H.H. The Poundarikapuram Andavan's UpanyAsam : Part 1

[Guest guest]

Dear BhakthAs ;

 

Yesterday , the revered AchAryA of Poundarikapuram

Asramam blessed us with his Svasthi Vachanams and

anugraha bhAshaNam . He plans to conclude this series

of two upanyAsams on January 9 at 10.30 AM via

the telephone bridge .The distinguished disciples of IdhAnim

Poundarikapuram Andavan have asked me to summarize the upanyAsam

of this revered AchArya , whose AchAram , anushtAnam ,

VairAgyam and Scholarship are rspected by his fellow

yathisvarAs . Hailing from Poundarikapuram/Oppiliappan Koil

background , I consider it as a MahA BhAgyam to perform

this Kaimkaryam . Our hearty thanks are to the revered

Andavan's sishyAs , Sri U.Ve .V.N. Venakatanathan

of Oppiliappan Sannadhi ,Sri Murali Rangaswami ,

Sri Anbil Ramaswamy and the office bearers of Ahobila Mutt ,

who helped with the set up of the International telephone bridge .

 

The upanyAsam can be split into Four constituent parts :

 

1. Svasthi Vachanam , Sautations to pUrvAchAryAs

and Srirangam Divya Dampathis and recognition of

the Kaimkaryams of USA based BhakthAs to advance

the cause of our ancient sampradhAyam and a plea

to work together .

 

2. UpakAra Sangraham / BhagavAn's limitless help to us :

Elaboration of the First verse of UpakAra Sangraham of

Swami Sri Desikan .

 

3. The Supermacy of ArchAvathAram over Para , VyUha ,

Vibhava and AntharyAmi forms of the Pancha Roopi ,

Sriman NaarAyaNA : Three facets of our conviction

that Archai is the most important for us , as residents

of His LeelA vibhuthi , while we strive to attain Moksha

Siddhi through SadAchArya Sambhandham and BhagavAn's

acceptance of our Prapatthi performed by our sadhAchAryAs

on our behalf .

 

4. The significance of ThAyAr's ( SitA PirAtti"s )

auspicious katAksham on four occasions in Srimadh

RaamAyaNam in the context of the use of the ThAyAr's

kalyaaNa nAmam as " VisAlAkshi" by Her prANa nAthan,

Sri Raamachandra MahA Prabhu .

 

With pramAnams from AzhwAr's divya prabhandham ,

purvAchAryA's Sri Sookthis ,IthihAsams ,Quotations

from KrishNa KarNAmrutham , the revered AchAryA

drove home the twin messages of his upanyAsam :

 

(1) Sriman NaarAyaNA's limitless upakArams to us

(2) the uniqueness of NamperumAL and the worship of

Him in ArchAvathAram at Srirangam over and above

the worship of Him by all of us through any one of

His other four forms ( Param ,Vyuham , Vibhavam

and AntharyAmi ).

 

1.Svasthi Vachanam and recoginition of Kaimkaryams

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1.1: Introductiory Remarks by U.Ve.V.N.VenkatanAthan

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The great AchAryA was introduced by Sri Venakatanathan

first with great affection and reverence .He stressed

on the importance of AchArya avalampanam and AchAryA's

mahOpakAram through his prayAsai and the need for anushtAnam

after initiation through samAsrayaNam and the performance

of Prapatthi . He mentioned that there is no substitute to

show our gratefulness to the AchArya except to fall at

his sacred feet again and again ( puna: puna : PraNamya ).

He reminded us of our duties as SishyAs to our AchAryAs

with thoughts reminiscent of Sishya krithyAdhikAram ( Swami

Sri Desikan's AdhikAra sangraham : Paasuram 38 ):

 

yERRi manathezhin jn~Ana viLakkai yirulanaitthu

mARRina varkkoru KAIMMAARU MAYANUM KAANAHILLAAN

pORRI yuhappathum punthiiR koLvathum ponghu puhazh

sARRi valarpathum saRRalavO munnnam peRRathaaRkkE

 

Sri Venkatanaathan concluded with an extension of

his New year greetings to us all.

