abhinava dESika - SrI UttamUr Swamy Divya Charitham- 11

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SrI:

Sri Padmavathi Sametha Srinivasa Parabrahmane Namaha.

Sri Perundhevi Sametha Devadhiraja Parabrahmane Namaha.

SrimathE Bhagavad Ramanujaya Namaha:

SrimathE Nigamantha Mahadesikaya namaha:

Srimate Rangaramanuja Maha Desikaya Namaha.

Srimate Abhinava Desika Vatsya Satchakravarti Uttamur SRI

VIRARAGHAVARYA MAHA DESIKAYA NAMAHA

 

SrImAn venkatanAthAryaH kavitArkika kesarI |

vedAntAcArya-varyome sannidhattAm sadA hRdi ||

 

Thanian (Invocatory verse on Sri UttamUr swamy written by

Swamy's AchAryan Sri Kozhiyalam Swamy himself)

 

adbhutam yasya vikrAntam vEda vIthI ViSOdhanE |

aparam nigamAntAryam prapadyE vIrarAghavam ||

 

Let us continue with the divya charitham of Sri UttamUr Swamy.

 

[Article in Tamil by SrI PayyampADi VEnkatavaradAchArya SwAmi; English write

up (based on Tamil) by SrI R.VenkatAchAri (SohattUr- Vankipuram -Oppiliappan

Sannidhi), a disciple of SrI UtthamUr SwAmi. Appeared in the souvenir

released during the SatAbhishEkam (80th birth anniversary) of SrI UtthamUr

swAmi on 10th Feb, 1977]

 

THE POET:

 

In between his duties as a Professor in the college, whenever he had

time, Our Swami was devoting the spare hours to writing a KAVYAM

called VENKATESA KALYANA CHARITAM. Even while staying in

Madurantakam, as a student, Our Swami had a taste for writing poems.

He wrote a Stotra Grantha called JANAKI SATAKAM on Janakavalli Thayar

and also two chapters as a “Kalpana Kavyam. The then Supervisor of

the Patasala, Sriman R.V.Krishnamachariar Swami, very much appreciated

 

Our Swami’s Poetic Genius. Normally, as a habit, Our Swami used to go on

composing Poems but never used to go on composing Poems but never used to

preserve them. As a student at Tiruvaiyaru, he had to study two Shastras at

the same time and he never had much spare time for his

“Poem-writing-Avocation” and hobby. He used to write Poems during holidays

with avidity, mostly of his family deity. Lord

Tiruvengadamudaiyan. As he wrote his Final Siromani Examination,

after worship at Lord Aravamudhan Sannidhi, at Kumbakonam in which he

passed as Presidency First, he wanted to show his gratitude to Sri

Komalavalli Thayar for Her blessings. He then wrote a Stotra called

KOMALAVALLI PANCHASAT. Manuscripts of may of the poems are not

available now but they served the purpose alright as thanks-giving to

the various deities on whom the poems were composed at appropriate

times. What remained today, from the lots of Poems written at his

early age are the Poems written on Lord Tiruvengadamudaiyan and the

Tayar at Tiruchanur etc. Most of these poems were published by

Devasthanam by its Director Sri Krishamachariar Swami, in the book

called VENKATESA KAVYA KALAPA, and hence saved from misplacement and

loss of manuscripts. Our Swami’s talent as an Outstanding POET can be very

easily appreciated if one goes throught the various Verses at the Opening

and Closing of chapters of all his granthas and also in the middle, whenever

the need arises to make some points easily

remembered.

 

His book will be abundant with such Poems in various

VRITTAS and as Karikas in Anushtup. Especially, in his mammoth

publication, PARAMAARTHA BHOOSHANAM (which, we are told, is used a text book

in Beijing University for advanced study of Vedanta) and

PARAMARTHA PRAKASIKA, we can find many Slokas pregnant with meaning

and if all of them are gathered and published in a book form, it will

itself become a big grantha worth preserving. Even during ordinary

correspondence to his scholar-friends and to his father also, Our

Swami used to write only a poem form. Once at Pudagraham, he was

asked by his Revered Acharya to send a message to Sri U.Ve.

Srinvatsangacharya, asking him to come over to Pudagraharam at once.

Our Swami wrote a poem conveying the message. When Sri

U.Ve.Srivatsangacharya came to Pudagraharam he said that the poem was

so good that he could not have stayed back without coming as he wanted to

come in person to congratulate Our Swami and to share his pleasure of

reading the poem, with others at Pudagraharam. Our Swami’s Revered Acharya,

after going through the Poems on Lord Tiruvengadamudayan praised saying that

the poems are just in the style of ancient Acharyas and will be a good treat

for those who want to read a good poem. In one such similar mood, Our Swami

started writing a Full Kavyam on Lord of the Seven Hills and about four

chapters were completed starting from the Avatara of Tayar at Tiruchuganur,

her joining Lord Tiruvengadamudayan and His marriage to Princess Padmavathi

Devi. (This was also published later). But another important work came in

between which prevented Our Swami from devoting any time for writing more on

this subject and the work was temporarily suspended; (but Alas! Was never

taken up for completion). This important work that interfered was the

command of his Revered Acharya to write a Kandana Grantha for the book

called ADVAITHAMODA written by one Vasudeva Abhyankara Sarma, a famous

pandit from Poona, at that time. He was the same person who printed and

published our SRI BHASHYA with Pramana Akaram from Poona earlier. This

book

Advaitahamoda was a kandanam for the Advaita mata criticism in JIGNASA

ADHIKARANAM of Sri Bhashyam. The above book was brought to

Kanchipuram by one Sir Dikshitaji, the Head of the Sri Vallabhacharya

Sampradaya, and handed over to Sri Koliyalam Swami with a request that if

anybody could come forward to write a Kandana grantha for the book

Advaithamoda, he would bear the entire cost.

 

The same day, in the evening, Our Swami accidentally came to Kanchipuram

from Tirupati to pay his homage to his Revered Acharya and Sri Koliyalam

Swami handed over the book to Our Swami and explained to him how he came to

have the book. He then ordered Our Swami to undertake the work as he felt

that the coincidence of Our Swami’s arrival on the same day as the book

shows that it is the wish of Lord Varadaraja Perumal that only Our Swami

should do the work. Eventhough Our Swami was at that time busy with the

printing and publishing his book, the Commentary on Nyaya Kusumanjali, Our

Swami wrote the Kandana Grantha called PARAMARTHA PRAKASIKA, in reply to the

kandanam found in Advaithamodam, within two months, at Tirupathi. Our Swami

was waiting for the arrival of his Revered Acharya to Tirupati, to show his

completed book.

 

In the meanwhile, Our Swami casually discussed certain topics

in the book, Paramartha Prakasika, with a Goshtipuram Swami, and he

congratulated him for the quick work done. Later on when Sri Koliyalam

Swami was going through the book after arrival at Tirupathi, Sri Goshtipuram

Swami also came there accidentally. Sri Koliyalam Swami mentioned to him

about this book and remarked that Our Swami had written a Kandanam not only

for the book Advaithamodam but also for other books on the same subject. He

opined that though the objections are all answered very well, the book is

very concise and short probably because, Our Swami had in his mind the cost

that may be required for a detailed grantha. The reply which Sri

Goshtipuram Swami gave to the above remark was as follows, it seems: “The

book written by Sri Viraraghavacharya wami will not contain even one

unnecessary word; only a person who goes through the book at leisure can

appreciate this. You will remember that when the request came from

Annamalai Viswa Vidyalaya,, for scrutinising the book

NYAYAKULISAM of Sri Appullar, we finished only two arguments on the

subject when both of us had to part company on Sancharam from Perumal

Koil. We entrusted the further work on the book only to Sri

Viraraghavacharya. You also can remember that Sri Viraraghavacharya

codified the chapters and also suggested portions to be added to the

original; and he finished the work we entrusted to him in a very

worthy and creditable manner. The suggestions given by him on the

missing portions were very satisfactory and clearly showed his

genius. I had already, on a previous occasion, noted his genius, when I

came across how he corrected one or two mistakes in the text of Sri Desika’s

Isavasyopanishad Prakasika. Thus, it is fit for publication at once”.

This conversation was narrated to Our Swami by Koliyalam Swami himself at a

later date). Later on with the financial help from Sri Dikshitji of Bombay

the book was printed and published at Bombay and the book was very well

received by all in the North.

 

Side by side the work on the book NYAYA KUSUMANJALI, with the

commentary, was also published and was well received by the college

authorities, teaches, and students, as this book helped the students

to pass the Siromani examination without any more difficulty. It

seems that after going through this book, Sri U.Ve. Asoori Peria

Ramanujachariar Swami, the famous scholar from Sriperumbudur college

remarked that the author of this book should have had the intuition

from Lord Hayagriva and certainly he is not an ordinary one like us all.

 

Sri Koliyalam Swami also remarked that this book alone is quite

sufficient to fetch full fame to his Sishya, Our Swami. He also

opined that the style and language used in the commentary are so

unique and good that the most tough portions are explained in a very

easy and understandable manner even by a dull student; and that this

shows the genius of the author.

To be continued…

AchAryan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Regards

Namo Narayana

aDiyEn

 

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