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Re: Appeal for UttamUr SwAmi's Books Publication

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Anand Karalapakkam • March 23, 2000 


SrI:
SrI SrInivAsa ParabrahmaNE namaha
SrImad abhinava dESIka UttamUr VerrarAghavArya -
mahAdESIkAya namaha

 Dear devotees,
 namO nArAyaNA.

 Kainkaryam (service performed with sAtvIka tyAgam)
 to the Divya Dampati SrI and NArAyaNA is the
 parama-purushArtam (the final goal) for a jIvAtma.
 Such kainkaryams for a baddha jIvAtma can broadly be
 classified into two categories viz. (i) Ag~nyA kainkaryams
 which are mandatory according to the VarNA and Ashrama and
 (ii) anug~nyA kainkaryams which are optional.

 Out of the endless types of anug~nyA kainkaryams,
 SwAmi dESikan in the chillarai rahasyam "pradhAna Satakam"
 clearly points out that  "Kainkaryam in the form of
 jn~Anam" is superior to "Kainkaryam in the form of
 physical act" ie. kainkaryams like learning and
 spreading ubhaya-vEdAnta is superior to kainkaryams like
 making garlands for PerumAL etc. SwAmi dESikan says that
 such kainkaryams in the form of "Jn~Anam" are "pradhAnam"
 (of foremost importance).


 The SrIsookti of SwAmi dESikan is :

 "anug~nyA siddha kainkaryamgaLil kriyAmSatthil jn~AnAmSam
  pradhAnamAna padiyAlE jn~Ana-upayukta-prabandha-
  pariSeelanamum SAstrArtha-pratisandhAna-hEtuvAna dwaya
  vacanAdigaLum pradhAnangaL"  ( PradhAna Satakam, 54).

  It is stated that, learning vEdAnta and the divine works
  of AzhwArs and AchAryAs to obtain jn~Anam belongs to
  the category of "Kainkaryam in the form of jn~Anam".
  Rememberance of such learnt sAstrAs through Dwaya mantra
  etc is also stated to be a "kainkaryam in the form of
  knowledge/jn~Anam". These are "pradhAnam" ie. of utmost
  importance in comparison to "Kainkaryams in the form of
  physical act".

  Infact, the first three of the last five commandments
  of Bhagavad RAmAnujAchArya is

  1. To study and propagate SrI BhAshyam, his magnum opus
     and the commentry to Brahma SUtrAs of Sage VyAsa.

  2. To study and propagate the Divya Prabandham (not
     mere texts, but the implied meanings) of AzhwArs.

  3. To recite Dwaya mantram with the knowledge of its
     meaning.

    Bhagavad RAmAnuja then said that if these things
    weren't possible, one should perform services at a
    divya dEsam Or be merely a good servant for a
    SrI Vaishnava who does the above kainkaryams.

  Also, one of the last commands of SrI UttamUr SwAmi,
  before ascending to paramapadam, to his disciples in
  particular and the SrI Vaishnava community in large is
  to re-print  his works and the works of the AchAryAs
  whenever they are not available and _always_ make them
  available for the needy.

  The emphasis on the anug~nyA kainkaryam in the form
  of knowledge is the most important message from our
  AchAryAs, since the Divya Dampati are greatly delighted
  by these kainkaryams. Afterall, its Lord NArAyaNa who is
  the first AchArya of our SrI SampradAyam and He has made
  it a point to always propagate the vEdAs and Smrutis
  from kalpam to kalpam and to provide us with AzhwArs
  and AchAryAs for our utmost benifit to understand the
  tattva, hita and purushArtam properly. He has been doing
  this without any tiredness from time immemorial and it is
  by itself an indication as to what we should also do
  with sAtvIka tyAgam to please SrIman NArAyaNA.

 Thus, any kainkaryam (like re-printing books of AchAryAs)
 that gives immense oppurtunity for many kainkaryams in the
 form of jn~Anam is undoubtedly of foremost importance.

 In this light, adiyEn requests you all to kindly support
 this very important project of reprinting the invaluable
 works of SrI abhinava dESika UttamUr VeerarAghavAchArya,
 which are mostly commentries and glosses of the invaluable
 works of our pUrvAchAryAs. Preservation of these books
 and passing it on to the next generation is of great
 importance.

     During the kAlakshEbams of UttamUr SwAmi, his
     foremost disciple SrI SrIvatsAnkAchArya has noted
     down very important and relevant points and footnotes
     as and when UttamUr SwAmi delivered it. This has
     been done directly in the personal copy of his
     book itself for many works of UttamUr SwAmi.
     Many points were mainly noted down by him because,
     UttamUr SwAmi himself felt that it would have been
     better if those things also were penned down earlier
     by him into the manuscript, before the publication.

     Be it Bhagavad gItA Or SarvArtha Siddhi Or ParamArtha
     bhUshanam etc, SrI SrIvatsAnkhAchArya has ready-made
     notes and footnotes in his personal copy of the
     book. Its extremly important to make them get printed
     and it will be duly incorporated in this re-print.

   The other very important feature of this re-printing
   series is that, English translation of the bhUmikAs
   (ie. Introductions) of UttamUr SwAmi will be added.
   adiyEn has requested SrI SrIvatsAnkAchArya to translate
   the bhUmikAs of UttamUr SwAmi into tamil with additional
   footnotes if neccessary. It will then be translated into
   English with the help of scholars who has good background

   in English.

