UpadEsa RatnamAlai and SwAmi DESikan etc

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SrI:

SrImatE rAmAnujAya namaH

SrImatE nigamAnta mahAdESikAya namaH

 

namO nArAyaNa!

 

Dear all,

 

A scholar once told me that SrI ManavALa-mAmunigaL

had written one pAsuram for SwAmi DESikan in upadEsa-RatnamAlai,

which is basically on the Guru-Prampara from AzhwArs downto

PUrvAchAryas / AchArya Lineage of SrI MAmunigaL. Upon scrutiny,

there is no such pAsuram for SrI VEdAnta-DESika. The term " dESika "

has been used few times in its original sanskrit meaning as

" AchArya " , and it does not refer to SwAmi DESikan. aDiyEn verified

this with couple of reputed scholars as well.

 

But, SwAmi DESikan is verily a pUrvAchArya for SrI MAmunigaL

esp in the SrI-BhAshya Guru-Parampara. The taniyan

" SrImAn VE~nkaTanAthAryaH ........ " of SwAmi DESikan is recited

by even the current thenkalai SrI VaishNavas during their

SrI-BhAshya/VEdAnta kAlakshEpam.

 

For instance, SrI KArappa~ngADu VE~nkaTAchArya SwAmi, a great

thennAchArya of last century (also, the kAlakshEpam AchArya of

SrI VELukkuDi VaradAchArya) writes :

 

" Sriya:Pathi-yAna SarvESvaran-uDaya nirhEtuka krupai-kku

pAtrabhUtar-Ana aazhwAr mudal aaLavandAr emperumAnAr dESikan

naDuvAga manavALa-mAmunigaL muDivAgavuLLa nam pUrvAchAryar-gaL,

........ " (Article: Ubhaya-VEdAnta aika kanTyam ;

Book : EmperumAnAr DarSanam - 1; Pub: Sri Karappangadu

Venkatachariar Swami Memorial Research Foundation,1997;

Copies can be had from " SrI VaishNava SrI " .

 

SwAmi writes that " Recipients of the nirhEtuka krupa of

SrIya:Pathi,the Lord of all - PUrvAchAryas from AzhwAr to

AaLavandAr, EmperumAnAr, DESikan in the middle and

mAmunigaL in the end, ... " . This speaks by itself ..no need

to add more comments.

 

As a side point esp. for those who are interested in the

possible Unification of the two sects in certain

aspects, like the recitation of VAzhi thirunAmams of both

SwAmi DESikan and SrI MAmunigaL etc :

 

SwAmi DESikan is in the kAlakshEpa Guruparampara for Thenkalais.

Hence, it is natural that VAzhi thirunAmam for SwAmi DESikan

be recited by them as their PUrvAchArya. For certain reasons,

the practice may not exist for them. Thats fine. aDiyEn is also

not against those thenkalais who don't recite the vAzhi thirunAmam

of SwAmi DESikan. They afterall follow their custom set by their

elders, and there is no need to interfere in it.

 

But, either SrI PiLLai-LOkAchArya Or SrI MAmunigaL, are not in

even the kAlakshEpa Guruparampara for VaDakalais. Hence, there is

no need for VaDakalais (as per the practice) to recite the vAzhi

thirunAmams of such AchAryas.

 

In other words, those who are highly interested in such unification

should atfirst take this point into account. If one feels that such

a unification should be done on these lines, he/she should give

very high importance to a thankalai reciting the vAzhi thirunAmam

of SwAmi DESikan than a vaDakalai reciting the vAzhi thirunAmam

of SrI MAmunigaL.

 

aDiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan,

anantapadmanAbhan alias Anand.

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> SrI:

> SrImatE rAmAnujAya namaH

> SrImatE nigamAnta mahAdESikAya namaH

 

Dear Sri U.Ve.Ananthapadmanabhan swamin,

 

Adiyen has a few doubts in regarding the thennAcharya-vadakalai acharya

paramparai. Please note that I do not wish to continue this thread with a

controversial sense, but the doubts i have question certain anachronisms.

This is purely in the interest of learning and not for the sake of expanding

this thread like the previous ones.

 

Swamin makes a point that:

> But, either SrI PiLLai-LOkAchArya Or SrI MAmunigaL, are not in

> even the kAlakshEpa Guruparampara for VaDakalais

 

1.) Sri Pillai Lokachariar is the son of Vadakku Tiruveedhip PiLLai

2.) Vadakku Tirveedhip Pillai's sishya was Srirangachar

3.) Srirangachar's sishya was Sri Kesavachar

4.) Sri Kesava Char's sishya was Sri Adivan SatakOpa jIyar

 

So, this is how adiyen understands the paramparai (please let me know if my

understanding is faulty/needs correction here)

 

Sri Vadakku Thiruvedhip Pillai

Sri Pillai Lokachariar

Srirangachar

Sri Kesavachar

Sri Adivan SatakOpan jIyar

 

This puts Sri Pillai Lokachariar in the paramparai of Sri Adivan SatakOpa

jIyar

 

Add to this:

1.)Sri. maNavALa mAmunigaL's sanyAsAshrama dIkshai was done by Sri. AdivaN

satakOpa jIyar

 

How is this be understood from the point of Swamin's email?

 

Please note that I do not wish to extend this thread into a controversial

thread but this is purely for the sake of understanding/learning.

 

wodeyavara daasanu,

 

Malolan Cadambi

 

 

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At 06:44 PM 6/24/2001 -0500, Malolan Cadambi wrote:

 

 

>So, this is how adiyen understands the paramparai (please let me know if my

>understanding is faulty/needs correction here)

>

>Sri Vadakku Thiruvedhip Pillai

>Sri Pillai Lokachariar

>Srirangachar

>Sri Kesavachar

>Sri Adivan SatakOpan jIyar

 

 

Sri Ahobila Matam line of AchAryas from Swami Bhashyakarar

till Srimad Athivan Satakopan is as follows:

 

Swami Bhashyakarar

Embar

Bhattar

NanjIyar

NampiLlai

Vadakku Thiruvedhip PiLLai

Srirangeswarar

Kesavachar

KamalavAsar

Kesavachar

Srimad Adivan Satakopan

 

Sri PiLLai LokAcAryar is not in the line.

 

Also, please note, other Vadakalai branches have different

line of AcAryAs.

 

 

>Add to this:

>1.)Sri. maNavALa mAmunigaL's sanyAsAshrama dIkshai was done by Sri. AdivaN

>satakOpa jIyar

>

>How is this be understood from the point of Swamin's email?

 

 

This does not make Sri maNavALa mAmunigaL a part of the

Guruparamparai for Sri Ahobila Matam sishyas.

 

There are many stellar achAryAs who have decorated each and

every line of illustrious Bhagavad Ramanuja SiddAntam. But

we recite the thaniyans of only the AchAryas of our respective

lines. This is the normal practice.

 

Reciting vAzhi thirunAmam also falls into this category.

Sishyas must recite the VAzhi thirunAmam as practiced

by their respective sampradayams. For instance, Sri

Sannidhi sishyas recite only Swami Sri Desikan and

Srimad Athivan Satakopan's vAzhi thirunAmams, no other

vAzhi thirunAmam is recited.

 

Further, it is not proper to recite vAzhi thirunAmam

of AchAryAs whose teachings we do not fully follow.

Sri maNavALa mAmunigaL is one of the greatest AchAryAs.

Swami must be very highly respected. However, reciting

Swami's vAzhi thirunAmam is not the way to show such

respect as Vadakalai sishyas do not accept all of

Swami's teachings.

