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Re: Spiritual health and material comfort

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Mani Varadarajan • July 12, 1999 


Dear Sudarshan,

Thank you for a very insightful and thought-provoking reply.

I have one question, which is not directly related to this topic.
You write:

> [Desika] was not a happy man while he lived in Kanchipuram, being
> endlessly teased and oppressed by his peers there who never lost an
> opportunity to scathingly run him and his work down. In Tiruvaheendrapuram
> where he retired for 14 long years in a sort of "vanavAsam", he was often
> the butt of his rivals' unkindness, jealousy, pettiness and vicious
> mischief. In Sri Rangam where he spent the prime of his life, he was again
> constantly pilloried by adversarial colleagues. The political turmoil of his
> times shunned him to SatyakAlam where again he lived the life of a lonely
> exile for more than two decades.

Where do these stories of Desika harrassment come from?
I have read them in some recent secondary literature, but
in the oldest works, and amidst Desika's own words, I can
find nothing but contentment.  In fact, in the bhagavad-dhyAna
sopAnam dedicated to Lord Ranganatha, Desika prays
that he may forever live in Srirangam, where great
rasikas live:

  "rangAsthAne rasika-mahite ranjitA seshacitte..."

Is there solid evidence to the contrary (not rumor or traditional
stories which are part of oral tradition -- I have heard of those)?
>From all the ancient authorities, I only read of a Desika who 
lived happily among fellow bhAgavatas.

Mani