swAmi deSikan - founder of SrI parakAla maTham

[Guest guest]

SrI laXmIhayagrIva parabraHmaNe namaH

SrI braHmatantra swatantra guru paramparAyai namaH

 

Dear bhaktas:

 

On thursday, July 19 (Adi thiruvAdhirai) - the eve of

the 118th. thirunakshatram of the 33rd AchAryan Srimad

Abhinava RanganAtha brahmatantra parakAladeSikan, my

parents alongwith my wife and I spent several hours at

Sri Parakala matham in Mysore, Karnataka.

 

AdiyOngaL had the paramabhAgyam of witnessing ahnihkam

and sARRumurai for Sri laxmihayagriva archai within Sri

parakalamatham's uLsannidhi, where the swarna vigraham

that udayavar received from SAradAdevi, and which passed

down through AchAryaparamparai from swAmideSikan all the

way to prakritam parakalaswami - shone resplendent with

pushpa alankAram and invaluable AbharaNams....

 

Interspersed between sARRumurai and desikamangaLASAsanam

were sonorous chants of mummaNikkOvai and navamaNimAlai,

two of swAmideSikan's masterpieces in Tamil. SrIkAryam

swAmi SrI vEnkatanAthan (who is the grandson of the 33rd

Srimad Abhinava RanganAtha parakAlaswami from pUrvASrama)

arrived during this time, and playfully punched one of

the senior adhyApakars in the ghoSTi...

 

Interestingly, adiyEn observed a young disciple of kAnchi

SrI vAdakEsari jeeyar among the ghoSTi; this bhAgavata

hails from mElkOte, and is dutifully performing kainkaryam

and undergoing sampradayic studies at the Mysore matham -

in keeping with his mother's wishes. It is certainly a

tribute to the true spirit of SrIvaishNavam prevalent in

parakAlamatham, that a bhAgavata from thenn sampradAyam

leads the ghoSTi at times (such as during the recitation

of thiruvAymozhi translated into Sanskrit!!), and also

participates in deSikar sARRumurai + mangaLASAsanam.

 

Srimad abhinava vAgIsha parakAladeSikan then personally

gave teertham, thulasi and pushpam to all present (it was

a small gathering). ParakAlaswAmi very kindly enquired

of my father as to who adiyEn was... Upon being told that

adiyEn was on short vacation, AchAryan asked me to stay

the next day and join the 118th thirunakshatram celebration

for Srimad Abhinava RanganAtha brahmatantra swatantra

parakAladeSikan - a command which adiyEn was sadly, unable

to comply with due to lack of time (I was flying out of

Bangalore in the next 48 hours).

 

The highlight of our visit to the Mysore Sri parakAlamatham

was (next only to witnessing Anhikam to the laxmihayagreeva

archamoorthi), was an hour-long conversation with prakrtam

parakAlaswami in one of the antechambers of the palatial

complex (a gift to parakAlamatham by previous generations

of the Mysore Wodeyar rulers, also recently renovated with

the help of TVS Inc.)

 

SrI parakAlaswami sat atop a cane chair that had a "maan

thOl" on it, with legs crossed. The rest of us, including

SrIkAryam swAmi SrI vEnkatanAthan, sat on the stone floor.

Overlooking all of us (a few feet away, inside a transparent

wooden cupboard) was a giant, full-color, framed portrait

of about 6 ft[W] x 12 ft[H] in dimension. This canvas, Sri

parakAlaswami told us, is several generations old, and was

recovered by the 33rd. parakAlaswami during his 42-year long

reign and restored to that location within the Mysore matham.

 

So what about this portrait?? It represents the ORIGINS of

the parakAla matham guruparamparA. swAmideSikan, kumAra

varadAchArya, and SrI brahmatantra swatantra jeeyar are all

prominently displayed in the centre, with bhagavAn SrI

laxmihayagrIva at the very top, followed by the trayamunis -

SrI ranganAthamuni, SrI yAmunamuni, and Sri bhAShyakArar.