 

-- adiyEn

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Sri Anand K Karalapakkam wrote:

 

" SwAmi DESikan is in the kAlakshEpa Guruparampara for Thenkalais. Hence, it is

natural that VAzhi thirunAmam for SwAmi DESikan be recited by them as their

PUrvAchArya. For certain reasons, the practice may not exist for them. Thats

fine. aDiyEn is also not against those thenkalais who don't recite the vAzhi

thirunAmam of SwAmi DESikan. They afterall follow their custom set by their

elders, and there is no need to interfere in it. But, either SrI

PiLLai-LOkAchArya Or SrI MAmunigaL, are not in even the kAlakshEpa Guruparampara

for VaDakalais. Hence, there is no need for VaDakalais (as per the practice) to

recite the vAzhi thirunAmams of such AchAryas. "

 

Swamin, may I extend the same logic for Sri Sannidhi Sishyas also? Because, as

far as the Sri Ahobila Mutt is concerned, Swami Desikan is not in their " Orann

Guruparamparai. " Though adiyen daily recite all the Acharya Thaniyans of Sri

Ahobila Mutt I have never seen either SriMan Venkatanatharya or Ramanuja

Dayapatram in any books. If you see after Swami Bhashyakarar Sri Ahobila Mutt

and Thennacharya sampradhayam are highly identical up to Sri Periyavachchan

Pillai. Then it splits into two. But Swami Desikan is in neither of the

sampradhayams. Therefore will you advise us to not recite Swami Desikan thaniyan

or Vazhi Thirunamam? (On a side note I would like to ask another question here

which Guruparamparai is authentic? After Swami Emberumanar who was the

Sampradhaya Pravarthakar? Is it Embar or Thirukurugai Piran Pillan? According

Sri Yathiraja Vaibhavam written by Sri Vaduga Nambigal (who is a direct disciple

of Swami Bhashyakarar) Thirukuragai Piran Pillan was blessed as the

Ubhaya Vedanta Simhasanadhipathi and Nadadhur Azhwan as the Sri Bhashya

Simhasanadhipathi by none other than Swami Emberumanar himself. (Ironically this

book was published by Sri Puththur Sudharsanam swami). Therefore Thirukurugai

Piran Pillan was the Darsana Pravarthagar after Swami Emberuamanar according to

Yathiraja Vaibhavam, which was written by a direct disciple who actually

witnessed almost all the events of the later days of Swami Emberumanar.)

Therefore Swami Desikan is only in the Kalakshepa paramparai of Sri Ahobila Mutt

sampradayam as well as in Thennacharya sampradayam.

Just because one Acharya is not there in our Guruparampara, that we should not

recite their vazhi thirunamam or their thaniyansis therefore is not a valid

arguement. And Sri Mamunigal is a direct disciple of Sri Adhivan Satagopan.

" Yateendra Pravana Prabhavam " which is supposed to be an authentic work on the

life history to Sri Manavala Mamunigal (written by Sri Pillailokam Jeer)

narrates how Sri Mamunigal took sanyashramam from Swami Adhivan Satagopan. So,

what is wrong if we recite Sri Mamunigal's thaniyan, after all he belongs to Sri

Sannidhi.

2. This is not an issue in any of the temples in India. Because even a mere

participation itself a big problem, there is no question of reciting other

sampradaya Acharya’s thaniyans in a temple which belongs to different

sampradayam. (And I would never advocate to do such a thing also as it would

create other confusions such as whose thaniyan has to recited first etc.) But

this is an issue here in USA. One thing you will appreciate that whatever we do

in abroad is just trying to simulate our roots. (I don’t to the theory

that “we should built 106 temples in abroad so that all the 106 Emberumans will

come out of India.” This opinion was expressed in this same forum some time back

and I was not sure whether to laugh or cry for such statements.)

Whatever we do in abroad is to constantly remind us about the glorious roots we

are having in India. Actually some time back Sri Mani Varadarajan has expressed

a wonderful idea that whatever we do here in abroad, we should also make an

equal contribution to our Divyadesams in India. Therefore the temples here in

abroad are all meant to remind our culture and a place for community activities.

