Sri AparyApthAmr*utha DhAyana sOpAnam of Sri Thirukkudanthai Desikan

[Guest guest]

Isvara Samvathsaram , Iyppasi 2 , Sunday

KrishNa paksha Chathurthi , Kaarthigai/RohiNi

 

Sri KomaLavalli NaayikA sametha Sri AparyAptha

ParabrahmaNE Nama:

 

Sri KrishNa Desika padhAmbhuja Br*ungarAjam

VedAntha LakshmaNa muneendra kr*upAttha bhOdham I

trayyantha Desika yatheendhra satAri mUrthim

GopAla Desika sikhAmaNim aasrayAma : II

 

 

Dear Members of the Bhakthi group :

 

Few weeks back , Sri Sampath Rengarajan of

KumbakONam and Ann Arbor , Michigan presented

me with a rare commentary of a moving sthOthram

of Thirukkudanthai Desikan named " Sri AparyApthAmr*utha

DhyAna sOpAnam . Sri RengarAjan is called by his friends

affectionately as " Rengi " . He is a native of the town

of " Saarangi " or Saaranga Raajan of Thirukkudanthai .

His devotion to Sri RenganAthA of Srirangam and

Sri Oppiliappan of ThiruviNNagar is well documented

in his postings of the Bhakthi list . This sthOthram

composed by Thirukkudanthai Desikan

on AarAvamudhan ( AparyApthamr*uthan )

and its commentary by his seventh generation

grandson was a gift of " Rengi " of the

town of "Saarangi " to me . That is a sowbhAgyam .

I wanted to share the great anubhavam of Thirukkudanthai

Desikan on Sri AarAvamudhan with you all .

 

When I read the commentary of this rare sthuthi of

Thirukkudanthai Amudhan ( SaarangapANi ) , a floodgate of

memories opens up . I have spent my high school years

at Thirukkudanthai . My family stayed at the house

of the seventh generation dowhithran of Sri Thirukkudanthai

Desikan at KaruNai kollai agrahAram . Next door was the brother

of our landlord , ILayavilli Sri SrinivAsAchArya Swamy , who

wrote the commentary of " AparyApthAmr*utha dhyAna

sOpAnam . Our Landlord was the aaradhakar at the

Sannidhi of Swami Desikan at the temple of SaarangapANi

at Thirukkudanthai . These are the personal connections

that make this great aruLiccheyal of Sri Thirukkudanthai

Desikan even more precious to me .

 

Birth of Thirukkudanthai Desikan

************************************

Nine generations ago , there existed a great

AchAryA revered by all who knew him as

Thirukkudanthai Desikan . He was given the name

of Sri GopAla Desikan at birth by his father Sri KrishNa

Desikan . He became the sishyar of the great AchAryA ,

Sri SaakshAth Swami considered as the

reincarnation of BhAshyakArar .

 

Sri Thirukkudanthai Desikan has been recognized

and revered as an aparAvathAram of Swami Desikan

himself . Our ThUppul kula viLakku , Sri NigamAntha MahA

Desikan( 1268-1369AD ) had one regret in his life .

He wished he had had the blessing of being a direct

disciple of BhAshyakArar ( 1010-1116 AD ) . One hundred

and fifty two years had elapsed since BhAshyakArar

ascended parama padham and Swami Desikan came

into this earth as the amsam of the ThirumaNi of the Lord

of seven hills . Hence Swami Desiakn missed the opportunity

of being a direct sishyar of BhAshyakArar . It is believed that

Swami Desikan reincarnated as Sri GopAla Desikan

to fulfil his wish to be the direct disciple of Sri SaakshAth Swami ,

the aparAvathAram of Sri RaamAnujA .

 

Sri Surapuram VenkatArya MahA Desikan has observed

in this context : " BhakthyAgamAntha gururEva yathAthmanA-

bhUth Gopala Desikamaham saraNam prapadhyE " .

 

 

Sri Thirukkudanthai Desikan was born as a result of

the command of Sri Oppiliappan of ThiruviNNagar just

as ThiruvEnkatamudayAn commanded earlier His ghantA

to be born as Swami Desikan at the bank of Vegavathi river .

Sri Oppiliappan's other name happens to be

Sri VenkatAchalapathy and he in turn blessed

us with the bhAgyam of the reincarnation of Swami Desikan

at Thirukkudanthai on the banks of sacred CauvEri this time .

