A Dialog on Hinduism - Chapter 2 - Post

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Chapter 2 of 13 of "A Dialogue on Hinduism,"

By Sri. V.N. GOPALA DESIKAN,

Published by Sri Visishtadvaita Research Centre, C/O Sri

Ahobila Mutt, 66, Dr. Rangachari Road, Madras 600 018, 1990

 

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The posts in this series are likely to be long.

Therefore, please print these posts and read them

at your leisure.

 

 

-- P. Dileepan

 

 

 

====Start of Chapter 2 of 13 from Sri Gopala Desikan's book=======

 

 

 

 

Chapter 2

 

Alwars and Acharyas

 

Q. What is the importance of Guru or Acharya in our

system of philosophy?

 

A. To understand the proper meaning of Sastras is

very difficult. We have to properly interpret some

of the texts, which seem to be conflicting with

each other. There are also inner meanings and

secret meanings of the various mantras and slokas.

 

So, all these things can be properly understood,

only by learning under a Guru or Acharya. So, the

Acharya is most important, for properly

understanding our religion and philosophy.

 

Q. Before starting on the principles of our Vaishnava

system, please tell me about our Gurus and their

order (Guru parampara). Who is our first Guru?

 

A. Lord Narayana is our first Guru. He taught Vedas

to Brahma and Brahma in turn taught the Vedas to

others. Hence at the head of our line of Gurus is

Lord Narayana.

 

Q. Who comes next?

 

A. Next in the line of Gurus is naturally our Goddess

Mahalakshmi and then comes Vishvaksena or

Senai Mudaliar. (This is a term of respect,

traditionally used for denoting Vishvaksena and

not to be confused with the word, as used at

present). He is the controller of Vaikunta or

Paramapada.

 

Vishvaksena taught Nammalwar or Satakopa the

philosophy of our system.

 

Q. Who comes next after Vishvaksena?

 

A. Nammalwar or Satakopa comes next.

 

At this stage, can you briefly tell me about the

Alwars, since you are now mentioning

Nammalwar?

 

A. There are ten Alwars. Some people include Andal

and Madhurakavi and say there are twelve Alwars.

 

Q. Why were they called Alwars?

 

A. 'Alwar' in Tamil means one who is immersed.

Since these saints were always immersed in the

Lord and His qualities, they were called Alwars.

 

Q. When were they in this world? What was their

period?

 

A. We say that they were in this world before and near

the beginning of Kaliyuga. That is more than 5,000

years ago. The modern research scholars say that the

Alwars were between the sixth and ninth century

A.D.

 

Q. Can you briefly tell me about the Alwars?

 

A. The first three Alwars are called Poigai Alwar,

Bhutattalwar and Peyalwar. All the three together

are called the first alwars, because these three were

the first in the line of Alwars and they lived during

the same period.

 

Poigai Alwar was born in the month of Aippasi in

the Star Sravanam. Bhutattalwar was born in the

month of Aippasi in the Star Avittam and the

Peyalwar in the same month, in the Star Sathaya on

three successive days!

 

Q. Where were they born?

 

A. Poigai Alwar was born at Kanchipuram. Tradition

has it that he was born in a tank and hence is called

Poigai Alwar. (Poigai = Tank).

 

Bhutattalwar was born in Mahabalipuram and

Peyalwar in Mylapore, Madras.

 

I am not going into the life histories of the Alwars

because that will form a separate book. I will only

deal with their places of birth and the month and

star under which they were born.

 

Q. Who came next?

 

A. The next Alwar was Tirumazhisai Alwar. He was

born in Tirumazhisai near Madras, in the month of

Thai in the star Makha.

 

Then came Nammalwar or Satakopa. He was born

at Alwartirunagari in the month of Vaikasi and star

Visakha. Nammalwar is considered the chief of

the Alwars. He expounded the system of

Visishtadvaita philosophy in clear terms in his

works. Hence he is given the greatest importance

among all the Alwars.

 

Madhurakavi, was his disciple. Madhurakavi was

born in Thirukkolur in the month of Chittirai, star

Chitra also.

 

Next came Kulasekhara Alwar. He was born in the

month of Masi and star Punarvasu His birth place

is Vanjikkalam. It is not clearly known as to

where exactly this place is. Some people say that

it is Karur and some others say that it is in Kerala.

 

Q. Who came next?

 

A. Next was Perialwar, who was born in Srivilliputtur

in the month of Ani and star Swati. Andal was found

among the Tulasi plants in Srivilliputtur in the month

of Adi in the star Puram and was brought up by

Perialwar.

 

Q. What about the other Alwars?

 

A. Thondaradippodi Alwar was born in

Tirumandangudi near Kumbakonam in the month of

Margazhi and the star Kettai. Tiruppanalwar was

born in Woriur, near Tiruchi, in the month of

Karthikai and the star Rohini.

 

The last among the Alwars was Tirumangai Alwar,

who was born in the month of Karthikai and star

Karthikai, in Kuraiyalur or Tirunagari near Sirkazhi.

 

Q. Can you indicate briefly the works of the Alwars?

 

A. Nammalwar was the author of four Prabandhas

which form part of the sacred 4000 verses, called

Divya Prabandha. The Prabandhas of Nammalwar

are:

 

Tiruvaimozhi

Tiruviruttam

Tiruvasiriam

Peria Tiruvandadi

 

The four works are equated to the four Vedas.

Tiruvaimozhi, in particular, is called the essence of

the Sama Veda.

 

Poigai Alwar is the author of Mudal Tiruvandadi.

Bhutattalar of Second Tiruvandadi and the Peyalwar

of Third Tiruvandadi each comprising 100 verses.

Tirumazhisai Alwar authored Tiruchanda Viruttam

and Nanmukhan Tiruvandadi. Madhurakavi

authored Kanninun Siruthambu. Kulasekhara Alwar

authored Perumal Tirumozhi and also Mukunda

Mala in Sanskrit. (His authorship of Mukundamala

is disputed by some people.)

 

Perialwar authored Perialwar Tirumozhi. Andal

gave to the world Tiruppavai and Nachiar

Tirumozhi. Thondaradippoai Alwar Tirumalai and

Tiruppalli ezhucchi. Tiruppanalwar Amalanadipiran.

 

The last in the list of Alwars is Tirumangai Alwar

who wrote six Prabandhas and these are equated to

the six angas of the four Vedas of Nammalwar. The

six Prabandhas of Tirumangai Alwar are:

 

Peria Tirumozhi

Tirukkurunthandakam

Tirunedunthandakam

Tiruvezhukutrirukkai

Siriya Tirumadal

Peria Tirumadal

 

Q. Who is next in the line of Gurus, after Nammalwar?

 

A. After Nammalwar comes Nathamuni, who was born

in Kattumannar Koil near Chidambaram, in the

month of Ani and star Anusham.

 

His disciple was Uyyakkondar who was born in the

month of Chittirai and star Karthikai, in Tiruvellarai.

 

His disciple was Manakkal Nambi who was born in

the village Manakkal, near Lalgudi in the month of

Masi and star Makham.

 

The next in the line of Acharyas is the great

Alavandar or Yamunacharya. He was the grandson

of Nathamuni and was the disciple of Manakkal

Nambi. Alavandar was born in the month of Adi and

star Uttaradam, in Kattumannarkoil.

 

Q. Please tell me further the line of Acharyas.

 

A. Alavandar's disciple was Peria Nambi who was born

in Srirangam in the month of Margazhi and star

Kettai.

 

Then comes the great Ramanuja.

 

Afterwards, there are two lines. There is one line of

Acharyas of whom Vedanta Desika was the most

prominent. There is another line of Acharyas which

goes on to Manavala Mamunigal.

 

Ramanuja (1017 - 1137 A.D.) was born in

Sriperumpudur in the month of Chitrai and star

Tiruvadirai.

 

Vedanta Desika (1268 - 1369 A.D.) was born in

Thoopul near Kanchi in the month of Purattasi and

star Sravanam.

 

Manavala Mamunigal (1370 - 1443 A.D.) was born

at Sikkil Kidaram, in the month of Aippasi and star

Mulam. It is also said that he was born in

Alwartirunagari.

 

Q. But I heard that Ramanuja had five Acharyas?

 

A. Yes. 1. Peria Nambi was the chief or principal

acharya. Then Ramanuja learnt meanings of secrets

(rahasyas) from 2. Tirukkottiur Nambi. He studied

Tiruvaimozhi under 3. Tirumalai Andan. He learnt

stotras, under 4. Alavandar Alwar and studied

Ramayana under 5. Tirumalai Nambi. Thus he had

five acharyas.

 

Q. What are the other names of Ramanuja?

 

A. Ramanuja is also called Bhashyakara, Yatiraja,

Udayavar, Emberumanar and Yatiswara.

 

Q. Can you indicate briefly the works of these great

acharyas?

 

A. Nathamuni gave us two works Yoga Rahasya and

Nyayatattva. Alavandar gave to this world 8

works. These are:

 

Agama Pramanya

Purusha Nirnaya.

 

Three Siddhis called Siddhi Trayam, namely, Atma

Siddhi, Iswara Siddhi and Samvit Siddhi.

 

Then Gitartha Sangraha, Stotra Ratna and Chatus

Sloki.

