SrI UttamUr SwAmi - A Life Sketch
From the Bhakti List Archives
• February 5, 2002
SrI:
SrI abhinava dESika UttamUr VIrarAghavArya mahAdESikAya namaH
namO nArAyaNa!
Dear devotees,
<< Following is the article by aDiyEn that was accepted by
Sri Uttamur Viraraghavachariar Centenary Trust, to find its
place in the front portion of the re-printed Tamizh commentary
on Bhagavad GIta by SrI UttamUr SwAmi >>
SrI UttamUr VIrarAghavAchArya (1897-1983 C.E.) was born, after
Lord VIrarAghava of TiruvaLLUr answering the prayers of his
parents in the lineage of "Tirumalai NallAn Chakravarti" of
SrIvatsa Gotra at UttamanallUr, a village near MadhurAntakam,
Tamilnadu, during the Tamil month of Thai in SwAti star
(26th January). He had his SamASrayaNam (initiation into the
SrI-VaishNava sampradAya) from SrI Tirupati SwAmi (SrI VEdAnta
RAmAnuja MahAdESika) and underwent Bhara-nyAsam (Prapatti)
apart from studying VEdanta under SrI KOzhiyAlam SwAmi (SrI
Ra~ngarAmAnuja MahAdESika). Later, he became the successor of
this lineage.
At Sanskrit College, ThiruvaiyAru, he mastered
NyAya (Indian Logic) under SrI Swacchandam SrInivAsAchArya SwAmi
and MImAmsA under SrI ChinnaswAmi SAstri, the champions in those
respective SAstras. He later became a walking encyclopedia in
various systems of Philosophies and was revered by scholars
allover India, as a great authority especially in NyAya-VaiSEshika
(Indian Logic, both Old and New Schools), ViSishTAdvaita VEdAnta
and Advaita VEdAnta.
He had the unique and rare distinction of having attained a high
and equal authority over both Upanishads (VEdAnta) in Sanskrit,
as well as Divya Prabandhams of the AzhwArs in Tamil, hailed as
Dravida VEdas with NammAzhwAr's ThiruvAimozhi being the
DramidOpanishad (Tamil VEdAnta). He commented upon both the
Principal and few more authoritative Upanishads, and also the whole
of Divya Prabandhams with equal ease, adding great clarity and
profound insights. Hence, he is revered as one of the all time
great Ubhaya-VEdAnta (Sanskrit and Tamil VEdAnta) scholars.
He served Sanskrit college,ThiruvaiyAru for a while and even
taught SAstras at Pushkar,RAjasthan. He served SrI VEnkatESwara
Oriental College, Tirupati for the major part of his career
(1928 -53 C.E.) before settling finally at Madras. He has
trained many students from both North and South India especially
in NyAya SAstra and ViSishTAdvaita VEdAnta.
His outstanding commentary in the style of Navya (New) NyAya, to
UdayanAchArya's (10th Cent.C.E.) NyAya-KusumAn~jali, a very terse
text in the style of PrAcIna (Old) NyAya won the hearts of
innumerous scholars and students alike for its amazing clarity
and insights with ample lucidity. His unique commentary to
"Tarka Sa~ngraha", a fundamantal manual of Navya-NyAya, presents
the "SAbdhabOdham" for the entire text. His incomplete profound
commentary on NyAya-SUtras of Sage Gautama (Or on NyAya-BhAshyam)
is awaiting publication from the manuscript stage.
His work "VaiSEshika RasAyanam" as a brilliant commentary on the
SUtras by Sage KaNAda, won deep admiration of eminent
scholars for the revival of VaiSEshika Philosophy.
His excellent commentary for "MImAmsA NyAya-PrakASa", an important
text in mImAmsA, was very well received by scholars since it makes
the learning of BhATTa DIpika easier. His lucid commentaries for
(*) SrI VEdAnta DESika's SESwara MImAmsA and MImAmsA PAduka speak
volumes on his mastery of mImAmsA SAstra.
His elaborate gloss "AchArya BhAshya TAtparyaH" to SrI VEdAnta
DESika's commentary on ISAvAsya Upanishad,
not only dispels various criticisms on it, but also reveals
his profound scholarship in various SAstras as well as his
immaculate dialectical skills.
He commented upon terse works in VEdAnta like Siddhitraya of
SrI YAmunAchArya for the benifit of scholars interested in the
comparitive study of ViSishTAdvaita and Advaita.
