Magnanimity II-7

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PiLLaiAzhwAn -nanjEyar-nampiLLai

 

The way a learner has to learn has been established long long time

ago. The Lord Himself has established this procedure in vadhari.

Refer mumukshUpaDi 6 "shishyanAi ninRadhu sishyan iruppum iruppu

nATTar aRiyamaiyAlEa athai aRivikkaikkAga"

 

Sriman NarAyaNA Himself preached thirumandhiram and also learnt it

Himself as a disciple. Why did He had to be a disciple Himself? That

is because, the souls in the world did not know how a disciple should

behave.

 

It is thus obvious that the respect a shishyA shoud give to his

AchAryan while learning cannot be compromised and therefore the

Almighty Himself taught that by demonstrating.

 

It is well known that Sri ThirukkuRunkuDi nambi became Sri vAishNava

nambi by following this reverential procedure.

 

In this backdrop, let us go into an aidhihyam. Once a srEvaishNavite

'piLLaiAthAn' approached Sri NanjEyar for learning the meanings of

thiruvoizhmozhi. Sri NanjEyar directed him to swAmi nam-piLLai as he

felt that he could learn in detail from swAmi nam-piLLai. Sri piLLai

AthArn had a problem. He did not want to fall at the feet of sri

Nam-piLLai --which is a minimum expectation or requirement of any

shishyA-and he expressed this to Sri NanjEayr. Immediately Sri

NanjEyar directed NampiLLai to educate piLLaiAthAn as desired by the

disciple.

 

The education went on as desired so, the student not prostrating and

Sri nam-piLLai fulfilling his AchAryAs command without any dilution

whatsoever. When they reached the stage of Seventh thiruvoizmzohi of

the third ten --3-7-3 ' paNiyum avar kaNdEr' Sri piLLai AthAn

realised the greatness of bhAgawadha sEshathvam and immediately

wanted to fall at the feet of nam-piLLai who refused to accept this

as his AchAryan has not directed him to do so. That Sri NanjEyar

intervened and brought normalcy later is a different story.

 

Here, in the light of the fact that the Lord Himself has accepted the

strict procedure of the grammar of a disciple, the greatness of Sri

NanjEyar in immediately commanding Sri Nam-piLLai to take classes as

per the desire of the learner than the learned and Sri Nam-piLLai

doing so and following the words of his AchAryan meticoulously not

even expecting the minimum mandatory requirement from the student.

 

Matchless magnanimity from both Sri Nan-jEyar and Sri Nam-piLLai.

 

 

( Thanks to Smt. SumithrA Varadarajan for giving me the source being EDu 3-7-3 for this incident)

dAsan

vanamamalai padmanabhan