 

Thirukkudanthai is a kshEthram dear to the heart of many

AzhwArs and AchAryAs . NammAzhwAr , Pey , BhUtham ,

ANDAL , PeriyAzhwAr , Thirumazhisai and Thirumangai

have given us 51 paasurams on this aparyApthAmr*utha

para brahmam . Thirumazhisai ascended to Sri Vaikuntam

from this KshEthram . Thirumangai composed the rare

poem , " ThiruvEzhukUrririkkai " in the ratha bhandham

pattern and laid it at the sacred feet of Amudhan at

this KshEthram . PeriyAzhwAr enjoyed Amudhan as

KaNNan , when he assumed the role of YasOdhA piratti.

 

ANDAL enjoyed Amudhan as her Lord and begged Him

not to tarry in blessing Her . Naatha Muni ( 824-924AD )

heard the one decade of Paasuram of NammAzhwAr

beginning with " AarAvamudhE adiyEnudalam

ninpaalanpAyE " and went on a holy pilgrimage to

ThirukuruhUr to have the initiation by NammAzhwAr

himself to bring back the NaalAyira Divya prabhandham ,

which had been lost to all around this time .

 

Many miracles have happened at this divya desam

of Thirukkudanthai . One of them is the birth of

Swami Desikan as Sri Gopala Desikan

to become the Thiruvadi of Sri SaakshAth Swami

( achArya RaamAnujA's aparAvatharam ) .

 

Those who visit Sri AarAvamudhan's temple at

Thirukkudanthai can be blessed to have the sEvA-

bhaghyam of the archA vigraham of Thirukkudanthai

Desikan at the Sri Lakshmi Hayagreevan Sannidhi

at VarAhapura Street of KumbakOnam . Just as Swami

Desikan"s archA vigraham created by him sits in front

of the YogasikhA Hayagreevan at Thiruvaheendrapuram ,

Thirukkudanathai Desikan sits in front of Sri Lakshmi

Hayagreevan at AarAvamudhan"s KshEthram .

He is saluting AarAvamudhan and KomaLavalli

ThAyar with their dhyAna slOkams

prior to reciting his moving Sri AparyApthAmr*utha

DhyAna sOpAnam :

 

thrimsath thrikOti vasurudhra divAkarAdhi

DevAthi Deva gaNa santhatham sEvyamAnam I

AmbhOja sambhava chathurmukha gheeyamAnam

vandhE sayAnamiga bhOgini SaarngapANim II

 

Sakala bhuvana mAthA sAgarAdheesa jaathA

praNamath avana kaamA Bhaskara kshEthradhAmA I

sakalitha bhaya mUlA SaarngadhanvAnukUlA

pravimala mukha BhimbhA paathu maam KomaLAmbhA II

 

Just as ThiruppANAzhwAr saluted the SarvAngha soundharyam

of Lord RanganAthA through the ten verses of "Amalan Aadhi pirAn"

and provided the inspiration for Swami Desiakn to enjoy the

insatiable beauty of the limbs of the Lord of Rangam in

deva bhAshA to give us " Sri Bhagavadh DhyAna sOpanam " ,

Thirukkudanthai Desikan described the limitless beauty

of the limbs of Sri AarAvamudhan in his " ApayApthAmr*utha

dhyAna sOpAnam " .

 

I will cover the individual slOkams of this sthOthram in

subsequent posts .

 

Sri Munitthraya siddhAntha padminyullAsa bhaskara: I

GopAla Desika : SrimAn jEjeeyath santhatham bhuvi II

 

Oppiliappan koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan

[Guest guest]

Dear bAgwathAs,

 

I am extremely happy to read Sri V.Sadgopan's posting on thiruk

kudanthai desikan and lord amuthan. I look forward to the other

postings on this thread. It is infact a bAghyam for this layman in

myself that I am able to read Sri V. Sadagopan's insights from this

commentary. I simply wish to thank him in advance for this and would

like to add some more information.

 

On Oct 19, 9:59pm, V. Sadagopan wrote:

> Sri AparyApthAmr*utha DhAyana sOpAnam of Sri Thirukkudanthai Desi

> Many miracles have happened at this divya desam

> of Thirukkudanthai . One of them is the birth of

> Swami Desikan as Sri Gopala Desikan

> to become the Thiruvadi of Sri SaakshAth Swami

> ( achArya RaamAnujA's aparAvatharam ) .

>

 

 

Many miracles are also happening even to day and only

a few are observed and passed on to the outside world

though.

 

> Those who visit Sri AarAvamudhan's temple at

> Thirukkudanthai can be blessed to have the sEvA-

> bhaghyam of the archA vigraham of Thirukkudanthai

> Desikan at the Sri Lakshmi Hayagreevan Sannidhi

> at VarAhapura Street of KumbakOnam . Just as Swami

> Desikan"s archA vigraham created by him sits in front

> of the YogasikhA Hayagreevan at Thiruvaheendrapuram ,

> Thirukkudanathai Desikan sits in front of Sri Lakshmi

> Hayagreevan at AarAvamudhan"s KshEthram .

 

Latest:

This LaKshmi hayagreevar vigraham worshipped by Sri thiruk kudanthai

desikan and also the only one existing Swami thiru kudanthai

dEsikan's thiru mangaLa vigragharaham are the family property of my

uncle Sri L.Rajagopalan and his brother Sri L. Jagannathan, both of

whom hail from the same family branches of thirukudanthai desikan as

well and live in Sri varaha kula sannithi theru in kumbakonam. This

book was presented to my father by Sri thiruk kudanathai Andavan of

periyasramam. Sri Rajagopalan is my father's own sisters husband. He is

a retired principal of Govt Arts college and a great aravamuda bhakthAL

and chairs several committee in temple administration even today. He

replaced all the jewelleries of arvamudhan with silver and gold plated

jewels using a collection from immediate family members for about one

Lakh. I had the bAgyam of joining this kaimkaryam to provide the

kavacham for Sri AdisEshan. My uncle could not tolerate the emptiness

at the sannithi after, all the jewelleries were stolen and perumAL was

left with very minimum to wear on. He quickly acted to provide these

temporary jewelleries within 2 or 3 months. My uncle Sri Rajagoplan is

a sishyAL of poundrika puram asramam and he is also the nephew (jeer's

own sister's son) of 43 rd jeer of Ahobila muth known as Sri

devNarvilAham jeer in HIS poorvasramam.

 

My uncle and his brother have recently presented (please

forgive me if this is an incorrect word) this most beautiful maNgaLa

vigraham of Sri Lakshmi hayagreevar to Srimad Poundrika puram ashramam

4 years ago. As similar to how Sri Ramar of thiruk kaNNa puram moved to

Sri vaduvoor and ever since was known as Sri Vaduvoor Ramar, this

maNgaLa vihgraham is now known as Sri Pondrika puram andavan asramam

archA vigraham. Sri Murali has explained about the beautiful features

of this vigraham in his excellent post on Lord Sri Haygreeva and his

ashramam (of courese I didnot tell Sri Murali about this history then.

I have told Sri Anbil Ramaswamy about this some time ago and he was

overwhelmed to learn about the connections) and Sri Vijayaragavan

wanted to go and have darshan of this vigraham in Srirangam when he

visits next time. This is the same vigraham Sri V. Sadagopan has

mentioned above. It is also interesting that Sri V. Sadagopan

inititated a holy mantra of this lord for adiyEn and asked me to look

at the the photo of this Lord as the matra was initiated to me two

years ago. Currently this mangaLa vigraharm is the archA vigraham of

Srimad poundrika puram andavan ashramam.

 

My athimber Sri Rajagopalan mentioned to me about this book

when I was recently in india and asked me to read it. Sri Thiruk kudanthai

dEsikan's picture was

released for the first time by my father Sri R. Sampath to Sri Nrsimhap

priya and Sri Ranganatha padhuka and Srimad Poundrika puram andavan

ashramam two years ago the same time. There is udayavar sannithi near

amuthan sannithi in periya thru. The desikan urasavams are all

connected to this sannithi as well. Thiruk kudanthai desikan is the

main acahAryAL from whom both Srimad ponudrika puram ashramam and Sri

periyasramam branched off. Sri Anbil Ramaswamy is writing an

resourceful artcile on achArya vamsa vriksham in "saranAgathi" journal

and that may cover these in detail.

 

Sri thiruk kudanthai desikan thiruvadikaLE saraNam

Sri kOmaLa vallith thAyAr samEtha drAvida Sruthi darsanaka Sri Aravamudan

thirvadikaLE saranam

 

adiyEn

Sampath Rengarajan