adiyEn'w wonderful trip to Srirangam and Navalpakkam for Acharyas Thirunakshathrams

[Guest guest]

SrI:

SrImathE Gopaladesika Mahadesikaya nama:

 

Dearest all,

 

adiyEn was fortunate to have an opportunity to visit

two wonderful events last week. I went to Srirangam

for asmadhacharyan His Holiness Srimad Paravakottai

Andavan Swami’s 88th TN celebrated in the Ashramam on

April the 10th with usual grand Veda prayanam and

upanyasams.

 

Swami looked quite energetic and shining in spite of

his age. Swami’s entry into the hall itself is an

experience to be felt.

 

adiyEn attended on the 9th and 10th events.

 

Though Swami did not want to celebrate the TN in a

grand manner, it is the duty of sishyas to celebrate

the same and pay our obeisance and gratitude to Swami.

But Swami grabbed that chance to pay his praNamams and

obeisance to Thoppul PiLLai for Swami Desikan’s

unparalleled contribution to Srivaishnavam and is

Acharya Saarvabhouman.

 

SwAmi instructed the budding, young as well as

experienced scholars to deliver upanyasams on each of

the lines from vaazhi thirunaamam of Swami desikan.

 

adiyEn attended the upanysamas on:

 

kanjatthirumangai ugakka vandhOn… by Dr Sri MV Anantha

padmanabhachar Swami

senchol thamizh maRaigaL theLindhu uRaippOn by

ARupaadhi Sri Ramadesikachar Swami

thirumalai maal thirumaNiyaay siRakka vandhOn – by Sri

(Delhi) Harinagar Rajagopalachar Swami

thanjapparagathiyai thandhu aruLvOn- by Srirakryam

Swami Dr Sri Anantha Narasimhachar Swami

thaNthamizh thoopul thiruvEkadavan… by Sri U Ve VN

Venkatanathan Swami

 

Each of these upanyasams was nice. It was a great

opportunity to meet up with such great scholars.

 

In addition there were wonderful upanysamas by:

 

Navalpakkam Dr Sri Vasudevachar Swami on Bhagavad

vishayam (he selected specifically piRandhavaaRum ten

and enjoyed those verses)

Sri ES Mukundan Swami of Hyderabad taking few verses

on Daya sathakam and gave a splendid upnayasam, in a

soul stirring, brilliant style effortlessly.

 

All were amazing and were enjoyed by one and all.

 

There was one upnayasam by Sri Vaduvoor Govindhan

Swami who took each kalyana guNA of perumAL and

referred the same to our Prakritham Andavan aptly.

Swami interrupted him saying, “vishayatthukku vaa”.

Sri Govindhan Swami said, “This is adiyEn’s subject.

Even if Swami does not give opportunity to adiyEn

anymore, adiyEn doesn’t care. adiyEn would just

glorify Swami’s kalyANa guNAs as it is truth and

nothing but truth. For us- Swami is verily the walking

God. It was a very nice statement made by Sri

Govindhan Swami and everyone was in tears for being

blessed with such a great acharyan and to attend his

Thirunakshathram.

 

[unfortunately -the earlier upanyasams – adiyEn could

not attend as I reached on 8th only]

 

On the Thirunakshathram day, Srirangam Sri Anantha

Narasimhachar Swami released Saranagathi Deepika book

as part of the series of Swamy Desikanb books released

by the Ashramam. This is the 24th of (28) sthothra

series. Those of you who visit India may specifically

ask for these books from regular bookshops (like Sri

Nrusimhapriya Trust or from Srirangam Ashramam).

 

Vangeepuram Navaneetham (Oppiliappan Koil) Dr Sri VN

Vedantha Desikan Swami is the one who has been

compiling the rarest commentaries of these sthothras,

adding his simple tamil commentary and English

translation for each sloka. Swami spoke few words

about this book (Saranagati Deepika) as well, saying

this is the essence of Srimad Rahaysathraya saaram and

is to be read by one and all. It is to be recited by

us understanding these meanings. That would help enjoy

the slokas and understand our Sampradaya.

 

Srikaryam swami mentioned that during the period the

founder of the Ashramam Srimad Poundarikapuram Andavan

Srinivasa Mahadesikan Swami, there was one Sri

Vijayaraghavachar Swami from Bangalore who attended

kalakshepam at His lotus feet. This Swami, after ten

interesting and enlightening years of Gurukulavasam,

at Srirangam Poundarikapuram Ashramam and gratified at

the Acharya’s commitment with which he taught him all

these years right from Sanskrit alphabet to Vedanthas

and Saathras in great depths, offered even in those

days, an enticing Rs 10,000 as Guru dhakshiNa. Srimad

Andavan looked up and asked him, “Is this what you

have learnt and understood me?”. The disciple

persisited in offering it as a token of his gratitude.

The Acharya consolingly told him,

 

“If I accepted this from you, great harm will follow-

in future, our disciples may stop coming to mearn from

me unable to make a GurudhakshiNa; also this may

incite me an expectation of the same too”. The

disciple knew that the Acharya was sincere but still

he persisted. Now the Acharya spoke- “Think what one

in my state can do with this money; with you perhaps,

it may find immense use in making our Sampradayam

Granthas so much needed for the future”. This was the

divine spark that impregnated in the mind of Sri CM

Vijayaraghavachariar the passion and the spirit for

writing many books in kannada language which are

available even today as source books for reference and

research in Karnataka – something which Bhagawan

Ramanuja would have approved of. Words do not suffice

to extol the importance of this service to

Srivaishnava community. Srimad Andavan was noted for

his vairAgya – inassailable spirit of total

renunciation of worldly, material things. It was

Bhagawath Sankalpa, that in this manner a whole range

of our Samparadya Granthas should be born in Kannada

language.

