SwAmi DESikan and Thenkalai SampradAyam (Was Unfortunate kalai-based Incidents at SrIra~ngam)

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SrI:

SrI Lakshminrusimha ParabrahmaNE namaH

SrImatE rAmAnujAya namaH

SrImatE nigamAnta mahAdESikAya namaH

SrImatE nArAyaNa yateendra mahAdESikAya namaH

 

namO nArAyaNa!

 

Dear SrI Sarathy,

 

Thanks for sharing your feelings on this issue.

aDiyEn would like to add on few things on what you

have said.

 

> Swamy Desikan is in their AchArya paramparai too.

 

Basically, without SwAmi DESika's works, one can't

understand various Philosophical aspects of ViSishTAdvaita for

sure. Its well accepted by {non-fanatic} thennAchAryas who

read such works. Hence, through many divine works, SwAmi DESika

is certainly an AchArya for all SrI-VaishNavas.

 

Added on to it, SwAmi DESika is also in their AchArya-Parampara

for " SrI-BhAshya " . Not only that it was SwAmi DESika who

preserved the super-excellent commentary " SrutaprakASika "

and propagated it making it instrumental for vidvAns to understand

SrI-BhAshya, SrI MaNavALa-MAmuni studied SrI-BhAshya under

SrI Thirumalai KiDAmbi NAyanAr who belongs to SwAmi DESikan's

parampara. SrI MAmunigaL while commenting upon SrI PiLLai -

lOkAchArya's works, cited SwAmi DESikan's SrI-SUktIs more than

30 times with reverence {32 times cited, as once told by

SrI VELukkuDi KrishNan to me in a private talk}. Its no secret

that thennAchAryas have to recite SwAmi DESikan's taniyan if they

deliver SrI-BhAshyam kAlakshEpam with the disciples too needed to

recite the taniyan. In UpadEsa-RatNa-mAlai also, SrI MAmunigaL has

payed his reverential tributes to SwAmi DESikan {in one pAsuram}

as one of the pUrvAchAryas. Moreover, SrI MAmunigaL obtained

kAshAyam from SrI AtivaN-SaThakOpa JIyar for getting into

SannyAsAshrama {recorded in their guruparampara also}.

 

Apart from this, SrI " PrativAdi Bhaya~nkaram " ANNan, the

mUla-purusha for the " PrativAdi-Bhaya~nkaram " lineage was

a disciple of SrI KumAra-VaradAchArya, son of SwAmi DESikan.

The late SrI PrativAdi Bhaya~nkaram ANNa~ngarAchArya, daily

performed aarAdhana to SwAmi DESikan's archA-vigraha passed on

to them as a family treasure. This lineage of ThennAchAryas

starts their Divya-Prabandham recitation with the taniyan of

SrI KumAra-VaradAchArya. Lets not get into the issue of

why SrI ANNa~ngarAchArya didn't reflect SwAmi DESikan's

teachings in some of the philosophical matters. SrI VAnamAmalai

Muth also has the anushTAnam of reciting the taniyan of

SrI KumAra-VaradAchArya {not sure of when all they recite it} as

read by aDiyEn in one of the works of SrI MadhurAntakam SwAmi.

 

One of the most notable stalwart ThennAchArya in the post-DESika

period was SrI DoDDayAchArya {16th Century C.E.}, an ardent devotee

of SwAmi DESika. His " SwAmi DESika Vaibhava PrakASika " is an

excellent work on the Life and Works of SwAmi DESika, which

is used inevitably by all including VaDakalai AchAryas to learn

about SwAmi DESika !! Its a great documentation by a ThennAchArya,

filled with high eulogies and salutations to SwAmi DESika and his

divine works. SrI DoDDayAchArya's " ChaNDamArutam " {ie.Cyclone

<which uproots advaita>} a highly scholarly and polemic commentary

on SwAmi DESikan's SatadUshaNi is a master-piece. There are some

other Philosophical works of good merit by SrI DoDDayAchArya. No

wonder, this AchArya had great bhakti towards SwAmi DESika whose

divine works shine as the lamp of knowledge to understand VEdAnta

and eradicate the darkness of ignorance.

