Thiru Arangan Ula- the sojourn of the Lord. – 3. The glories of nampiLLai

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Thiru Arangan Ula- the sojourn of the Lord. – 3. The glories of nampiLLai

 

 

 

 

 

NampiLLai was a mahA-AchAryar residing at Sri Rangam. His original name was

VaradarAjan. His guru, Swami Nanjeeyar affectionately christened him nampiLLai

which means, “our dear one”. As Swami ManavALa MAmunikaL says in his UpadEsa

Rathna MAlai, the prefix “nam” signifies something very exalted. nammAzhwAr is

the most significant AzhwAr, just like namperumAL, the processional deity of Sri

Rangam; of course, nanjeeyar actually means “nam jeeyar”. He was a philosophical

stalwart, a champion of all SAstrAs. He was a king-maker, the king being

vyAkyAna chaktravarti Swami Periya VAchAn PiLLai. Swami Periya VAchAn PiLLai

glorifies nampiLLai in one of his works. Let us look how:

 

 

 

SAndipani Muni was the guru of Lord KrishNa during his gurukulam (schooling)

days. The greatness of SAndipani Muni is that he taught Lord KrishNA all the

sAstrAs and the 64 different art forms in just 64 days!! In fact, Thirumangai

AzhwAr, out of reverence for such a great personality, doesn’t utter his name

while referring to him in one of his works. Swami Periya VachAn PiLLai, when

describing SAndipani Muni, portrays the great SAndipani Muni, the teacher of the

Lord, as “somebody like my AchAryan!!”, alas, he goes a step more and says

“just like nampiLLai, he might know everything, but my AchAryan knows

tiruvAimozhi which SAndipani Muni did not” thereby stating that nampiLLai was

even greater than SAndipani Muni!!

 

 

 

Swami nampiLLai was an expert in tiruvAimozhi. Those days, the AchAryAs all led

totally God-conscious lives without any external deviants bothering them, hey

led comfortable lives for they had the patronage and encouragement of the kings.

 

 

 

Whenever nampiLLai delivered lectures, the whole town including all the priests

and temple staff used to congregate around him with awe to listen to his words

filled with knowledge and Bhakti. They hired a person name ThiruviLakku Pichan

as the guard for Sri RanganAtha, as everybody else would have gone to

nampiLLai’s lectures. Pichan was a person of low intelligence, and hence they

hired him to stand guard, else even he’d come to nampiLLai’s discourses. It

seems namperumAL would desire to listen to nampiLLai’s expert commentaries, so

he would try leaving the Sanctum Sanctorum, but Pichan would catch Him,

admonishingly remind Him that he was an archa avatArA, and hence he should get

back into the Sanctum!! Look at the greatness of the Lord!! Even the greatest

Rishis are waiting to communicate with Him, instead he talks to this apparently

unintelligent person!!!

 

 

 

Sri Rangam was flourishing during nampiLLai’s time. The ChOla dynasty was at its

imperialistic best, with the empire extending till countries like Thailand and

Indonesia. They built temples for Lord RAmA in Indonesia during the reign of the

ChOla Kings. The Tamil people went to different parts of the vast kingdom and

settled in those places. [As an interesting side note, ThiruppAvai is still

being chanted by a small group of people in Thailand]. Merchants of the ChOla

dynasty were involved in trading with the Chinese people. In fact, “peengAn”,

the tamil word for porcelain, was first quoted by nampiLLai in his works.

 

 

 

One of the attributes of a Srivaishnava is his humility and willingness to

forgive. A Srivaishnava is someone who takes pity in others’ miseries and tries

to help them as much as he could. Even if somebody wishes evil, a Srivaishnava

should only forgive that person and exhibit humilty. Swami nampiLLai displayed

these qualities to the highest degree; in fact, he went a step higher, as we

shall see in the next paragraph. He was extremely humble by nature, and would

never harm any living soul; even if somebody wishes him evil, he was more than

willing to forgive and continue to display humility to that person. This is the

hallmark of a Sri Vaishnava, and Swami nampiLLai was an example.

 

 

 

Once, there was an event in the Sri Rangam temple, and Swami nampiLLai was

expected to attend. On his way to the temple, Swami nampiLLai was stopped by a

Srivaishnva who wanted Swami nampiLLai’s help to dispel some philosophical

queries. Swami nampiLLai being a great teacher, spent some time to help the

Srivaishnava, and hence he ended up arriving late to the event. KandhAdai

thOzhappar was one of the scholars participating in that event, and he was

(always) harboring envy towards Swami nampiLLai mainly due to his name and fame.

He utilized this chance and started chastising Swami nampiLLai using rather

brazen words, “Do you think that you are too important for even the Lord?? Are

you so proud and arrogant just because you have many disciples??” Swami

nampiLLai was felt rather sad. But, what was the reason for Swami nampiLLai’s

sadness?

 

 

 

The same evening, KandhAdai thOzhappar was still angry with nampiLLai. His wife,

who had received a lot of knowledge by listening nampiLLai’s lectures, started

advising her husband, “My dear husband, you have done the worst of the sins.

Swami nampiLLai is not an ordinary person; people hail him as an incarnation of

Thirumangai AzhwAr himself. He has brought so much joy to the citizens of

Srirangam by delivering excellent lectures on our sampradayam. How can you

insult such a towering personality??” Hearing these words from his wife,

KandhAdai Thozhappar felt extremely guilty. He was overcome with remorse, and

felt really sad that he had insulted Swami nampiLLai. He decided to visit Swami

nampiLLai’s ashram that same night, even if it was dark, as he could not control

his sense of guilt. As he opened his door and was about to leave, he saw a

person lying on the doorsteps of his house. When he went closer to see who that

person was, Sri Thozhappar was shocked, as it was Swami

nampiLLai!!

 

 

 

“I felt very sad that you were angry with me. Please forgive me for whatever

actions I might have done for you to be angry me!!” says our nampiLLai, falling

at the feet of KandhAdai Thozhappar, who started getting tears in his eyes. He

hugs Swami nampiLLai and utters, “Oh VaradarajA!! I thought you were the guru

for the SrivaishnavAs in Srirangam, nay; you are the Guru for the whole world!!

You are lOka AchAryA !!” and hence, nampiLLai was honored with a special name,

“lOka AchAryAn”. A befitting name without doubt!!

 

 

 

NampiLLai honored everybody in his lectures. His audience ranged from kings and

ministers to peasants and simpletons. He used to explain the philosophy for

everybody to understand. Even the greatest scholars used to attend his

discourses, and he led his discourses in a very democratic way; anybody could

stand up and ask questions and nampiLLai would patiently answer those questions.

nampiLLai was always accompanied in all his discourses by his stalwart

disciples, Swami periyavAchAn piLLai and Swami vadakku thiruveedhi piLLai and

they were worthy students of a worthy guru. (Can you imagine the glory of the

sight?? Swami nampiLLai accompanied by Swami periya vAchAn piLLai and Swami

vadakku thiruveedhi piLLai… what a sweet picture to imagine!!!)

 

 

 

(to be continued)

 

 

 

 

 

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