Guest guest Posted January 19, 2007 Report Share Posted January 19, 2007 * * * Srimathe rAmAnujAya namaH* * Srimath varavaramunayE namaH* * * *Thai, Vyaya Azhvar 4, Acharya 2* ** ** ** *Sri Koorathazhvan Vaibhavam* * * * Sri Vathsa Chinha Mishrebhyo Namah UkthimAdheemahi* * Yathukthaya: Thraiyee Kante Yaanthi Mangala Soothrathaam* * * *This is the Thaniyan that praises swamy Kurathaazhwaan given to us by Swamy Parasara Bhattar who is Swamy Koorathazhwan's son. * * * *The meaning of the above thaniyan goes like this :* * * *"I salute the great mahaan Sri Srivathsa Chinha Misra (Swamy Koorathazhwan) whose sri sookthis became the thirumangalyam of the mother Veda (The 4 Vedas also named as Thrayee as mentioned in the above thaniyan)"* * * *Let us take refuge at this great mahaan with the above thaniyan. Let us glance through swamy's greatness, swamy's character as an absolute Sri Vaishnava. If we have to see a living example of a Sri Vaishnava Lakshanam, we could just read the entire life history of swamy Koorathaazhwaan. Swamy's life history is full of incidents that every Sri Vaishanavan should follow and experience in his/her day to day life. Some of swamy's great characters were his kaarunuyam to even the lowest creature in this earth, his absolute faith on emperumaan and sharanagathi and more than all these, his attitude of surrendering at the lotus feet of our great emperumaanaar. His greatness was such that even Swamy Emperumaanaar was so delighted to have his sambandham, which emperumaanaar himself has directly told in his kalakshepa ghoshti. A two or four page write-up cannot even cover a drop of the ocean of swamy's kalyana gunas. * * * *Swamy was born in a small and beautiful village named "Kooram" near the great divyadesam Thirukachi (Kancheepuram) where Devathirajan resides in the Hasthi hills along with his consort Sri Perundevi Thaayaar. With the grace of emperumaan Devathirajan, swamy was born to Sri Koorathu Azhwan or Sri Ananthar and Sri Perundevi ammal. The thiruvavatharam of swami Azhvan took place eight years before emperumanars thiruavatharam. Their family was very rich in the nearby villages or town. Their wealth was admired by even Devathi Rajan and by the goddess of wealth herself i.e Sri Perundevi Thaayaar. We should now imagine the amount of wealth that swamy's family had at that time. But even though swamy was born in a well to do family, swamy's character was never affected by his wealth. We can very clearly see that from swamy's life history. Swamy was very brilliant in his knowledge; he always loved to serve Sri Vaishnavas, poor people and showed immense love to even a small insect or even a non living thing like a tree. Swamy lost his mother at his young age. Seeing swamy's great character Swamy's father thought getting swamy married and sought for a suitable alliance for swamy who can support swamy in all his kainkaryams and who can understand swamy's nature and be with swamy till the end. Then Swamy was married to Sri Andaal ammaiyaar whose family was equally rich. Sri Andaal ammaiyaar was very good in her knowledge, her character. Her knowledge was so great that it is said that often swami kuratthAzhvan used to discuss the sampradayic matters with her. * * * *Swamy Koorathaazhwaan also lost his father in a few years. Swamy then took over the wealth and use to do lots of anna dhanams to the needy. Swamy donated lots of money to the needy and whoever asked for it. At the same time Swamy use to do Thadeeyaaradhanam for all those who use to come to Devathi Rajan sannidhi till the **midnight**. There might be a situation that no one is left out to have food at swamy's thirumaaligai but lots of food is still left out there to serve many more people. * * * *Once when the Devathi Rajan sannidhi was closed at the late hours. Devathi Rajan, Perundevi Thaayaar and Swamy Thirukkachi nambigal were left alone in the temple. By emperumaan's grace no one knew that Swamy Thirukkachi Nambigal was inside the temple. At this point of time we have to even think of swamy Thirukachi Nambigal's greatness because swamy was one among those to who emperumaan came out of his Archaa Thirumeni and spoke. Swamy Thirukachi Nambigal use to do Thiru Aalavattam (Fan) kainkaryam to devathi rajan and Perundevi Thaayaar. On one day when the sannidhi doors were closed, Devathi Rajan and Perundevi Thaayaar were amidst their discussion. They heard a great sound of a door bell. Perundevi Thaayaar was so astonished that she wanted to know from where the sound came from. Swamy Thirukachi Nambigal was asked about it and swamy Nambigal told that its Swamy Koorathaazhwaan's thirumaaligai's door was closed as no one was left out to have food at Swamy Koorathaazhwaan's thirumaligai. Hearing this Perundevi Thaayar herself admired and told that how could ever a person afford to live if he donates his wealth to people like this ? She also admired at Swamy Koorathaazhwan's wealth and wanted to see swamy. Hence Devathi Rajan ordered Swamy Thirukachi Nambigal to bring Swamy Koorathaazhwaan the next day. Swamy Thirukachi Nambigal after his services to the lord went home and the next went to see Swamy Koorathaazhwaan to let him know about the conversation between the Lord and his Consort and that the Lord and his Consort wanted to see Swamy Koorathaazhwaan. Here is where one should admire Swamy Koorathaazhwaan's vairagyam and his great character.. Swamy was not at all happy that his wealth was admired by the Lord and his Consort. He immediately told Swamy Thirukkachi Nambigal that "I would have been happy and would be willing to accompany devareer to see the Lord and his Consort if adiyen was invited because adiyen is his Bhakthan, Adiyen has great characters, Adiyen is a scholar but adiyen is not at all happy that adiyen was admired because of adiyen's wealth. Hence adiyen will not accompany devareer to see the Lord and his consort". What a great mahaan swamy is !! One should have immense vairagyam and boldness to disobey the Lord's command. * * * *After this incident swamy was in deep thought and was so vexed that he was admired for his wealth. Swamy thought that it was because of his wealth he couldn't go and worship Devathi Rajan as a bhaktha. Swamy got so frustrated on his wealth and on himself that swamy at once came to a decision. Again, look at swamy's vairagyam. Swamy never called a lawyer or a panchayat to say that he is leaving his wealth for the needy or poor. Swamy never wrote any documents to say that he is leaving this wealth for the needy. Swamy just threw away all the wealth so that let it be taken by anyone. Swamy didn't even care to take a small piece of his belongings. Swamy told his dharma pathni Sri Andal Ammaiyaar about his decision to leave the wealth and go. Now look at Sri Andaal ammaiyaar's greatness. She never asked a question nor even suggested swamy to make arrangements and give the wealth away to the needy. Both of them at once left their thiru maaligai. * * * *At that time Swamy Emperumaanaar was given Sanyaasaahramam by Lord Devathirajan and gave swamy emperumanaar a title with the name Sri Yathiraja. Devathi Rajan himself called Emperumaanaar "Vaaraai Yathiraja" meaning "Welcome the king of saints" and asked emperumaanaar to have a mutt in Kancheepuram. Swamy Koorathaazhwaan has heard about emperumaanaar's greatness and his divine qualities and hence decided that "Emperumaanaar Thiruvadigale namakku thanjam. Emperumaanaar Thiruvadigale Sharanam" meaning the only place for our refuge is at emperumaanaar's lotus feet and we have to surrender at emperumaanaar's thiruvadi. Deciding thus both Swamy Koorathaazhwaan and Sri Andal Ammaiyaar started walking towards Kancheepuram. They were travelling in the middle of a forest. Suddenly Sri Andaal ammaiyaar asked swamy if there could be any disturbances due to thieves. Swamy was wondering as why she was asking this question as swamy did not have anything in his hand. Hence swamy immediately asked when I am not worried about