Arthi prabhandham - 1

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Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha | Sri Vara Vara MunayE Namaha

 

SrisailEsa dayA pAthram deebhakthyAdhi gunArnavam

Yateendra pravanam vandhE ramyajAmataram munim

 

Dear Bhagavatas,

 

With the thirunakshatram (appearance day) of our beloved Periya Jeeyer

or Sri Azhagiya manavala Jeeyar, Sri Vara Vara Muni, ma:muni (in short)

approaching shortly let us all enjoy the greatness of that great

maha:cha:rya, the acharya of not only we jeevatmas but also the lord

Himself, in a series of postings. It is definitely difficult and

impossible to write about the acharya in full.

 

Bhagavan in geetha says to arjuna that he himself cannot say about

his greatness in entirety. In our sampradayam, we regard acharyas

to be equal or more so even greater than Lord Himself. VaraVara Muni

is one such acharya who the lord himself chose to regard as his own

acharya.

 

The life history of Periya Jeeyer is known to many of us. When we

consider the contributions of swami mAmuni, the main works, which

comes to our memory, are Upadesa ratnamAlai, thiruvAimozhi

nootrandhAdhi and Arthi prabhandam in tamil and yathirAja vimsathi

in Sanskrit.

 

Swamy has done a lot of kainkaryam in writing vyakhyanams to many

rahasya grantas like mumukshupadi, acharya hrudhayam, etc. Swamy's

literary contribution is limited because, during swami's time, he

had to mainly concentrate in the reconstruction of the temple

activities, which has been lost due to the muslim invasion.

 

One another reason is due to his highly noble thought that, there

were enough poorvAcharya granthas which are already available and

there was no necessity for him to add more. But swamy did not leave

the important areas, which had to be covered.

 

For instance, the first part of periAzhvar thirumozhi vyakhyAnam

(commentary) of Periya vAchAn pillai was lost and hence the 4000

vyakhyAnam was incomplete. Swamy completed the vyakhyanam from

the first paasuram of periAzhvar thirumozhi and stopped with the

paasuram from which Periya vAchAn pillai's vyakhyAnam was available.

Here we have to see the acharya nishta of mAmuni.

 

He could have completed the vyakhyAnam for the whole of periyAzhvar

thirumozhi, since only a few more paasurams were remaining. It is

not that he cannot do it. But swamy felt, "what is the need for me

to write when the vyakhyana chakravarthi's vyakhyanam is available".

So mAmuni didn't even complete the paasuram but stopped with the

verse till which the vyakhyanam has been lost. Such was his acharya

nishta and hence swamy didn't write much grantas or slokas but

restricted to what was absolutely necessary and concentrated on

establishing the temple procedures as "rAmAnujArya divyAgya" and

doing vyakhyAnams to poorvAcharya grantams and spreading the essence

of our sampradaya vishayams to one and all to lift us all from this

world of misery and raise us to the world from where we will never

return back ("na cha punarAvarthathE"). Arthi Prabandham is the last

prabhandam of Swamy Ramayaja:ma:tru Muni (mAmuni)

 

In this series of postings VaraVara muni's Arthi prabhandam will be

covered. When one is in distress, his true colour is absolutely

shown. In his Arthi prabhandam swamy shows all his divine qualities

and anubhavams. Let us see how, in the forth coming postings.

 

(To be continued)

Jai Srimananrayana | Sumithra Varadarajan Ramanuja Dasi