Today Nov. 27,2002 - Srimath Chinnandavan's Thirunakshatram

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SrImathE ranga rAmAnuja mahA dEsikAya namaha

 

SrimathE pAdukA sEvaka rAmAnuja mahA dEsikAya namaha

SrI ranganatha Divya maNi pAdhukAbhyAm namaha

 

Dear Bhagavathas,

 

Today Nov. 27, 2002 (Karthigai - Magam) is the Thirunakshtram day of one

of the foremost and illustrious acharyas of Srirangam

Srimath Andavan PeriAsramam, Srimath ChinnAndavan –

Sri PAdukA sEvaka rAmAnuja mahA dEsikan.

 

Adiyen is reposting the postings adiyen had attempted last year. This has been

compiled from Panguni Pushyam malar(1981) during 74th

birthday celebrations of H.H. Srimath Thirukkudanthai

Andavan(Kannan swamigal) and Andavan Asramam varalaru

published in 1967 by Srirangam pEriAsramam.

 

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Let us all recite this mahan's thaniyan on His

thirunakshatram day.

 

Sriman naatha muneendra yaamuna muni Srisamya

mindraathmanaha

Sri Srivasa muneendra dEsika maNE: praapthaaga

maanthath dvayam

Sri rangEsha padhE thadharpithaBHaram Sri

paadukasevaka

Sri raamaanuja yoginam guruvaram vandhe dayaasaagaram

 

 

This mahAn was born in the year sarvadhari (1828), in the month of Karthigai in

a hamlet called vELiyanallur. His janma nakshatram is Magam. He belonged to

satamarshana gothra.

 

His father, Sri Krishna ThAthAchAryA. named his son as SrinivAsarAghavan. It is

a great coincidence that two other AchAryas in this illustrious lineage who

adorned the peetam were also named as SrinivAsarAghavan in their poorvAsramam

namely Srimath PeriAndavan who was Srimath ChinnAndavan’s direct predecessor and

the other AchAryA was none other than the famous Srimath Thirukkudanthai Andavan

who was instrumental in spreading the PeriAsrama parampara to length and breadth

of the country and made it reach dizzy heights of glory in our sampradaya.

 

Younger days of Srimath ChinnAndavan

 

Sri Krishna ThAthAchArya performed upayanam and other vaithika samskArams to his

son at the right age. SrinivAsarAghavan swami also underwent veda adhyayanam and

learnt kAvya alankAra grantham. After havinglearnt them very well, He became

very eager to learn Nyaya sAstrAs and hence proceeded to Mysore. There He met

Sri Rama Sastri who was the AsthAna vidwAn of the Mysore rAja samsthAnam. He

learnt nyAya sAstrAs and advaita philosophy under his tutelage and thus became

an exponent and a very well qualified pundit. He continued to stay with Sri

sAstri in Mysore and helped him during his research on sAstras with his radiant

brilliance. Sometimes it was such that he even cleared the doubts Sri sAstri

encountered on sAstraic research and earned his awe and accolades. In

particular, swami was extremely proficient in tharka sAstrAs.

 

With the rich Knowledge Swami acquired in sAmAnya sAstrAs, He wanted to learn

adhyAtma sAstrAs under a sadhAchAryan through kAlakshEpams . He went to

Srirangam in pursuit of the same and reached the holy hermitage of Srimath

pEriAndavan who was the paragon of GnAna and vairAghyA and prayed at His holy

feet for the same. Observing SrinivAsarAghavan Swami, Srimath PeriAndavan was

very much pleased with His modesty and His sAstrAic knowledge and accepted Him

as His sishya. He rendered Grantha chathustayam ( namely Srimath Rahasya thraya

sAram, Geetha BhAshyam, Sri BhAshyam and bhagavath vishayam) and satha dhooshani

to SrinivAsarAghavan. Upon the completion of kAlakshEpam. SrinivAsarAghavan

swami went back to vELianallur.

 

Incident in kAlakshEpam

 

More than 70 vidwAns used to attend the kAlakshEpa goshti of Srimath

pEriAndavan. As a general norm during the kAlakshEpam, goshti would very keenly

observe the rendering of their AchAryan and whatever doubts they may have would

get them cleared after its completion for that day. They would not indulge in

any

kinds of discussion or debate when it was in progress. This tradition was

unfortunately broken once when the sishyAs got engaged in a debate and lengthy

discussions even in the presence of Srimath PeriAndavan. Srimath pEriAndavan

felt upset and told the audience that he would not render the kAkakshEpam and

hence left the place. All the sishyAs felt very bad about the incident and later

proceeded to their destination. But SrinivAsarAghavan swami was pained beyond

one can imagine and He never moved from the place where he sat during the

kAlakshEpam. Obviously he was gloom personified and got very much distressed for

the apachAram that got committed inadvertently by all the sishyAs in front of

their revered AchAryA.

