Sri Desika Prabhandham Tapes : A vote of Thanks !

[Guest guest]

Dear Members of the Bhakthi Group :

 

Few days back , I had the good fortune of receiving

the set of three tapes on Sawmi Desikan's Tamil

Prabhandhams recited by Sri SevilimEdu SrinivasachAr

Swamy and Ghoshti with lucid and scholarly introduction

by Sri NadAthUr Madhavan of Virginia . I understand that

Sri Dileepan of Tennessee was instrumental in recording

the original tapes in India and that Sri Madhavan linked

the Prabhandhams with his brilliant introductions and

used the most modern equipment to assemble these tapes .

 

I want to express my sincere thanks for the invaluable

contributions of Srimans Dileepan and Madhavan in making

these rare treasures available to us with the help of

of one of the rarest and most competent groups

reciting the NINTEEN Prabhandhams in the most

sampradhAyic manner . It is a thrilling experience

to listen to these tapes and celebrate the sarva Tantra

Svathanthra aspect of Swami Desikan . The range and scope of

the topics covered by Swami Desikan , his upadEsams to us

and his moving salutations to the Divya Dampathis are

captured very well by the introductions of Sri Madhavan

as a compliment to the sonorous renderings by the Sevilimedu

Swami and Ghoshti . The availability of the original text

of the Sri Desika Prabhandham for down loading at

the web site maintained by Sri Dileepan ( www.cdc.net/

dileepan/ahobilam.html ) is a great resource . We are

grateful to him for spearheading this Kaimkaryam

and enlisting Sri Madhavan to join in the acquisition

of Sri VaishNava kaimkarya Sri .

 

In the first tape , Taniyan , ThirupaalAndu and the Thiru avathAram

of Swami Desikan are covered . The 19 prabhandhams follow .

At the end of the third tape , Swami NainArAchArya's ( Sri Kumara

Varada Desikan , the son of Swami Desikan"s ) tribute to

his father and AchArya , PiLLai AndhAthi and Sattumurai are included .

This set of three tapes are a rare assembly of one of our Kula dhanams .

They have been priced at 25$ for the set , which is a thoughtful

gesture on the part of Srimans Dileepan and Madhavan .

 

For the benefit of those , who may not be familiar with

the text of the Desika Prabhandhams , I will include a

very brief description of the 19 prabhandhams covered by

these tapes .For additional information ,I would like to refer

you to the excellent introductions to the individual prabhandhams

by Sri Madhavan .

 

1. Adaikkala Patthu ( 11 paasurams ) : Swami Desikan"s

prapatthi at the sacred feet of Sri VaradarAja PerumAL of Kanchi.

I had the good fortune to write about these paasurams recently .

 

2. Maivirada MahAthmyam ( 29 Paasurams ) : Salutation to

Sri VaradarAjA of Kaanchi and the greatness of satyavratha

KshEthram ( Kaanchipuram ) .

 

3. MummaNik kOvai ( 10 Paasurams ) : Salutations to Lord

DevanAthA of Thiruvaheendrapuram . The doctrines of

Sri Vaishnavism is embedded in the text .

 

4. NavamaNi Maalai ( 10 Paasurams ) : Salutations to

Lord DevanAthA of Thiruvaheendrapuram , where Swami

Desikan spent many years of his life .

 

5. Prabhandha Saaram ( 18 Paasurams ) : Particulars about

the 12 AzhwArs , thier birth stars and the month of births ,

their prabhandhams and salutations to Thiruvarangatthu AmudanAr ,

the author of Sri RaamAnuja NoorandhAthi are included .

 

6 . AdhikAra sangraham ( 56 paasurams ) : In these 56 stanzas ,

the contents of the 32 chapters of Swami Desikan's magnum opus

is summarized. For great AchAryAs following Swami Desikan ,

the recitation of these verses is an important part of their

daily life . Vangipuram Navaneetham KrishNamAchArya

Swami used to recite them even , when he was incapacitated by

a cruel stroke . Sri Srirama DesikAchAr swamy wa sthe gifted son

Of Sri KrishNamAchArya Swamy of Oppiliappan Koil

and wrote the commentary for the Desika Prabhandhams .

