SrimAn VenkatanAthArya KavithArkika Kesari
VedAntAchArya Varyome, SannidatthAm SadA Hrudi!!
The asterism of thiruvoNam in the month of PurattAsi marks the advent of Sri Vedanta DesikA, the illustrious preceptor who protected the heritage of SriVaishnavism during a most tumultuous period in Indian political and religious history. He was extraordinary in many respects and is worshipped as the incarnation of the divine bell found in the Tirumala temple.
Sri RAmAnujA had inherited the splendid but philosophically young empire of Vaishnavism from Sri AlavandAr (YAmunAchAryA).
Ananta Suri married TotrAmbA, the sister of AppullAr, another Vaishnava scholar. The couple lived according to the SriVaishnava way of life in Thooppul, a suburb in Kanchipuram which is not far from the temple dedicated to Sri DeepaPrakAsar.
It is believed that the name Thooppul was given to the place because it the sacred DarbhA (KuSA) grass which can be found there in abundance.
TotrAmbA and Ananta Suri were issueless for a long time. SriVaishnavas, by definition, do not ask the Lord for anything other than Himself. However, if pushed by the trials and tribulations of life to seek help, do call out to Sriman NArAyaNA and none else. Being issueless is not an easy thing to endure. The devout couple decided to seek the grace of the Lord of the Seven Hills and went to Tirumala. One night, in a seemingly quaint turn of events both dreamt that TotrAmbA had been given the bell used for daily worship by Sri VenkateshwarA, and that she had swallowed it. The next day, when the time for performing the first pujA for the Lord came, the bell was nowhere to be found. Pious tradition records that the Lord of the Seven Hills spoke through the Jeeyar, and advised the archakAs to do without the handheld bell during ThiruvArAdhanam, as He himself had ordained it to be born as a scholar for protecting the parama-vaidhika matham of Sri RAmAnujA.
As ordained by SrinivAsA, VenkatanAthA was born on the eleventh day of the month of PurattAsi under the auspicious asterism of Sravanam. His was a remarkable birth, combining as it does the asterism of VAmanA with the occasion of the TeerthavAri of the Brahmotsavam in Tirumala. Like VAmanA who became Trivikrama and humbled Bali, Swami DesikA would grow up to establish himself as a towering figure in the history of philosophy and religion in India, vanquishing rival schools with playful ease. Let us have a few dips in the holy river that is the story of his long and fruitful life.
Education
After undergoing the samskArAs such as ‘Choulam’ and ‘Upanayanam’ VenkatanAthA undertook traditional education under the aegis of Sri AppuLLAr, who was his uncle. He was a remarkable student with a prodigious memory and the ability to grasp subtleties right from his tender years. His future greatness was prophesied by a great SriVaishnava AchAryA, Swami NadAdUr AmmAL (Vatsya VaradAchAryA, known as ‘AmmAL’ due to his motherly love towards the Lord) during a RAmAyaNa KAlakshepam.
Vatsya VaradAchAryA’s Benediction
One day, the child VenkatanAthA had accompanied his uncle to AmmAL’s KAlakshepam. The Brahma-Tejas on the child’s face was so powerful that the senior scholar stopped his exposition and became interested in knowing more about him. Upon satisfying this urge, the great AchAryA wished to resume his discourse, and asked the members of the audience to remind him of the last thing that he had explained. None could do so. A small, but clear voice broke the silence, and the five year old VenkatanAthA indicated without the slightest tinge of hesitation, the exact sentences the preceptor had uttered prior to the break in his discourse. Swami NadAdUr AmmAL was astounded by the boy’s memory and spontaneously blessed him saying,
‘PradhishtApitha Vedanta: prathikshiptha bahirmatha:
BhooyAs trailokya mAnyasthvam poori kalyANa bhAjanam’
Freely translated, this reads, ‘Thou shalt establish Vedanta firmly, routing other schools of philosophy, and shalt be respected in the three worlds, attaining all auspiciousness’.
VenkatanAtha’s education was complete when he was merely twenty years old. The words of AmmAL were beginning to come true.
Life of a Householder
In India, the life of a human being is divided into four stages. Of these the stage of a householder is considered superior to others, as a householder alone can support the celibate, the ascetic and the retiree while still being in the service of the Lord. In the SriVaishnava sampradAyam, the GrihasthAshramA is accorded great respect and pride of place. AppuLLAr realised that the time had come for making a householder of his nephew. Accordingly, VenkatanAthA entered into holy matrimony with ‘Thirumangai’ and remained a dedicated householder till the very end. He apparently saw no reason to renounce the world as he was always in the service of the Divine Couple.
VenkatanAthA, Garuda and Lord Hayagriva
As willed by the Lord of the Universe, AppuLLAr initiated his nephew and disciple into the Garuda Mantra (This mantra is chanted during the DvajArohanam during Brahmotsavam) and the dutiful disciple proceeded to a hillock (Oushadhagiri) in Thiruvaheendrapuram (famous for the temple of SriDeivanAyakan) and meditated on the celestial mount of Vishnu (affectionately referred to as Periya Tiruvadi by SriVaishnavas). Garuda was waiting for this moment and appeared before the swami and imparted the Hayagrivamantra to him. VenkatanAthA being one of unrelenting resolve of the sAtvika kind meditated on Lord Hayagriva, the preceptor of goddess Saraswathi and the horse-faced Lord and appeared before him. The young Desika composed the Hayagriva stotrA in praise of this form of Vishnu and lord Hayagriva granted this worthy Successor of SriRAmAnujA, mastery over all arts and the power to vanquish anyone in debate.
A Lion among Poets and Logicians
The Abode of Dispassion
He was a householder who led the UnchaVritti way of life. Thanks to Sriman NArAyaNA’s grace, his wife was completely supportive of this. Truly, it is the will of the lord that makes the minds of a couple undivided and compatible. One day when VenkatanAthA went for his UnchaVritti, the wife of a wealthy person, out of concern for the material prosperity of the swami, dropped a golden coin along with the rice into his bowl. Upon returning home, he gave the vessel to his wife, who discovered the coin asked him about it. To this VenkatanAthA, who was verily the abode of supreme dispassion, replied ‘it is a toxic worm, please get rid of it’. The devoted wife did as she was told, and those who came to know this incident were lost in admiration of this most noble couple.
However his extremely austere life moved to pity, swami VidyAraNyA, a profound Advaitic scholar and preceptor of the Vijayanagara kings. The scholar also happened to be DesikA’s childhood friend and he invited the swami over to the royal court of Vijayanagar, assuring him of royal patronage. Apparently this letter had no effect on swami Desika who wrote back five verses in reply. These verses are now recited by SriVaishnavas desirous of dispassion and are referred to as VairAgya Panchakam.
The concluding verse “my father has not bequeathed any riches upon me, nor have I sought and obtained riches for myself, I have for my patrimony the lord of Hastigiri!” is so powerful that it can grant dispassion even if it is recited once with a full understanding of its import.
SriStuthi and the Shower of Gold
Paragon of Patience
Vedanta Desikan
Here he defended Visishtaadvaita against his philosophical opponents and his criticisms against advaita were recorded in a text called sathadooshani, (the hundred objections against advaita, only around 66 are available presently). He routed scholars of rival schools with matchless vigour. The ocean of auspicious attributes, SriRanganAthA was immensely pleased with the service of His spiritual son, and joyfully gave him the title of ‘VedAnta Desikan’. This is the name by which most SriVaishnavAs know Swami NigamAntha MahAdesikan.
Sarvatantra Svatantra
Impartial Scholar
In our world, scholarship makes people proud and opinionated. This is because much of what passes for accomplishment in the world is mere tinsel. Swami DesikA was a true scholar who prided himself only on being a servant of Hari.
Desika also wrote an allegorical play titled Samkalpa Sooryodhayam in response to a well known Advaitic play called Prabodha Chandrodayam by Krishna Misra, a profound Advaitic scholar.
The Snake-Charmer and Swami Desikan
Constructing a Well
A Magician is humbled by the MahAbhAgavathA
A sanyAsin, who had become envious of Desikan’s reputation and greatness, used incantations of a negative kind to induce an illness known as ‘jalodharam’ in Swami Desikan’s body. Swami Desikan was hardly fazed by this, and without any exertion, scratched a pole in front of him, making the fluids in his stomach flow from it as if by magic. The magician was thus left looking for the swAmi’s pardon, which, of course, he gave without hesitation.
The PAdukA Sahasram – an Overnight Wonder
The Three SriVaishnavas
Protector of the SrutapraKAshikA
A Well-Lived Life
During his lifetime he composed works of impeccable merit in languages like Tamil, Sanskrit, ManiprAvaLa and Prakrit. His works span the entire range of the written word and he has composed poems, hymns, philosophical treatises and written an epic, a drama, a set of commentaries, prabandha literature, and the esoteric texts known as RahasyaGranthAs (of which the most famous is the RahasyatrayasAram which was to be his magnum opus; this text codifies the doctrine of prapatti enunciated by RAmAnujA in the Gadyatrayam and other texts).
Also he wrote a text on dietetics which is available even today, under the name AhAraniyama.
The swami left his corporeal mansion and attained Vaikuntham on a KartikA Paurnami day under the KartikA asterism, after having lived an illustrious life of hundred and two years. He had lived a life not unlike that of the SriBashyakArar and finally regained his rightful place in the eternal service of Sriman nArAyaNA!
KavitArkika SimhAya KalyANa GunaSAlinae
Srimathae VenkateshAya VedAnta Gurave Nama:
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