For example in our Pomona Temple we celebrated Sri Ramanuja Jayanthi. It was

jointly sponsored by Sri Ramanuja Mission, Sri Ahobila Mutt, SriRangam Srimadh

Andavan Ashramam and others. On that day members of the Ramanuja Mission came

with a Vigraha of Swami Ramanuja and we did a Thirumanjanam and a seva kalam at

the basement of the temple. I know for a fact even in India temples are allowed

to use a place for community activities. I have seen even places like Sri

Parthasarathy Temple where in the front mandapam (called Thiruvaimozhi

Mandapam) we can perform marriages etc. But there is a d

ifference. If I want to bring a Vigraha from my home and want to do a

Thirumanjanam and seva kalam no one would ever allow me. Where as here we allow

such things because we consider them as community activities. Coming back to the

point, for the same reason people would like to recite both Sri Desikan

Thaniyan, Vazhithirunamam and Sri Mamunigal’s Thaniyan and Vazhithirunamam.

There should be a sampradhayam for the temple and at the same time there is

nothing wrong in accommodating others as we are already doing it. Please do not

compare the Indian scenario with that of abroad. Here even in temples we cook

with Aluminum vessels in electricity. We give napkins to people before the

prasadams were served. It is obvious because of the circumstances we are doing

many things here in abroad which are completely unacceptable in India. Therefore

let us not try to follow our roots very selectively. Please tell me if I am

wrong. Someone drives down all the way from a place nearly 350 mil

es away to a Temple. What is wrong in allowing them to recite their Acharya

Thaniyans or Vazhithirunamam? Let me not put big words such as unification of

the sampradayam etc, but in my view it is just a human consideration for other

person’s feelings and sentiments. And by reciting an Acharya Thaniyan no one is

going to change the Temple’s sampradayam. And by saying please allow others to

recite their Acharaya's Thaniyans does not mean I am not advocating an

amalgamation process of sampradayams. It is accommodating others feelings and

sentiments. My question is very simple. Should we fight on a very trivial thing

over in a foreign country?

3. As you know well, neither Swami Desikan nor Swami Manavalamamunigal were

responsible for our present day’s problem. It just us, and our erroneous

thinking and judgments are responsible for the present turmoil.

 

With respect as always,

RamanujaDasan Kannan

 

 

 

 

 

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SrI:

SrI Lakshminrusimha ParabramhanE namaH

SrI nArAyaNa yateendra mahAdESikAya namaH

 

namO nArAyaNa!

 

Dear SrI KaNNan,

 

Thanks for sharing your feelings on this issue. aDiyEn

would like to answer your questions and clarify certain

things about my previous statements. Kindly go through

them. Thanks.

 

--------------

aDiyEn wrote :

" SwAmi DESikan is in the kAlakshEpa Guruparampara for Thenkalais.

Hence, it is natural that VAzhi thirunAmam for SwAmi DESikan be

recited by them as their PUrvAchArya. For certain reasons, the

practice may not exist for them. Thats fine. aDiyEn is also not

against those thenkalais who don't recite the vAzhi thirunAmam of

SwAmi DESikan. They afterall follow their custom set by their

elders, and there is no need to interfere in it. But, either

SrI PiLLai-LOkAchArya Or SrI MAmunigaL, are not in even the

kAlakshEpa Guruparampara for VaDakalais. Hence, there is no need

for VaDakalais (as per the practice) to recite the vAzhi

thirunAmams of such AchAryas. "

---------------------------

 

SrI KaNNan wrote :

> Swamin, may I extend the same logic for Sri Sannidhi Sishyas also?

> Because, as far as the Sri Ahobila Mutt is concerned, Swami Desikan

> is not in their " Orann Guruparamparai. " Though adiyen daily recite

> all the Acharya Thaniyans of Sri Ahobila Mutt I have never seen

> either SriMan Venkatanatharya or Ramanuja Dayapatram in any books.

 

SwAmi DESikan is not in the SamASrayaNa Guru-Parampara of

SrI Ahobila Muth. But, SwAmi DESikan is very much in the

kAlakshEpa parampara of all the four granthas. Furthermore,

SrI Ahobila Muth lineage completly accepts the teachings of

SwAmi DESikan. Due to the unparalleled greatness of SwAmi DESikan,

all the VaDakalai SrI VaishNavas recite swAmi's vAzhi thirunAmam

during the SATTRumuRai. Please go through what aDiyEn had

written. aDiyEn is not against anyone reciting the vAzhi

thirunAmam of a kAlakshEpa AchArya.

