rangapriyam mamagurum SaraNam prapadye-II

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SrI ranganAyakyai namaH

SrI ranganAtha parabrahmaNe namaH

SrI ranganAtha divyamaNi pAdukAbhyAm namaH

 

SrI SrInivAsa varadArya krupAtta cinham

SrI SrInivAsa yativarya niviShta bhAram |

SrI rangayogi varalabdha parAtma yogam

rangapriyam mamagurum SaraNam prapadye ||

 

Fellow bhAgavatars:

 

Firstly adiyEn wishes to express sincere thanks

to Sri Murali Kidambi and Sri Muralidhar Rangaswamy

for correcting two very important details about

SrIrangapriyaswami - one concerns the TIME of HH's

entering sanyAsASrama, which becomes significant in

the light of the recent succession to the peeTham

of parakAla matham. The other involves a rather

personal detail about rangapriyaswAmi's pUrvASrama,

i.e. HH's paternal lineage.

 

SrIrangapriya mahAdesikan took sanyAsam from the

35th parakAla swAmi - Srimad Abhinava rAmanuja

brahmatantra swatantra, in 1989 C.E. This is

important because 35th parakAlaswami attained

paramapadam in 1992 (after which prakritham/36th

parakAlaswAmi was coronated); and further, it is

SrIrangapriyaswAmi who was originally expected

to ascend the peeTham of parakAlamatham as the

36th maThAdipati - which HH consciously chose not

to, with a desire to avoid the politics and other

responsibilities that characterize large maThams.

After all, it is said that 'sishyamoham' is worse

than 'samsAramoham'... **[no direct reference to

ANY monastic institutions; kindly excuse adiyEn

for any unintended offences]**

 

Today SrIrangapriyaswAmi heads the "ASTAngayoga

vignyAna mandira" in Hanumannagar, Bangalore. It

is a small, simple monastery, but has great piety,

scholarship and kindness - all exemplified by its

Acharya, SrIrangapriya mahAdeSikan. The mandira

consists of the top two floors of a large house;

the ground floor belongs to SrIrangapriyaswAmi's

brother from poorvASrama. While on the Ist floor

is perumAL SrIkodhaNDarAmar sannidhi, a small hall,

madapaLLi, etc. - the 2nd floor is a huge lecture

hall (the very place where HH gives the discourses

broadcast over telephone to USA and elsewhere).

 

Now, one may ask - what are the antecedents of this

yatheeSwarar SrIrangapriya mahAdeSikan, and which

samAsrayaNa/kAlakshepa paramparai does HH belong to?

The answer (found also from the AchArya thaniyan,

"... SrI rangayogi varalabdha parAmtayogam ..." is

that SrIrangapriya swAmi in poorvASrama was an ardent

disciple of SrIrangamahAyogi, who belonged to the

thirumalai nallaan chakravarthi lineage. Thus it is

the samAsrayaNa and kalakshepa tradition of thrumalai

nallan, that SrIrangapriyaswAmi represents. HOWEVER,

it is *not* true, that rangapriyaswAmi in pUrvASrama,

was born into the paternal line of thirumalai nallaan.

This fact is known to bhaktas who were related to, or

closely connected with SrIrangamahAyogi during the

lifetime of that AchAryan.

 

Be as that may, many continue to regard SrIrangapriya

swAmi as an AchAryan of thirumalai nallan lineage,

including my 88-year old grandmother! Ultimately the

question of lineage of this great AchArya is a moot

point, since a yatheeSwarar of SrIrAmAnuja sampradAyam

transcends all considerations of kulam and jaathi. Yet

out of academic curiosity, adiyEn have requested my

parents to enquire of SrIrangapriya swAmi about this

matter. A tribute to my unending impudence it is, that

adiyEn is testing AchAryan's patience in this manner...

 

adiyOngaL's questions to SrIrangapriyaswAmi on the

morning of July 04, 2001 concerned HHs' guruparamparai,

lineage, a prArthanai to undergo panchasamskAram, and

and a viNNappam for HH to offer samAdaanam to my wife,

who had been grieving over the loss of her grandmother.

 

Regarding guruparamparai, SrIrangapriyaswAmi told us

about SrIrangamahAyogi, about affiliation with the

thirumalai nallan sampradAyam, and educated us about

other svayamAcharya lineages among simhAsanadipatigaL

of SrIbhAshyakArar. However, it was our prArthanai

for samASrayaNam, which elicited the most moving reply

from AchAryan. Having heard from adiyEn about nallaan

chakravarthi descent, HH said - "un kudumbatthilayE

periyavar yaaraavadhu irundhaal, nee avar kitta pOyi

samASRayaNam paNNikkaNum. Illai, nallaan chakravarthi

vamSatthila vEroru AchAryan unakku theriyumenRaal,

andha AchAryan kittErndhu samASrayaNam paNNikko...

Indhamaadhiri yaarum unakku kidaikkalaienRaal, nee

en kittavE varalaam"!! We were tremendously moved by

this humble declaration on the part of SrIrangapriya

swAmi. It was no secret, that adiyEn had resolved

well ahead of time, to seek panchasamskAram from this

very AchAryan - but this simple and unassuming response

from a scholar of rangapriyaswAmi's calibre convinced

adiyOngaL beyond a shade of doubt, and we prayed HH

to be blessed with samASrayaNam at the earliest.

 

SrIrangapriya swAmi wished to know how long I would be

in India; having found out, HH said "sometime between

now and the day you leave, I will summon you both to

come here and undergo panchasamskAram". As it turned

out, the "call" never did happen - rather it was adiyEn

who repeatedly approached AchAryan with this request

over the next few days... so it should be I suppose.

Eventually it was on July 13, 2001 (aaNi revathi) that

adiyOngaL were initiated into SrIvaishnavam through

the auspices of SrIrangapriya mahAdeSikan.

 

To be continued...

 

SrIvAsa samyami vareNya niviShta bhAram

SrI rangayogi varadivya krupAtta yogam |

SrI laXmaNAkhya yativarya krupAtta cinham

rangapriyam mamagurum SaraNam prapadye ||

 

adiyEn SrIrangapriya mahAdeSikan thiruvadi,

-Srinath C.