great prosperity under the continued guidance and encouragement from Sri Parakala
Matham. Asthana Maha Vidwan Sriman Atmakur Deekshacharya Swamy presided over the
Sabha as the Adhyaksha for a long period of thirty years. The Sabha has been unwaveringly
celebrating Srimadvedanta Deshika’s monthly Shravana nakshatrotsava, yearly Shravana
avatara-mahotsava at all the three temples of the Royal Palace and has also been engaged
in the continued propagation of Sri Ramanuja siddhanta and in bringing out several literary
publications. It is our utmost supplication that the Prakrtam Acharya must also bless the
Sabha to continue on these lines of Acharya kainkaryam”.
Swamy blessed and sent a reply to the above vijnapanam in a manner befitting an Acharya
of Srisampradayam. Swamy wrote – As per the vachanam of Veda Vyasa, “श्लोकाधेन
्
ु
प्रवक्ष्याशमयकाक्तां ग्रन्थकोशटशिीः । परोपकाराय पण्याय पापाय परपरडनम ॥ “, the terminologies of punya and
paapa are equivalent to the anugraha-nigraha sankalpams of the Lord. It is only after being
the object of the Lord’s anugraha-sankalpam that our Purvacharyas dwelt upon the noble
paropakara kainkaryams that being the bestowing of knowledge through their divine
Srisuktis. Our Vedanta Deshika has been one of the foremost in this lineage. Sri Venkatesha
Sabha has been doing the most noble of kainkaryams in that respect which is of propagating
the divine works of our masters of yore. May the Supreme Lord Sri Lakshmi Hayavadana
bestow his choicest anugrahams on this Sabha that could enable it to achieve superlative
glories for many more years to come.
The kshetram of Belur in Hassan district is a very popular pilgrimage centre. The temple of
Lord Sri Chenna Keshava here is a repository of art, history and culture. The consecration of
the new ratha (chariot) for the Lord was done on May 8th in 1969. The devotees and
disciples of this kshetram invited Swamy to grace the occasion. The ratha-pratishtha festival
was celebrated in a grand manner. The samiti proposed and submitted a vijnapana-patram
to our Swamy to mark the occasion of the ratha-pratishta mahotsava. It read in summary as
follows – “Being endowed with the sacred name of Sri Velapuri, the capital city once ruled
by the Hoysalas renowned for being gobrahmana-paripalakas, sarvajanamangalaashamsinas and dushtashikshana-dhurinas. The kshetram has been blessed with the
divine association of Sri Bhagavad Ramanuja. We have the river Sri Badari that alighted from
the kamadalu of Rishyashrunga-maharshi and sprang forth near Chandradrona-parvata and
that which has been flowing from its mulasthanam in Sri Badari. This attains confluence with
other streams like Vishnuteertha to form the ashtateerthas and makes our land
bhuvaikuntham due to the eternal sanidhyam of ‘kleshanashaka’ Sri Saumya Keshava and
beams resplendently as the cradle of beautiful and exquisite arts and culture.
King Vishnuvardhana, after supplicating himself to the teachings of Sri Ramanujacharya,
parted with all his wealth and in the year Hevilambi, Jyestha shuddha-trayodashi
sthiravaram conjoined with the asterism of Hasta, vrddhayogam and abhijinmuhurtam,
completed the consecration of the temple of Sri Vijaya Narayana that was built with the
incessant dedication and noble efforts of artisans who were kalaa-tapasvins.
During the times of his stay here, Swamy Bhashyakara imparted the teachings of Vedashastra-puranams and the vaibhavams of the Lord’s archavatarams and made the noble
dharma and righteous practices to take eternal settlement in this place. Even after the
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