thieves why are you worried? Sri Andal ammaiyaar answered that she had a gold vessel that was given at the time of their wedding which normally women never leave it. Hence she said that she brought that vessel along with her. Now, just look at swamy's reaction to this. Swamy said when we decided to leave everything back why do you have to carry this with you. This is the reason for your fear in this forest. Hence throw it away. Saying thus swamy took the vessel from Sri Andal Ammaiyaar and threw it away in the forest. * * * *We need to put a thought at this point that how many of us honestly could ever even think of doing this atleast in our dreams. At last swamy reached emperumaanaar's thiruvadi and was a part of emperumaanaar's ghoshti.* * * *Even after many years Swamy Koorathaazhwaan and Sri Andal Ammaiyaar never had any offsprings. When emperumaanaar moved to Sri Rangam, they also moved along with swamy emperumaanaar and lived in a very small cottage near the temple. They didn't even have anything to eat. Swamy everyday goes to every home in Sri Rangam for Uncha vruthi (Collecting rice and groceries from various houses by singing the praise of the lord) and with what swamy gets as Uncha Vruthi whether it may be rice or anything else, Sri Andal Ammaiyar use to cook them and swamy use to do thiruvaradhanam and then take that prasadam. One particular day swamy was so involved in reading Srimad Ramayanam that swamy totally forgot to go for Uncha Vruthi and Thiruvaaraadhanam. Sri Andal ammaiyar did not know how to disturb swamy as she did not want to be an obstacle to swamy's anubhavam in Srimad Ramayanam.. Hence she was just keeping quiet. At that time the temple bell which was rung to indicate that Lord Sri Ranganatha and his Consort Sri Ranganayaki were offered thaligai (food) in the temple was heard by Sri Andaal Ammaiyaar. She then thought that "can ever a mother or father have great food when their kids are suffering from hunger". Soon after thaligai was offered to the lord and his consort, Lord Ranganatha ordered through his ** temple** **kainkarya** parars to go and deliver the thaligai (aravanai prasadam) that was offered to him to Sri Koorathaazhwaan and Sri Andaal ammaiyaar with all honours. As per the command the prasadam was taken in procession with all the necessary paraphernalia. Seeing the bhagavath prasadam coming toward his gruham swamy koorathaazhwan immediately woke up and with due respect just fell at the feet of bhagavath kainkaryaparars. They told swamy about the Lord's command and then gave the prasadam to swamy. Swamy immediately thought why was this sudden order given by the lord. Hence swamy asked Sri Andaal ammaiyaar if she prayed to emperumaan for food. Sri Andaal ammaiyaar answered about what she thought when the Divya Dhampathis were offered food. We should now pay attention to what swamy told as a reply :-* * * *"By asking for food from the Lord you have now deviated from our Sri Vaishnava swaroopam or characteristic feature. The relation between you and me is only from the day we got married. But the relationship between me or you and the lord has been there for ages and yugams. When he knows this relationship and he knows that we are his own beings, can't he provide food and shelter for us. By asking for food for both of us you have made a mistake and infact bhagavath apachaaram thus insulting the lord."* *Saying so, swami took two small portions of the prasadam and parted with Andal, and asked the sannidhi paricharakas to take the rest of the prasadam back to the sribhandaram for further viniyogam. With the two portions of prasadam AndAl became pregnant, at a very old age (Azhvan was almost at his 90's) and two wonderful kids were born to them, swami parasara bhattar and swami vedavyasa bhattar. * * * *At that time the chola king named Kulothunga the second later named as "Krimi Kanta" was ruling the chola dynasty which included Sri Rangam. He was a pure Saivaite and had hatred towards Vaishnavam and Sri Vaishnavas. He removed all temple servants from Sri Rangam and didn't allow anyone to offer daily pooja to emperumaan. When he was discussing with his ministers as to how to make every Sri Vaishnava follow Saivism and surrender to Lord Shiva, they at once told that if emperumaanaar signs that there is no supreme being than Lord Shiva then everyone will surrender immediately to Lord Shiva. Hence the king ordered his servants to arrest emperumaanaar and bring swamy to his court. Knowing this Swamy Koorathaazhwar and other emperumaanaar's disciples requested emperumaanaar to go away from Sri Rangam for few years to get away from the King's trouble. Accepting the request from his disciples swamy emperumaanaar wore a dress of a gruhastha (White dhothis) instead of his Kaashaayam and Swamy Koorathaazhwaan wore emperumaanaar's Kaashaayam. Being mistaken by the appearance the King's servants arrested Swamy Koorathaazhwaan and took swamy to the court. Hearing this Swamy Periya Nambigal the acharya of swamy emperumaanaar also went to the court. In the court the king assuming Swamy Koorathazhwan as emperumaanaar asked swamy to sign that there is no supreme being than Lord Shiva. But having learnt all four Vedas and Shastras swamy refused to do so but wrote a contradicting statement. Seeing this the king became furious. He at once asked both Swamy Koorathaazhwaan and Swamy Periya Nambigal to sign but since swamy Periya Nambigal refused to sign the king ordered to take Swamy Periya Nambigal's eyes at once. Hence the King's servants removed Swamy Periya Nambigal's eyes. After seeing this attrocity, swamy Koorathaazhwaan immediately told that "Oh..!! king you are the most worst soul that I have ever seen. You took away the eyes of a great bhagavatha. After Seeing this cruel deed of your's I don't want to see this world in which you live. Also I don't want to see emperumaan after seeing you through this sinful eyes. Hence let me remove both my eyes with my own hands". Saying thus swamy plucked his own eyes with his hands. What a greatness swamy had ? Can we ever do like this even in our dreams ? Let us all praise Swamy Kooraadhinatha. * * * *Finally after swamy lost his eyes, and being not able to withstand the parting with emperumanar, swamy didn't want to stay in Sri Rangam. Hence swamy shifted his family to Thirumaalirumsolai or Azhagar malai in **Madurai ** where Azhagar resides as Sri Sundarabaahu (meaning the one with beautiful and broad shoulders) showering his blessings to all the needy. Swamy stayed there for a long time doing Pushpa Kainkaryam to the temple (Service of making garlands to emperumaan). In the mean time the king Kulothunga died due to cancer on his neck and thereby he was given a name as "Krimi Kanta" due to his Bhagavatha apacharam to Swamy Periya Nambigal. Knowing this as the reason the King's son realized his father's mistake and brought Sri Vaishnavam back to Sri Rangam and ordered the servants of the Sri Rangam temple to carry on with their daily poojas to the Lord. Hearing that the Sri Rangam returned to its normal state Emperumaanaar started his journey from Melukote toward Sri Rangam and on the way hearing that Swamy Koorathaazhwaan lost his eyes and that he now stays in Thirumaalirum solai, swamy emperumaanaar wanted to see Swamy Koorathaazhwaan. Hence swamy emperumaanaar came to Thirumaalirumsolai to see Swamy Koorathaazhwaan. Swamy Emperumaanaar stayed along with Swamy Koorathaazhwaan in Thirumaalirumsolai for a while. During his stay swamy emperumaanaar requested swamy koorathaazhwaan to ask Lord SundarabhAhu to give back his eyes. But see the greatness of Swamy Koorathaazhwaan here. He at once told * * * *" Adiyen would have made fun of some Sri Vaishnavan's Thiruman being in a improper form and hence emperumaan would have given this punishment to adiyen. Adiyen doesn't have the habit of asking for anything from emperumaan". * * * *But swamy emperumaanaar repeatedly insisted on asking for swamy eyes from the Lord. Swamy