At the bottom is an image of drAvidaveda bhAshyaka - SrI

perIya parakAlaswami (21st pattam).

 

adiyEn was able to get many questions answered, chief among

which had been the lingering doubt as to whether swAmideSikan

was indeed, the founder of SrI parakAlamatham. Prakrtam

parakAlaswami answered in the affirmative. It IS parakAla

maTha-guruparamparA, HH said - that officially places swAmi

deSikan as the founder of this institution. Among all the

AchAryapeethams of SrI rAmanuja sampradAyam, it is only SrI

parakAlamatham, whose samAsrayaNa, kalakshepa AND sanyAsa

paramparA passes directly through swAmi deSikan.

 

But wait a minute. swAmi deSikan was a gruhasta. How could

he have performed sanyAsa-mantrOpadeSam to SrI brahmatantra

swatantrar? The answer, prakrtam parakAlaswami explained,

is that the sanyAsamantrOpadeSam has multiple parts to it

(four, as I remember hearing) - so AchAryas may perform the

upadeSam of each part separately, i.e. the same AchAryan

does not give mantropadeSam of all the portions together -

if he did, then that AchAryan can no longer live as gruhasta

and must begin bhikshai immediately! swAmideSikan would have

only performed *part* of the sanyAsamantropadeSam to SrI

brahmatantra swatantrar, prakrtam parakAlaswami said.

 

adiyEn was still not finished, though. With all the impudence

one could gather, I said "aanaal niraiyapEr indha vishayatthai

namba maattaargaL... nejamaagavE swAmidEsikan thaanaa parakAla

mathatthai aarambicchadhu??"

 

To this, parakAlaswami replied - "This is the *authentic*

guruparamparA, as observed by our matham. This guruparamparA

establishes swAmideSikan as founder of this institution, and

it is the same guruparamparA that all peethAdipatis of SrI

parakAlamatham have taught and learnt, starting with brahma-

-tantra swatantra, and which is part of our nityAnusandhAna

kramam. If someone were to call this 'false', then they might

as well say that the whole of parakAlamatham is also false.

That is all we have to say in this matter.."

 

Will write about other discussions with parakAlaswami in a

later posting.

 

adiyEn SrIrangapriya mahAdeSikan thiruvadi,

-Srinath C.

[Guest guest]

Sri:

Sri Brahmatantra Swatantra Parakala Guru Paramparaayai Nama:

Srimad Abhinava Ranganatha Brahmatantra Swatantra Parakala Maha

Desikaaya Nama:

Srimad Abhinava Vageesha Brahmatantra Swatantra Parakala Maha

Desikaaya Nama:

 

Many Many thanks to Sri Srinath, for the beautiful

description of his visit to Sri Parakala Matham. While the sishyas

of the Matham never had/ve any doubt regarding the direct

connection of the Matham to Swamy Desikan, it is nice to

know that there exists an authentic Acharya Parampara chart

at the Matham that stands as proof for the doubtful. I also

have read in the Matham literature that Swamy Desikan Himself established

the Matham and made Sri Brahmatantra Swatantra Jeeyar,

the Mathadhipati later. (the 260+ year old chart at the

Matham stops at Periya Parakala Brahmatantra Swatantra Maha Desikan,

who is also known as Chatus Sahasra Divya Prabhanda Vyaakhyaatha)

 

I humbly encourage every one of us, to include Sri Parakala

Matham in our travel plans to India, and drown in the ocean

of anugraham that is showered by our AchAryas and the

ananta kalyaana vigraham of Lord Laxmi Hayagrivar. HH is

very easy going and has IMMENSE vaatsalyam towards all his

children and will take time to shower His Blessings on all of

us!

 

srii laxmii hayagriiva divya paaduka sEvaka

sriimad abhinava vaageesha brahmatantra swatantra

parakala mahaa desikaaya nama:

 

-rajeev

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