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SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00115 Mar 2007

 
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Srimathe Ranga Ramanuja Mahadesikaya namaha
Srimathe Srinivasa Ramanujam Mahadesikaya namaha
Srimathe Vedantha Ramanuja Mahadesikaaya namaha

Kannaswamigal ? The Upanyasa Chakravarthy to Vedantha
Ramanuja MahaDesikan.

Adiyen wishes to share a few of my experiences of this
great acharyan whose centenary thirunakshatram we are
celebrating.

True to Munitryam heritage he can be viewed as a
combination of Yathirajan, Swami Desikan and
TirukuDandai Desikan. For those that had the bhagyam
of knowing him will vouch he was all three in one!!
(or probably more)
In his poorvashramam days, the mahan who was called
Kannan swami was undoubtedly the unparalleled among
upanyasakars. Always brimming with gyanam and
vairagyam he turned out to be quite wealthy for those
days, after all. 
It was sometimes mentioned that he would remark about
going in a car to next street from his thirumaligai in
Mambalam. It is this very same mahapurushan who gave
up everything and after taking sanyasam took to the so
called ?highways of India? trveling from South to
North and East to West. True to some of the
obligations of sanyasashramam he kept moving
constantly covering the breadth of India. On the way
of course he inspired, transformed and mersmerized
common folks and scholars alike. People of all walks
of life, religion and caste were attracted to him,
somehow because of his engaging small-talk or
scholarly upanyasams.

Every place that this mahan treaded with the bare
soles of his feet we know he surely and absolutely
left a huge mark behind ? it was in the form of a
flourishing ashramam, temple or patashala, almost
always. Every major city can probably attest to that. 
If only we looked up from his thiruvadi, we can still
hear the echoing of  His upanyasams. They were the
most lucid, entertaining and scholarly, even of the
most difficult thathvaarthams of SriVaishnavism and
believe me every one of them was like that. 

A lot of my reminiscing comes from my boyhood spent at
Jayanagar ashramam and his visits to Bangalore, for
which he had a very special liking ? not the place but
The People there. My parents would take my brother and
me almost everyday to spend the entire evening to be
with the Acharyan, and this happened for the months he
was there. There was something about him that
attracted so many people to have his blessings. 
There was probably none that missed his eye, with whom
he did not have atleast a few minutes of
conversations. Well two minutes into it, people around
would be bursting into laughter for a really catchy
remark he made or a subtle observation of people and
things around him. The beauty of the times were that
the environment had strictness associated with
sanyasashramam, yet was so lively and joyous. 

For the ones that have had the bhagyam of listening in
person to his upanyasams you will recognize, in our
lifetime there was and never will be one like it ever
again (pardon me here, it is like remarking ? my Mom?s
cooks the best, but?). His Thiruppavai upanyasams,
Bhagavad Vishayam, Ramayanam, Geethai etc. attracted
people in numbers like that of a rock concert of these
days. Mami?s and Mama?s, people young and old alike
turned out in such huge numbers at Malleshwaram and
Jayanagar and other places. 
Most people back in the 1970s and 60s of India spent
their Money and time wisely, every bus charge, auto
fare or Petrol fill-up was done with caution, but in
spite of that day after day 30 days at a stretch
people turned out to listen to this Acharyan whose
commentaries were most delectable. From his simple
examples of every day life to Sakkarai pongal he had
something for everybody to help understand our
sampradayam. Adiyen can recall his description of
something as simple as a dhadhiyodhanam, which would
immediately take the simplest person to the madapalli,
and the more complex ones to Brindaavanam or Vaikuntam
in his varnanai, such was his delivery.

Now if we could for a moment pause, to look or imagine
his physical eyes, well the divinity of it was none to
compare against. I would like to say it was surely
better than the Lord he loved the most, of course only
next to the lord at Kudanthai. His eyes absolutely
reflected karunai for everybody that went up to him
and the steely toughness to guide us through life. 
He had such a keen observation, in the many hundreds
and thousands that came to his upanyasams, he knew to
remark if somebody had?nt attended that day or was
late and even spent a few extra minutes on small talk
waiting for somebody to arrive ? a scholar or an
ordinary loukikan has surely this baghyam, am sure. He
truly through his divya kadaksham has touched many,
many people?s hearts and lives. He made everybody that
came to him feel welcome and important, that many
people even today will tell you that they were so so
close to this mahan. True to his poorvashramam name he
lived the life of Dear Kannan to one and all, and
adiyen can only imagine us to be gopikas of lore. 

Srirangam Srimad Andavan Ashramam is celebrating this
event in a grand manner at Srirangam on the 28th March
and is also being web casted live for one and all to
see. Please join in celebrating and remembering The
greatest acharyan of our times. 
Vist www.ramanujamission.org for details on the
webcast.
Besides Sri Ramanuja Mission Inc. USA, a branch of the
ashramam is helping celebrate the event in many
centers across USA, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia,
Canada etc. Please join one of those celebrations,
details are in the web page above.
And finally, if you would like to send in an acharya
sambhavanai a small token to celebrate a great life
(Acharyans and yours too) please do so, details are
available at he website above.

His Thanian reads - 
Srimath vEdhAntha rAmAnuja munikarunalabdha vEdhAntha
yugmam
Srimath ShrIvAsa yogIswara gurupadhayOr arpitha
swAthma bhAram
Srimath Sri ranganAthAhvaya munikrupayA praptha
mOkshasramam tham
Srimath VEdhAntha rAmAnuja munimaparam samshrayE
dEsikEndram



 
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