Copy of: SALUTATIONS TO SRI VAISHNAVA GURU-PARAMPARAI

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V. Sadagopan, 75041,3037

TO: NS, INTERNET:Satyan

DATE: 11/30/97 9:45 AM

 

RE: Copy of: SALUTATIONS TO SRI VAISHNAVA GURU-PARAMPARAI

 

SALUTATIONS TO SRI VAISHNAVA GURU-PARAMPARAI

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Oppiliappan Koil Varadachari Sadagopan

Scarborough , New York

 

OUR ACHARYA -SANTHATHI

 

The Guru-Paramparai means the continous , unbroken

chain ( lineage) of Gurus starting from our prathama

Guru(first AchAryA ) , Sriman NaarAyaNA , to our current

Guru . The other name for the Guru-ParamparA is

Acharya-Santhathi . AchAryA means spiritual perceptor

and santhathi means kulam . Our Acharya Santhathi is

an ancient one . Our AchAryAs have a revered place in

our religious lives and hence Sri VaishNavism gives

enormous importance to our immediate AchAryA and their

paramparai in the spirit of the Vedic injunction , " AchArya

dEvO bhava " ( May the preceptor be , to thee , a God ) .

 

The AchAryAs and the reverential salutations to them

are housed in the Taniyans associated with each of them .

The taniyan for an AchAryA is composed generally by the

prime disciple of that AchAryA . After adorning the symbols of

the Lord and His upa-vyuhAs on his forehead and upper limbs ,

every day a Sri VishNavA recites the individual taniyans of

the AchAryAs of his/her Guru-paramparai to invoke their blessings.

 

THE GROWTH OF THE ACHARYA PARAMPARAIS

 

There are many AchArya -ParamparAs that have evolved

since the time of the great AchAryA , Sri RamAnujA .

He appointed 74 simhAsanAthipathis ( occupiers of

the thrones of Sri VaishNavism ) during his life time

to take care of the spiritual training and the proper

practise of the religious observances of Sri VaishNavAs .

 

In the post-RaamAnujA period , these peetAthipathis

established themselves all over India , wrote commentaries

on the works of Sri Ramanuja and the earlier AchAryAs

in Sanskrit , manipravALam ( sanskritized-Tamil ) and Tamil .

Through these efforts , they helped to advance

Sri Bhagavadh RaamAnuja SiddhAntham in

the different corners of Bharatha Desam .

Some focused on the source works written in Sanskrit

by Sri RaamAnujA dealing with the Upanishads and

Sri BhAshyam . Others chose to focus on the divine

hymns of the AzhwArs , which were considered as

Tamil Vedam . Thus they strengthened the tradition of

ubhaya Vedantham ( twin vedanthams ) established

firmly by AchArya RaamAnujA .

 

ADDITIONAL SERVICE OF THE ACHARYA PARAMPARAIS

 

Those venerable AchAryAs of the various paramparais

established matams to render invaluable service for guiding the

spiritual aspirants to acquire the correct knowledge of

the doctrines and practises of Sri VaishNavism in the traditional

way in which this knowledge was handed down to them by their

own AchAryAs . Scriptures repeatedly state that a spiritual

aspirant (saadhakA ) needs competent guidance from

a qualified AchAryA to gain a clear and correct understanding

of the three doctrines of Sri VaishNavism known as the Tattva Trayam

( Iswaran , Jivan and achethanam ) and their interrelationship .

These AchAryAs and their paramparais have done extraordinary

service over the past thousand years to gain a true understanding of

the philosophy , theology and ethical aspects of Sri VaishNavism

and maintain it in its pristine state . We will review the different

Matams and their AchAryAs in a later section .

 

 

THE LINKS IN THE CHAIN : CELESTIAL SECTION

 

Sri VaishNavA tradition recognizes a long lineage of AchAryAs

starting from our supreme Lord , Sriman NaarAyanA . He is

thus our first and primordial AchAryA . The next two links

in the celestial chain are Maha Lakshmi , the beloved

consort of our Lord and VishvaksEnA , the commander-in-chief

and the chef-du-cabinet of our Lord's empire stretching from

His nithya vibhUthi( Sri Vaikuntam ) to His leelA vibhUthi

( this earth , His playground ) .

 

THE LINKS IN THE CHAIN ON HIS EARTH

 

ThirukkuruhUr SatakOpan heads the earthly chain of

Sri VaishNavite AchAryAs . He was instructed by " the divine angel " ,

VishvaksEnA . Swami Sri SatakOpan , who was addressed

by our Lord as NammAzhwAr thus became the first AchAryA

in the link of AchAryA santhathi on the Lord's earth ( Prapanna

Jana kUtasthar ) . The successive links in that chain are :

Natha Muni (824-924 AD ) , PundareekAkshA

alias UyyakkondAr ( 826-931AD ) ,

MaNakkAl nambi alias Rama Misrar ( 832-937AD ) ,

AlavandAr alias YaamunAchAryA ( 916-1041 AD ) ,

Periya Nambi alias MahA pUrNar and AchArya

RaamAnujA ( 1017-1317 AD ) .

