Upadesa Rathna Maalai: Part12 ( Paasurams 37-38)

[Guest guest]

Paasuram 37: The loftiness of EmperumAnAr in AchArya paramparai

****************************************************************

 

Ohr AaNN vazhiyAi upadEsitthAr munnOr

yEr YethirAsar innaruLAl--paar ulahil

Aasai udayOrkku yellAm AariyakAL koorum yenRu

pEsi varampu aRutthAr pinn

 

(Meaning): Before EmperumAnAr's time , all the poorvAchAryALs

instructed the rahasyArthams of Sri Viashnavaa doctrines

in a sequential manner to their successors one at a time .

EmperumAnAr , who came later in that chain of AchAryAs

out of his immense mercy addressed all of those,

who took refuge at his sacred feet and removed that limitation

in instruction route and gave permission for his sishyAs

to teach the rahasyArthams to every one eager to know

about them .

 

(Comments): Sri MaNavALa MaamunigaL is going to salute

EmperumAnAr in his Aarthi prabhandham as " MaaRanuRai

seytha Tamizh MaRai VaLartthOn VaazhiyE " .Here MM

recognizes the extraordinary Kaimkaryam performed by

RaamAnujA in making it possible to have the first

commentary on ThiruvAimozhi by PiLLAn to expand

the outreach of the rahasyArthams of ThiruvAimozhi .

Until then, neither Naathamuni or ALavandhAr or his

sishyAs had not taught the rahasyArthams to all who

wanted to learn, but only to one sishyan at a time , who

in turn passed it on to his sishyan in the AchAryaparamparai.

This was recognized as " Ohr AaNN vazhi " UpadEsam .

The upadEsam was thus confined to a very tight circle

odf AchAryAs and there was the danger of Sri ViashNava

darsanam being lost to future generations as a result

of uncertainities in disciplinic succession .EmperumAnAr

recognized this danger and commanded his direct disciples

to banish these traditional restrictions and asked them

to teach these rahasyArthams to every one, who yearned

to learn about them. The many granthams written by

Swami Desikan , PiLLai LOkAcchAr are a direct result of

EmperumAnAr lifting these restrictions.In this context ,

the AchAryALs are divided in to two categories:Anuvrutthi

PrasannAchAryAL and KrupAmAthrA PrasannAchAryAL.The AchAryALs

before EmperumAnAr are known as Anuvrutthi PrasannAchAryALs

and RaamAnujA is known as the KrupAmAthrA PrasannAchAryAr .

EmperumAnAr made the Sri Vaishnava darsanam vikasitham ( Blossom)

instead of Sankuchitham (Shrinking ).

 

Paasuram 38: The reason for the Name EmperumAnAr Darsanam

***********************************************************

 

EmperumAnAr darsanam yenRE itharkku

NamperumAL pErittu naatti vaitthAr --ampuviyOr

intha darisanatthai EmperumAnAr vaLarttha

antha seyal aRihaikkAha

 

(Meaning): Lord RanganAthA named the siddhAntham

grown by RaamAnujA as " Sri RaamAnuja darsanam "

so that people of the world will know clearly

that it was RaamAnujA who played the pivotal

role in the growth and outreach of Sri VaishNava darsanam .

 

(Commnets): It is known that Sri VaishNava darsanam

has been around from time immemorial , even before

the avathAram of NammAzhwAr in kali yugam .There may

be questions as to why Lord RanganAthA named this

ancient darsanam as " RaamAnuja Darsanam ".There may

be questions as to the special features of this

"RaamAnuja darsanam " that qualifid it to have

this distinct honor. MM explains that Lord RanganAthA

honored RaamAnujA by naming this darsanam after him

in recognition of the many ways in which he (RaamAnujA)

grew this sampradhAyam to reach out to His( the Lord's)

Bhaktha kOtis.

 

Daasan, Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan