abhinava dESika- Sri UttamUr Swamy Divya Charitham-8

[Guest guest]

SrI:

Sri Padmavathi Sametha Srinivasa Parabrahmane Namaha.

Sri Perundhevi Sametha Devadhiraja Parabrahmane Namaha.

SrimathE Bhagavad Ramanujaya Namaha:

SrimathE Nigamantha Mahadesikaya namaha:

Srimate Rangaramanuja Maha Desikaya Namaha.

Srimate Abhinava Desika Vatsya Satchakravarti Uttamur SRI

VIRARAGHAVARYA MAHA DESIKAYA NAMAHA

 

SrImAn venkatanAthAryaH kavitArkika kesarI |

vedAntAcArya-varyome sannidhattAm sadA hRdi ||

 

Thanian (Invocatory verse on Sri UttamUr swamy written by

Swamy's AchAryan Sri Kozhiyalam Swamy himself)

 

adbhutam yasya vikrAntam vEda vIthI ViSOdhanE |

aparam nigamAntAryam prapadyE vIrarAghavam ||

 

Let us continue with the divya charitham of Sri UttamUr Swamy.

 

[Article in Tamil by SrI PayyampADi VEnkatavaradAchArya SwAmi; English write

up (based on Tamil) by SrI R.VenkatAchAri (SohattUr- Vankipuram -Oppiliappan

Sannidhi), a disciple of SrI UtthamUr SwAmi. Appeared in the souvenir

released during the SatAbhishEkam (80th birth anniversary) of SrI UtthamUr

swAmi on 10th Feb, 1977]

 

On the final day of the Sadhas, Brahma Sri Virupaksha Sastri, (who later

became Sringeri Madathipati) raised a point, saying that certain portions in

SATA DHOOSHANI were wrong and wanted Our Swami to give his explanation.

Our Swami did that without any hesitation and convinced the scholars

present. After the Sadhas, Sri Parakala Mutt Swami and Sri Yoga Narasimha

Sastri, Principal of the Patasala, requested Our Swami to join them as a

professor. Our Swami could not refuse their kindness but told them that he

will do so in course of time. Coming back to Chittoor he had an offer from

North Nellore College to join them as an instructor. A local astrologer

told him that according to Our Swami’s horoscope, he is destined for

something bigger than that offer and dissuaded him from joining the North

Nellore college. It so happened that Chittoor Vakil, Sri Doraiswamy

Iyengar, who is also a Sishya of Sri Tirupathi Swami, who had influence in

Tirupathi College was arranging to induct Our Swami either as the Principal

or at least as a Professor in Vedanta at Tirupathi. Sri Swami had two minds

whether to accept the Mysore offer or the Tirupathi offer. Finally he made

up his mind in favour of the Tirupathi offer. At Tirupathi, Our Swami felt,

that he will have more chances to worship Lord Thiruvengadamudayan. He also

expressed his desire to be the Professor than the Principal, for the simple

reason that, as a Principal, he may have to wear shirt, turban etc. whereas

as Professor he will have more freedom to observe Achara and Anushtana and

he will have more time for Vedanta vichara, the subject which is very dear

to him than the fame attached to the office of a Principal.

 

In the college also they had a convention that only an M.A. degree holder

will hold the post of a Principal. Still, Sri Doraiswami Iyengar insisted

that atleast for some time he should be the Principal and at a later date if

he feels that his intentions are different he can stay as the Professor.

 

Finally he was appointed as the Principal and Our Swami took it as a

challenge. The post of a Principal is nothing new to Our Swami as he

has done, unofficially, all the duties of the post at Tiruvaiyaru

college itself. He brought many changes and improvements in the

Academic side and all were very much impressed and admired his

capacity. After some time, Politics came in and the authorities had

to go back to the original convention of having only an M.A.

Degree-holder as the Principal.

 

Our Swami considered this development as a blessing in disguise as he was

spending most of his time in administrative matters and dancing to the

University officials by virtue of his post as Principal. He also felt that

he had already wasted enough time by not concentrating on Granta Nirmana and

doing other things to propagate our Sampradaya. Fortunately the M.A. degree

holder happened to be no other than Sri Krishnamachariar, who was the nephew

of Sri Kapistalam Swami. This new entrant knew the value of Our Swami and

there was no difficulty as he did everything only after consulting Our

Swami.

 

In the meanwhile, Mahamahopadhyaya Sri Kuppuswamy Sastrigal gave him the

post of an Examiner in the University itself. As usual out of jealousy

from many quarters, there was opposition to this proposal. But Sri Sastri

knew about Our Swami’s capacity and talent and stuck to his decision.

Normally an Examiner in the University is appointed only for three years;

but in Our Swami’s case the authorities were so much convinced about his

capacity, they extended his tenure for a further period. As a Professor at

the college Our Swami introduced many new features and improvements like

weekly Upanyasams and Pravachanams.

 

In addition to the regular Nyaya Mimamsa Vedanta granthas, Our Swami

introduced lectures on Chitra Mimamsa, Dhvanyalokadi granthas etc.

 

Let us enjoy further in next post...

AchAryan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Regards

Namo Narayana

aDiyEn dAsan

 

_______________

Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail.

http://www.hotmail.com