Thuppul PiLLai- 26- Swamy attains AchAryan ThiruvaDi!

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SrI:

SrImathE Nigamantha Mahadesikaya namah:

SrImAn venkatanAthAryaH kavitArkika kesarI |

vedAntAcArya-varyo me sannidhattAm sadA hRdi ||

 

May the glorious Venkatanatha, the greatest of teachers of Vedanta, and the

lion among poets and debaters, reside forever in my heart.

 

Dearest Srivaishnavas,

 

Lord Devanatha is taken during festivals to several places in the outskirts

of Thiruvaheendrapuram for the worship of people living there. Sri Vedanta

Desika used to go occasionally to such places sanctified by the Lord as

though on pilgrimage. Once it so happened that he used to stay in one of

those places at night. As usual he worshipped his ArAdhana deity Lord

Hayagriva whom he always used to yELLa pannufy [carry] with him. The worship

was conducted at night and by chance there was nothing with him that he

could offer as NivEdana. With a sad heart he went to take rest.

 

At mid night, he was awakened by the farmer of the village and reported that

a milk white horse, which was new to their village- never seen before- was

grazing the green corps of the field and it must belong to the new comer-

i.e. Swamy Desikan. Swamy Desikan smiled and congratulated the farmer that

he has been blessed by Lord Hayagriva by setting foot on his fields. The

next morning the farmer was glad to see that the corps were fresh and green.

He fell at the feet of Swamy for having brought the Lord’s blessing to him

so unexpectedly.

 

Sri Vedantha Desika is popularly known as the author of treatise on house

building, silpa saasthra. But such a manuscript is not available now. At the

same tradition records that there is a well constructed by Swamy at

Thiruvaheendrapuram which exists even today and Lord Devanathan is taken

every year on a particular day to that place.

 

The well was constructed by Swamy Desikan in all perfection even though the

materials used were not up to the mark. The bricks were ill formed and clay

mixed with some kind of salt was the joining material since there was no

cement those days. A pilgrim to Thiruvaheendrapuram always goes to that

well and uses a handful of water with greatest respect. It seems he built

this well- when challenged by a builder as to his title on Sarvathanthra

swathanthrar and he was asked to prove by building a well with such ill

formed bricks and clay mixture. Swamy as usual won the challenge. There is

also a dhivya mangaLa vigraham of Swamy’s which was sculpted by Swamy

himself when challenged by someone else on a different occasion.

 

It is said that once Sri Vedantha Desika left Thiruvaheendrapuram to go to

Srirangam and other centres. After traveling for a day, he took rest in a

place for the night when Lord Devanatha appeared in his dream and asked him

to return. Swamy went back being blessed by the Lord with love and devotion.

Then he wrote several literary works there praising the Lord:

achuyhtasathakam, Devanatha panchaasath mummaNikkOvai, navamanimalai and

others . The Lord is his lover and he- His heroine. Lord is his saviour,

hero, deity for worship and the giver of all desirable things in this world

and in the Paramapadham as well.

 

The goal of life for Sri Desika was devotion and worship of the Supreme

Lord. He did not want to serve anyone to earn his livelihood. To lead his

daily life, he would go round the streets of the city singing hymns of

Alwars and sthOthras composed by acharyas and by him. He never asked anybody

to give him any material, but accepted raw rice offered with respect by

residents of the city. He prepared food from that rice and offered the food

to the Lord and then took as prasAddham.

 

When Swamy was at Kanchi, one day a bachelor came to him and requested him

to give some material in order to conduct his wedding. Swamy was moved by

his request and advised him to worship Goddess Sri PerundhEvi Thaayaar. Then

he led the Brahmachaari Boy to Her sannidhi and taught him the sthOthra Sri

Sthuthi. He went around the sannidhi reciting that sthOthra with the lotus

feet of divine consort in his mind. There was huge roar of shower of gold

coins. In fact wherever her glances fall, there is flood of desirable

wealth- says Swamy Desika. Such was Swamy’s power to amass wealth. But never

chose to earn that way… [as against our running amuck after wealth and only

that as the main objective… rest all is not all a priority.. Especially

Bhagavdh vishayam – not now.. Only after retirement.. . vetkam… vetkam…

ashamed of even calling myself a Desika bhakthan..]

