Thuppul PiLLai- 22- Swamy's enjoyment at Kanchi

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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,

 

Sri Vedanta Desika at Kanchi

 

On the advice of his uncle and master appuLLAr, Sri Vedanta Desika entered

the grahasthasrama and began to serve the duties of a house holder with his

pious and devout wife, Kanakavalli by name. He did not seek service under

any one and earn money but lived on whatever he got by unchavritthi [grains

offered voluntarily by the pious people as he strode the streets of Kanchi]

reciting the hymns that eulogize the Lord. Whatever was got in this way, he

gave it ti his wife who prepared a simple food. He offered the food first to

the Lord- to his deity in the daily worship and then had his food as

Bhagavdh prasadham. He taught the holy texts in Sanskrit and Tamil to those

who came to learn. In the afternoon, he would himself read the puranas and

the epics enjoying the qualities and exploits of the Lord portrayed therein.

Thus the whole day was spent in the observance of daily rites and teaching,

worship and meditation on the Lord.

 

Lord Varadaraja blessed Sri Vedanta Desika in 1317 CE with the birth of a

son who was given the name of Varadaarya. Sri Desika invested the son in the

proper age with the sacred thread and initiated him in the Gayatri mantra.

In due course, he taught him all saasthras who learnt them with love,

respect and became equally proficient. The reverence that Varadarya had for

his father is declared by himself in a hymn as follows: all the saasthras

were learnt by me from my own father Sri Venkatanatha and not from anyone

else… Hail to him, who is my father, the initiator in the Brahman [by his

brahmmOpadEsam during upanayanam] my acharya, the goal and the means….

 

Yasmaad eva mayaasarvam saasthra agraahi naanyatha:

 

pithrObrahmmOpadhEshtrE mE guravE daivathAya cha

prApyAya prApakAyAthu vEnkatEsAya mangaLam

 

During his stay at Kanchi, Sri Vedanta Desika visited the various shrines in

and around Kanchi and extolled the deities in melodious lyrics the

captivating forms and auspicious qualities of the Lords in those temples

there. He composed the lyric Saranagati Deepika on the Lord Deepaprakasa of

Himavana [viLakkoLi Empiraan of ThirutthaNkaa] , KaamaasikAshtakam on Lord

Nrusimhan in the temple on the bank of Vegavathi river, ashtabhujAshtakam on

the eight armed deity in Ashtabhusha shrine, vegasEthu sthOthram on Lord

TahOthkAri, paramaarttha sthuthi on Lord Thirullutkuzhi Vijayaraghava

PerumAL; adiakkalappatthu, arttha panchakam, Sri Vaishnava dinasari, panniru

namam sthOthram, Thiruucchinna maalai, meyviradha maanmiyam - all of them in

Sweet Tamil verse form, Sampradaya parisuddhi and other works in

maNipravALam (Sanskrit mixed Tamil prose) and Nyasa dasakam in Sanskrit-

these verses are some of Desika’s works written by him at Kanchi

 

Sri Vedanta Desika wanted o get himself blessed by making a pilgrimage in

the holy cities in North India which were sanctified by the birth and acts

of Rama and Krishna and by bathing in the sacred rivers like the Ganges and

the Yamuna. When he started from Kanchi, he was drawn towards Tirumala, his

mind was filled with the thoughts about the parama krupa [greatest mercy] of

the Lord Venkatesa on him; - who brought Desika to this world and made him

pious and great. By the Lord’s grace hundred verses flowed from him in

praise of this quality of the Lord i.e. dayA- mercy, as being superior to

all other qualities of the Lord and of creation, salvation, protection and

even destruction. This hymn goes by the name of daya sathakam. Towards the

end Swamy Desika says in all humility that he was the lyre on which the head

of Venkatesa hills played and sang this song of dayaa [mercy].

 

Sri Vedanta Desika then proceeded to Utthara Bharat and visited many holy

cities Ayodhya, Mathura, Avanthi, Kasi, Badavi, Puri, Brindhavan, Dwaraka,

Triveni, Gaya etc.. Thus Sri Desika had seen these shrines and enjoyed them

can be inferred from the graphic description that we find in Act V of his

drama Sankalpa Sooryodhaya of the whole of Bharat from the Himalayas in the

North to the extreme South. Of course it is only secondary evidence. After

this pilgrimage, Sri Desika came back to Kanchi and continued his daily

routine as before.

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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