Thuppul PiLLai-5- Swamy Desikan is VishNu [gaNTA] avathAram

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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,

 

It is well known that Swamy Desikan is an incarnate of the Lord Thirumalai

Srinivasan- ThiruvEnkatamudaiyaan’s GhaNTa- the divine Bell of the Thirumala

sannidhi. The divine incarnate of the Lord’s sanctum sanctorum divine Bell

rings again and again composing 120 works… . It is not an ordinary bell

which is kept in sannidhis. This was the Bell used by chauthurmukha brahmA

when he was performing ArAddhanam to the Lord. So divine was it and thus the

works unparalleled.

 

Thirumalaimaal ThirumaNiyaay siRakka vandhOn vaazhiyE..

 

However, Sri Nainacharya declares in PiLLai anthAthi:

 

anRu ivvulaginaiaakki arum poruL nool viritthu

ninRu than neeL pugazh vENkatamaamalai mEvippinnum

venRi pugazh THIRUVENKATANATHAN enRum Guruvaay

ninRu nigazhndhu maN mEl ninRa nOygaL thavirtthananE…

 

In times of yore, That day- The Lord – Bhagawaan- had created the worlds;

Then, He taught the essence of Vedas as GitAchAryan [declaring the essence

of gitA in the last chapter as rahasyam- the doctrine of Saranagathi]; Then,

He stands resplendently on the Thirumala mountain as Srinivasan- to the

delight of everyone; [similar to the farmer who wants his field to be

watered well and nurtured to a large extent and be saved- the Lord stand

here ensuring the avatars of Acharyas to teach Saranagathi doctrine- showing

his Hand towards His lotus feet. In spite of His standing, sending various

Acharyas, teaching the doctrine of Saranagathi and following the same as

well in their lives, the Lord did not get much response from the masses. So,

in order to ensure the people take the right path as declared in saashthars

and get saved, He Himself came as an Acharya in this Kaliyuga in his own

name- Venkata Nathan- and alleviated all our diseases existing on the earth

by reinforcing and concretising the then existing Saranagathi maargam from

the times of AzhwArs.

 

Thus with Vedantha Desika avatars, the Lord willed to let everyone realize

the greatness of Saranagathi and be saved from the samsaaric ocean of births

and deaths. There is no barrier for any jeevathma as long as that jeevan

performs Saranagathi at the lotus feet of the Lord. Hence, Vedantha Desika

avatar becomes the greatest avatar made by Venkatamudaiyaan Himself.

 

Also Lord Sri Hayagrivan shows Himself with the vyAkhyAmudrA in one hand,

and the book (or leaves) on the other; Desika archA avatars also have this

same form, proving that Lord Hayavadhanan has taken anupravESa avatar in

this mahAchAryan. Even in DevaperumAL Sannidhi [in Kanchi] EmeprumAnAr Sri

Ramanujacharya also shows Himself with upadEsa mudrA [or vyAkhyA mudrA].

Swamy Desikan mentions the same in YathirAja sapthathi as well: [Ramanuja

with His jnAna mudrA – the resplendent nails dispel the darkness in his

heart..]

 

Swamy Desikan is addressed is as Bhagawaan by Sri PrathivAdhi Bhayankaram

aNNan Swamy : yammEnE vishNO avathAram- [in Vaibhava prakAsikA]..

 

Sri NainAchryar also says: [in his Desika mangalaasaasanam]

 

vEnkatESAvathArO(S)yam thadhgaNTAmSOThavaa bhavEth |

yatheendhrAm SO(S)thavEthyEvam vitharkyAyAsthu mangaLam ||

 

May all auspiciousness be with Sri Vedantha Desika about whom different

views were held that he was an incarnation of Lord Venkatesa or he was His

divine gantA (Bell) or the divine incarnate of Acharya Ramanuja Himself.

 

Dindima Kavi (in 14th century) who was a junior contemporary of Vedanta

Desika pays tribute to Swamy’s greatness as follows:

 

There was confusion all around as a result of turbid nature of Kaliyuga; the

Vedas were in great distress; (because of misinterpretation); wise saying of

the seers were completely ignored; there was an unholy intermixture of all

castes; and quite in consonance with this sorry state, all sacred epics and

puranas lost their validity; the maayaavaada was in all glee; and the school

of nihilism (soonya vada) was having undisputed acceptance by all. It was at

this critical juncture that Sri Vedanta Desika came into this world as an

incarnation of the great rining divine bell of VishNu for the establishment

of Dharma and its protection. He shines all victorious.

 

vEdhE sancAthakEthE… vishNu gaNTAvathaara:

 

PrathivAdhi Bhayankaram Annan (1300 to 1400 CE) was a junior contemporary of

Vedantha Desika and also a disciple of Sri Nainacharya (son of Vedantha

Desika). He gives a nutshell about Swamy in his Sapthapathi Rathnamaalika-

which we will see when we enjoy Swamy’s life.

 

Vedas and saasthras declare that EmperumAn has the five Dhivya rUpams,

namely, Param, vyUham, vibahavm, archai and Hardham [or antharyami roopam].

The vibhava, archA avathAra roopam is grander than Param- as opined by

scholars and Azhwars. [yErAr muyal vittu kaakkai pin pOvadhEn..] Avatars

have solwseelyam, sowlbahyam guNam to the fullest extent and thus

facilitates becoming grander and more enjoyable. AzhwArs were also deemed as

abhinava dasAavathAr. The Lord dwells in the greatest NithyasUri, muktha

jeevathmAs when they take AzhwAr AchArya avathars thus making their births

as well deemed avathArs of the Lord so- to say. PoorvAchAryas call this

avathars as “anupravESa avathars”.

 

Swamy Desikan himself says at the end of his magnum opus Srimath

Rahasyathraya saram”- veLLai parimukar dEsikarAy viragAl aDiyOm uLLatthu

yezhudhiyadhu Olaiittu yezhudhinam… yam udhaRkku yen.. [The white horse

faced- Lord Hayagrivan had written in our heart; and only wrote what He

had written inside – merely reproducing what is written inside.. In the

line of Acharyas, Nathamuni, Yamuna, Ramanuja, through upadEsam, they had

written also [the lineage that starts from the Lord Himself- as

PrathamAchAryan]. What They wrote inside my heart- aDiyEn wrote on the

leaves; Thus Acharya avathar is Hayavadhanan’s (Lord Hayagrivan’s]

anupravESa avathar himself.

Sriya: Pathi Sarveswaran found that His message rendered for the benefit of

humanity, in His incarnations as Sri VarAha and Sri RAma did not get well

publicized. So, He reiterated the same more

elaborately in His incarnation as Sri KrishNa under the pretext of advising

Arjuna, explaining clearly the difficulties involved in other means like

Karma, JnAna and BhaktiyOgas and rounding it up with the

grand finale that Prapatti which he had earlier instructed was THE BEST

means for humanity to reach Him. To reinforce this message, He appeared as

ThiruvEnkatamudaiyAn.

Despite the message being so loud and clear, people were found ignorant of

the full import thereof. So, He deputed Srimad NAthamuni, Srimad YAmuna muni

and Sri RamAnuja muni to expound the content of the SAstras through

SribhAshya, GitAbhAshya etc. as also the means to practice (anushTAnam)

Prapatti through " SaraNAgathi Gadhyam " . During the days of UDaiyavar, the

message did sink deep into the minds of people as seen in the affirmation-

" SrI RamAnuja DivyAjnA prathivAsaram ujjwalA, dighantha vyApinee bhooyAth

sA hi lOka hithaishiNee " . Therefore, the doctrine came to be

known as " Sri RAmAnuja Darsanam " .

But, due to the mushrooming of votaries of heretic religions frantically

trying to spread their faith, due to our Scriptures lying scattered in

different works without being uniformly codified and also due to the loss of

the works of Sri NAthamuni hailed as the crest jewel of SAstras (Grantha

rathnam), ordinary folk were misled by the spurious arguments of charlatans.

Feeling that if this were allowed to corrupt people anymore, the whole world

would come to a naught, " Thirumalai ThiruvEnkaTamuDaiyAn " Himself, out of

infinite compassion came down as " Thooppul ThiruvEnkaTamuDaiyAn " [As also

addressed reventially by Sri Piilailokacharya]. For over 100 years, as

Thoopul Desika, He revealed in Himself the aspects of IlayaperumAL of

RAmAvatara,

BalarAma of KrishNAvatAra, and " Apara Hayagriva " - all in one.

He spent his whole life in giving kAlakshEpams in SriBhAshya, GitAbhAshya,

proving the hollowness of the arguments of opponents in lively debates,

creating works on our Darsanam for the benefit of

posterity, writing commentaries on Bhagavad RAmanuja's BhAshyams, erecting

impregnable fortresses to protect our SiddhAntam from alien creeds through

works.

[The above is compiled from extracts of Articles written (1) by Sri U Ve

Navalpakkam Varadhachar Swamin in Thiruvaheendrapuram release souvenir and

(2) by Sri U Ve Abhinavadesika Uttamur Swami-Courtesy: " Seva Malar " 1957.

Translation: Anbil Ramaswamy]

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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