SrI UttamUr SwAmi - "mAl uganda aasiriyar" (The AchArya beloved to Lord VishNu)
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• May 19, 2000
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, 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 after knowing the due differences present. Oh People of the World ! Become Joyful by taking these things 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 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 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 , 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 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, , made these glorifications in the midst of the roaring glorifications poured out by great senior scholars ; 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 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Remember four years of good friends, bad clothes, explosive chemistry experiments. http://click.egroups.com/1/4051/4/_/716111/_/958764169/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------------------- - SrImate rAmAnujAya namaH - To Post a message, send it to: bhakti-list@eGroups.com Visit http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/ for more information
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