Isanya Deshika

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Dear spiritual brethren,

Isanya Desikar, whose math is located just outside Tiruvannamalai on

the old pradakshina road, was a distinguished yogi who, like many

before and after him, have felt the spiritual call of Arunachala. He

came and settled at the foot of the mountain quite late in his life,

but nevertheless, by virtue of his intense and personal relationship

with Arunachaleswara, he can still be regarded as one of the major

saints of Arunachala.

 

He was born in 1750 in a small village called Rayavelur, which

is located near the River Palar in northern Tamil Nadu. His parents,

Tiruneelakantha Desikar and Uma Parvathi, belonged to the local

farming community. Prior to Isanya Desikar's birth his parents had

been unable to produce a son for many years. To solve this problem

they had prayed to Lord Murugan at Arunachala and had asked him to

bless them with a son. When their prayers were answered, the child

was given the name of Kandappan, one of the many names of Lord

Murugan.

 

It soon became clear that he was a precocious child both

spiritually and intellectually. When he was first sent to school, he

astounded his teachers by reciting the lessons before they had even

been taught. Then, while the other boys struggled to catch up, he

would sit quietly in meditation. His father gave him Siva diksha at

the age of seven and then bestowed the title of 'Desikar' on him.

The title, which may have been a hereditary one, entitled and

empowered the son to carry out the duties and functions of a guru.

 

Isanya Desikar (a name he acquired much later in life) spent

most of his childhood uneventfully, mostly sitting in meditation in

his family house. When he reached the age of sixteen, his father

decided it was time for him to get married. While Tiruneelakantha

was looking for a bride from amongst his own relatives, Isanya

Desikar, who had no inclination to get married, appealed to his

mother.

 

'I don't want to become a samsari. We have been the slaves of

Lord Siva since the days of our distant ancestors. My mind longs to

see all the holy places associated with Him. Instead of marrying me

off, give me permission to go on a pilgrimage.'

 

His mother granted his request and soon afterwards he set off

on an extensive South India yatra. It seems he never went home

again.

 

A major turning point in his life occurred at Chidambaram.

After he had visited the temple there and had darshan of Lord

Nataraja, he went to visit Sri Mouna Swami, a local saint who was

reputed to be a siddha purusha. Mouna Swami lived on the northern

bank of the Ayi tank in Chidambaram and appeared to be immersed in

samadhi for most of the time. Isanya Desikar felt an immediate

attraction to him, so much so that he decided to stay on in

Chidambaram in the hope of getting both initiation into sannyasa and

upadesa (teachings) from him. For some time Isanya Desikar begged

for his food and had darshan of Mouna Swami twice a day, but the

Swami himself appeared to pay little attention to him. Feeling that

the Swami was ignoring him because he was not yet a mature enough

devotee, Isanya Desikar decided that he would try to compensate for

this lack by giving Mouna Swami a display of his earnestness. He

took off all his clothes except for his loincloth and went and stood

before Mouna Swami during one of the heavy winter rains. When Mouna

Swami saw him standing there, undaunted by the heavy rain and

without the least trace of a shiver on his bare body, he took the

blanket that was covering his own body and wrapped it around the

shoulders of Isanya Desikar. Then, to Isanya Desikar's delight, he

gave him the desired initiation and upadesa and afterwards put him

into a state of deep meditation. To celebrate his acceptance, Isanya

Desikar composed a five-verse poem in praise of Mouna Swami. In the

first verse he extolled the greatness of his new teacher:

 

 

 

Ever-perfect one! You have manifested in the world as the one who is

steeped in the pure bliss of the experience of the expansive

infinity that has no attributes. [You have manifested] as the Self-

realised silence and as the embodiment of truth and grace to bring

harmony among various beliefs. I, keeping my head at the feet of

your devotees, regard you as the Lord himself who dances in space at

Chidambaram and who is worshipped by the three worlds…

 

 

 

In the fifth and final verse, Isanya Desikar acknowledges that he

cannot attain liberation through his own efforts or through his

religious knowledge. He therefore requests Mouna Swami to bestow his

grace on him and grant him absorption in the Self:

 

 

 

O Guru possessing Supreme Knowledge, known as the silent Guru living

on the banks of the Ayi tank, what is the use of studying the

scriptures and the many different arts? Of what avail is an

extensive study of Vedanta and Siddhanta, expounding their meaning,

or following he ways of various religions? It is easy to transcend

samsara? Bless me with a supremely blissful absorption in the Self,

in which one can see the emergence of your effulgent grace.

