Desika as Sriman

Why is Swami Desika "SrImAn"
Excerpts from ?Sri Venkatanatha Endowment Lecture of Sri Seva Swamigal, organized by Sri Vedanta Desika Research Centre? and
reported by Sri G.R. Srinivasan Swami
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?There are various reasons for the appellation ?srImAn? to SwAmi Desika?s name in his Tanian ?SrImAn vEnkaTanAthArya: kavi thArkika kEsari?. We highlight six of these here.

1. The word ?SrImAn? reminds us of the line in TirumAlai pAsuram 11 -?karuvilE tiru iLAdeer kALattaik kazhiikkinrirE?. You are the one who had this ?karuvilE thiru?. By the grace of the Lord even when you were in your mother?s womb, as ?GanTAvatAra?, you were great in chanting the name of the Lord. The word ?SrImAn? is fully justified here.

2. AchArya vEnkaTanAtha, when barely 5 years of age, received the blessings of the greatest of Srivaishnava AachAryas (AachArya anugraham) of those days in the illustrious heirarchy of AchAryas after the great RAmAnuja. VAtsay Varad guru, popularly known as NaDAdur ammAL foresaw the greatness which awaited the young child and blessed him thus- ?prathishTApitha vEdAntha: pratikshiptha bahir mathah: / BhooyAsvai vidhyamAnyastvam bhoori kalyANA bhAjanam? //

3. BhAshyakAra had a tough time in the Gurukula system under the AchArya, ?YAdhavaprakAsa?, to put down the rising pride of Advaita, by his own power and removed the wrong interpretations of the Srutis. But, for Swami Desikan, ther had been no hurdles nor problems in his learning (vidyAgrahaNam) but learned various vidyAs (nAnAvidha vidhyA0, was initiated into the Hayagriva mantra by GaruDAzhwAr himself. In the 32nd SlOka of Hayagriva StOtra, Desika uses the word ?amlAn?, the unfading splendor, compassion and love of the Lord made the AchArya great and thus he became ?SrImAn?.

4. The other great contribution of Swami Desika was the ?Sri BAshay pravachanam? which was the prime command (prathama AajnA0 of the preceptor, for as many as 30 times within his 20 years of age. ?trimsatvAram srAvitha SAreeraka BhAshya?. He is really a ?SrImAn?

5. Swami Desika wrote the Grantha ?DramiDOpanishad tAtparya RatnAvaLI? which is a ?Divya Prabandha Sri? ( divine work), paying great tribute to the earlier AchAryas, NammAzhwAr, NAthamuni and others with exact meaning and interpretations for wisemen who are interested in serving the Lord. Thus, Swami Desika is a ?SrImAn?.

6. The great AachArya Desikan with the idea of protecting the purity of ?RAmAnuja Darsana? erected strong barricades in the name of ?rakshAs? namely ?GitArtha sangraha?, ?Rahasya rakshA?, ?nikshEpa rakshA?, ?pAncharAtra rakshA?, and ?Satcharita rakshA?. Thus, he guarded the five great granthas from interpolations and textual variations by the later people handling the same. Thus, he is ?SrImAn?.