Srimath Thembirai Andavan's thirunakshatram today

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Sri:

 

Srimathe Rangaramanuja Mahadesikaya Namaha:

Srimathe RanganAtha Mahadesikaya Namah:

Thirunakshatram: Avani Revathi

Thanian:

Srimath VEdha vathamsa lakshmana munehe praapthaaga maantha dvayam

ThEna Sri raghu punga vangri yugaLe nyasthaathma Rakshaambharam

Srimath Srinidhi yogivarya karuna labdaabhja chakraangkanam

Vande shaanthi virakhthi poornamanagham Sri ranga naatham Gurum

 

 

Today (Sep 2nd), Avani REvathi is the 118th Thirunakshatram of Srimath Thembarai Andavan Sri RanganAtha MahA dEsikan who adorned Acharya peetam as the 8th Andavan in the Andavan Periashramam Munithraya Sampradayam AchArya Lineage. AdiyEn is reproducing my earlier postings done two years ago on the life history of this AchArya mahA purushA. Also attached is a rare photo of Srimath Thembirai Andavan taken in 1950s along with Srimath Thirukkudanthai Andavan and Srimath Mysore Andavan in their purvAsramam.

 

 

Thembarai is a beautiful serene village situated on the banks of river pAmani. This small hamlet known for its fertile land and abundant water resources is located 7 miles southeast of MannArgudi. One can constantly hear the vEda and divya prabandha gOsham copiously reverberating the ambience thus filling the village with piety. Thembarai is a divya KshEtram where a beautiful temple for Sri Rukmini sathyabhAmA samEta Sri Navaneetha Krishnan is in place with Sri KALinga Nardhanan as Utsava murthy. There lived a pious Sri vaishnavite by the name of Sri. U.Ve. Vangeepuram SeshAdriyAchAr in Thembarai. As EmperumAn proclaims ‘vEdAnAm sAma vEdOsmi’, he belonged to the glorious sAma sAkhA. He formally learnt and mastered the sAma vEda along with kAvya sAstrAs. His dharma patni’s name was Srimathi SengamalammAL. 2 sons and 2 daughters

were born to them. Eldest of them was Sow. Rukmini Ammal. In the later parts of her life, she spent all her time performing Asrama kainkaryams. The second child was a son who later became Srimath Thembarai Andavan. Third child was a daughter who reached AchAryan thiruvadi at a very young age. The fourth child was a son named Venkata varadAchar who later on became an eminent upanyAsa chakravarthi in bhagavath vishayam other than serving as adhyaksha in Madurai Tamil Sangam. Sri U.Ve. SeshadriyAchAr swAmi performed sAstroktha samskArams to his 2 sons at a very young age. He fulfilled all his duties as a father performing marriage in a grand way for his daughter at the right age and also gave excellent education to his sons. The marriage of the eldest son was also performed at the right age. In the year 1912, SeshadriyAchAr swAmi reached AchAryan thiruvadi. More about the eldest son who later on became Srimath Thembarai Andavan to follow.

 

Jananam and Younger Days

SwAmi was born in the year viya in the month of Avani on a Thursday. His thirunakshtram was Revathi (19-8-1886). His parents named him as Sri Venkata rAghavan. Since our swAmi was born on the holy thirunakshatram day of Revathi, there is a sloka that came into being which 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 an incarnation of nam perumAL Himself or having the poornAmsham of Nam perumAL or the incarnation of Sri KalyAnAvaha Ranganatha Maha dEsikan ( who was popularly called Sri Periya swAmi). Whatever it may be, there is no doubt that swAmi had full blessings and katAkshams of Nam perumAL. The Astrologers who looked at the horoscope of swAmi predicted that he would become a sanyAsi and a parama virakthA,unparalleled. After undergoing samskArams at the right age, swAmi performed adhyayanam of sAma sAkhA and became an exponent. He underwent rigorous training and mastered sanskrit, and Kavya sAstrAs along with other vEda sAkhAs in Thirukkudanthai Sanskrit College. The unquenching thirst to gain sAstraic knowledge made swAmi to go on a pursuit to RajamannAr kovil

where he learnt and mastered vyAkaraNa sAstrAs under the tutelage of Sri. U.Ve. RangachAr swAmi (This mahAn later became the 39th Jeer of Sri Ahobila Mutt as Sri Parankusa SatakOpa yatheendra mahA dEsikan). Later he went to viLAkkudi to learn tharka sAstrAs under the eminent guidance of “ThArkika simham” Sri. U.Ve. SrinivAsachariAr swAmi. Having completely learnt tharka sAstrAs, swAmi learnt and mastered MeemAmsa sAstrAs under the guidance of MahA mahOpAdhyAyA Brahmasri KuppuswAmi SastrigAL and Brahmasri ChinnaswAmi SastrigAL.