emperumaanaar told Swamy Koorathaazhwaan that "Please ask emperumaan to give back your eyes as ramanujan needs them". Even after this we have to see swamy Koorathaazhwaan's great quality and how much our poorvahcaaryaas wanted to save our Sri Rangam. Swamy immediately sung "Sri SundarabAhustavam" and at the end requested emperumaan to give back the eyes of all Sri Vaishnavas which is Sri Rangam to its normal state safe and with all its glory. Finally after repeated compulsion of swamy emperumaan swamy Koorathaahwaan went to Sri Rangam along with swamy emperumaanaar and prayed to the Lord to give back his two eyes as emperumanaar needs them to save our Sri Vaishnavam. At Once Lord Ranganatha commanded Swamy Koorathaazhwaan to go to Kancheepuram and request Devathi Rajan to give swamy's eyes. It was at this time swamy along with swamy emperumaanaar went together to Kancheepuram and Swamy Koorathaazhwaan sung "Sri Varadarajasthavam" his last work requesting the lord to give his eyes back. Now here we have to learn how to even show affection to those who did evil things to us. One of swamy Koorathaazhwaan's disciple named "Naalooraan" who actually told the King Krimi Kanta to get the sign from emperumaanaar that there is no supreme being than Lord Shiva. Swamy Koorathaazhwaan immediately thought of his disciple and when swamy requested his eyes back from Devathi Rajan, swamy also requested that moksham be granted to himself and also Naalooraan even though he has done a great bhagavatha apacharam. * * Soon after swamy got back his eyes from Devath Rajan, swamy requested Lord Ranganatha to offer him Moksha as he wanted to go before swamy emperumaanaar and make all necessary arrangements there for swamy emperumaanaar. Swamy gave us a gift of 5 granthas or stothrams called as "Panchasthavams" namely* *1. Sri Sthavam (10 SlOkas) on Sri Ranga NAchiyAr * * * *2. Sri VaikunTa Sthavam (100 SlOkas) on ParamapadanAthan. The SAstra arthas contained in Sri Baashyam and other Rahasya granthas have been clearly brought out in this Sthavam without transgressing the preclusions and exclusions ordained in the study of the vEdas, in such a manner that it used to be said "Sri VaikunTa Sthavam theriyAdhavan Sri VaishNavan allan" meaning- "one who does not know Sri VaikunTa Sthavam is not a Srivaishnavan at all" * ***3. AthimAnusha Sthavam (61 SlOkas). Here, the AzhwAn argues how though PerumAL claimed to be just human, He did superhuman feats in the various AvatAras. AzhwAn has unassailably proved with Tharkam (logic) PramANam (authority) and Anubhvam (experience) how EmperumAn is THE SarvEswaran. * * **4. Sri Sundara bAhu Sthavam (132 SlOkas) on Azhagar of TirumAlirum SOlai. *** ***5. Sri VaradarAja Sthavam (102 SlOkas) on Hasthigiri Varadan, This is considered to be the last StOtra composed by AzhwAn.* * * * ******Now let us bring swamy's entire life history in our mind. Don't we get tears in our eyes hearing to such great qualities of a true Sri Vaishnava ? We may not be able to be as perfect or as great as swamy Koorathaazhwaan due to this kali's strong presence. But adiyen definitely believe that by spilling few tears from our eyes everyday thinking of swamy's Koorathaazhwan's life history and his great qualities as a Sri Vaishnava, we can definitely bring in some transformation within ourselves and thereby to our entire Sri Vaishnava community and our SriVaishnavam.* *This is just a tip of an iceberg. There are lot more interesting and educative incidents in the life of Swamy koorathAzhvan. * *Mozhiyai Kadakkum Perumpugazhaan // Vanjamukkurumbaam kuzhiyaikkadakkum // **Nam** Koorathaazhwaan sharan koodiya pin // Pazhiyaikkadathum iraamaanusan // Pugazh paadiyallaa vazhiyaikkadathal // Enakkini yaadhum varythamanre* * * *(Thiruvarangathu Amudhanaar's Iraamanusa nootrandhaadhi – Verse 6)* * * *Koorathaazhwaan Thiruvadigale Sharanam* * * *VaravaramunidAsargaL* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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