Vedanta Desika: Encyclopedia - Vedanta Desika

Vedanta Desika

Vedanta Desika (1269 – 1370) is the second great name in Vaishnavism. He was a great poet, devotee, philosopher and master-teacher -- all in one. Passing away of Ramanuja in 1137 A.D. was followed by a period of sectarian split among the Sri Vaishnavas. By the end of the 14th century this turned up into a permanent division into two sects: Vadakalai (northern learning) and Tenkalai (southern learning). The followers of the former consider Sri Vedanta Desika as their proponent-Acharya. The followers of the latter consider Sri Manavala Maamunikal as their proponent -- Acharya.

Vedanta Desika - Life

Tradition regards Vedanta Desika as the incarnation of the ghanta (=Bell) of the Lord of Tirupati. Born in thoopul, near Kanchipuram, educated and trained by a scholarly uncle of his, he mastered all the known Hindu religious literature by age 20. Thereafter for more than 75 years he enriched the Vaishhnava world with his teachings and writings. He was a great teacher, expositor, debater, poet, philosopher, thinker and defender of the faith of Vaishnavism.

Vedanta Desika - Works

He wrote equally well in Tamil, Sanskrit and a Mani-pravala style (a symbiotic mixture of Tamil and Sanskrit). His writings number more than a hundred and include: devotional works on deities and Acharyas, treatises on Vishishtadvaita, commentary on the Gita, secret doctrines of Vaishnavism, original Tamil poems, epic poems and allegorical dramas in Samskrit, dialectical works directed against rival schools, treatises on practical daily life and several other miscellaneous treatises. His gloss on the meanings of the Vedas, reconciling the teachings of the Alwars and the PrasthAna-traya created history because it brought to the Divya Prabhandham of the Alwars a status equivalent to the Vedas.

Vedanta Desika - Desika means Vedanta Desika

It is not surprising that Vedanta Desika was called in his own time kavi-tArkika-simham (the lion among poets and debaters) and sarva-tantra-svatantra (the master of all science and knowledge). Though the word Desika commonly means Acharya or guru, after Vedanta Desika’s time, Desika stands only for Vedanta Desikacharya! Because he was adept in the philosophies of both the Tamil and Sanskrit traditions, he is referred to as the Ubhaya-vedanta-acharya, meaning, the teacher who is proficient in the twin philosophies.

Vedanta Desika - Greatness of Desika’s Writings

His poems are great not only for their poetic sentiment but they also contain an incisive clarity of appeal that is instructive to the seeker as well as enjoyable by the connoisieur.The devotional fervour is all transparent and infectious.Every work of his is full of beautiful poetry, superb devotion, conceptual density, philosophy, mythology, poetic gymnastics, lilting rhyme and majesty of language.

Vedanta Desika - The eight-lettered mantra

In talking about the eight-lettered mantra (Ashtaksharam)of Narayana, he mentions several things which can also have an eight-fold classification – like, eight kinds of devotion, eight siddhis, eight functions of the intellect and so on. In the same strain he talks of eight flowers for the worship of God; these are: Non-violence; sense-control; universal compassion; infinite patience; wisdom; austerity; meditation; and truth.

Vedanta Desika - Transcendence and Immanence of God

His explanations of the Transcendence and Immanence of God are illuminating. Transcendence ( bahir-vyApti) means: He is there even where Matter and Spirit are not there. Immanence ( antar-vyApti) means: He is inherent in Matter and Spirit in such a way that you can never say He is not there.

Vedanta Desika - Prapatti

When he explains the theory of surrender (prapatti) he analyses the situation of man’s sins vanishing after the surrender of Man. The sins acquired before surrender vanish at the point of surrender. Afterwards, sins done because of inevitability will not accrue to the doer. Sins done involuntarily or unconsciously certainly will not accrue to him. On the other hand, sins done consciously, in the sense they were not inevitable, will vanish in the following manner: one-fourth of them by a proper remorse; one-fourth by a determination not to repeat the sin; one-fourth by a preparation to do the regretful ritual ( prAyshcitta )and the last one-fourth by the actual doing of that ritual!