 

Srimath pEriAndavan came to know about this and called for SrinivAsarAghavan

swami. He was very happy to see SwAmi’s AchArya bhakti and His VairAghya and He

gladly resumed rendering kAlakshEpam to his beloved sishyA.

 

British Raj’s Respect towards swami

 

Knowing the profound mastery swami had on all the vEdAs, sAstrAs, kalpa sutras

and other scriptures, british raj made use of swAmi’s immense knowledge on

these subjects, approaching Him and asking for His guidance in their task of

constituting various laws based on Hindu philosophy specifically in the areas of

manu smriti and yAjyavalkyA smriti.

 

 

Taking up sanyAsa

 

When swami was in vELianallur observing his panca kala

anushtAnams and leading a very regimented life of a true srivaishnava

paramAIkAnthi, Srimath PeriAndavan due to His severe penance and austere life

became very emaciated. For the sampradaya to continue to flourish

and grow, Srimath pEriAndavan wanted to choose His successor and hence

decided to conduct a test for the same. He decided that whoever

successfully qualified in his “pareekshA” would succeed him as the next AchAryA

ofpEriAsramam. So He decided to do this to three of His most qualified sishyAs

who underwent kAlakshEpams under Him and were explempary scholars in

their own right.

 

SrinivAsarAghavan swami was one of those sishyAs,Srimath pEriAndavan wanted

to test. So He commanded one of his disciples toprepare 3 individual sets of

“ThirumaNN katti” wrapped in a banana leaf and askedhim to hand it over to

his 3 sishyAs. He also commanded his disciple to know their reaction and

feedback upon receiving the same and asked him to duly report back the

proceedings. Except SrinivAsarAghavan swami, the other two sishyAs

received the material and said to him that it was Srimath pEriAndavan’s

blessings that they received it and kept it as their treasure.

 

When SrinivAsarAghavan swami received it, He looked at the "ThirumaNN katti" and

took it to his gruham and applied "Sri ChoorNam" to it and wrapped the

"ThirumaNN katti" back into banana leaf and prayed to the disciple to

hand it over to Srimath pEriAndavan. When the disciple went back and reported

the incident to Srimath pEriAndavan, pEriAndavan was very much pleased and

decided that SrinivAsarAghavan swAmi was the right person to succeed Him as the

AchAryA of the pEriAsramam. In the meantime, pEriAndavan's health deteriorated.

 

After a few days, SrinivAsarAghavan swAmi went back to Srirangam from

vELianallur and prostated before srimath pEriAndavan and prayed to him that he

be granted sanyAsA. With great modesty, he went through the explanation of

qualification of oneself to take up sanyAsA thereby indicating his readiness for

the same. Like Vibheeshana's conversation with Lord Sri Rama, swAmi told srimath

pEriAndavan that he did "Sarvasanga parithyAgam", completely renouncing samsAra

bhandham and prayed to Srimath pEriAndavan to grant Him sanyAsA. Srimath

pEriAndavan was filled with extreme happiness to have chosen the right successor

and granted SrinivAsarAghavan swAmi ,sanyAsA on an auspicious day. He was given

the title "Sri PAdukA sEvaka rAmAnuja mahA dEsikan". Since both were AchAryAs

together at the same time, they were fondly called as pEriAndavan and

chinnAndavan by the sishyAs and admirers alike. This

period lasted for a very short duration though with Srimath pEriAndavan reaching

parama padam within 4 months of Srimath chinnAndavan taking up sanyAsA.

 

Srimath chinnAndavan was serving as guiding light of the sampradaya and authored

rarest of several granthAs when he was the AchAryA of the periAsramam– They are

as follows:

 

1. AhnikArtha prakAsikai

2. Sri Jayanthi nirNayam

3. ukthyAchArya nishtA vichAram

4. sathpadha rakshai

5. JanmAshtami nirNayam

6. thathkrathu nyAya vichAram

7. AchArya sambhAvanA kramam

8. yathi dharama samucchayam

9. Aasowcha sangraham

 

Sishya parampara

 

Several erudite scholars became the disciples of

srimath chinnAndavan, foremost being

 

1. EyuNNi Sri VaradAchAr swami ( who later became

ThErezhundur Srimath NammAndavan)

2. Sri villiputhur AmmALAchAR swami

3. vidwAn uKKur SrinivAsarAghavAchAr swami

4. Akkur SrinivAsAchAriAr swami

5. vidwAn Thenbirai rAmabhadrAchAriAr swami(who later

became Srimath thenbirai Andavan)

 

 

yAthrA and attaining ThirunAdu

 

Srimath chinnAndavan traveled to Sri kAnchi from Srirangam and gave several

sampradAyic pravachanams( discourses) during His yAthrA and came back to

Srirangam.

 

Srimath ChinnAndavan attained ThirunAdu at the age of 68 leaving behind grieving

disciples in the year Vijaya(1895), on the sukla sapthami thithi in the tamil

month of Thai.

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