 

 

 

It is not recorded how long Isanya Desikar spent with Mouna

Swami. It may well have been several years because, when he finally

decided to leave Chidambaram to carry on with his pilgrimage, he had

the long matted hair of an ascetic yogi and the reputation for being

a siddha, a yogi with great powers. His biographer(1) reports that

he travelled stark naked and carried only a few insignia which

marked him out as being a member of the South Indian order of siddha

sannyasins.

 

After leaving Chidambaram he wandered around for some time and

met at least two famous saints: a fellow siddha, Dakshinamurti

Swami, who lived at Tiruvarur and a man called Ugandalinga Jnana

Desikar, a Guru and a Brahmanishta who lived in a village called

Sikkal near Nagappattinam. When his wanderlust had abated, he

decided to settle down and undergo a long period of solitary

meditation. He soon found a suitable place - a large uninhabited

cave on a small hill. The nearest town was Vettavalam, which is only

a few miles from Tiruvannamalai, and the nearest village, a

settlement called Pakkam, supplied him with his few bodily needs. He

spent many years in this cave, apparently trying to immerse himself

in the state of nirvikalpa samadhi

 

During his stay there he was partially supported by a local

farmer, Muthuswami Udaiyar. This man visited the cave every day to

offer milk from his cow. After several years of devoted service

Muthuswami Udaiyar's labours were indirectly rewarded when he found

a hoard of treasure while he was digging the foundations of a house

he was planning to build for himself. His neighbours refused to

believe that he had come across the treasure accidentally. Instead,

they decided that Isanya Desikar had used his powers to manufacture

gold coins so that he could pay Muthuswami Udaiyar for his milk. The

villagers who believed in this version of events went en masse to

Isanya Desikar's cave and, after singing his praises in many ways,

requested that he produce some gold coins for them as well. Isanya

Desikar realised that he would no longer be able to meditate

peacefully in an area where he had a reputation for manufacturing

gold. So, when the importuning crowds had dispersed, he quietly

slipped away and walked continuously until he reached Arunachala. He

found a quiet place on the banks of the Goraknath tank in the

western part of Tiruvannamalai and began to resume his meditation.

 

It was not long before someone else came forward to support

him. A local man, Arunachala Chettiar, had become depressed because

he had been unable to produce a son even after many years of

marriage. Many people had told him that his luck would change if he

could only receive the grace of a holy man. He set out in search of

such a person, encountered Isanya Desikar sitting in samadhi by the

side of the Goraknath tank, and began to serve him with great

devotion.

 

Shortly afterwards, some siddhas, who resided at Arunachala but

who were invisible to ordinary men, came to Isanya Desikar and

escorted him to an uninhabited mountain cave. Inside, there was a

large mound of ripe fruits. The thought occurred to him that if one

of these fruits was given to Arunachala Chettiar, he would beget a

son.

 

One of the siddhas read his mind and responded by saying, 'You

may fulfil his desire accordingly'.

 

The siddhas escorted Isanya Desikar back to his place by the

tank after first giving him many of the fruits that he had seen in

the cave. The fruit that was given to Arunachala Chettiar produced

the desired result. Arunachala Chettiar was later given a bag of

vibhuti by Isanya Desikar. It became a family heirloom and several

generations of his family found they could overcome any worldly

problems by worshipping it.

 

Muthuswami Udaiyar, the man who had served Isanya Desikar for

many years while he had been mediating near Vettavalam, had become

very unhappy when his holy man had suddenly and mysteriously

disappeared without giving him any explanation. However, he was not

left in this state of dejection for very long. One night, Lord

Arunachaleswara himself appeared in one of his dreams in the guise

of Isanya Desikar and said, 'Dear son, don't feel sad. I am staying

at the north-eastern corner of Arunachala. You can come and see me

there.'

 

Then Arunachaleswara appeared in his own divine form to Isanya

Desikar and told him, 'Dear son, I have asked a devotee to come to

the north-eastern side of Arunachala to see you. Go there and meet

him.'

 

As Isanya Desikar was walking towards the appointed rendezvous

he began to compose some of the verses that were later known as

Svanubhava Stotra Pamalai (Garland of Hymns of Self-Experience).

These eventually numbered 117, all of which were addressed to Lord

Arunachala. From the second verse onwards it becomes clear that in

discovering Arunachala he had found both his true Guru and his God.

 

 

 

2 O Arunachala! Your devotees, recognising you as the infinite

reality who is grace embodied in the form of fire, beyond the reach

of Brahma and Vishnu, sang in praise of your greatness. I, who have

in a miraculous way found you and adopted you as my Guru, may say

many things about you, but all I really know is that you are the

great and adored Lord Arunagiri. I am unable to say anything more.

 

 

 

 

In another of his verses he explains that it was Arunachala's

power that stilled his mind and enabled him to discern the real

nature of the mountain.

 

 

 

57 O Sat-chit-ananda, who stands as 'The Self is he', by the power

of the Guru's love I recognised you as God. I praise and bow to the

blissful form, vast as the sky. You made me silent; now grant me

liberation.

 

 

 

 

The poem is a mixture of different metres and the mood of the

verses varies from self-deprecation to ecstasy. It may well be that

they were composed on many different occasions, for the author

sometimes complains about his faults and laments over his spiritual

bondage, whereas at other times he exalts in the liberation that the

grace of the Lord has granted him. Since it is traditional in Tamil

literature for jnanis to write verses in which they take a devotee's

standpoint and claim to be ignorant, deluded, suffering, etc., one

cannot state authoritatively that one verse was written during his

sadhana and another after his liberation. However, although the

chronology of the verses will always remain problematic, there seems

to be little doubt that Isanya Desikar eventually attained

liberation through the redeeming grace of Arunachala. In one verse,

for example, he sings:

 

 

 

45 In my identity with the body I had the sense of 'I' and 'mine'

in the three states of waking, dream and sleep. By your gracious

love this sense has vanished like a dream. You made me turn to you,

O Arunachala, you who burn like a flame. You burnt away my Self-

forgetfulness.

 

 

 

 

The poem reveals a familiarity with some of the great works of

the Tamil bhakti tradition, but the style is distinctively his own.

Also, it is interesting to note that the language and philosophy of

the verses are uncompromisingly advaitic. Many of the great

Arunachala saints who have written about the mountain were Saiva in

orientation and this is clearly reflected in the language of their

poetry. Isanya Desikar was brought up and educated in the Saiva

tradition but his verses show that he felt more at home with the

language and concepts of Vedanta:

 

 

 

81 Is there any truth apart from the Self? Great men live without

the illusory mind-screen, rooted in the reality of blissful no-

thought. Abiding in the Self, totally free, they are the wise ones,

free from karma.

 

 

 

 

 

 

He was enough of a Saiva to revere the mountain as Siva himself

and its power of sakti, but none of the standard ideas of Siddhanta

can be found in his verses. When he talks of Siva, he is not

conceiving of him in a mythic or even an anthropomorphic form. He

instead seems to regard Siva as being simultaneously pure awareness,

the energy that created the manifest world, and the substance out of

which the world was created.

 

 

 

87 In the past, present and future, you, the form of grace, abide

as the lofty Siva-bliss which is the one life in all life…

 

66 You are the Lord, the Guru, intelligence, the law, our goal. You

are absorbed in the Self and you abide as the Self which is

everything, with nothing separate from it. In a myriad ways you

engage in sport in the world of forms: I as you, you as I. O Supreme

Infinite Siva! You shine within the devout as the Self that is

awareness.

 

 

 

 

Scattered throughout the verses there are occasional hints of

the path that Isanya Desikar himself followed. Believing that the

best and highest form of devotion to Arunachala could be practised

by abiding in a thought-free state, he directed his efforts towards

cultivating an inner silence.

 

 

 

58 If you think without thoughts of that eternally blissful One who

shines everywhere as the divine, as Sakti, as Siva - that bhakti

itself is mukti. Thus proclaim the scriptures…

 

72 Realising that all we have learned is but the work of God, and

knowing that we cannot know anything by ourselves, to be in silence

is the jnana that vouches freedom from rebirth. Speak not. See the

unborn Self as chit, as Siva. That seeing is illumination.

 

 

 

 

When we left Isanya Desikar, he was walking toward the north-

eastern corner of the mountain to keep his appointment with the

devotee who had kept him supplied with milk for so many years. They

soon found each other and resumed their former relationship. Isanya

Desikar then chose a spot under a banyan tree on the southern side

of the Isanya tank and was soon spending most of his time immersed

in samadhi. Muthuswami Udaiyar often visited him there, and each

time he came he would bring food for Isanya Desikar and for any

other devotees who happened to be with him.

