Brahmashri V. Jagadeeswara Sastrigal, was the third son born to Brahmasri. Yagna Venkatarama Dikshitar and Smt. Abhayamba belonging to Gautamasa Gotra on manmatha karthika swathi 15th December 1895. He was a native of Injikkollai village in Tanjore District. After having undergone Sukla Yajur-Veda Adyayana (ghananta) and learning kavyas like raghuvamsam under the tutelage of his father he studied Nyaya and Vedanta Sastras and Vyakarana under great intellectual giants like Mahamahopadyaya Chidambaram Harihara Sastrigal, Mahamahopadyaya Karungulam Krishna Sastrigal, Mahamahopadyaya kumbhakonam yagnaswami sastrigal and Bhasyabhavagna varahur venkatarama sastrigal . His Dharmapatni was Smt. Vishalakshi. He was brought up for 40 years under the direct Grace of Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi & Sankaracharya of Kamakoti peetam. After completion of his shaastraadhyayana he passed exams conducted by The Advaita Sabha, Kumbhakonam. He served as Vadanta teacher at Jagadguru Vidyasthanam Tiruvanaikkaval and at Shaastrapathasala of Kanchi math, Kanchipuram. He became the Astanavidvan of Kanchi kamakoti peetam. He served as an Examiner in the Advaita sabha and at the Veda Bhasya Sabha which instituted by Kanchi math for conducting veda bhasya examinations in Rig, Yajur (both Krishna and Shukla yajur veda ) and sama vedas for every six months.
He also taught veda Bhasya at the Madras Sankrit College. Sri sastrigal’s elder brother Sri Yagnarama Dikshitar was a yogi and also a great Tamil pandit. He taught tamil literature like “Tiruvasagam”, “Irayanaar Agaporul” to his younger brother. He took sri sastrigal along with him to Sri Ramanasramam and this was how he got close association with sri maharishi and other significant personalities like kavyakanta Ganapathimuni and others. Sri sastrigal stayed there for a long period of time and only upon the call of Kanchi Paramacharya Sri sastrigal returned to Kanchipuram. He served as the editor for the magazines published by the Kanchi math “Arya Dharmam” and “Kamakoti Pradeepam”. Once he happened to read the “Guru Tattva Vimarsa” of SIR sri Chidanandanatha, the founder of Guhananda Mandali and wrote a review in Arya Dharmam of great appreciation and after a short period of from then sri sastrigal happened to meet him in person and also took Diksha from him with Dikshanama “Gnananandanatha”.
In 1948 sastrigal took permission from the Mahaswami and settled in Chennai as per the wish of sri Chidanandanatha. At Guhananda MAnadali he took classes on Srividya texts like Devi mahatmyam, Lalita sahasranama bhasyam, Vamakeswara tantra, Varivasya Rahasya, Suta Samhita, Devi bhagavatam and Upanishads. He took claases for deserving shisyas at his home on Nyaya, Vedanta and other shaastras . Stalwarts Brahmasri Goda Venkateswara Sastrigal and Brahmasri Vishnunumpettai Swaminatha sastrigal are the his students. He also headed the Nyaya Vedanta board at Madras University. In 1971 he was a member of Srimad Appayya Dikshitendra Granthavali Prakasana Samithi Editorial Board, Secundarabad.
WORKS
He wrote many books and authored many monographs but unfortunately only few are available. Chidachit Asareeraka Brahma Siddhi , Saptva Vidha Anuppapathi Pariksha, Nirguna Tatva Nirnaya, Shatprasnibhavanirnaya and bhasya on Isavasyopanishad were written by him. He was fondly known as kavyakukshi and composed many stotras like “Guhastakam”, “Nrushimastakam”, “Durgavimsati”. During his stay at Ramanasramam he came up with many works on sri ramana maharishi like Ramana Pratasmaranam, Ramana manasika puja, Ramana stotra ratnavali, Swagata kusumanjali, Dayastakam, Abhayastakam, Arunachala Pancharatna Vyakhayana, Upadesasara Vyakhyana, Taravali Stuti, Ramana Sahasranamam etc, which are found in Archives of Ramanasramam and some of them are also published. In particular sastrigal’s original handwritten notes are found in the book “Hiranyabahu”. The Famous sloka of Hridaya kuhara madhye was composed by him.
