SrI UttamUr SwAmi - A Life Sketch

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SrI:

SrI abhinava dESika UttamUr VIrarAghavArya mahAdESikAya namaH

 

namO nArAyaNa!

 

Dear devotees,

 

<< Following is the article by aDiyEn that was accepted by

Sri Uttamur Viraraghavachariar Centenary Trust, to find its

place in the front portion of the re-printed Tamizh commentary

on Bhagavad GIta by SrI UttamUr SwAmi >>

 

SrI UttamUr VIrarAghavAchArya (1897-1983 C.E.) was born, after

Lord VIrarAghava of TiruvaLLUr answering the prayers of his

parents in the lineage of "Tirumalai NallAn Chakravarti" of

SrIvatsa Gotra at UttamanallUr, a village near MadhurAntakam,

Tamilnadu, during the Tamil month of Thai in SwAti star

(26th January). He had his SamASrayaNam (initiation into the

SrI-VaishNava sampradAya) from SrI Tirupati SwAmi (SrI VEdAnta

RAmAnuja MahAdESika) and underwent Bhara-nyAsam (Prapatti)

apart from studying VEdanta under SrI KOzhiyAlam SwAmi (SrI

Ra~ngarAmAnuja MahAdESika). Later, he became the successor of

this lineage.

 

At Sanskrit College, ThiruvaiyAru, he mastered

NyAya (Indian Logic) under SrI Swacchandam SrInivAsAchArya SwAmi

and MImAmsA under SrI ChinnaswAmi SAstri, the champions in those

respective SAstras. He later became a walking encyclopedia in

various systems of Philosophies and was revered by scholars

allover India, as a great authority especially in NyAya-VaiSEshika

(Indian Logic, both Old and New Schools), ViSishTAdvaita VEdAnta

and Advaita VEdAnta.

 

He had the unique and rare distinction of having attained a high

and equal authority over both Upanishads (VEdAnta) in Sanskrit,

as well as Divya Prabandhams of the AzhwArs in Tamil, hailed as

Dravida VEdas with NammAzhwAr's ThiruvAimozhi being the

DramidOpanishad (Tamil VEdAnta). He commented upon both the

Principal and few more authoritative Upanishads, and also the whole

of Divya Prabandhams with equal ease, adding great clarity and

profound insights. Hence, he is revered as one of the all time

great Ubhaya-VEdAnta (Sanskrit and Tamil VEdAnta) scholars.

 

He served Sanskrit college,ThiruvaiyAru for a while and even

taught SAstras at Pushkar,RAjasthan. He served SrI VEnkatESwara

Oriental College, Tirupati for the major part of his career

(1928 -53 C.E.) before settling finally at Madras. He has

trained many students from both North and South India especially

in NyAya SAstra and ViSishTAdvaita VEdAnta.

 

His outstanding commentary in the style of Navya (New) NyAya, to

UdayanAchArya's (10th Cent.C.E.) NyAya-KusumAn~jali, a very terse

text in the style of PrAcIna (Old) NyAya won the hearts of

innumerous scholars and students alike for its amazing clarity

and insights with ample lucidity. His unique commentary to

"Tarka Sa~ngraha", a fundamantal manual of Navya-NyAya, presents

the "SAbdhabOdham" for the entire text. His incomplete profound

commentary on NyAya-SUtras of Sage Gautama (Or on NyAya-BhAshyam)

is awaiting publication from the manuscript stage.

 

His work "VaiSEshika RasAyanam" as a brilliant commentary on the

SUtras by Sage KaNAda, won deep admiration of eminent

scholars for the revival of VaiSEshika Philosophy.

 

His excellent commentary for "MImAmsA NyAya-PrakASa", an important

text in mImAmsA, was very well received by scholars since it makes

the learning of BhATTa DIpika easier. His lucid commentaries for

(*) SrI VEdAnta DESika's SESwara MImAmsA and MImAmsA PAduka speak

volumes on his mastery of mImAmsA SAstra.

 

His elaborate gloss "AchArya BhAshya TAtparyaH" to SrI VEdAnta

DESika's commentary on ISAvAsya Upanishad,

not only dispels various criticisms on it, but also reveals

his profound scholarship in various SAstras as well as his

immaculate dialectical skills.

