Greatness of Desika Darsanam

GREATNESS OF SWAMI DESIKA DARSANAM -
Excerpts from the article of Abhinavadesikar Uttamur Swami-
Courtesy: "Seva Malar" 1957. Translation: Anbil Ramaswamy
=======================================================================================================================================Sriya:
Pathi Sarveswaran found that His message rendered for the
benefit of humanity, in His incarnations as Sri VarAha and Sri RAma
did not get well publicized. So, He reiterated the same more
elaborately in His incarnation as Sri KrishNa under the pretext of
advising Arjuna, explaining clearly the difficulties involved in other
means like Karma, JnAna and BhaktiyOgas and rounding it up with a
grand finale that Prapatti which he had earlier instructed was THE
BEST means for humanity to reach Him. To reinforce this message, He
appeared as ThiruvEnkaTamudaiyAn.

Despite the message being so loud and clear, people were found
ignorant of the full import thereof. So, He deputed Srimad NAthamuni,
Srimad YAmuna muni and Sri RamAnuja muni to expound the content of the
SAstras through SribhAshya, GitAbhAshya etc. as also the means to
practice (anushTAnam) Prapatti through "SaraNAgathi Gadhyam". During
the days of UDaiyavar, the message did sink deep into the minds of
people as seen in the affirmation-
"SrI RamAnuja DivyAjnA prathivAsaram ujjwalA, dighantha vyApinee
bhooyAth sA hi lOka hithaishiNee". Therefore, the doctrine came to be
known as "Sri RAmAnuja Darsanam".

But, due to the mushrooming of votaries of heretic religions
frantically trying to spread their faith, due to our Scriptures lying
scattered in different works without being uniformly codified and also
due to the loss of the works of Sri NAthamuni hailed as the crest
jewel of SAstras (Grantha rathnam), ordinary folk were misled by the
spurious arguments of charlatans.

Feeling that if this were allowed to corrupt people anymore, the whole
world would come to a naught, "Thirumalai ThiruvEnkaTamuDaiyAn"
Himself, out of infinite compassion came down as "Thooppul
ThiruvEnkaTamuDaiyAn". For over 100 years, as Thoopul Desika, He
revealed in Himself the aspects of IlayaperumAL of RAmAvatara,
BalarAma of KrishNAvatAra, and "Apara Hayagriva"- all in one.

He spent his whole life in giving kAlakshEpams in SriBhAshya,
GitAbhAshya, proving the hollowness of the arguments of opponents in
lively debates, creating works on our Darsanam for the benefit of
posterity, writing commentaries on Bhagavad RAmanuja's BhAshyams,
erecting impregnable fortresses to protect our SiddhAntam from alien
creeds through works like "NyAya Parisuddhi", "NyAya SiddhAnjanam,
"SarvArtha Siddhi", "Tattva mukthA kalApam" etc as well as refutation
of other faiths through "Satha dhooshaNi" etc.

The old PrathivAdhi Bhayankaram ANNan of those times selected just two
of Swami Desika's works and was all praise for them- viz. "SarvArtha
Siddhi" and "SathadhooshaNi."

In "NyAya Parisuddhi", Swami Desika has blessed us with 49 Sutras.
This one work itself is enough for everyone belonging to Desika
SampradAyam to name it as "Desika Darsanam" and publicize the same as
a bounden duty because the gems hidden in these Sutras will be
appreciated only by a close study. The same applies to his
"Paramathabhangham" and his "protective" works (Rakshai) where
Prapatti has been expounded with extraordinary clarity like "NikshEpa
Rakshai", "Srimad Rahasya Traya SARam", "NyAsa Vimsathi" and other
collects known as "Chillarai RahasyangaL"

Inspite of all these, if our Darsanam does not percolate among the
masses, it is not because of lack of works but because of lack of
interest among both the Scholars whose duty is to propagate the tenets
and the layfolk who need to be taught. When such treasure is readily
available for us, we see people squandering their time, wealth and
energy in useless pursuits. It remains to be seen whether, at least
now, in the face of potential danger of aggression by other creeds
that are trying to rear their ugly heads, we awaken to the need to
prove ourselves as true Desika Bhaktas.

Since, our Darsanam was established by ThiruvEnkaTamuDaiyAn Himself,
it would be appropriate to call it "Sri Desika Darsanam" or "Sri
VenkaTEsa Darsanam". If we look at it dispassionately, shedding
narrow-mindedness, the conclusion is inescapable that this IS "Swami
Desika Darsanam" ONLY.

Since it is said that Swami Desika SriSukti is "OUR" Darsanam -
"NAthOpagjnam pravriththam bahubhi: upachitham yAmunEya prabandhai:
samyak ThrAtham yatheendrai: idam Akhila thama: karsanam Darsanam
na;", it is only proper to call "OUR" Darsanam as "SwAmi Desika
Darsanam"