SrI UttamUr SwAmi as "ulagam pOtRum uttamar" by SrI V.N.SrIrAmadESikAchArya
From the Bhakti List Archives
• May 11, 2000
SrI:
SrI PadmAvati SamEta SrInivAsa Para BrahmaNE namaha
SrImad abhinava dESika UttamUr VAtsya VeerarAghavArya -
mahAdESIkAya namaha
SrI Lakshminrusimha divya pAdukA sEvaka SrIvaN SatakOpa
SrI nArAyaNa yateendra mahAdESIkAya namaha
Dear devotees,
namO nArAyaNa.
The following is the translation of an article in tamil by
the late (SrI VaikuNThavAsi) great "SrI U.Ve. VangIpuram
Navaneetam SrIrAmadESIkAcArya of Oppiliappan sannidhi" which
appeared in the souvenir released during the SatAbhishEkam
(80th birth anniversary) of SrI UttamUr swAmi on 10th Feb,
1977. adiyEn has translated the article alongwith some notes
to enjoy certain words and phrases used by the author. Hope
that, by the grace of SrIman nArAyaNa, the translation
preserves the charm of the original article, to a reasonable
extent.
A Brief Note about the author :
---------------------------------
SrI SrIrAmadESikAchArya (1901-1981) was a great AchArya, well
known for his utter dedication of his life for the SrI VaishNava
Sat sampradAyam. He was a disciple and son of the illustrious
SrI U.Ve. Navaneetam KrishnamAchArya of great fame, popularly
known as Navaneetam swAmi.
SrI SrIrAmadESikAchArya followed the footsteps of his father
and wrote good commentries for all the Sanskrit stotras and
tamil prabandhams of SwAmi DESikan. With great efforts,
referring to old manuscripts, he published all the chillarai
rahasyAs of SwAmi DESikan, alongwith his excellent footnotes
and explanations nicely bringing out the import of difficult
words etc. At those times, there were many mis-readings of
these texts in an earlier publication and thus, the great
task was taken by SrI SrIrAmadESikAchArya to come up with
proper readings and he consulted many great vidvAns for the
various questions he had. Now, we are greatly benifited
by the immense pains taken by that mahAn for publishing the
correct readings and that too in an error free manner. Before
publishing his commentry on DESika Prabandham alongwith the
correct readings, he told the mahAns that he would be liable
to be beaten twelve times by a whip (ie.jAttai in tamil, used
for beating horses) for each of the mistake he commits in not
recognizing the correct readings. So great was his sincere
dedication. The other great contribution by this swAmi is the
publication of SwAmi DESikan's SrImad Rahasya Traya SAram with
excellent notes, explaining the import of difficult words, the
import of the verses quoted etc. He obtained the President Award
for contribution/scholarship in Sanskrit (*) during 1975. This
swAmi also followed the footsteps of his illustrious AchArya and
father SrI Navaneetam swAmi in especially serving Lord Oppiliappan.
(*) : The first person to obtain this award was SrI UttamUr
SwAmi, wayback in 1960.
------------------------------
SrI U.Ve. Navaneetam SrIrAmadESikAchArya on SrI UttamUr SwAmi :
Ulagam pOtRum Uttamar (THE "NOBLE/GREAT" HAILED BY THE WORLD)
******************************************************************
There is none in the world of aastikas (Believer in
God ; Believer in a sacred tradition) who doesn't know
SrImad UttamUr swAmi. This mahAn has all the qualities
for being cited as an example of how a SrI VaishNava should
be. Our swAmi (ie. UttamUr SwAmi) appeared in the lineage of
great vaidikas (follower of vEdas) known for their jn~yAna
(knowledge) and excellence in aachAra (*) for several generations.
This swAmi is an example of the proverb "Small Physique, Greater
Fame". Those who know the glories of this swAmi can infer the
worthness of fortune of the parents who have obtained this
mahA-purusha as their son. Only those fortunate ones who
obtained glories by utilizing swAmi's unparalleled knowledge
in sAmAnya SAstras (**) and Ubhaya-vEdAnta (***) can know
the greatness of this swAmi as it is.
