Gopalarya Mahadesikan's 302nd Thirunakshatram

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Sri

Srimathe Rangaramanuja Mahadesikaya Namaha

Srimathe Gopalarya Mahadesikaya Namaha

Srimathe Nigamantha Mahadesikaya Namaha

Srimathe Bhagavathe Bhashyakaraya Mahadesikaya Namaha

Srimathe Ranganatha Divyamani Padukabhyam Namaha

Today (Wed, Sep 25 Purattasi-Pooradam) is Srimath Gopalarya Mahadesikan's

302nd Thirunakshatram. Gopalarya Mahadesikan also called Thirukudanthai

Mahadesikan is the great acharya who established Munithraya Sampradayam.

Great Srivaishnava Acharya paramparais like Srirangam Srimath Andavan Periyashramam,

Srimath Poundarikapuram Andavan Ashramam, Navalpakkam paramparai, Kedandipatti

paramparai, Annayarya Mahadesikan paramparai and many more hail from this

Acharya's lineage. Let us all recite this mahan's thaniyan on His thirunakshatram

day.

Sri krishna dEsika padhaamBHuja brunga raajam

VEdaantha lakshmana muneendra krupaaththa bOdham

Thraiyantha dEsika yatheendra shaTaarimoorthim

GOpaala dEsika shikhaamaNi maasrayaamaha

dasan,

Shyamsundar Sreenivasan

PS: Here is an article by Sri V.N.Vedantha Desikan published in The

Hindu dated Sep 29, 2000 on the occasion of the 301st thirunakshatam of

this Acharya

A GREAT luminary in the spiritual firmament of South India was born

in 1700 A.D. in a hamlet called Royampettai, in Thanjavur district,

on the northern bank of the Cauvery, near Thiruvaiyaru. He was born

in the year Vikrama (corresponding to 1700 A.D.), in the month of

Purattasi, under the star Pooradam, to Krishnadesika. The child was named

Gopaladesika.

The boy learnt, from his father, the Vedas, Divyaprabandha, Sanskrit

and Tamil grammar, rhetoric and Sastras. Even when he was in his

teens, he was sent to Srirangam to learn the ``Grantha-Chatushtayam'

(Rahasyatraya-saram, Sri Bhashyam, Gita- Bhashyam and Bhagavad-Vishayam)

from the great Vedanta acharya, Ramanuja Muni.

Young Gopaladesika was advised to settle down in Kumbakonam after he

completed his course. He first undertook an extensive pilgrimage to the

holy shrines in South India and then settled down in a hermitage in the

Aravamuthan temple premises, at Kumbakonam.

Gopaladesika lived a simple life, sustained by daily alms. Though such

a way of life is not necessary for the householder, one like Vedantadesika

or Gopaladesika, who had no need for money or savings or material acquisitions,

would naturally, and instinctively, adopt this mode of life.

Three ascetics were attending on him, with implicit reverence, doing

his personal chores - a very unusual phenomenon. They had been drawn from

and near: one was from Watrap, who was devoted to solitude and meditation;

the second was from Seyyanam (in Tirunelveli district), a prototype of

Yamunamuni (or Alavandar), who had a few disciples only; the third was

from Vazhuthoor near Ayyampettai.

He was indeed a second Vedanta Ramanuja Muni, whose service helped the

school reach a pre-eminent status. The particular ascetic, referred to

as Vazhuthoor Swami, Vazhuthoor Andavan, and Srirangam Swami, was the real

torch-bearer of Gopaladesika's mission from about 1750 A.D.

The reverence Gopaladesika commanded from the society then, is reflected

in his being addressed as ``Thirukkudanthai Desikan''. He is acknowledged

as the patriarch of the school (or sampradaya, as it is generally termed),

referred to as Munitraya, since it is suppose to have been carried forward

by his three ascetic disciples. The tradition is essentially the same as

that of Vedantadesika; it marks no departure from the path; nor it is a

branch since it was only continuing in the same direction. If it is referred

to as the Munitraya tradition or Thirukkudanthai Desikan tradition, it

is only for convenience and for conveying the regard that he was held in

by a large mass of the religious community.

In the context of Indian spiritualism, we find two kinds of leaders;

one might be a great author but no great orator; another may be good at

discourses or instructions but may not have a flair for writing works for

posterity. Gopaladesika combined both faculties in happy harmony. He was

a `watershed acharya' in the genealogy of Vaishnavite preceptors. He inherited

Vedantadesika's spiritual legacy totally and from him different streams

can be recognised today. Among these, two are well organised: they are

the Srirangam Periasramam Andavan tradition and the Poundarikapuram Andavan

tradition.

There are a number of others, such as the Kethandapatti tradition, the

Annayaryamahadesikan tradition composed of many Tatacharyas (descendants

of Nathamuni) and Acharya-Purushas, the Denkanikottai stream and so on.

One could make an estimate that some 40 per cent of the Desikasampradaya

adherents today would acknowledge Thirukkudanthai Desikan as their patriarch.

As an author, his reputation stands simply unassilable: an original

work on ``Prapatti'' (``Nikshepatchintamani''), a commentary on Rahasyatrayasara

of Vedantadesika, commentaries on two works from Divyaprabandham, a commentary

on Tattvatika of Vedantadesika, a terse Sahasranama-stotra on Vedantadesika;

an Anhika work which is a valuable guide on rituals of daily routine for

pious men to followl and a unique work called ``Sri- Jayantyadi-Nirnaya'',

where he codifies the criteria for fixing the dates of such holy fests

as Sri Krishna Jayanthi.

His devotion for the local deity, Aravamuthan, can be gleaned from two

short hymns he has composed.It was he who built the present shrine, with

the tower, for Vedantadesika, almost opposite to his hermitage, within

the

temple premises.

He was a model of true humility. He used an unostentatious colophon

in his works, that read somewhat like this: ``written by Gopaladasa, son

of Krishnasoori and receiver of Vedanta knowledge from Sakshat Swami''.

It is said that his grand-uncle Venkatadhwari was so much impressed by

his stature, that he sought to become Gopaladesika's disciple. But Gopaladesika

would not allow it! He commended the grand old man to his own Acharya,

Sakshat Swami.

However, he appears to have suffered the misfortune of begetting a misfit

son, for whom he could only plead with God. The son died young. Gopaladesika

had a scholarly nephew, Venkatacharya and a grandson, Vedantacharya (of

Elayavalli line), who became his `sons' by adoption. They did much to perpetuate

his glorious memory.

At 82, he took sanyasa and died within a couple of days, in the Tamil

Plava year (corresponding to 1782 A.D.), in Karthigai month on a Krishna

Shashti. Just before he passed away, his loving admirers made an idol of

his in iron, which he approved and blessed with his touch. This idol is

now worshipped in the Vedantadesika shrine (in East Uttara Street, Srirangam)

which is under the management of the Poundarikapuram Swami Asramam.