 

1.2. Svasthi Vachanams by the Revered AchAryA

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

 

He commenced the upanyAsam with AchArya paramparai

anusandhAnam bequeathed to us by Swami Sri Desikan

in AdhikAra Sangraham ( Third Paasuram ) :

 

yennyuirtan taLittavarais Saranam pukki

yAnadaivE yavarkurukka Nivarai vaNangi

pinnaruLARp PerumpUthUr vantha vaLLal

Periyanampi yALavanthAr maNakka nampi

nanneRiyai yavarkkuraittha vyuuak koNdAr

Naathamuni SatakOpan Senai naatha

ninnamudhat ThirumahaLen Rivarai munnitt-

temperumAn RiruvadikaLadaihinREnE

 

{ Meaning ): I take refuge at the sacred feet

of the ParamAcharyan, Sriman NaarAyaNan through

my Acharyan and their AchAryans in the order of

Sri BhaashyakAra , Periya Nambi , AaLavanthAr ,

MaNakkAl Nambi , UyyakkoNdAr , Naathamuni ,

NammAzhwAr , VishvaksEnar , and Periya PirAtti .

 

Next , Sri Andavan recited the AdhikAra Sangraham's

42nd paasuram of Swami Sri Desikan extolling the greatness

of Sri RanagarAjan's periya Koil at Srirangam in anticipation of

his focus on NamperumAL as the most important ArchA mUrthy ,

a theme that he was going to develop later:

 

aarAtha aruL amudham pothintha Koil

ambuyatthOn Ayoddhi mannaRkku aLittha Koil

tOlAtha tani Veeran thozhutha Koil

sErAtha payan yellam sErkkum Koil

sezhu maRayin mudahl yezhutthu sErntha Koil

theerAtha vinai anaitthum theerkkum Koil

Thiruvarangam yenat thihazhum Koil taanE

 

(meaning ) : Thiruvarangam is the divya dEsam ,

which is an insatiable nectar for our enjoyment ,

since it is the residence of Sri RanganAtha ,

the embodiment of Compassion for us. This Koil

was deeded to Emperor IshvAku of Surya Kulam

by BrahmA ; it has the glory of being worshipped

by Sri Ramachandra , a scion of that Surya Kulam ;

it is the succor to VibhishaNan , who seved as

companion and help to Sri Ramachandran ; it is the Koil ,

which confrs us all the blessings that are not

attainable from other Koils ; it is the Koil with

its VimAnam in the form of PraNavam; it is the Koil that

destroys all of our sins ; this indeed is the Koil

that is head and shoulder over all the other Koils .

 

1.3: Recognition of Thondars and Kaimkaryams

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

 

At the outset , Sri Andavan said that today , the resident

Sri VaishNava community of USA is distinuished by its

zeal (1) to perform nithya karmAs sanctioned by SaasthrAs

(2) organizing conferences on Sri VaishNavism to propagate

and disseminate our AchArya 's Sri Sookthis

(3)the creation of new organizations such as Swami

Desika Darsana Sathsangham and (4) the creation of

a new electronic journal like SaraNAgathi to

cover the most important doctrine of our sampradhAyam .

(5) suppot for many kaimkaryams initiated by

SadAchAryAs in India . He noted especially

the unique services of his distinguished sishyar ,

Sri Anbil Ramaswamy ,since his relocation to USA

after his retirement from his high office in India .

His exact words are " nErE ThondarAhi vittAr ".

 

He instructed us to work together in a spirit of unity

and to channel our undivided energies to spread

the glorious message of our revered sampradhAyam .

He appealed to us to fight divisive proclivities

and unite together in our efforts to perform kaimkaryams

to our revered traditions. He identified an important

Kaimkaryam , (viz)., saving many rare granthams of our

AchAryAs from extinction (luptham ) by getting them into

print before it is too late . He pointed out that it is

our prime duty to perform this Kaimkaryam. { thanks to

Sri Andavan's earlier initative supported by BhakthAs

from here (viz)., the third volume of ChillaRai Rahasyams

was reprinted and made available to us for our deep

studies }.

 

Sri Andavan expressed his sense of joy over the news

that a temple for Sri RanganaathA is rising in America

with the untiring efforts of Sri Venakt KanumAlA and BhakthAs .

Sri Andavan recommended that all Sri VaishNavAs of

North America should visit this " BhulOka Vaikuntam

in America " and prayed for the growth of Sriranga Sri

at this new temple for Sri RanganAthan .

 

2. BHAGAVAAN'S LIMITLESS HELP TO US

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(To be Continued )

 

AzhwAr , AchAryan , EmperumAn ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan