Sri Vedanta Desika at Kanchi

On the advice of his uncle and master appuLLAr, Sri Vedanta Desika entered
the grahasthasrama and began to serve the duties of a house holder with his
pious and devout wife, Kanakavalli by name. He did not seek service under
any one and earn money but lived on whatever he got by unchavritthi [grains
offered voluntarily by the pious people as he strode the streets of Kanchi]
reciting the hymns that eulogize the Lord. Whatever was got in this way, he
gave it ti his wife who prepared a simple food. He offered the food first to
the Lord- to his deity in the daily worship and then had his food as
Bhagavdh prasadham. He taught the holy texts in Sanskrit and Tamil to those
who came to learn. In the afternoon, he would himself read the puranas and
the epics enjoying the qualities and exploits of the Lord portrayed therein.
Thus the whole day was spent in the observance of daily rites and teaching,
worship and meditation on the Lord.

Lord Varadaraja blessed Sri Vedanta Desika in 1317 CE with the birth of a
son who was given the name of Varadaarya. Sri Desika invested the son in the
proper age with the sacred thread and initiated him in the Gayatri mantra.
In due course, he taught him all saasthras who learnt them with love,
respect and became equally proficient. The reverence that Varadarya had for
his father is declared by himself in a hymn as follows: all the saasthras
were learnt by me from my own father Sri Venkatanatha and not from anyone
else? Hail to him, who is my father, the initiator in the Brahman [by his
brahmmOpadEsam during upanayanam] my acharya, the goal and the means?.

Yasmaad eva mayaasarvam saasthra agraahi naanyatha:

pithrObrahmmOpadhEshtrE mE guravE daivathAya cha
prApyAya prApakAyAthu vEnkatEsAya mangaLam

During his stay at Kanchi, Sri Vedanta Desika visited the various shrines in
and around Kanchi and extolled the deities in melodious lyrics the
captivating forms and auspicious qualities of the Lords in those temples
there. He composed the lyric Saranagati Deepika on the Lord Deepaprakasa of
Himavana [viLakkoLi Empiraan of ThirutthaNkaa] , KaamaasikAshtakam on Lord
Nrusimhan in the temple on the bank of Vegavathi river, ashtabhujAshtakam on
the eight armed deity in Ashtabhusha shrine, vegasEthu sthOthram on Lord
TahOthkAri, paramaarttha sthuthi on Lord Thirullutkuzhi Vijayaraghava
PerumAL; adiakkalappatthu, arttha panchakam, Sri Vaishnava dinasari, panniru
namam sthOthram, Thiruucchinna maalai, meyviradha maanmiyam - all of them in
Sweet Tamil verse form, Sampradaya parisuddhi and other works in
maNipravALam (Sanskrit mixed Tamil prose) and Nyasa dasakam in Sanskrit-
these verses are some of Desika?s works written by him at Kanchi

Sri Vedanta Desika wanted o get himself blessed by making a pilgrimage in
the holy cities in North India which were sanctified by the birth and acts
of Rama and Krishna and by bathing in the sacred rivers like the Ganges and
the Yamuna. When he started from Kanchi, he was drawn towards Tirumala, his
mind was filled with the thoughts about the parama krupa [greatest mercy] of
the Lord Venkatesa on him; - who brought Desika to this world and made him
pious and great. By the Lord?s grace hundred verses flowed from him in
praise of this quality of the Lord i.e. dayA- mercy, as being superior to
all other qualities of the Lord and of creation, salvation, protection and
even destruction. This hymn goes by the name of daya sathakam. Towards the
end Swamy Desika says in all humility that he was the lyre on which the head
of Venkatesa hills played and sang this song of dayaa [mercy].

Sri Vedanta Desika then proceeded to Utthara Bharat and visited many holy
cities Ayodhya, Mathura, Avanthi, Kasi, Badavi, Puri, Brindhavan, Dwaraka,
Triveni, Gaya etc.. Thus Sri Desika had seen these shrines and enjoyed them
can be inferred from the graphic description that we find in Act V of his
drama Sankalpa Sooryodhaya of the whole of Bharat from the Himalayas in the
North to the extreme South. Of course it is only secondary evidence. After
this pilgrimage, Sri Desika came back to Kanchi and continued his daily
routine as before.