abhinava dESika- Sri UttamUr Swamy Divya Charitham- 20

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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 ||

 

[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]

 

SASHTIABDAPOORTI CELEBRATIONS:

 

Arrangements were going on to celebrate the Sashtiabdapoorti of Our

Swami in a grand scale by Sri.K.Bhashyam, Sri Achyuta Gopalachar

Swami, Sri Pulavanur Parthasarathy Iyengar Swami and others. In the

meanwhile Our Swami had to refuse an invitation from Tarkika

Pandita, Narayana Iyengar for a series of Upanyasas as it was

interfering with the celebrations at Madras. Our Swami was at that

time living in Motilal Street, T.Nagar, and in the middle of the Sri

Bhashya Kalakshepa. The celebrations were arranged to be held at a

specially erected pandal at Rameshwaram Road. For five days prior to

that, Vedaparayana was conducted at Our Swami’s residence. On the

Sashtiabdapoorti day Our Swami was taken in a procession to the Pandal

headed by the photo of his Revered Acharya and the celebrations were

conducted there, which was followed by Tadiyaradhana etc.

 

In the evening, meeting was held at Mylapore Sri Srinivasa temple, under the

Presidentship of Sri Bhandarke Yatiswara, Madhva Sidhanta Stapanacharya and

head of the Udipi mutt. The eminent men like Sir

S.Varadacharya Swami, Sri D.R.Swami, Sri.Bhashyam, Sri.V.T.R.Swami,

Sri.G.Rangaswamy Iyengar Swami, Tirukudantai Chinnamu Saili Patrachar

Swami, Sri Madurantakam, Ichambadi Viraraghavacharya Swami and others

spoke in praise of the various granthas of Our Swami. Sri Bhandarke

Swami also spoke in Sanskrit, recalling his early associations with

Our Swami. Then, a purse was presented and all wished that, quite

soon, Our Swami would own a house in Madras. Some of the old students of

Our Swami at Tirupati, comprising of Madhva, Sankara and

Bhashyakara Sidhantas also took part and presented Sambhavanas to Our

Swami.

 

ABHINAVA DESIKA TITLE - (and other titles)

 

During the celebrations at Mylapore, Sri Desika-Srinivasa Temple, some

Astikas from Tirupati came to Madras and took part in the

celebrations. They expressed their disappointment, that they, in

Tirupati, could not get the opportunity to celebrate at Tirupati; but

were gratified to find that the Madras Astikas were doing it in a

grand manner and as they were also participating in it they felt that

the celebrations were theirs also. After praising Our Swami for his

great service to the cause of Sanskrit as a Professor in the college

and for the Sampradaya at Tirupati, the Astikas in Tirupati felt that

the Title of ABHINAVA DESIKA should be conferred to Our Swami and they all

felt that it was the will of Lord Tiruvengadamudaiyan also as they had taken

the blessings and permission of the Lord before coming to Madras, in

recognition of his service to the cause of Sri Desika Sampradaya. They also

said that the people of Tirupati had not heard, that a better Acharya had

ever lived in Tirupati for the past so many generations, after Sri Desika

himself, who had served the cause of Srivaishnava Sampradaya as Our Swami

without expecting anything in return.

 

They all knew that Our Swami was having “Venkatesa Smaranam” all the

24 hours and would still be having, even though his body was in

Madras. They were really very sorry that he decided to settle in

Madras as they were expecting him to devote his entire time to the

cause of Srivaishnava Sampradaya in and around Tirupati, especially

after retirement; but at the same time were also very happy that he

was doing much bigger and much wider service in Madras and the Astikas in

Madras had recognized his greatness which he fully deserved. As they were

bringing the title straight from the feet of Lord Tiruvengadamudaiyan whose

GHANTA alone took the avatar of both Sri Desika and Our Swami, they are

convinced that the Sadas would be happy to confer the title on him. The

scholars present said that all the people in the Sadas and everywhere had

already started calling him Abhinava Desika and more than all that his own

Revered Acharya Srimad Rangaramanuja Maha Desikan had already conferred this

title on Our Swami when he blessed the TANIAN of Our Swami and called him

“APARAM NIGAMANTARYAM”. Now that they found that Lord of the Seven Hills

had blessed the title they were doubly happy to confer the title. It looked

as if, Sri Desika himself wanted to confer the title in the presence of Lord

Srinivasa, and so the official and public confirmation had been delayed so

long till the Sadas met at the temple of Sri Desika at Mylapore.

 

It would be interesting to note that at many Kshetras where Sri Desika was

enshrined but only in Mylapore temple Sri Desika

got a preference over Lord Srinivasa. Only at Mylapore the temple was

called “Desikan Sannidhi” and not Srinivasan Sannidhi.

We all known that in our Sampradaya Lord Almighty would be more

pleased if his devotee was worshipped in a fitting manner. He may

even pardon a person if he had neglected to worship HIM, but not when

his Bhakta was neglected. Did not Madhurakavi Alwar get a place amongst

Alwars when he declared that he would worship only his Acharya, Nammalwar?

 

One need not wonder at the intention of Lord Tiruvengadamudaiyan to

honour his Bhakta, Our Swami. The stalapurana contains the incident

of the Lord, refusing to accept the rich offering by the much loved

Mahant, with whom He used to talk every day, accepted the offering of

flowers of a lame potter at the foot of the Hills, flowers made of

clay as on the particular day, unusually the Mahant felt a little

proud about the richness of his daily offering. Similarly, when Our

Swami retired, he never had a rupee save and he had only his VIDYA to

depend upon. Naturally he could not offer anything else except his

Vidya in the form of a grantha, VEDANTA PUSHPANJALI, both as a

gratification for having had the opportunity to serve The Lord as a

Professor in HIS college but as a request to grant HIS blessings for

the successful completion of his life’s mission of Grantha Nirmana.

We could easily guess now how well the Lord had blessed him. Our

Swami was very much pleased at the great honour done to him considered that

only the blessings of his Revered Acharya got him all these.

 

Then, a purse was presented to him and the title of “ABHINAVA DESIKA”

officially conferred. Our Swami felt that though the purse would be

very useful to him to hasten up his Grantha Nirmana work, the title

conferred on him was much more valuable. Titles started pouring in

even before and after this, even though neither he sought after them

nor cared very much for them. It may not be possible and necessary to

enlist here all of them but a few titles would be worth mentioning.

 

During the Sashtiabdapoorti celebrations of his Revered Acharya, He

Himself conferred the title of “Ubhaya Mimamsa Vallabha”. Sri Desika Sabha

at Tirupati gave him the title of Poorvottara Mimamsa Pradeepa”. Ayodhya

Parishad honoured him with the title “Tarkarnava” in appreciation of Our

Swami’s effort in writing a book for them.

Sanskrit Sahitya Parishad (North India) gave the title “Pandita

Ratna”.

 

Sri Abhinava Ranganatha Parakala Yatindra Maha Desikan, Head of the

Mysore Parakala Mutt, who used to admire Our Swami’s Vidwat, honoured

him with the title “Pandita Martanda” and gave him a gold medal

containing the image of Lord Lakshmi Hayagriva, the presiding Deity of

Parakala Mutt, along with Sambhavanas.

 

At Kanchi Kshetra, during the festival in connection with the birth of

“Ramanuja Daya Patram” which was graced by pandits like Ubhaya Vedanta

Vidvan Navalpakkam Sri U. Ve. Narasimhacharya Swami, Goshtipuram

Sri.U.V.Soumya Narayanacharya Swami etc. etc., the scholars present

appreciated Our Swami’s efforts in spreading Sri vaishnava Sampradaya by

training young scholoars and in recognition of his capacity to scrutinize

the granthas with a critical and analytical mind utilizing such knowledge

for publishing unending list of publications on Our Sampradaya with the sole

intention of spreading Sri Desika Sampradaya, conferred the title, “Desika

Darsana Dhurandhara”.

 

At Trivandrum the then Maharaja of Travancore, a patron of scholors,

invited Our Swami and honoured him with Ponnadai (shawl) and Sambhavanas, He

himself was present at the function, and after the meeting, he was talking

to Our Swami for a long time, as he himself was a scholar. At Triplicane,

Sri Madhva Swamiji, Head of the Mantralaya Ragahavendra Mutt, invited and

honoured Our Swami in a Sadas, presented Ponnadai (shawl) and purse and also

conferred the title “PANDITA BHOOSHANA”.

 

Once again, the request from Karur was renewed, asking Our Swami to

accept a series of Upanyasas and this time it was accepted. In the

middle of the Upanyasa Series, one day, Sri (Karur Pandit) Narayana

Iyengar Swami arranged for a meeting of local Srivaishnavas and said

that the main purpose of bringing Our Swami there, was for requesting

him to accept writing a Khandana grantha for the book Sata Booshani.

As he had gone through the teaching Tarka Shastra to the local popular

doctor, Sri Rama Sarma, using the book Kusumanjali with Our Swami’s

commentary, he came to the conclusion that only Our Swami was fully

qualified to undertake the work. He immediately gave Rs.800/- to be treated

as the first installment from him and his fried, Vakil,

Krishnaswamy Iyengar. He requested that the book should be published

early, as he was very old and that he was eager to see the book

completed before his death. After that, Sri Rama Sarma came, and

mentioned about his appreciation of Our Swami a copy of the book, a

commentary on Bhamati, written by his father, who was an Abhimana

Sishya of Sri Kanchi Sankaracharya Swami. After the end of the

Upanyasa at Karur and on return to Madras, one more offer came from

Sri A.V.Gopalachar Swami to write a khandana for the same book.

 

Then, Our Swami thought, that it was the wish of Sri Desika himself that he

should undertake the work. The book was started and in order to avoid delay

in publishing, writing and printing were done simultaneously.

 

 

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