Sri maNavALa-mA-munikaL in USA - by Sriman Tirumanjanam Sundararajan of Srirangam

[Guest guest]

Sri maNavALa-mA-munikaL in USA.

 

 

 

Smt Sheela Belur has reported the consecration of the ‘archA’ representations of

SrirAma-parivAram, AzhvAr, emperumAnAr and maNavALa mAmunikaL in the JET

Washington DC (March 5-8). "pallANDu pallANDu" for every one who thought of

this and executed it with such joy and devotional fervour as comes out in the

report.

 

 

 

It is to be borne in mind that no part or continent of our precious world is to

be regarded as spiritually sterile. The purusha-sUktam is clear that as the

Lord made the vast universe, he elected to manifest himself only here on this

earth (which is but a spec in this vast scheme of things) ~~~~ "sa bhUmim

viSvatO vRtvA, atyatishThat." The tiru-vAi-mozhi scripture is equally

affirmative that the spirits of the Lord fill this world entire with

God-consciousness, “kaDal-vaNNan bhUtanGaL maN-mEl etc”. No area exclusion is

indicated. It is therefore but fitting that the Lord and his blessed

AzhvAr-AchArya saints-elect should be so worshipped in the U.S. too.

 

May this sanctified occasion strengthen world-wide prayers for universal

welfare (lOka-kshEmam), containment of terrorist violence and abandonment of

war, good rains in our bhArata-bhUmi (the sacred kAvEri bed here in Srirangam

has gone bone dry), and return of SrirAma to His own ayOdhyA-puri.

 

 

 

-

 

"bvsheela" <bvsheela <sv-general>

Monday, March 10, 2003 6:49 PM [sv-general] PerumAL, AlwAR and

AchAryas have come to a Metro near you...!

 

 

 

SrimatE rAmAnujAya nama: ||

 

 

 

The pratishThApana mahOtsavam of SreeRama-parivAram along with nammAlwAr,

emberumAnAr, svAmi maNavALa mAmunigaL took place from March 5 to 8 at the JET

USA Washington DC center under the holy guidance of H.H Sri Sri Sri Tridandi

Chinna Jeeyar Swamy.

 

It was a truly divine experience for all devotees who attended the 4 day

celebration and will be a memory to be cherished for the rest of their lives...

 

For the first time, an archa form of Swami Manavala Mamunigal has been formally

consecrated in this country .... our heartfelt thanks (talaiyallAl kaimmARilanE)

to all who made this great thing happen.

 

 

The yAgam and other rituals were performed in the yagashAla that was specially

built for this purpose by Sriman Satya-narayan-acharyulu-garu of New Orleans

temple along with Sriman Seetha-ram-acharyulu-garu , who was performing

kainkaryam to tiruvenkaTam-uDaiyAn PerumAL at Pittsburgh temple till now and

who will be the resident priest at the JET cente.

 

 

 

All the resources needed for the rituals were untiringly arranged by the

organizers Sriman Ravi and Srimati Vasanthi Aharam and their Vikasa Tarangini

troup. Not only did Sriman Satyanarayanacharyulugaru perform all the rituals

impeccably, he aso gave elaborate explanations of some of the salient aspects.

One such instance was when he mentioned about the shlOkam "tvam mE ham mE..."

when our Chakravarthi Tirumagan was giving us darsanam in His white wet piece of

clothing soon after tirumanjanam...that scene backed by the narration by Sriman

Satyanarayanacharyulugaru made the eyes moist...

 

 

 

When alankaram was being done, Sriman Oppili Gopalan Swamy recited

ten pashurams from perumAL tirumoli which was all the more fitting

with KulashEkahara PerumAL's tirunakshatram being just around the

corner. There was noticeable smile on Perumal and AchAryAs'

mukha-mandalams during SAttumuRai. This was followed by kalyAnOtsavam to

PerumAl and Seetha pirAtti.

 

 

 

The befitting climax was when H.H.Tridandi Jeeyar Swamy's voice over the

telephone reverberated the hall with his mangalAsanams to the organizers and

other devoteess along with a few words of guidance for the future as to how the

center should perform.

 

 

 

On the whole it was a once-in-life-time experience which will

remain green in our memories for years and years to come. This is

yet another example that shows us the "saulabhyam" of our PerumAl

and the AchAryas by coming down to this land which was once called

only a "bhOga bhoomi" as against Bharatha varsham which has been

known as the "karma bhoomi". Last, but not the least, even nature rewarded

the oragnizers and other devotees by the unexpected sunny and warm weather, in

contrast to the biting cold and tons of snow of prior weeks, which greatly

helped the success of the events.

