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SrI:

SrImathE Gopaladesika Mahadesikaya nama:

Dearest all,

 

Purattaasi ThiruvONam is Swami Desikan Thirunakshathram.

It is our duty to talk in praise of and contemplate on the glories and

greatness of our Acharya. More so, if He is Acharya saarva bhouman

Kavithaarkika simham, Sarvathanthra swathanthran, Vedanta Acharyan Swamy

Desikan.

 

Today being Swami Desikan’s Thirunakshathram, AdiyEn wish to share about Swamy

Desikan’s divine works briefly (based on the book written by Prof. A. Sri

Srinivasaraghavachariar).

 

Acharyan is the dispeller of all sins. He removes the darkness from our

minds and removes ignorance. He gives us new birth (vidya janmam); He is the

Father and the manthram (which He initiates us with) is the Mother. This birth

places us on the path which meads us to an end to all future births and deaths.

He endows us with divine vision. He has infinite amount of compassion towards

us. He always is interested in our welfare. On account of all of these, He is

always to be worshipped as the Lord Himself. One should never harbour any

feeling that he is doing a good return for what Acharya has done by paying few

dollars. It is only as a token of our gratitude.

 

First let us look briefly at the life of Swamy Desikan.

 

Born to Sri Anantasuri and Smt Totarambha at Thoopul, a locality of Kanchi, he

is believed to have been the very incarnation of Lord Srinivasa’s GaNTAmani

(temple Bell). He derived the name GaNTAvatharam in the taniyan because of this.

His intellectual brilliance was discernable even from his childhood. Once as a

child of five years, he was taken to the august religious assembly- Kaalakshepa

Goshti- of Sri Nadadur AmmAL by his maternal uncle Sri Appullar, who was mainly

responsible for his education in the

religious line. Sri Ammal and his disciples were so captivated by the divine

appearance of the little boy Desikan, they were diverted for sometime and forgot

what they were discussing to trace. It was the little Boy Desikan who came to

their rescue by pointing out the place of the discourse from where their

attention was diverted. They were all simply stupefied on seeing the

extraordinary intellect and brilliance of Swamy at that age and Sri Ammal who

was overwhelmed with joy, and admiration blessed him for a great future where he

would succeed in establishing the philosophy of Ramanuja and the previous

Acharyas in an unassailable position and in an unambiguous manner.

 

Another intellectual feat of Sri Vedantha Desika was his ability to revise Sri

Bashyam twenty times before he was twenty years of age.

 

His life was one of perfect austerity, vairagyam, and deep devotion

particularly to Archamoorthys enshrined in Divya Desams similar to

Thirumangai mannan. He had a special and abiding devotion to the Lord

Varadan of Kanchi. Just like Sri Ramanuja, his ArAdhya Devatha, the deity of his

daily worship was Sri PeraruLALan. He led a very simple life. He earned his

livelihood by taking alms from the devotees. The rice he gathered like that was

used for his food after offering to the Lord. One day his wife found some gold

coins in the rice he got from the philanthropic public.

 

Evidently, some well intentioned person wanted to help Swamy Desikan without his

knowledge. As soon as this was found out, Swamy Desikan threw the entire

collection of the day away on the street. This is an example of his steadfast

vairagya. Another instance of his strong determination /renunciation can be seen

when Vidyaranyar, a royal vidwan at the court of early Vijayanagar, once his

class mate, hearing about Swamy desikan languishing in penury and knowing his

extraordinary skills and intellectual talents sent a message to him inviting him

and asking to come to the court of Vijayanagar king where he would be fittingly

honoured with riches. Swamy Desikan refused to go, saying that he is not after

wealth, adding that he was already provided with the Greatest wealth bequeathed

to him by his grandfather (four faced Brahma), meaning the Lord Varadan

(atthigiri Varadan). This is conveyed to his friend in the form of five slokas

called Vairagya Panchakam:.

 

He spent a good part of his time at Tiruvaheendrapuram. Lord Hayagrivan, the

Lord of knowledge and learning blessed him here. He composed “Hayagriva

sthOthram: here in praise of Lord Hayagrivan. He also composed Achutha sathakam,

in prakrit, Devanayaka panchasath, in Sanskrit, mummaNikkOvai, Navarathnamaalai

in Tamil on Lord Devanathan of this Divya Desam. “nin vadivazhagu maRvaathaar

piRavaadhaarE..†–says Swamy. He is said to have dug a well, chiseled an

idol of his and cone several wonders and miracles justifying thereby his title

“sarvathanthraswathanthrarâ€, during his stay here. After sometime, he

retunred to Kanchi and then later he proceeded to Srirangam (when invited by Sri

Pillailokchariar from Srirangam for debating against Advaitins who had objected

to recitation of Tamil hymns(4000) at Srirangam temple). The titles of

“Vedantacharyaâ€, Kavitaarkika simhamâ€, were conferred on him by Lord

Ranganathan and Periya Piraatti

respectively at Srirangam where there was occasion for him to refute theories

and arguments of Advaitins successfully and victoriously establishing the Parama

vaidika Visishtadvaita Srivaishnava sampradayam.

 

Padhuka sahasram is yet another masterpiece of work containing one thousand

eight slokas eulogizing the Padhukas (sandals) of Lord Ranganathan of Srirangam.

He completed the whole 1008 slokas in one yaamam (about 3 hours), latter part of

night. It is said that this piece of extraordinary work was composed by him

(when challenged).

 

From Srirangam, he flew to Satyakalam, a place at Karnataka fearing the

muslims depredations. “abheeti sthvam†on Lord Ranganathan, containing 29

slokas was brought out here to ward off the fear and evil caused by the muslim

maruders. After the terror had subsided, he returned to Srirangam to spend his

last days. He attained the lotus feet of Acharya on Karthigai day.

 

His yadhavabhyudhayam, a maha kaavyam on Lord Krishna was admired very much by

the renowned advaita philosopher Appayya DhIkshithar in the 16th century A.D. He

wrote a commentary also on this mahaakaavya as a mark of appreciation. (but

could not write more than four slokas, as that itself immersed him and drowned

him with such a beauty and marvel, that he was simply flabbergasted with its

literary nicetry and stopped after four slokas of this kaavyam, whose

commentary itself ran to pages..

Swamy Desikan wrote original works on Sanskrit and also commented upon the works

of Ramanuja and Yamuna. He wrote poems, religious works. He wrote 28 sthothrams.

A mere reading of the list of his works is breathtaking. He wrote 18 works in

Tamil, 29 works in MaNipravALam ( a great mix of Tamil and Sanskrit). He also

wrote naataka grantham, rahasyagrantham etc.

 

His aim in writing is more than one.

 

Dr. V Varadachari says:

 

Firstly, the system of unparalleled Great VisishtAdvaita Srivaishnava SrI should

be kept on a firm basis and stronger footing.

 

Secondly, the Nyaya tatvam of Sriman Nathamuni which deals with the topics of

Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Meemaamsa, and treated in a manner to interpret the

doctrines in the light of the Vedantha system.

 

Thirdly, Ramanuja's concepts and theories were attacked by opponents

relentlessly. The refutations need to be answered, counter attacked and

dismissed then and there.

 

Fourthly, the writers after SrI Ramanuja were not in a position to evolve the

metaphysical, logical theories consistent with the teachings of Ramanuja. They

required to be given shape in the light of Emperumaanaar's teachings.

 

Fifthly, some of the Acharyas after Ramanuja did excellent service to

Srivaishnavam by their expositions of Tamil 4000 Divya prabhandham of

AzhwArs, but could not establish their position in an unshakable

foundation.

 

It only Swamy Vedantha Desikan who not only established SrI

Ramanuja sampradayam on firm footing with his various works; also He

repulsed the attacks on the importance of Naalaayira Divya prabandham and placed

them on par with Vedas, as the fountain source for the Vedantha system.

 

SrI Vedantha Desika is the author of 120 works. His style is inimitable for its

depth of ideas, sweetness, simplicity and ease; it is majestic,

sometimes tough. He was a great admirer of Adhikavi Vaalmeeki and Kalidasa.

 

His poetic work Hamsa sandhEsam, though similar to Kalidasa’s mEgasandhEsam,

is original in many respects.Daya

sathakam is a unique composition wherein he personifies grace (Divine grace-

daya), without which Lord’s other qualities are of little value and help to

suffering mankind- Swamy says. AbhIthi sthavam is an invocation for the Lord’s

protection from evil forces from both within and without. His GodhA sthuthi is a

piece of place of great lyric beauty and merit and talks of Sri GodhA’s

influence with the Lord through love and Desikan’s surrender to Her

compassion.

