Today Dec. 15th,2003 - Srimath Chinnandavan's Thirunakshatram

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Dear Bhagavathas,

 

Today Dec. 15th, 2003 (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 life history of Srimath Chinnandavan from

Archives for the benefit of all

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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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