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Sri AparyApthAmr*utha DhAyana sOpAnam of Sri Thirukkudanthai Desikan

From the Bhakti List Archives

V. Sadagopan • Sun Oct 19 1997 - 18:59:16 PDT 


Isvara Samvathsaram , Iyppasi 2 , Sunday 
KrishNa paksha Chathurthi , Kaarthigai/RohiNi 

Sri KomaLavalli NaayikA sametha Sri AparyAptha 
ParabrahmaNE Nama: 

Sri KrishNa Desika padhAmbhuja Br*ungarAjam 
VedAntha LakshmaNa muneendra kr*upAttha bhOdham I
trayyantha Desika yatheendhra satAri mUrthim 
GopAla Desika sikhAmaNim aasrayAma : II
 

Dear Members of the Bhakthi group :

Few weeks back , Sri Sampath Rengarajan of 
KumbakONam and Ann Arbor , Michigan presented
me with a rare commentary of a moving sthOthram 
of Thirukkudanthai Desikan named " Sri AparyApthAmr*utha
DhyAna sOpAnam . Sri RengarAjan is called by his friends
affectionately as " Rengi " . He is a native of the town
of " Saarangi " or Saaranga Raajan of Thirukkudanthai . 
His devotion to Sri RenganAthA of Srirangam and 
Sri Oppiliappan of ThiruviNNagar is well documented 
in his postings of the Bhakthi list . This sthOthram 
composed by Thirukkudanthai Desikan 
on AarAvamudhan ( AparyApthamr*uthan ) 
and its commentary by his seventh generation
grandson was a gift of " Rengi " of the 
town of "Saarangi " to me . That is a sowbhAgyam .
I wanted to share the great anubhavam of Thirukkudanthai
Desikan on Sri AarAvamudhan with you all .

When I read the commentary of this rare sthuthi of 
Thirukkudanthai Amudhan ( SaarangapANi ) , a floodgate of
memories opens up . I have spent my high school years 
at Thirukkudanthai . My family  stayed at the house
of the seventh generation dowhithran of Sri Thirukkudanthai
Desikan at KaruNai kollai agrahAram . Next door was the brother
of our landlord , ILayavilli Sri SrinivAsAchArya Swamy , who
wrote the commentary of " AparyApthAmr*utha dhyAna
sOpAnam . Our Landlord was the aaradhakar at the 
Sannidhi of Swami Desikan at the temple of SaarangapANi
at Thirukkudanthai .  These are the personal connections
that make this great aruLiccheyal of Sri Thirukkudanthai
Desikan even more precious to me .

Birth of Thirukkudanthai Desikan 
************************************ 
Nine generations ago , there existed  a great
AchAryA revered by all who knew him as 
Thirukkudanthai Desikan . He was given the name
of Sri GopAla Desikan at birth by his father Sri KrishNa 
Desikan . He became  the sishyar of the great AchAryA ,
Sri SaakshAth Swami considered as the 
reincarnation of BhAshyakArar .

Sri Thirukkudanthai Desikan has been recognized 
and revered as an aparAvathAram of Swami Desikan 
himself . Our ThUppul kula viLakku , Sri NigamAntha MahA
Desikan( 1268-1369AD ) had one regret in his life . 
He wished he had had the blessing of being  a direct 
disciple of BhAshyakArar ( 1010-1116 AD ) . One hundred 
and fifty two years had elapsed since BhAshyakArar 
ascended parama padham and Swami Desikan came
into this earth as the amsam of the ThirumaNi of the Lord
of seven hills . Hence Swami Desiakn missed the opportunity
of being a direct sishyar of BhAshyakArar . It is believed that 
Swami Desikan reincarnated as Sri GopAla Desikan 
to fulfil his wish to be the direct disciple of Sri SaakshAth Swami , 
the aparAvathAram of Sri RaamAnujA .

Sri Surapuram VenkatArya MahA Desikan has observed 
in this context : " BhakthyAgamAntha gururEva yathAthmanA-
bhUth Gopala Desikamaham saraNam prapadhyE " .