 

The taniyans printed exclusively as a set/group for daily

recitation by SrI Sannidhi sishyAs is that of " SamASrayaNa

Guruparampara " of SrI Ahobila Muth. Hence, in that " set of

taniyans " , SwAmi DESikan's taniyan will not find its place.

That was meant for the dhyAna of SamASrayaNa Lineage. In many

other circumstances, SrI Sannidhi sishyAs ofcourse recite

the taniyans,vAzhi thirunAmams of SwAmi DESikan as you know.

Kindly see that difference and also please refer to aDiyEn's

reply to SrI Malolan.

 

> If you see after Swami Bhashyakarar Sri Ahobila Mutt and

> Thennacharya sampradhayam are highly identical up to

> Sri Periyavachchan Pillai. Then it splits into two.

 

SrI Peria-AcchAn PiLLai is a kAlakshEpa sishya of SrI NampiLLai.

SrI Peria-AcchAn PiLLai is not in either the SamASrayaNa Or

KAlakshEpa Parampara for SrI Ahobila Muth (Kindly refer to the

other posting). The SamASrayaNa lineage splits from

SrI VaDakku-Thiruveedi PiLLai. By the way, in the set of

tanians you referred to for daily recitation, SrI PVP's

tanian won't be there, since he is not in the SamASrayaNa

parampara (just like SwAmi DESikan).

 

>But Swami Desikan is in neither of the sampradhayams. Therefore

> will you advise us to not recite Swami Desikan thaniyan or Vazhi

> Thirunamam?

 

aDiyEn does not understand your argument. But, it has already

been answered above.

 

>(On a side note I would like to ask another question here which

> Guruparamparai is authentic? After Swami Emberumanar who was the

> Sampradhaya Pravarthakar? Is it Embar or Thirukurugai Piran

> Pillan?

 

Please note that all the 74 simhAsanAdipathis

were instructed to carry out SamASrayaNam. All of their sishyas

(be it thenkalai or VaDakalai at present) are SrI-VaishNavas

with their SamASrayaNa guruparampara passing through

Bhagavad RAmAnuja - ie. their SamASrayaNa Guru-parampara is

authentic. The split due to some philosophical aspects arose

mainly from the writings of SrI PiLLai-LOkAchArya (and

SrI Azhagiya-ManavALa PerumAL NAyanAr, his brother) which

came to represent the thenkalai point of views and

SwAmi DESikan - the VaDakalai point of view.

 

SrI PiLLAn was the jn~Ana-putra of Bhagavad RAmAnuja and

the Ubhaya-VEdAnta SimhAsanAdhipati. This only shows the

greatness of SrI PiLLAn's philosophical understanding of

various intricacies of Ubhaya-VEdAnta. Similarly,

SrI KiDAmbi AcchAn was expert in Ubhaya-VEdAnta, but was

" great " expert in " Rahasya " vishayAs. SrI NaDAdUr AzhwAn, the

grandfather of SrI NaDAdUr AmmAL was also honoured by

Bhagavad RAmAnuja as " SrI-BhAshya SimhAsanAdipati " . The

kAlakshEpa Parampara (in understanding Ubhaya-VEdAnta) of

SrI Ahobila Muth is through SwAmi DESikan and hence through

PiLLAn.

 

>According Sri Yathiraja Vaibhavam written by Sri Vaduga

> Nambigal (who is a direct disciple of Swami Bhashyakarar)

> Thirukuragai Piran Pillan was blessed as the Ubhaya Vedanta

> Simhasanadhipathi and Nadadhur Azhwan as the Sri Bhashya

> Simhasanadhipathi by none other than Swami Emberumanar himself.

>(Ironically this book was published by Sri Puththur Sudharsanam

>swami). Therefore Thirukurugai Piran Pillan was the Darsana

>Pravarthagar after Swami Emberuamanar according to Yathiraja

>Vaibhavam, which was written by a direct disciple who actually

>witnessed almost all the events of the later days of Swami

>Emberumanar.) Therefore Swami Desikan is only in the Kalakshepa

>paramparai of Sri Ahobila Mutt sampradayam as well as in

>Thennacharya sampradayam.

