Thiru Arangan Ula- the sojourn of the Lord – 4. The AchAryAs after NampiLLai

November 1, 2005

Periya AchAn PiLLai’s genius was so great that even the Shiva worshippers used

to feel envious that they didn’t have a scholar of his stature to write

commentaries on the nAyanmAr’s works. The word “AchAn (Ayan->Aychi->AchAn)” is

one of the names of Lord Krishna. The name PiLLai means “scholar”. He got the

prefix “Periya” in his name to signify his greatness. His original name was of

course, “Krishnan”.

Vadakku Theeruveedhi PiLLai’s original name was also Krishnan and he was a scion

of the Mudumbai clan. He was a very devoted student of Swami nampiLLai. Although

an AchArya of the rAmaAnuja Sampradayam it is interesting to note that he also

comes in the literary disciplic succession (kAlakshepa AchArya parampara) of the

Ahobila Matam school of dEsika sampradaya. He was a mahA-jnAni, a person who was

completely surrendered to the Lord. Although he was married, he had no

attraction to marital affairs. His mother, ammi was really worried that her son

won’t yield any progenies; she wanted her son to have illustrious kids who would

only help the sampradayam grow. As we shall see, how right was her vision!!! She

approached Swami nampiLLai as she was confident that her son won’t disobey his

guru’s words. Swami nampiLLai understood her plight, and hence he instructed his

dear disciple Sri Vadakku Thiruveedhi piLLai to show interest in marital

affairs, which the disciple duly followed. Sri

piLLai lOkAchAryan was thus born on the ascension of the ThiruvOnam star during

the tamil month of aippasi by the grace of Swami nampiLLai. As apparent, Sri

Vadakku Thiruveedhi piLLai christened his son after his divine guru.

After a year, Sri namperumAL, the processional deity of Srirangam, spoke to

Swami Vadakku Thiruveedhi PiLLai through the temple priest; he asked Sri Vadakku

Thiruveedhi PiLLai to beget another son- the second son thus born, was

christened with Sri namperumAL’s name, “Azhagiya ManavALA perumAL nAyanAr”. True

to the expectations and joy of everyone, the two illustrious boys went on to

earn all glories to our sampradayam. They both decided to practice celibacy in

order to avoid any entanglements in materialistic things. For the same reason

they are considered to be greater than BheeshmA himself, as he chose celibacy

for political reasons.

The great Swami PiLLai lOkAchAryar, considered to be one of the greatest

AchAryAs after Sri Ramanuja, led a life dedicated to the cause of our

sampradayam. He preferred to not spend much time in travel; instead he spent all

his time on writing 18 divine works which are essential for every SrivaishnavA

to study. He lived for 105 long years. He was considered the greatest genius

ever, and one example of his numerous divine qualities is that he brought the

philosophy to every one, immaterial of caste or creed. Even today, it is rare to

find any advaitins in the non-brahminical sects. It is only in Sri Vaishnavism

that we honor every bhAgawAtha without caring for his/her background.

It was indeed Swami rAmAnujA started the trend. He spread the branches of Sri

Vaishnavism far and wide, accepting disciples from even the so-called lower

castes. Never did he differentiate between two bhAgawathAs on the basis of

caste. He brought people from all castes under the vase umbrella of Sri

Vaishnavism. Those days, lakhs of people thronged Srirangam; it is unfortunate

that this sight can be seen only in a place like puttaparthi- sign of

degeneration of kali!!

The Brahmins in the SrivaishnavA fold are termed as “sAthina SrivaishnavAs” and

the bhaktAs from other backgrounds are referred to as, “sAthadha SrivaishnavAs”.

In a way, it is better to be a sAthAdha Srivaishnava as life can be totally

dedicated to bhagawath-kainkaryam, and there won’t be any worries about

performing SandhyAvandanam, tharpanam, etc.

Once a group of vaishnavAs from Andhra approached Swami rAmAnuja; they had

immense desire to perform bhagawath kainkaryam. rAmAnujA accepted them into the

fold. When the naysayer started questioning their castes, Swami rAmAnuja

answered that they belong to the same caste of the nityasUrIs of vaikuntha!!

Swami rAmAnuja honored even the smarthAs (for e.g. the traditional

veena-artistes) in Srirangam, MAdhwAs are given temple responsibilities, even

barbers, cobblers, washer men were all honored in Srirangam, and such is the

greatness of Swami rAmAnujA!!

Coming back to our story, Swami PiLLai lOkAchAryar’s fame spread far and wide.