 

He commented upon terse works in VEdAnta like Siddhitraya of

SrI YAmunAchArya for the benifit of scholars interested in the

comparitive study of ViSishTAdvaita and Advaita.

 

His scholarly Polemic work "ParamArtha PrakASika", a refuttal

of "Advaita AamOda" - a criticism on Bhagavad RAmAnuja's

SrI-BhAshya by SrI VAsudEva Abhayankar SAstri - obtained him

laurals from many quarters of the world of scholars.

 

His hair splitting lengthy Polemic work "ParamArtha BhUshaNam"

written in refutation to his friend SrI AnantakrishNa SAstri's

"SatabhUshaNI" - a criticism on SrI VEdAnta DESika's SatadUshaNI,

is recognized as his magnum opus. Its a classic from the pen of

a matured genius stamping his authority as a champion in VEdAnta

with enormous originality and logical acumen and also making

evident his extrordinary mastery of the various intricate issues

in both ViSishTAdvaita and Advaita VEdAnta, contributed by

several scholars spanning many a centuries.

 

In 1960, he was honoured as the very first recipient of the

"President's Award", for scholarship in Sanskrit, by the then

President His Excellency Dr.RAjEndra PrasAd.

 

His detailed commentary on SrI VEdAnta DESika's "NyAya PariSuddhi"

serves as a milestone in the exposition of Epistemology adopted by

ViSishTAdvaita. His commenatry and detailed Introduction to

SrI VEdAnta DESika's "NyAya SiddhAn~janam", and commentary on

SrI VEdAnta DESika's "SarvArtha Siddhi" <Commentary to his own

Tatva-muktA-kalApa> are cherished by eminent

scholars for their lucid, brilliant and insightful presentation of

simple to even very advanced aspects of ViSishTAdvaita Metaphysics,

Ontology, Epistemology, Cosmology, Eschatology and Theology.

 

Two of his well celebrated classics with marks of his scholarly

genius in ViSishTAdvaita VEdAnta, which shed more light on the

comprehensive and advanced understanding of VEdAnta SUtras by

Sage VyAsa are (i) "SrI-BhAshyArtha DarpaNa", a commentary to

SrI BhAshyam <a commentary to VEdAnta SUtras>, the magnum opus of

(**) Bhagavad RAmAnuja and (ii) SArArtha Ratna-prabhA, a very

detailed commentary on SrI VEdAnta DESika's masterpiece

"AdhikaraNa SArAvalI".

 

His mastery in various SAstras like NyAya-VaiSEshika, MImAmsA,

VyAkaraNa, Yoga, SA~nkhya, Advaita, ViSishTAdvaita, Buddhism,

Jainism etc are easily evident in his various works and his

tamizh commentary to SrI VEdAnta DESika's "Paramatha Bha~nga"

adds ample testimony to it.

 

His bhUmikas ie.Introductions to his works in general are

very scholarly in nature. Special mention must be made about his

two outstanding elaborate bhUmikAs of very high order information

content: (i) For SrI MEghanAdAri SUri's NayadyumaNi : This very

elaborate bhUmika is a treatise in itself with brilliant summary

and expositions of various technical concepts of ViSishTAdvaita

(ii) For Bhagavad RAmAnuja's GIta BhAshya and SrI VEdAnta DESika's

TAparya chandrika : This is an outstanding comparitive study on

the three commentaries to Bhagavad GIta,viz. by SrI SankarAchArya,

SrI RAmAnujAchArya and SrI MadhvAchArya.

 

His majestic scholarly commentary upon SrImad Rahasya Traya SAra,

the magnum opus of SrI VEdAnta DESika, makes very evident that he

was an authority in the "rahasya" granthas of SrI VaishNava

AchAryas expounding the esoteric meanings and significances of

the three mantras held in high esteem by SrI VaishNava SampradAya.

He has also written independent works on Prapatti Or

SaraNAgati (self-surrender to Lord LakshmI-NArAyaNa as the direct

means to moksha) and allied "rahasya" works apart from commenting

upon various works on this field by previous AchAryas like

Prapanna PArijAtam of SrI VAtsya Varadaguru (NaDAdUr ammAL).

