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abhinava dESika- SrI UttamUr Swamy Divya Charitham-16

From the Bhakti List Archives

Madhavakkannan V • January 21, 2002 


SrI:
Sri Padmavathi Sametha Srinivasa Parabrahmane Namaha.
Sri Perundhevi Sametha Devadhiraja Parabrahmane Namaha.
SrimathE Bhagavad Ramanujaya Namaha:
SrimathE Nigamantha Mahadesikaya namaha:
Srimate Rangaramanuja Maha Desikaya Namaha.
Srimate  Abhinava Desika Vatsya Satchakravarti Uttamur SRI
VIRARAGHAVARYA MAHA DESIKAYA NAMAHA

SrImAn venkatanAthAryaH kavitArkika kesarI |
vedAntAcArya-varyome sannidhattAm sadA hRdi ||

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

adbhutam yasya vikrAntam vEda vIthI ViSOdhanE |
aparam nigamAntAryam prapadyE vIrarAghavam ||

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

[Article in Tamil by SrI PayyampADi VEnkatavaradAchArya SwAmi; English write 
up (based on Tamil) 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]

A TRAGEDY:

Our Swami was in the middle of printing Katopanishad (where Nachiketas was 
in Yamaloka and honoured by Yama himself).  One night, some burglars entered 
Our Swami's house, through the back door, took away all the valuables.  When 
Our Swami raised an alarm, they thrashed him on the head with sticks, to 
prevent him shout for help.  Our Swami was lying in a pool of blood and Our 
Swami's Devigal ran to the front of the house and raised an alarm and 
shouted for help;  By the time the neighbours came the burglars escaped.  
Then, when Our Swami regained consciousness a little, he was taken in a cart 
to the Government Hospital, which fortunately, was near to Our Swami's 
house.  There at that part of the night, only a Lady doctor was on duty as 
the male
doctor had gone to a nearby village.  The Lady doctor refused to treat

the patient as the injuries were all very serious and the rule
requires only a male patients, except in an emergency.  Fortunately
the Lady doctor was know to Our Swami's Devigal and when she
approached her, the Lady doctor agreed to take up the case even though it 
was against rules.  She made lots of stitches on Our Swami's head but she 
refused to commit herself about the chances to recovery, till after the 
mid-day of the succeeding day.  Next morning, the officials of the college 
and Devasthanam made for all the facilities.

Meanwhile, the local newspapers started publishing discouraging news
about the chances of survival of Our Swami.  By midday Our Swami came
out of the danger limit and the Lady doctor was very pleased, as also
others.  The recovery was really miraculous and everybody felt that
only the blessings of Lord Tiruvengadamudaiyan was responsible for the 
recovery.  It is the good fortune of the Sri Vaishnavas that the life of so 
great a devotee of the Lord of Seven Hills was spared to us to enable him to 
continue the unfinished work of Grantha Nirmana.  What should have been a 
very near tragedy ended in a good note.

Due to the above misfortune, the printing was delayed by two months.
The publication of Upanishads, upto Mandukya, were done at Tirupathi.
The Taittiriya was printed at the Vani Vilas Press at Srirangam.  The
committee at Madras, with Sri Rangaswamy Iyengar Swami as the
Secretary, could not succeed in collecting enough funds for the
publications of Our Swami.  They requested the Devasthanam authorities to 
come to other rescue.  The Devasthanam readily agreed.  They even said that 
as the publisher was their own Professor, they would not only provide the 
necessary finance, but do the printing also at the Devasthanam Press.  The 
publication of Upanishads was proceeding without further delay as, 
virtually, Lord Tiruvengadamudaiyan Himself became the Printer and 
Publisher.  (Did He not serve as a Sarathy for Arjuna!)

VEDANTA PUSHPANJALI:

Our Swami never used to do anything without first getting the
blessings and permission from his Kula Deivam, Lord of the Seven
Hills, Lord Tiruvengadamudaiyan, either directly worshiping or at
least mentally.  So also while starting  the publication of the
Upanishads, under the banner of Ubhaya Vedanta Granthamala he prayed
to his Kula Deivam and then only started the scrutiny of the
manuscripts of Upanishads.  In fact the “Venkatesa Smaranam” is a
`Twentyfour-hour-habitÂ’ for Our Swami.  He was thinking about the
meaning of the Sri Sukti of Sri Bhashyakara, “Brahmani Srinivase” and
also of the Mangala Sloka of the Upanishad Bhashyakara, starting with
“Asaseegucha Sachchayam etc.” the idea struck in Our Swami’s mind that

both the Bhashyakaras had intended that the Upanishads and the Brahma
Vidyas refer only to attaining the feet of Lord Tiruvengadamudaiyan,
as the ultimate Eternal Bliss, Moksha, as the benefit for performing
the Brahma Vidyas.  So Our Swami wanted to offer all the Brahma Vidyas as 
“Pushpanjalis” at the feet of Lord Tiruvengadamudaiyan and the result was a 
wonderful Grantha “VEDANTA PUSHPANJALI.”  Each Brahma Vidya and Upasana 
Marga in the Upanishads was treated as a sacred flower and offered to him.

The result was the wonderful Stotra Grantha, in Sragdhara Vritta, Vedanta 
Pushpanjali.  (The book was in the press when the article was written and 
must have been released.) We now can guess how Lord Tiruvengadamudaiyan  was 
pleased with the Flower Offer of Vedanta Pushpanjali by Our Swami, from the 
successful finish of all the Upanishads with a versatile Sanskrit 
commentary, Parishkara and a well-scrutinised final and authentic version of 
the Original.  Not only that Lord Tiruvengadamudaiyan arranged for the 
printing at our press with His own finance, and, as we have said before 
thereby became the Printer and Publisher also.

THE YEAR 1953 : (MIGRATION TO MADRAS.):

>From 1928 to 1953 till Our Swami was working in the college, he had
many chances to be the Examiner not only in the Visva Vidyalayas at
Mysore and Madras but also in Andhra Desa and Varanasi and at the
Mannargudi Sabha.   In 1953, Our Swami retired from Tirupathi College
and with an intention of settling down after retirement at the foot of the 
Holy Seven Hills he had already built a house at Tirupathi.  But Astikas 
from Madras, represented by Sri.G.Rangaswamy Iyengar had been requesting him 
for more than two years, to come to Madras for a
permanent stay.  But Our Swami had been hesitating to change his
original decision.  Finally, Sri U.Ve.Pulavanur Parthasarathy Iyengar
Swami, an ardent Sishya of Sri Koliyalam Swami and a well wisher of
Our Swami, persuaded Our Swami to come to Madras for a short stay of
one month during Dhanur Masa and do Upanyasams in Tirupavai.  Our
Swami had no other alternative position and was far from satisfactory, after 
retirement.  The ancestral lands were all sold out to clear the family debts 
and the only property he had was his VIDYA.

He was forced to earn  money, not only to do Bhagavadaradhanam but to meet 
all the expenses of a big family during auspicious and inauspicious 
functions and over and above that is the cost of the publications, which was 
dear to his heart.  The decision was finally made to go to Madras for a 
short stay to earn money and come back to Tirupathi

To be continuedÂ…

AchAryan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam
Regards
Namo Narayana
aDiyEn


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