[sri ramanuja] Sri Ramanuja Journal Volume 2 Issue 4

[Guest guest]

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*Srimathe Ramanujaya namaH*

 

* Srimathe Varavaramunaye namaH*

 

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*Karthikai, Vyaya

Azhvar 2, Acharya 4 *

 

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*Sri Arulalap Perumal Emperumanar Vaibhavam*

 

*Thirunakshatram: Karthikai BharaNi, 3rd December 2006*

 

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*Thaniyan*

 

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*kArthikE BaraNI jAtham yatIndrAsritamAsrayE |*

 

*JNyAnapramEya sAraBivaktAram vardam munim ||*

 

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*dayApAlana dEvAya JNyAnasAra pradAyaca |*

 

*pramEyasAram tatatE namOstu prEma sAlinE ||*

 

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*rAmAnuja padAmbOja samsrtam guNavArithim |*

 

*dayApAla munim vandE vEdAnta pariniStitam ||*

 

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*JNyAnaBaktyArta vairAgyam rAmAnuja padAsritam |*

 

*PancamOpAya sampannam samyamIndram namAmyaham ||*

 

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*rAmAnujArya sacchiShyam vEdaSAstrArta sampadam |*

 

*chaturtAsrama sampannam dEvarAjamunim bajE ||*

 

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*yatirAja dayApAtram yatipankti viBUSaNam |*

 

*dayApAla munim vandE desikAgrE saram saDA ||*

 

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*Introduction*

 

*~~~~~~~~~~~~*

 

*Sri aruLALap perumAL emperumAnAr, also called dayApAlamuni or dEvarAjamuni,

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

an advaita sanyAsi, called yajnyamurthi, who surrendered at the holy feet of

swAmi emperumAnAr, and showed us the qualities of a Sri Vaishnava, and the

Guru-siShya lakShaNam. He also gave us two works called JNyAna sAram

and pramEya

sAram, which are considered as authentic teachings of swAmi emperumAnAr,

giving us the essence of the entire vedAnta.*

 

* *

 

*Vaibhavam*

 

*~~~~~~~~~*

 

*In the foot hills of Tirumalai on the banks of river survarnA, under the

grace of alarmEl mangai urai mArban, flourished a city called " vinjai". In

this city lived pious brahmins who were master of all four vedas and who had

mastered all the six angas of the vedas and whose ancestry can be traced

back to many generations " Uzhi thorum Uzhi thorum uyarnda selvattu Ongiya

nAnmarai anaitthum tAngum nAvar". In this divine city during the year of

saka-919, in the month of kArthigai, on the auspicious day of sukla

caturdasi BaraNi nakshathram was born a great vidwAn called yajnya mUrthi .

His jAthakarma, nAmakarma, and his marriage were performed at the

appropriate time, as prescribed in the sastras. By the grace of

TiruvenkatamudaiyAn, the couple was blessed with a son called alankAra

venkatavar alias TiruvenkatamUrthi.Sri Yajnya mUrthi after successfully

fulfilling his duties to his son decided to take to sanyAsa and left for

kAsi. There on the banks of river Ganga he defeated many vidwAns in argument

from the north and strengthened the advaita matham and was spending his life

as the leader of advaita, in those days. *

 

* *

 

*At the same time, swAmi Ramanuja after mastering all the sri sUktis of

AzhwArs, rahasyA granthAs, rAmAyaNam, etc... Was ruling the uBaya viButis as

the leader of our sri vaishnava sampradAyam from srirangam. " kadalaLavAya

disai ettinuLLum kali iruLe midaitharukAlatthu irAmAnusan mikka nAnmarai-in

sudaroLiyAl avviruLai turandilaNEl. uyirai udayavar nArAyaNan ennu arivAr

illai utthuNarndE." His fame had spread wide into all the eight

directions and also reached the ears of yajnya mUrthi who apprehending that

swAmi rAmAnuja would completely wipe out the advaita matham from the world

decided to defeat him in the debate and protect the advaitam. He then packed

all his books and writing and proceeded towards Srirangam. He reached the

matam of swAmi emperumAnAr (hereafter swAmi will always refer to swAmi

emperumAnAr) and challenged him, which was gladly accepted by swAmi too.

yajnya mUrthi and swAmi put forth their conditions as follows : yajna mUrthi

promised that, if defeated, he will carry the holy sandals of swAmi, change

his name to that of swAmi, and also become a Sri Vaishnava. SwAmi too

promised that, if defeated, swAmi will take up grantha sanyAsam. *

 

* *

 

*With this the debate started and continued for 18 days. Till the end of the

16th day, neither of them could defeat the other. But on the 17th day, the

arguments and ideas of yajnya mUrthi grew stronger and swAmi could not think

of anything else to refute it. That day yajnya mUrthi returned home in an

ecstatic mood, while swAmi was greatly dejected at the turn of events. He

then 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 great sampradAyam come to an end

with the birth of a person like me. If this is what is your desire, be it

so." Thinking thus, and with extreme grief, swAmi went to bed without having

any prasAdam. That night pEraruLALan appeared in his dream and spoke thus :

"Oh! IlayAzhwAr, why do you worry? I have given you a siShyA who is

equivalent to you in all aspects. Use the arguments of your paramAchAryAr,

Sri AlavandAr's mAyAvAdha Khandanam, and defeat him." *

 

* *

 

*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 a majestic look of a

mattha gajam (elephant). yajnya mUrthi, 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 dejected yesterday. Now that he is

entering the debate hall with a majestic look of an elephant- irAmAnusa muni

vEAzham." On seeing all these, yajnya mUrthi, being a JNyAni, understood the

divine power of swAmi, and decided that it is not possible for a normal

being to return with such energy, after being badly defeated the previous

day, and fell at the feet of swAmi, and conceded defeat. As per the

promises, he then requested swAmi to forgive him by placing swamis holy feet

on his head. This act of yajnya mUrthi completely surprised swAmi, who asked

him if he is not willing to continue with the debate. For this yajnya mUrthi

replied, "When periya perumAL showed himself to you, there is no difference

between periya perumAL and swAmi, and I do not have the capacity to speak a

word in front of such a great AcharyA." And begged swAmi's pardon for doing

the apacharam of challenging him. On hearing this swAmi was extremely

pleased, but still to bring the debate to a formal conclusion, he explained

yajnya mUrthi, the flaws in the mAyAvAdha siDhAntham. *

 

* *

 

*Then swAmi embraced yajnya mUrthi, and accepted him as his siShyA. He then

requested yajnya mUrthi to do prAyaschittA for forsaking the yaJNyopavItham,

and kAshAya vasthram, when he earlier became an advaita sanyAsi. Then swAmi

performed pancha samskAram to yajnya mUrthi and named him as " aruLALa

perumAl emperumAnAr" as he considered yajnya mUrthi a divine son given to

him by pEraruLALan, and established a maTam for him as he was a sanyAsi.

SwAmi then taught nAlAyira divya praBhanDham, to AP EmperumAnAr. *

 

* *

 

*Daily swAmi used to conduct his viDhwath goShTi with kUraThAzhwAn,

mudaliyAndAn, and AruLALap perumal emperumAnAr. There were many bhagavathas

who surrendered at the holy feet of swAmi. When ananthAzhwAn, echAn,

thondanUr nambi, and marudUr nambi surrendered at the feet of swAmi, swAmi

asked them to surrender to AP emperumAnAr, and accept him as their AcharyA.

On hearing this AP emperumAnAr fearfully told them " It's like tying a fruit

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

perform pancha samskAram as order by swAmi but they should consider swAmi

alone as their Acharya. This particular episode shows us one of the prime

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

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

his own AcharyA. *

 

* *

 

*Another event which clearly showed the Acharya niShTai, of AruLALap perumAL

EmperumAnAr, and his love for swAmi. Once two, Sri Vaishnavas came to

Srirangam, to get the blessings of swAmi, and asked the local people

gathered there, the way to emperumAnAr's maTam. For which, the local people

put a counter question, asking "which emperumAnAr?". On hearing this the Sri

Vaishnavas were surprised and enquired back, "Why do you ask which

emperumAnAr? Do we have two emperumAnars in our darShanam". The local people

replied "Yes, we also have Sri aruLALa perumAL emperumAnAr with us in

Srirangam, that is why we asked so." The Sri Vaishnavas replied that they

were not aware of AP emperumAnAr, and they asked only about Udayavar's

maTam, and left the place after getting the directions. AP emperumAnAr

happened to hear this conversation and was shocked to hear that he has been

treated on par with his swAmi, and was grief sticken. He thought, "Just

because I live away from the holy feet of my swAmi, I am being compared on

par with him. What a sinner am I, to be separated from my swAmi." Thinking

thus, he immediately demolished his maTam, and asked ananThAzhwAn, echAn,

and other siShyAs to go back to swAmi emperumAnAr, and himself fell at the

feet of swAmi and requested swAmi to take him back. SwAmi too, after hearing

all that had happened was extremely pleased at the Acharya niShTai of AP

emperumAnAr, and decided that AP emperumAnAr would be the right person to do

tiruvArAdhanam to his peraruLALap perumAL and entrusted the same to him and

never got separated from him thereafter. From then on, AP emperumAnAr spent

all this life under the divine feet of swAmi, doing kainkaryam for his

Acharyan and tiruvArAdhanam to peraruLALan, and learnt all the raHasyAs from

swAmi. *

 

* *

 

*AP emperumAnAr out of his compassion towards the fellow souls, and for the

well being of all, wrote two prabandams in tamizh, called JNyAna sAram and

pramEya sAram, which are considered the essence of the entire vedAnta. SwAmi

emperumAnAr, did not write any granthas in tamizh, but all his teachings

were given to us by his siShyAs, who wrote a lot of prabandams and granthAs

based on the teachings of swAmi. Based on this, JNyAna sAram and pramEya

sAram can be considered as the authentic teachings imparted by swAmi

rAmAnuja, to his siShyAs. *

 

* *

 

*At this time alankAra venkatavar (son of yajnya mUrthi) on hearing about

his father reached srirangam and fell at the feet of AP emperumAnAr and

swAmi, and became a sri vaishnava. swAmi on seeing the abimAnam of AP

emperumAnAr, and his son alankAra venkatavar decided to give the daughter of

periya tirumalai nambi, called alarmEl mangai nAcchiyAr, in marriage to

alankAra venkatavar. AP emperumAnAr and alankAra venkatavar later became a

part of the 74 simhAsanAdipatIs of swAmi, and continued to serve and spread

our sampradAyam. By the grace of tiruvEnkatamudaiyAn a son was born to

alankAra venkatavar and alarmEl mangai nAcchiyAr.-the famous tAtAcchAryar.

Early in his life he learnt sri BAshyam, prabhandam, etc.. directly from

periya tirumalai nambi. He also learnt sastras from swAmi, AP emperumAnAr,

and alankAra venkatavar. *

 

* *

 

*TiruvEnkatamudaiyAn wished to appear before periya tirumalai nambi and show

his grace on him. So when periya tirumalai nambi was bringing water for

tirumanjanam in a mud pot, tiruvEnkatamudaiyAn took a form of a small boy,

made hole in the pot and was drinking the water. When nambi realized the

hole in the pot and turned back to see who did that, the small boy called

nambi "thatha thatha" and ran into the perumAL sannidhi and disappeared.