In 1945 he was dragonized with a terminal illness (stomach cancer) and his health did not respond to the best medical treatment, however, he invoked blessings of maharishi by composing Ramana prapatyastakam and got miraculously cured. He translated HArimede Stotram, Shivamahimna Stotram, Vishnu shatpadi Stotram , RatnatryaPariksha and sivamahimakalika stuti in tamil. He along with Brahmasri Varahur Kalyanasundara sastrigal edited NyayaRatnaDipavali of Sri Anadaanubhava. The Shukla Yajurveda Samhita along with foreword by sastrigal was published from Rajah veda pathashala, Kumbakhonam
AWARDS
1. Atmavidya Bhushanam -H.H. Jagadguru Shankaracharya of Kanchi kamakoti peetam at kashi,1935
2. SastraRatnakara- H.H. Jagadguru Shankaracharya of Kanchi kamakoti peetam
3. Vidyalankara –Conferred by editor of “ Samskritam” journal Sri kalicharaTripati-Ayodhya
4. Vidyavaridhi -1972, during All India Sanskrit Day celebrations at Madras
5. Mahamahimopadyaya -Bharati Parishad Prayagraj
6. Purse of Rs.1000-/- was presented by Rastrapathi on 2/9/1972 during inauguration of new buildings at Madras kendra of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.
7. In 1973 He was conferred The President Award.
8. On the occasion 75th of peetarohana of Kanchi Mahaswami , 29-2-1982 Felicitation was done at the madras Sanskrit college.
Two interesting Anectodes happened during the last very few days of sastrigal in earthly abode. Sri sastrigal was residing at virugambakkam and his shisya Sri Goda Venkateswara sastrigal stayed near by his home. On an evening the 69th Shankaracharya of Kanchi kamakoti peetam H.H. Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Swamigal saw Sri Goda Sastrigal on bicycle in virugambakkam and enquired about his prescence there. Sastrigal told that he was going to his Guru’s home to perform Sandhyavandanam for him. Knowing the nearby stay of jagadeeswara sastrigal Acharya expressed his wish to see him and accordingly sri Goda sastrigal escorted Acharya and rendered purnakumbha swagatam. H H Sri Dayananda Saraswathi Swamiji who was a student of sastrigal in his purvasrama visited jagadeeswara sastrigal. He was completely bed-ridden and all his sensory faculties were not functioning well. Everyone spoke loudly “Dayananda Saraswathi Swamiji has come to visit you” in order to get response from sastrigal . When Swamiji held his hands and told that “I’m Natarajan (His Purvasrama Namadeya)”, then sastrigal muttered few words which were not understood by anyone except his shisya Sri Goda Venkateswara Sastrigal who observed that sastrigal was uttering a verse from Brihadaranyakopanishad. In response Swamiji told that he learnt Brihadaranyakopanishad from him also repeated இவ்வளவுநாளா பேசிண்டிருந்த ப்ரஹ்மமா இருந்தார் இப்போ பேசாத ப்ரஹ்மமா இருக்கார். Fortunately, both these incidents are photographed and the same can be seen in Gallery.
A gifted Teacher by birth, he had trained innumerable students in Veda Bhashya, Sastras and Sri Vidya. He is no doubt a permanent Star in the Galaxy of Oriental learning. On 14/3/1983 Dhundhubi -KumbhaMasa- Amavasya at 4:30 A.M he reached Sripuram by shedding the mortal coils on the lap of his Priya Shisya Sri Goda Venkateswara Sastrigal. He lived a life of ‘DHIRA’ for 88 years.