padinmarum oruvarAna perumAn (prakRtam ANDavan) - English translation of article in pAdukA - May 2008

[Guest guest]

SrIH

SrImate ra'ngarAmAnuja mahAdeSikAya namaH

 

English translation of

“padinmarum oruvarAna perumAnâ€

 

As published in SrI ra’nganAtha pAdukA by

SrI u. vE. nATTEri KiDAmbi rAjagopAlAcAriyAr (Editor of SrI ra’nganAtha

pAdukA) in May 2008

 

With our AcAryar's anugraham, aDiyEn is attempting to translate SrI nATTEri

svAmi's excellent tamizh write-up into English, at the specific request of one

of our ASramam sishyai-s.

 

aDiyEn,

SrImad ANDavan tiruvaDIgaLE SaraNam,

kalyANi kRshNamAcAri

=======================================

 

Everyone knows who earned the title, “padinmar pADiya perumAL – lord who was

praised by ten AzhvArsâ€. All the ten azvhAr-s have composed and showered Him

with pure honey (in the form of tamizh pAsurams) and transformed Him into the

sweetest nectar.

 

We all know ANDAL also; she was 'anju kuDikkoru santati – a progeny of the

first five AzhvAr-s' and who offered to the lord, the garland She adorned

Herself with.

 

But, who are the ten individuals mentioned in the title here? And, who is the

perumAn who has the priced possession of the prominent points that distinguished

these ten individuals? How is that possible?

 

One time, in our Chennai ASramam, the supreme court judge – SrImAn M.

SrInivAsan svAmi, was giving a talk and he proclaimed excitedly that our

prakRtam SrImushNam ANDavan, SrI ra'ngarAmAnuja mahA deSikan is a special

avatAram and an embodiment of all our ten previous ANDavan-s combined together.

 

Everyone is aware that judge svAmi has deep foresight; he is an extremely

learned person, noble, with purity of speech, and one who is acclaimed by all in

bhAratam. aDiyEn has been enjoying the analyzing in several ways, this svAmi's

statement that our prakRtam acAryar is an embodiment of the ten previous

AcAryar-s; aDiyEn is writing this so that you can all share the same experience.

 

Our ASramam had ten previous AcAryar-s. They all had a distinctive appellation

- 'ANDavan'. In days of yore, the titles – ALavandAr, ANDAL, ANDAn etc were

common in SrIvaishNava sampradAyam, right! Like that, the designation,

'ANDavan', was conferred upon vedAnta rAmAnuja yathi known as SrIra'ngam svAmi

by none other than tiruvara'ngan [srIra'nganAtha]. He hailed from vazhuttUr.

He was born in 1751 A.D. He had a wide-spread reputation as 'vazhuttUr

ANDavan'. He is the very first AcAryar in our line of 'ANDavan-s'. The

'ANDavan-s' who followed him were all shining, illustrious models of knowledge,

practice, devotion and determination. The AcAryan who graced the ASramam in the

tenth pITham (before prakRtam ANDavan) was mysore ANDavan who was also called

SrInivAsa rAmAnuja mahAdeSikan.

 

All these ten ACAryar-s have been great, perfect paragons of excellence, who

could be extolled with several titles as 'SrImad vedamArga pratishThApanAcArya',

' paramahamsa parivrAjagAcArya' etc, and they all surpassed in these

characteristics. Even then, the world has noticed some extra special,

distinguishing attributes and identifications in each one of them. We see today

that all these individual instances of recognizable quality can be seen in our

prakRtam SrImushNam SrImad ANDavan to a very large extent.

 

It is customary to start from the base. Let us start first with the 10th

pIThAdhipati, SrI mysore ANDavan's auspicious virtues and enjoy relating them to

prakRtam SrImad ANDavan.

 

All our AcAryar-s have been protectors of Sri deSika sampradAyam in a comparable

manner.

 

1. But, SrI mysore ANDavan's notable merit was – he was a great poet, who

translated pUrvAcArya-s' vedAnta grantham-s into smooth-flowing saMskRt

Slokam-s. He himself composed several stotram-s. prakRtam SrImad ANDavan has

published in a grand manner, these stotram-s and his SrImad rahasyatrasAram

which is in the form of saMskRta Slokam-s. Mysore ANDavan had also composed

poems in kannaDa language on SrI pAdukAsahasram.