 

In addition to his commentaries on works like pAn~carAtra Raksha

of SrI VEdAnta DESika, his independent treatises on the authority

and teachings of PAn~carAtra and VaikhAnasa Agamas are rich

contributions to the Agama Literature.

 

His tamil commentary to the Sa~nkshEpa RAmAyaNa is a wonderful

treat for the devotees of Lord SrI RAma.

 

Like SrI VEdAnta DESika, he was also a very gifted and talented

Poet. He has composed many stotras, apart from commenting upon

all the well celebrated kAvyas of SrI VEdAnta DESika

viz.YAdavAbhyudaya, PAdukA-Sahasram, Hamsa SandESa, Sa~nkalpa

SUryOdaya and SubhAshita NIvI. Being a master of Poetry, he could

even summarize and explain the terse philosophical concepts with

ease, as evident in his ParamArtha BhUshaNam.

 

He never showed any sign of slackness and was ever brisk with

his publication activities through "Ubhaya VEdAnta GranthamAlA".

Striking originality, dispassionate analysis, well researched

writings, profound knowledge, healthy criticisms,lucid explanations

of terse original texts and establishment of authentic readings

from manuscripts remain as hallmarks of the invaluable

Philosophical works by this genius. His total number of known works

mainly in Sanskrit and Tamil amounts to around 185, discounting

his various learned articles in different souvenirs and magazines.

Apart from this, he has also edited around 30 works which are

mainly by earlier AchAryas. Currently, his publications are

invariably used in many spheres of Philosophy inclusive of the

traditional SrI-VaishNava kAlakshEpams(private discourses) and

upanyAsams (public discourses).

 

Though he never compromised upon his own principles and

Philosophical convictions, his high order intellectual skills with

proficiency in various SAstras, combined with his excellent

personality of noble qualities made him a very good friend of

many eminent scholars of even other systems of VEdAnta, who

rather admired his genius and held him in high esteem, similar

to how he was revered by scholars within the SrI VaishNava

tradition.

 

He was a leading guiding star of ViSishTAdvaita VEdanta alias

Bhagavad RAmAnuja DarSana. Besides being a prolific writer

and a well accomplished teacher, he also presided numerous

Seminars and Meets of Scholars (Vidvat Sadas).

 

His phenomenal devotion to Lord VishNu especially in the form

of Lord SrInivAsa of Tirupati was befitting to his awesome

scholarship. He never longed for name and fame and lead a simple

life offering all of his spiritual pursuits with humility as a

selfless service to Lord LakshmI-NArAyaNa and the AchAryas of the

past. He made alive the Indian culture and tradition having its

roots in VEdas by his writings and pure conduct and was an

inspiring personality for others to follow. His signal service to

the languages Sanskrit and Tamil are cherished by one and all.

It was a golden era for Indian Philosophy, with his invaluable

Publications taking the ViSishTAdvaita VEdAnta to new higher and

greater heights. No wonder that in recognition of his Super-Human

activities, he was and is being hailed by one and all - AchAryas to

Scholars to Layman as "abhinava dESika" - A Newer VEdAnta DESika

in their midst.

---

 

(*) Bhagavad VEdAnta DESika alias VE~nkaTanAtha (1268-1369 C.E.),

a genius and versatile Polymath, adorning a unique place in the

history of India as one of the all time great Philosophers

cum Poets.

 

(**) Bhagavad RAmAnuja (1017-1137 C.E.), one of the all time great

Philosophers and Religious Leaders of great intellect from

India.

 

---

 

Some of the Awards and Titles conferred upon SrI UttamUr SwAmi :

 

1. President's Award for Scholarship in Sanskrit : First recipient

after the institution of this award during 1960.

 

2. "abhinava dESika" : By SrI VEdAnta DESika SampradAya-

SudhAsvAdinI SabhA, 1957.

 

3. "Ubhaya MImAmsA Vallabha" : By his AchArya SrI KOzhiyAlam SwAmi,

1942 {60th

thirunakshatram

of SrI

KOzhiyAlam SwAmi}

 

4. "PaNDita MArtANDa" : By SrI Abinava Ra~nganAtha ParakAla-

YatIndra MahAdESika of

ParakAla Muth.