 

 

 

JET USA Washington Center plans to start celeberating Alwar and

Acharya tirunakshatrams in the coming months and the center

organizers heartily invite each and every one of the our "rAmAnuja

kuTumbam" in the USA to come and have darasanam of Perumal and

parivAram - more so of Alwar and AchAryAs - who have come even to

this land just for our benefit...

 

 

 

Wishing "pallAndu pallAndu" for all the oraganizers, adiyAL prays

to Perumal, AlwArs and AchAryas to bestow very good health for them

enabling them to continue to do such kainkaryams for years and years to come...

 

 

 

>AlwAr EmberumAnAr Jeeyar tiruvadigalE saranam

> adiyAL rAmAnuja dAsi.

 

 

 

Sri maNavALa-mA-munikaL

 

(written by tirumanjanam Sundara Rajan)

 

 

 

Sri maNavALa-mA-munikaL (1370-1443 AD) is the 'charama-paramAchArya' (the latest

of the great preceptors) who laid the Srivaishnava faith in unredeemed debt for

his precious services, such as,

 

 

 

(i) revival, reorganization, and acknowledgment of the historic role of the

community of Acharya personages; as in instituting his own ashTa-diG-Gaja-s,

the eight principal disciples, and in setting up the ‘sapta-GOtra-vyavasthA’ for

preservation of the ‘kandADai’ identity;

 

 

 

(ii) restoration of temple structures and worship which had earlier been

vandalised on two traumatic occasions in history, viz., the savage raids of

Malik Kafur (1311) and Ulugh Khan (1331) through the holy 'divya-dESam' sites;

for instance, it was mAmunikaL who sanctified the introduction of the

bhUpati-t-tiru-nAL (in the tai / makara-mAsam) of Lord Sriranga, and this is

testified by the beautiful wooden sculpture of mAmunikaL installed by the

donor-devotee Veerappa Bhupati in the rear of the tai-ratham of Lord Sriranga;

 

 

 

(iii) preservation of the esoteric ('rahasya') classical works of the liberal,

life-affirming, humanitarian and highly aesthetic doctrines of the Srivaishnava

religion; this was carried out by mAmunikaL by remuneratively engaging

competent copyists on making multiple copies of the classical vyAkhya works;

 

 

 

(iv) propagation of the scriptures and the corollary works of ‘rahasya’

(esoterics) through his own discourses (as on the eeDu bhagavad-vishayam in the

presence of Lord Sriranga), and through his own pellucid commentaries on Pillai

Lokacharya’s esoteric aphorisms (‘rahasya sootra-s’) SRI-VACHANA-BHOOSHANAM,

MUMUKSHU-P-PADI, and ACHARYA-HRDAYAM of his venerated younger brother

azhakia-maNavALa-p-perumAL nAyanAr, etc. This particular endowment of

mAmunikaL was what caused him to be known as ‘viSada-vAk-SikhAmaNi’ (master of

clear expression).

 

 

 

 

 

This manner of versatility and multitude of Mamuni's services patterned after

the life and career of Sri Ramanuja, had earned for Mamuni the revered name of

'yateendra-pravaNa' . Mamuni had the venerable pedigree of being descended from

Sri GO-maThattu AzhvAn, one of the 74 simhAsana-adhipati-s identified and

nominated by Sri Ramanuja. At his birth (under mUla asterism, tulA month,

sAdhAraNa year, corresponding to October 24 1370 AD) in AzhvAr tiru-naGari, he

was named azhakiya-maNavALa-p-perumAL (‘ramya-jAmAtA’) after Lord Sriranga, the

festive deity (utsava-archA) specifically, called so as being the Lord of

uRaiyUr kamala-valli dEvi who was adored as the presiding deity of the kingdom

of the early Cholas. Mamuni is the name for Srivaishnavas to acknowledge in

gratitude, pride and in reverence.

 

 

 

The 'eeDu' genesis.

 

 

 

The 'eeDu' is of the Great Literatures of the world, and is the grand

culmination of SrivaishNava vyAkhyA (exegesis) tradition which got started with

tiru-k-kurukai-p-pirAn piLLAn, as authorized by Sri Ramanuja. Sri nampiLLai

it was who delivered the ‘eeDu’ in the form of discourses on the scripture

tiru-vAi-mozhi, while seated in the four-pillared pavilion ('manDapam') close

south of sEnai-mudaliyAr (vishvak-sEna) shrine in Srirangam Great Temple. (The

base of a pillar in this manDapam is cut like the back-tilt of an easy-chair,

and this is known as "nampiLLai SAimAnam", the nampiLLai recline.) It is said

that of a day, periya-perumAL Himself stole to the eastern window of the

gAyatrI-manDapam and peered down to absorb the discourses of nampiLLai. The

eager Lord was noticed by tiru-viLakku-p-picchan, the light-attendant, and

rebuked for His indiscretion and told peremptorily to return to the

SEsha-paryankam, the serpent-couch in the sanctum !

