svAmi maNavALa mAmuni's vaibhavam - part 2

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srImathE saTakOpAya namah

srImathE rAmAnujAya namah

srImathE anantArya mahAguravE namah

srImathE vara vara munayE namah

 

dear bhAgavathAs,

 

I am continuing with aspects of svAmi maNavALa

mAmuni's vaibhavam. In this posting, I will paraphrase certain

details from svAmi's birth till the time he went to

srIrangam first.

 

During the time of svAmi maNavALa mAmuni's birth,

srI. thiruvAymozhip piLLai was conducting the

nirvAham of the emperumAnAr darsanam from AzhvAr

thirunagari (during svAmi piLLai lOkAchAr's time,

immediately preceding the time period in question, due

to the islamic invasion, most of the srIvaishNavAs

had to leave srIrangam, including svAmi piLLai

lOkAchAriar himself with the namperumAL vigraham;

and svAmi vEdAnta dEsikan with the manuscripts of

srutaprakAsika, the grand commentary of srI. sudarsana

bhattar (a descendant of srI. kUrattAzhvAn) on srI.

rAmAnujA's srIbhAshyam.

 

Earlier, srI. thiruvAymozhip piLLai was the rAja

mantri of the king of madurai, and after the death of the

king, he was the caretaker of the kingdom. during that time,

due to the krpa of svAmi piLLai lOkAchAr and his

shishyAs (kUrakulOththuma dAsar, nAlUrAchchAn piLLai,

viLAnchOlaip piLLai and others), learnt deeply abuout

the darsanam, and slowly became the darsanap

pravarthakar. During his reign as the caretaker of

the madurai kingdom, srI. thiruvAymozhip piLLai was

instrumental in using his influence to regain the

vigraha (archa thirumEni) of svAmi nammAzhvAr that

was stored in a slope in the kEraLa hills during the

islamic invasion.

 

At that time, AdisEsha took avatAram as the son of

srI. thiruvAveeRudaya pirAn thAthar aNNar, in a place

called sikkil kidAram, in the southern districts of

tamizhnAdu. The year was 4471 years after the birth

of kaliyuga, aippasi month, mUla nakshattiram. In

the roman calendar, this corresponds to 1370 AD.

This child was named azhagiya maNavALap perumAL

nAyanAr by his parents. At the appropriate times as

dictated by the sAstrAs, upanayanam and other rites

were performed by this child, and he learnt vEdAs

and the divya prabhanda, and other sAstrAs at

the prescribed age. His marriage also took place,

and his father himself taught him the rahasya

granthAs and the meanings of the nAlAyira divya

prabhanda. At this time, his father attained

paramapadam, and svAmi performed the appropriate rites.

 

At this time, in AzhvAr thirunagari, srI.

thiruvAymozhip piLLai was looking for the next teacher

for the rAmAnuja sampradAya. srI. AM nAyanAr also

wanted to learn more about the sampradAyam, and

he took srI . thiruvAymozhip piLLai as his

achAryan and learnt the intricacies of thiruvAymozhi

and other sAstrAs from him. srI. TMP commanded srI

AMNAyanAr to do service to rAmAnujA. srI. AM nAyanAr

built a temple for rAmanuja, created a surrounding

commuynity called rAmAnuja chaturvEdi mangalam

around the temple, and spent his time doing service

to the great AchArya. It was during this time that

srI AMNAyanar composed the beautiful, simple to

understand even by less learned folks, yatirAja

vimsati. So pleased was srI. TM PiLLai on seeing

yatirAja vimsati, and the devotion of his sishya

to rAmAnuja that he presented his sishya with

his own vigraha of rAmAnuja. It is appropriate to

write about this specific vigraha, and its

speciality.

 

It is the belief of our elders that when svAmi

madhurakaviAzhvAr yearned to install a arca thirumEni

of svAmi nammAzhvAr and prayed to him, nammAzhvAr

commanded him to boil the water or the river

tAmraparaNi. When madhurakaviAzhvAr followed the

command, and boiled the water, first he obtained

a vigraha that is the current rAmAnuja vigraha.

On seeing the vigraha, madhurakaviAzhvAr mentioned

to nammAzhvAr that he wanted his (i.e. AzhvAr's)

vigraha, and that he had obtained a different

vigraha. AzhvAr conveyed to him that this icon

was that of the universal teacher that was going

to take birth (bhavisyathAchAryar) as per the

message in the thiruvAymozhi pAsuram "poliga

poliga", and that madhurakaviAzhvAr needed to

boil the water once again to obtain the nammAzhvAr

vigraham. madhurakaviAzhvAr did so, and he obtained

the nammAzhvAr vigraham, which we have to this

day in AzhvAr thirunagari. The above rAmAnuja

vigraham was buried under the tamarind tree in

AzhvAr thirunagari when the nammAzhvAr vigraham

was taken to a safe place during the islamic invasion.

srI. thiruvAymozhip piLLai dug out the vigraha on

his return to azhvAr thirunagari along with the

nammAzhvAr vigraham that he helped to regain from

kEraLa.

 

A son was born to svAmi AM NAyanar, and he named

the son as "em aiyan irAmAnusan". For the next

few years, svAmi AM nAyanAr spent his time performing

kainkarya to srI. TM piLLai, and performing upadEsa

to the sishya varga. srI. TM piLLai's last

days on this earth arrived - srI. TM piLLai had

a great concern, and that concern was apparent in

his face. srI. AM nAyanAr enquired about the concern,

to which srI. TM piLLai replied - 'It is the kaliyuga

now, and I am very concerned about who has the

deepest interest and appreciation of the works of

our azhvArs, and who will spread the beautiful

message of the AzhvArs for the benefit of all the

people". srI.AM nAyanAr replied - "adiyEn will

do the same" to which srI. TM piLLai countered

"just words alone will not suffice" to which srI.

AMnAyanAr replied "adiyEn promises to do so".

srI. TM piLLai then commanded srI. AM nAyanAr

as follows - "learn and propaget the srIbhAsya once,

and spend most of your time in propagating and

preaching the aruLicheyal of the AzhvArs that is

so dear to srI. rAmAnuja and myself. Just as our

teachers did, stay at srIrangam and perform

kainkaryam to the Lord there", and he left this

world thinking about his AchArya svAmi piLLai

lOkAchArya.

 

srI AM nAyanAr, true to the command of his AchArya

performed upanyAsams of the aruLichcheyal and

the rahasyas. At this time, srI. azhagiya varadar

became svAmis sishya, and undertook sanyAsAshrama.

The sanyAsa name was given as "rAmAnuja jIyar".

Thus began the most illustrious jIyar maTam in

the srIvaishNava sampradAya, the vAnamAmalai

maTam, that continues the great unbroken lineage

of our AchAryAs to this day.

 

srI. AM nAyanAr took the permission of svAmi

nammAzhvAr, and along with his sishyAs, left

for srIrangam. On the way, he spent some time

at srIvillipuththUr and thirumAlirunchOlai, and

finally reached srIrangam.

 

adiyEn will continue in the next posting.

 

AzhvAr emperumAnar jIyar thiruvadigaLE saraNam,

adiyEn madhurakavi dAsan,

varadhan