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Oppiliappan List Archive: Message 00109 Jan 2004

 
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"na deivam deSikAt param, na param deSikArcanAt"

[There is no god greater, and none more worthy
 of worship - than deSika]

Whatever be the sampradAyic explanation for that
enchanting smile of SrI deva perumAL of kanchi,
adiyEn is certain that the main cause for this
"hastigiri hAsikai" - is deva perumAL gloating
over the fact that he remains the iShta devatA
of SrIviShNu ghaNtAvatAra swAmi deSikan himself.

As he did for all his life, so also during his
12 years in satyamangaLam (having survived the
moslem invasion of SrIrangam), swAmi deSikan
continued to worship deva perumAL - the temple
of perundevi nAyikA sametha SrI VaradarAjar
is today found in that kshetram along with of
course, the sannidhi of swAmi deSikan.

Udayavar too, was inseperable from his dear
SrI deva perumAL all his life... was it not
perundevi thAyAr and devAdirAjan themselves,
who whisked the young rAmAnuja away to safety
and back to kanchi in the guise of a hunter
couple, thus foiling yAdavaprakAsa's plot to
end the child's life?  Was it not under the
ever-watchful eye of varadarAja perumAL, that
rAmAnuja got initiated into the tradition of
Alavandhar, ultimately taking sanyAsam from
the same devaperumAL himself?  And was it not
this very devaperumAL, who gave rAmAnuja the
brahma-gnyanam needed to write SrIbhAshyam via
his preceptor thirukacchi nambi??

Even at the sannidhi where udayavar's thAne-Ana
thirumEni is found in periya kovil, utsavar has
SrI deva perumAL alongside - his iShtadevatA
whom udayavar always worshipped, despite being
in the immediate presence of ranganathar!  And
so our beloved SrI devaperumAL smiles constantly,
basking in the glory of constant aupAsanA from
the two greatest AchAryas of SrI sampradAyam.

As we walked back towards the main gate of this
varadarAjar kovil, Sri Sadagopa tathAcharya (SST)
swAmi drew our attention to the huge puShkariNI
wherein, he explained - rested the thirumEni of
SrI "atthi" varadar whose emergence once every
40 years is celebrated with great festivity.
adiyEn recalled atthivaradar being mentioned by
my late grandparents, who had his incredible
darSanam on two occasions - 1940 and 1980 CE.
[They also saved a rare photo of atthivaradar
 from 1940, from which I made a digital copy.
 Will try and upload this as soon as possible.]

adiyEn expressed regret over not having been to
swAmi deSikan sannidhi; SST swami assured us we
would have ample opportunity to so - at the very
birthplace of swAmi deSikan himself, thooppul.
It would have to be the next day though, since
it was 10 p.m. and nightfall by now.

SST swAmi would not let us return to our lodge
without meeting other members of his family -
who reside right outside varadarajar kovil, at
the very first agrahAraveedu on sannidhi street
in kanchi.  Seeing them, as I came to realize
later on - would be the greatest bhAgyam from
having been to kanchi, even more so than being
a sevArthi at kanchi/Sriperumbuthoor/thooppul.
For just as swAmi deSikan was our foremost SrI
sampradAya gnyAna-viLakku, descenants of koti
kanyAdAnam thAthadeSikan such as SrIsudarSana
thAthAchAryar [ChuChu swAmi] and those in his
santhathi such as Satakopa thAthAchArya swAmi
(pulikku poonai piRakkumO?) are verily, lamps
showing the way to swAmi deSikan himself.

To have samparkam with those who are a viLakku
for thooppul kulaviLakku swAmi deSikan himself
(by means of their untiring service to his
legacy and to kovils that honor the same), one
must be blessed with some poorva janma sukrtham
- else someone like me would never have this
prApti.  adiyEn is grateful to all bhaktas who
in the last few years, mentioned SST swAmi in
their writings and conversations, thereby
making his valuable kainkaryams known to many
and in the process (righty so) also making the
name of SST swAmi synonymous with service to
the divya kshetram of thooppul.

Despite our reluctance (like blind people who
did not know there was gold in front of them!),
SST swAmi insisted that we go to his ancestral
home to meet his family.  So we followed him
inside, past the gate and past the threshold
of the front door, and the picture of a very
vaideeka household began to unravel before us.
Even in this confused life adiyEn had seen a
few agrahAram homes and older people with
Sikhai, panchakaccham and panniru thirumaN...
but this house had all 3 generations, ranging
from age 14 to 94 - in SriVaishnava svaroopam.

SST swAmi's parents welcomed us very graciously,
enquired about our family, about our travel to
kanchi, and so on.  Looking at the walls lined
end to end with padams, I saw a huge number of
them... perumALpadams right below the roof,
several black and white framed pictures way
back from the 1920s, more recent pictures in
color, all creating that mesmerising effect
one cannot explain in words.  SST swAmi noticed
my interest and immediately took out one color
frame of viLakkoLi perumAL and gave it to me.
adiyEn was too overwhelmed to even thank him...

Meanwhile a tall, elderly figure emerged from
one dimly lit room adjoining this hall.  To our
surprise, SST swAmi told us it was his thaatha
SrIsudarSana thAthAchAryar aged 94... ChuChu
swAmi walked slowly upto a metal cot and sat
down on it, asking me to sit next to him... it
was an unforgettable moment.  The conversation
was difficult because of his weak hearing, but
some important facts were discovered.  My father
learnt ChuChu swAmi was related to his maternal
uncle, also a thathacharyar - who stayed with
this kutumbam almost every one of his 92 years
when attending the divya garudotsavam.

The patriarch ChuChu swAmi (who has even started
a veda pAThaSAlai at age 92) and his descendants
such as SST swAmi and his parents - represent
some of the last remaining stalwarts of deSika
sampradAyam.  This family, short of living uncha
vrtthi, have dedicated their entire life to the
cause of thooppul swAmi deSikan nitya kainkaryam,
to the service of kanchi varadar, to vedAdhyayanam,
and to promoting studies in samskrit - gIrvANaiva
bhAshA, the celestial language.  Extending support
to them is the only worthwhile act that concerned
SrIvaishnavas (incapable of any other service to
our sampradAyam) ought take upon themselves... or
so adiyEn feels, with arguable justification.

Having paid our daNdavat praNAmams to the parents
of SST swAmi, alongwith the venerable Sri ChuChu
swAmi, adiyOngaL took leave of them. SST swAmi's
mother, herself in her 70s, asked that we stay
there itself, never mind the lodge etc... it was
very touching.  My father replied that had he come
here every year during garudotsavam along with his
maternal uncle, it would be right in accepting the
Atithyam extended to us - but not as fleeting
sevArthis who came once in a lifetime and left
the next day!  And so we left the first agrahAram
house from sannidhi thiruveedhi of kanchi varadar,
the abode of three generations of kotikanyAdAnam
thAthAchAaryars... with nostalgia in our minds.

It was almost 11 p.m. at night; SST swAmi promised
that he would accompany us to thooppul first thing
early next morning.  So we returned to the lodge,
and slept with the anticipation of sevai to swAmi
deSika archAvatAra at the very place he was born...

- To be concluded -

SrIrangapriya daasan,
-Srinath C.


 

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