 

SthOthra granthas:

 

Hayagriva stOtram

dasaavataara stOtram

Bhagavath dhyaana sOpAnam

dayA sathakam

abheethi sthavam

vairAgya panchakam

Devanaayaka panchAsath

Gopala vimsathy

SrI Sthuthi

BhU sththi

GodhA sthuthi

nyAsa dhasakam

nyAsa vimsathy

nyAsa thilakam

saraNAgathi DIpikA

Achutha sayayam (achutha sathakam)

varadarAja panchAsath

ashtabhujaashtakam

kAmAsikaashtakam

vEgAsEthu sthOthram

paramartha sththi

dhEhaleesa sththi

Raguveera Gadyuam (mahA veera vaibhavam)

sudarsanaashtakam

shodasAyudha stOtram

Garuda dhaNdakam

Garuda panchAsath

yatirAja sapthati

 

Tamil Prabandams

amrutha ranjani

adhikAra sangraham

amrutha swAdhini

paramapada sOpAnam

paramatha bhangam

mei viradha mAnmiyam

adaikkalappatthu

artha panchakam

SrI vaishNava dinasari

Thirucchinna maalai

panniru nAmam

thiru manthiracchurukku

dwayachurukku

charama sloka cchurukku

Gitaartha sangraham

mummaNikkOvai

nava maNi mAlai

pandhu (lost)

kazhal (lost)

ammAnai (lost)

oosal (lost)

Esal (lost)

Prabandha sAram

AhAra niyamam.

 

VedAnta granthas

mImAmsA pAdukA

sEsvara mImAmsa

satha dhUshaNi

adhikaraNa sArAvaLi

tatva tIkA

nyAya parisuddhi

nyAya siddhAnjanam

tatvamuktha kalApam

nikshepa rakshA

sachcharitra rakshA

srI pAncharAthra rakshA

vAditraya kandanam

dramidOpanishad tAtparya rathnAvaLi

dramidOpanishad sAram

 

BhAshya granthas (Commentaries)

chatus slokI Bhashyam

SthOthra rathna Bhashyam

Rahasya rakshA

GitArtha sangraha rakshA

tAtparya chandrikA

IsAvAsyOpanishad BhAshyam

sarvArtha siddhi

adhikAraNa dharpaNam (lost)

 

KAvya grantas:

hamsa sandesam

subhAshita nIvi

yAdhavAbyudayam

pAdukA sahasram (1008 verses)

 

Rahasya granthas:

sampradAya parisuddhi

tatva-padhavi

rahasya padhavi

tatva navanItham

rahasya navanItham

tatva mAtruka

rahasya mAtruka

tatva sandEsam

rahasya sandEsam

rahasya sandEsa vivaraNam

tatva rathnAvaLi

tatva rathnAvali pratipAdya sangraham

rahasya rathnAvaLi

rahasya rathnAvaLi hrudayam

tatva traya suLakam

rahasya traya suLakam

abhaya pradAna sAram

rahasya sikAmaNi

anjali vaibhavam

pradhAna satakam

upakAra sangraham

sAra sangraham

munivAhana bhogam

madurakavi hrudayam (lost)

paramapada sOpAnam

paramatha bhangam

hasthigiri mAhAthmyam

SrImath Rahasya Traya Saram (MAGNUM OPUS)

SarA sAram

VirOdha parihAram

NigamaparimaLam (lost)

Tirumudiadaivu (lost)

 

nAtaka grantam (Drama)

Sankalpa SooryOdhayam

 

anushtAna grantams

Bhagavath-AarAdhana vidhi

Even to read the above list will take so much time. Swamy alone can compose so

many works in one lifetime. When we see /enjoy later these works individually

later, we will realize that what sweetness, depths, literary values, rhythms,

grammars, variety of meanings they contain! How true are those words and fully

in accordance with Sri Ramanuja’s works and Vedas and saasthrAs! We will have

to study at the feet of our acharyas to believe it!

 

Acharyan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Regards

Namo narayana

dAsan