You are here: SriPedia - SriRangaSri - Archives - Sep 2004

SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00166 Sep 2004

 
Sep 2004 Indexes ( Date | Thread | Author )
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]


SrI:
SrImathE Nigamantha mahadesikaya namah:

Dearest srivaishnavas, 

Today- Purattaasi ThiruvONam- Uttamamaana Purattaasi
ThiruvONa nannaaL? Only Sri Ramanujacharya
[Thiruvaadhirai] and Swamy Desikan [ThiruvONam] have
the thirunakshathram with Thiru? [SrI] in their stars
and it is Lord?s sankalpam to have them blessed with
the same. They are Acharya saarvabhoumars.

Acharyan is the dispeller of all sins. He removes the
darkness from our minds and removes ignorance. He
gives us new birth (vidya janmam); He is the Father
and the manthram (which He initiates us with) is the
Mother. This birth places us on the path which meads
us to an end to all future births and deaths. He
endows us with divine vision. He has infinite amount
of compassion towards us. He always is interested in
our welfare. On account of all of these, He is always
to be worshipped as the Lord Himself. One should never
harbour any feeling that he is doing a good return for
what Acharya has done by paying few dollars or doing
little kaimkaryam? ahankara mamakaram in kaimkaryam is
like offering milk with an iron dust strand in it
[though unintentional]. 
It is to be offered only as a token of our gratitude.
[saRRallavO munnam peRRadhaRkE] 

First let us look briefly at the life of Swamy
Desikan. {reproduced from Sri mani Varadarajan?s
excellent write up on Swamy Desikan?s life- short and
sweet. Today by reading this ? let us pay our humble
obeisance to Swamy and place our heads at his lotus
feet.. 


SrImAn venkatanAthAryaH kavitArkika kesarI |
   vedAntAcArya-varyo me sannidhattAm sadA hRdi ||

   May the glorious Venkatanatha, the greatest of 
   teachers of Vedanta, and the lion among poets and 
   debaters, reside forever in my heart.

Fellow bhaktas, as we are well aware, today is the
tirunakshatram of Sri Vedanta Desika, greatest of
philosophers after Ramanuja and the whom we adore as
*the* Vedantacharya. Many of you are already 
aware of the details of his saintly life. However,
since it is always a source of inspiration to read how
the great ones lived their lives, especially our
acharyas, I offer a brief biography below.

---

Sri Vedanta Desika was born in 1268 at Thooppul, a
village near Kanchipuram, to Totaramba and Ananta
Suri.  Both parents came from very traditional Sri
Vaishnava backgrounds; Ananta Suri was a Vaidika Sri
Vaishnava belonging to the Yajur Veda, and Totaramba
was the great-granddaughter of Kidambi Accan or
Pranatartiharacharya, Ramanuja's cook and one of his
chief disciples.  The day of Sri Desika's birth
happened to be purattaasi SravaNam, the irunakshatram
of Lord Srinivasa, so accordingly his parents gave him
the name "Venkatanatha".  His titles soon eclipsed his
given name, however, and due to his mastery of Vedanta
and his ability to communicate complex topics easily,
he is universally known as Vedantacharya, Vedanta
Desika, or simply Desika -- the teacher.

Vedanta Desika's maternal uncle was the renowned
scholar Kidambi Appullaar, also known as Atreya
Ramanuja.  It was under him that Desika
studied all the shastras.  He writes that Appullaar
taught him with "as much patience as a man would teach
a parrot to speak." Appullaar in turn had studied
Vedanta under Vatsya Varadacharya (popularly known as
Nadadur "Ammaal") along with Sudarsana Suri, the
author of the Sruta-prakASikA, the famed commentary on
Ramanuja's Sribhashya.  

Tradition records that at the age of five, Desika's
precocious intelligence Attracted the notice of
Varadacharya himself. The latter blessed him and 
predicted that he would be a great scholar, eventually
firmly establishing the greatness of Ramanuja's
philosophy.  The master's words proved prophetic. 
Before the age of twenty, by his own account Desika
had mastered all branches learning current in his day,
both religious and secular. In 
particular, he had an uncanny ability to compose
poetry instantaneously that combined philosophy,
emotion, and devotion.  This combined with
his expertise at the art of debate earned him the
title "Kavi Tarkika Simha", or lion among poets and
debaters.

