na deivam deSikAt param - II

[Guest guest]

"na deivam deSikAt param, na param deSikArcanAt"

 

[There is no god greater, and none more worthy

of worship - than deSika]

 

Whatever be the sampradAyic explanation for that

enchanting smile of SrI deva perumAL of kanchi,

adiyEn is certain that the main cause for this

"hastigiri hAsikai" - is deva perumAL gloating

over the fact that he remains the iShta devatA

of SrIviShNu ghaNtAvatAra swAmi deSikan himself.

 

As he did for all his life, so also during his

12 years in satyamangaLam (having survived the

moslem invasion of SrIrangam), swAmi deSikan

continued to worship deva perumAL - the temple

of perundevi nAyikA sametha SrI VaradarAjar

is today found in that kshetram along with of

course, the sannidhi of swAmi deSikan.

 

Udayavar too, was inseperable from his dear

SrI deva perumAL all his life... was it not

perundevi thAyAr and devAdirAjan themselves,

who whisked the young rAmAnuja away to safety

and back to kanchi in the guise of a hunter

couple, thus foiling yAdavaprakAsa's plot to

end the child's life? Was it not under the

ever-watchful eye of varadarAja perumAL, that

rAmAnuja got initiated into the tradition of

Alavandhar, ultimately taking sanyAsam from

the same devaperumAL himself? And was it not

this very devaperumAL, who gave rAmAnuja the

brahma-gnyanam needed to write SrIbhAshyam via

his preceptor thirukacchi nambi??

 

Even at the sannidhi where udayavar's thAne-Ana

thirumEni is found in periya kovil, utsavar has

SrI deva perumAL alongside - his iShtadevatA

whom udayavar always worshipped, despite being

in the immediate presence of ranganathar! And

so our beloved SrI devaperumAL smiles constantly,

basking in the glory of constant aupAsanA from

the two greatest AchAryas of SrI sampradAyam.

 

As we walked back towards the main gate of this

varadarAjar kovil, Sri Sadagopa tathAcharya (SST)

swAmi drew our attention to the huge puShkariNI

wherein, he explained - rested the thirumEni of

SrI "atthi" varadar whose emergence once every

40 years is celebrated with great festivity.

adiyEn recalled atthivaradar being mentioned by

my late grandparents, who had his incredible

darSanam on two occasions - 1940 and 1980 CE.

[They also saved a rare photo of atthivaradar

from 1940, from which I made a digital copy.

Will try and upload this as soon as possible.]

 

adiyEn expressed regret over not having been to

swAmi deSikan sannidhi; SST swami assured us we

would have ample opportunity to so - at the very

birthplace of swAmi deSikan himself, thooppul.

It would have to be the next day though, since

it was 10 p.m. and nightfall by now.

 

SST swAmi would not let us return to our lodge

without meeting other members of his family -

who reside right outside varadarajar kovil, at

the very first agrahAraveedu on sannidhi street

in kanchi. Seeing them, as I came to realize

later on - would be the greatest bhAgyam from

having been to kanchi, even more so than being

a sevArthi at kanchi/Sriperumbuthoor/thooppul.

For just as swAmi deSikan was our foremost SrI

sampradAya gnyAna-viLakku, descenants of koti

kanyAdAnam thAthadeSikan such as SrIsudarSana

thAthAchAryar [ChuChu swAmi] and those in his

santhathi such as Satakopa thAthAchArya swAmi

(pulikku poonai piRakkumO?) are verily, lamps

showing the way to swAmi deSikan himself.

 

To have samparkam with those who are a viLakku

for thooppul kulaviLakku swAmi deSikan himself

(by means of their untiring service to his

legacy and to kovils that honor the same), one

must be blessed with some poorva janma sukrtham

- else someone like me would never have this

prApti. adiyEn is grateful to all bhaktas who

in the last few years, mentioned SST swAmi in

their writings and conversations, thereby

making his valuable kainkaryams known to many

and in the process (righty so) also making the

name of SST swAmi synonymous with service to

the divya kshetram of thooppul.

 

Despite our reluctance (like blind people who

did not know there was gold in front of them!),

SST swAmi insisted that we go to his ancestral

home to meet his family. So we followed him

inside, past the gate and past the threshold

of the front door, and the picture of a very

vaideeka household began to unravel before us.

Even in this confused life adiyEn had seen a

few agrahAram homes and older people with

Sikhai, panchakaccham and panniru thirumaN...

but this house had all 3 generations, ranging

from age 14 to 94 - in SriVaishnava svaroopam.

 

SST swAmi's parents welcomed us very graciously,

enquired about our family, about our travel to

kanchi, and so on. Looking at the walls lined

end to end with padams, I saw a huge number of

them... perumALpadams right below the roof,

several black and white framed pictures way

back from the 1920s, more recent pictures in

color, all creating that mesmerising effect

one cannot explain in words. SST swAmi noticed

my interest and immediately took out one color

frame of viLakkoLi perumAL and gave it to me.

adiyEn was too overwhelmed to even thank him...

 

Meanwhile a tall, elderly figure emerged from

one dimly lit room adjoining this hall. To our

surprise, SST swAmi told us it was his thaatha

SrIsudarSana thAthAchAryar aged 94... ChuChu

swAmi walked slowly upto a metal cot and sat

down on it, asking me to sit next to him... it

was an unforgettable moment. The conversation

was difficult because of his weak hearing, but

some important facts were discovered. My father

learnt ChuChu swAmi was related to his maternal

uncle, also a thathacharyar - who stayed with

this kutumbam almost every one of his 92 years

when attending the divya garudotsavam.

 

The patriarch ChuChu swAmi (who has even started

a veda pAThaSAlai at age 92) and his descendants

such as SST swAmi and his parents - represent

some of the last remaining stalwarts of deSika

sampradAyam. This family, short of living uncha

vrtthi, have dedicated their entire life to the

cause of thooppul swAmi deSikan nitya kainkaryam,

to the service of kanchi varadar, to vedAdhyayanam,

and to promoting studies in samskrit - gIrvANaiva

bhAshA, the celestial language. Extending support

to them is the only worthwhile act that concerned

SrIvaishnavas (incapable of any other service to

our sampradAyam) ought take upon themselves... or

so adiyEn feels, with arguable justification.

 

Having paid our daNdavat praNAmams to the parents

of SST swAmi, alongwith the venerable Sri ChuChu

swAmi, adiyOngaL took leave of them. SST swAmi's

mother, herself in her 70s, asked that we stay

there itself, never mind the lodge etc... it was

very touching. My father replied that had he come

here every year during garudotsavam along with his

maternal uncle, it would be right in accepting the

Atithyam extended to us - but not as fleeting

sevArthis who came once in a lifetime and left

the next day! And so we left the first agrahAram

house from sannidhi thiruveedhi of kanchi varadar,

the abode of three generations of kotikanyAdAnam

thAthAchAaryars... with nostalgia in our minds.

 

It was almost 11 p.m. at night; SST swAmi promised

that he would accompany us to thooppul first thing

early next morning. So we returned to the lodge,

and slept with the anticipation of sevai to swAmi

deSika archAvatAra at the very place he was born...

 

- To be concluded -

 

SrIrangapriya daasan,

-Srinath C.