His scholarly Polemic work "ParamArtha PrakASika", a refuttal
of "Advaita AamOda" - a criticism on Bhagavad RAmAnuja's
SrI-BhAshya by SrI VAsudEva Abhayankar SAstri - obtained him
laurals from many quarters of the world of scholars.
His hair splitting lengthy Polemic work "ParamArtha BhUshaNam"
written in refutation to his friend SrI AnantakrishNa SAstri's
"SatabhUshaNI" - a criticism on SrI VEdAnta DESika's SatadUshaNI,
is recognized as his magnum opus. Its a classic from the pen of
a matured genius stamping his authority as a champion in VEdAnta
with enormous originality and logical acumen and also making
evident his extrordinary mastery of the various intricate issues
in both ViSishTAdvaita and Advaita VEdAnta, contributed by
several scholars spanning many a centuries.
In 1960, he was honoured as the very first recipient of the
"President's Award", for scholarship in Sanskrit, by the then
President His Excellency Dr.RAjEndra PrasAd.
His detailed commentary on SrI VEdAnta DESika's "NyAya PariSuddhi"
serves as a milestone in the exposition of Epistemology adopted by
ViSishTAdvaita. His commenatry and detailed Introduction to
SrI VEdAnta DESika's "NyAya SiddhAn~janam", and commentary on
SrI VEdAnta DESika's "SarvArtha Siddhi" are cherished by eminent
scholars for their lucid, brilliant and insightful presentation of
simple to even very advanced aspects of ViSishTAdvaita Metaphysics,
Ontology, Epistemology, Cosmology, Eschatology and Theology.
Two of his well celebrated classics with marks of his scholarly
genius in ViSishTAdvaita VEdAnta, which shed more light on the
comprehensive and advanced understanding of VEdAnta SUtras by
Sage VyAsa are (i) "SrI-BhAshyArtha DarpaNa", a commentary to
SrI BhAshyam , the magnum opus of
(**) Bhagavad RAmAnuja and (ii) SArArtha Ratna-prabhA, a very
detailed commentary on SrI VEdAnta DESika's masterpiece
"AdhikaraNa SArAvalI".
His mastery in various SAstras like NyAya-VaiSEshika, MImAmsA,
VyAkaraNa, Yoga, SA~nkhya, Advaita, ViSishTAdvaita, Buddhism,
Jainism etc are easily evident in his various works and his
tamizh commentary to SrI VEdAnta DESika's "Paramatha Bha~nga"
adds ample testimony to it.
His bhUmikas ie.Introductions to his works in general are
very scholarly in nature. Special mention must be made about his
two outstanding elaborate bhUmikAs of very high order information
content: (i) For SrI MEghanAdAri SUri's NayadyumaNi : This very
elaborate bhUmika is a treatise in itself with brilliant summary
and expositions of various technical concepts of ViSishTAdvaita
(ii) For Bhagavad RAmAnuja's GIta BhAshya and SrI VEdAnta DESika's
TAparya chandrika : This is an outstanding comparitive study on
the three commentaries to Bhagavad GIta,viz. by SrI SankarAchArya,
SrI RAmAnujAchArya and SrI MadhvAchArya.
His majestic scholarly commentary upon SrImad Rahasya Traya SAra,
the magnum opus of SrI VEdAnta DESika, makes very evident that he
was an authority in the "rahasya" granthas of SrI VaishNava
AchAryas expounding the esoteric meanings and significances of
the three mantras held in high esteem by SrI VaishNava SampradAya.
He has also written independent works on Prapatti Or
SaraNAgati (self-surrender to Lord LakshmI-NArAyaNa as the direct
means to moksha) and allied "rahasya" works apart from commenting
upon various works on this field by previous AchAryas like
Prapanna PArijAtam of SrI VAtsya Varadaguru (NaDAdUr ammAL).
In addition to his commentaries on works like pAn~carAtra Raksha
of SrI VEdAnta DESika, his independent treatises on the authority
and teachings of PAn~carAtra and VaikhAnasa Agamas are rich
contributions to the Agama Literature.
His tamil commentary to the Sa~nkshEpa RAmAyaNa is a wonderful
treat for the devotees of Lord SrI RAma.
Like SrI VEdAnta DESika, he was also a very gifted and talented
Poet. He has composed many stotras, apart from commenting upon
all the well celebrated kAvyas of SrI VEdAnta DESika
viz.YAdavAbhyudaya, PAdukA-Sahasram, Hamsa SandESa, Sa~nkalpa
SUryOdaya and SubhAshita NIvI. Being a master of Poetry, he could
even summarize and explain the terse philosophical concepts with
ease, as evident in his ParamArtha BhUshaNam.