 

5. "PaNDita BhUshaNa" : By SrI Madhva SwAmijI, MantrAlaya

RAghavEndra Muth.

 

6. "DESika SarSana Durandhara" : By SrI VaishNava Scholars.

 

7. "Ubhaya-VEdAnta Vijaya dhvaja" : By SrI VaishNava Scholars,1977;

{80th

thirunakshatram of

SrI

UttamUr SwAmi}

 

8. "SarvAtma RakhAmaNi" : By SrI VaishNava Scholars,1977;

{80th thirunakshatram of

SrI UttamUr SwAmi}.

 

9. "PUrva-Uttara MImAmsA PradIpa" : By SrI DESika SabhA,Tirupati.

 

10. "PrakASikA PrakASaka" : By SrI VaishNava Scholars.

 

11. "TarkArNava" : By Ayodhya Parishad.

 

12. "PaNDita Ratna" : By Sanskrit SAhitya Parishad,North India.

-

 

aDiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan,

KOmANDUr ELayavilli KaralapAkkam anantapadmanAbhan (alias Anand).

[Guest guest]

SrI:

SrI abhinava dESika UttamUr VIrarAghavArya mahAdESikAya namaH

 

namO nArAyaNa!

 

Dear Sriman Anand:

 

What a beautiful, informative and deeply moving tribute to

SrI abhinava dESika UttamUr VIrarAghava MahA Desikan !

I enjoyed it very much. After the reading of the extensive

write ups of Sri MadhavakkaNNan on the dhivya charitham of

abhinava dESikan , your posting is a lovely and all encompassing

summary .

 

It is indeed a splendid summary of the many accomplishments of

this avathAra purushan , whose SrI Sookthis continue to

illumine our paths daily . Many life times are needed to gain

even a fractional appreciation of the great wealth

left behind by this MahA Desikan .It is heartening to

know that the many of the samarpaNams created by

Him are being reprinted and released by the Centenary

Trust and made available for study by posterity .

 

With utter modesty , He devoted His entire life to

dip into the ocean of Veda VedAnthams and brought out

the gems and pearls and strung them together into

beautiful haarams and presented them to His kula dhaivam ,

SrI ThiruvEngadamudayAn.The nigama parimaLam of these

SrI Sookthis are unmistakable. Those who honored Him

with titles did indeed honor themselves.

 

The greatness of abhinava dESika Swamy reminds me of

NadathUr ammAL's second slOkam of His Tatthva Saaram:

 

kva paTi vidhushAmEshA prouDi: prabhuNA SapE

maSakaSakanam mnyE maadhruk-prabhAva nirdharSanam

YATHIVARA-VACHAS-TEJA: pratyarTivarganirargalaksha--

paNanipuNam nithyam jaagarthi KEERTHIKARAM MAYI

 

Here, AmmAL salutes the power of EmperumAnAr and

YengaLAzhwAn ( His Own AchAryan) in grantha nirmANam

among the vidhvath ghOshtis ;AmmAl goes on to state

that the enegy , power and the lustre of YathirAjar's

assembly of words energized Him to blow away the viparItha

doctrines advocated by the other mathams effortlessly .

That is what you see ! I swear about this in the name of

the Sriya: Pathi says the great AchAryan , who got

the title of AmmaaL from the Lord of Hasthigiri Himself!

 

abhinava DeSikan had the equal distinction of being

energized by the SrI sookthis of EmperumAnAr and

NigamAntha MahA Desikan ; this reminds me of the ancient

saying attributed to AchArya RaamAnujA " nallan yenRa

KaalamEgham nadukkAttil Varshitthathu". The nadukkAdu

to me is the modern day India and the world , where the soil

is thristing for such nourishing rains.

 

abhinava dEsikan's sthuthis are inspirational ones

for all BhakthAs of ThiruvEngadamudayAn . Reading

them is like enjoying the udhaya-asthamana sEvai at

Thirumalai . One verse from the salutation of Lord

SrinivAsan captures my imagination:

 

sarvathra jagathi thishtan sarvasyApyAsSraya: Sriya:Kaantha:

NaarAyaNa SikhariSira: parishkruthiSSaraNamasthu dEvO na:

--SrI Hariguru sthavamAlA: SlOkam 337

 

The depth of meaning bound up in this single slOkam

dealing with VishNu VyApakathvam, His nidhAnam ,

Jagath aadarathvam, Sriya: Pathithvam ,

SarvASrayaNIyathvam and the sarva-rakshakathvam of

the lOka vikrAntha Parisuddha Charanam is amazing.