One can easily trace Desika's life by looking at the
stotras he has composed.  In examining the list of his
Sanskrit and Tamil poems, we find a large number
dedicated to the deities in and around
Tiruvahindrapuram, a temple near the coastal town of
Cuddalore. It appears that shortly after his studies,
Desika moved to Tiruvahindrapuram.  Always a devotee
of Hayagriva Perumaal, the fount of all knowledge, 
Desika meditated here on this form of the Lord and is
said to have had a profound vision of Him. 
Thereafter, he literally burst forth in poetry. Works
such as the Hayagriva Stotram, Raghu Vira Gadyam, 
Gopala Vimsati (all in Sanskrit), Achyuta Satakam (in
Prakrit), Mummanikkovai and Navamani Maalai (in Tamil)
are among his hymns in praise of the deities enshrined
here.  These works are remarkable 
for their poetic and linguistic range, as well as for
their deeply emotional turns.  In his Tamil love poems
to Lord Devanatha, for example, the influence of the
Alvars is transparent, as is his mastery of the Sangam
Tamil conventions.  The rhythmic beauty
of the Raghu Vira Gadyam's prose and his touching
descriptions of the Krishna-lilas in the Gopala
Vimsati are among the high points of the entire gamut
of India's religious literature.

[Interested readers are invited to peruse these
stotras at 
http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/acharyas/desika/stotras ]

At some point, Desika returned to Kanchipuram to
continue his  teaching and writing.  He regularly
visited the many Divya Desams of this town, composing
poems on nearly all of them.  One of them, the
Vairagya Panchakam or "Five Verses on Dispassion",
gives us a rare autobiographical insight into his
personality. Nominally addressed to Lord Varadaraja,
the Vairagya Panchakam is held to be a reply to a
friend, who, upon seeing Desika's abject poverty,
invited him to join the court of the king where he
could lead a more comfortable life. Desika's verses
here display a stern independence of spirit and utter
disregard for material wealth, particularly when it
distracts from the greater wealth of the company of
God. Tradition remembers Desika and his wife as having
led an "unccha-vRtti" life, where he would daily go
about begging for alms.  This is evidenced by his
declaration at the conclusion of the Vairagya
Panchakam that neither he nor his father had any
wealth worth speaking of, save the continuous presence
of the Lord of the Elephant Hill, i.e., Lord
Varadaraja.

Near the end of the 13th century, it is recorded that
several Advaitins came to Srirangam and challenged the
Sri Vaishnavas to a debate. Being advanced in age,
Sudarsana Suri did not feel up to the task, so the Sri
Vaishnavas of Srirangam invited Desika to take the
challenge.  He accepted the challenge and is
said to have vanquished his opponents, and thereafter
took the opportunity to settle down in Srirangam. 
Then, as now, Srirangam was the center of Vaishnava
culture, with very active participation in religious
dialogue and temple festivals.  Desika no doubt 
enjoyed his time in Srirangam very much.  In the
Bhagavad Dhyana Sopanam, a contemplative poem on Lord
Ranganatha, he describes Srirangam as a place where
"great connoisseurs live contentedly, their minds full
of delight".

At this point Desika was in his thirties, and his
scholarly achievements in the service of God were
coming at an increasing pace.  He summarized his
objections to Advaita in the polemic work Satadusani;
he clarified many aspects of Sri Vaishnava ritual
and practice; he constantly elucidated and clarified
the philosophical teachings of his predecessors.  He
himself writes that he taught the entire Sribhashya at
least thirty times; the bulk of these must have 
occurred during his long stay in Srirangam.  It is
also during this period that he wrote many of his
"rahasya granthas", or expositions of the more
esoteric doctrines of the tradition, including the
nature of self-surrender (prapatti), the meaning of
sacred mantras, etc.  

Many of these works are clearly a product of long
discussions with senior scholars living in Srirangam
at the time, such as Pillai Lokacharya, Alagiya
Manavaala Perumaal Naayanaar, and Naayanaar Accan
Pillai.  Many of the thoughts of these other
acharyas are indirectly recorded in Desika's works,
even when they occasionally disagree with his
conclusions.  In this respect, he was very much a
scientist, carefully mentioning and arguing
all sides of an issue, before finally coming to what
he saw was the most logical conclusion.  In examining
these works as well as his exhaustive commentaries on
Ramanuja's and Alavandar's compositions, one is struck
by Desika's thoroughness, and by his desire to discuss
all possible meanings and nuances of an
interpretation, both in the course of anubhavam as
well as argument. Without Desika's careful noting of
the variety of interpretations, many important
meanings would have been lost to posterity. It is no
wonder that the title of "Vedanta Desika" was
conferred on him, as he himself attests to, by Lord
Ranganatha Himself.

It is also in Srirangam that Desika composed the
Paduka Sahasram, 1008 verses on the sandals of the
Lord.  It is said that Desika composed the entire lot
in a single night in response to challenge from
another pandit. In the course of the 32 paddhatis or
chapters, Desika makes countless allusions to the
Alvars, to Sri Ramayanam from which the idea of the
greatness of the sandals nominally comes, as well as
other aspects of philosophy.  The Paduka Sahasram has 
been dealt with in detail by Sri Sadagopan so I will
not delve into this great topic further.

When Desika was in his forties, a son was born to him
and his wife. Reflecting his love for his household
icon Lord Varadaraja Desika named the boy Varada, and
tradition remembers him as Nainacharya or Kumara
Varadacharya. Kumara Varadacharya also became a
scholar of some repute, and we are indebted to him for
recording some biographical details of his father in
his Desika Mangalam, Pillai Antaadi, and 
Desika Dinacharyai.

