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Shri
Shrimate Vakulabhushana Maha Deshikaya Namaha 
Shrimate Ramanujaya Namaha
Shrimate Athreya Ramanuja Maha Deshikaya Namaha
Shrimate Nigamantha Maha Deshikaya Namaha

It's time for celebration again. Shravanotsavam at Thuppul begins today with
Swamy Deshikan Thirunakshatram falling on 24th of Sept. Today's alankarams
will be Thanga pallakku in the morning and Chapparam in the evening.

As Swamy Deshika says, 
"Eththi manaththezhil jnAnaviLakkai iruLanaiththum mArrinavarkku mAyanum
OrkaimAru kANagillAn
 pOththi ugappadum pundiyirkoLvadum pongupugazh sARRu vaLarppadum saRRallavO
munnam peRRadarkke"

"There is no way by which even the Lord can possibly think of repaying an
acharya who has lit the lamp of knowledge in the cosmos of our hearts." The
only way we can repay our acharyas is by singing his glories and to perform
unstinted kaikaryam at his lotus feet. With these words adiyen begins his
journey comparing two friends who mirrored each other in their hearts. 

Ashtabhujanum - Swamy Deshikanum 

Well known is the fact of the Supreme Lord's incarnation on the banks of
river Vegavati as the eight-armed Ashtabhujan who descended upon this earth
heeding to the wails of the elephant, caught in the clutches of the mighty
crocodile. Better known is the fact, wherein this Lord has been extolled by
the Lion of apostles, Swamy Deshika in his celebrated work
Ashtabhujashtakam. Swamy's Ashtabhujashtakam enshrines in itself, in
entirety the finest truths of Vishishtadvaitha siddhantham that is in full
conformance to the Vedic tenets. In this work Swamy glorifies Ashtabhujan as
'Aptam sataam' a friend always with a good disposition to noble souls. Swamy
Deshika enjoyed a close relationship with this Lord during his sojourn at
Kanchipuram, his birthplace. He would pay his obeisance to this Lord
everyday enroute to the dwelling of Lord Devaadhiraja. A keen look will make
obvious the commonality in characteristics and attributes that these two
friends share with each other. Let us now celebrate the divine forms of
these two friends. With "nahi nindA nyAyam" in place, we shall see as to how
our Lord excels his Lord with a huge margin.

Ashtabhujan stands majestic with his eight hands adorning the conch, discus,
mace, lotus, arrow, bow, sword and shield. The Lord remains ever ready with
all his weapons as He wishes not to waste time in choosing them while coming
to His devotee's rescue. The same is enjoyed by Parashara Bhatta in his
Srirangarajastavam -

pAtu praNatarakShAyAM viLambamasahanniva
sadA panchAyudhIm bibhrat sanaH srIraN^ganAyakaH

Swamy Deshika in His magnum opus Srimad Rahasya-traya-saaram celebrates that
the Jeevatmas and Prakruti are represented by the Lord's weapons and
ornaments. In the chapter Tattvatraya Chintanaadhikaram Swamy Deshika
attests to this in the psalm "purudan maNivaramAga .... MEninRanaiththum
kAkkinRAnE". This has been translated word to word by Swamy Nayanaracharya
in Sanskrit that reads as "etashchakrati chetanAsiramatiH ....
TavagadAmAhurmahAntaM budhAH"

It may be a disbelieving thought to even compare an acharya of monastic
order like Swamy Deshikan matching in stature and semblance to that of the
vibrant and regal Ashtabhuja. But our Swamy is not far from this demeanor.
Let us now enjoy our Lord and his Lord with all these adornments.

Conch

The Lord adorns the Conch that is a symbol of purity. The conch reverberates
with the Pranavam, the one syllabled cosmic theme, which is the final
essence of the entire imperial lore. It is the final Supreme truth. The
reverberations of this truth within the dark hallow of the conch represents
the esoterical nature of this Supreme essence.

Swamy Deshika is himself an epitome of purity. He is the manifestation of
purity of mind, word and deeds. His brilliant countenance, his spotless
white attire, his blemish less character stand ample testimony to his nature
in being pure and spotless as the Lord's conch. The phrases "ravisadR^isha
tanuH" of Swamy Nayanaracharya and "sitAntarIya sUttarIya" of Swamy
Prativadi Bhayankaram Annan are quotable in this context. Swamy Deshika was
the knower of the supreme truth. His heart would always dwell in the
enjoyment of the glories of the Lord while his mind would always reverberate
the supreme truth enshrined in the Pranavam. Keeping in mind the esoterical
nature of this supreme truth, Swamy Deshika enshrined this supreme theme in
thirty-two esoterical works of his. He imparted this truth to several
disciples who approached him with a thirst for supreme knowledge.

