Divine chat with pErarulAlan! (Part-2)

[Guest guest]

Sri Parthasarathi thunaiSrimathe Ramanujaya NamahaSri Vara Vara MunayE

NamahaSri vAnAchala mahA munayE Namaha

 

[The chat continues]

 

Adiyen: One day nambigal came to you and asked, “Oh! Lord devadhirAja

my disciple wants to know if he is assured moksha” and you replied,

“What is the doubt in that? When he has the abhimAnam of a great

bhagavata like you will he not attain moksha?” [maranamAnAl

vaikundam, “jnAna anushtAnamivai nandrAgavE udaiyanAna guruvai

adaithakkAl ... thirumAmagal kozhunan thAnE vaikundam tarum”] The

next day nambigal returned back with another question,”Oh! my lord

now my disciple has another question. Is moksha assured for me?” and

you replied, ”Why should I grant you moksha you haven’t got the

abhimAnam of any bhagavata” “But emperumAnE I have been fanning you

for so many days shouldn’t adiyen be granted moksha?” asked nambigal

but you blankly said, “neer veesineer nAm pEsinOm adukku edu

seriyAgivittadhu” (You did fanning service to me and I talked with

you why should I grant moksha?) Immediately understanding your

thiruvullam, nambigal rushed to get the abhimAnam of a bhagavata.

 

PErarulAlan: Poor innocent Nambi

 

Adiyen: Nambigal posed himself to be a bullock-cart driver and did

service to periya Nambi for 6 months. When one day due to heavy rain

his clothes got wet and with krupai on the poor sincere driver periya

nambigal decided to give his dry clothes to him and hence called,

“Oh! My boy!” The very instant this fell in nambi’s ears he started

to dance in joy (“aliyal nam payyal ennAr ammavO kodiyavArE”).

Periya Nambigal saw the face of the driver and was taken aback “Oh!

Nambi where you in service to adiyen?” and thirukachchi nambi told

periya nambi about the talk with you. Then nambigal continued his

kainkaryam to you with greater enthusiasm since now he has been

credited with the abhimAnam of a parama bhAgavata and hence surely

assured of nithya kainkaryam in the divine abode of emperuman.

 

PErarulAlan: Do you know how nambi first came to do fanning service to me?

 

Adiyen: Sure Oh lord! That bhagavata didn’t forget to tell us that

too. Nambigal who developed interest in doing kainkaryam first went

to namperumal and requested him to grant him his thirualavatta

kainkaryam. But namperumal refused saying that he already stays in

between two kaveris and hence there was no necessity for anyone to

fan, the air already being cool. Though namperumal refused nambi’s

service due to his affection towards nambi he came to

poovirundhavalli and gives divya darshan lying beautifully on the

divine serpant along with Sridevi and bhoodevi with brahma in the

nAbi kamalam. The serpant is placed on top of the koormAsanam

indicating the way emperuman lay on the thiruparkadal and the very

same emperuman took koormAvadhAram during the amrutha mathanam to

help the devas. The bhagavata told us all these only infront of

ranganatha inside the sannadhi. Not only us but also the ranganatha

listened about the greatness of the great bhagavata/acharya with

immense pleasure.

 

PErarulAlan: I have no regret since I am listening the same now from your mouth.

 

Adiyen: Oh! Lord, Next nambigal went to thiruvEnkatamudaiyan and

requested for kainkaryam but thiruvenkata mudaiyan refused saying

that he is staying in “kuliraruvi venkatam” which is already cold and

hence fanning will cause only more trouble. So he finally sent

nambigal to you. But not being able to get separated from nambi

thiruvenkatamudaiyan came to poovirundhavalli and gives divine

darshan even today.

 

PErarulAlan: I am amidst the agni kundam. I had to emerge out of

brahma’s hOma kundam. So it is very hot here.

 

Adiyen: True emperumAnE! And that is why thirukachchi nambigal from

that day started to do fanning service to you this being the very apt

place for that service. Oh Lord nambigal has shown that kainkaryam is

for your pleasure and not just do something for the sake of doing it.

