abhinava dESika- SrI UttamUr Swamy Divya Charitham-16

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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]

 

A TRAGEDY:

 

Our Swami was in the middle of printing Katopanishad (where Nachiketas was

in Yamaloka and honoured by Yama himself). One night, some burglars entered

Our Swami's house, through the back door, took away all the valuables. When

Our Swami raised an alarm, they thrashed him on the head with sticks, to

prevent him shout for help. Our Swami was lying in a pool of blood and Our

Swami's Devigal ran to the front of the house and raised an alarm and

shouted for help; By the time the neighbours came the burglars escaped.

Then, when Our Swami regained consciousness a little, he was taken in a cart

to the Government Hospital, which fortunately, was near to Our Swami's

house. There at that part of the night, only a Lady doctor was on duty as

the male

doctor had gone to a nearby village. The Lady doctor refused to treat

 

the patient as the injuries were all very serious and the rule

requires only a male patients, except in an emergency. Fortunately

the Lady doctor was know to Our Swami's Devigal and when she

approached her, the Lady doctor agreed to take up the case even though it

was against rules. She made lots of stitches on Our Swami's head but she

refused to commit herself about the chances to recovery, till after the

mid-day of the succeeding day. Next morning, the officials of the college

and Devasthanam made for all the facilities.

 

Meanwhile, the local newspapers started publishing discouraging news

about the chances of survival of Our Swami. By midday Our Swami came

out of the danger limit and the Lady doctor was very pleased, as also

others. The recovery was really miraculous and everybody felt that

only the blessings of Lord Tiruvengadamudaiyan was responsible for the

recovery. It is the good fortune of the Sri Vaishnavas that the life of so

great a devotee of the Lord of Seven Hills was spared to us to enable him to

continue the unfinished work of Grantha Nirmana. What should have been a

very near tragedy ended in a good note.

 

Due to the above misfortune, the printing was delayed by two months.

The publication of Upanishads, upto Mandukya, were done at Tirupathi.

The Taittiriya was printed at the Vani Vilas Press at Srirangam. The

committee at Madras, with Sri Rangaswamy Iyengar Swami as the

Secretary, could not succeed in collecting enough funds for the

publications of Our Swami. They requested the Devasthanam authorities to

come to other rescue. The Devasthanam readily agreed. They even said that

as the publisher was their own Professor, they would not only provide the

necessary finance, but do the printing also at the Devasthanam Press. The

publication of Upanishads was proceeding without further delay as,

virtually, Lord Tiruvengadamudaiyan Himself became the Printer and

Publisher. (Did He not serve as a Sarathy for Arjuna!)

 

VEDANTA PUSHPANJALI:

 

Our Swami never used to do anything without first getting the

blessings and permission from his Kula Deivam, Lord of the Seven

Hills, Lord Tiruvengadamudaiyan, either directly worshiping or at

least mentally. So also while starting the publication of the

Upanishads, under the banner of Ubhaya Vedanta Granthamala he prayed

to his Kula Deivam and then only started the scrutiny of the

manuscripts of Upanishads. In fact the “Venkatesa Smaranam” is a

`Twentyfour-hour-habit’ for Our Swami. He was thinking about the

meaning of the Sri Sukti of Sri Bhashyakara, “Brahmani Srinivase” and

also of the Mangala Sloka of the Upanishad Bhashyakara, starting with

“Asaseegucha Sachchayam etc.” the idea struck in Our Swami’s mind that

 

both the Bhashyakaras had intended that the Upanishads and the Brahma

Vidyas refer only to attaining the feet of Lord Tiruvengadamudaiyan,

as the ultimate Eternal Bliss, Moksha, as the benefit for performing

the Brahma Vidyas. So Our Swami wanted to offer all the Brahma Vidyas as

“Pushpanjalis” at the feet of Lord Tiruvengadamudaiyan and the result was a

wonderful Grantha “VEDANTA PUSHPANJALI.” Each Brahma Vidya and Upasana

Marga in the Upanishads was treated as a sacred flower and offered to him.

 

The result was the wonderful Stotra Grantha, in Sragdhara Vritta, Vedanta

Pushpanjali. (The book was in the press when the article was written and

must have been released.) We now can guess how Lord Tiruvengadamudaiyan was

pleased with the Flower Offer of Vedanta Pushpanjali by Our Swami, from the

successful finish of all the Upanishads with a versatile Sanskrit

commentary, Parishkara and a well-scrutinised final and authentic version of

the Original. Not only that Lord Tiruvengadamudaiyan arranged for the

printing at our press with His own finance, and, as we have said before

thereby became the Printer and Publisher also.

 

THE YEAR 1953 : (MIGRATION TO MADRAS.):

>From 1928 to 1953 till Our Swami was working in the college, he had

many chances to be the Examiner not only in the Visva Vidyalayas at

Mysore and Madras but also in Andhra Desa and Varanasi and at the

Mannargudi Sabha. In 1953, Our Swami retired from Tirupathi College

and with an intention of settling down after retirement at the foot of the

Holy Seven Hills he had already built a house at Tirupathi. But Astikas

from Madras, represented by Sri.G.Rangaswamy Iyengar had been requesting him

for more than two years, to come to Madras for a

permanent stay. But Our Swami had been hesitating to change his

original decision. Finally, Sri U.Ve.Pulavanur Parthasarathy Iyengar

Swami, an ardent Sishya of Sri Koliyalam Swami and a well wisher of

Our Swami, persuaded Our Swami to come to Madras for a short stay of

one month during Dhanur Masa and do Upanyasams in Tirupavai. Our

Swami had no other alternative position and was far from satisfactory, after

retirement. The ancestral lands were all sold out to clear the family debts

and the only property he had was his VIDYA.

 

He was forced to earn money, not only to do Bhagavadaradhanam but to meet

all the expenses of a big family during auspicious and inauspicious

functions and over and above that is the cost of the publications, which was

dear to his heart. The decision was finally made to go to Madras for a

short stay to earn money and come back to Tirupathi

 

To be continued…

 

AchAryan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Regards

Namo Narayana

aDiyEn

 

 

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