 

 

 

Sri nampiLLai's lectures were competently and faithfully committed to writing by

vaDakku-t-tiru-veethi-p-piLLai. This record came to be known as EeDu.

Ma-muni appropriately adores VTVPillai as 'vaLLal', Blessed Bestower (44,

'upadESa-ratna-mAlai'). The work is among the ultimate instances of excellence

in ‘rasa’, as meeting the dictum, "mitam cha sAram cha vachO hi vAgmitA" ~

rhetoric consists in brevity and essentiality.

 

 

 

'SriSailESa' and mAmuni.

 

 

 

Tirumalai AzhvAr (=SriSailESa) who came to be known as tiru-vAi-mozhi-p-piLLai

(1290-1410 AD) taught ‘eeDu’ to mAmuni (1370-1443 AD). When mAmuni

subsequently came to study the SribhAshyam under kiDAmbi-nAyanAr in Kanchi, the

teacher was impressed with the mAmuni's facile grasp of SribhAshyam corpus as

principally on account of his deep apprenticeship in eeDu, and encouraged mAmuni

on the course (set for him by his Guru SriSailESa) of reaching eeDu to the

community of scholars.

 

 

 

On mAmuni's return to Srirangam, there was the divine initiative of Lord

namperumAL to get mAmuni to lecture in public on eeDu. The commodious periya

tiru-maNDapam (= azhakiya maNavALan maNDapam spreading out before the

tiru-aNukkan-vASal guarded by Jaya and Vijaya) was the venue for the year-long

course of mAmuni's lecture.

 

 

 

Feast for God.

 

 

 

For maNavALa-mA-muni, this was providential approval of his heart's passion,

this was his God-given means of redeeming his word to his AchArya, SriSailESa,

to enhance community appreciation of the scripture tiru-vAi-mozhi. Lord

Azhakiya-maNavALan and His consorts, ubhaya-nAcchimAr, were in audience in the

'manDapam' pavilion which was packed with the grand congregation of devotees.

 

Each day's lecture was enriched by mAmuni's citing of relevant texts and

interpretations from a range of scriptural sources like Sruti, SribhAshyam,

Sruta-prakASikA, GeetA-bhAshyam, the pAncha-rAtra Agamam, SrirAmAyaNam,

mahAbhAratam, SrivishNu-purANam, Srimad-bhAgavatam, etc.

 

 

 

He was assiduous in explaining the meaning of an operative word, the unitive

import emerging from the syntax of a crucial sentence, the apparent meaning

('samabhi-vyAhAra-artham') and the underlying import, the implied message

('dhvani'), the SabdArtham, bhAvArtham, the patent reading and the contextual

reading. The venerated text of eeDu which he was expounding demanded such

intellectual alertness and virtuosity, moderated and held on course by mAmuni's

inborn modesty and manifest devotion to the line of the great AchArya-s who had

bequeathed to him the precious legacy.

 

 

 

The inspired ‘taniyan’.

 

 

 

Lord Sriranga suspended His seasonal festivities for nearly an year to make

possible this vAk-yajnam (worship of the Word) which concluded on the

Ani-t-tiru-moolam of the year pramAdeecha. It is said that as a proper gift

(bahu-mAnam) to the great exponent mAmuni, the Lord inspired a young boy of four

or five (who identified himself by the name Ranga-nayakam) to enter the

congregation and recite the taniyan-SlOkam,

 

 

 

"Sri-SailESa-dayA-pAtram, dhee-bhaktyAdi-guN/ARNavam,

 

yateendra-pravaNam vandE, ramya-jAmAtaram munim !”

 

 

 

The fervent devotees who had been feasting on the manna of mAmuni's discourses

wrote down this tribute promptly on a palm-leaf and stamped it with turmeric

paste and placed it at the feet of the Lord in audience.

 

 

 

Ani-t-tiru-mUlam Day

 

 

 

Ani-t-tiru-mUlam of year pramAdeeSa (circa 1432-33 AD) was the blessed day on

which the precious ‘Sri-SailESa’ tribute of mAmunikaL was enunciated. This

sacred couplet was commended (as sEnai-mudaliyAr Sri-mukham) to Tirumalai,

Perumal Koyil (Kanchi) and all the other divya-dESam shrines in the land, and

has ever since been the affix to any formal psalmody (GOshThee recital) of the

'divya-prabandham'.

 

 

 

The mystic import.

 

 

 

The taniyan is a cryptic formula of 'praNava-artham', says piLLai-lOkam-jeeyar,

the author of the twin hagiographic gems, 'rAmAnujArya divya-charitai' and

'yateendra-pravaNa-prabhAvam'. The monosyllabic ‘praNavam’ blends in itself

the identity of the Lord Transcendant, and the entity of the seeker who

instinctively submits to the Lord's way, and their abiding relationship.