Sri Thirukkudanthai Desikan was born as a result of 
the command of Sri Oppiliappan of ThiruviNNagar just
as ThiruvEnkatamudayAn commanded earlier His ghantA 
to be born as Swami Desikan  at the bank of Vegavathi river . 
Sri Oppiliappan's other name happens to be  
Sri VenkatAchalapathy and he in turn blessed 
us with the bhAgyam of  the reincarnation of Swami Desikan
at Thirukkudanthai on the banks of sacred CauvEri this time .

Thirukkudanthai is a kshEthram dear to the heart of many
AzhwArs and AchAryAs . NammAzhwAr , Pey , BhUtham ,
ANDAL , PeriyAzhwAr , Thirumazhisai and Thirumangai 
have given us 51 paasurams on this aparyApthAmr*utha
para brahmam . Thirumazhisai ascended to Sri Vaikuntam
from this KshEthram . Thirumangai composed the rare
poem , " ThiruvEzhukUrririkkai " in the ratha bhandham 
pattern  and laid it at the sacred feet of Amudhan at
this KshEthram . PeriyAzhwAr enjoyed Amudhan as 
KaNNan , when he assumed the role of YasOdhA piratti. 

ANDAL enjoyed Amudhan as her Lord and begged Him
not to tarry in blessing Her . Naatha Muni ( 824-924AD )
heard the one decade of Paasuram of NammAzhwAr 
beginning with " AarAvamudhE adiyEnudalam 
ninpaalanpAyE " and went on a holy pilgrimage to 
ThirukuruhUr to have the initiation by NammAzhwAr 
himself to bring back the NaalAyira Divya prabhandham , 
which had been lost to all around this time . 

Many miracles have happened at this divya desam 
of Thirukkudanthai . One of them is the birth of 
Swami Desikan as Sri Gopala Desikan 
to become the Thiruvadi of Sri SaakshAth Swami 
( achArya RaamAnujA's aparAvatharam ) . 

Those who visit Sri AarAvamudhan's temple at
Thirukkudanthai can be blessed to have the sEvA-
bhaghyam of the archA vigraham of Thirukkudanthai 
Desikan at the Sri Lakshmi Hayagreevan Sannidhi 
at VarAhapura Street of KumbakOnam . Just as Swami
Desikan"s archA vigraham created by him sits in front
of the YogasikhA Hayagreevan at Thiruvaheendrapuram ,
Thirukkudanathai Desikan sits in front of Sri Lakshmi
Hayagreevan at AarAvamudhan"s KshEthram . 
He is saluting AarAvamudhan and KomaLavalli 
ThAyar with their dhyAna slOkams
prior to reciting his moving Sri AparyApthAmr*utha 
DhyAna sOpAnam  :

thrimsath thrikOti vasurudhra divAkarAdhi
DevAthi Deva gaNa santhatham sEvyamAnam I
AmbhOja sambhava chathurmukha gheeyamAnam
vandhE sayAnamiga bhOgini SaarngapANim II

Sakala bhuvana mAthA sAgarAdheesa jaathA 
praNamath avana kaamA Bhaskara kshEthradhAmA I
sakalitha bhaya mUlA SaarngadhanvAnukUlA 
pravimala mukha BhimbhA paathu maam KomaLAmbhA II

Just as ThiruppANAzhwAr saluted the SarvAngha soundharyam
of Lord RanganAthA through the ten verses of "Amalan Aadhi pirAn" 
and provided the inspiration for Swami Desiakn to enjoy the 
insatiable beauty of the limbs of the Lord of Rangam in
deva bhAshA  to give us " Sri Bhagavadh DhyAna sOpanam " ,
Thirukkudanthai Desikan described the limitless beauty
of the limbs of Sri AarAvamudhan in his " ApayApthAmr*utha
dhyAna sOpAnam " . 

I will cover the individual slOkams of this sthOthram in 
subsequent posts .

Sri Munitthraya siddhAntha padminyullAsa bhaskara: I
GopAla Desika : SrimAn jEjeeyath santhatham bhuvi II

Oppiliappan koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan