Thuppul PiLLai- 23- Swamy visits Srirangam

[Guest guest]

SrI:

SrImathE Nigamantha Mahadesikaya namah:

SrImAn venkatanAthAryaH kavitArkika kesarI |

vedAntAcArya-varyo me sannidhattAm sadA hRdi ||

 

May the glorious Venkatanatha, the greatest of teachers of Vedanta, and the

lion among poets and debaters, reside forever in my heart.

 

Dearest Srivaishnavas,

 

It was the month of maargazhi (December- January) dear to Andal and dearer

to Krishna from the days of Acharya Nathamuni [9th century CE] who brought

about the renaissance of the Divya Prabandham of Alwars, a festival

adhyayanOthsavam by name is conducted in a grand manner for 21 days – ten

days before and then days after Vaikunta EkAdasi day. Uthsava murthi of Lord

Ranganatha is taken out from the Sanctum Sanctorum in procession to a

specially decorated hall and placed on a high pedestal. The deities of

Alwars and Acharayas are also arranged in front of the Lord in a semi

circle. The hymns of Alwars are sung before the Lord in particular tune by

chosen devotees who go by the name of Araaiyars and who dance and explain

certain fixed songs. The first two thousand verses are sung on the first ten

days beginning with the prathama of Sukhlapaksha and the third thousand in

ten days beginning with Vaikunta EkAdasi day. The fourth thousand

collectively called IyaRpaa are sung on 21st day with the Lord in asnactum

sanctorum by the member of different family which goes by the name

Anudhanar. Hundreds of scholars and devotees assemble there to listen and

enjoy these songs in front of the Lord and among Alwars and Acharyas.

 

One year during the life time of Sri Vedanta Desika, a team of scholars

belonging to Advaita school, which swears b the Sanskrit Upanishad and

Bhagavd Gita, but does not accept the validity of Dhivya prabandham, came to

Srirangam when the perapartions for the conduct of the adhyayanOthsavam were

in progress. They met the Srivaishnava acharyas and argued: A festival in

glorification of Tamil hymns in a temple has no saasthric sanction, even

though the Vaishnavas may accept them as Dramida Upanishad. You may conduct

the festival if you succeed in establishing your views before us in

disputation.

 

The Srivaishnava acharyas were rather advanced in age and hesitated to

accept the challenge due to their ageing. They discussed among themselves

and concluded that they could send for Sri Vedata Desika from kanchi whose

reputation as a follower and propounder of the teachings of Acharya Sri

Ramanuja had spread far and wide.

 

So they sent an urgent message to Sri Vedanta Desika as the command of Lord

Ranganatha’s commander in chief Vishvaksena to come at once to Srirangam, a

command which is received with bent and bowed down heads by the devotee of

his devotees as a head ornament [and straight away carried out and executed]

 

Sri Desika received the divine command with great respect and joy and became

ready for the journey. He went to the temple, took leave of the Divine

copule Lord Varada and His consort and left Kanchi for Srirangam.

 

On the way, Sri Desika went to Sri Perumupudhur, the birth place of ACharya

Ramanuja to worship him in the archa form and seek his blessings before the

journey to Srirangam. His yathirAja Sapthathi is a moving lyric of seventy

four verses on Ramanuja, YathirAja, (the king of Sanyaasis) in which he

declares that Yathiraja was verily an incarnation of Bhagawaan and the

philosophy he reinforced was authoritative since it was strictly based on

Upanishads and he spent his whole life working for the good of everyone.

 

The arrival of Sri Desika in Srirangam was a great relief to Srivaishnava

acharyas. They made all arrangements for the conduct of the debate in the

spacious hall of the temple. The two opposing parties assembled there in the

ixed day. Sri Desika requested the disputant to state their objects first

so that he might categorically answer point wise each one of them to their

satisfaction. The debate went on for about a week. Sri Vedanta Desika

established with the support of the saasthra that the alwars were the

servitors of the Lord and were born to redeem the souls in bondage by their

hymns. Itw as per command of the Lord and there are references in

Bhagawathas about their briths. He also proved that the ideas of their hymns

were quite in consonance with the teaching of Vedas and quoted hymns in

which the Alwars declare that they are saying in Tamil what the Vedas and

Saasthras said in Sanskrit. The opponents were satisfied and permitted the

conduct of adhyayana utsavam to the joy of all Srivaishnavas there.

 

During his stay in Srirangam, Sri Vedanta Desika composed BhagavdhyAna

sOpAnam, Dasavathara sthOthra, nyAsa thilakam, nyAsa vimsathy, and wrote

several works in Sanskrit on the philosophy of VishsihtAdvaita as well as

ChillaRai rahaysams in maNipravALam. He visted azhagar kOil and Madurai,

Alwar Thirunagari and Srivilliputthur, Vanamamalai and Trivandrum. He came

back to Srirangam and continued the work of writing granthas and instruction

to disciples. Lord Ranagantha was so much pleased with the knowledge

teachings and works of Sri Desika that he conferred upon the title of

Vedantacharya. Sri Desika himself mentions this with justifiable pride in

more than one of his works. There is also a title Sarvathanthra swathanthrar

conferred upon him by Sri Ranagayaki thaayar- the divine consort of

Srirangam.

 

Sri Vedanta Desika lived in peace in Srirangam for several years.

Swamy Desikan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Regards

Namo narayana

dAsan

kavi-tArkika-simhAya kalyANa-guNa-SAline |

Srimate venkateSAya vedAntagurave namaH ||

 

Salutations to Sri Venkatesa, in whom all perfections reside, who is the

teacher of Vedanta and the lion among poets and debaters

 

_______________

Find love on MSN Personals http://personals.msn.com.sg/