Discus

The Lord adorns the Discus as a symbol of offering protection to the good.
The discus is indeed the manifestation of Sudarshana Azhwar. Its blazing
rays and sharp swirls would annihilate the evil and maintain righteousness.
The revolving discus is a representation of kaalachakra and denotes that
time is indeed sub-servient to the Lord. At times, the Lord adorns this
Discus in a ready-to-wield position, in order to offer protection to the
pious. This adornment is known as Prayoga chakram. In this context we shall
first enjoy the significance of Prayoga chakram.

Ramanuja submitted six questions to Thirukachchinambi that were to be
answered by Devarajapperumal. "pirikkil bhedamum kUttil abhedamume nam
darshanam" was one of the answers. Pirikkil bhedamum - This signifies that
the sentient and the non-sentient orders are essentially different and
distinct from the Supreme. This difference as attested to by the Bheda
shrutis or differential passages of the Vedas. Kuttil abhedam - This
signifies that though they are different they enjoy an inseparable
relationship with each other and the sentient and non-sentient orders form
the body of the Supreme Lord (savishesha-advaitham). This is as attested to
by the Abheda shrutis.

The Lord adorns the shankham in one hand and the chakram in the other. One
can clearly see the two fingers of the hand adorning the shankham while only
one finger can be seen on the hand adorning the chakram. In a way one can
imagine the Lord showing "two" with one of his hands and "one" with the
other. This can be taken to mean that the Lord is indeed conveying the
purport of bheda shrutis with one hand and the purport of abheda shrutis
with the other. Looks as if he is re-iterating the statement "pirikkil
bhedamum kUttil abhedamume nam darshanam". With this in place, the statement
that Perumal in prayoga chakram remains ready to come to the rescue of the
tormented is true. Evil need not always mean hindrance to physical security.
It may also mean a hindrance to achieving the finest goal of life, that is
moksham. Here torment actually means the ajnaanam due to delusive
influences. By showing the true nature of the darshanam Perumal is freeing a
Jeevan from his ajnaanam and making him know the essential nature of the
sannatana vaidika darshanam. This way, by adorning the discus, Perumal
exhibits the characteristics of an uttama acharya.

Swamy Deshikan is no exception here. His rightful indignation was like a
swirling Discus with blazing flames that annihilated the adverse systems
totally. He was searchingly critical but sympathetically tolerant. Just as
how, the Lord upholds the statement "pirikkil bhedamum kUttil abhedamume nam
darshanam" similarly Swamy Deshika has expounded the purports of this
statement in all his works and strengthened the parama vaidika srivaishnava
sri sampradayam that was fortified by Ramanuja. He is thus an uttama
acharya. But in case of Deshika, this went to such an extent that he almost
lost his identity with the name Venkatanatha bestowed to him by his parents
and came to be known as Vedantha Deshika. The term Deshika refers to a
preceptor. It is a term with no limiting adjuncts, but to have that itself
as his name is something exceptional. Acharyas celebrate a particular phrase
in Paduka Sahasram - "kAlo dAsasya pAdukA" to mean that time is not only
sub-servient to the Lord but also sub-servient to His devotees.

Mace

The mace is a representative of intellect. It is a weapon that has the power
to annihilate the world. It alleviates the Jeevathmans from their torments.
It is also a symbol of the Lord's supremacy. The Lord has been adorned in
words and lavished with sobriquets. He is the sole object of adulation and
aspiration of seekers. The mace is indeed the most compassionate of all
weapons for it stays always close to the Lord's lotus feet. On account of
this it shares the compassionate qualities of the Lord's lotus feet in
granting refuge to those supplicating at His feet. It is due to this reason
that the mace alleviates the Jeevathmans from the samsaric torments.

Swamy Deshika is no exception here. He has also been adorned with a thousand
names. He has been bequeathed with sobriquets from none other than the Lord
Sriranganatha, Periya piratti and his disciple fold alike.

Lotus

The Lotus by virtue of its tenderness and fragrance denotes compassion,
affection and other noble traits. 

Swamy Deshika extols the Lord for having multiplied his arms from four to
eight and rushed to the rescue of the elephant. It is particularly important
here to note the usage "dviguNa bAhunA" in Ashtabhujashtakam. Here it
conveys the meaning that the Lord, unable to bear any moment of delay in
coming to the rescue of those surrendering unto his lotus feet, multiplied
his arms from four to eight in order to wield more weapons to protect His
subjects. 

The highlight of the verse here is the Lord's eagerness to come to the
rescue of His devotees. In this case He has descended in a divine form
wielding weapons in eight hands. Such is the Lord's mercy and compassion
towards the Jeevatmans. Swamy Deshika extols this fact in his Srimad
Rahasyatrayasaaram, wherein he says that the Jeevan is like the kaustubha
gem to the Lord and is very dear to him at all times. 

