MaNavaaLA maamunigaL - Intro (0)

[Guest guest]

MaNavaaLa maamunigaL - part 0.

 

This post may be seen as a 'prologue' to the series. This post gives

very

brief & general information regarding the place of MaNavaaLa maamunigaL

in the guruparamparai.

 

SriVaishnavism is often called 'Thennachaarya sampradaayam'. We have the

Srutis, paancharaatra samhitaas, smritis, ithihaasaas & puraanaas and

the

aruLicheyals of our aazhwaars as the basis for SriVaishnavism. Of these,

the aruLicheyals occupy a very special place among the SriVaishnavites.

That is the reason why SriVaishnavism is often referred to as

thennaachaarya

sampradaayam. The aachaaryaas whose teachings are based on the tamizh

vEdam

are often affectionately called thennaachaaryas. The SV sampradaayam

started

with aazhwaars, and our aachaaryaas starting from Sriman NaadhamunigaL

through

Emperumaanaar through MaNavaaLa maamunigaL. Of all these aachaaryaas,

the two

aachaaryaas who are considered the pillars of the sampradaayam are Sri

PiLLai

lOkaachaaryaar & Sri MaNavaaLa maamunigaL.

 

There are two typesof aachaaryaas (i) anuvruththip prasannaachaaryas and

(ii) krupaamaatra prasannaachaaryas. Anuvruththi prasannaachaaryaas are

those

who give their anugraham to their sishyaas after they spend quite a bit

of time with the aachaaryaas & after making the sishyaas yearn for the

anugrahams.

 

Krupaamatra prasannaachaaryaas are those who, out of their inherent

kindness,

without being asked/requested, give their anugraham to all (in the

spirit of

'payannanRaakilum paangallaraakilum seyal nanRaakath thiruththip

paNikoLvaan').

 

In our sampradaayam, Emperumaanaar was the first aachaarya in our

sampradaayam

to be widely called a Krupaamatra prasannacharya. However,

emperumaanaar, who

left us three treatises on the brahmasutras, did not leave us any

granthaas on

the rahasyaarthaams. SriBhaashyam & Githabaashyam, even though they deal

with

the rahasyaarthams in many places, do not deal with the rahasyaarthams

per se.

That was a major want ('kurai') of SriVaishnavism of that time.

 

PiLLai LOkaachaaryaar, in his immeasurable kindness, was the first

aacharya

to give the SriVaishnava community granthams on the rahsyaarthams.

The title LOkaachaarya, is an apt title for this great aachaarya.

To remove the darkness of ignorance in this world, PiLLaiLOkaachaaryar

blessed

us with his divya srisukthis. His srisukthis are collectively referred

to as ashtaadasa rahasyam (18 rahasyams). Of these 18, the three rahasya

granthams- srivachanabhooshaNam, mumukshuppadi & thathvath trayam are

the three most important granthams. PiLLailOkaacharyaar's younger

brother - azhagiya maNavaaLap perumaaL naayanaar gave us aachaarya

hrdayam. These four rahasya granthams form

the basis of the sampradaayam.

 

MaNavaaLa maamunigaL gave us vyaakhyaanams on these four granthams. Due

to the

clarity & simplicity of his vyaakhyaanams, maNavaaLa maamunigaL is often

referred

to as vishadavaak sigaamani. MaNavaaLA maamunigaL's vyaakhyaanams are

considered to be the foremost among any vyaakhyaanam in the SriVaishnava

sampradaayam.

 

With His grace, over the next few weeks, I will attempt to share with

the

group the vaibhavam of maNavaaLa maamunigaL.

 

My postings probably are going to be very simplistic in nature - I do

not

have the in-depth knowledge of sath-baashai to do a meaningful attempt

at

presenting MaNavaaLa maamunigaL's vaibhavam in a traditional

'guru-parampara-

prabhaavam' like manner. I request you to bear with me on this. All

errors that

you may find in the postings are mine.

 

Aazhwaar emperumaanaar jeeyar thiruvadigaLE saranam.

 

Varadhan

[Guest guest]

At 04:47 PM 3/14/97 -0700, Sri Varadhan wrote:

>

>

>[1] SriVaishnavism is often called 'Thennachaarya sampradaayam'.

>[2] We have the Srutis, paancharaatra samhitaas, smritis,

>ithihaasaas & puraanaas and the aruLicheyals of our aazhwaars as

>the basis for SriVaishnavism. Of these, the aruLicheyals occupy a

>very special place among the SriVaishnavites.

>[3] That is the reason why SriVaishnavism is often referred to as

>thennaachaarya sampradaayam.

>[4] The aachaaryaas whose teachings are based on the tamizh vEdam

>are often affectionately called thennaachaaryas.

 

 

These carefully chosen words taken together seem to deny the very

existence of Vadakalai sampradayam. If this is so it is really

quite unfortunate. Perhaps this view is prevalent among Sri Vaishnavas

of Thenkalai sampradayam. May be not.

 

In India, orthodox Sri Vaishnavas are making effort to bring the

two sampradayams together. A settlement has been reached at Kanchi.

Hopefully, a settlement may be reached at Sri Rangam as well.

Sri Azhagiya Singar writes about cooperation regularly. To my knowledge

Sri Vanaamaamali Jeeyar and Azhagiya Singar did aradhanai for each other's

thiruvaaradhanai perumaal recently. Our spiritual leaders are trying

to bridge the gap. I think we the expatriate Sri Vasihnavas should

eagerly follow this lead. I hope sishyaas of each kalai will be

sensitive to each other.

 

sri maNavaaLa maamunigaL thiruvadigaLE saraNam

 

 

-- Dileepan