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rangapriyam mamagurum SaraNam prapadye-II

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Srinath Chakravarty • July 31, 2001 


SrI ranganAyakyai namaH
SrI ranganAtha parabrahmaNe namaH
SrI ranganAtha divyamaNi pAdukAbhyAm namaH

SrI SrInivAsa varadArya krupAtta cinham
SrI SrInivAsa yativarya niviShta bhAram  |
SrI rangayogi varalabdha parAtma yogam
rangapriyam mamagurum SaraNam prapadye   ||

Fellow bhAgavatars:

Firstly adiyEn wishes to express sincere thanks
to Sri Murali Kidambi and Sri Muralidhar Rangaswamy
for correcting two very important details about
SrIrangapriyaswami - one concerns the TIME of HH's
entering sanyAsASrama, which becomes significant in
the light of the recent succession to the peeTham
of parakAla matham.  The other involves a rather
personal detail about rangapriyaswAmi's pUrvASrama,
i.e. HH's paternal lineage.

SrIrangapriya mahAdesikan took sanyAsam from the
35th parakAla swAmi - Srimad Abhinava rAmanuja
brahmatantra swatantra, in 1989 C.E.  This is
important because 35th parakAlaswami attained
paramapadam in 1992 (after which prakritham/36th
parakAlaswAmi was coronated); and further, it is
SrIrangapriyaswAmi who was originally expected
to ascend the peeTham of parakAlamatham as the
36th maThAdipati - which HH consciously chose not
to, with a desire to avoid the politics and other
responsibilities that characterize large maThams.
After all, it is said that 'sishyamoham' is worse
than 'samsAramoham'... **[no direct reference to
ANY monastic institutions; kindly excuse adiyEn
for any unintended offences]**

Today SrIrangapriyaswAmi heads the "ASTAngayoga
vignyAna mandira" in Hanumannagar, Bangalore. It
is a small, simple monastery, but has great piety,
scholarship and kindness - all exemplified by its
Acharya, SrIrangapriya mahAdeSikan.  The mandira
consists of the top two floors of a large house;
the ground floor belongs to SrIrangapriyaswAmi's
brother from poorvASrama.  While on the Ist floor
is perumAL SrIkodhaNDarAmar sannidhi, a small hall,
madapaLLi, etc. - the 2nd floor is a huge lecture
hall (the very place where HH gives the discourses
broadcast over telephone to USA and elsewhere).

Now, one may ask - what are the antecedents of this
yatheeSwarar SrIrangapriya mahAdeSikan, and which
samAsrayaNa/kAlakshepa paramparai does HH belong to?
The answer (found also from the AchArya thaniyan,
"... SrI rangayogi varalabdha parAmtayogam ..." is
that SrIrangapriya swAmi in poorvASrama was an ardent
disciple of SrIrangamahAyogi, who belonged to the
thirumalai nallaan chakravarthi lineage.  Thus it is
the samAsrayaNa and kalakshepa tradition of thrumalai
nallan, that SrIrangapriyaswAmi represents.  HOWEVER,
it is *not* true, that rangapriyaswAmi in pUrvASrama,
was born into the paternal line of thirumalai nallaan.
This fact is known to bhaktas who were related to, or
closely connected with SrIrangamahAyogi during the
lifetime of that AchAryan.

Be as that may, many continue to regard SrIrangapriya
swAmi as an AchAryan of thirumalai nallan lineage,
including my 88-year old grandmother!  Ultimately the
question of lineage of this great AchArya is a moot
point, since a yatheeSwarar of SrIrAmAnuja sampradAyam
transcends all considerations of kulam and jaathi. Yet
out of academic curiosity, adiyEn have requested my
parents to enquire of SrIrangapriya swAmi about this
matter.  A tribute to my unending impudence it is, that
adiyEn is testing AchAryan's patience in this manner...

adiyOngaL's questions to SrIrangapriyaswAmi on the
morning of July 04, 2001 concerned HHs' guruparamparai,
lineage, a prArthanai to undergo panchasamskAram, and
and a viNNappam for HH to offer samAdaanam to my wife,
who had been grieving over the loss of her grandmother.

Regarding guruparamparai, SrIrangapriyaswAmi told us
about SrIrangamahAyogi, about affiliation with the
thirumalai nallan sampradAyam, and educated us about
other svayamAcharya lineages among simhAsanadipatigaL
of SrIbhAshyakArar.  However, it was our prArthanai
for samASrayaNam, which elicited the most moving reply
from AchAryan.  Having heard from adiyEn about nallaan
chakravarthi descent, HH said - "un kudumbatthilayE
periyavar yaaraavadhu irundhaal, nee avar kitta pOyi
samASRayaNam paNNikkaNum.  Illai, nallaan chakravarthi
vamSatthila vEroru AchAryan unakku theriyumenRaal,
andha AchAryan kittErndhu samASrayaNam paNNikko...
Indhamaadhiri yaarum unakku kidaikkalaienRaal, nee
en kittavE varalaam"!!  We were tremendously moved by
this humble declaration on the part of SrIrangapriya
swAmi.  It was no secret, that adiyEn had resolved
well ahead of time, to seek panchasamskAram from this
very AchAryan - but this simple and unassuming response
from a scholar of rangapriyaswAmi's calibre convinced
adiyOngaL beyond a shade of doubt, and we prayed HH
to be blessed with samASrayaNam at the earliest.

SrIrangapriya swAmi wished to know how long I would be
in India; having found out, HH said "sometime between
now and the day you leave, I will summon you both to
come here and undergo panchasamskAram".  As it turned
out, the "call" never did happen - rather it was adiyEn
who repeatedly approached AchAryan with this request
over the next few days... so it should be I suppose.
Eventually it was on July 13, 2001 (aaNi revathi) that
adiyOngaL were initiated into SrIvaishnavam through
the auspices of SrIrangapriya mahAdeSikan.

To be continued...

SrIvAsa samyami vareNya niviShta bhAram
SrI rangayogi varadivya krupAtta yogam   |
SrI laXmaNAkhya yativarya krupAtta cinham
rangapriyam mamagurum SaraNam prapadye   ||

adiyEn SrIrangapriya mahAdeSikan thiruvadi,
-Srinath C.

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