Vedanta Desika - Paduka-Sahasram A Magnum Opus

Paduka (pronounced 'paadukaa') Sahasram means one thousand verses on the sandals, is in praise of the sacred sandals on which the Lord’s lotus feet rest. The whole work is a monument for supreme devotion and superb poetry, all in one night’s intuition, - an overnight miracle of one thousand verses! It was done by him just as a fulfillment of a competition committed to as a challenge by his disciples who were provoked by members of the tenkalai school. All this was composed by Desika (as he puts it, by the Grace of the paduka of the Divine) in just one quarter of the night, actually the third quarter. The earlier two quarters were devoted by him, as soon as he accepted the commitment, to yoga and yoga-nidra (=sleep induced by yoga and resulting in intuition). The opposite school kept awake the whole night and brought forth 300 of the 1000 promised, on the lotus feet of the Lord.

Vedanta Desika - Eulogy of Divine Sandals

The spirit of the Paduka-sahasraM is unequalled in any religious literature. The paduka of the divine is equal to the guru or the AcArya whose grace is more powerful than the grace of the Lord. The Acharya implied in every verse of the paduka sahasram is Nammalvar, the great author of Tiru-vAi-mozhi, who is generally considered as the paduka of the divine. Here are a few examples of this unusual eulogy.

The Tamil word Perumal (pronounced 'PerumaaL') is used by Vaishnava tradition to denote the Supreme Divinity as well as the idol -- arcA -- of the Divine. The two words which compose to make perumal are perum, which means ‘the great’ ‘the gigantic’ ‘the supreme’ and ‘aaL’ which means ‘personality’. The corresponding Sanskrit word is ‘purushottama’. The sandals of Perumal are known as the Śaţhāri. The Śaţhāri is like a crown placed reverentially on the heads of devotees in all Vaishnava temples, and they receive it with humility, with one hand on the mouth as if to keep it shut.

The classic instance of this act was first done by Bharata (in the Ramayana) when he received the sandals of Lord Rama. But before he receives it, he requests the Lord to wear the sandals once and remove it. The act of Rama that is requested here is to step on the sandals and step down. This drama does not find a place in either the Tamil Ramayana of Kamban or the Hindi Ramayana of Tulsi. But the original poet Valmiki describes it. ‘Oh Lord’, says Bharata, ‘Please step on these sandals and step down. These sandals are the ones which support and sustain the welfare of the three worlds’. And Rama obliges. Imagine this scene in your mind. What does it mean? Does it have an esoteric significance? The obvious significance that suggests itself to us is that Rama is requested to step on the sandals and step out so that the sandals may receive the spiritual vibrations from the Lord and therefore become sacred so as to be venerated and be able to receive the honour of being the object of worship from Bharata for the next fourteen years, the period of Rama’s exile. This is what Vedanta Desika, also thinks and weaves in his verse No.113 of his paduka-sahasram. But three verses later he eulogises the paduka to such heights that this scene of Rama's stepping on and stepping down from the sandals obtains an enormous significance, revealed only by the great intution of the super-devotee Vedanta Desika. The why of that divine act as explained by the master-poet is wonderful.

When the Lord is on the point of embarking on a commitment to walk through the forests of the country for the next fourteen years, he was relying on the power of the paduka to protect him and his feet. Now that Bharata is asking for the padukas, and that means separation from them, as far as Rama is concerned, He is now stepping up on them and stepping down so as to receive the spiritual vibrations from them and thereby the energy for him to sustain the challenge of walking barefooted through the entire forest. So the poet says: If he did not do it, how could he have walked through the rough ground and dense shrubbery of the Dandaka forest with bare feet for so long? Is this not the height of devotion to the divine sandals on the part of Desika? The paduka is greater than even Vibhishana and Sugriva - says the poet in another verse. (Verse No.231) You are even greater than Rama, continues the poet again: Oh sandals, You are even more glorious than Rama whose glory pervades all the three worlds. For, if not, how did Bharata, who wanted only Rama, accept you as security for Rama’s return? (Is it not common knowledge that a thing accepted as security for money promised to be returned, must have a value greater than the money lent?) (Verse No.108)

Vedanta Desika - '''Sri Sthuthi''

Sri Desika wrote a sloka on Perundevi Thayar of Kanchi Varadaraja Temple at the request of Bramhachari. The bramachari requested Swami to help him to get married. At the conclusion of this sloka gold coins started pouring from the air and the bramachari took them for his marriage and swami did not even keep a single coin for himself. It is the belief of every vaishnava that the daily recitation of this sloka means that sri lakshmi is sure to reside in such a house

Categories: People known in connection with religion or philosophy | Hindu religious figures | Vaishnavism | 1269 births | 1370 deaths

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