Appeal for UttamUr SwAmi's Books Publication

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SrI:

SrI SrInivAsa ParabrahmaNE namaha

SrImad abhinava dESIka UttamUr VerrarAghavArya -

mahAdESIkAya namaha

 

Dear devotees,

namO nArAyaNA.

 

Kainkaryam (service performed with sAtvIka tyAgam)

to the Divya Dampati SrI and NArAyaNA is the

parama-purushArtam (the final goal) for a jIvAtma.

Such kainkaryams for a baddha jIvAtma can broadly be

classified into two categories viz. (i) Ag~nyA kainkaryams

which are mandatory according to the VarNA and Ashrama and

(ii) anug~nyA kainkaryams which are optional.

 

Out of the endless types of anug~nyA kainkaryams,

SwAmi dESikan in the chillarai rahasyam "pradhAna Satakam"

clearly points out that "Kainkaryam in the form of

jn~Anam" is superior to "Kainkaryam in the form of

physical act" ie. kainkaryams like learning and

spreading ubhaya-vEdAnta is superior to kainkaryams like

making garlands for PerumAL etc. SwAmi dESikan says that

such kainkaryams in the form of "Jn~Anam" are "pradhAnam"

(of foremost importance).

 

 

The SrIsookti of SwAmi dESikan is :

 

"anug~nyA siddha kainkaryamgaLil kriyAmSatthil jn~AnAmSam

pradhAnamAna padiyAlE jn~Ana-upayukta-prabandha-

pariSeelanamum SAstrArtha-pratisandhAna-hEtuvAna dwaya

vacanAdigaLum pradhAnangaL" ( PradhAna Satakam, 54).

 

It is stated that, learning vEdAnta and the divine works

of AzhwArs and AchAryAs to obtain jn~Anam belongs to

the category of "Kainkaryam in the form of jn~Anam".

Rememberance of such learnt sAstrAs through Dwaya mantra

etc is also stated to be a "kainkaryam in the form of

knowledge/jn~Anam". These are "pradhAnam" ie. of utmost

importance in comparison to "Kainkaryams in the form of

physical act".

 

Infact, the first three of the last five commandments

of Bhagavad RAmAnujAchArya is

 

1. To study and propagate SrI BhAshyam, his magnum opus

and the commentry to Brahma SUtrAs of Sage VyAsa.

 

2. To study and propagate the Divya Prabandham (not

mere texts, but the implied meanings) of AzhwArs.

 

3. To recite Dwaya mantram with the knowledge of its

meaning.

 

Bhagavad RAmAnuja then said that if these things

weren't possible, one should perform services at a

divya dEsam Or be merely a good servant for a

SrI Vaishnava who does the above kainkaryams.

 

Also, one of the last commands of SrI UttamUr SwAmi,

before ascending to paramapadam, to his disciples in

particular and the SrI Vaishnava community in large is

to re-print his works and the works of the AchAryAs

whenever they are not available and _always_ make them

available for the needy.

 

The emphasis on the anug~nyA kainkaryam in the form

of knowledge is the most important message from our

AchAryAs, since the Divya Dampati are greatly delighted

by these kainkaryams. Afterall, its Lord NArAyaNa who is

the first AchArya of our SrI SampradAyam and He has made

it a point to always propagate the vEdAs and Smrutis

from kalpam to kalpam and to provide us with AzhwArs

and AchAryAs for our utmost benifit to understand the

tattva, hita and purushArtam properly. He has been doing

this without any tiredness from time immemorial and it is

by itself an indication as to what we should also do

with sAtvIka tyAgam to please SrIman NArAyaNA.

 

Thus, any kainkaryam (like re-printing books of AchAryAs)

that gives immense oppurtunity for many kainkaryams in the

form of jn~Anam is undoubtedly of foremost importance.

 

In this light, adiyEn requests you all to kindly support

this very important project of reprinting the invaluable

works of SrI abhinava dESika UttamUr VeerarAghavAchArya,

which are mostly commentries and glosses of the invaluable

works of our pUrvAchAryAs. Preservation of these books

and passing it on to the next generation is of great

importance.

 

During the kAlakshEbams of UttamUr SwAmi, his

foremost disciple SrI SrIvatsAnkAchArya has noted

down very important and relevant points and footnotes

as and when UttamUr SwAmi delivered it. This has

been done directly in the personal copy of his

book itself for many works of UttamUr SwAmi.

Many points were mainly noted down by him because,

UttamUr SwAmi himself felt that it would have been

better if those things also were penned down earlier

by him into the manuscript, before the publication.

 

Be it Bhagavad gItA Or SarvArtha Siddhi Or ParamArtha

bhUshanam etc, SrI SrIvatsAnkhAchArya has ready-made

notes and footnotes in his personal copy of the

book. Its extremly important to make them get printed

and it will be duly incorporated in this re-print.

 

The other very important feature of this re-printing

series is that, English translation of the bhUmikAs

(ie. Introductions) of UttamUr SwAmi will be added.

adiyEn has requested SrI SrIvatsAnkAchArya to translate

the bhUmikAs of UttamUr SwAmi into tamil with additional

footnotes if neccessary. It will then be translated into

English with the help of scholars who has good background

 

in English.