One of his famous disciples was Koora kulothunga dAsar, who played a crucial

role in safeguarding our sampradayam as we shall see moving forward. His

descendants are still living in Thirukkannappuram, and it is our duty as Sri

VaishnavAs to honor the descendants of those great AchAryAs of the past. It is

indeed sad to know that some of them are wallowing in poverty. Other notable

disciples of Swami PiLLai lOkAchAryar would be manalpAkkathu nambi, kollikAval

dAsan, kOttur annan and the great vilAnchOlai piLLai.

Swami vilAnchOlai piLLai originally hails from KeraLA. He was born in the lowest

of the castes, and it is indeed unfathomable that he went all the way to

Srirangam and learnt all the sastrAs and philosophy from Swami piLLai

lOkAchAryar. How great was Swami vilAnchOlai piLLai or even how greater was

swami piLLai lOkAchAryar to have accepted a person from the so-called low-caste

and making him one of his stalwart disciples!! In fact, it is said that Swami

piLLai lOkAchAryar wrote his Sri VachanabhUshanam just for vilAnchOlai piLLai.

vilAnchOlai piLLai in return wrote saptha kAdhai, which every SrivaishnavA is

supposed to chant, but unfortunately it is grossly unnoticed, mostly because of

the caste of the author; how shameful is that! We will see the greatness of

Swami vilAnchOlai piLLai later on in this series, but let us all keep his name

in mind.

Another famous disciple of SwAmi piLLai lOkAchAryar is Sri Thirumalai AzhwAn,

who was later famously known as ThiruvAimozhi piLLai. He was a genius in both

the sAstrAs and governance. Hence, he was decorated as the Chief minister of the

pAndiya kingdom of present day Madurai. He was the person responsible for

preserving swami nammAzhwAr, he dedicated his whole life for propagating the

glories of thiruvAimozhi, and hence he later received the name “thiruvAimozhip

piLLai”. His mother was totally devoted to the sampradayam, and was an ardent

disciple of Swami piLLai lOkAchAryar; he was raised by his maternal aunt. He was

born in a town called “Kuntheenagaram”, present day “Kondhagai” near Madurai.

What is the history behind kuntheenagaram??

To be continued.......

AzhwAr emperumAnAr jeeyar thiruvadigaLE Saranam.

Adiyen Dasan,

Kidambi Soundararajan.

FareChase - Search multiple travel sites in one click.

November 1, 2005

I have a couple of questions.

vimalkumar ranganathan <panardasan wrote:

It was indeed Swami rAmAnujA started the trend. He spread the branches of Sri

Vaishnavism far and wide, accepting disciples from even the so-called lower

castes. Never did he differentiate between two bhAgawathAs on the basis of

caste. He brought people from all castes under the vase umbrella of Sri

Vaishnavism. Those days, lakhs of people thronged Srirangam; it is unfortunate

that this sight can be seen only in a place like puttaparthi- sign of

degeneration of kali!!

The Brahmins in the SrivaishnavA fold are termed as “sAthina SrivaishnavAs” and

the bhaktAs from other backgrounds are referred to as, “sAthadha SrivaishnavAs”.

In a way, it is better to be a sAthAdha Srivaishnava as life can be totally

dedicated to bhagawath-kainkaryam, and there won’t be any worries about

performing SandhyAvandanam, tharpanam, etc.

Does Sri Ramanuja any where say that one need not perform sandhyavandanam etc.?

Once a group of vaishnavAs from Andhra approached Swami rAmAnuja; they had

immense desire to perform bhagawath kainkaryam. rAmAnujA accepted them into the

fold. When the naysayer started questioning their castes, Swami rAmAnuja

answered that they belong to the same caste of the nityasUrIs of vaikuntha!!

Swami rAmAnuja honored even the smarthAs (for e.g. the traditional

veena-artistes) in Srirangam, MAdhwAs are given temple responsibilities, even

barbers, cobblers, washer men were all honored in Srirangam, and such is the

greatness of Swami rAmAnujA!!

During Ramanuja's time, there were no Madhwas. How could he have given position

to Madhwas?

FareChase - Search multiple travel sites in one click.

November 2, 2005

The answer to the first question is no. SrivaishnavAs born in Brahmin families

should perform SandhyAvandanam. Delving any deeper into this may lead to a kalai

fight that I am not prepared to kindle. Please realize that this is the written

form of a lecture series, and for more questions you have to contact Sri Madurai

arangarAjan SwAmin(from Madurai), with whom I have little contact. If you look

at the introduction of this series, I would have written that I have tried to

present whatever he said. I cannot speak for Him.

For the second question, it is to be understood that MadhwAs in later days were

honored, but the system was laid down by rAmAnuja to not distinguish.

Thanks.

Rajaram Venkataramani <v_raja_ram wrote: