Today(Aug. 27,2002) - Thirunakshatram of Srimath Thembarai Andavan - Life History - Part I

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Sri:

 

Srimathe Rangaramanuja MahadesikayaNamaha:

Srimathe RanganAthaMahadesikaya Namah:

Thirunakshatram: AvaniPoorattAdhi

Thanian:Srimath VEdha vathamsa lakshmana munehepraapthaaga maantha dvayam

ThEna Sri raghu punga vangri yugaLenyasthaathma Rakshaambharam

Srimath Srinidhi yogivarya karunalabdaabhja chakraangkanam

Vande shaanthi virakhthi poornamanagham Sriranga naatham Gurum

Today (Aug 27th ), Avani REvathi is the 116thThirunakshatram of Srimath

Thembarai Andavan SriRanganAtha MahA dEsikan who adorned Acharya peetam asthe

8th Andavan in the Andavan Periashramam MunithrayaSampradayam AchArya

Lineage.adiyEn has made an attemptto bring out the life history of this AchArya

mahApurushA with a series of postings starting from today.

 

Thembarai is a beautiful serene village situated onthe banks of river pAmani.

This small hamlet known forits fertile land and abundant water resources

islocated 7 miles southeast of MannArgudi. One canconstantly hear the vEda and

divya prabandha gOshamcopiously reverberating the ambience thus filling

thevillage with piety. Thembarai is a divya KshEtramwhere a beautiful temple for

Sri Rukmini sathyabhAmAsamEta Sri Navaneetha Krishnan is in place with

SriKALinga Nardhanan as Utsava murthy.There lived a pious Sri vaishnavite by the

name ofSri. U.Ve. Vangeepuram SeshAdriyAchAr in Thembarai. AsEmperumAn proclaims

‘vEdAnAm sAma vEdOsmi’, hebelonged to the glorious sAma sAkhA. He formallylearnt

and mastered the sAma vEda along with kAvyasAstrAs. His dharma patni’s name was

SrimathiSengamalammAL. 2 sons and 2 daughters were born tothem. Eldest of them

was Sow. Rukmini Ammal. In thelater parts of her life, she spent all her

timeperforming Asrama kainkaryams. The second child was ason who later became

Srimath Thembarai Andavan. Thirdchild was a daughter who reached AchAryan

thiruvadi ata very young age. The fourth child was a son namedVenkata varadAchar

who later on became an eminentupanyAsa chakravarthi in bhagavath vishayam other

thanserving as adhyaksha in Madurai Tamil Sangam.Sri U.Ve. SeshadriyAchAr swAmi

performed sAstrokthasamskArams to his 2 sons at a very young age. Hefulfilled

all his duties as a father performingmarriage in a grand way for his daughter at

the rightage and also gave excellent education to his sons. Themarriage of the

eldest son was also performed at theright age. In the year 1912, SeshadriyAchAr

swAmireached AchAryan thiruvadi. More about the eldest sonwho later on became

Srimath Thembarai Andavan tofollow.

Jananam and Younger Days

SwAmi was born in the year viya in the month of Avanion a Thursday. His

thirunakshtram was Revathi(19-8-1886). His parents named him as Sri

VenkatarAghavan. Since our swAmi was born on the holy thirunakshatramday of

Revathi, there is a sloka that came into beingwhich goes as given below:

RanganAtha avathArOyam thath poornAm shOthavA BhavEth|

YadvA ranga yathir vEthi vitharkyA yAsthu mangaLam||

 

Since Revathi is the thirunakshatram of peria perumal,we are made to think of

our swAmi being anincarnation of nam perumAL Himself or having thepoornAmsham of

Nam perumAL or the incarnation of SriKalyAnAvaha Ranganatha Maha dEsikan ( who

waspopularly called Sri Periya swAmi). Whatever it maybe, there is no doubt that

swAmi had full blessingsand katAkshams of Nam perumAL.The Astrologers who looked

at the horoscope of swAmipredicted that he would become a sanyAsi and a

paramavirakthA,unparalleled. After undergoing samskArams at the right age,

swAmiperformed adhyayanam of sAma sAkhA and became anexponent. He underwent

rigorous training and masteredsanskrit, and Kavya sAstrAs along with other

vEdasAkhAs in Thirukkudanthai Sanskrit College. The unquenching thirst to gain

sAstraic knowledge madeswAmi to go on a pursuit to RajamannAr kovil where

helearnt and mastered vyAkaraNa sAstrAs under thetutelage of Sri. U.Ve.

RangachAr swAmi (This mahAnlater became the 39th Jeer of Sri Ahobila Mutt as

SriParankusa SatakOpa yatheendra mahA dEsikan). Later hewent to viLAkkudi to

learn tharka sAstrAs under theeminent guidance of “ThArkika simham” Sri.

U.Ve.SrinivAsachariAr swAmi. Having completely learnttharka sAstrAs, swAmi

learnt and mastered MeemAmsasAstrAs under the guidance of MahA

mahOpAdhyAyABrahmasri KuppuswAmi SastrigAL and BrahmasriChinnaswAmi SastrigAL.

 

(To be continued ....)

Srimath Andavan Thiruvadi,

dAsan

Venkat Sreenivasan

 

 

 

 

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