 

7. GeethArtha sangraham ( 21 paasurams ) : A metrical summary

of the 18 chapters of GitA following the path shown by AlavandAr

in his pioneering commentary on GitA . Few months back , I had

the good fortune of posting number of articles on this Prabhandham

of Swami Desikan .

 

8 . Tirucchinamaalai ( 11Pasurams ) : Tribute to the divine

sound of Thirucchinnam , a musical instrument , used to

announce the approach of Lord VaradarAjA during

the uthavams on the streets of Kanchi .

 

9. Amrutha Ranjani ( 39 Paasurams ) : It deals with the important

principles of Sri VaishNavA doctrine covered by Swami Desikan

in the 17 minor ( Sillarai ) Rahasya works such as Saara DeepA

and SampradhAya parisuddhi .

 

10 . Amrutha SvAdhini ( 37 Paasurams ) : This deals with 11

minor rahasya works of Swami Desikan such as Saara Saara

and Madhurakavi Hrudhayam .

 

11. Thirumanthira Surukku ( 10 Paasurams ) : The meaning of

the sacred AshtAksharam .

 

12. Dvaya Surukku ( 12 Paasurams ) : This prabhandham deals

with the purport of the Dvaya Manthram , sacred to Sri VaishNavAs.

 

13. Charama SlOka Surukku ( 11 Paasurams ) : Deals with the

essence of Prapatthi thru description of the Charama slOkam

of Srimadh Bhagavadh GitA .

 

14. Paramatha Bhangam ( 54 Paasurams ) : A refutation of

the doctrines of sixteen rival Darsanams and the establishment

of Sri VaishNavism as the soundest one among them

for attaining Moksham .

 

15. Param padha sOpanam ( 21 paasurams ) : The nine steps in

the ladder of ascent of the Mumukshu to parama Padham .

I am covering the 8th and the ninth steps in SaraNAgathi Journal now .

 

16. Artha Panchakam ( 11 Paasurams ) : A coverage of the five

principles important to Sri VaishNavism : Nature of Isvara ,

Nature of the Soul , the means to reach the Lord , the fruit of

our efforts to reach Him and the obstacles encountered

in such an effort .

 

17. PannirunAmam ( 13 Paasurams ) : This prabhandham covers

the importance of wearing 12 Urdhva PundrAs in the daily life of

Sri VaishnavAs and their links to the twelve EmperumAns from

KesavA to DamOdharA .

 

18 . VaiNava Dinasari ( 10 Paasurams ) : This prabhandham

provides the details on the daily observances of a Sri VaishNavA .

 

19 . Ahaara niyamam ( Commentary Only ) : These 21 verses

deal with the prescribed diet of a Sri VaishNavA to maintain

a saatvik life conducive to the pursuit of spiritual advancement .

 

In summary , this set of three tapes containing the authentic

rendition of Swami Desikan's Tamil Prabhandhams with

a scholarly introduction by Sri NadAthUr Maadhavan is a

must for every AsthikA's home . The genuis of Swami Desikan in

mastering the metrics of Tamil Poetry , His skills in constructing

chandams with tALams , and most of all his extraordinary gift

in summarizing and elaborating the esoteric doctrines of our

siddhAntham in easy -to-understand Tamil is abundantly clear .

These are some of the most valuable of our Kuladhanams .

 

May the divya Dampathis confer their choicest blessings on

Srimans Dileepan and Madhavan for their extraordinary

contributions to make these tapes available to all of us .

May Swami Desikan crown the ongoing effort to have

authentic renditions of His sthOthrams with success

and bring it to a successful conclusion !

 

Swami Desikan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan

[Guest guest]

At 07:35 PM 1/30/98 -0500, V. Sadagopan wrote:

 

[..]

>This set of three tapes are a rare assembly of one of our Kula dhanams .

>They have been priced at 25$ for the set , .....

 

 

Sri Sadagopan's wonderful summary of the set of tapes

is truly matched by its content.

 

Please note that the entire $25 for the set of tapes

goes into the general funds of Sri Ahoblia Mutt.

The funds generated with this and other tape projects

described below will be diverted to religious projects

strictly based on Srimad Azhagiya Singar's commands.

 

We are currently working on producing two taping

projects, one containing Gadya Thraiyam, Chathusloki,

and Sthothrarathnam, and the second containing all

of Sri Desika Sthothramala.

 

-- adiyEn