abhinava dEsika- Sri UttamUr Swamy Divya Charitham- 2

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SrI:

Sri Padmavathi Sametha Srinivasa Parabrahmane Namaha.

Sri Perundhevi Sametha Devadhiraja Parabrahmane Namaha.

Sri Bhagavad Ramanujaya Namaha.

Srimate Rangaramanuja Maha Desikaya Namaha.

Srimate Abhinava Desika Vatsya Satchakravarti Uttamur SRI VEERARAGHAVARYA

MAHA DESIKAYA NAMAHA

 

Thanian (Invocatory verse on Sri UttamUr swamy written by Swamy's AchAryan

Sri Kozhiyalam Swamy himself)

 

adbhutham-yasya-vikrAntham vEda-vIthi-viSOdanE |

aparam-nigamAnthAryam prapadyE vIrarAghavam ||

 

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

Article in Tamil by SrI PayyampADi VEnkatavaradAchArya SwAmi ; English

Translation 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

 

Swamy's ANCESTORS:

 

Our Swami's ancestors were the hereditary owners of the villages,

Uttamanallur (Uttamur) and Tirumalpuram (Timmavaram). Our Swami's

Great grandfather, Sri U.Ve.Krishnamacharya Swami was well known in those

days. It seems that he used to perform Nityakarmanushtana and Abhigamana

Aradhana to his family Deity and only after obtaining permission from the

Deity he used to go to the villagers to redress their grievances. The

British government knowing his greatness, appointed him to administer

justice to the villagers belonging to ten villages around him. He was

generous, kind, learned, wealthy and at the same time a very strict follower

of Sri Desika Sampradaya, observing to the maximum, the AchAra and

Anushtana. So he commanded the greatest regard from one and all. Once when

he was going on horseback to Chingleput, he was met by the Collect, a

Britisher, who was also coming on horseback. The Collect was very hungry

and he jokingly said to Our Swami's great grandfather to produce food for

him. Swamy had the bundle on his shoulder and from it gave him Curd-Rice and

pickles, and the collect was very much pleased and praised him.

 

Sri Krishnamacharya's eldest son was Sri.U.Ve.Varadacharya, our Swami's

Grandfather and his grandmother's name was Perundevi. Sri

Varadacharya was also very strict in observing Acharya and Anushtana, but

was not very much interested in either Agriculture or other worldly matters

like his father. He spent most of his time in worship and in pursuit of

knowledge in the company of Bhavagatas. Sri Varadacharya had four sons and

the eldest, Sri U.Ve. Chakravartiachar was the father of Our Swami. Like

his grand father, Our Swami's father was also well versed in Agriculture and

in the various administrative work of the village and took an active part

along with his grandfather.

 

It is authentically told that once when his grandfather went to a village

near Pondicherry for attending a marriage of one of his relatives, he took

his grandson also with him. On the way, the grandson saw a cat crossing the

path and when he brought this to the notice of his grandfather, the

grandfather jokingly told him that " All is well. Who knows, you may also be

married like your relative at the

marriage pandal! " ? it so happened that the marriage of the gold could not

be proceeded with (fir some unexpected reason) the bridegroom already

selected. All the relatives, of course, with the consent of the

grandfather gave the girl in marriage to the grandson, Our Swami's father.

 

His name was Srinivasaraghavacharya and the bride's name was Alarmelmangai.

What a rare coincidence! All the elders present blessed the couple saying

that " Sri Mahalakshmi: herself has come to the family, voluntarily. The

blessings of the elders were not wasted and the couple, our Swami's father

and mother, lived a very happy life.

 

Our Swami's father Sri Chakravarthiachar Swami was well-versed in Sahitya

and Shastra granthas and spent his spare time teaching to

his disciples in the village. He was also very proficient in English and

Tamil and in spite of that, preferred to stay in the village, so as to

enable him to lead the life without sacrificing his Anushtana. He was known

to be an adept in making the toughest granthas, easily understandable, even

by the dull disciple. He was utilizing his knowledge in English in managing

the village affiars very efficiently and to look after his lands properly.

His wife, Our Swami's mother was also equally religious and gave her

unstinted support to her husband in all his activities and thus provided an

ideal atmosphere FOR THE BIRTH OF A GREAT ACHARYA. (Once, as the authentic

story goes, that when there was a fire accident in our Swami's parents'

house, our Swami's mother ran into the house, without minding her personal

safety, and retrieved the family KoyilAzhwAr out of the house from fire, to

a safe place. Such is the devotion of Our Swami's mother to her family

deity. It is no wonder that the Saligramam, which is to be worshipped by no

less than the Abhinava Desika, was preserved and handed down to our Swami by

such illustrious fore-fathers).

 

We will enjoy the greatness of Swamy's BIRTH in the next post.

 

SRIMATE VIRARAGHAVARYA MAHA DESIKAYA NAMAHA

SRIMATE RANGARAMANUJA MAHA DESIKAYA NAMAHA

SRI BHOOMI DEVI SAMETA SRINIVASA PRARABRAHMANE NAMAHA

AchAryan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Regards

Namo Narayana

adiyEn dAsan

 

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