 

MarriageIn the year 1908, swAmi was married to SrimathiVijayavalli Ammal who was the seemantha puthree ofsAkkai nallAn chakravarthi Sri U.Ve. SrinivasadEsikAchariar swAmi. Immediately after the

marriage,swAmi took the VaisvadEva upadEsam from his paternaluncle(younger brother of his father), Maha vidwAnBrahmanidhi Sri. U.Ve. RamabhadrAchAr swAmi. Duringhis GruhasthAsramA, swAmi observed panca kAlaanushtAnams in an

austere and rigorous way.Full responsibility of taking care of the family fellon swAmi after the passing away of his father in 1912.Due to insistence of his friends and well wishers,swAmi undertook sanchAram to southern tamilnadu andkEralA. First he went to Ettayapuram and receivedsambhAvanA in Raja sadas. From there, swAmi went tovAnamAmalai and was well supported by Jeer Bhattarpiran swAmi. Later he went to Thiruvananthapuram andwas honored by ThiruvthAngur mahArAjA . On his wayback , swAmi also visted kochi samasthAnam andreceived sambhAvanA from rAja sadas.SwAmi returned back to MannArgudi and served as anexaminer in a vidwat sadas set up by Sri satakOpamudaliar. Later, swAmi served as a religious teacherin a national high school. His duty was to teachreligious lessons to the students from differentclasses. His daily routine at the school would startaround 10 in the morning when swAmi would recite aslokA from swAmi dEsikan’s sthothrAs in a mellifloustone in front of the assembly. One of His studentsrecollected swAmi’s favorite slokA being “sEvE dEvi”from swAmi dEsikan’s Sri Sthuthi. During this timeswAmi served as an examiner for sanskrit competitionsconducted Sri kanchi kAmakOti matam. Sri SankarAchArya(paramAchAryA) had utmost respect for swAmi’spAndithyAm.SwAmi followed Sriman nigamAntha mahA dEsikan inobserving ‘Unccha vrutthi’. In MannArgudi, our swAmiand Navalpakkam swAmi used to observe ‘unccha vrutthi’in carrying out their day-to-day life. Such was thevairAghyam swAmi possessed in renouncement all thematerialistic lifestyle and observance of severeausterity. SwAmi used to walk very fast reciting swAmidEsikan’s sri sookthis while going out for

uncchavrutthi. Only those who were waiting in the streets togive bhikshA to swAmi could do so. Such was thegreatness of swAmi that people considered themselvesto be fortunate to offer bhikshA to him. Due to this,only a few

could give it to him. SwAmi out of hiscompassion to bhagavathAs would however not disappointthose who could not give bhikshA to him, but wouldtake a few grains from them to keep them happy. SwAmiperformed unccha vrutthi even during later days whenhe was undergoing kAlakshEpams under SrimathNammAndavan.KalakshEpamsBecause of Srimath Andavan thiruvadi sambhandam hisparampara had for generations, swAmi decided to go toVaduvoor

from Mannargudi to perform kainkaryams forSrimath NammAndavan. SwAmi underwent granthachathushtya kAlakshEpams under Srimath NammAndavan. Inthe kAlakshEpa goshti, swAmi used to listen tokAlakshEpam with rapt attention and fullconcentration. SwAmi being an astute and a keenlearner would grasp the most difficult purports andinner meanings of granthams very first time helistened to them.Srimath NammAndavan performed panca samskAram to swAmiin

his younger days and later performed bharasamarpanam at the lotus feet of vaduvoor chakravarthithirumagan(Lord Sri Rama). Having observed swAmi’ssatva gunAs, sraddhA,vairAghyam,intelligence and wideknowledge of sAstrAs, Srimath NammAndavan ordained himto take up sanyAsam. But our swAmi prayed to HisHoliness that he was unfit to take up the holy asceticorder for the asramam and hence continued with hiskAlakshEpams.Whenever swAmi had a chance to share the extensivesAstraic knowledge he possessed, he would do socheerfully by participating in vidwat sadas and bytalking to individuals who had doubts on our siddanthAor any religious matters. SwAmi’s upanyasams werewidely accepted as pramAnAs. In the year 1922, inMannargudi, Sri Ramanaya upanyasam of swAmi wasarranged by Sri. U.Ve. vidwAn Rona swAmi Iyengar andSri. U.Ve. KrishnamAchAriAr which went on for over twomonths.While swAmi was undertaking kAlakshEpams from HisHoliness Srimath NammAndavan during Srimath Andavan’ssanchAram and in Srirangam, Srimath Andavan adornedThirunAdu unexpectedly in Kanchipuram. Srimath AkkurAndavan succeeded NammAndavan to adorn the AchAryapeetam. Thembarai swAmi continued his kAlakshEpamsunder Srimath Akkur Andavan.