   Infact, all the bhUmikAs of UttamUr SwAmi are
   outstanding and all of our vidvAns have poured in lots
   of praises. Scholars say that SwAmi's bhUmikAs are so
   well researched and un-biassed, involving excellent
   analysis that, it forms a separate Ph.D. thesis in
   itself! One of the well known vidvAns of our
   sampradAyam told adiyEn in a private conversation :

   " I will now reveal my 'trade secret' to you. To master
     a subject, be it a certain Upanishad Or any other
     topic, I will first master the bhUmika of UttamUr
     SwAmi on that topic, which will invariably be
     outstanding. I will follow the references made by
     him into various texts in that topic and would master
     those places atfirst alongwith the comments made by
     pUrvAchAryAs and UttamUr SwAmi. By this process,
     even without reading the whole commentry on that
     topic, you will become a great authority in it.
     All the intricate intellectual analysis as a
     homework has already been done by UttamUr SwAmi.
     We need to just pick it up and use. This is my
     success story and why I am being hailed by other
     vidvAns also as a good authority in many topics. "

    Thus, the English translation of the bhUmikAs of
    UttamUr SwAmi is a very important kainkaryam and its
    inclusion in this re-print has been planned since
    it serves as a great boon for those who can't
    understand Sanskrit.

   There are certain "bhUmikA" classics of UttamUr SwAmi,
   one of the most outstanding of which is that to the
   "Nayadyumani" of SrI MEghanAda sUri. It runs over 60
   pages and adiyEn has heard vidvAns pouring out lots
   of praise to this bhUmika in particular.

  adiyEn has requested SrI SrIvatsAnkAchArya to translate
  _all_ the bhUmikAs of UttamUr SwAmi into tamil,and that
  tamil version alongwith the original sanskrit version
  will be printed as a separate book. SwAmi has very kindly
  accepted to perform the same and has already started
  the translating work, starting from the gItA bhAshya
  bhUmikAs - which are another masterpieces.

  By the way, SrI U.Ve.SrIvatsAnkAchArya is a chatur
  sAstra pandita (ie. expert in vEdAnta, nyAya, pUrva
  mImAmsa and vyAkarana) who learnt all the four sAstrAs
  under the sacred feet of UttamUr SwAmi. For many
  years of the past, this swAmi is a regular invitee for
  the sathas (meet of scholars) conducted by advaitins and
  dwaitins as well and this by itself gives the
  indication of the quality of this swAmi's scholarship.
  Needless to say, SrI SrIvatsAnkAchArya has presided over
  and has been presiding many meets of esp. ViSishtAdvaita
  scholars. He is an unparalleled authority in VyAkarana
  (Grammar : VEdic Sanakrit and normal sanskrit) and is
  spearheading a great project at the French Indological
  Institute at Pondichery, Tamilnadu. It is on the creation
  of an encyclopedia on the different words of sanskrit,
  giving a good amount of details for each word.

  adiyEn has also requested SrI SrIvatsAnkAchArya to kindly
  bless us with a bhUmika of his to each of the works of
  UttamUr SwAmi, in making us understand the contribution
  of UttamUr SwAmi for that topic, apart from adding his
  own analysis. This will also appear in the re-printed
books,
  alongwith its English translation.

  Another project which has been started is the gathering
  of all the articles of UttamUr SwAmi that got published
  in magazines like VEdAnta Deepika, SrI Nrusimha PriyA,
  Souvenirs etc. adiyEn is hoping to publish a book
  containing all such articles of UttamUr SwAmi. The
  quality of the articles of UttamUr SwAmi are unparalleled
  and various researched issues that are in his articles
  won't be there in his books. So, its extremly important
  to procure them and get it published. But, it will take
  lot of time and efforts to finish this project. Its
  extremly difficult to get the older issues of the
  magazines and souvenirs, and adiyEn has requested few
  vidvAns to kindly help out and work as a team. Hope that
  PerumAL does favourable sankalpam for this.

  Well, there are more than 160 works published by UttamUr
  SwAmi and this can give you a feel of the efforts that
  are needed for the successful completion of the project.

 adiyEn humbly requests you all to very kindly donate
 quite liberally towards this very important kainkaryam.
 It would be great if you can sponsor even the publication
 of book(s) Or get such sponsorors. There are scores of
 books to be reprinted and the invaluable service rendered
 by such reprinting can't be emphasized more.


 Devotees at US and Canada are requested to send their
 cheques (payable to SMSA Inc) to :

Sree Vaishnava Seva Samithi
7821 West Alder Drive
Littleton
CO 80128-5522

    All the donors will enjoy tax excemption.

 Devotees outside US and Canada are kindly requested
 to send their contributions payable to "Sri Uttamur
 Viraraghavachariar Centenary Trust".

  Mailing address :

   SrI K.G. Krishnan
   11 Hasthigiri Street,
    Chennai 600 033,
    India.

 adiyEn will follow up with a series on the Life and
 works of UttamUr SwAmi and will also let you know about
 the currently available books.

  Thanks in advance for your kind interest in this
  kainkaryam.

 AzhwAr, yemperumAnAr,dESikan,Azhagiyasingar -
 thiruvadigaLE SaraNam


  adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan,
  ananthapadmanAbha dAsan.
  krishNArpaNam



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