Akin to the Lord, such inherent virtuousness of coming to one's protection
is seen in the advents of Deshika also. The eagerness in stride and the
excellence of wielding weapons are seen in abundant measures and in higher
proportions than his supreme counterpart. The following accounts attest to
this. It was a time when the siddhantham of Ramanuja was established well
and the system of Advaitha was seeing downfall at the hands of the
Vishishtadvaitins. Unable to bear this ignoble state, a band of Advaitins
headed to Thiruvarangam and challenged the very high seat of Srivaishnava
faith there. The scholars at Thiruvarangam having resolved to their
inability to face such a huge band of adversaries in a battle of
philosophical refutation, made a unanimous decision to send word to the
grand master Swamy Vedantha Deshika, who at that moment resided at
kanchipuram. The nobles of Thiruvarangam sent a decree in the name of
Vishvaksenar, ordaining Deshika to be present in service to the sampradayam.
Deshika, having received the intimation from none other than
Vishvaksenazhwan, the commander of the Lord's army, left to Thiruvarangam in
no time. Similar to His divine acquaintance, he headed with his weaponry
that was his sharp intellect and profound mastery over the shastras and
esoterical scriptures. He multiplied those hundred fold and descended upon
Thiruvarangam triumphing over the adversaries with the arrow like
refutations of the highly acclaimed dialectic masterpiece Shatadushani.
Swamy Deshika centifolded his hands and wielded a hundred sharp arrows with
each of them trouncing the system of Advaitha to irreparable proportions.
The Lord used shastram to vanquish His opponents, while Swamy Deshika, a
parama saatvika, used shaastram to triumph over his adversaries. 

There are other interesting analogies in this episode. The elephant
represents the parama vaidika sri vaishnava sri sampradayam expounded and
established by the masters of yore like Vyasa, Bodhayana and others on the
sound authority of the imperial Vedas. The crocodile here represents all the
fallacious adverse systems that tormented the vaidika system through their
misinterpretations and self-styled whims. Swamy Deshika thus protected the
royal elephant, representing the sri sampradayam from the vicious crocodiles
representing the adversaries. The Lord Ashtabhujan rescued the elephant from
the vicious crocodile, a mere creature. Our Lord Swamy Deshika, by means of
his teachings and writings, continues to protect innumerable elephants that
are Jeevatmans from the vicious influences of crocodiles of samsaaric
afflictions. 

The Lord is the most compassionate, but he is also dandadharan. But our
Deshika on the other hand, cannot inflict pain on others even out of his own
accord.

Sword 

The Lord adorns the Sword that is the manifestation of knowledge. By its
effulgence alone it sets to naught the influences of all that is unwise and
imprudent. The Lord's sword imparts on one the supreme knowledge or the
knowledge of Prameya.

Swamy Deshika is no exception here. He holds weapons but those are nothing
but the tatvams that he would impart to his disciples. He adorns the sword
of tattva jnanam. The sharpness of this sword is the sharpness of his
intellect. With this sword he beheaded the fallacious crowns of adversaries.
He uprooted and weeded out the theories of falsehood that had infested the
beautiful expanse of Upanishadic teachings. It was this sword, the
manifestation of knowledge or vidya that trounced upon the system of
nescience or avidya (maya).
 
Shield 

The Lord's shield bestows upon one the wealth of Eikaantyam or an unstinted
devotion towards Sriman Narayana alone. It subdues the elephant like desires
of Jeevathmas who tread the sands of samsara. 

The Lord wields this shield with one of his hands while Deshika was born
with this shield inseparably. This is the shield of Azhwar aruLichcheyal or
divya prabandham, the holy collect of 4000 psalms. Deshika reckons them as
Draavida Vedam and proudly presents himself as "tamizhmaRaiyOn". It is with
this shield that he trounced the onslaughts of the adversaries. It was the
time of the muslim fall at Thiruvarangam. The temple was seeing a grand
restoration under the able guidance of Swamy Deshika. A group of adversaries
demanded that the divinity of Azhwars be established before installing their
iconic representations in the grand temple of Aranganathar. It was during
this time Swamy authored two of his works, "DravidopanishatsAram" and
"Dravidopanishat tAtparyaratnavaLi". These works of his, clearly established
the parlance between the imperial lore and those that of Azhwars. Having
trounced his offenders, Deshika reinstated the prestigious Adhyayanotsavam
that was once started by Thirumangai Azhwar and was restored by Ramanuja.
Deshika's disciples have given wonderful picturisations of this feat with
their worded pearls "pUrvaM tatparakAla ...". This shield definitely bestows
the wealth of Eikantyam on its pursuers. Though embellished with all the
weapons, the Lord was unable to protect Himself from being smudged with the
slush of fallacious interpretations of the adversaries. Deshika, being
adorned with the shield of aruLichcheyals has in fact fortified the
darshanam of Ramanuja into a citadel and has made the fragrance of the true
darshanam of the Vedas as told by the words of Emperumanar to permeate
everywhere.