 

Guna seelAFrom his younger days, swAmi was a puritan filled withall satva gunAs without a tinge of rajas and tamOgunAs. People used to wonder if they could find such anice person with all the nicest qualities one

couldonly imagine. Simplicity, honesty, purity, veracity,courage, equality, renunciation, lucid and profoundsampradayic knowledge were hallmarks of swAmi’s gunAs.One could see simplicity all the way in the clothes hewore, the

food he ate or the lifestyle he led. SwAmiwas such a down-to-earth person who won the respect ofmany of his admirers. SwAmi was a very soft-spokenperson. He would never say harsh words that would hurtothers’ feelings. Even when there was a difference ofopinion, he would speak to others in a soft tone andwould finally convince them into his side. He wouldnever indulge in unnecessary company just to whileaway time, rather spending his time on fruitfulsathvishayavichAram, kAlakshEpams.SwAmi had no desire to save money for his family. Theamazing virakthi swAmi possessed is attributed to hisdeep rooted profound knowledge of our siddhAnta andtotal belief in it.Even during the sadas whensambhavana was offered to vidwAns, swAmi would do hisbest to avoid taking up sanmAnam.SanyAsa sweekAramSwami was doing kainkaryam to Srimath Akkur Andavan,continuing to undertake kAlakshEpams under HisHoliness. Srimath Andavan was immensely pleased withour swAmi’s GnAna, vairAghyA and AnushtAnams and feltthat our swami was the right person to be adorned as‘sampradAya pravarthakA’ of periAsramam after Histime.But swami felt that he is not a fit person to take upthe AchArya peetam and hence told the same to HisHoliness. Some also felt our swAmi’s extreme andrigorous vairAghyA would impede the growth of Asramamas they thought that the one who has the right balanceof ‘Lowkika sAmarthyam’ also, would be able to runthe day-to-day administration of Asramam efficiently.But Srimath Andavan thought otherwise and felt thatswami was the right person to take up the sanyAsamafter him and was very confident our swami would carryAsramam’s growth to heights of glory. Accordingly

HHdid upadEsam on prapatti proyOgA and prEsha manthramto our swami.In the meantime, swAmi’s dharma patni attainedAchAryan thiruvadi in the year 1946. Srimath AkkurAndavan was also becoming weak because of age. HH

wasmore than convinced that our swami would come to Himone day to take up sanyAsam. Swami after long thoughtsdecided to take up sanyAsam and hence went to SrimathAndavan and prayed to HH and sought his blessings forthe

sanyAsam. Srimath Andavan was extremely pleased byswAmi’s decision and ordained His sishyAs to makearrangements for the Holy ceremony.In the year viya in the month of Aippasi on the 21stday i.e. on 6-10-1946 in the presence of severalAndavan Thiruvadis, Srimath Akkur Andavan gave theholy sanyAsam to Sri. U.Ve. Brahmaniddhi ThembaraiVenkatarAghavAchAriar swami. He was given the title as‘Sri RanganAtha mahA dEsikan’ and was fondly called asThembarai Andavan. Srimath Akkur Andavan lived for 5more months after that and adorned ThirunAdu on19-3-1947 on a krishna paksha dwAdasi day ( in themonth of Panguni, viya year).

 

Because of the sanyAsa sweekAram, swami's lifestyledid not change a bit at all as he practiced a life ofsanyAsi even before that with rigorous anushtAnams andextreme vairAghyam having completely renounced worldlycomforts.After Srimath Akkur Andavan adorned ThirunAdu, all ofHis Apa kAryams were well done. Besides that, specialvasthrA dAnam and Anna dAnam were performed. ABrindAvanA was constructed in chinnAsramam and avigraha

prathistApanA was consecrated for SrimathAkkur Andavan.The daily chores of Asramam was maintained the sameway as it was done from Srimath PeriAndavan's period.Srimath Thembarai Andavan would wake up before 4 AM inthe

