svAmi maNavALa mAmuni vaibhavam - part 1

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srImathE SatakOpAya namah

srImathE rAmAnujAya namah

srImathE anantArya mahAguravE namah

srImathE vara vara munayE namah

 

 

dear bhAgavathAs,

 

the following is the first posting from

yatIndrap pravaNa prabhAvam. In this

post, I have paraphrased bits and pieces

relating to svAmi maNavALa mAmunigaL's

avatAram, and the avatAra rahasyam.

 

The earliest known mention of the avatAra

rahasyam of svAmi maNavALa mAmunigaL happened

during svAmi nampiLLai's time. This incident

happened when srI vadakkuth thiruveedhip

piLLai had finished transcribing the commentary

on thiruvAymozhi of svAmi nampiLLai (known as

eedu 3600ppadi), and svAmi nampiLLai came

to know about the transcription.

 

svAmi nampiLLai at first was unhappy about

the transcription since it was written without

his command, but later on listening to the

reason for the transcription (for svAmi

VTP to remember the commentary and its

intricacies without forgetting), and seeing

that the commentary was a word by word

transcription of his own words, he was

very pleased that the thiruvAymozhi

commentary (that waes entirely based on

svAmi nanjIyars earlier work, and thena

added to by svAmi nampiLLai) was available

for everyone.

 

svAmi nampiLLai then gave the commentary to

his shishya known as eeyuNNi mAdhavap perumAL

for safekeeping, and propagation. eeyuNNi

mAdhavap perumAL was hesitant, thinking that

he was not qualified to do that job, but

svAmi nampiLLai had confidence in his

abilities, and mentioned the following -

 

"Listen - Lord varadarAja has appeared in

srI kandAdai thOzhappar's dream (kandAdai

thOzhappar was a shishya of svAmi nampiLLai),

and told the following to him -

 

jagad rakshaaparO ananthO janishyadhyaparOmuni:

thatharasyaas sadhaachaaraa saathvikaa: thathva

darsina:

 

anantAzhvAn, who has a great interest in the

saving of the universe will take avatAram as

another saint. Those who will be shishyAs of

that saint will be filled with sathvaguNA

and will have the thattvagnyAnA.

 

Ananta will take another avatAram per the

words of Lord varadarAjA Himself, and he will

spread the holy thiruvAymozhi and this

commentary to the world. So, pass this

along your shishyavarga so that it may be

available for him."

 

During the life of svAmi maNavALa mAmuni,

there were multiple instances in which he

had made known His original form to various

people. The following is one of them that

has been recorded in yatIndrap pravANap

prabhAvam -

 

svAmi maNAvALa mAmunigaL's original name

was azhagiya maNAvALap perumAL nAyanAr.

In his earlier stages of life, svAmi

undertook to visit many holy places,

and srIperumbUdUr and kAnchipuram were

among the first few that he visited. In

srIperumbUdUr, where nAyanAr was spending

some time, enjoying and worshipping srI

ramAnujA, rAmAnuja commanded him to

proceed to kAnchipuram. In that command,

in the form of a dream, rAmAnujA said

" Go and meet kidAmbi nAyanAr

and learn from him. After you learn

srIbhAsya, per my and thiruvAymozhip

piLLai's wish, please spread the word

of the AzhvArs primarily".

 

svAmi went to kAnchipuram and started

learning srIbhAsya under srI. kidAmbi

nAyanAr, a descendant of srI. kidAmbi AccAn.

ALong with kidAmbi nAyanAr, two other

AchAryAs, selvanAyanR and aigaL appa

taught him srIbhAsya. (The three were

always together and were great friends).

 

One day, when kidAmbi nAyanAr was teaching

srIbhAshya to AM nAyanAr, aigaL appa

mentioned "The complexity with which

srIbhAsya is being taught is not corresponding

to the brilliance of AM nAyanAr". At that

time, kidAmbi nAyanAr asked aigaL appa

himself to start teaching AM nAyanAr.

AM nAyanAr started learning srIbhAsya and

also simultaneously started teaching

it to others. Seeing the scholarship,

and the additional deep meanings being

taught by srI AM nAyanAr, aigaL appa

was very happy. kidAmbi nAyanAr too

heard about this, and he came to

the place where AM nAyanAr was giving

the discourse. Upon request of his

shisyAs, svAmi AM nAyanAr gave great

discourse on tarka, mImAmsa and it was

a source of wonder for everyone concerned,

since they were unaware of svAmi's

learning/knowledge.

 

kidAmbi nAyanAr then requested AM nAyanAr

to give discourses on AzhvAr's works,

and simultaneously, he taught AM nAyanAr

srIbhAshya. kidAmbi nAyanAr was

continuosly amazed by the scholarship

and ability of AM nAyanAr while he was

teaching the thiruvAymozhi commentary.

 

One day, when he and AM nAyanAr were

alone, he asked AM nAyanAr about his

true form, telling him "I know certainly

that you have an avatAra visEsha, please

do not hide that from me, please show

me as it is". AM nAyanAr then said

"You are my AchArya, and I will not

hide my true form to you, please do

not let anyone else know about this

rahasya that is due to the Lord's command",

and asked him not to be afraid, and

showed his true form as AdisEshA.

 

kidAmbi nAyanAr, with some fear,

requested AM nAyanAr to return to his

human form, which he did. After this,

svAmi kidAmbi nAyanAr started bringing

warm milk everyday to svAmi AM nAyanAr,

given that milk is the natural food

for AdisEsha.

 

even to this day, for svAmi maNavALa

mAmunigaL, this tradition of offering

warm milk is continued. In the temple of

srI yathOkthakAri svAmi, the icon of

svAmi maNavALa mAmunigAL is depicted

with the "vyAkhyAna mudra", or the

teaching form, the only place where he

is depicted such. This is where svAmi

gave his discourses on srIbhAsya.

 

I will continue with other aspects of

svAmi's vaibhavam in the next few

days.

 

AzvAr emperumAnAr jIyar thiruvadigaLE saraNam,

adiyEn madhurakavi dAsan,

varadhan

 

 

 

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