---------------------------
(*) aachAra : Conduct ie. Observance of SAstras, esp. the
performannce of rites of nitya and naimittika karmas
in accordance with VarNAshrama dharma, and following
related dharmaSastras pertaining to one's varNa and aashrama.
(**) sAmAnya SAstrAs : NyAya (Logic), mImAmsa (Enquiry
into karma khAnda) and VyAkaraNa (Sanskrit
Grammar).
(***) Ubhaya VEdAnta : Twin VEdAnta comprising the knowledge
of Upanishads and the Prabandhams
(literary works) of AzhwArs.
-----------------------------
Our UttamUr swAmi shines as the best amongst the
gems of mahA-vidvAns (great, well accomplished scholars)
glorifying the Sanskrit college at TirivaiyAr, in an unique
manner, due to their deep knowledge in the SAstras like tarka
(ie. nyAya), vyAkaraNa and mImAmsa. While only being a student
at that college, swAmi was helping his colleagues by clarifying
their doubts and explaining difficult issues and thus we can
say that his discourses have started as being a student
itself. We have heard that even the teachers of sAmAnya
SAstrAs to swAmi were amazed by his shining brilliance
as a student. The excellent training in nyAya, mImAmsa etc
was very helpful for swAmi to immerse and cross the ocean
of vEdAnta later. The authorities of the TiruvaiyAr
college did not want to suddenly loose the presence of
swAmi, who was shining as a great intellectual after
having topped their batch, and thus they appointed him as
a research scholar in SAstras. They became happy by getting
swAmi's (intellectual) contributions during his stay for
some years with them.
SwAmi took refuge at the feet of SrImad KOzhiyAlam
swAmi, who was shining as (i) an example of the conduct
required for sannyAsAshramam, (ii) a treasurehouse of
jn~Ana, vairAgya and anushThAna, (iii) one with
unparalleled glories in delivering discourses and
writing books. SwAmi received the divine glances of
SrI KOzhiyAlam swAmi as "aamudalvan ivan" (*) and attained
the excessive research oriented knowledge in vEdAnta
SAstra also and became foremost amongst the propagators
of the darSana (System of Philosophy; here referring to the
darSana of Bhagavad RAmAnuja). Our UttamUr swAmi was in the
frontline of vidvAns who were the "jn~yAna putrAs"(**)
of SrI KOzhiyAlam swAmi and followed suit his aachArya, in
being a good aachArya and activities related to it.
------------------------
(*) : aam mudalvan ivan : See the note at the end of the article.
(**) : jn~yAna putras : Very dear disciples; Disciples are
also sons of an AchArya ; AchArya is also a father
for a disciple.
-----------------------
Pushkaram, a mahApuNya tIrta (sacred water tank) kshEtram
of North India also wanted to witness the greatness of UttamUr
swAmi and derive happiness. Thus, it invited swAmi and
due to his discourses, produced many vidvAns with
exceptional knowledge in vEdAnta SAstra. Hence, it stands
with great pride. SwAmi dESikan's son (SrI KumAra VaradAchArya)
himself has said that SwAmi dESIkan, whose avatAram was due to
the divine will of Lord ThiruvEngadamudayAn, was having tirumala
as the sporting place of his youth. When that Lord (SrInivAsa)
Himself later came to be known as "abhinAva dESika", our swAmi
was made to live under the shadows of His holy feet for many
years and by seeing the power of deliverence of discourses
obtained by His grace, He got pleased and blessed swAmi
as being the "Best AchArya".
The city of Chennai got a rare oppurtunity. The city
earned a great name because of swAmi's decision to settle
there permanently. The stroke of fortune came the way of
many aastikas at chennai. Many aastikAs were fascinated
by swAmi's jn~Ana, anushThAna and the ability to teach.
They learnt the sampradAya granthams through the
traditional kAlakshEbam and has limitless bhakti towards
swAmi.
The AchArya parampara of SrI aaNDikkADu swAmi (AchArya
of SrI kEtANDipaTTi swAmi), though got an end to the
sannyAshramam after SrImad Garudapuram swAmi and SrImad
KOzhiyAlam swAmi, our swAmi is the important among those
gruhastas (*) who have taken up the responsibility to
continue the parampara through their qualities of being
an AchArya. We see very well the aastikas with vivEkam
(discriminatory knowledge) who didn't want to depart from
the aachArya parampara coming from time immemorial, taking
refuge under our swAmi and getting done the things
related to aatma (ie.SamASrayanam and Bhara-nyAsam
alias Prapatti).
-----------------------
(*) : SrI SrIrAmadESikAchArya is one among the gruhasta
AchAryas of this parampara. adiyEn will give a small
chart on this parampara in the next posting.
-----------------------
Elders have decisively stated that eventhough one may
possess complete jn~yAnam, anushThAnam and the like, if
aatma guNas are absent, those jn~yAnam etc are not actually
complete. Our swAmi is a mahAn filled with the aatma guNas
like mercy, patience, calmness etc in large excess and we
can perceive him as a small-mountain of aatma guNas. SwAmi
is so much an embodiment of simplicity that nothing more
great can be told than swAmi's sowlabhyam. SwAmi completely
forgets his greatness while speaking even with small children,
with a very smiling face and sweet words, thereby making
others also feel happy.
In these days, when the doctrines of sampradAyam are
being told in a public gathering through upanyAsam, we
see that one is able to get the appreciation and praises
from the public, only when colloqial dialogues, commedies,
explanation on the srungAra rasa ( dealing with the love
between man and women), current politics etc are a part
of the upanyAsam. But, our swAmi's thiru-uLLam (holy mind/
heart) is never for performing such an upanyAsam. SwAmi
has inclination only in performing the "upadEsam", rather
than such upanyAsam. This gives a great gain for the
listeners also.
What is the wonder in UttamUr swAmi being glorified by one
and all, as an unique personality in the world of scholars,
when swAmi exists as a mahA-vidvAn, possesing limitless
brilliance and the ability to manoeuvre through any SAstra
in any manner, according to his own desire (ie. at the
pleasure of his mind), all obtained due to the special
glance of the mercy of Lord HayagrIva (God of Knowledge) ?
Can one measure and tell the service rendered by
UttamUr swAmi to the world of vaidikas / VaishNavas ?
The ability to perform upadEsam directly in one's
presence (ie.ability to give discourses in traditional
manner) and the ability to write books are different.
Only a few possess both of these abilities. The possesion
of these two abilities in our swAmi is a result of the
combined blessings of both the SaraNyan (SrIman nArAyaNa,
the refuge of all) and AchArya. Only UttamUr swAmi is
comparable to himself, in making those undergoing kAlakshEbam,
well understand the doctrines of the sampradAya and make it
sink into their hearts through his lucid style, however
difficult the concept may be. The ability of the swAmi to
write books is also a boon from emperumAn . We can clearly
understand swAmi's ability to create books in a commentry-style
for samAnya SAstras also, through his commentries for older
texts of nyAya like vaisEshika darSanam (**), kusumAnjali etc.
SwAmi's blessings through the special publication of
SrIbhAshya alongwith SrutaprakASika, with the addition of
innumerous neccessary and extraordinary details by him, will
equal that of river Ganga being brought to earth by
BhagIratha (***). In this way, many texts of SiddhAnta, esp.
the detailed commentries, notes, special notes, tippaNi etc
for the works of SwAmi dESIkan are taking avatAra from the
sacred hands of UttamUr SwAmi. This is the most blossomed
state of special fortune for the followers of SrI VaishNava
sampradAya.
-----------------------------
(*) : emperumAn : Literally, "My Lord", referring to SrIman
nArAyaNa ; Used a lot by AzhwArs and SrI VaishNava
AchAryas since this indicates the intimate bond between
oneself and the Lord.
(**): VaiSEshika darSana : The sUtras of KaNAda delineates this
philosophy. Later, it got fused into the nyAya system
(NyAya sUtras were framed by Gautama). This system of
philosophy is thus referred to as "NyAya-VaiSEshika".
Today, many use the terminology "NyAya" to refer to this
"NyAya-VaiSEshika".
(***) : In SrImad RAmAyanam, Sage ViSwAmitra says the story to
Lord RAma and Lord Lakshmana about the arrival of river
ganga to the earth. The sons of King Sagara (IshwAku
race) were burnt into ashes by Sage Kapila, due to
their disrespect and pride shown unto the great Sage
Kapila. King Sagara's grandson amsumAn got informed
that only the arrival of river ganga (which was in the
upper worlds of dEvas) can purify all the ashes of his
grandfather and make them attain swarga. Himself and
his son Dileepan couldn't perform such austerities
towards Lord Brahma and obtain the boon. It was
BhagIrath, the son of Dileepan who finally did severe
penance for thousands of years and obtained the boon
from Lord Brahma to make ganga flow on earth. Thus,
any extraordinary perseverence, patience and austerities
undergone by an individual is stated as "BhagIrata's
tapas". Also, the outcome of the tapas is the arrival
of the very holy Ganga. Thus, the author says that
SrI UttamUr SwAmi did great penance of going through
the manuscripts for obtaining the right readings etc
and writing his own excellent notes and introductions
for obtaining the very holy SrutaprakASika, with clean
and right readings, and publishing without errors. The
SrutaprakASika which was almost in the extinct state due
to its non-availibility was made to appear again by SrI
UttamUr SwAmi, for the benifit of everyone. All vidvAns
say that, without the monumental SrutaprakASika, its
impossible to understand the intricasies of SrI BhAshyam.
---------------------
..........SrI UttamUr swAmi's wonderful commentry to the
aruLicchayal, using the knowledge given by emperumAn (Lord)
in SiddhAntam and SampradAyam, and giving it to the whole
world is a great help rendered by swAmi (to SrI Vaishnavas
/ whole world). This great kainkaryam of making everyone
enjoy the aruLicchayal, filled with "anubhavam" (mysticism)
got fully completed in a short span.
Several title of honours / awards are always
coming to swAmi, glorifying his multitude special
characteristics. If adiyEn enters to describe them,
pages will increase. After attaining SwAmi, the value
of the awards only increase. AdiyEn does not think that
swAmi remembers all the awards that has come to him
(ie. conferred upon him). It is necessary to mention one
(award). Many years back, there was a resolution in
India (as an independent country) to get rid of all the
awards that were being conferred during its
Pre-Independence era under the British rule and introduce
new awards. It was that time (1959) that the Indian
government came forward to give an award with yearly
honours for lifetime, for scholarship in Sanskrit.
Government, by its search, chose our UttamUr swAmi as
the appropriate person in TamilnAdu (South India) to
receive the award for the very first time. The pride,
in inviting swAmi to the capital of India (Delhi) and
honouring him the award (along with a certificate) from
the hands of the President of India for the very first
time (in history), belongs only to (UttamUr) swAmi.
If it has to be written about the service rendered
by our UttamUr swAmi to (Bhagavad rAmAnuja) darSanam,
it will be a bhAratam (ie. as lengthy as the epic
MahAbhArata). But, it has to be told importantly about
one wonderful rare work. It is swAmi's wonderful
creation called ParamArtha BhUshanam. One mahAn has
praised that SarvArtha Siddhi and SatadUshaNi of SwAmi
DESikan are the shield and weapon for one entering into
the war of debate. Such SatadUshaNi is a treasure,
which can't be refuted by anyone. But, many years back
(1956), a scholar wrote a refuttal to even SatadUshaNi
and named it as SatabhUshaNi. EmperumAn (Lord) made
the sankalpam that only abhinava dESika is apt for
writting a refuttal and shut the mouth of the critizer,
and also to establish the greatness of SwAmi's
DESikan's work. The command of many AchAryas and
requests from many aastikas made our swAmi to get
involved in the great kainkaryam of writting a refuttal
work. A divine work named ParamArtha BhUshanam, running
more than thousand pages, took avatAra from abhinava
dESika. The greatness of SatadUshaNi was restored.