Such a JagadhIsvaran is Our Lord concludes

this slOkam and His sacred Thiruvadi is

sought here as refuge .

 

Your note reminding me of the deep and life long

sambhandham of abhinava dESikan to ThiruvEngadamudayAN

has inspired me to write about the noble work of

SrinivAsa KalyANam by abhinava dESikan so that

I can be blesse dwith the sEvai of ThriuvEngadamudayAn

and Sri Oppiliappan (DakshiNa VenkatAchalapathy).

This will be added to the ThiruvengadamudayAn

Home pages that is still growing( http://

 

As a great AchAryan ,abhinava dESikan had great

reverence for our AchArya paramaparai paid

tribute to SrI SaakshAth Swamy's Sri Sookthi

(bruhadh-guruparampara-sArasvAdhini) dealing

with his commentary on the Prabhandha Saaram

of NigamAntha MahA dESikan.

 

Swamy Desikan in his salutation to the AzhwArs

in his Prabhandha Saaram described the fruits of

study of their dhivya Prabhanndhams this way :

 

" seyya Tamizh maalaikaL naamm teLiya Odhit-

teLiyAtha MaRainilangaL teLihinROmE "

 

What SrI SaakshAth Swamy said in the VyAkyAnam

on Swamy DeSikan's above prabhnadham ( Bruhadh-

guruparamparA-sArAsvAdhini) is entirely applicable

to abhinava dESikan, who restored it :

 

Swamy's VyAkyAnam for" TeLiyAtha" : "nyAyangaLAlum

rishi vachnangaLAlum samsaya kaalushya-rahithArTa

niScchayam piRavAthavai aana ".( the nyAyams and

the statements of Rishis could not provide

certainity about pramANams clearly).

 

"teLihinRom" VyAkyAnam :SankA-kaLanga-rahitha-

labhyaga-arTa-niscchaya -vishangalAha koLLa peRROm ".

(we have now realized the clear meanings of pramANams

without doubt from the study of AzhwAr's dhivya

prabhandhams).

 

As abhinava dESikan , UtthamUr Swamy did exactly

the above service (Viz): teLiyAtha maRainilangal

teLiya vaitthAr. He instructed aasthikAs on

the clear meanings of Vedam, Upanishads, Tamizh

maRaikaL (arTa nirNayam seythAr) ." pramANa SaraNarAna

namakku (for those of us who take refuge in pramANams),

nyAyangaLil uLLa viruddha nyAyangaLum (the inconsistencies

among the nyAyas), rishi vachanngaLil uLLa

viruddha vachanangalum ( the inconsistencies among

the various utterances of the Rishis) anjac-cheyyum

(will make us fear). Following the samyak Jn~Ana

sampradhYam (traditional divine Jn~Anam) born out of

the maintenance of SampradhAya parisuddhi (blemishless

tradition )of poorvAchAryALs , abhinava dESikEndhran

cleared away all these doubts and established in

our mind that samyak Jn~Anam about Tatthva Thrayam

( sentients-insentients and Isvaran)and the Three redeeming

rahasyams ( Moola Manthram , Dhvayam and Charama slOkam)

necessary for gaining MokshAnandham through SaraNAgathi

at the feet of a SadAchAryan .

 

During the morning hours , abhinava dESikan's

SrI Sookthis are "PrAtha: SmaraNIyam " and parama

BhOgyam.

 

Tasmai avathAra PurushAya NamO Nama:

Srimath Azhagiya Singar Thiruvadi,

Daasan, Oppiliappan KoIl VaradAchAri SaThakOpan

 

P.S : Those who wish to participate in supporting

the future releases of the out of print SrI Sookthis of

abhinava dESika UtthamUR Swamy are requested to get

in touch with Sriman K.K.Anand at the above address.