Acharya Vandanam

Swami Desikan - Tiruvahindrapuram

உன்னருள் அன்றி எனக்கொரு நற்றுணை இன்மையினால்*

என்னிரு வல்வினை நீயே விலக்கி இதம் கருதி*

மன்னிய நல் திருமந்திரம் ஓதும் பொருள் நிலையே*

பொன் அருளால் அருளாய் புகழ் தூப்புல் குலவிளக்கே 

- குமார வரதாசார் (பிள்ளை அந்தாதி - 15 ) 

unnaruL anRi enakkoru naRRuNai inmaiyinAl

enniru valvinai neeYe vilakki idham karudhi

manniyanal thirumanthiram Oadhum poruL nilaiYe

pon aruLAl aruLAi pugazh thoopul kulaviLakke

-  Kumara Varadachar (Pillai andhAdhi - 15 )

It is a privelage to begin this blog with a pasuram by Kumara Varadachar (popularly called Nainachariar), on his Father, Acharyan and God - 'Sarvatantraswatantra' Swami Thoopul Vedanta Desikan.

It is fitting to quote Kumara Varadaaryan here, since he is one of the iconic examples for Acharya nishtai after Madurakavigal and Kidambi Aachaan (his great-great-grandfather), for he mostly sang about his Father, his preceptor as God Himself. He even performed prapatti(saranagathi) under the sacred feet of his dad, which is one of the three methods for saranagathi falling under Swami's Prapatti doctrine(sva-, ukthi- and acharya-nishtai). Incidentally it is the method practised by the MuniTraya Sampradaya, for which one of the descendants of the Kidambi family(Swami Tirukkudandai Desikan) was the pravarthakar.

[We shall see more about Kidambi Aachaan and the Kidambi Family shortly ]

Our Swami was a preceptor-peerless leaping beyond all mortal superlatives, next only to Sri Emperumaanaar. Within the limitations of my reading, I am still to find a topic that Swami has left untouched. It is questionable whether someone could match his literary compositions and Baghwat kaimkaryam, even if blessed with a life ten times longer than what he has done (Sri U.Ve. Velukkudi Krishnan's words in many of his mentions about Swami). Works ranging from Kavya-Nataka to Mimamsa Granta to Nyaya Granta to Ubaya Vedanta Bashya to Gita Bashya (Tatparya Chandrika) to Rahasya Granta to Stotra granta to Tamil Prabandha to physical kaimkaryam of saving PramaNas during foreign invasion to Sri Bashya Kalakshepam made over 30 times (still unmatched) to Debating in defense of Emperumaanaar Darshanam when faced with serious challenges to upholding Dramidopanishad and adhayayana utsavam in Srirangam and Tiruvahindrapuram to bridging the gap between two primary Agamas in Vaishnavam to holding the disctinction of being the only acharyan to have sung in nAyika Bhavam to a lot more to uphold Emperumanaar Darshanam in firm footing.

Acknowledging all the above, Sri Pillai Ulagaaryan, his senior contemporary, has rendered a thaniyan summing his value up as 

சீரொன்று தூப்புல் திருவேங்கடம் உடையான் 

பாரொன்றச் சொன்ன பழமொழியுள் - ஓரொன்று

தானே அமையாதோ தாரணியில் வாழ்வார்க்கு

வானேறப் போமளவும் வாழ்வு 

which is rendered before recitation('sevithal') of his Tamil Prabandhams.

For a lot more un-expressable and non-existant reasons, Swami is my most favourite Acharyan after Emperumaanaar, and all the above crap, which are my expositions, are no better than a Zero watt bulb stating "Sun is a real bright source of light"

-

SarvatantraswatantrObayaVedantachaarya dAsAnudAsan

Konerirajapuram Asuri Sudarsanan