 

>Just because one Acharya is not there in our Guruparampara, that we

> should not recite their vazhi thirunamam or their thaniyansis

> therefore is not a valid arguement.

 

Anyway, thats how the knowledgable elders have kept the

tradition. SrI Dileepan has already answered this part.

 

There is nothing wrong in reciting the tanian of an AchArya,

whose teachings you completly agree with. One may also recite

the tanian of an AchArya, whose teachings you don't agree with

completly Or to be specific, different from SwAmi DESikan's

teachings - for reasons best known to the individual, probably

in some circumstances, due to the highlighting feature of that

AchArya etc. By the way, knowledge on the meanings of

tanian / vAzhi thirunAmam is also a good thing to be acquired.

aDiyEn only said about the vAzhi thirunAmam etc

durinmg the SATTRumuRai / the tradition set by PUrvAchAryas

(ie. " No need " to stipulate any new changes for a particular

individual).

 

> And Sri Mamunigal is a direct disciple of Sri Adhivan Satagopan.

> " Yateendra Pravana Prabhavam " which is supposed to be an authentic

> work on the life history to Sri Manavala Mamunigal (written by

> Sri Pillailokam Jeer) narrates how Sri Mamunigal took sanyashramam

> from Swami Adhivan Satagopan. So, what is wrong if we recite

> Sri Mamunigal's thaniyan, after all he belongs to Sri Sannidhi.

 

Kindly note that SrI MAmunigaL is not a sannidhi sishya, as

we normally use. Only the SamASrayaNa sishyAs are the sannidhi

sishyAs. KAshAyam for SannyAsa Aashrama sweekAram can be

obtained from any great SannyAsi - needn't be of one's

SamASrayaNa lineage {esp when one's SamASrayaNa AchArya

is a gruhastha}. SrI MAmunigaL didn't have SamASrayaNam under

SrI AthivaN SaThakopa JIyar ; Neither did Sri MAmunigaL

follow all the teachings of SrI AthivaN-SaThakopa JIyar, the

exponent of SwAmi DESikan's writings ; SrI MAmunigaL

was exponent of SrI PiLLai-LokAchArya's writings. This relation

between the two sampradhAyams is good to think about and

it does not mean that SrI MAmunigaL accepted SrI AthivaN SaThakopa

JIyar as his AchArya in understanding Philosophy etc.

 

> Let me not put big words such as unification of the sampradayam

> etc, but in my view it is just a human consideration for other

> person’s feelings and sentiments. And by reciting an Acharya

> Thaniyan no one is going to change the Temple’s sampradayam.

> And by saying please allow others to recite their Acharaya's

> Thaniyans does not mean I am not advocating an amalgamation

> process of sampradayams. It is accommodating others feelings and

> sentiments. My question is very simple. Should we fight on a very

> trivial thing over in a foreign country?

 

Your points are well taken. aDiyEn never wrote that an individual

should not be allowed to recite his AchArya tanian in a temple

like SrI Ranganatha Temple at Pomona etc. Just made a point that

we need not introduce changes in such traditional set-up. Probably

you wanted to share your heart-felt feelings as a side note. To

aDiyEn's knowledge, such recitation of tanians has been allowed at

that Temple {You will be knowing much more about this}.

 

By the way, aDiyEn does not know about any fights on this

issue in US {probably at temple etc}.

 

aDiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan,

anantapadmanAbhan alias Anand.

[Guest guest]

Dear Sri Anand:

 

Thanks for taking time to share your thoughts on my views.

 

 

Sri Anand wrote:

>SwAmi DESikan is not in the SamASrayaNa Guru-Parampara of

>SrI Ahobila Muth. But, SwAmi DESikan is very much in the kAlakshEpa >parampara

of all the four granthas.

 

Please read my following lines from my previous posting.