 

Current day scholars are well aware that prakRtam SrImad ANDavan is a proficient

connoisseur in composing saMskRta poems in prose form, Slokam-s in the form of

saMskRta poems, exceptional and marvelous poems in tamizh etc. A lot of saMskRt

poems (conforming to critical meter and grammar characteristics) that our

prakRtam AcAryar composed in his young age, have all been released recently.

His eloquence of expression in prose format poems is tantamount to that of the

great saMskRta mahAkavi, bhANabhaTTar.

 

2. The eminent, celebrated AcAryar, SrImad tiruikkuDandai ANDavan, adorned the

ninth pITham. Is there anyone who does not know the auspicious attributes of

SrImad vedAnta rAmAnuja mahA deSikan?

 

SrImad tirukkuDandai ANDavan had a magnanimous, broad outlook. He took up

sancAram [travel] with the following goals in mind – we should re-establish

our sampradAyam [tradition] which is deteriorating because of the advent of

kali, all over our country; we should not let it die. He succeeded in doing

that by traveling by foot all the way from setu to the himalaya-s and hence,

today, SrImad ANDavan sampradAyam is glistening brilliantly in bhArata deSam.

 

prakRtam SrImad ANDavan has also undertaken yAtra-s several times from setu to

himAlaya-s, protecting and preserving ANDavan sampradAyam, just as SrI

bharatAzhvAn displayed to SrIrAma - “bhavataH tejasA sarvaM kRtaM daSaguNaM

mayAâ€.

 

SrImad tirukkuDandai ANDavan had engrossing and profound dedication towards

arcAvatAram. Just as tiruma'ngai AzhvAr, who physically visited and enjoyed

the darSanam-s of several divya deSa arcA mUrti-s, pours out heartily, “kArAr

tirumEni kANum aLavum pOi sIrAr tiruvEnkaTamE tirukkOvalUrEâ€, SrImad

tirukkuDandai ANDavan also exhibited earnest attachment towards arcA mUrti-s.

He also went all over the country to do ma'ngaLASAsanam-s to the mUrti-s.

 

One time, he was enjoying the darSanam of tirunAgai soundararAjap perumAL with

tears welding in his eyes and he told the local devotees, “You do not have to

do any sambhAvanai for me in the form of money. Come and fold your hands in

worship to this handsome perumAL every day. That is the highest sambhAvanai you

can give me. That is all I wantâ€.

 

prakRtam SrImad ANDavan has visited hundreds of temples and done mangaLASAsanam.

He has initiated the installing of many arcA mUrti-s in several sites in our

ASramam and has supported the growth and development of these sites into great

temples to perform divine utsavams etc. He has a zealous desire for increasing

the number of arcA mUti-s and encourages for more and more with delightful

ardor.

 

Look at how he has built a great temple for SrIlakshmI-nArAyaNa mUrti who was

lying hidden in a bush in the old sIvaram and has made it into a flourishing,

thriving and prosperous place.

 

More than hundreds of times, he has done tiruppaNi-s [service to temples] to

several saMnidhi-s and temples, directly by self-initiating and through others.

 

SrImad tirukkuDandai ANDavan was extremely fond of SrIvENugopAlan, the arAdhanap

perumAL of SrImad tirukkuDandai deSikan. He brought Him from rAyampeTTai and

installed Him in the ASramam; he enjoyed taking Him to several homes for doing

DOlOtsavam-s and blessing the sishya-s. prakRtam ANDavan has enhanced this by

building a tirumAmaNi maNDapam for this SrI veNugopAlan.

 

SrImad tirukkuDandai ANDavan started a pAThasAla; prakRtam AcAryar has

multiplied that nine times.

 

During his time, SrImad tirukkuDandai ANDavan increased the number of ASramam

sites from three to fifteen. Now, our AcAryar has more than doubled that.

 

3. SrImad tenparai ANDavan, SrIra'nganAtha mahA deSikan's distinguishing mark

was – he had a great affection for SrIkoSam-s [books]. Even though SrImad

tenparai ANDavan was observing the greatest sanyAsa dharmam and had forsaken all

attachments, his desire for books was deep as the ocean. He was always very

happy to read books; if the books were not found in the place where he left

them, he used to feel very worried and sad.