In 1327, during this fertile period of Sri Vaishnava
scholarship and growth, Malik Kafur invaded Srirangam
from the north, with tragic consequences of which many
of us are aware.  In the ensuing melee, hundreds if
not thousands of Sri Vaishnavas are said to have died,
and the very existence of Lord Ranganatha was
threatened. Led by Pillai Lokacharya, the seniormost
acharya at the time, a group of Sri Vaishnavas
hurriedly left Srirangam with Namperumaal, the
Ranganatha utsava-mUrti, and headed to Jyotishkudi.
There, an exhausted Pillai Lokacharya breathed his
last, unable to take the stress of the invasion and
journey. Meanwhile, the mUla-vigraham of Ranganayaki
Thaayaar was buried in the courtyard in front of Her 
sannidhi, and Desika is said to have supervised the
building of a wall in front of the Ranganatha's
sannidhi to hide the mUlavar.  The aged Sudarsana Suri
was also among those who died during the invasion.
Before his death, he entrusted his two young sons and
the only manuscript of the Sruta-prakASikA to Desika's
care. Desika, the boys, and others hid themselves
among the dead bodies to escape slaughter.

With the invasion of the temple came the need for
Desika himself to leave Srirangam, so he took his
family and the sons of Sudarsana Suri and headed
northwest, settling down first in Satyamangalam, in
present day Karnataka. He then made his way to
Melkote, where he attracted a bright pupil, later
known as Brahmatantra Svatantra Jiyar, the first
Swami of Sri Parakala Matham. From Melkote, Desika
proceeded to Tirupati/Tirumalai, where Namperumaal had
eventually gone, and then to a tour of North Indian
divya desams, including Mathura, Brindavana, Ayodhya,
and Kashi. In the course of this long exile from
Srirangam, seeing the devastating destruction caused
to the holiest of temples, Srirangam, he 
composed the Abhiti Stava, or Prayer for Freedom From
Fear. The Abhiti Stava is a poetic request for
protection from all unholy forces, particularly 
those opposed to the Vaidika lifestyle involving
service of the Lord which Desika practiced. Desika was
perhaps 60 or so during the composition of 
this stotram, as he mentions that his hair has greyed
by this time.

In 1360 [**], Gopanna Udaiyar defeated the Muslims,
and Sri Vaishnavas could once again return to
Srirangam.  Namperumaal was brought back
from Tirupati, and temple servants who had survived
the 30+ long temple closure were invited back.  Sri
Desika, as the senior surviving acharya, was among
those who returned, and a verse of his composition
is inscribed in the temple, recording his presence at
the reopening of Koyil. With the restoration of
Srirangam, Desika now returned to his service of Lord
Ranganatha.  Tradition records that he composed 
Sri Rahasya Traya Saaram, an exhaustive work on the
essence of Sri Vaishnava philosophy, lifestyle, and
the meaning of the esoteric mantras, in these last few
years of his life.

[**] Inscriptions indicate that the date was 1371
("bandhupriya"). However, this has to be reconciled
with the recorded date of Desika's passing, 1369. Some
historians believe the inscription is in error and it
should be "bahupriya", meaning 1360. This is still a
matter of research and debate.

In 1369, with his head resting in the lap of Kumara
Varadacharya and his feet with Brahmatantra Svatantra
Jiyar, Desika left his earthly body and ascended to
Parama Padam. He had lived the full Vedic lifespan 
of 100 years in an exemplary and humble manner,
tirelessly engaged in the service of the Lord and Sri
Ramanuja's sampradAya.  Even given such a long life,
one can hardly imagine how someone can have
contributed so much with so much consistency, and yet
have lived such a simple life of complete poverty. 
For these reasons, Sri Desika forever won the
admiration and reverence of all who where spiritually
inclined, and is rightfully recognized as one of the
foremost scholars and thinkers ever alive.

    kavi-tArkika-simhAya kalyANa-guNa-SAline |
    Srimate venkateSAya vedAntagurave namaH ||

Salutations to Sri Venkatesa, in whom all perfections
reside,who is the teacher of Vedanta and the lion
among poets and debaters!

---

[ Note: For brevity's sake, there are many more
details of Desika's life and works which have not been
mentioned. Many volumes can be written on the subject.
]

Thanks to Sri Mani for granting his permission to post
the same today. 
Swamy Desikan ThiruvaDigaLE SaraNam
Regards
Namo narayanan
dAsan



                
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail - 50x more storage than other providers!
http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail



------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> 
$9.95 domain names from Yahoo!. Register anything.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/J8kdrA/y20IAA/yQLSAA/VkWolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~-> 

 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SriRangaSri/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    SriRangaSri-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 


[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index ] [Thread Index ] [Author Index ]
Home Page
http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia
srirangasri-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
To subscribe to the list