 

yasyaam yasyaam disi viharathE Devi dhrushta tvadheeya

tasyaam tashyaam AHAM AHAM ikaam thanvathE samadhOgaa:

 

Oh Goddess! In whichever directions Your glances fall, in all those places

leaps of wealth flow competing themselves to be the first to bless the

recipient of your mercy.

 

thEshaam bhoomeh dhanapathi grhaat ambaraat ambudhEr vaa

dhaaraa niryanti adhikam adhikam vanchithaanaam vasonaam

 

To those persons, who begin to meditate unpolluted in their minds there will

be flow of all desirable wealth before them immediately either from the

earth, or the place of Kubera or from the vast sky or from deep ocean

 

Such is the result of the worship of Periya PiraaTTi Sri Mahalakshmi.

 

The skill of Sri Vedanta Desika in the composition of literary works in

prose and poetry, epic and drama is equally miraculous. All this is done

without a desire for praise or for remuneration.

 

If Kalidasa had written Khandakava, Megha Sandhesa, Swamy Desika has

composed the Hamsa sandhEsa sent by Sri Rama to Sri Sita in Ashokavana in

Lanka.

 

Again, Yadhavaabhyudhaya in twenty four chapters written by Swamy Desika is

equal if not better in merit to Raghuvamsa of Kalidasa.

 

When PrabhOdha ChandrOdhaya was shown to Swamy Desika, he was inspired to

write Sankalpa suryodhaya, an allegorical drama. Viveka – discretion- is the

hero; Sumathi- correct wisdom is the heroine. All the qualities, good and

bad, are the various characters in the drama. Viveka and Vishnu bhakthi come

together. A comparative study of this drama and abhignana Sakunthala of

Kalidasa will be really interesting and show the skill of Swamy Desika as a

dramatist.

 

Padhuka sahasra is yet another miracle performed by Swamy- one thousand

verses on Sandals of the Lord – is said to have been composed by Swamy

Desika in the course of one night [that too for three hours] as against

padha kamalasahasra which was composed – about 300 verses completed.. in one

night by the person who had challenged Swamy.

 

Then in the year Sowmya when the sun had reached the Vricchika month, on the

day of Kritthiga asterism, the best of Acharyas, Acharya Saarvabhouman Swamy

Nigamantha Mahadesikan gave up his body and attained Acharyan ThiruvaDi- the

eternal abode.

 

sreedhee yOgyE SakE ShuklE udhabhUth vEnkatEswara: |

labdhaprAyE SakE prAyAth sowmyE sa param padham ||

 

Acharya Sri Venkatesa appeared in this world in the year Sukla. After having

lived for hundred years, he attained the permanent abode- Sri Paramapadham-

in year Sowmya. It may be noted Swamy Desikan appeared in the star of

ThiruvONam- same as that of the first Azhwar- when Poigai AzhwAr appeared

and attained Acharya ThiruvaDi in the star of Kritthigai- the star when the

last AzhwAr Thirumangai AzhwAr appeared. Thus he is verify the

personification of 12 AzhwArs themselves- one may say.

 

Much more has to be written about Swamy Desikan the literary Giant, but we

stop here since we cannot complete the list of his works in one life time.

Let us enjoy his 28 sthOthras and then his other granthas in summary form

in subsequent days.

 

[From the Life and works of Sri Nigamantha Mahadesikan- by Prof Sri A

Srinivasaraghavan]

 

Swamy Desikan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Regards

Namo narayana

dAsan

kavi-tArkika-simhAya kalyANa-guNa-SAline |

Srimate venkateSAya vedAntagurave namaH ||

 

Salutations to Sri Venkatesa, in whom all perfections reside, who is the

teacher of Vedanta and the lion among poets and debaters

 

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