Magnanimity II -2

[Guest guest]

The open mindedness and reverence towards fellow AchAryAs

 

A flashback into the incidents and events of AchAryAs should be an eyeopener to

the present day srEvaishNavites.

 

Unlike now, the AchAryAs considred not only the fellow AchAryAs as source of

knowledge but also their disciples.

 

The disciples of one AchAryA also used to attend the lectures given by the others.

 

When some doubt arises to the lecturer, he asks the disciple how his AchAryA

would have explained the particular point.

 

It is extremely improbable whether this can happen in today's context, even if

one assumes that one disciple attends othes' lectures -leave alone attending

lectures in the first place.

 

PiLLai amudhanAr was explaining thirumozhi first pAsuram of the seventh ten

-kaRavA maDa nAgu- and when he explained the first sentence it was not

correlating with the second. The meaning became like this -the Lord is calling

upon the devotee without forgetting like the cow remembering its calf. This did

not satisfy him and he enquired to one of the devotees of bhaTTar who was

present there "how Sri bhaTTar would have explained this pAsuram?" The disciple

explained that the first line should be interpreted in a particular way (for

detials please refer to the next posting on A peep into periya thirumozhi 175)

treating kaRavA mada nAgu as iraNdAm veARRumai and understand as follows: The

devotee -namely thirumangai AzhwAr declares that he will always call upon the

Lord like a calf which is without forgetting , yearing for its cow's milk

-kaRavA mada nAgu -7-1-1;

 

The meaning apart, the greatness of Sri piLLai amudhanAr in first confessing

that he was not able to interpret correctly, second acknowledging the greatness

of bhaTTar and finally accepting bhaTTar's commenatry by requesting the

disciple as final. This gives full marks to bhaTTar and the disciple but hats

of to Sri piLLai amudhanAr's greatness in displaying total lack of ego thus

highlighting that their prime motive was anubhavam and AzhwAr's thoughts rather

than anything artificial.

 

 

The Edu of swAmi nam-piLLai is replete with quotes mentioning that lot of

tamilians not necessarily srEvaishNavites by following, were attending the

upanyAsam-s of Sri bhaTTAr and also nam-piLLai. Some of their queries have been

answered. For instance, refer EDu for 'thalaiyil vaNangavum AngalOA thaiyalAr

munbEa' thiruvoizmozhi 5-3-7 ;

 

This pAsuram refers to the fact the thalivi - worhipping the Lord with her

head. In tamil culture, thalai-magan and thalai-magaL are at par and

thalai-magaL is not supposed to worship the thalai-magan. When Sri

kUrathAzhwAn was elucidating on this pAsuram a hundred years old "Amaruvi

mEaithAn nambiAr" rose slowly trembling and asked ' swAmi- is it correct to say

that the thalaimagaL has worshipped -thalaiyAlEa vaNangapperumOA?

 

Our Sri kUrathAzhwAn 'Idhil enna sandhEham-sishtAchAram vuNdu kANum; Sri janaka

rAjan thirumagaL anushtithAr kANum enRu solli "kousalyA lOka bharthAram

sushuVeyam manasvinE tham mamarthEA sugam brcha sirasA sAbivAdhayA'

 

This rAmAyaNa slokam refers to the fact that pirATTi mentions to thiruvaDi that

she worships sri RAmA with her head.

 

Sri kUrathAzhwAn- the great AchAryAn,great scholar, the versatile genius

lecturing and somebody questioning him and him taking the matter seriously and

replying with the relevant quotes. Unimaginable in the present day context.

This not only highlights the fact that those days upanyAsam-s were not mere

lectures but interactions and anubhavam-s.

 

More than anything else this goes to show the modesty of Sri kUrathAzhwAn

-leading by example-as always.

 

(to be continued)

dAsan

vanamamalai padmanabhan