 

SrI DoDDayAchArya was an ardent devotee of Lord VaradarAja of

KAn~chi {as was SwAmi DESikan}. When he was aged, Once, he

couldn't get into the place where GaruDa-SEvai was taking place,

due to the bodily weakness. Mentally, with great love for Lord, he

thought about various things that would be taking place and said

to Lord that it would his great bhAgyam if somehow the uttsavam

can be witnessed by him. Lord VaradarAja, the bhakta vatsala and

granter of boons {varada}, suddenly appeared before him and granted

a special sEvai for his dear devotee - whose ecstacy can't be

described in words ofcourse. From that time, it has become a

tradition to make that special sEvai named as " DoDDayAchArya SEvai "

wherein PerumAL first comes to that place {near the tank if aDiyEn

remembers} to give the sEvai for SrI DoDDayAchArya in archa-vigraha

{if aDiyEn is right} before proceeding to the other routines of

GaruDa sEvai.

 

It is very notable that SrI SrInivAsAchArya, the foremost

disciple of SrI DoDDayAchArya {alias MahAchArya} is the author of

the famous manual on ViSishTAdvaita called " YatIndra-mata-dIpikA " .

It is basically a quint-essence of SwAmi DESika's

NyAya-SiddhAn~jana. In the end, the author states the list of

works which he has used to write this manual - ranging from all

PUrvAchAryas inclusive of the works by SrI NAthamuni,

SrI ALavandAr, SrI RAmAnuja, SrI VEdAnta DESika, SrI PiLLai

lOkAchArya till SrI MahAchArya. Though the author leaves certain

issues like the place of " Kaivalya " without any certain decision

on the siddhAnta {ie.states both the views on it, without any

judgement over it}, the most important feature to pin-point is

the way Prapatti has been explained by him. He treats it exactly

as how SwAmi DESikan has established it as per SAstras - The points

on it being NyAsa Vidya to be performed once in a lifetime, Role

of AchArya,difference between bhakti and prapatti as the

" means " / " sAdhana " to attain moksham, its pre-requisites and

5 a~ngas,distinction between aartha and drupta prapatti etc. The

author didn't disclose the a~ngis of Prapatti and its various

nishTas, and shuts the discussion mentioning that such rahasyas

are to be learnt from AchAryas through kAlakshEpam and it does

not have place in this work meant for the enlightment of the

beginners. SrI MahAchArya is said to have accepted the Prapatti

SAstra as explained by SwAmi DESikan and performed " AchArya

NishTa " Prapatti for his disciples, mainly at the time when

had their " SamASrayaNam " itself {ie.Prapatti immedietly followed

SamASrayaNam}. Its anyway very evident from his disciple's work

and his other reverential works on SwAmi DESika. The Prapatti

as explained by ThennAchAryas at present is quite different,

taking their roots back to SrI PiLLai lOkAchArya.

 

Interestingly, " YatIndra-Mata-DIpika " starts with the ma~ngaLa

sloka glorifying various PerumALs {Lord SrInivAsa, Lord VaradarAja

...} and the preceptors whom SrI SrInivAsAchArya saw in his divine

dream {without any mention of their names}, and is followed by

the second ma~ngala slOka, after which the actual work starts :

 

yatISvaram praNamyAham vEdAntAryam mahAgurum |

karOmi bAlabOdhArtham yatIndramatadIpikAm || <Verse 2>

 

ie. " My PraNAmams are to YatISvara (RAmAnuja), VEdAntArya (VEdAnta

DESika) and MahAguru (MahAchArya) and I compose

YatIndra-Mata-DIpika for instructing the beginners " .

 

The AchArya Purushas of the lineage of SrI MahAchArya are still

present. Its notable that the late ThennAchArya SrI VELukkuDi

VaradAchArya of great fame and his son SrI VELukkuDi KrishNan

are disciples of SrI DoDDayAchArya ThirumALigai {ie.SamASrayaNam

under this parampara}. Well, aDiyEn does not know about their

current anushTAnams regarding Prapatti.

