MaNavaaLa maamunigaL's vaibhavam - part 1

[Guest guest]

Forward from Varadhan:

 

Dear bhaagavathaas,

 

I have been a little bit tied up at work, and I could not continue the series

on MaNavaaLa maamunigaL's vaibhavam last week. By His grace, I have been

able to enjoy maamuni's vaibhavam in the past couple of days. This is the

next post.

 

Aazhwaar emperumaanaar jeeyar thiruvadigaLE saranam.

Varadhan

 

Place of MaNavaaLa maamunigaL in the Oraan vazhi guruparamparai:

 

Even though Emperumaanaar had hundreds of immediate sishyaas,

in our 'Oraan vazhi' guruparamparai, Embaar is our next aachaarya.

Embaar's sishya was paraasara bhattar. Nanjeear was Bhattar's

sishya - Next come Nampillai, Vadakku thiruveedhip piLLai, PiLLai

lOkaachaaryaar. PiLLai lOkaachaaryaar's sishya was thiruvaay mozhip piLLai.

MaNavaaLA maamunigaL follows Thiruvaay mozhip PiLLai in the Oraan vazhi

guruparamparai.

 

MaNavaaLa maamunigaL's Thiru avathaaram, vidhyaabhyaasam & aachaarya

aasrayaNam:

 

To bless this world with sampradaaya granthams, and to make SriVaishnavism

easily accessible to the commom man, thiruvanandhaazhwaan

(aadisEshan) came to this world as the son of thirunaaveeRudaya piraan

dhaasaraNNar at aazhwaar thirunagari, also known as thirukkurugoor.

(PBA describes thirukkurukoor as 'nallaar navil kurukoor' -

nallaar is literally translated as good people. navil is a tamizh verb

for live. i.e. kurukoor, described as a place where good people live)

nallaar may also be, in this context, interpreted as SriVaishvanaas.

 

The day the he was born was aiyppasi moolam. The greatness of aippasi

moolam has been described by many aachaaryaas. The folowing is a

tamizh verse that describes maNavaaLa maamunigaL's birth in aiyppasi

moolam day (author unknown).

 

senthamizh vEdhiyar sindhai theLindhu siRandhu magizhnthidunaaL

seerulakaariyar seytharuLnaRkalai thEsupozhindhidunaaL

mandhamadhippuvimaanidarthangaLai vaanil uyarththidu naaL

maasaRu nyaaniyarsEr ethiraasar tham vaazhvu muLaindhidu naaL

kandhamalar pozhilsoozh kurukaathipan kalaikaL viLankidunaaL

kaaramarmEni aranganagarkku iRai kaNkaL kaLiththidunaaL

anthamil seer maNavaaLa munipparn avathaaram seyyunaaL

azhagu thigazhndhidum aippasiyil thirumoolamathenu naaLE.

 

Rough translation (tamizh experts, please add to this):

On this day, people who are learned in the tamizh vEdam rejoice,

The aruLichcheyls of piLLai lOkachaariaar (ulakaariyar, ulakam + aariyar)

take on a special glow on this day; Ethiraasar, the leader of flawess

learned people, was reborn on this day***; the aruLichcheyals of

the athipan of kurukoor - nammaazhwaar, glow on this day;

The eyes of the Lord of Srirangam, whose thirumEni is like the clouds,

rejoice on this day; MaNavaaLa maamuni was born on this day; this day is

aiyppasi moolam.

 

*** MaNavaaLa maamunigaL is considered to be an avathaaram of Raamanujar,

(and by extension, anandhaanthaazhwaan - aadhisEshan).

 

The elders named this child 'Azhagiya maNavaaLan' - after the Lord himself.

azhagiya maNavaaLa naayanaar was the name that he was known by.

All the samskaarams were done to this child as prescribed by the varnaas.

Azhagiya maNavaaLa naayanaar learnt the vEdas, vEdaangaas & all sastraas

from his father. He was a prime example of 'sollaar thamizhoru moonRum

suruthigaL naankum ellai illaa aRaneRi yaavum therinthavan' (one who knows

the prabhandham & the vEdaas and has a boundless knowledge of religion

(aRa neRi - literally translated is moral rules, but in this case, it can be

interpreted as religious knowledge - tamizh experts, please clarify).

 

He undertook grahasthaashramam at the proper time & lived as a srivaishnava

sigaamaNi, as described by kulasEkaraazhwaar

In perumaaL thirumozhi, kulasEkaraazhwaar describes srivaishnavaas as

'maranthigazhum manamozhiththu vanYchamaaRRi vanpulankaL adakki,

idar paarath thunpam thuRandhu, irumuppozhudEththi ellai illaath thonneRikaN

nilaininRa thoNdar'

KulasEkaraazhwaar describes sriVaishnavaas as those who

who have banished maRam (maRam is the antonym of aRam; can be taken

include anger (kOpam), cruelty (kodumai) and other undesirable qualities)

from their minds, those who have conquered the indriyams, those who have

overcome the unbearable weight of the sins [ as in 'paaramaaya pazhavinai

paRRaruththu in amalanaadhipiraan], those who conduct their lives as

panchakaala paraayaNaas, those who conduct themselves according to the

neRi established by our elders.

