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Re: No No !! Number One Divya dEsam - Srirangam

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muralidhar rangaswamy • August 21, 1998 


Dear Venkat,

One cannot summarily dismiss the Daya Shatakam as a composition when 
of Swami Desikan having in mind only Lord Srinivasa. A careful reading 
of this work will reveal that other forms of Our Lord are glorified in 
this majestic Stotram. As our friend Sri Krishnaswami pointed out, this 
work is a Stotram, Vedam, Poem, and Painting (all in one). If Swami 
Desikan (an Avataram of Lord Srinivasa) had not safely transported the 
idol of Ranganatha to Satyamangalam, there would be nothing left of our 
Sampradayam in Srirangam to talk about. This service alone  confers the 
number one spot to Tiruvenkatan. 

Furthermore, as followers of Sri Ramanujacharya we are required 
to follow his five commandments. Let us see what his first 
commandment is:

Read the Sri Bhashyam.

Let us see where this was delivered and where it received the 
title Sri Bhashyam

Answer: Tiruvenkatan again.

These provide compelling arguments in favor of Tiruvenkatan as the 
number one DD. We already have one floor crosser today-a 
most reputed Bhagavata at that. This only lends credence to 
Tiruvenkatan being fundamental to our Sampradayam and therefore 
occupying the most prominent place among the 108 DD. As long as 
these rock-solid arguments involving Sri Ramanujacharya, Swami Desikan, 
and the KalyanA GuNam of Daya being unique to Tiruvenkatan can be 
conclusively debunked, any other attempt is only an exercise 
in futility. 

Namo Narayana,

Muralidhar Rangaswamy


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>Subject: No No !! Number One Divya dEsam - Srirangam
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>                            Srimathe Narayanaya Namaha
>
>     Dear Bhagavathas,
>
>     Sri Anbil swamy in his article has brought vividly the SarNAgathi 
to
>     SrinivAsan and did try to make us change our mind to vote for
>     Thirumalai as the best divya dEsam.
>
>     It may be true that NammAzhwAr did SaraNAgathi at the lotus feet 
of
>     SrinivAsan. But this action is specific to the AzhwAr, i.e.,
>     NAMMMAZHWAE DID IT.
>
>     Now read the beautiful pAsuram of AmalanAthipirAn where
>     ThiruppANAzhwAr, may start off with ThiruvEngadamudaiyAn, but ends
>     saying "...andarkOn aNi arangan, en amudhinaik kaNda kaNgaL
>     maRRonRnaik kANAvE".
>
>     Here ThiruppANAzhwAr does not say "en amudhinaik kaNda EN kaNgaL". 
If
>     he had said so it would have been specific to this AzhwAr. But he
>     refers to as just kaNgaL. This means the eyes, of anybody, which 
sees
>     Arangan will not see anyone else. By this he brings out the beauty 
of
>     Arangan.
>
>     Also we can interpret this pAsuram in this way (This may sound too
>     much, but it is only my thought about the pAsuram). The AzhwAr 
says
>     ".. kaNda kaNgaL maRRonRinaik kANAvE". Which means, though the 
input
>     terminal, the "eyes",  are connected with the CPU, the "brain" and
>     should act as per the instructions from brain , here they will
>     dissociate themselves from the CPU as they - have seen (or) are
>     receiving- the most beautiful and vivid input, which is the beauty 
of
>     Arangan, if the brain instructs them to look at someone else.
>
>     Let us get back to our dear Thondar-adi-podi-AzhwAr and ofcourse 
to
>     his ThirumAlai. In the 18th pAsuram the AzhwAr says
>
>     "inithirai thivalai mOdha eRiyum thaN paRavai meedhE
>      thanikidanthu arasu seyyum thAmaraik kaNNan emmAn
>      kaniyirundhanaya sevvAi, kaNNanaik kaNda kaNgaL
>      paniyarumbu uthirumAlo, en seigEn pAviyEnE"
>
>     Here the AzhwAr says that, his eyes, when seeing RangaNathan, 
fills
>     with tears of joy. Well everybody will like this. But the AzhwAr
>     curses himself as a sinner because the tears of joy, blocks his 
eyes
>     and prevents him from seeing Arangan.
>
>     Well this action may be specific to the AzhwAr, but note that he
>     curses himself as a Sinner just because he cannot see Arangan 
anymore.
>     He is not cursing himself for not doing SarNAgathi, but just for 
not
>     being able to see.
>
>     Also Swami Desikan may have done SaraNAgathi to SrinivAsan with 
his
>     DayA sathakam, but note that when he composed dayA sathakam he had
>     only Srinivasan in mind and hence the SlOkam was on SrinivAsan. 
But
>     ThiruppANAzhwAr started off with SrinivAsan and ended up with 
saying
>     what I have quoted above.
>
>     Taking Swami Desikan's case itself, if he was so entralled by
>     SrinivAsan why did he not prefer to stay at Thirumalai but stayed 
at
>     Srirangam. Even during the period of the Muslims attack on 
Srirangam,
>     Swami Desikan prefered to stay in Thirunarayanapuram instead of
>     Thirumalai. Actually Thirumalai was more safer to reside, at that 
time
>     than compared to Thirunarayanapuram. Account for this can be found 
in
>     the beautiful story "Thiruvarangan Ula" by SriVenugopalan.
>
>     Forget not that our AchArya peetam starting from NAthamunigaL to
>     RAmAnujar and down to Desikar and ManavALa mAmunigaL was always at
>     Srirangam and not Thirupathi.
>
>     So now I believe you will all agree that Thiruvarangam is the best
>     Divya dEsam as none of the AzhwArs have brought the beauty or the
>     Soundharyam and the KalyAna gunas of any other PerumAL so vividly 
as
>     was done for Arangan.
>
>     Sri RanganAyaki thAyAr samEtha Sri RanganAtha swAminE namaha
>
>     adiyEn RAmAnuja dAsan
>
>     Thirumalai Vinjamoor Venkatesh
>


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