What is the need of fanning when it is already cold just because we

want to do some kainkaryam?

 

PErarulAlan: That’s right But I happily accept any kainkaryam my bhaktha does with love.

 

Adiyen: That is why kulasekara azhvar says, “padiyAi kidandhu vun pavalavAi kAnbEnE”

 

PErarulAlan: Oh! How sweet is the arulicheyal of my dear azhvar.

 

Adiyen: And that is why you go at the back of arulicheyal ghosti like

a mesmerized person with great thirst to listen to azhvar’s

paasurams.

 

PErarulAlan: Yeah! Now continue with your experience with our dear Nambi

 

Adiyen: Yes my lord. Then the bhagavata told us about the prime matter.

 

PErarulAlan: What? What?

 

[Emperuman now seemed to be very excited, as he knew what was going to come next]

 

Adiyen: EmperumAnE! Adiyen is able to sense your enthusiasm

(“soozhindhadhanil periya en avAvara soozhindhAyE”) but what to do

adiyen finds no words to really talk about our dear emperumAnAr.

While thinking about the great acharya my tongue ceases to talk.

What can mere words convey and what can adiyen say when even great

mahans like thiruvarangathamudhanar and mAmunikal say that they are

not eligible to talk about swamy emperumAnAr. But still let me

purify myself by repeating the thirunAmams Ramanuja! ethirAjA!

udaiyavarE! emperumAnArE!

 

PErarulAlan: Oh! Leave alone your eligibility. Just tell me about my

dear ramanuja. You know that ranganatha cheated me by sending

araiyar here and took away my near dear ramanuja from me. I was

helpless but the face of my dear child on that day when he left me

Oh! It still comes in front of my eyes. Only then did I realize the

mental state of dasaratha when vishvAmitra requested him to send me

(Rama) with him. But for lOka kshEmArtham all this was necessary.

 

Adiyen: Oh! Lord adiyen wanted to talk about the way swamy ramanuja

reached you but you are talking about his departure to srirangam.

 

PErarulAlan: hmm! Ok tell me what the bhagavata told,

 

Adiyen: While thirukachchi nambi remained in your kainkaryam he used

to daily pass through sriperumbudur while he travelled from

poovirundhavalli to kanchi. At that time, due to your divine

sankalpam the kataksham of nambi fell on a shrewd Srivaishnava boy,

elaiyAzhvar. Slowly both of them got involved with each other and

started discussing about bhagavat vishayams. Nambi used to tell the

boy about his kainkaryams to you and all about your kalyana gunas.

 

PErarulAlan: hmm...

 

Adiyen: After his father attained paramapadham, elaiyazhvar decided

to continue his studies in kanchi and requested nambigal for advice

regarding the same. Nambi told him that it was a good decision.

While in kanchi elaiazhvar developed a ruchi for kainkaryam and

requested thirukachchi nambigal to request you to grant him some

kainkaryam. Nambigal requested you the same and you replied that

“theertha kainkaryam from the sAlai kinaru” was your favorite

service. From that day onwards, elaiyAzhvar continued to do the

same.

 

PErarulAlan: It was all good old time that lies fresh in my memory

even today. I cherish those days.

 

Adiyen: Then elaiyAzhvar had some philosophical doubts that he cleared from you through nambigal.

 

PErarulAlan: Yes those 6 verses

 

Adiyen: That bhagavata with great joy told us all these and finally

completed that after such great kainkaryams at the end nambigal was

unable to go to kanchi due to bad health but varadan (you) came

running to meet thirukachchi nambigal like a son rushing to see his

father in bed.

 

PErarulAlan: How can I keep quiet when my dear nambi was in sorrow

(Arthi)? (“aham smarAmi math bhaktham nayAmi paramAm gathim”)

 

[The chat will continue in the next posting]

 

Azhvar emperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharaNam

 

Adiyen ramanuja dAseeSumithra Varadarajan