 

prakRtam SrImad ANDavan also has a passion for books; daytime or night time does

not make any difference. He loves to read books all the time. After becoming

AcAryan, he would have read more than a thousand books. It is interesting to

note the special marks he has made in several places in those books! More than

20,000 books have been bought in the ASramam. These include not just sampradAya

books, but all kinds of books.

 

 

Even today, it is very obvious that a lot of ancient books are being re-printed,

in order to preserve them.

 

SrImad tenparai ANDavan, who never knew anger, used to get aggravated when books

were missing in the expected places. It is the same with our prakRtam ANDavan!

Ask the kaiMkaryapara-s!

 

4. SrImad AkkUr ANDavan, SrInivAsa mahAdeSikan had a special trait – when he

got involved in reading SrImad rAmAyaNam, he would forget himself.

 

He had a flesh growth on his chest and that caused him pain. A doctor told him

that he could remove it surgically, but he had to give anesthesia.

 

SrImad AkkUR ANDavan did not agree for the anesthetics and he said that he would

keep chanting rAmAyaNa Slokam-s and keep meditating about their meanings and he

would not feel any pain in his body. The surgery was done as planned.

prakRtam ANDavan has had indispositions in his tirumEni several times, but,

whenever he reads or discusses ASramam development programs, he gets a brand new

enthusiasm!

 

In these nineteen years, so many programs and activities have been conducted by

prakRtam SrI mushNam ANDavan.

 

On the one hand, is his indisposed tirumEni; on the other, is his spirited zeal

for conducting events. He is having both at the same time! How is this

possible! This must be a blessing from SrImad AkkUr ANDavan!

 

5. SrImad tErazhundUr ANDavan's benevolent virtues had made the whole

SrIvaishNava sampradAyam extremely happy. aDiyEn would like to say something

here, something aDiyEn had heard – some may think otherwise, but aDiyEn will

say it anyway. It seems it used to be said that the only vaDakalai AcAryar who

did not get chided by kAncI mahA vidvAn, SrI aNNa'ngarAcAriyAr, was SrImad

tErazhundUr ANDavan. aDiyEn is not writing to say anything about that ten kalai

svAmi; just wanted to say how our tErazhundUr ANDavan was so sweet to everyone.

 

SrImad tErazhundUr ANDavan was very broad-hearted. He was always shedding tears

thinking about bhagavad guNam-s. He would look at anyone thinking, “Alas!

Shouldn't this child be blessed by us?â€

 

prakRtam ANDavan will always offer blessings like, “They should be blessed;

they will have the anugraham from the elders; the pAduka-s will protect; they

should be well†etc. There are thousands and thousands of people who have

experienced this!

 

SrImad tErazhundUr ANDavan had a taste that no sanyAsi ever had. That was

music. May be, it was because yAj~navalkya sMrti says that sangItam/music will

also lead to bhagavAn! He used to say, “this sanyAsi likes dhanyAsi rAgam

very muchâ€! It seems that he would be melodiously singing pAsuram-s set to

rAgams, on cold nights in the peaceful village settings in bright moon light.

 

It is a world known fact that prakRtam SrImad ANDavan's music knowledge is very

high. Even great musicians have been known to say that they are nobody before

SrImad ANDavan. He is a master not just in vocal music, he is very

knowledgeable in instrumental music also.

 

6. SrImad kADandEtti ANDavan SrI SrInivAsa mahAdeSikan's special traits are

numerous. He is an all-rounder. He is a yogi, a siddhar, SatAvadAni [can

perform 100 activities at the same time], a great poet and expert in mantra-s.

SrImad tirukkuDandai ANDavan has stated this – if SrImad kADandEtti ANDavan

held koLLu suNDal kaDalai [horsegram] over his head and chanted hayagrIva

mantram, SrI hayagIvar would come in the form of a horse from behind and eat

that.

 

In his pUrvASramam, SrImad kADandEtti ANDavan used to perform SatAvadAnam in

palaces in tiruvidAngUr etc. SatAvadAnam is showing that a person can do a

hundred different activities carefully at the same time.

