SrI UtthamUr SwAmi's Thirunakshatram Celebrations

[Guest guest]

SrI:

SrI PadmAvati SamEta SrInivAsa ParabramhaNE namaH

SrI abhinava dESika UttamUr VIrarAghavArya mahAdESikAya namaH

 

namO nArAyaNa!

 

Dear devotees,

 

The Thirunakshatram celebrations of " abhinava dESika " -

SrI UtthamUr VIrarAghavAchArya went on very well

for 10 days (26th Jan to 4th Feb 2002) as organized by

SrI Uttamur Viraraghavachariar Centenary Trust. The GIta

BhAshya Sadas, UpanyAsams by eminent vidvAns,

VEda-Divya Prabandha PArAyanam and endownment lecture

(Deptartment of VaishNavism) by SrI SrIvatsA~nkAchArya (*)

at University of Madras were the main highlights.

 

(*) SrI NS RAmAnuja TAtAchArya was the original speaker;

But couldn't attend due to ill-health.

 

As a part of the function at the University of Madras, Certificates

and Cash Awards (Rs.1000/-) were distributed to students of

SrI VaishNava sampradAya (selected after recommendations from

various pATasAlas) excelling in NyAya, MImAmsa, VyAkarana,

ViSishTAdvaita VEdAnta, Sanskrit SAhitya, VEda adhyayanam,

Divya Prabandha and DESika Prabandha adhyayanam and DESika Stotra

adhyayanam. A special cash award (Rs.1000/-) and certificate was

issued for those Ph.D.candidates who register the thesis topic on

any of the works by SrI UtthamUr SwAmi. After the completion of

their Ph.D., the Trust shall award Rs.4000/- for such students.

These activities for the encouragement of students excelling in

various fields are being carried out by the Trust for the past few

years.

 

In order to encourage and honour young, talented

upanyAsakas, the Trust conferred the title

" abhinavIya Pravachana MaNiH " and cash award of Rs.1000/- to

SrI U.Ve. Mukundagiri V Ananthapadmanaban, the current

Sub-Editor of SrI Nrusimha PriyA.

 

All the awards were sponsored by various abhimAnis of

SrI UtthamUr SwAmi.

 

All the awardees were presented with a Gold-Plated Silver

Medallion enshrined with the image of SrI UtthamUr SwAmi,

sponsored by GR Tahngamaligai {Jewellers},T Nagar.

 

SrI SrIvatsA~nkAchArya SwAmi, a premier sishya of SrI UtthamUr

SwAmi was honoured by the Trust for being one among the

prestigious President's Award Winner for scholarship in Sanskrit,

for this year. Incidentally, the first recipient of this

award soon after it was instituted by the Govt.of India in

1960 was none other than SrI UtthamUr SwAmi.

 

The following books were re-printed and released on the eve

of the thirunakshatram celebrations :

 

1. ThiruvAimozhi (5,6,7 patthu in one book) :

The stock got over; Other patthus are available

from 100 to 200 copies as minimal. Hence, for balancing the

deficit and to complete the availability of ThiruvAimozhi set,

this was re-printed alongwith a short one page Introduction

by SrI PayyampADi VE~nkaTavaradAchArya.

 

2. Bhagavad-GIta - Tamil Commentary by UtthamUr SwAmi

{Sponsored by SrI Madhavakannan and SrI Achutaraman}.

The additional features in the re-print are

 

(i) A four page life-sketch of SrI UtthamUr SwAmi in English

by aDiyEn.

 

(ii) One page Introduction by SrI PayyampADi VE~nkaTavaradAchArya.

 

(iii) Enlisting of some of the Awards and Titles of SrI UtthamUr

SwAmi at the back cover.

 

3. Upanishad-SAram - Tamil treatise by SrI UtthamUr SwAmi on

the salient teachings of various authoritative Upanishads.

Sponsorship : Devotees from Bahrain.

 

4. SrI-BhAshya SAram - Tamil treatise by SrI UtthamUr SwAmi.

Its for the first two adhyAyas.

 

This year is also special in some of the following ways, apart from

the 105th thirunakshatram of SrI UtthamUr SwAmi :

 

* 120th (60+60) Thirunakshatram of SrI KozhiyAlam SwAmi

 

* 70th Thirunakshatram of SrI PayyampADi VE~nkaTavaradAchArya swAmi

(Successor of UtthamUr SwAmi)

 

More books have been planned to be re-printed on the

eve of the above two forthcoming celebrations and also

on the next thirunakshatram of SrI UtthamUr Swami. The

work in progress are for the following :

 

1. BhEda-SAmrAjyam : KOzhiyAlam SwAmi's scholarly work on

ViSishTAdvaita.

 

2. Parapaksha-NirAkruti : KOzhiyAlam SwAmi's polemic work

against advaita. Mainly aanandamaya-adhikaraNam is the topic

of discussion - a very highly regarded work.

 

3. VaikhAnasa Vijayam - Short Skt work by UtthamUr SwAmi, on

VaikhAnasa Aagama.

 

4. NayadyumaNi bhUmika by UtthamUr SwAmi.

 

5. Bhagavad GIta with GIta BhAshyam, TAtparya Chandrika and

SrI UtthamUr SwAmi's TippaNi and detailed Introduction.

 

6. Tamil Trans of Bhagavad GIta BhUmika by SrI UtthamUr SwAmi

{everything in the tAtparya-chandrika edition prior to the

starting of the actual GIta} by SrI SrIvatsA~nkAchArya.

It is not a verbatim translation, but brings out the

author's message.

 

7. BhAvaprakASika edn by SrI UtthamUr SwAmi.

 

 

Acknowledgement : Though aDiyEn is not a member of the Executive

committee of the Trust, aDiyEn thanks them for kindly approving

all of my suggestions and plans especially for the Books

Publication Scheme.

 

President SrI K.G.Krishnan (aDiyEn's father) and

Secretary SrI U.Ve. T.V.Rajagopalan {SrI UtthamUr SwAmi's son}

needs special mention for their efforts in making the

celebration a grand success.

 

aDiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan,

Anand.

[Guest guest]

SrI:

namO nArAyaNa!

 

Dear devotees,

 

aDiyEn is appending the kind response from

SrI Muralidhar Rangaswamy, who is well known

for his kai~nkaryam for " PAdukA Sahasram " .

His anubhavams from his heart are great to read.

 

aDiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan,

anantapadmanAbhan alias Anand.

 

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

Sri:

 

SrimatE Gopaladesika MahadesikAya Namaha,

 

Dear Sriman Anand Swamin,

 

Adiyen is delighted to hear that the celebration of Sri Uttamoor

Swami's 105th TN took place in a grand manner. Adiyen completely

concurs with your sentiments about Sriman Madhavakkannan Swamin's

superb Kaimkaryam for Srivaishnavas across the globe. Adiyen cannot

find enough superlatives to describe the Mahopakaram of Sri Uttamoor

Swami to Srivaishnavas interested in learning more about the

sampradayam.

 

The commentary on Padhuka Sahasram alone is worth its weight in gold.

With the passage of time, a number of verses from this majestic

Mahakavyam of Swami Desikan came to be distorted. However, Sri

Uttamoor Swami applied the principles of Tarka, nyaya, and vyakaraNa

to fix the errors and restore the work to its pristine majesty as

composed by Swami Desikan. As adiyen reads Sri Swami's commentary

each day, invariably adiyen comes away with a peach of a thought, a

gem of insight, or a capsule of profound wisdom. Adiyen is forever

grateful to Sri Swami's commentary for enriching, elevating,

ennobling, and edifying his life.

 

Namo Narayana,

 

SriMuralidhara Dasan