shrImAn ve~NkaTanAthArya: kavitArkika kesarI |
vedAntAchAryavaryo me sannidhattAm sadA hrudi ||

May the acharya known as Vedantacharya, who is named Venkatanatha, who possesses the wealth such as bhagavat njAna, bhagavat bhakti and bhagavat kainkarya which are the hallmarks of a Srivaishnava and who is like a lion to other poets and philosophers, always reside in my heart.

One of Vedanta Desikan's thaniyan says that he was both gnAna bhUshaNa as well as vairAgya bhUshaNa. There is no doubting the vast knowledge of Swami. However, the latter description is not just a poetic statement - Desikan indeed showed a phenomenal indifference to matters of this world. This quality of Desikan was brought out in the event of his life which resulted in his writing the Vairagya Panchakam shlokam. Let us spend time in reading and learning the basic meanings of this wonderful shloka and pray to our pUrvAchAryas to help us demonstrate at least an iota of such vairAgyam in our lives.

Like the great Kooraththazhvan, Desikan too was taking care of his family only through unja vrutti, at Kanchipuram. Swami's friend from childhood days was a vidwan called Vidhyaranya. Hearing of Desikan's meager lifestyle, he decided that he would try to help him gain some wealth. So, he invited Desikan to come to the court of the Vijayanagara king, where he was the Asthana Vidwan. When Desikan saw the invitation, he sent a reply back to Vidyaranya with one shloka. That shloka would later become part of the Vairagya Panchakam. The shloka was

na me pitrArjitam kinchit na mayA kinchidArjitam |
asti me hastishailAgre vastu paitAmaham dhanam ||

Here Swami says that there is nothing (kinchit Arjitam) that his father (pitr) has earned for him nor has he (mayA) earned anything for himself; the only thing (vastu) that he has is the wealth (dhanam) that his grandfather (paitAmaha) has earned, which resides on top of the Hastigiri hill.

The word paitAmaha can be considered in two ways - one, as the ancestor of a person (a father may be free to distribute what he has earned, but a grandfather's or ancestral wealth would automatically come to the descendants); and two, as Brahma. Since it was in Brahma's yAga that the wealth on top of the Hastigiri appeared, the use of this word is most delightful in this shloka.

Another famous pitAmaha one comes across in our itihAsas is Bheeshma. In his deathbed, he gave us the wonderful Sahasranama Stotra. When Yudishtra asks him, what is the greatest Dharma of all, he points out Krishna standing by their side and says Krishna is "sAkshAt dharma".

That Krishna is the one who is standing on top of Hastigiri. Just as Krishna touched His chest and said "mAm ekam sharaNam vraja", so too Devap Perumal touched His chest and told Ramanuja "aham evam param tattvam". And does not HastigirIsha have the words "mA sucha", given to us by Krishna, on His abhaya hasta.

So, He is none other than Sri Krishna, who too is "paitAmaham dhanam".

Vidhyaranya was not going to be dissuaded so easily. So, he sent a second invitation to Desikan insisting that he come to the court of the king. Rejecting this invite as well, Swami Desikan sent back the magnificent Vairagya Panchakam shloka.

This quality of vairAgyam has been shown by all our pUrvAcharyas and Desikan's work is a tribute to all of them. It is here that we can remember and reflect on the amazing life history of Alavandar, Swami Ramanuja, Kooraththazhvan, Bhattar, Pillai Lokacharyar, Vedanta Desikan, Manavala Mamunigal, et al. It is their vairAgyam that has carried and continues to carry our sampradhayam in this 'iruL tharumA njAlam'.

In this context, it is useful to study Azhvar's Thiruvaymozhi padhigam 3-9 - "sonnAl virOdham idhu".

Let us go through each of the five shlokas - one at a time.