 

It is said that, in his pUrvASramam, prakRtam SrImad ANDavan had demonstrated

dasAvatAnam [10] several times – like completing a poem, solving a

mathematical problem, listening to music, stating the meaning of a song, keeping

count of bell sounds, keeping count of those who touch him etc, doing them all

with eyes closed. In his pUrvASramam, prakRtam SrImad ANDavan has indulged in

a lot of play like this.

 

Just like SrImad kADandEtti ANDavan, prakRtam SrImad ANDavan also has the power

of mantra. He has a special power to bless. Only those who are very lucky

have experienced this. If this is dealt with this in detail, some may think it

is out of place; aDiyEn is shortening this topic so that they may not incur any

apacAram from that thought.

 

SrImad kADandEtti ANDavan had extreme devotion to tiru ashTAkshara nArAyaNa

mantram. It is said that he had chanted tiru ashTAksharam four crore times.

SrImad tirukkuDandai ANDavan has stated that, “Saying, 'this is for the growth

of our Asramam', he passed over that four crore nArAyaNa mantra power by pouring

water on the hands of the next AcAryar, SrImad tErazhundUr ANDavanâ€. Some say

it was 'seven crore' count of tiru ashTAksharam.

 

prakRtam SrImad ANDavan chants nArAyaNa mantram all the time. Are you thinking,

“We have not seen anything like that. Haven't we seen SrImushNam ANDavanâ€!

 

prakRtam SrImad ANDavan will be chanting nArAyaNa mantram in his mind always.

We may not know this. Our AcAryar is a daSAvatANi. Because of that, our AvAryar

has trained himself from his young age to keep chanting nArayaNa mantram as a

second nature.

 

7. SrImad cinnANDavan SrI pAdukA sevaka rAmAnuja mahAdeSikan's special

characteristic trait was – a lion's nature in establishing munitraya

siddhAntam and munitraya siddhAnta practices. He never gave up. He completely

won over those who came to argue with him. He was foremost in speaking for the

greatness of munitraya siddhAntam. He had written granthams to prove these

facts also. He was the one who set up and protected the practice of doing

ArAdhanam to AcArya pADuka-s every day.

 

prakRtam SrImad ANDavan, who comes in the line of SrImad cinnANDavan is not any

less determined in establishing munitraya siddhAntam. Like spring water growing

into a flowing stream, this has led to the building of the ASramam in

rAyampeTTai agrahAram, the birth place of SrImad tirukkuDandai deSikan. An arcA

mUrti has also been established for SrImad tirukkuDandai deSikan as the

munitraya AcAryar. This action that could not be completed in earlier days, got

fulfilled in his current time.

 

8. The third in line in SrImad ANDavan lineage was SrImad periyANDavan, also

called SrInivAsa maha deSikan, an embodiment of all virtues. He was a

personification of determination and the greatest scholar. He used to love

living in the grassland area of koLLiDam river bank in SrIra'ngam. One time, he

got bit by a snake; his sishyar felt very bad and built an ASramam for him in

the place now known as periyASramam. From that time on, our ASramam has come to

be known as SrIra'ngam SrImad ANDavan ASramam.

 

His unique greatness was – even very great, eminent vidvAns who had his

darSanam, felt that they should get their relationships established at his

tiruvaDi. SrImad periyANDavan had such a divinity. Multitudes of general public,

vidvAns, very learned scholars like Sri tirupuTkuzhi svAmi etc became excited by

SrImad periyANDavan's brilliant radiance and thronged to his feet. Among his

sishya-s, a lot of them consisted of very unimaginably, high level officers, who

were drawn to him. That is why our AcArya sishya lineage grew in our ASramam.

 

prakRtam SrImad ANDavan's radiant form is attracting thousands and thousands of

sishya-s, who pray at his feet. Today, our ASramam has grown into a huge, strong

foundation for emperumAnAr's darSanam, with lakhs and lakhs of sishya-s, much

more than in previous times.

 

9. Before SrImad periyAnDavan, our AcAryar was SrImad tirutturaippUNDi ANDavan

SrImad SrinivAsa rAmAnuja mahAdeSikan. His greatest merit was – he would

listen to his own AcAryar, vazhuttUr ANDavan's kAlakshepam and repeat word for

word without change, like a tape recorder. It was surprising that His speeches

were exactly like those of SrImad vazhuttUr ANDavan. In his tanian, the

phrase, “yasmin satsaMpradAyaM sakalam upadiSan amSato'nupravishTaH' appears.

