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From: Anand Karalapakkam (kgk_at_md2.vsnl.net.in)
Date: Fri May 19 2000 - 11:21:34 PDT
SrI:
SrI PadmAvati samEtha SrInivAsa ParabrahmaNE namaha
SrImad abhinava dESIka UttamUr VAtsya VeerarAghavArya -
mahAdESikAya namaha
SrI Lakshminrusimha divya pAdukA sEvaka SrIvaN SatakOpa SrI -
nArAyaNa yateendra mahAdESIkAya namaha
Dear devotees,
namO nArAyaNa.
A small change in the plan of action : adiyEn would post this
article and a tribute in acrostic by the same author atfirst
and then (after few days/weeks) will start posting the
detailed series on the Biography of SrI UttamUr SwAmi.
The following is the translation of an article in tamil by the
vidvAn SrI U.Ve. Dindukkal RAmAswAmy Iyengar, which appeared
in the souvenir released during the SatAbhishEkam (80th birth
anniversary) of SrI UttamUr swAmi on 10th Feb, 1977.
A brief note about the author :
Late (SrI VaikuNThavAsi) SrI U.Ve. Dindukkal RAmAswAmy Iyengar
****************************************************************
This swAmi (born 1899) was popularly known as "D.R." and was
well known for his deep humility and other aatma guNAs,
especially in moving with one and all, apart from his deep
devotion towards Lord VaradarAja of KAnchi and AchAryas like
SwAmi dESIkan. He used to recite SwAmi dESikan's taniyan as
"..sannidhattE sadA hrudi" instead of "..sannidhattAm sadA hrudi"
implying that SwAmi dESikan, the vEdAntAchArya is "ever residing
in my heart", instead of the implication, "May the VEdAntAchArya
reside in my heart". He was one of the key persons involved in
the grand celebration of SwAmi DESikan's 7th centenary
celebration. He has written good commentries in English on
many of SwAmi dESikan's stotras and tamil poems (pub. by SrI
ViSishtAdvaita PracArani Sabha). He was a regular contributor to
many magazines like SrI Nrusimha PriyA, SrI RanganAtha PAdukA,
(DESika) SEva, Saptagiri etc.
In the Introduction to SrI D.R.'s English commentary to SwAmi
DESIkan's "SaraNAgati Deepika", SrI O.V.AlagEsan,M.P. writes
(1974) :
"I happen to be a co-devotee with D.R. of Lord VaradarAja of
KAncheepuram. His infatuation for the Lord is well-known. In
every festival of the Lord, you can find him, standing with
bent frame, drinking deep at the fountain of His insatiable
beauty and matchless majesty. For me, enjoyment of any
festival of Lord VaradarAja is incomplete without the presence
of D.R. I used to feel that Lord also is disappointed if He
does not see His bhakta (D.R.) before Him. I see a Prapanna
in him. All that is said of Prapannas are fulfilled in him. "
Late (SrI VaikuNThavAsi) SrI U.Ve.PudukkOttai A.SrInivAsarAghavan,
another great scholar of the last century, writes about SrI D.R.
as "DESika Rasika" (D.R.) in the book on SrI D.R.'s English
commentary to SwAmi dESikan's NyAsa VimSati. It was published
after SrI D.R. attained Paramapadam. Few exerpts from it:
"D.R. was really another name for devotional non-pareil (without
an equal) to Lord VaradarAja....All who knew him would always
think and speak of him as the patron and protege of Lord
Varadaraja .......D.R. was known to and honoured by almost all
religious heads like H.H. SrI Azhagiyasingar of the Ahobila
Muth, HH SrI KOzhiyAlam swAmi of KAnchi and HH SrImad Andavan
of SrIrangam. He was held in great esteem by learned scholars
and eminent AchAryas like SrI GOshtipuram (SowmyanArAyanAchArya)
swAmi <alias thirukkOshtiyUr swAmi>, ayyA SrI KrishNa
TAtAchArya swAmi of KAnchi, UttamUr SrI VeerarAghavAchArya and
MadhurAntakam SrI VeerarAghavAchArya. HH SrI SankarAchArya of
KAnchi KAmakOti peetam, HH SrI SwAmi of Gaudiya Math,
SrI P.B.AnnangarAchArya of KAnchi and many such great men
admired his devotion and humility............In the past three
decades and more, there was no religious conference in which he
did not participate either as a President Or as principal
speaker. His discourses on the Alwars, the AchAryas, their
works and on the Lords of various Divya DEsas were cherished
by all and the articles he wrote were read with great avidity
and enthusiasm. "
Such was SrI D.R., a great admirer of SrI UttamUr Swami. Lets
relish the article on SrI UttamUr swAmi by SrI D.R.
On the title : "mAl uganda aasiriyar"
***************************************
SwAmi DESikan, in a pAsuram in his chillarai Rahasyam
amrutAswAdini viz. "kAsiniyin maNi anaitthum ....." (27) says
that Just like how, all the Gems in the earth can't match the
greatness of Kowstubha Gem adorned by the Lord and how all
the kshEtras in the earth can't match the glories of
PEraruLALan's (Lord VaradarAja's) KAnchi kshEtra, the works
< Smrutis, IthihAsa-purANas etc> of sinless and clear/pure
minded Maharishis can't match even a word of "mAl uganda
aasiriar" (those who are most beloved to Lord SrIman nArAyaNa
and became the object of His abundant special mercy; They are
the likes of NammAzhwAr and other AzhwArs/AchAryas). SwAmi
DESikan adds "I am saying this <difference between the
glories of the works of Maharishis and the words of 'mAl
uganda aasiriyar'> after knowing the due differences present.
Oh People of the World ! Become Joyful by taking these things
<the points putforth> as your Treasure ".
Thus "mAl uganda aasiriyar" refers to those AchAryas like
NammAzhwAr, BhAshyakArar and others, whose divine words and
works has no parallel. This is the verdict of the Sarvaj~nya
and Sarva Tantra Svatantra, VEdAntAchArya, KavitArkika Simha
AchArya SArvabhouma SrI NigamAnta MahAdESikan alias VEdAnta
DESikan.
Hence, SrI D.R. refers to SrI abhinava dESika UttamUr SwAmi
as "mAl uganda aasiriyar".
----------------------------------------------------------------
SrI U.Ve. Dindukkal RAmaswAmy Iyengar on UttamUr SwAmi :
MAl uganda aasiriyar ( The AchArya beloved to Lord VishNu )
*************************************************************
" maruLatRa dEsikar vAnugappAlinda vaiyamellAm
iruLatRi iRaivaniNaiyadi pooNduya veNNudalAl
theruLutRa sentamizhR selvam perugic chirandavar pAl
aruLutRa cindaiyinAl azhiyA viLakkEtRinarE "
(PAsuram of SwAmi dESIkan from AchAryakrutyAdhikAram <Chapter
on the Duties of an AchArya> of SrImad Rahasya Traya sAram)
(ie." Our great AchAryas, who were absolutely free from ignorance
and error, lighted (ie.performed the upadEsam of ) this undying
lamp (of knowledge on sampradAya viz. the meanings of the
three secret mantras) out of compassionate grace, in the minds
of worthy disciples filled with vivEka (ie.discriminatory
knowledge) who had grown rich in the true wealth of
performance of ordained rites (kainkaryas ie. services to
SrIman nArAyaNa and devotees) in a manner which would accord
with the knowledge. Such AchAryas who are longing for
paramapadam ie. SrI VaikuNTha, did so because they desired
that the whole world should become free from ignorance and
their (the people's) heads should be adorned with the Lord's
feet < ie.make the Lord's lotus feet as their upAya (means) in
attaining Him and thereby perform Prapatti >" ).
( By quoting this pAsuram, SrI D.R. implies that SrI UttamUr
SwAmi is such an AchArya enshrined in that pAsuram ).
Those mahAns who are prapatti vijitESwaras (*) by the grace of
a SadAchArya, due to their broad mindedness that everyone
should enjoy the great bliss obtained by them, are ever
steadfast in making others tread the good path. The important
amongst the methods used by them to achieve the above is
adyAtma grantha nirmANam (writing books on vEdAnta) and
regular/repeated teaching. Till this time, only our abhinava
dESika swAmi is the greatest among those who have employed
both of these. The number of adyAtma works written by our
swAmi is innumerous ; One can only say it to be in hundreds.
SwAmi's proficiency in not only our siddhAnta, but in also
other siddhAntas is evident from the various books written
on such siddhAntas and the way other siddhAntins shake their
heads well in appreciation of these works.
--------------------
(*) : Prapatti vijitESwaras can refer to the mahAns who are
victorious in learning the intricasies of Prapatti ; Can
also refer to those mahAns who are victorious over samsAra
due to the deep knowledge and performance of Prapatti.
--------------------
Our ViSishtAdvaita siddhAnta is a "ubhaya-vEdAnta" siddhAnta.
Only after clearly knowing the tamil poems (tamil vEda) sung
in ecstacy by AzhwArs, will the knotty issues in Sanskrit
vEda be understood clearly ("TheLiyAda maRainiLangaL
theLigindrOmE" - SwAmi DESIkan). The heart should also be
filled permanently with the inner meanings of the Sanskrit
vEdas. Only after learning both the vEdas (Sanskrit and Tamil)
can one be glorified as a "Ubhaya VEdAntin" (U.Ve.). This only
is glorified by Kamban, the king of poets, as "thensOR
kadanthAn vadasoR kadaRku yellai thErnthAn". Due to the
abundant training obtained by UttamUr swAmiin both the vEdas,
he could learn in and out of the vEda SAstras, purANas,
IthihAsas and Prabandhas in the languages viz. unfading
(ie.everlasting) Sanskrit - vAdAta vadamozhi - and honey
like Tamizh - thEn pOnRa then mozhi - and thus blessed us by
writing and publishing innumerous works in both of these
languages.If one aggregates all these works, it makes one
think as to how many hours the SaraNyan (Lord, the refuge)
created for UttamUr swAmi per day! In this midst are his
adherence to panca kAla prakriya and kAlakshEpams to sishyas.
If one thinks about swAmi's publication of the number of
independent works, commentries, tIkAs (notes) on the old
commentries to advanced works in vEdAnta, one should respect
(show reverence to) our uttamUr swAmi as an avatAra purusha
only.
Everyone knows that our swAmi was present as a teacher
in Pushkar, ThiruvaiyARu and Tirupati. To adiyEn's knowledge,
only after coming to Tirupati did swAmi obtained the excessive
blessings of Lord ThiruvEngadamudayAn and started writing
many excellent works. At first, he published the commentries
(by SrI RangarAmAnuja Muni alias Upanishad BhAshyakAra) on the
ten principal upanishads (dasOpanishad) alongwith his excellent
explanations/clarifications. After coming to chennai, many
mahAns further developed the "Ubhaya VEdAnta GranthamAlA" and
many works of swAmi in both the languages got published. The
key person for this organization is SrI U.Ve. (Police) G. -
RangaswAmy TAtAchArya swAmi. Under the title "Prabandha -
Rakshai", very lucid and rasa filled commentries for
Prabandhas were written. The commentries to the 4000 divya
prabandhas got over, with "VisishtAdvaita PrachArani Sabha"
taking over the publication of swAmi's commentries on the
pAsurams of most important of the AzhwArs viz. NammAzhwAr
and Thirumangai AzhwAr. The key person for this sabha is SrI
V.S. JagannAta IyengAr. Like this, UttamUr swAmi completed
the commentries to the 24 prabandhas in simple tamil named
"Prabandha Raksha", bringing out newer and newer insights on
the inner moods and philosophical teachings of AzhwArs.
adiyEn is horripulated while thinking about this.
.... Moreover, at the very same time, commentries and tIkAs
for each of advanced Sanskrit works and Tamil Divya
Prabandhams were written and fully proof read by swAmi
before publishing them in an elegant way. While thinking
about these services of swAmi, it makes one to only think
that these belong to the category of Super-human activities.
In the meantime, the festival on the eve of SwAmi DESikan's
seventh centenary was celebrated throughout the country (India).
In addition to participating in many of those festivals,
UttamUr swAmi accepted the requests from many devotees of SwAmi
DESikan and started to publish all the works of SwAmi DESikan
alongwith commentries in both Sanskrit and Tamil, wherever it
wasn't present. Within ten years, almost all of SwAmi DESikan's
advanced works have been published.
Knowing beforehand such acintya (inconceivable/incomprehensible)
and extrordinary mahOpakAram (great help) to be rendered by
UttamUr swAmi in the future, many devotees of SwAmi DESikan from
Tirupati, with the divine blessings of Lord ThiruvEngadamudayAn,
came to chennai and became happy by conferring the wonderful and
noble title "abhinava dESika" during a big function for
felicitating UttamUr swAmi, on the eve of his Sashtiaptapoorti
(60th birthday; 1957) mahOtsava (grand festival). Not only them,
but the devotees of SwAmi DESikan everywhere, having either
heard Or read, highly praised it. Then, like "Satyam vidhAtum
nija Bhruthya BhAshitam" (*), almarmEl mangaiuRai mArban (Lord
SrInivAsa, on whose chest resides His consort alarmEl manga)
made that title appropriate (ie. True to its sense) and now,
worldwide, "abhinava dESika" is not merely a title, but is also
shining as Samgn~yai (ie. Abhinava DESika is not a title that
can be given to anyone ; If one says "abhinava dESika", it
exclusively refers to *only* uttamUr swAmi and none other).
---------------
(*) : 'Satyam vidhAtum nija Bhruthya BhAshitam': This is a verse
from SrImad BhAgavatam (7.8.17) on SrI Nrusimha avatAram.
It says that, Lord appeared in that wonderful form at that
Pillar, to make the words of His devotee <Bhakta prahlada>
become true. SrI D.R. implies that, Lord SrInivAsa also
made true the words of mahAns who conferred the title of
"abhinava dESika" unto UttamUr SwAmi. This was by blessing
UttamUr SwAmi to publish almost all the works of SwAmi
DESIkan with clean readings and excellent commentries upon
it, after the title "abhinava dESIka" was being conferred.
By the way, it becomes clear that, even before writing
these outstanding commentries on SwAmi DESikan's works,
UttamUr SwAmi was well respected by contemporary scholars
as "abhinava dESika".
--------------------------------
So far, I have somewhat said about the greatness of the
innumerous excellent books being written, published and released
by swAmi. To glorify even a little about the GAmbeeryam -
(profundity in meaning, unfathomable depth) and rasam in the
writings of swAmi, adiyEn is asaktan (incapable) and little
knowledged. When even SwAmi DESikan would feel delighted by
adorning UttamUr SwAmi with a crown <for the various
achievements>, who else, in what way and how can one glorify
< UttamUr SwAmi > ?. Mostly, for many general vaidikas and those
who are knowledged in SAstras, there exists a blame upon them
from the times of KAlidAsa that they are interested only in
jn~yAna (knowledge about tattvas etc) and not in rasa. This
blame will not stain our swAmi even for a small bit. In his
writings, its not only that the meanings of the original texts
are explained, but many new rasas involved in the originals are
very lucidly brought out by swAmi. This is one of the wonders
done by swAmi.
Two things(places) are coming to my memory now. One is in the
GOdOpanishad ThiruppAvai. The other can be seen in the commentry
to ThiruvAimozhi, the DramidOpanishad.
In the 22nd pAsuram of thiruppAvai occurs a beautiful
phrase "angaNirandum kondu engkaN mEl nOkkudiyEl". Here,
the sandhi in "engkaN mEl" has been explained for all these
years as "engaL mEl". SwAmi's rasa filled interpretation has
incarnated by keeping "em kaN mEl" itself. The meaning taken
is "Using Your(KrishNa's) eyes, You should see our (gOpis)
eyes". Having known that there is no more joy greater than this
in the rasa of love, the divine poet ThiruvaLLuvar in a kuraL
has written "kaNNOdu KaNNiNai nOkkokkin vAiccoRkaL yenna payanum
illai" (ie.If the eyes of the lovers see each other, there is
no need of words to be spelled by the mouth). Kavicchakravarti
Kamban also, didn't stop by saying "aNNalum nOkkinAn, avaLum
nOkkinAL" (*) and later finished <in the kAvya> by saying
"pirindavar koodinAl pEsal vEndumO" (If the separated lovers
meet, is there a need to talk ? ) and "iruvarum mARippukku
idayam eidinar" (exchange of hearts). In this way, the
excellent meaning that, a special rasa arises when the eye of
a lover falls over his partner, has struck our swAmi, who is a
parama Vaideeka-Uttama and a panca kAla parAyaNar (One adhering
to panca kAla prakriya - Five fold divisions of the day with
alloted kainkaryams in those periods). This is highly surprising
to me (in seeing swAmi's rasa filled interpretation).
----------------
(*) : "aNNalum nOkkinAn avaLum nOkkinAL" (ie.The hero/king also
looked, She also looked): This refers to the eye-to-eye
contact of Lord RAma ( who was near the palace of King
Janaka and moving alongwith Sage ViSwAmitra and Lakshmana,
to get into the palace ) and SIta pirAtti (from somewhere
like balcony), before the incident of breaking Lord Siva's
Bow, as per Kamba RAmAyanam.