Mouth will talk anything. Mind will think anything.
Hand will write anything. It is a scholar's good
characteristic to use these three instruments in the
right path. Poets convey thanks to manthAra and KaikEyi,
for they were only helpful in making Lord RAma live in
forest and protect those performing SaraNagati unto Him
by also eradicating those who are enimical to SaraNAgatas.
In this way, we glorify SatabhUshaNi with thanks, since
it was the reason for the outcome of a divine work
"ParamArtha BhUshaNam" from the holy hands of abhinava
dESika, to establish the greatness of SwAmi dESikan's
SatadhUshaNi. (Long) Live SatadUshaNi ; (Long) Live
ParamArtha BhUshaNam. SwAmi's introduction prior to the
work itself shows with quite a good amount of clarity
on the defects of the PUrvapaksha grantha (SatabhUshani)
and the clear import of the siddhAnta grantha (SatadhUshaNi).
One can go on writting much more about the greatness
of our UttamUr swAmi. Even small minded adiyEn can
proceed writing more and more. The emotions regarding
SrI (UttamUr) swAmi are arising in excess and are ever
overflowing. But, the Souvenir Committee has stipulated
restrictions on the length of an article. adiyEn fears
that even this small article has exceeded the limits. As an
outlet for the pratibhakti and joy in adiyEn's heart, this
small service is done by adiyEn and thereby attaining mental
satisfaction.
------------
Then, SrIrAmadESIkAchArya swAmi writes about the SatAbhishEkam
celebration and praises the committee for having arranged
various things for a grand celebration, that would befit the
greatness of UttamUr swAmi. The he prays towards the
Divyadampati viz. Bhoomi nAcchiar and SrI Oppiliappan, for
showering auspicious things unto UttamUr swAmi and the
continuation of UttamUr SwAmi's service through writing
books, giving discourses etc and more grandly celebrate the
centenary celebrations even twenty years hence.
----------------
(*) : aam mudalvan ivan : In TiruvAimozhi(7.9.3), nammAzhwAr
uses this phrase. SrI PeriavAcchAn PiLLai interprets
that "PerumAL is thinking that nammAzhwAr (ivan) is the
foremost (mudalvan) of those who can obtain His Grace
to sing pAsurams .....". This phrase
is used to signify the special glance of mercy by an
AchArya to his most chosen disciple who would then take
over his position for the next generation. In yeedu,
NampiLLai says that ALavandAr (YAmunAchArya) issued the
most merciful glances towards udayavar (Bhagavad RAmAnuja)
as "aam mudalvan ivan" . This implies that Bhagavad RAmAnuja is going
to be the establisher of (ViSishtAdvaita) darSanam. SrI
UttamUr swAmi adds that, this can also mean as though
ALavandAr feels "Yes ! He is the original
cause of everything " ie. udayavar Himself as
being considered as SrIman nArAyaNa (in His avatAram).
There is also another interpretation accepted by
pUrvAchAryAs to this phrase in accordance with the context
of the pAsuram viz. mudalvan is the one who is jagatkAraNa
ie. SrIman nArAyaNa.
---------------------------------------
This article has again brought out the unparalleled glories
of SrI UttamUr SwAmi. If even a great AchArya of the past
has so much of appreciation and reverence for SrI UttamUr
swAmi, it goes without saying about the way we have to
perceive the greatness of "abhinava dESika".
Please go through this quite lengthy posting again to get hold
of important points. It will also be very helpful to enrich
the understanding and anubhavam of the future postings. Thanks
once again for your patient reading.
adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan,
anantapadmanAbhan.
krishNArpaNam.
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