 

Infact, all the bhUmikAs of UttamUr SwAmi are

outstanding and all of our vidvAns have poured in lots

of praises. Scholars say that SwAmi's bhUmikAs are so

well researched and un-biassed, involving excellent

analysis that, it forms a separate Ph.D. thesis in

itself! One of the well known vidvAns of our

sampradAyam told adiyEn in a private conversation :

 

" I will now reveal my 'trade secret' to you. To master

a subject, be it a certain Upanishad Or any other

topic, I will first master the bhUmika of UttamUr

SwAmi on that topic, which will invariably be

outstanding. I will follow the references made by

him into various texts in that topic and would master

those places atfirst alongwith the comments made by

pUrvAchAryAs and UttamUr SwAmi. By this process,

even without reading the whole commentry on that

topic, you will become a great authority in it.

All the intricate intellectual analysis as a

homework has already been done by UttamUr SwAmi.

We need to just pick it up and use. This is my

success story and why I am being hailed by other

vidvAns also as a good authority in many topics. "

 

Thus, the English translation of the bhUmikAs of

UttamUr SwAmi is a very important kainkaryam and its

inclusion in this re-print has been planned since

it serves as a great boon for those who can't

understand Sanskrit.

 

There are certain "bhUmikA" classics of UttamUr SwAmi,

one of the most outstanding of which is that to the

"Nayadyumani" of SrI MEghanAda sUri. It runs over 60

pages and adiyEn has heard vidvAns pouring out lots

of praise to this bhUmika in particular.

 

adiyEn has requested SrI SrIvatsAnkAchArya to translate

_all_ the bhUmikAs of UttamUr SwAmi into tamil,and that

tamil version alongwith the original sanskrit version

will be printed as a separate book. SwAmi has very kindly

accepted to perform the same and has already started

the translating work, starting from the gItA bhAshya

bhUmikAs - which are another masterpieces.

 

By the way, SrI U.Ve.SrIvatsAnkAchArya is a chatur

sAstra pandita (ie. expert in vEdAnta, nyAya, pUrva

mImAmsa and vyAkarana) who learnt all the four sAstrAs

under the sacred feet of UttamUr SwAmi. For many

years of the past, this swAmi is a regular invitee for

the sathas (meet of scholars) conducted by advaitins and

dwaitins as well and this by itself gives the

indication of the quality of this swAmi's scholarship.

Needless to say, SrI SrIvatsAnkAchArya has presided over

and has been presiding many meets of esp. ViSishtAdvaita

scholars. He is an unparalleled authority in VyAkarana

(Grammar : VEdic Sanakrit and normal sanskrit) and is

spearheading a great project at the French Indological

Institute at Pondichery, Tamilnadu. It is on the creation

of an encyclopedia on the different words of sanskrit,

giving a good amount of details for each word.

 

adiyEn has also requested SrI SrIvatsAnkAchArya to kindly

bless us with a bhUmika of his to each of the works of

UttamUr SwAmi, in making us understand the contribution

of UttamUr SwAmi for that topic, apart from adding his

own analysis. This will also appear in the re-printed

books,

alongwith its English translation.

 

Another project which has been started is the gathering

of all the articles of UttamUr SwAmi that got published

in magazines like VEdAnta Deepika, SrI Nrusimha PriyA,

Souvenirs etc. adiyEn is hoping to publish a book

containing all such articles of UttamUr SwAmi. The

quality of the articles of UttamUr SwAmi are unparalleled

and various researched issues that are in his articles

won't be there in his books. So, its extremly important

to procure them and get it published. But, it will take

lot of time and efforts to finish this project. Its

extremly difficult to get the older issues of the

magazines and souvenirs, and adiyEn has requested few

vidvAns to kindly help out and work as a team. Hope that

PerumAL does favourable sankalpam for this.

 

Well, there are more than 160 works published by UttamUr

SwAmi and this can give you a feel of the efforts that

are needed for the successful completion of the project.

 

adiyEn humbly requests you all to very kindly donate

quite liberally towards this very important kainkaryam.

It would be great if you can sponsor even the publication

of book(s) Or get such sponsorors. There are scores of

books to be reprinted and the invaluable service rendered

by such reprinting can't be emphasized more.

 

 

Devotees at US and Canada are requested to send their

cheques (payable to SMSA Inc) to :

 

Sree Vaishnava Seva Samithi

7821 West Alder Drive

Littleton

CO 80128-5522

 

All the donors will enjoy tax excemption.

 

Devotees outside US and Canada are kindly requested

to send their contributions payable to "Sri Uttamur

Viraraghavachariar Centenary Trust".

 

Mailing address :

 

SrI K.G. Krishnan

11 Hasthigiri Street,

Chennai 600 033,

India.

 

adiyEn will follow up with a series on the Life and

works of UttamUr SwAmi and will also let you know about

the currently available books.

 

Thanks in advance for your kind interest in this

kainkaryam.

 

AzhwAr, yemperumAnAr,dESikan,Azhagiyasingar -

thiruvadigaLE SaraNam

 

 

adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan,

ananthapadmanAbha dAsan.

krishNArpaNam