It is very special that SrImad vazhuttUr ANDavan explicitly blessed him with a

promise and established him as the next AcAryan to succeed him. What this

means is, SrImad vedAnta rAmanuja mahAdeSikan also called as SrImad vazhuttUr

ANDavan conferred his own divine brilliance upon SrImad tirutturaippUNDi

ANDavan.

 

Today's world is stuck with wonder as to how the blessings of the ten previous

ANDavans have become fused with our prakRtam SrImad ANDavan.

 

10. The very first ANDavan in our ASrama lineage was SrI vazhuttUr ANDavan. His

wonderful trait was his implicit obedience in carrying out the divine order of

his own AcAryar, tirukkuDndai deSikan. Without losing his own sampradAya

attitude, he took sishya-s under him and conducted samASrayaNam-s,

kAlakshepam-s, bharanyAsam-s etc. If he had said, like the other sishya-s, that

he will not gather sishya-s for himself and had been aloof, this whole

sampradAyam would not have started. The whole munitraya siddhAntam with its

divine lineages for 250 years would have become derailed. What would have

happened to crores and crores of jIvAtmas? The whole credit of implicitly

obeying and taking up his AcAryar's order on himself and protecting the

sampradAyam belonged to SrImad ANDavan those days.

 

Nineteen years back, ASramam sishya-s were afflicted with a big ordeal. 'What

is the future of ANDavan ASramam going to be? Within forty days, two ANDavan-s

left us for SrIvaikuNTham; what are we going to do in this situation?' Everyone

was worried. The greatness of prakRtam ANDavan's immediate reaction is something

that cannot be written in words! Remembering his own AcAryan, SrImad

tirukkuDandai ANDavan's words - “when the time comes, do not give up

sampradAyam, protect the same', he quit his family life and took up sanyAsam.

 

At that time, SrI mukkUr azhagiyasingar asked prakRtam SrImad ANDavan's

pUrvASrama young daughter, “You are all small, young kids. Your father has

left you all and became ANDavan! Who is going to look after you all!?†When

the young child responded, “perumAL and tAyAr will take care of us!â€, SrI

mukkUR azhagiyasingar was totally amazed.

 

prakRtam SrImushNam SrImad ANDavan is a personification of all the ten ANDavan-s

combined together and he is taking care of all of us. aDiyEN did not write

anything out of place here.

 

Do not think aDiyEn wrote this essay, showed it to SrImad ANDavan to get his

permission and published it. Since aDiyEn was afraid that he might say, “Why

this? This is not necessaryâ€, aDiyEn published it anyway.

 

aDiyEn left out a lot of important traits so that others may not think aDiyEn is

lengthening the essay!

 

aDiyEn has often wondered how the traits of ten mahAn-s are offered to us in

one AcAryan like this. This is what was the basis of aDiyEn's Slokam about

prakRtam SrImad ANDavan that aDiyEn wrote in the introduction to the series on

SrImad tirukkuDandai ANDavan's AcArya rAmaMRtam -

 

SrIra'nga lakshmaNamuniM karuNAvilAsaM

“SrImushNam ANDavan†iti prathitaM pRthivyAm |

satsaMpradAya gurupa'nkti samagra rUpaM

SreyonidhiM sakala rakshakam ASraye'ham ||

 

Meaning is - aDiyEn surrenders at the feet of SrI ra'ngarAmAnuja mahAdeSikar,

who is a personification of compassion, an embodiment of all sadAcAryar-s of

sat-sampradAyam combined into one, a treasure-house showering all goodness,

protector for all, and world-renowned as “SrImushNam SrImad ANDavanâ€.

 

aDiyEn will finish with this. aDiyEn is of the opinion that even reading this

essay will confer a lot of goodness. The vaikAsit tiruvAdirait

tirunakshatram-birthday of prakRtam SrImad ANDavan is going to be celebrated in

tiruccANUr this month, right! In honor of that, this essay is being published

in this month's SrIra'nganAtha pAdukA.