[Alwars & Aharyas ([(unknown)])]

[Guest guest]

Dear SrI N.Vijayaraghavan <wasimlara

>I would like to ask a fundamental question.Who are alwars and

>acharyas?

 

Alwars are divine incarnations (amSa-avathAram) of various nithya-sUris

of the God SrIman NArAyaNa. For example, Tiru-malizai-Alwar is

sudarSana-chakra-amsam. Alwars got 'submerged' in the divine ocean of

kalyANa-guNas (divine qualities) of SrIman NarAyaNa and enjoyed His

kalyANa-guNas.

 

AchAryas are preceptors; their succession (guru-parampara) is very

important in preserving the parama-vaidika-matham ViSishtAdvaita SrI

VaishNavam. The guru-parampara starts with SrIman NArAyaNa, has great

AchAryas like SrI SatakOpa, SrIman nAthamuni, SrImath yAmunAchArya,

Bhagavath rAmAnuja, SrIman nigamAntha mahA dESika to name a few. AchArya

is he who practices and preaches the parama-vaidika-matham ViSishtAdvaita

SrI VaishNavam. AchArya blesses us with pancha-samskAram, SAstra-adyayanam and

finally makes us to adopt the upAya-anushtAnam which is

SaraNagathi (which has five angams) at the lotus feet of SrIman NArAyaNa.

>Do alwars have some divine power?

 

Alwars had definitely divine power given to them by the God; and that

power is "mayarvara-mathi-nalam" - absolute knowledge about the

thathva-hitha-purushArthams. Above this power, they had ultimate mercy

and showered it on all of us through their 4000 divine verses

(nAlAyira-divya-prabandam) and thus explained the Veda (theLiyAda maRai

nilangaL theLigindROmE - swAmi SrIman NigamAntha mahA dESika) in Tamil in

a simple way. These verses are outpouring of their experiences that they

had with the unparalleled and unsurpassed supreme self SrIman NArAyaNa

(bhagavath-anubhava-parivAham). Their power is so great that their words

have expressed the universal philosophy and practice of the ViSishtAdvaita SrI

VaishNavam in such a lively manner, comprehensible to all of us.

>Where the alwars stand as per our sampradayam and what is their exact

>role?.

 

In our ubhaya-vEdAntha sampradAyam, Alwars stand in a very important

position next to the rishis like bAdarAyaNa, parASara… But SrI

SatakOpa (namAlwAr) is also an AchArya in the guru-parampara. Therefore,

SrI SatakOpa is acknowledged with highest regards as

prapanna-santhAna-jana-kUtasta: and SrI VaishNava kulapathi. Without the

sambandam of this AlwAr, the souls cannot even think of salvation. Such is the

greatness. Their role is to educate all people through their works

(nAlAyira-divya-prabandam) regarding ViSishtAdvaita SrI VaishNava

thathva-hita-purushArthams and make the souls to adopt SaraNAgathi

(prapaththi/Bhara-nyAsam) at the lotus feet of SrIman NArAyaNa.

 

Thanks & Regards

M.S.HARI rAmAnuja dAsan (mshari)

 

 

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