 

Sri karyam added that on similar lines, our Prakritham

Andavan Swami wishes to have the same continued by

having an ashramam branch in Bangalore for the sishyas

therein to celebrate acharya, azhwar thirunakshthrams.

Acharyan ThiruvuLLam was immediately fulfilled by one

Sri Ananthakrishnan Swami of Mysore. He has donated

100 feet x 80 feet land of his (in Bangalore) to the

ashramam as a humble offering at the lotus feet of His

Holiness. On behalf of the entire community of

Ashramam sishyas, Srikaryam expressed his thanks and

gratitude to Sri Ananthakrishnan Swami. The

construction would begin soon. Sri Sudarsan

Parthasarathy informed me later that another Ahobila

Mutt sishya from Bangalore along with Sri.Navaneetha

Krishnan swami's brother have actively taken up the

responsibility for constructing a nice Asramam in

Bangalore. Swami reviewed the plan and came out

quickly with areas of improvement, as well as gave

valuable pointers on how to move ahead.

 

His Holiness finally inaugurated the new civil

structures built over the last 6 months at our Asramam

(Office, Library room)..... The saatrumurai and

thadheeyaaradhanai completed the glorious

Thirunakshathram event.

 

As a whole, this year's TN was more like a family

event, with Swami's sishyAs and AbhimAnis alone, as

Srimad Andavan/Srimad Azhagiyasinghar and other

YathivAras were all on SanchAram. Also due to the

SathabhishEka Mahothsvam of Dr Sri U Ve Navalpakkam

S.Ramanuja thathachar Swami at Navalpakkam on April

the 12th on Saturday.

 

adiyEn’s paternal grand mother hails from Navalpakkam

and Dr Sri NSR Swami is known to the whole

Srivaishnava community. Hence, adiyEn with my parents

went to Navalpakkam on Friday the 11th.

 

Veda parayanams, Sri Bhashya sadhas, greatest scholars

congregation, their merciful glances on us- the days

were divine. Dr Sri NSR Swami by virtue of his

contribution through his research studies, he was

awarded Doctorate in Philosophy by Sanskrit Unitv,

Varanasi. He was also awarded as eminent Sanskrit

scholar by the President of India. He was also

honoured with innumerable titles for his original

works by the seers of Andavan Ashramam, Ahobila Mutt,

Ashtanga vignAna mandhiram, Pejavar Muth, Sringeri

Sarada vidhya peeth etc.

 

Dr Sri NSR Swami’s father Sri Krishna thathachar Swami

himself was a renowned vedic scholar who adorned the

post of principal in the Sanskrit college of

Sriperumpudhur for several years. He was the foremost

sishya of Sri U Ve Narasimha thathacharya Swami and

Sri U Ve Ayya Devanatha thathachar Swami. Sri NSR

Swami mastered all four saastras and Krishna yajur

veda with the grace of Sri U Ve Ayya Devanatha

thathachar. Thus at a very young age Sri NSR Swami

imbibed all the eminent qualities of a great acharya

as envisioned by Swami Desikan.

 

There were four days of Veda prayanam, and discourses

by emiment scholars, recitation of Srimad Ramayanam,

as well as Vidwath sadhas.

 

It was such a divine sight and bhaagyam to see all

greatest scholars of Srivaishnavam in one hall:

VidwAns line Sri U Ve Agnihothram Ramanuja Thathachar

swami (who is 102 years old), Sri U Ve

Srivathsankachar Swami, Sri U Ve Navalpakkam

Varadhachar Swami, Sri U Ve Navalpakkam Valayapettai

Ramanuja thathachar Swami, and others.

There were garlands pouring in from divya desams like

Srirangam, Kanchipuram, Thirukkudanthai, Sri

Perumpudhur, Oppiliappan Koil etc.

 

There were also attendees like Sri KV

Ramakrishnacharya, Jaipur Sanskirt University, Vice

Chancellor, Sri Kutumba Saastri Delhi University Vice

Chancellor, Prof. Sri Veezhinathan Saastri who were

all Sri NSR Swami’s students for more than few

decades. They hold such high positions today and they

spoke in great humility and reverence, about Sri NSR

Swami, his kalyANa guNAs, vaathsalyam on his students

and his magnificent scholarship. Prof Veezhnathan’s

article on this Swami appeared in The Hindu the

previous day.

 

Prof wrote: that Navalpakkam Sri Ramanuja Tatacharya

(DOB April 16, 1928) is one of the senior authorities

in the fields of Nyaya, Vyakarana, Mimamsa and

Vedanta. He hails from a very respectable family

belonging to the village of Navalpakkam in North Arcot

District, Tamil Nadu renowned for its assiduous

pursuit of studies in the Vedas and the Sastras and

for devoted practice of their teachings. Being the

illustrious son of an illustrious father, the late

Krishnasvami Tatacharya, a doyen of Sanskrit learning,

his study began under him and continued at Sri

Venkateswara Oriental College in Tirupati, Sanskrit

College in Sriperumbudur, and Devanatha Tatacharya

Swami and University of Madras. By the age of 16 he

became a full-fledged Naiyayika after which he

attained proficiency in Vyakarana, Mimamsa and Vedanta

effortlessly.

 

You can read the article herein:

http://www.hindu.com/2008/04/11/stories/2008041152770300.htm

 

 

adiyEn probably would have missed some names, or

mis-spelt some names. Please forgive adiyEn for the

errors and omissions.

 

Navalpakkam is a glorious village with a beautiful

Srinivasa temple. The visit was so refreshing for

adiyEn. adiyEn only wishes to visit this place every

year for the uthsavam and this Swami’s TN.

 

Acharyan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Regards

Namo narayana

dAsan

 

 

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