 

 

 

Kanchi prati-vAdi-bhayankaram aNNanGAr-AchArya svAmi reads the couplet to say

how the Lord in his incarnations as SrirAma and SrikrishNa had his dismays and,

as Sriranga-nAtha, he sought out for the rewarding discovery of mAmuni. The

kAnchi-svAmi gets such reflections into each quarter ('pAdam') of the couplet.

 

 

 

"SriSailESa-dayA-pAtram" recalls sugreeva who dismayed SrirAma by failing to

mobilise the army in time to fight rAvaNa. sugreeva failed at first to keep

his word, while mAmuni who was the favoured of his AchArya SriSailESa

(tiru-vAi-mozhi-p-piLLai) succeeded, by the very grace of the Lord, to redeem

his pledge to his preceptor to enhance the community appreciation of

tiru-vAi-mozhi.

 

"dhee-bhaktyAdi-guNARNavam". Before commencing the war with Ravana, SrirAma

had the unpleasant ceremony of beseeching the aRNava (Ocean) deity but receiving

no response. The Lord would rather seek the consolation of adoring mAmuni, the

Ocean of several merits like intellectual power, unsullied and unbrandished

devotion, unobtrusive wisdom etc.

 

 

 

"yateendra-pravaNam". The Lord of Tirumalai, SriSailESa, was in debt to Sri

Ramanuja in several respects. However, it transpired that, after the Lord

pondered the Ramanuja-nooRRantAdi verse 97, He prized the service to Ramanuja's

devotee as exceeding His attachment to Ramanuja himself.

 

"vandE ramya-jAmAtaram munim !" As Srirama walked the wild under the command of

viSvAmitra muni, he had to put up with very unrewarding narratives like

viSvAmitra’s old-time sports with Menaka, scuffle with VasishTha etc.

Likewise, as Srikrishna proffered the pupil's gift to his teacher sAndeepinee,

the Lord was disappointed that the teacher did not ask for the ultimate grace,

but as a sentimental parent he merely sought the revival of his child who was

drowned in prabhAsa. On the other hand, mAmuni presented the contrast of

mundane detachment, and this had its wholesome appeal for the Lord who gladly

chose mAmuni to instruct him in tiru-vAi-mozhi itself.

 

 

 

Ani-t-tiru-moolam in mAmuni shrine.

 

 

 

Any event in the maNavAla-mA-muni shrine in Srirangam is marked with

'aruLi-c-cheyal' recital by the Great Temple 'adhyApaka-gOshThee'. The

'periya alankAram' food offerings made to the Lord Periya Perumal is received as

a continuing gesture of the Lord's regard for mAmuni. At the end of the

SAttu-muRai, the devotees receive the holy water and mAmuni's "pon-aDiyAm

Sen-kamala-p-pOtu" (the wooden sandals used by mAmuni, encased in gold-plate)

are placed on their bowed heads.

 

 

 

Three contemporary corroborations.

 

 

 

At the end of the Ani-t-tiru-moolam protocol, there is chanting of

'sampradAya-chandrikai' verses of appiLLAr, and paravAdi-kEsari's "SriSaila

vaibhavam", both relating to the momentous emergence of the

'SriSailESa-dayA-pAtram' couplet. The minor Sanskrit work 'SriSailESAshTakam'

by eRumbi-appA on the same theme is another vivid account available to us.

This slender profile of the revered and humane personage mAmunikaL is offered

in celebration of the consecration of the first iconic representation of

mAmunikaL in the USA, and also as a reminder that the revival of his memorial

awaits the expeditious and generous support of every Srivaishnava born.

 

 

 

It would be fitting to end this slim write-up with the following tribute in the

form of a ‘muktaka-SlOkam’ ~

 

 

 

"Sreemad-ranGam jayatu paramam / bhUmi-tEjO nidhAnam,

 

bhUmA tasmai bhavatu kuSalee / kO/pi bhUmA-sahAya:,

 

divyam tasmai diSatu vibhavam / dESikO dESikAnAm,

 

kAlE kAlE vara-vara-muni: / kalpayan manGalAni !"

 

 

 

[ May the glorious (city of) Srirangam prevail as the ultimate reservoir of the

world’s splendour. May (the mother) earth favour this (blessed spot). May

the Lord of bhUmi-dEvi bestow (on Srirangam) divine riches / power time after

time, so that the preceptor par excellence, Vara-vara-muni, could (continuously)

multiply its blessings !]

 

 

 

~ aDiyEn rAmAnuja-dAsan, tirumanjanam Sundara Rajan, at Srirangam.

 

 

 

 

 

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