SRI RANGA SRI E- JOURNAL - VOL.10 / ISSUE # 07 dated 1st June 2009

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SrI:

SrimatE Raamaanujaaya Namaha //

SrimatE Nigamaanta Mahaa Desikaaya Namaha //

SrIman! SrI Ranga Sriyam anupadravam anudhinam Samvardhaya/

SrIman! SrI Ranga Sriyam anupadravam anudhinam Samvardhaya//

KAvEri VardhathAm kAlE, kAlE varshathu vAsava: /

SrI RanganAthO jayathu Sri Ranga Sri cha VardhathAm//

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SRI RANGA SRI VOL.10 / ISSUE # 07 dated 1st June 2009

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IN THIS ISSUE:

 

1. AZHWAARS and SWAMY DESIKAN (1.2- Poikai AzhwAr and Swamy Desikan- cont'd)

2. RAAMANUJA and SRIVAISHNAVAM – Part 2 (concluding) by Sri Anbil Ramaswamy

Swami, USA

 

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ISSUES RELEASED

With this issue, about 294 Regular issues of SRS have been released

so far, apart from numerous " Special Issues " as indicated below:

27 Issues of Vol. 1

15 Issues of Vol. 2

42 Issues of Vol. 3

35 Issues of Vol. 4

28 Issues of Vol. 5

30 Issues of Vol. 6

50 Issues of Vol. 7

36 Issues of Vol. 8

27 Issues of Vol. 9 and

07 Issues of Vol. 10

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1. AzhwArs and Swamy Desikan

1.2- Poikai and Desikan – cont'd

 

Thus three AzhwArs namely Poikai, Bhoo and Pey are the three mudal (first)

AzhwArs who were not only contemporary azhwArs; but were born on three

consecutive days in SiddhArti year, Aiyppasi month on TiruvONam, Avittam and

sadhayam nakshathrams respectively ;and the babies appeared on flowers of

different kind (and not were born like us actually!- They are ayOnijars). Their

period was estimated as 7th century CE. (Though we are not attaching any

significant importance to it, it is better to have a datum). poigaiAzhwAr, was

born (made to appear by the Lord) in kancheepuram, while bhoodaththAr in

mahabalipuram and pEyAzhwAr in thirumylai (present Mylapore).

 

1. PoigaiAr, an incarnation of MahAvishNu's paanchjanyam (Divine conch, sanghu

in Tamil) is also called Adhi kavi. poigaiAr appeared on the ThAmarai mottu

(lotus bud) in a pond in tiruve:ka near kancheepuram.

 

2. BhoodhaththAr appeared in a flower called " kurukkaththi " (?) in a garden at

kadalmallai port of pallava rajyam (kingdom) in mahAbalipuram (south of madras).

He was an incarnation of Divine mace (called kaumOdaki) of our Lord mahAvishNu.

 

3. PEyazhwAr, (called pEyar later by people due to being crazy, mad, piththan,

pEyar after the Lord and even used to roll down with ecstasy and bhakti- He even

says " others look crazy to him for their being crazy after material pursuits;

and sensual pleasures), as an incarnation of the sword of mahAvishNu (called

nandaki), appeared in sevvalli (Red alli-lily) flower in a well of AdhikEsava

perumAL koil at mylapore (in madras).

 

Nammazhwar (our azhwAr), the greatest azwAr about whom we will see later, has

addressed these three azhwArs as " innkavi pAdum parama kavigaL " meaning the

greatest poets who sang the loveliest songs or the sweetest songs; All three

azhwArs were blessed with tamizh gnAnam(knowledge) and bhakti uLLam; All of

them, though were not known to each other, were singing the glories of sriman

nArAyaNan, and were going from place to place visiting the PerumAL temples to

get blessed with Lord's Darshan. They had no other thoughts but for nArAyanan

and lived like sanyAsis (recluses); The Lord, may be, wanted them to get

together (like what He has done now through maNi) and liked to listen to their

discussion about Him and His kalyANa guNAs.