morning and would perform avagAha snAnamimmediately thereafter. SandhyAvandhanam, japamswould be done after that followed by bhagavathArAdhanam and purvAchAryAs' pAdukA ArAdhanam. This wasfollowed by distribution of perumAl and pAdukAtheertham. A special sambhAvanA would be performed onthe thirunakshatrams of purvAchAryAs. Later, SribhAshya, geethA bhAshya, bhagavath vishayakAlakshEpams would by rendered by His Holiness afterwhich vaidheeka karmas such as samAsrayanams andbharanyAsams would be performed for the bhAgavathAsfor the day.In the afternoon, His Holiness would immerse Himselfinto grantha patanam or dhyAna japams. Several peoplehave seen swami profoundly immersed in yoga nishtai.In the evenings, kAlakshEpams on divya sookthis suchas Srimath RamAyanam, nyAya siddhAnjanam. AdhikaraNasArAvaLi would happen besides other anushtAnams.Srimath Andavan would consume very little food once aday in the mornings. Later when swami had breathingrelated problems, little quantity of 'ThuthuvalAI' and'ManatthakALikkAi' were included in the food. Duringfew nights, swami would consume porridge. After 10 PM,swami would go to sleep.SwAmi's AchArya bhakthi knew no bounds. SwAmi wouldalways attribute the 'Apoorva vishayams', he mentionedduring kAlakshepams to what he heard from hisAchAryAs and that they would say that in even morenicer way.The Bhakti and viswAsam that swami had towards pAdukAsis immeasurable. He would always say that pAdukAs haddivine knowledge, power and 'dayA' and whoever seekedthem wholeheartedly would be blessed with 'shrEyas'.Srimath Andavan never undertook yAthra during his timeas AchAryA. This is attributed to swami becoming veryweak and for health reasons stayed in Srirangamthroughout. But this did not prevent Srimath Andavanfrom reaching out to His SishyAs and admirersthroughout the country as bhAgavAthAs from all overIndia hearing Srimath Andavan's greatness,

rigorousanushtAnams, extreme vairAghyam, soulabhyam andsowseelyam thronged Srirangam to seek the blessings ofSrimath Andavan and became Srimath Andavan thiruvadis.Srimath Andavan sparkled as a 'Srivaishnava pradeepam'staying in

Srirangam but attracting people from allover, far and wide.Asramam AdministrationUnder the supervision of Srimath Andavan, theadministration of Asramam was carried out in an ableand efficient manner.

Bhagavath and PadukA ArAdhanam,kAlakshEpams, thadheeyArAdhanam were performed daily.PurvAchAryAs' Thirunakshatrams were celebrated in agrand manner. Asramam temples and pushkarinis werewell maintained. Srimath Andavan would be veryparticular that the revenues coming to the asramam hadto be legitimate. With this in mind, the sambhAvanAgiven by Srimath periAndavan thiruvadi Sri. U.VekodiyAlam sEshadri Iyengar's son Sri. U.Ve.K.S.Narayana Iyengar, Svachnnam Sri. U.Ve.VeerarAghavAchAriAr, Sri. U.Ve. RajagOpalAchAriAr,pudukOttai diwan Sri. U.Ve. Krishnaswamy Iyengar'ssons, Thirukkudanthai Sri. U.Ve. T.S.R.'s family, Sri.U.Ve. T.V.S. and family and other devout AndavansishyAs were accepted for taking care of AsramamthadheeyAradhana kainkaryam and other expenses.During swAmi's time as AchAryA, Sri. U.Ve.Chakravarthi KrishnamAchAriar swAmi, Sri. U.Ve. V.K.SrinivAsAchAriAr swami and later Sri. U.Ve. SrinivAsarAghavAchariAr swami ( Kannan swami – later SrimathThirukkudanthai Andavan) served as Sri Karyams ofAsramam at different periods.

 

Sri Kannan swami at that time was very popular throughout the country for his outstanding upanyasams. Kannanswami known for his lowkika and administrative skillstook care of Asramam administration in an able manneras Srikaryam and made a lot

of improvements incarrying out its administrative day-to-day activities.Srimath Andavan was very pleased with the developmentsand witnessed the enormous strides, the asramam wasmaking in its growth.As per the holy order of