He never showed any sign of slackness and was ever brisk with
his publication activities through "Ubhaya VEdAnta GranthamAlA".
Striking originality, dispassionate analysis, well researched
writings, profound knowledge, healthy criticisms,lucid explanations
of terse original texts and establishment of authentic readings
from manuscripts remain as hallmarks of the invaluable
Philosophical works by this genius. His total number of known works
mainly in Sanskrit and Tamil amounts to around 185, discounting
his various learned articles in different souvenirs and magazines.
Apart from this, he has also edited around 30 works which are
mainly by earlier AchAryas. Currently, his publications are
invariably used in many spheres of Philosophy inclusive of the
traditional SrI-VaishNava kAlakshEpams(private discourses) and
upanyAsams (public discourses).
Though he never compromised upon his own principles and
Philosophical convictions, his high order intellectual skills with
proficiency in various SAstras, combined with his excellent
personality of noble qualities made him a very good friend of
many eminent scholars of even other systems of VEdAnta, who
rather admired his genius and held him in high esteem, similar
to how he was revered by scholars within the SrI VaishNava
tradition.
He was a leading guiding star of ViSishTAdvaita VEdanta alias
Bhagavad RAmAnuja DarSana. Besides being a prolific writer
and a well accomplished teacher, he also presided numerous
Seminars and Meets of Scholars (Vidvat Sadas).
His phenomenal devotion to Lord VishNu especially in the form
of Lord SrInivAsa of Tirupati was befitting to his awesome
scholarship. He never longed for name and fame and lead a simple
life offering all of his spiritual pursuits with humility as a
selfless service to Lord LakshmI-NArAyaNa and the AchAryas of the
past. He made alive the Indian culture and tradition having its
roots in VEdas by his writings and pure conduct and was an
inspiring personality for others to follow. His signal service to
the languages Sanskrit and Tamil are cherished by one and all.
It was a golden era for Indian Philosophy, with his invaluable
Publications taking the ViSishTAdvaita VEdAnta to new higher and
greater heights. No wonder that in recognition of his Super-Human
activities, he was and is being hailed by one and all - AchAryas to
Scholars to Layman as "abhinava dESika" - A Newer VEdAnta DESika
in their midst.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
(*) Bhagavad VEdAnta DESika alias VE~nkaTanAtha (1268-1369 C.E.),
a genius and versatile Polymath, adorning a unique place in the
history of India as one of the all time great Philosophers
cum Poets.
(**) Bhagavad RAmAnuja (1017-1137 C.E.), one of the all time great
Philosophers and Religious Leaders of great intellect from
India.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Some of the Awards and Titles conferred upon SrI UttamUr SwAmi :
1. President's Award for Scholarship in Sanskrit : First recipient
after the institution of this award during 1960.
2. "abhinava dESika" : By SrI VEdAnta DESika SampradAya-
SudhAsvAdinI SabhA, 1957.
3. "Ubhaya MImAmsA Vallabha" : By his AchArya SrI KOzhiyAlam SwAmi,
1942 {60th
thirunakshatram
of SrI
KOzhiyAlam SwAmi}
4. "PaNDita MArtANDa" : By SrI Abinava Ra~nganAtha ParakAla-
YatIndra MahAdESika of
ParakAla Muth.
5. "PaNDita BhUshaNa" : By SrI Madhva SwAmijI, MantrAlaya
RAghavEndra Muth.
6. "DESika SarSana Durandhara" : By SrI VaishNava Scholars.
7. "Ubhaya-VEdAnta Vijaya dhvaja" : By SrI VaishNava Scholars,1977;
{80th
thirunakshatram of
SrI
UttamUr SwAmi}
8. "SarvAtma RakhAmaNi" : By SrI VaishNava Scholars,1977;
{80th thirunakshatram of
SrI UttamUr SwAmi}.
9. "PUrva-Uttara MImAmsA PradIpa" : By SrI DESika SabhA,Tirupati.
10. "PrakASikA PrakASaka" : By SrI VaishNava Scholars.
11. "TarkArNava" : By Ayodhya Parishad.
12. "PaNDita Ratna" : By Sanskrit SAhitya Parishad,North India.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
aDiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan,
KOmANDUr ELayavilli KaralapAkkam anantapadmanAbhan (alias Anand).
--------------------------------------------------------------
- SrImate rAmAnujAya namaH -
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