[sri ramanuja] Sri Ramanuja Journal Issue 2 Volume 2

[Guest guest]

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*Karthikai, Vyaya

Azhvar 2, Acharya 2*

 

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*aruLALapperumAL emperumAnAr*

 

*thirunakshathiram :Karthikai -BharaNi.*

 

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*kArthikE BaraNI jAtham yatIndrAsritamAsrayE |**

JNyAnapramEya sAraBivaktAram vardam munim || *

 

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*yatirAja dayApAtram yatipankti viBUSaNam |**

dayApAla munim vandE desikAgrE saram saDA || *

 

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*Sri AruLALapperumAL emperumAnAr, also called dayApAlamuni or dEvarAjamuni,

was one of the very important siShyAs of swAmi emperumAnAr. He was an

advaita sanyAsi, with the name yajNya-mUrthi. He was a great scholar in

vEdAnta, and he heard about swAmi emperumAnAr's vaiBhavam, and decided to

have a debate with swAmi and win over him. On reaching Srirangam, he

expressed his wish to debate with swAmi, which was gladly accepted by swAmi

too. The debate continued without any result for 17 days and on 17 th day

the arguments and ideas of yaJNyamUrthy grew stronger and swAmi could not

think of anything to refute it. That day yaJNyamUrthy returned home in an

ecstatic mood thinking victory was his , while swAmi was greatly dejected at

the turn of events. At his SrimaTam, he offered prasadam to his

thiruvArADhana perumAL, pEraruLALan, and silently started pouring his heart

out to him. "Starting with AzhwArs, and carried on by Sri AlavandAr, should

this darSaNam come to an end because of a person like me. If this is what

your desire , be it so." Thinking thus, with extreme grief, swAmi went and

retired without having any prasAdam. ***

 

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*That night pEraruLALan appeared in his dream and spoke thus : "Oh!

IlayAzhwAr, Don't Worry? I have given you a siShyA who is equivalent to you

in all aspects. Use the arguments of your paramAchAryAr, Sri AlavandArs'

mAyAvAdha Khandanam, and defeat him." (ummuDaya paramAchAryarAna ALavanthAr

aRuLiccheytha mAyAvAda khaNdanatthai cholli avarAi jayiyum (6000ppadi GPP)**

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*SwAmi woke up suddenly and realized that it was a dream and was overjoyed.

He happily completed his nithya karmAnuShTAnam, and after worshipping his

thiruvArADhana perumAL, went to the debate hall with all the majestic look.

YaJNyamUrthy, on seeing swAmi was awe struck, by his majestic appearance and

happiness in his face, that he thought: "Is this the same emperumAnAr, who

returned depressed yesterday. Now he is entering the debate hall like an

elephant ( iRamAnuja muni vEzham)." and YaJNyamUrthy, being a sarvajyA

concluded that Emperumanar is not a ordinary mortal, but he is an

avatharapurusha himself. He immediately fell in the lotus feet's of

emperumanar, and conceded defeat. This act of yaJNyamUrthy completely

surprised swAmi, who asked him if he is not willing to continue with the

debate. For this the yaJNyamUrthy replied, "When periya perumAL himself

appeared to you, there is no difference between periya perumAL and swAmi,

and I do not have any capacity to speak a word in front of you" On hearing

this swAmi was extremely pleased, but still to bring the debate to a formal

conclusion, he explained yaJNyamUrthy, the flaws in the mAyAvAdha

siDhAntham. Then swAmi embraced yaJNyamUrthy, and accepted him as his

siShyA. He then requested yaJNyamUrthy to do prAyaschittA for forsaking the

yaJNyopavItham, and ThriDandam. Then swAmi performed pancha samskAram to

yaJNyamUrthy and named him as " aruLALa perumAl emperumAnAr". ***

 

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*When ananthAzhwAn, echAn, thondanUr nambi, and marudUr nambi surrendered at

the feet of vudyavar, swAmi asked them to surrender to at the divine feet of

AruLALap perumAL emperumAnAr, and accept him as their AcharyA. On hearing

this AruLALap perumAL emperumAnAr fearfully told them, "Its like tying a

fruit of the palm tree, to the neck of a sparrow." and advised them to

surrender only to swAmi. This particular episode shows us the some of the

qualities of a Sri Vaishnava, and guru-siShya lakShaNam. A guru should never

consider his siShyAs to be his siShyAs, but should consider them as siShyAs

of his own AcharyAn. Even though Emperumanar gave AruLALap perumAL

emperumAnAr a separate maTam, to live, due to the fact that people got

confused between the two emperumanar's, AruLALap perumAL emperumAnAr

demolished his maTam, and came back to the SrImaTam of swAmi rAmAnujar.

Swami too, commanded him to perform nithya thiruvArAdhanam, of the mathams'

archA moorthi's from then onwards. ***

 

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*AruLALap perumAL emperumAnAr blessed us with two prabandhams in tamizh,

called nyAna sAram and pramEya sAram, which are considered the essence of

the entire vedAnta. They are written in the "venpa" style of poetry, and

revealing raHasyArthAs are first of that kind among our pUrvAchArya's in

chaste Tamizh. SwAmi MaNavALa mAmunikal has written pramANa thiraTTu for

both prabandhams. And There is a commentary for both prabandhams by piLLai

lOkam jeeyar, which is often misunderstood as mAmunikal's commentary. The

two prabandhams dipped in rahasyarthas are a wonderful feast to us.

Following are just two instances from the two prabandham as an example. *

 

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*atRam uraikkil aTaindhavar pAl ambuyaikOn***

 

*kuRRam uNarndhigazhum koLgaiyanO? - eRRE than***

 

*kanRin uDambin vazhuvanRO? kAdhalippadhu***

 

*anRadhanai InRugandha Aa -- 25- njAnasAram***

 

*The pasuram, in detail explains vAthsalyam of emperumAn (ambuyaikOn)***

 

*vAthsalyam-affection towards one's child, is it just that, no it is even

accepting the defects of the loved one, further it is in fact, enjoying the

defect of the loved one ***

 

*and here swami explains it with a wonderful simile, a cow begot a calf***

 

*and the calf would be full of dirt the cow will lick all the dirt happily**

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*this is dhOshaththai bOgyamAk koLLudhal -vAtsalaym ***

 

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*avvaanavarukku mavvaanavarellaam***

 

*uvvaanavaradimai yenRuraiththaar - ivvaaru***

 

*kEttiruppaarkaaLenRu kaNdiruppaar mItciyilaa***

 

*naattiruppaar enRiruppannaan-- pramEya sAram 1***

 

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*This is wonderful depiction of praNavam***

 

*avvAnavarkku- a Anavarkku -EmperumAn-AkAram***

 

*ma-vAnavarkku -makAram - jEvAthmA-s***

 

*vuvAnavarkku-ShEsathvam***

 

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*and going on to describe bhAgavatha shEshathvam the ellai nilam***

 

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*dayApAlana dEvAya JNyAnasAra pradAyaca |

pramEyasAram tatatE namOstu prEma sAlinE ||*

 

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*Eyunni mAdhavap perumAL*

 

 

 

*lOkAchArya padmanAbhAmbOjasamasrayam karuNAmbudhim!*

 

*VedhAnthatvaya sambhandham mAdhavAryam maham bajEA*

 

 

 

*thirunakshathram :Karthikai -BharaNi.*

 

 

 

*Eyunni mAdhvap perumAL was one of the devoted disciples of SvAmi NampiLLai.

If Sri vAdakkath thiruvEdhip piLLai was the mahAn behind the manuscript of

Edu and svAmi maNavALa mamunikal behind making EDu reach one and all (ETTu p

pravarthakar) , Eyunni Madhava p perumAL is not behind in this aspect. *

 

 

 

*After having seen the pattOlai written by Sri Vadakkuth thiruvEdhip piLLai

(ETTu manuscripts), Sri NampiLLai appreciated the work but kept the Edu

to himself. This disappointed all his devotees. *

 

 

 

*Sri Eyunni mAdhavap perumAL who desired to bring this out to all, appealed

to NamperumAL and NamperumAL commanded Sri Nam piLLai to part with the Edu.

So came Edu to Eyunni mAdhavap-perumAL. *

 

 

 

*He then gave to his son and it went down and reached Sri MAmunikAL paving

way for EDu reaching one and all.*

 

 

 

*Can we not say then that Eyunni mAdhvap perumAL was instrumental in

bringing out Edu from its hiding?*

 

 

 

 

 

*This episode is also narrated in upadEsa rathina mAlai from pAsuram-s 48

and 49*

 

 

 

*SerAR vadakkuth thiruVEdhippiLLAi ehdu yEArAr thamizh vEdhathu edu-*

 

*..NampiLLai Eyunni mAdhavrrku koduthAr* 48*

 

 

 

*Angavar pAl peTRa siRizhAzvAn appiLLai thAm koduthAr tham*

 

*maganAr tham kayil...* 49*

 

 

 

*From the above two pAsuam-s and with the help of piLLai lOkam jEyar

vyAkayanam read with pbA svAmi dhEpikia it is clear that*

 

*Eyunni mAdhavar had another thirunAmam -SiRiyAzvAn appiLLai. This is also

collaborated from Guruparampara lines *

 

*'EyuNNi SiRiyAzvAn appiLLaikkup prasAdhiyum' and 'EyuNNi mAdhavap perumAL

engiRa siRiyAzvAn appiLLaikku EDu muthARAyiramum koduthu vAzvitharuLinAr. *

 

 

 

*Should we not be ever indebted to Sri Eyunni mAdhavap perumAL for this*

 

*priceless kainkaryam of getting Edu for us?*

 

 

 

*vara vara muni dAsargaL*