Bow
        
The Lord adorns Kodanda, the divine bow. This weapon is a manifestation of
satvika ahankaram. 

The Bow is a representative of many other analogies. It has two curves.
These curves depict the Karma meemamsa and the Brahma meemamsa. The Karma
meemamsa talks about the various rituals and their performances while the
Brahma meemamsa talks about an inquiry into the Supreme. These apparently
contradicting systems were thought of as totally disjoint by imprudent
scholars. Swamy by means of his wonderful and unmatched scholarly works like
Meemamsa Paduka and Seshvara meemamsa held these systems of exegesis
together and established that they are indeed not contradicting but are in
sequence. The Brahma meemamsa comes as a sequel to karma meemamsa. An
inquiry into the Karma meemamsa would give one a vivid ritualistic approach
to attainment of fruits. But these fruits are indeed momentary and are not
eternal. Having known their momentariness, one then makes an inquiry into
the Brahma meemamsa, which would give one the means to attain the eternal
bliss of beatitude. 

Swamy therefore adorns a majestic bow, the two curves of which represents
the two systems of exegesis and the bowstring that holds these ends together
represents his scholarly works like Meemamsa Paduka and Seshvara meemamsa.
Our Deshika adorns this bow that is a pure manifestation of his satvika
ahankaram and scholarship that has tied the two systems of exegesis into one
concomitant system of meemamsa.

Arrows

Our Swamy Deshika is like a sovereign who dons the best of regal apparel
similar to Srirama, the sovereign. Speaking of Sri Rama, one would get the
picture of Srirama holding a bow with a quiver full of arrows strung to his
back and striding on a golden chariot. Our Acharya holds weapons but those
are nothing but the tatvams that he would impart to his disciples. His bow
is nothing but his scholarship and on this, he sets the works of Ramanuja
and other purvacharyas as arrows.

Deshika has always been a warrior. A warrior who fought for the rightful
place of sanaatana dharma represented in its ripe and full form by the
paramavaidika srivaishnava srisampradaya darshanam. His armor has always
been his prowess and profound intellect, while the works of grandmasters
have always been his choicest weapons. These divine works of our
grandmasters may be seen in their entire splendor in the works of Swamy
Deshika. Our Poorvacharyas are like the rain bearing clouds who, shower
without bias. Their divine srisuktis are akin to these showers. The works of
Deshika are like the rays of the Sun. When these rays of Sun attain unison
with the showers of rain, all that remains for the beholders is the vivid
and magnificent panorama of colors. 

Our Swamy is decked with the jewels of jnaanam and vairaagyam. Detachment
and austerity are his strengths while purity of mind and deeds are his
robes. Humility is his armor, his disciple-fold remain at his feet like his
sandals. The knowledge of the supreme is his senses and constant meditation
on Paraman his fervent thought.

The Lord is celebrated with the popular sobriquet Sundarabaahu, meaning one
who is adorned with the most beautiful and handsome of arms. Swamy Deshika
is also eulogized with a similar acronym Subaahu that acclaims him to be the
owner of beautiful long arms. Swamy Varadanatha Nayanaracharya's statement
"AjAnulambyAyatavR^ittabAhum atyunnatAmsam shritagUdhajatrum" in his Vedanta
Deshika vigraha dhyana stotram attests to this fact.

The Lord is ashtaakshara svarupan. He is the manifestation of the
eight-syllabled esoterical maxim of the ashtakshara manthram. This manthram
is the essence of all the Vedas and is capable of bestowing upon one the
wealth of supreme knowledge. Both are sarvatantra swatantra. The number
eight has an added significance. Swamy Deshika was well versed in eight
languages. This is evident from his own statements in his drama Sankalpa
suryodayam, wherein Swamy says that he refuted and defeated the adversaries
of other schools in their own ways and languages. Swamy Prativadi
Bhayankaram Annan attests to this in his Saptati ratna malika when he says
"tathAShTa bhAshA kavitA paTutvaM sankalpa sUryodaya dR^ishyamasya". 

Deshika eulogizes Ashtabhuja as the sumptuous repast that a traveler would
take with him - "pAtheyam". Here the traveler is one who has performed
sharanagati and is a prapanna. To a nomad who is about to begin his journey
as a prapanna, our Swamy Deshika is indeed the most delectable elixir.

mangaLam dEshikEndrAya mahanIya guNAya cha
chakravarththi tanUjAya sArvabhaumAya mangalam

vAzhi vyAkhyAmuddirak kai !!!
vEdAntasUri charaNau sharaNam prapadye !!!



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