Following this only nambi named his grandson as "tAtAcchAriar". In the

present day, families of AP emperumAnAr (popularly known as tirumalai

vinjamoor family) live in kanchipuram, srivilliputtur, AzhwAr tirunagari and

tirucchithrakUdam (Chidambaram). *

 

* *

 

*The thirunakShathram of Sri AP emperumAnAr, also called dayApAlamuni or

dEvarAjamuni, is being celebrated in the month of kArthigai, in BharaNi

nakShathram. Infact, the month of kArthigai is considered very important

because of the thirunakShathrams of AP emperumAnAr, thirumangai AzhwAr and

Nampillai, and thiruppANAzhwAr, falling on BharaNi, krthiga, rohiNi

nakShathrams days, respectively. *

 

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*sri AP emperumAnAr showers his grace on us at thiruppAdagam (pAndava dUthar

sannadhi) in Kanchipuram and at south mada street in srivillputtur along

with AzhwAr, emperumAnAr, and tiruvenkatamudaiyAn. AndAL along with perumAL

shower their grace on AP emperumAnAr during the following utsavams: *

 

*1. dwajArohaNa (first day utsavam) of AndAL tirukkalyAna utsavam (panguni *

 

*utharam).*

 

*2. On the day of tiruvAdippUram, in the morning, the veedhi purappAdu *

 

*starts only after AndAL and perumAL shower their grace on AP emperumAmAr.*

 

*3. On the 7th day of periyAzhwAr utsavam, is celebrated at AP emperumAnAr *

 

*sannidhi.*

 

*4. On the 7th day of vadaperum koiludayAn brahmOtsavam, the most popular *

 

*chUrNOtsavam is celebrated here with perumAL reclining on tiruanantAzhwAn.*

 

* *

 

*On the day of kArthikai baraNi, mariyAdai from AndAL sannidhi is offerred

to sri AP emperumAnAr, and the utsavam is celebrated as a ten day festival

with divine goshti on all ten days. At kanchi it is celebrated with the

tirumanjanam of AP emperumAnAr, followed by purappAdu, goshti and

sattrumurai, with great grandeur, by all the SriVaishnavas. *

 

* *

 

*We can also have the blessings of Sri AP emperumAnAr, at the Ranganathar

temple, in Shivaji Nagar, Secunderabad, Andhra Pradesh. Here AP emperumAnAr

shares the sannidhi with Sri maNavALa mAmunigal. It is indeed a sight to

watch, the author of JNyAna sAram and pramEya sAram, and the Acharya, who

wrote pramana thiraTTu for the above, share the same sannidhi. *

 

* *

 

*Written in the "venpa" style of poetry, and revealing parama raHasyArthAs,

are the two important works called "JNyAna sAram" and "pramEya sAram", by

Sri aruLALa perumAL emperumAnAr. These two works are said to be the first,

among the tamizh poetries, composed by our pUrvAchAryAs. Even

thiruvarangaThamudanArs rAmAnusa nUtrandAdi, was written only after these

two works. *

 

* *

 

*SwAmi MaNavALa mAmunikal has written pramAna thiraTTu for both the

granthas, though only the pramAna thiraTTu for JNyAna sAram is available now

and Sri Pillai lOkam jeeyar has done commentary to both the divine granthas

which is usually misunderstood to be the commentary of swamy Manavala

mAmunikal.*

 

 

 

 

 

*vAzhi thirunAmam *

 

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

 

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*thiruvAzhut tennarangan sirakka vandhon vAzhiyE*

 

*tenaruLALan anbAl thirutthinAn vAzhiyE*

 

*taruvAzhum yatirAsan thALadaindhon vAzhiyE*

 

*tamizhJNyAna pramEyasAram tamarkuraippon vAzhiyE*

 

*teLLArum madurakavi nilaitELindhon vAzhiyE*

 

*tEsupolimadantannai sidaitittAn vAzhiyE*

 

*aruLALa mAmuniyAm AriyantAl vAzhiyE*

 

*aruLkArthigai BaraNiyon anaittUzhi vAzhiyE *

 

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*aruLALap perumAL emperumAnAr thiruvadigaLE sharaNam*

 

*AzhvAr emperumAnAr jIyar thiruvadigaLE sharaNam *

 

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*Varavara muni dasargal*