-----------------
The first half of the tenth pAsuram of "KOvaivAyAL"
ThiruvAimozhi(4.3) is as follows : 'yAnum yEtti yEzhulagum
mutRum yEtti, pinnaiyum tAnumEttilum tannai yEtta yEtta
yengaidum'. Here, for the word "pinnaiyum", "Afterwards",
"Moreover" etc meanings have been taken in all the
commentries so far. For our swAmi, by the blessings of
AzhwAr, the word "pinnaiyum", refers to pirAtti. The
great excellent and extraordinary meaning "Nappinai nangAi,
thiruvE!" has been obtained. Friends(Rasikas) should meditate
and meditate on how much the meaning of the pAsuram gets
elevated, and heart should be stirred with that emotion. In
the second verse of ALavandAr's StOtra Ratna, it is sung
that, even PerumAL does not know about the greatness/glories
of PirAtti as it is. KUrattAzhwAn, in his SrIstava sings
that the end of the glories of PirAtti is not known to
PerumAL as well as PirAtti. Thus (in this ThiruvAimozhi
pAsuram), if one interprets that, PerumAL can't glorify/sing
the praise of Himself (in full), a doubt may arise as to
whether PirAtti can do it. If that also is taken into
consideration and one interprets the pAsuram that, Either
PirAtti Or PerumAL as an individual Or together in Union
can't sing (fully) the glories of PerumAL, then rasikAs
should feel with great delight as to how much exaltedness it
has and how much Joy/delight it has.
If the writing of adyAtma granthas has so much greatness,
swAmi's anEkEshAmca bOdhanam (repeated/regular teaching)
exceeds even that. Everyone knows that swAmi has taught many
students at Pushkar in the North, ThiruvaiyARu in the South
and Tirupati in the middle. This greatness of SwAmi is spread
all over India. In the same time, at certain places, blessing
the qualified disciples with the meanings of SAstras and many
SiddhAnta prakriyas through kAlakshEpam is another aspect of
this (greatness). After coming to the city of Chennai, SwAmi's
exposition of exalted special meanings (of SAstras) through
kAlakshEpam and upanyAsas for many many respectful lowkikas
and others (full-time VaidikAs) is the greatest of all.adiyEn
is unqualified to speak even a little on this greatness of
SwAmi. Hence, I am stopping it with this.
Experiencing many a times in many a ways the Lord of
Tirumala, who gives the sEva (darSan) as Thirumala yemperumAn,
SwAmi has written SuprabAtha etc works as an overflow of such
experience. This is one among many greatness of SwAmi.
The peak of everything is our SwAmi's AchArya bhakti.
Everyone should follow our swAmi in this greatness of being
present with unfailing rememberance of himself as being a
dust at the feet of the great AchArya SrImad Parama(hamsa)
Pari(vrAjakAchArya) KOzhiyAlam SwAmi. Its not a wonder that
SwAmi DESikan's special greatness of AchArya Bhakti, is
present with "abhinava dESika".
iraittu mEnmakkanEtta yAnum yEttinEn adiyEn matRiyAdenbanE !
(ie. "adiyEn, <a humble self>, made these glorifications in the
midst of the roaring glorifications poured out by great
senior scholars <upon UttamUr SwAmi> ; What else can adiyEn
say". This can also mean that SrI D.R. glorified UttamUr
SwAmi as heard from what great scholars glorify him in a
roaring way. )
" yEtRi manaththu yazhil jn~yAna viLakkai iruLanaitthum
mAtRinavarku oru kaimARu mAyanum kANagillAn
pOtRi ugappadum punthiyil koLvadum pongu pugazh
sAtRi vaLarppadum satRallavO munnam petRadaRkE ".
(Often quoted PAsuram of SwAmi dESIkan from SishyakrutyAdhikAram
<Chapter on the Duties of a sishya> of SrImad Rahasya Traya
sAram)
(ie."Even the mAyan (Supreme Lord SrIman nArAyaNa) can not
see a way to requite (repay) the AchArya who destroyed
the ignorance in one's heart/mind by lighting the shining
lamp of knowledge/wisdom therein {What to speak about the
disciple who got benifited by the teaching of such an
AchArya ?}. Hence, acts by the disciple such as glorifying
the AchArya with delight, meditating upon him, extending
the AchArya's already present glories etc are only very
little (ie.nothing) in comparison with the help he/she has
received earlier from the AchArya - Is it not ? ").
( ie. SrI D.R. by quoting this verse implies that whatever he
has glorified about SrI UttamUr SwAmi is nothing in front
of what SrI UttamUr SwAmi, the mAl uganda aasiriyar has
done to him and SrI VaishNavas at large, through his
outstanding books,kAlakshEpams etc).
-----------------------------------------------------
Hope that you enjoyed this posting on SrI UttamUr SwAmi as
being the 'mAl uganda aasiriyar'.
adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan,
anantapadmanAbhan.
krishNArpaNam.
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