> Because, as far as the Sri Ahobila Mutt is concerned, Swami Desikan

>is not in their " Orann Guruparamparai. "

 

When I said " Orann Guruparamparai " I meant the Samasrayana Paramparai. Though

Swami Bhashyakarar is considered as Pancha Padhacharyar, when we recite our

daily Acharya Thaniyans we recite only Periya Nambigals Thaniyan as he is the

one who did the Pancha Samskaram to Sri Ilayazhwar. Your points on Swami Desikan

on Kalakshepa paramparai are well taken.

 

 

The SamASrayaNa lineage splits from SrI VaDakku-Thiruveedi PiLLai.

 

Yes. Please accept my apologies for the wrong information. I was wrong when I

said Periavachchan Pillai instead of SrI VaDakku-Thiruveedi PiLLai.

 

I would like to say the following words to conclude.

There are two sets of people in any religion. One is the scholarly set (like

you) and another one is a layman like me. (No Naichchyanusandhanam or modesty

intended here. It is just a statement of fact.)

When you say there is no need for Desika Sampradayam people to recite Sri

Manavala Mamunigals' thaniyan, for you it is a scholarly opinion. But when comes

to kalakshepams you may even profoundly quote from Mamunigal's commentaries on

various granthams of Pillai Lokacharya. I have heard many times Srimadh

Azhgiyasingar quoting from Acharya Hrudhayam and SriVachana Bhushanam and

other granthams that are not acceptable for Desika Sampradayam (as Sampradaya

granthams). Therefore as scholars you don’t have any hatred feelings for these

Acharyas. You may have scholarly difference of opinions but there is no question

of disrespect or hatred for other Achryas. But when it comes to a layman like

me, since I cannot appreciate such scholarly point of views, I will take only

the trivial points such as " Let us not recite Mamunigal's Thaniyan. " Then I will

start showing my disrespect and hatred towards the other Acharya, and I also

tend to think by showing disrespect to others is actually

in a way showing respect to my own Acharya. And I am sure no Acharyan will ever

taught us to be disrespectful to another Acharyan. But in reality that is what

happening. A glaring example is in Sri Parthasarathy Swami temple. ( I am sorry

I cannot live without quoting Sri Parthasarathy Temple, because of my 25 years

of Vaasam in that Divyadesam)

There in Sri Parthasarathy temple, Sri Desikan will receive all the honors and

Arulappadu only after Sri Mamunigal. For me this would be totally unacceptable

even to Sri Mamunigal. I used to tell my friends in the temple, " Therefore

according to Sri Parthasarathy Temple's Thennachraya sampradayam, the

Saramacharyan is not Sri Mamunigal. It is actually Swami Desikan, since he is

the one who receives the last Arulappadu. " In my view this is nothing but show

of hatred towards Swami Desikan. This attitude is pathetic. It is very

self-defeating. No one could have ever done more to this Sampradayam than Swami

Desikan. And I am sure even the scholars of Thennacharya Sampradayam would

appreciate that. But when boils down to a layman like me, since I cannot

appreciate such scholarly point of views, I start indulging in street fights.

You will definitely agree we should neither be disrespectful nor show any hatred

towards any of our Acharyas either we agree on their point of views or n

ot. It was wonderful to hear when the entire Ghoshti jointly (which included lot

of Thennacharya sampradayam persons) recited Swami Desikan Vazhithirunamam at

the grand Satrumarai of Sri Ranganatha Temple, Pomona. When we started reciting

Sri Sannidhi satrumarai many Thennacharya sampradayam people were looking for a

book to join us. I really hope this continues at least here in this temple.

And in this spirit only I said " there is nothing wrong in reciting Sri

Mamunigal's thaniyan. Again when a scholar like you say something many of us

really take them with lot of respect and consideration. Therefore I request you

to kindly guide us through a path of understanding and accommodating other Sri

Vaishnavas. Again I am not an advocate of amalgamation of the Sampradayam (which

may add more confusions), but just being respectful to others sentiments for

their Acharyas.

Thanks again,

RamanujaDasan Kannan

 

 

 

 

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