His Holiness, a monthlymagazine called 'Sri Ranganatha Paduka' was started inthe year 1955 in the month of October ( ManmathaVarusham in the month of Ippasi) to bring a connectionbetween the asramam and the andavan sishyas. Acondensed version of Sri bhashyam titled 'Adhikaranatharpanam' was published in the year 1959. SrimathPeriAndavan's 160th thirunakshatra mahotsavam wascelebrated in a grand manner in the year 1961 thatincluded ubhaya veda patanam and sadas. A granthamtitled 'Bhagavath Aradhana kramAnu bhandham' was alsopublished on the occasion. In order to remove theobstacles that were to be caused by the union of eightplanets at that time, a grand shanthi homam wasconducted as per vedic rites.It was Srimath Andavan's wish that the bhagavathasbelonging to our sampradaya indulge in anushtanamsfrom their younger days, learning divya sukthis andour siddhanta to a large extent and hence wouldencourage His sishyas to bring up their children thatway. Srimath Andavan would bless sishyas to recite theappropriate slokams in paduka sahasram to ward offtheir sufferings.Adorning of ThirunaduSrimath Thembarai Andavan became weaker as the dayspassed by due to rigorous anushtanams, meagre intakeof food and also due to breathing related healthissues. Srimath Andavan was eager to appoint the rightperson to succeed him as AchArya of the Asramam.Srimath Andavan found Sri U.Ve. Kannan swAmi( who wasserving as Srikaryam of the Asramam at that time)to beto be right person he was looking for and henceinformed Sri U.Ve.Kannan swami of the same and prayedSri padukas for Sri kannan swami to give the consent.Sri Kannan swami did not accept to take up

sanyasambut at the same time did not say no to it. In themeantime Srimath Andavan became more weaker as thedays passed by. So His Holiness gave upadEsam on“PrEsha manthram” and “MOkshAsrama Ahnika AnushtAnam”to three vidwAns of

the Asramam - U.Ve. Sri. KannanswAmi, U.Ve. Sri. Mysore GopAlAchAr swAmi( who lateron became Srimath Mysore Andavan in the late 80s) andMannargudi GanapAdi vidwAn U.Ve. Sri. NarasimhAchAryaswAmi for them to be ready and take up sanyAsam anytime when called.In April 1963, Srimath Andavan’s health was extremelyaffected and with great difficulty His Holiness wasperforming his nithya karma anushtAnam. One day, HisHoliness it seems told the sishyAs around Him that“Yesterday I almost went to virajA Nadi but had tocome back to bhoolOkam upon emperumAn’s orders only tonominate the successor for the AchArya peetam of thisAsramam. This Kannan hasn’t come yet”.A couple of days earlier, Sri. Kannan swAmi’s son,Sri. GOpAlan told his father that he had dreamt aboutSrimath Thembarai Andavan telling him that He had goneto virajA nadi and come back and asked him to send hisfather immediately and take up sanyAsam. GopAlan alsotold his father that he would take care of his mother(swAmi's dharma pathni) and asked him to proceed toSrirangam.On April 4th 1963, Srimath Andavan's condition becameworse and most of the sishyAs were informed. SreekAryam Sri. U.Ve. kannan swAmi was also informed ofSrimath Andavan’s health and immediately thereafterrushed up to Srirangam. On His arrival, arrangementswere speeded up for Sri kannan swAmi's thureeyAsramasweekAram.Early morning the next day i.e. on 5th april, 1963(Friday, sukla dwAdasi, makam star), in the presenceof sishyAs, His Holiness Srimath Thembarai Andavanordained the ascetic order to Sri U.Ve. Kannan SwAmiwho was named as Srimath vEdAnta rAmAnuja mahAdEsikan. His holiness appointed Him as “Ubhaya

VEdantagrantha updEsAthi sampradAya samrakshana doorvahar”.Srimath Thembarai Andavan felt extremely glad that hewas able to fulfill his avadhAra kAryam and within fewhours on the same day (April 5th 1963) he left forThirunadu

leaving behind grieving sishyAs.Brindavana prathishta was done for Srimath ThembaraiAndavan in ChinnAsramam to the left of brindavanam ofSrimath Akkur Andavan. In the year 1967 ( Parabhavavarusham in the month of Masi on the 10th instant onan auspicious wednesday, pushya nakshatram andthrayodasi thithi between 9 AM and 10:30 AM) divyamangala vigraha prathishta and maha samprokshanam wascelebrated in a grand manner. SrimathParamahamsethyathi Vinnarrangarai Andavan of SrimathPoundareekapuram Andavan Asramam graced the occasionwhere hundreds of bhagavathas participated and got theblessings of Srimath Thembarai Andavan.let us pray to the divya mangala vigraha of SrimathAndavan and His Holiness's pAdukAs to bless us all andguide us to lead the life in the most righteous way.AdiyEn would conclude this posting with SrimathThembarai Andavan’s thanian and pray to SrimathAndavan's pAdukAs to get His FULL BLESSINGS.Srimath VEdha vathamsa lakshmana munehe praapthaaga maantha dvayamThEna Sri raghu punga vangri yugaLe nyasthaathma RakshaambharamSrimath Srinidhi yogivarya karuna labdaabhja chakraangkanamVande shaanthi virakhthi poornamanagham Sri ranga

naatham GurumSrimath Thembarai Andavan divya charitham samAptham ||

 

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