Guest guest Posted December 3, 2000 Report Share Posted December 3, 2000 SrimathE SrivanSatakOpa Sri VEdAntha Desika YathindrA MahA DesikAya Namaha. The Holy Cloud On the eve of the Thirunakshatram of prakrutam Srimad Azhagiasingar, adiyen would like to offer this little piece at His lotus feet. From time immemorial,the Megham(cloud) has been an object of irresistible fascination for our AlwArs,AchAryAs and,mahAkavis like Sri ValmIki and KalidAsa. When adiyEn was on a flight of fancy,it struck adiyen as to what a lot of similarities the cloud had with our AchAryan ,and I ventured to put this down to paper(or the Word Pad-in modern idiom) and offer it to the bhAgavatAs. Sri DEsikan,in Sri GuruparamparA Saram ,says “Meghangal samudra jalatthai vAngi sarvOpajeevyamAna thanneerAga umizhumAp pOlE”. How well this description suits our Srimad Azhagiasingar – for HE ,through constant toil ,imbibes the scriptures in all their multitude and gives us the sAram,in a highly palatable manner. This simile is fitting in more than one way- 1.The boundless body of shastraic knowledge (comprised of the shrutis,smritis,ithihAsAs,purAnAs and dharma shAstrAs) is akin to an ocean.It is impossible for human beings with limited faculties like us to master all these, for the time available is short (alpascha kAla:)and the impediments to knowledge, many(bahavascha vignA:). Further, often conflicting and varying concepts may emerge from an untutored perusal of shAstrAs(shAstra gnAnam bahu klEsa kAranam). It is here that Srimad Azhagiasingar comes to the rescue of mithapragyAs like adiyEn. He absorbs ,like a cloud from the ocean, all that is of the essence(sArabhootam) and delivers it to us in an easily digestible capsule form. One who has heard His upanyAsams or read His arulmozhis ,would definitely agree with adiyEn that each of them incorporates the quintessence of sampradAyic scholarship absorbed by Him through decades of hard toil and AchArya susrUshanam, which we are able to obtain second hand,without undergoing any difficulty whatsoever. So much so, that the tribute to SwAmi Desikan-‘Orondru thAne amayAthO thAraniyil vAzhvArkku vAnErap pOmalavum vAzhvu”-can be equally well applied to our AchAryA’s sree sookthis. 2.Further,as clouds absorb sea water, and deliver it in the form of rain to the crops and to quench people’s thirst, Srimad Azhagiasingar has tapped the ocean of riches in the possession of various dhArmikAs and carried out several bhagawat,bhAgawata kainkaryams with the funds so obtained. While rain water provides bAhya tApa shanthi,a cooling dharshan of Sri VeerarAghavan or Sri PrahlAda Varadan in their new thiruvAbharanams ( lovingly submitted by Srimad Azhagiasingar ) provides tApatraya shAnthi. 3.EmperumAn is described by several poorvAchAryAs as an ocean of virtues (samastha kalyAna guna amrutOdadhi:, asankyEya kalyAna guna ganougha mahArnavam, aparimita guna sAgaram, karunA varunAlayam etc.).Each of these gunAs is immeasurable, so much so that the vEdAs themselves, engaged in such an endeavour, return thoroughly vanquished (yethO vAchO nivartantE ,aprApya manasA saha---tEyE satam iti anukramAth,etc.).Our AchAaryan delves deep into the bhagawat guna sAgaram and encapsulates the kalyAna gunAs in a manner which is anubhAvyam for us. Dark,rainbearing clouds are the darling of peacocks,which dance with their beautiful plumes spread out wide.Similarly,the very sight of Srimad Azhagiasingar is enough to provide immeasurable bliss to anaya bhaktAs and to vidwAns. .Carrying the analogy further, clouds never stay in the same place in the sky and are always on the move. Our AchAryan is also constantly on sanchAram, as ordained by Sri MalOlA. While clouds are propelled by winds,our vriddha yati is driven by bhakta vAtsalyam, and has already traversed BhArata Varsha several times,AsEthu HimAchalam, in his eternal search of souls to be saved through pancha samskAram, ,bhara samarpanam and sadupadEsam. One feels,as Sri Madhurakavi did,that the mere mention of Srimad Azhagiasingar’s thirunAmam and His guna keerthanam bring eternal bliss to our tongue(annikkum amudhoorum en nAvukkE). One also feels like exclaiming, with IlayaperumAl,”Gunair dAsyam upAgatha:”. .Hence,tempting as it is to continue in the same vein,adiyEn would like to end here with a presumptious prayer to Sri MalOlA to keep prakrutam Srimad Azhagiasingar hale and hearty in our midst for a hundred more years atleast(adiyOmOdum ninnOdum pirivindri Ayiram pallAndu). Etri manatthu ezhil gnAna vilakkai irulanaitthum MAtrinavarkku oru kaimmAru mAyanum kANagillAn Potri ugappadum pundiyil kolvathum pongu pugazh ChAtri valarppathum chatrallavO munnam petratharkkE. SrimatE Srivansatakopa SriLakshminrisimha divya pAdukA sEvaka Sri NarAyana YethIndra mahA dEsikAya Namaha. Thousands of Stores. Millions of Products. / Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 3, 2000 Report Share Posted December 3, 2000 asmadgurubhyo namah srimathe srivan shatagopa sri vedanta desika yatindra mahadesikaya namah srimathe sri lakshmi nrisimha divya paduka sevaka srivan shatagopa sri narayana yatindra mahadesikaya namah, I think Sri Sadagopan iyengars article on srimad azhagia singar was excellent. The cloud analogy was well explained with excellent gems from srimad rahasya traya saram and other srisuktis. With this let me also express my humble heartfelt namaskarams to our Azhagiasingar, whose tirunakshatram is on Dec 6th. adiyen Krishna Kalale Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 3, 2000 Report Share Posted December 3, 2000 SrImathE SrI LakshmI nrusimha divya pAdukA sEvaka SrIvaN SatakOpa SrI nArAyaNa yathIndra mahA DESikAya nama: Dear Members, The article by SrI SatakOpan Iyengar " The Holy Cloud " is very interesting. I thank him very much for sharing his anubhavam reg. AachArya-bhakthi. Thanks & Regards M.S.HARI rAmAnuja DAsan (mshari) __________________ Get free email and a permanent address at http://www.netaddress.com/?N=1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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