 (Friday, sukla dwadasi,
makam star), in the presence of sishyas, His Holiness Srimath Thembarai Andavan
ordained the ascetic order to Sri U.Ve. Kannan Swami who was named as Srimath
Vedanta Ramanuja maha
Desikan and within few hours on the same day (April 5th 1963) Tembarai Andavan
adorned Thirunadu .
This illustrious Acharya Peetam of Srimath Andavan,developed centrally on His
Holiness Thirukkudanthai Srimath Andavan vedantha ramanuja maha desikan.
He was a great scholar in Nyaya, Vyakarana, and so much he was at ease in the
recitals of Nalayira Divya Prabhandham, Srimath Ramayanam, Bhagavath Vishayam
and sukthis, Having taken to ascetic order, casting away plentitude of wealth
, this great Acharya had assimilated in himself extreme, rigid and rigorous
life of a sanyasi, the strict austerity and highly puritan life of his
predecessors scorning all luxuries.
Sancharam
Poorvacharyas like Sri Periandavan, Sri Nammandavan and Sri Akkoor Andavan went
by padayatra to places such as Melkote, Mysore, Kanchi, Ariyakkudi,sethu.
Srimath Andavan covered over 30000 km by foot from sethu to Himachalam through
out the length and the
breadth of the country and set up various Asramams in places very far away from
South India.
During His time, Srimath Andavan Asramam grew leaps and bounds throughout the
country. This was truly a golden period in the annals of the Asramam as it
witnessed itself a phenomenal growth and a meteoric rise. His Holiness
constructed many Asramams
throughout the country during His period and also conducted many Temple
samprokshanams,Yagnams, Homams and performed mangalasasanams of various Divya
desams, Vijaya yathras from Kanniyakumari to Badrinath and held Many Vidvath
Sadas to name a few.
Srimath Andavan observed 26 chathurmasyams spanning 26 years from 1963 to 1989
and reached Thirunadu on Vibhava varusham ?panguni madham-Krishna panjami day
(10-04-1989) leaving behind thousands of grieving disciples and admirers, whose
divine anubhavams with His Holiness during His life time remain carved in
their memory forever.
In the next posting adiyen will continue with the history of acharyas beginning
with Srimath Mysore Andavan.
Srimath Andavan Thiruvadi
Perungadambanur Parthasarathy Sreenivasan
(of Besant Nagar)
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