SrI:
SrImathE Nigamantha Mahadesikaya namah:
SrImAn venkatanAthAryaH kavitArkika kesarI |
vedAntAcArya-varyo me sannidhattAm sadA hRdi ||
May the glorious Venkatanatha, the greatest of teachers of Vedanta, and the lion among poets and debaters, reside forever in my heart.
Let us enjoy few of his miracles in his life.
Sri Vedanta Desika was recognized as a great scholar, writer teacher even during his life time by the contemporary scholars and Acharyas of Vaishnavism, Saivam, monism [advaita], and Dualism [dvaita]. From his very birth many super natural things happened in his life, which are beyond the range of ordinary human beings. That he was an incarnation of the temple divine bell of Lord Venkteswara of Thirumala, that he had realized Garuda and Hayagriva by his deep meditation, that Lord Hayagriva poured the nectar in his tongue because of which all that he said and wrote were really the teaching of Lord Himself, using Swamy Desikan as an instrument for impounding the Vedic truths.
Bhagawaan Sriman Narayanan has brought about many incidents in Sri Desika’s life which are supernatural. In spite of his being respected and recognized as the greatest Acharya of his time, he still lived a very simple and humble life; lived ostentatiously devoid of pomp, fame, hatred and jealousy at all times. He readily took up challenges whatsoever in topics either in religion or philosophy, art or craft for he thought it was God?s will that he should write granthas as a reply to the challenges.
The Sapthapathirathna maalikaa of Sri PrathivAdhi Bhayankaram AnnangarAchAryar Swamy who was a disciple of Swamy Desika’s son Sri NainAchArya, the Desika vaibhava prakAsika of Doddacharya of Sholingur and Guruparamparasaram describe many miracles of Swamy Desikan that happened in his life. Many things that he did were beyond the capacity of ordinary human beings.
Bhagawaan out of his inscrutable mercy and indomitable will brought about the circumstances on some occasions in the life of Sri Vedanta Desika under which the latter had to act. What he did proved beneficial to humanity and earned Swamy the esteem and admiration of eminent scholars and the love and respect of all.
When Sri Desika was at Kanchi, a certain kind of sanyaasi with mystic powers came to him and challenged him to enter into a disputation with him. Swamy Desikan out of respect for the mendicant did not agree. The mendicant there upon entered into a nearby tank, began to drink water passed them on by his mystic powers to enter into the belly of Swamy Desikan and create unbearable stomach pain to him.
But Swamy Desikan by his supreme insight saw the cause for the trouble. To get rid of his pain in his stomach, he just scratched the wooden pillar nearby and made all those waters flow out of the pillar. The mendicant found that the water level also comes down in the tank. He came back to see that the water was flowing freely out of the pillar. Before he began to apologize to Swamy, Desika thanked him for helping him to clean the streets of the city with clear waters without any effort and thus removed the discomforts.
Garuda dhaNdakam was composed by Swamy Desikan when a snake charmer let loose a highly venomous snake against him. Sri Desika smiled and immediately meditated on Sri GarudAzhwAr drawing four lines on the ground before him. When the words of the Garuda mantra in the fourth quarter of this dhaNdakam was recited, praying for protection, Sri GarudA appeared in the sky swooped down quickly and carried away the snake. Being requested by the snake charmer Swamy desika requested and prayed to Garuda and restored the snake to the charmer back.
Swamy Desikan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam
kavi-tArkika-simhAya kalyANa-guNa-SAline |
Srimate venkateSAya vedAntagurave namaH ||
Salutations to Sri Venkatesa, in whom all perfections reside, who is the teacher of Vedanta and the lion among poets and debaters.
Writeup by : Sri Madhavakannan