 

Hence, He brought them to Thirukkovilur separately (at the same time) and what

happened there; how they met and recognised each other's bhakti; what all they

talked. How ecstatic each one became, what were their outpourings?

 

So, they had come to Thirukkovilur and each of them had a separate Darshan of

Trivikraman (the Lord who appeared as vAmanan, a small brahmachari boy, took

viswaroopam and measured the entire universe in one step in vAmanAvatAram)

called " UlagaLandha perumAL " and obtained His katAksham.

 

Due to heavy rain, poigaiAr had to take shelter in a small narrow koodam(

hall/veranda) of a house nearby, and being exerted himself so much due to

walking, lied down in that place; After some time, BhoodhaththAr knocked the

house and requested if he can be accommodated due to heavy rain outside.

 

Being a bhakta, (a) bhaktA does not see who asks for; (b) He offers help as long

and as much as he can even if it amounts to more inconvenience to him- (a lesson

we all have to learn) he welcomed bhoodhaththAr lovingly saying " Inside, there

is place for one man to lie down; but two can sit; please come in " (oruvar

padukkalAm; iruvar amaralAm). After formal introduction, it took little time to

realise that they are birds of the same feather; and they talked and discussed

about emberumAn's leelA's and guNAs. There is yet another knock and there stands

our pEyar asking for a favour to accommodate him due to heavy downpour. Not

surprisingly, both bhaktAs said in chorus " Please come in; We can stand and

accommodate you also " (oruvar padukkalAm; iruvar amaralAm; moover niRkalAm). It

is in Giving that we receive;

 

All three joined themselves in discussing Glorious attributes of Trivikraman

Sriman nArAyaNan and were deeply excited to describe what each one of them felt

and feel towards their (our) Lord. They felt happy exchanging information of

various sthalam(temples) visited by them and were getting more and more excited

to know from one another their great anubhavangaL.

 

While they were standing all the time (in a space that is just sufficient for

only three people to stand) discussing namperumAls' nityakalyANa guNas, suddenly

they found themselves cramped; and they could not even move about; It was real

squeezing against each other; They were perplexed as to why all of a sudden,

there is less space as if there are more than three persons; And there appeared

(with the help of their Divine vision blessed by the Lord Sriman nArAyaNan),

sakshAth sriman nArAyaNan (chathur bhujam, chandra roopam, sanghu, chakram,

Bright ThirumaN and srichoorNam on His beautiful forehead; pattu peethAmbharam,

karpoora vasam, etc..... )

Three AzhwArs were literally crying, tears rolling down their cheeks, Goose

pimples all over their bodies; Chests expanded as if they are going to burst

with full of happiness; Their palms were glued to each other; and they were

feeling highly elated;

Each one of them (one by one) sang 100 poems(pasurams) flowing from their mouths

as if they are clear " neerOdai " , stream of river; BhagavAn listened to them with

His full concentration and satisfaction all their pasurams and after blessing

them, disappeared.

 

They always went together to other temples, and On their way, the three azhwArs

also were blessed with

1. a darshan of sitapiratti, lakshmana, bharatha, sathrukna, hanumathsametha Sri

Ramachandra at Ayodhdhi,

2. a darshan of Lord ThiruvEnkadamudaiyAn down the hill (not at tirumala, but at

tirupathi), when they hesitated to step on the Hill and turned back; such a

place is called " AzhwAr theertham " even today.

3. Offering a charkAyudhA to Vishnuvarthanan, a king at kanchipuram for winning

a battle. and

4. later, joining with another azhwAr, by name Thirumazhisai azhwAr (on their

way)

 

A Glance at their marvelous compositions:

1. poigaiAzhwAr composed the first 100 pAsurams " mudhal thiruvandhAdhi "

(andhAdhi means the first word of one verse will be last word of the previous

verse )starting with the first one: vaiyam thagaliyA, vArkadlE neyyAga/

veyyakkadirOn viLakkAga/ sudarAzhiyAn adikkE soottinEn son mAlai/ Idar

neenghugavE enRu/

 

Meaning:Lord nArAyaNa, who holds the Divine chakrAyudha, is the cause of this

wonderful universe and the seas. I am singing these mAlai(Garland) of

verses(pAsurams) and dedicating to Him, whose vision I had is the light of the

lamp of the earth, and oil being the seas, the sun being the source of the

light;

 

Based on my limited knowledge, we have brought out the parallel between Poikai

azhwaar and Swami. Please learn from erudite scholars further.

 

aruNmiguttha thoruvadivaayk kacci thanni

laippasimaa thatthiruvO Natthu naaLiR

poruNmiguttha maRaiviLangap puviyO ruyyap

poygaithanil vanthuthittha punithaa munnaa

LiruLathaniR RaNkOva lidaika ziccen

Riruvaruda NniRkavumaa lidainNe rukkath

thiruviLakkaa menumvaiyanN thakaLi nooRuNY

sezumporuLaa venakkaruLsey thiruntha neeyE.

 

Sri Brahmathanthra swathanthra jeeyar composed:

 

Thulaayaam sravaNE jAtham kaanchyAm kaanchana vaarijAth |

dwAparE paanchajanyAmsam sarOyOginam AsrayE. ||

 

Third Brahmathanthra swathanthra jeeyar blessed us with:

 

Aippasiyil thiruvONatthu avatharitthAn vaazhiyE

Azhagu amarndha kacchinagar siRakka vandhaan vaazhiyE

aRpudhamaa nal vaiyanthakaLi seydhaan vaazhiyE

aarvamigu vaarkadalaa neyitttaan vaazhiyE

naRpadhatthu kadhiravanE viLakkam enRaan vaazhiyE

num poruttaal anthAthi nooRu aLitthAn vaazhiyE

poRpadhatthu sOthithanaik kaNdu uraitthAn vaazhiyE

poikai muni adi iNaiyum vadivazhagum vaazhiyE.

 

AzhwAr EmperumAnAr Desikan ThiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

Regards

Namo narayana

Narayana dAsan madhavakkannan

 

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3. RAMANUJA AND SRIVAISHNAVAM – Part 2

by Sri Anbil Ramaswamy Swami, USA

 

ENCOUNTER WITH TIRUKKACHI NAMBI

On reaching Kanchi, Ilayaperumal stayed there for a while to assist Tiruk Kachi

Nambi in his daily chores of service to Lord Varadaraja. Tirukkachi Nambi who

was on " speaking terms " with the Archaamurthi of the Lord, obtained from Lord

Varadaraja the famous 'Six Words ' and passed them on to Ilayaperumal. The six

words provided the guidelines for him to follow, namely (i) that Lord Narayana

is the Paramatma (ii) that the individual souls were different from Paramatma.

(iii) that Prapatti is the means to attain salvation. (iv) that the last

remembrance of the Lord on the part of the departing soul was not necessary. (v)

that MOksha can be obtained only on laying off the mortal coils (VidEha Mukti)

and (vi) that Ilaya Perumal should take refuge at the feet of Periya Nambi.

Accordingly, he met with Periya Nambi at Maduraantakam, where under the shade of

Vakula tree Periya Nambi performed Pancha Samskara to him. As he was initiated

into the esoteric of Dvaya Mantra at Maduraantakam, the place came to be known

as " Dvayam Vilaindha Tiruppathi " . Both returned to Srirangam and did

KaalakshEpams on Brahma Sutra etc. for sometime. It was at this time that Lord

Ranganatha called him " Namm UDaiyavar " (He is ours)

 

RAMANUJA TAKES SANNYAS

 

Ilaya Perumal's was not a happy married life. His wife never understood either

his greatness nor appreciated his catholicity and always acted on her own

wavelength and there was no compatibility as between them. Several instances are

cited wherein the lady ensconced in her own pet ideas of being holy or otherwise

showed scant respect to Bhaagavatas and this greatly annoyed Ilayalwar.