 

THE POST-RAMAANUJA PERIOD

 

There are three stages in the evolution of our

AchArya -paramparA after RaamAnujA :

 

(1) the first two hundred years after RaamAnujA that

includes his direct disciples and their successors

 

(2) The period of PiLLai LOkAchAr and Vedantha Desikan;

 

(3) The post - PiLLai LOkAchAr and Vedantha Desikan period,

which covers the past seven centuries

 

KurEsA alias SrivatsAnka Misra (1010-1116 AD) ,

Thirukkurhai PirAn PiLLAn , the author of the first

commentary on Thiruvaimozhi , EmbAr or Govinda

Misrar (1026-1131 AD ) , Kidambi AcchAn alias

PraNathArthiharAcchAr /madapaLLI AcchAn

( 1057-1157AD ) , NadAthUr ALvAn , a nephew of

RaamAnujA were some of the well known direct disciples

of RaamAnujA . KurEsa and Kidambi AcchAn helped

RaamAnuja write Sri Bhashyam . PiLLAn's commentary

in manipravAlam ( Sanskritized Tamil prose ) marked

the beginning of " the popularization of the teachings

of AzhwArs " .

 

KurEsa"s precocious son , Parasara Bhattar( b1074AD )

became the prime disciple of Embar . YengaL AzhwAn

( 1106-1206 AD ) chose PiLLAN as his AchAryA . Thiruvarangatthu

AmudanAr , a contemproary of RaamAnujA chose KurEsA as his AchAryA

and paid his tribute to his PrAchAryA( AchAryA's AchAryA )

through one hundred plus Tamil verses steeped in

AchArya bhakthi known to us today as RaamAnuja

nURRandhAthi . Those one hundred and eight verses

became part of the NaalAyira Divya Prabhandham .

 

Parasara Bhattar's line of disciples is a formidable one .

His prime disciple was Melkote NarAyaNa Muni , who is

familarly known as Namjeeyar . He wrote the commentary on

Thiruvaimozhi called onpatinAyirapadi (9000 granthAs ) .

This is considered equal in length to the Sri Bhashyam

of RaamAnujA . This work was lost in the Cauveri waters

by Namjeeyar's prime disciple, NampiLLai, when he was

crossing the flooded waters of Cauveri with the Sri Kosam of

his AchAryA on his head. NampiLLai was heart broken . He prayed

to his AchAryA and rewrote the commentaries from memory

and placed it at the feet of his AchAyA and asked for

Namjeeyar's pardon . Namjeeyar reviewed the manuscript

and embraced his disciple for its excellence and it is thus

we acquired the onpathinAyirapadi . .

 

NampiLLai had two outstanding sishyAs named

Periya VaacchAn PiLLai(1167-1262 AD) and vadakku

Thiruveedhi PiLLai . The former was known as

"VyAkyAna chakravarthi " because of his asture

scholarship in writing commentaries on the NaalAyira

Divya Prabhandham in general and NammAzhwAr's

Thiruvaimozhi in particular . His commentary on

Thiruvaimozhi is known as Irupatthu naalAyirapadi

(24,000 granthAs ) and is considered equivalent

in length to Srimadh RaamAyaNamm of

Adhi Kavi Valmeeki .

 

The written and oral commentorial tradition

on Thiruvaimozhi continued with Vadakku-

Thiruveethip piLLai ( 1167-1264 AD ). His commentary

is known as the mupattiyArAyirappadi (36,000 granthAs )

or eedu (the equivalent to the original prabhandham of

NammAzhwAr ) . It was also named eedu because

it stimulates our eedupaadu with Thiruvaimozhi .

Other commentaries followed later

in this AchArya paramparai and this tradition of

commenting through the chain of AchAryAs is

known as OrAn Vazhi ( unbroken lineage from

individual to individual ) .

 

While NamPiLLai and his disciples were lecturing

in Srirangam on AzhwAr's hymns, Vatsya VaradAchAryA

alias NadAthUr AmmAL( 1165-1275 AD ) was expounding

Sri Bhashyam at Kanchipuram . He is the author of the famous

text called Prapanna PArijAtham , a definitive text on

SaraNAgathi doctrines and practise. He was blessed

to have two scholarly sishyAs by the names of

Athreya RaamAnujA alias ApuLLAr and Sudarsana

Suri alias Veda VyAsa Bhattar ; latter is the author of

the commentary on Sri Bhashyam revered as

Srutha PrakAsikA .This authoritative text on

Sri BhAshyam was saved by Swami Sri Desikan

during the time of the Muslim invasion of Srirangam .

ApuLLAr was the maternal uncle and AchAryA of one

of the intellectual giants of the lineage of Sri VaishNava

AchAryAs celebrated as Swami Sri Desikan alias

NigamAntha MahA Desikan of ThUppul agrahAram .

 

PILLAI LOKACHAR AND VEDANTHA DESIKAN'S PERIOD

 

Vadakku Thiruveethi PiLLai had two illustrious sons

with the names of PiLLai LOkAchAr (1264-1369 AD )

and Azhahiya MaNavALa NaayanAr , the author of

the famous Sri VaishNavite text , "AchArya Hrudhayam ".

Vedantha Desika (1268-1369 AD ) , Pillai LokAchAr ,

NaayanArAcchAn PiLLAn , the adopted son of

Periya VaacchAn PiLLAn and his own disciple , Vaadhi-

Kesari Azhagiya MaNavALa Jeeyar were contemproaries.

Sri VaishNavism reached a new spurt of growth and

vitality during the time of these great AchAryAs .

 

A listing of the distinguished works of PiLLai LokAchAr

and Vedantha Desikan has been assembled by

Sri Venkateash Elayavalli in his home page entitled ,

" Sri VaishNava AchAryarkal " . Sri VishNavA home page

maintained by Sri Mani Varadarajan and Bahkthi archives

have additional informaiton on the works of these

great AchAryAs .

 

POST PILLAI LOKACHAR-VEDANTHA DESIKAN PERIOD

 

The tradition of PiLLai LokAchAr was carried on by

another great AchAryA by the name of MaNavALa

Maamuni ( 1370-1443 AD ) . He was the disciple of

ThiruvAimozhi PiLLai , who in turn was the disciple

of NaalUr AcchAn Pillai belonging to the lineage of

EeyuNNI Madhavar , a direct disciple of NampiLLai

and a cohort of Vadakku Thiruveethi PiLLai .

 

The tradition of Vedantha Desikan was carried on

by his son , KumAra VaradAryA ( 1316-1401AD ) ,

the first Brahmatantra Parakala Swami ( 1286-1386 AD ) .

Both of them were direct disciples of Vedantha Desikan .

 

THE MATAMS OF SRI VAISHNAVITE ACHARYAS

 

The school of thought developed by MaNavALa maamuni

has been propagated by a successive chain of AchAryAs

of the Tenkalai sampradhAyam . Matams or religious centers

headed by the followers of the TennAchArya tradition are :

VaanamAmalai matamat NaangunEri ( VaanamAmalai Jeeyars) ,

Thirumalai Jeeyar matam at Tiruppathi , Srirangam

NaarAyaNa Jeeyar matam and the YathirAja Matam

at MelkOte.

 

The School of thought developed by Vedantha Desikan

have been propagated by the AchAryAs of two important

Matams : AhObila Matam and ParakAla matam of Mysore.

During the 18th century, another religious center known

as Andavan Asramam was created at Srirangam

by Thirukkudanthai Desikan , who is a disciple of

SaakshAth Swami . The ascetics of this Matam

are known as Andavans. This matam branched out

later into two and they are known today as PeriyAsramam

and Poundareekapuram Asramam .

 

AdivaNN SatakOpan (1378-1458 AD ) of Melkote was

the first pontiff of the AhObila Matam and received

his ascetic robes and iniitation into sanyAsam directly

from Bhagavan Narasimhan of AhObila KshEthram .

The home page of Ahobila Matam maintained by

Sri Parthasarathy Dileepan has significant details

on the AchAryAs of this paramparai . The home page

for the ParakAla Matam Jeeyars also contain pictures

of Bhagavan Lakshmi HayagreevA , the ArAdhana Murthy

of Swami Sri Desikan and information on

that AchArya paramparai.

 

CONCLUSION

 

The great Sri Vaishnavite AchAryA , Sri RaamAnuja built

upon the teachings of his purvAchAryAs rooted in

the three fundamental texts--the prasthAnatraya , viz.,

the BrahmasutrAs , Upanishads , Bhagavad Gita -- and

the NaalAyira Divya Prabhandham of the AzhwArs.

He fortified the citadel of Sri vaishNavism and made

enduring contributions to the growth of Sri Vaishnavite

philosophy , theology and religious practises through

the personal selection of a many illustrious AchAryAs ,

who in turn trained other great AchAryAs for

the advancement of the Sri VaishNavite religion

across the globe .

 

SUBHAMASTHU

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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