 

The bottomline is that, many ThennAchAryas have shown the

path regarding the reverence a thenkalai SrIVaishNava has to have

for SwAmi DESikan. Its for them to follow such right footsteps

and not be carried away by the mis-leading footsteps of many past

and present examples filled with nothing but arrogant and hatred

attitude towards SwAmi DESikan. Otherwise, it will be too late for

them to correct themselves before such most unpardonable apachArams

starts giving its due results by the sa~nkalpa of SrIman NArAyaNa.

 

>Some SriMatam followers accept SashtaParAngusaMuni was a thenkalai.

 

This is news to me. aDiyEn hasn't heard such from any SrI Sannidhi

sishya. Also, its quite well-known about this AchArya {6th HH JIyar

of SrI Ahobila Muth} with descent documentation. SrI Sannidhi

Guruparampara states that only fifth JIyar was thenkalai {probably

thenkalai in PUrvAshramam}. ThennAchAryas infact state that sixth

HH JIyar was " fully pro-DESika SampradAya " . SrI Sannidhi

Guruparampara also states that till the time of 5th HH JIyar,

unity among thenkalai and vaDakalai was quite pronounced.

 

This 6th HH Jeeyar of SrI Ahobila Muth was a great

mahAtma excelling in all departments like jn~Ana,bhakti,vairAgya,

anushTAnas and aatma-guNas. The unique feature of this great AchArya,

which is very rarely attained by other AchAryas was the

" mantra-siddhi " of Nrusimha mantra. This Jeeyar performed some

super-human activities/miracles with that mantra-siddhi. Being

called by Lord Naraimha, this Jeeyar entered a cave. aDiyEn is

very proud that this great mahAtma belonged to the " KaralapAkkam "

village - that of aDiyEn's ancestor's !! aDiyEn's father also

spent his childhood at this village only with SrI-VaishNava

agarahAram. Now, its no more a SrI-VaishNava agrahAra. Everyone

into city!

 

After SrI AthivaN SaThakopa Jeeyar, this JIyar was vary famous

among SrI-VaishNavas.

 

KAlakshEpa Parampara :

 

SrI AthivaN SaThakopa JIyar was approached by all SrI-VaishNavas

for learning SrI-BhAshya and other granthas. One can imagine the

height of fame and credentials this JIyar must have had during

those times. SrI Varada-VishNuvAchArya {son of SrI GaTikASatam

AmmaL, the kAlakshEpa AchArya of SrI AthivaN SaThakopa jIyar}

learnt SrImad RTS under his father and the rest three important

sampradAya granthas under SrI AthivaN-SaThakopa JIyar. This JIyar

is a kAlakshEpa AchArya of SrI-BhAshya,SrI GIta-BhAshya and

Bhagavad Vishaya for all of Munitraya sampradAya SrI-VaishNavas.

 

SrI MahAdayAdISar, the son of SrI Varada-VishNuvAchArya learnt

all the four granthas from his father. SrI AhobilAchArya alias

NrusimhAchArya was a grandson of SrI Varada-VishNuvAchArya

and learnt all the four granthas under SrI MahAdayAdIsar.

 

SrI VE~nkaTAchArya {who later became the 6th HH JIyar well

known as SrI SashTa ParA~nkusa Muni/Yati} learnt SrI BhAshya

and GIta-BhAshya under SrI AhobilAchArya ; Bhagavad Vishaya

under 3rd HH Jeeyar of SrI Ahobila Muth and Srimad

Rahasya-Traya-SAra under SrI VaradAchArya,younger brother of

SrI AhobilAchArya. A very notable and forefront disciple of

this 6th HH JIyar who learnt all the four granthas was

SrI " Pan~cha-Matha Pan~janam " TAthadESikan, the title being due

to his great Philosophical work criticizing some Philosophies.

 

Sixth HH JIyar is a kAlakshEpa AchArya of all the four granthas

for Munitraya sampradAya SrI VaishNavas.

 

The latest of SrI Ahobila Muth Jeeyars with such high degree of

mantra-siddhi was the 40th Jeeyar, who with mere sprinkle of water

did some wonders.

 

> Some of us say that Periya Jeer received kAshAyam from

> AdivanSatakopa Yathindra Mahadesikan.

 

Not " some of us " . Its accepted by ThennAchAryas as well.

 

aDiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan,

anantapadmanAbhan.

krushNArpaNam.