Sri MaNavALa mAmunigaL : Devotional side--Part 1

[Guest guest]

Srisailesa dayApAthram dipakthyAdhi gunArNavam I

yateendhra pravaNam vandeh ramyajAmAtharam munim II

 

Dear fellow BhakthAs of Acharya RaamAnujA :

 

It is my pleasure to respond to Sri Mohan SAgar"s

request and get the ball rolling on the discussions on

Topic. The philosophical side , the "doctrinal differences",

and their priorities --Swami Desikan"s on VedanthA and

sAstrAs and Maamuni's on devotionalism--have been excellently

covered by Dr. Patricia Mumme in her two volumes entitled

" Sri VaishNavA theological dispute: MaNavALa Maamuni

and Vedantha Desika . "

 

Maamuni was born an year after Swami Desikan's passing away

and had Sri Bhashyam kaalakshepam from one of the disciples

of Brahma Tantra Swami , the founder of the ParakAla mutt and

direct disciple of Swami Desikan . Maamuni had the highest regard for

Swami Desikan and used to refer to latter with great affection

as " ABHIYUKTHAR " OR THE REVERED ONE . Swami Desikan had

in turn the highest regard for the Achaarya of Maamuni's own Achaarya,

Sri Pillai LokAcharya. It is unfortunate that the polarization of

the Sri VaishNavA tradition took place clearly two centuries later

thanat the time of the passing away of both Swami Desikan

and Maamuni .

 

Maamuni and the " Srirangam acharyas " interpreted their works

with primary emphasis on the nAlAiyra Divya Prabhandham

and did not elect to concentrate on VedanthA or Saastraas. Swami Desikan

and "Kanchi Acharyas" put their primary emphasis on Vedas,

PaancharAtram and Brahma SutrAs commented by RaamAnujA .

 

The distinctly different perspectives of Swami Desikan's and Maamuni's

views on Sri VaishNava tradition have been covered by Dr. Mumme with

reference to their intrepretations on the prime contributions

of Sri RamAnujA . Swami Desikan in his Yathiraaja Sapthadhi

salutes RAmAnujA for establishing the VisishtAdvaita intrepretation

of Brahma Sutras through his Sri Bhaashyam. Maamuni saluted

RamAnujaA much more for his Bhakthi for NaMMAzhwAr and

Sri RanganAtha than for his cardinal contribution to establish

VisishtAdvaitha VedAnthaa.

 

Maamuni's reverence for Sri RaamAnjua is profound. He followed

faithfully his AchArya's command to spend his time teaching and

giving Kaalakshepam on the hymns of the AzhwArs and pay only

" cursory attention " to Sanskritic sources and Sri Bhaashyam .

Maamuni studied only once Sri Bhaashyam as suggested by his

Acharya and stayed most of his life at Srirangam in obedience to

the suggestion of his AchArya. Earlier ,he had spent a lot of his time

at AzhwAr Thirunagari . There , he composed his first work at the

command of his Acharya on RaamAnuja in Sanskrit known as

" YathirAja Vimsathi " . This moving work is a testament to Maamuni's

reverence for RaamAnujA just as Swami Desikan"s celebrated work

known as " YathirAja Sapthadhi " is a moving eulogy of BhaashyakArar .

 

Maamuni's deep attachment to RaamAnuja is evident from the following

facts : (10 He named his own son, RaamAnuja (2 ) His tribute to

the great AchArya in YathirAja Vimsathi (3) His choice of writing a

commentary on RaamAnuja NyurranthAdhi of Thiruvarangatthu

AmudanAr (4 ) modeling his composition ( ThiruvArAdhana Kramam "

after the Sanskrit work of RaamAnujA and(5) concluding his

life on this earth with the moving aarthi Prabhandham , where he

anguishes (aarthi ) at staying in this world and expresses his eagerness to

reach Sri VaikuNtam to perform Nitya Kaimkaryam to Parama Padha

Naathan . Thus Maamuni's first and last work were on Acharya RaamAnuja.

 

In his work, Upadesa Ratna Maalai , Maamuni pays his tribute to

Acharya RaamAnujA as the establisher of Srimadh Bhagavadh

RaamAnuja SiddhAntham and the command to his disciple ,

Thirukuruhai PirAn PiLLai to wirite the firdt commentary on

ThiruvAimozhi , which led to the continuation of that tradition

by five successors (viz) ., Nanjeeyar, PeriyavAcchAn PiLLai ,

Vadakku Thiruveedhi PiLLai and Vaadhi Kesari Azhahiya

MaNavALa jeeyar . Maamuni wonders loud as to what a loss it

would have been, if Sri RamAnujA out of his compassion for

us had not instructed his disciple , Thirukkuruhai PirAn PiLLai,

to write the first commentary on Thiruvaimozhi .

 

The two paasurams of Upadesa Ratna Maalai referring to

Maamuni's tribute to Acharya RaamAnujA as the the founder of

"RaamAnuja Darsanam " and his catalysing the writing of

the VyAkyAnam for Thiruvaimozhiare as follows :

 

emperumAnAr darisanamenrEitharku

namperumAL perittu nAtti vaitthAr-- ambhuviyOr

inda darisanatthai vaLartha

antha seyal arihaikkA --Upadesa Ratna Maalai, verse 38

 

munthuravE piLLAn mudalAnOr seytharuLum

antha viyAkkiyaL anru aahil --anthO

thiruvaimozhipporuLai ternthuraikka valla

guru aar ikkaalam nenjE kooru -- Upadesa Ratna Maala , verse 40

 

In yesterday's posting, I covered the devotional work in Sanskrit of

Maamuni revered as Sri DevarAja MangaLam . In the next posting ,

I will cover the other Sanskritc devotional work of this AcharyA

saluted as YathirAja Vimsathi .

 

Sri MaNavALa MaamunigaL thiruvadigalE SaraNam

 

Sri VaishNava Dasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradachAri Sadagopan