MaNavaaLa maamunigaL lived as a SriVaishnava sigaamaNi with all

the lakshaNams mentioned by kulasEkaraazwaar as above.

 

At this time, Thiruvaay mozhip piLLai (who got his name because of his

knowledge and love of nammaazhwaar's aruLicheyal, and who is adored

everyday by SriVaishnavaas all over the world daily in the sarrumarai -

'namas sreesailanaadhaaya kundheenagara janmanE, prasaada labdha

paramappraapya kainkarya saalinE') who is also known as Thirumalai

aazhwaar, was looking for an adhikaari who can carry the torch of

the srivaishnava darshanam. At the same time, Azhagiya maNavaaLa naayanaar,

who wanted to be a sishyaa of this achaaryan, approached

Thiruvaay mozhip piLLai & prayed at his feet to accept him as his sishya.

('poruL allaadhavanaip poruLaakki adimai koLLa vENum' enRu). Thiruvaaymozhip

PiLLai, seeing the gnaanam and bhakti of azhagiya maNavaLA naayanaar

accepted him as his sishya and taught him all the granthaas

and rahasyaas.

 

aachaarya niyamanam:

 

When Azhagiya maNavaaLap perumaaL naayanaar had learnt the granthaas and

rahasyaas from thiruvaaymozhippiLLai, he said to Azhagiya maNavaaLap

perumaaL naayanaar:

 

'Azhagiya MaNaaaLap perumaaLE!, Just as periya nambi and

Thirumaalai AaNdaan knew that emperumaanaar was an avataara purusha, and

had the good fortune to be his aachaaryaas, I happen to be in a position by

which

I am your aachaaryan. Our poorvachaaryas like aazhwaan (Kooraththaazhwaan),

bhattar,

nampiLLai, even though they were very learned in all the vEdaas and sastraas,

undertook the kainkaryam of immersing themselves into our aazhwaas'

aruLicheyal

anubhavams and undertook the upanyaasam of the prabhandham and the

commentaries on the prabhandham as their primary kainkaryam. I would pray

that you

also undertake the path of our poorvaachaaryaas and become an authority on

the commentaries of the prabhandham and undertake the kainkaryam of upanyaasam.

You should clear all my worries by accepting this request of mine'.

 

Azhagiya maNavaaLap perumaaL naayanaar replied: ' Do you have to tie my foot

down for me to drink sweet milk? I am willing to undertake this kainkaryam at

swami's feet. You have to make this unqualified person (yOgyathai aRRa adiyEn)

qualified for this kainkaryam.'; and fell at the feet of Thirumalai Aazhwaan

like

a tree without roots. From that day onwards, Azhagiya maNavaaLa naayanaar,

like a shadow always at the feet of Thiruvaaymozhip PiLLai, learnt the

prabhandham commentaries, granthams and rahasyams from his aachaaryan.

 

Aazhwaar emperumaanaar jeeyar thiruvadigaLE saranam.

Varadhan

[Guest guest]

A note of clarification to Sri Varadhan's posts

on Sri ManavaaLa MaamunigaL.

 

The acharya parampara among followers of Sri Ramanuja

varies according to which spiritual lineage one belongs.

Those Sri Vaishnavas who have received the tradition

through Sri Vedanta Desika have a different parampara

after Ramanuja. Their saaRRumurai verses are

also correspondingly different in a number of places.

 

Varadhan has written about the greatness of Sriman

Thiruvaaymozhi PiLLai and how many Sri Vaishnavas

salute him in their saaRRumurai. Sri Atreya Ramanuja

(appuLLaar) occupies a similar position in the

vadagalai acharya parampara (Sri Murali Rangaswamy

has written about the vaibhavam of appuLLaar in

the recent past). The saaRRumurai sloka in his honor is:

 

namo rAmAnujAryAya vedAntArtha-pradAyine

atreya-padmanAbhAya sutAya guNaSaline

 

Salutations to the noble Ramanuja, bestower

of the inner meanings of the Vedanta,

son of Atreya Padmanabha and in whom all

good qualities are found.

 

It is interesting that this verse and its Tamil

counterpart are very similar to the ones in honor

of Thiruvaaymozhi PiLLai that are recited in the

thengalai saaRRumurai. It is a matter of great

pride for me that both of these great souls, each

of whom nurtured two incredibly learned and saintly

personalities, are revered to this day by follwers

of Bhagavad Ramanuja Siddhantam.

 

appuLLaar thiruvaaymozhi piLLai thiruvadigaLE SaraNam

 

Mani