Fw: Swami Nigamantha Mahadesikan Thirunakshathram Special- Today Purattaasi SravaNam- Let us enjoy Acharyan's life and glories

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Sunday, September 23, 2007 4:55 AM

Swami Nigamantha Mahadesikan Thirunakshathram Special- Today

Purattaasi SravaNam- Let us enjoy Acharyan's life and glories

 

 

> SrI:

> SrImathE Ramanujaya nama:

> SrImathE Nigamantha Mahadesikaya nama:

>

> Dearest all

>

> Today is the most auspicious day.. Purattaasi

> ThiruvONam

>

> Thirunakshathram (Birthday) of Swami Desikan. Swami

> Desikan - Acharya saarvabhouman- The peerless

> preceptor (1268 CE- 1369 CE)Let us meditate on His

> lotus feet today enjoying the glories of Swami to a

> little extent.

>

> 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 give Sri Bashyam KaalakshEpams

> 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 Tiruvahindrapuram.

> 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 " sarvathanthraswathanthrar " , 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

> " Vedantacharya " , Kavitaarkika simham " , 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..

>

> In fact, it is simply a foolhardy experiment to

> attempt to give a comprehensive picture on the life of

> this AchArya saarvabhouman in this small post. 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. (we will see them in

> detail later). 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 read to believe

> it!

>

> Thoopul PiLLai ThiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

> Regards

> Acharya paadhaangri rENu:

> narayanadAsan madhavakkannan

>

>

>

>

>

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