 

 

 

 

 

A 19th century woodcut of Isanya Desikar being guarded by tigers.

 

 

 

When no devotees were near him, Isanya Desikar, who was then

about sixty years of age, liked to sit naked, absorbed in samadhi.

On such occasions Lord Arunachaleswara himself sometimes used to

manifest in the form of a tiger to guard him and prevent anyone form

disturbing him. Isanya Desikar knew what was happening. Each time he

came out of samadhi, he would fondly run his fingers through the fur

of the tiger and address him lovingly as 'Arunachala, my Lord'.

Occasionally other tigers from the forest would come along and help

Arunachaleswara with his guard duties. Isanya Desikar knew that the

presence of the tigers would intimidate other people, so whenever he

saw that devotees were about to visit him, he would send the tigers

away by saying, 'My devotees may get frightened if they see you.

Please keep away.'

 

After some time Isanya Desikar moved to a nearby flower garden

and took up residence there. Muthuswami Udaiyar, the man who had

been feeding him for many years, persuaded the owners of the flower

garden to donate a small portion of it so that Isanya Desikar could

remain undisturbed there. The owners agreed and handed over about a

third of the flower garden. Sri C. Subbiah, who wrote a biography of

Isanya Desikar, states that from the day he took up residence in the

north-eastern corner of the flower garden he became known to the

world as 'Isanya Desikar', for isanya in Tamil means 'north-east'.

This may well be true but it seems just as likely that he acquired

his name either by sitting by the side of the Isanya tank or merely

by living for so many years on the north-eastern side of the

mountain.

 

As Isanya Desikar's fame began to spread, he began to attract

devotees and disciples. One of them was a man called Pondy

Arunachala Swamy who is chiefly remembered for coming to a macabre

end after going against his Guru's wishes. He was brought up in

Pondicherry, but after he came under the influence of Isanya Desikar

he took sannyasa and moved to Tiruvannamalai. Since he had no

family, his property was lying unclaimed in Pondicherry. It should

be remembered that as a sannyasin he had no rights to it. Under

Hindu law, the taking of sannyasa has the same legal implication as

physical death. The sannyasin's relatives take over his property,

and if there are no relatives, his former possessions become the

property of the state.

 

Pondy Arunachala Swamy knew all this, so one day he suggested

to Isanya Desikar, 'Why don't I go back to Pondicherry dressed as a

householder and claim all my former property from the French

government. Then I could sell it all and give all the proceeds to

you.'

 

Isanya Desikar strongly disapproved of his disciple's plan, 'We

don't want any money,' he said, 'And furthermore, the sannyasin's

robe, once donned, should never be removed. If you are still intent

on going, I must warn you. You will not return!'

 

Pondy Arunachala Swamy, who was aggrieved that the government

had ended up with all his property, ignored the warning and went to

Pondicherry to carry out the plan. He convinced the French

government that he was the rightful owner of his ancestral property,

took possession of it and auctioned it off. He converted the

proceeds into gold, which he loaded on the back of a bullock. His

intention was to drive the bullock all the way to Tiruvannamalai

with the valuable cargo strapped to its back. However, at the moment

of his departure, when he struck the bullock with a stick to make it

start, the bullock, normally a very placid animal, turned on him and

gored him to death. The cargo then became the property of the

Pondicherry government, but instead of hiding it in their treasury,

they decided to use some of it to commemorate the strange and

unfortunate accident. They made a statue of Pondy Arunachala Swamy

being gored by the bullock and installed it on the western side of

Karuvadaikuppam near Muthialpet. The statue can still be seen there

today.

 

A suitable epitaph for Pondy Arunachala Swami can be found in

one of Isanya Desikar's verses to Arunachala:

 

 

 

48 Those who ceaselessly seek to find their treasure in gold do not

find anything in it. Not knowing themselves, they vainly talk about

this and that. Spiritual seekers realise that you alone are the

treasure. You are the world, the creation, the Lord, the Mother.

They [the spiritual seekers] know no one else by you, O Lord of

Arunachala.