 

The next great Acharya Ramanuja gave us nine

works or nine gems. These are: Sri Bhashya,

Vedanta Dipa, Vedanta Sara, Vedartha Sangraha,

Gita Bhashya, the three Gadyas, namely Saranagati

Gadya, Sriranga Gadya and Vaikunta Gadya and

then Nitya.

 

The works of Vedanta Desika are more than 100 in

number.

 

They cover different fields like devotional stotras,

kavya, drama, works on philosophy, and

commentaries on great works.

 

It is a wonder how a person could write so many

works within a life span. It is difficult for us even

to read and understand all his works in a life time.

 

What are the more important works of Sri Desika?

 

A. All works are equally important. I will give you the

names of some of the works.

 

Rahasyatrayasara is a book which gives in detail the

inner meanings of the three secrets or rahasyas. In

the process, it expounds our Vaishnavite philosophy.

It also dwells at length on the prapatti or saranagati

as the means of attaining salvation.

 

Q. What are the three secrets or rahasyas?

 

A. We will discuss them later.

 

Q. What are some of the other works of Desika?

 

A. We have Tatparya Chandrika. This is a lucid

commentary on the commentary of Bhagavad Gita

that was written by Ramanuja. Paduka Sahasra

describes the greatness and beauty of the paduka of

Sri Ranganatha in 1000 verses. Yadavabhyudaya

gives the story of Sri Krishna. The slokas of

Yadavabhyudaya are full of grandeur and beauty and

the lyrical value is something supreme. It is because

of the greatness of this work that it has been

commented upon by Appayya Dikshitar, the great

Advaita scholar.

 

We have Sankalpa Suryodaya. This is an allegorical

drama, again explaining the Visishtadvaita

philosophy.

 

 

We have the work Sata Dushani. This contains

arguments against Advaita philosophy. As the name

indicates, perhaps, it was intended to have 100

arguments. However, we now have only 66

arguments left, all against Advaita Philosophy.

 

We then have the devotional verses or stotras. Some

of these are: Hayagriva stotra, Dasavatara stotra,

Bhagavad Dhyana Sopana, Gopala Vimsati. Daya

Sataka on Sri Venkateswara of Tirupati, Sri Stuti and

Garuda Panchasat.

 

Nyayaparisuddhi, Nyaya Siddhanjana, Adhikarana

Saravali and Tattvamuktakalapa are works on our

philosophy.

 

Q. What are the works of Manavala Mamunigal?

 

A. He wrote beautiful commentaries on Perialwar

Tirumozhi and Ramanuja Nutrandadi; on

Mumukshuppadi, Tattvatraya and Sri Vachana

Bhushana of Pillai Lokacharya; on Acharya

Hridayam of Alagiamanavalapperumal Nayanar; and

on Jnanasaram and Prameyasaram of

Arulalapperumal emberumanar.

 

He also wrote Upadesaratnamala, Arthi prabandha,

Yatiraja Vimsati and Tiruvaimozhi Nutrandadi,

besides other works.

 

Q. What about other Acharyas?.

 

A. There are number of other Acharyas who have

contributed significantly to Vaishnavism. I will

mention some of the Acharyas now. You can refer

to other books for fuller details.

 

Kurattalwan wrote Panchastavas:

1) Sri Vaikunta Stava

2) Atimanusha Stava

3) Sundarabahu Stava

4) Varadaraja Stava

5) Sri Stava

 

Tirukkurukaippiran pillan wrote commentary (6000

padi) on Tiruvaimozhi.

Kidambi Achan;

Embar;

Engalazhvan wrote commentary on Vishnu Purana.

 

Parasara Bhattar wrote commentary on Vishnu

Sahasra Nama (Bhagavadgunadarpanam), Sri

Rangaraja Stava and Srigunaratna Kosa, besides

others.

Nanjiyar wrote commentary on Tiruvaimozhi (9000

padi); and Sri Sukta Bhashya. (This is disputed by

some people.)

 

Vatsya Varadacharya (Nadadur Ammal) wrote

Tattva Sara, Prapanna Parijata among others.

 

Sudarsana Bhattar wrote Sruta Prakasika and Sruta

Pradipika, both commentaries on Sri Bhashya.

 

Appullar wrote Nyayakulisa.

Nampillai;

Periavachan Pillai wrote beautiful commentaries on

Divya Prabandha, besides many other works.

 

Vadakku Thiruveethi Pillai wrote Edu Commentary

on Tiruvaimozhi (36000 padi).

 

Pillal Lokacharya wrote 18 Rahasyas the more

important being Mumukshuppadi, Tattvatraya and

Sri Vachana Bhushana.

 

Alagiamanavalapperumal Nayanar wrote Acharya

Hridayam, besides commentary on Tiruppavai and

other works.

 

(Pillai is a term of respect, and not to be confused with the

present day use of this word.)