 

 

 

 

Isanya Desikar must have been one of the first Gurus in India

to have a western devotee. His name was Ayton and he was the

District Collector for the region that extended from Tiruvannamalai

to Vriddhachalam. He had heard about the greatness of Isanya Desikar

and approached him in the hope of getting a cure for a chronic

complaint.

 

When Isanya Desikar saw him coming he issued his standard

warning to the tiger who had been keeping guard over him: 'Lord

Arunachala! A European is coming. He may get frightened on seeing

you. You had better stay away.' The tiger promptly withdrew.

 

Ayton came near and prayed to Isanya Desikar to cure him of the

tuberculosis from which he had been suffering for many years. Isanya

Desikar smiled and after a brief pause spat on the ground. The

moment he spat, Ayton was cured of the disease. Ayton then spoke to

the holy man with both trepidation and devotion.

 

'Swami, I have recently acquired a large amount of land, I

would like to offer your holiness as much as you need. It can be a

permanent endowment in your name.'

 

Isanya Desikar smiled and asked tauntingly, 'Will your land

yield crops even during a drought?'

 

Then, pointing his finger towards Arunachaleswara and

Apeetakuchamba, he added, 'Here is a householder with two children

and a large family. It is proper to give him any amount of land, but

it is not proper to gift it to me, a sannyasin.'

 

Ayton took leave of him but returned on many occasions. He got

into the habit of addressing him reverentially and affectionately

as 'Tata', which means 'grandfather'. It is said that before he

began any new project he would always mediate on Isanya Desikar and

invoke his blessing by saying, 'Tata, please lead me in this work.

It is your work.' At the annual Deepam festival Ayton would take the

lead in dragging the huge temple chariot through the streets of

Tiruvannamalai. However, before moving the chariot for the first

time he would pick up one of the ropes and exclaim loudly: 'Tata,

you hold the rope and lead us!' The local people were all astounded

that such a prominent British official should have such devotion

towards a naked sannyasin.

 

Ayton made it a point always to attend and lead this annual

festival, but one year he found himself stranded by floods on the

southern side of the River Pennar just before the beginning of the

festival. Knowing that he was expected to be at Arunachala to start

the chariot on its journey, he called out to his mount: 'Horse, I

must see Tata and I must also get the Deepam festival started. Think

of Tata and cross the river!' Without a moment's delay or

hesitation, the horse leaped into the raging torrent of water and

effortlessly waded to the other side. None of the other people who

were stranded dared to follow for they were all convinced that it

would be suicidal to enter the surging waters.

 

At the moment when Ayton put his faith in Tata and leaped into

the water, Isanya Desikar opened his eyes after a long meditation

and stretched out his hand in a southerly direction. When one of his

disciples asked what he was doing, he replied, 'If someone falls

into a river, should we not save him?'

 

Ayton arrived safely and took Isanya Desikar's blessings to

start the festival. When the news of Ayton's spectacular river

crossing and Isanya Desikar's role in it spread among the Deepam

crowds, many of them came to the north-eastern side of the hill to

see the man who had been responsible for the miracle. The guardian

tigers had to withdraw for several days until the crowds subsided.

Several of the new visitors turned out to be mature seekers who were

looking for guidance from a Guru. Isanya Desikar accepted some as

disciples, had a small thatched shed built to accommodate them and

gave instruction by writing a guide to liberation entitled Jnana

Kattalai.

 

In 1829, when Isanya Desikar was seventy-nine years old, he

realised that death would soon come to him. He foresaw the time and

date of his passing and wrote the information on a palm leaf that he

then concealed under his seat. On the 26th day of the Tamil month of

Margazhi he told his oldest disciple somewhat cryptically, 'Lord

Nataraja is going to the thousand-pillared mantapam. We too should

go there.' Then he sat in meditation, facing north, with a slight

smile on his face. Muthuswami Udaiyar, realising that his master was

about to give up his body, asked him, 'What now will be the fate of

us devotees?'

 

Isanya Desikar replied, 'Has not your family already ripened as

a bunch?' and promptly abandoned his body. His devotees chose a

samadhi site under a bilva tree nearby because they recollected that

Isanya Desikar had occasionally stood there and gazed lovingly at

the mountain. When the palm leaf that predicted his death was found

shortly after his burial, the devotees had one last proof of their

master's powers.

 

I had the good fortune to have a vision of this siddha

when I went to his samadhi in Thiruvannamalai(during meditation).

My humble pranams to his lotus feet,

Yours yogically,

Dattu