When he was about 30 years of age, Ilayalwar took Sannyas with the name of

'Ramanuja Muni'. He was the king among Sannyasis. Hence, he is called 'Yati

Rajar' - an honorific invested by Lord Devaathi Rajan.

 

HIS NINE WORKS

 

After mastering the Bodhaayana Vritti of Sage Vyaasa, he wrote several works

like Vedanta Sangraham explaining the various viewpoints of Sankara, Yadhava,

Bhaskara and others as also Vedanta Deepam,Vedanta Saaram, Geetha Bashyam etc.

Later, he wrote a Grantha called Nityam detailing the Tiruvaradhana Kramam.

When he visited Saraswati Peetam, Goddess Saraswati was so impressed with his

commentary on Brahma Sutram that she named it " Sri Bashyam " and conferred on him

the title of " Bhashyakaarar " . It must be noted that while the other commentaries

are known by the names of their authors like 'Sankara Bashyam' written by Aadhi

Sankara, the commentary of Ramanuja is always referred to with the venerable

honorific 'Sri' denoting its unsurpassed quality and clarity and known as " Sri

Bashyam " During Panguni Uttram, he did Prapatti before the Divya Dhampathi in

Serthi and submitted his famous Gadhyatrayam (comprising Saranagathi Gadhyam,

Sriranga Gadhyam and Sri Vaikunta Gadhyam).

 

SOME INCIDENTS IN HIS LIFE

 

Though there are far too numerous incidents in his life, we present only a very

few for want of space in this write up.

 

EMPERUMAANAAR

 

TirukkoshTiyur Nambi whom he approached as many as 18 times for instructions on

the Rahasya Grantas embraced him calling him " Emperumaanaar " in recognition of

the spirit of compassion that Ramanuja demonstrated.

 

SELVA PILLAI

 

Ramanuja went to Tiru narayana puram in search of white clay paste used for

applying caste marks by Vaishnavites. The idol of the temple there had been

taken away by the Muslim invaders and was being used at play as a doll by the

Muslim princess in Delhi. Ramanuja went to Delhi and when he endearingly called

' Come on! My dear child 'Selva Pillaiye Vaarum', the Vigrahaml miraculously

came onto his lap which. Ramanuja promptly reinstalled in the temple.

 

TIRUPPAVAI JEEYAR

 

He was also known as " Tiruppavai Jeeyar " because of his admiration of Andal's

" Tiruppavai " , that was always on his lips. Once, when he went to Srivilliputtur,

the birthplace of Andal, he offered " Akkaara aDisil " to the Lord there. Later,

when he went to pay his obeisance to Andal, a divine voice issued forth from the

Sanctum calling him " Enn aNNaavO! " meaning " Oh! My Elder brother! " It is said

that Andal wished to offer this sweet to the Lord in her time but, perhaps,

could not do so. And, Ramanuja fulfilled her wish. It was customary in those

days for the elder brother to fulfill the wishes of his younger sister.

 

THE 3 VIGRAHAS OF RAMANUJA Ramanuja arranged

to make a lifelike idol of himself and embracing it invested it with his powers

and had it installed in Tirumalai. The only temple consecrated in Tirumalai,

other than that of Lord Venkateswara, is that of Ramanuja. (SAA p.58) The Archa

moorthi of Ramanuja known as " Thaan Ugantha TiruEeni " (the one that was dear to

Ramanuja himself) was installed in Tirunarayanapuram.. His Vigraham installed

in Sriperumpudur, (his birthplace) is called " Tamar uganda TirumEni " - (the one

hailed by his admirers) There is yet another Vigraham of Ramanuja in Srirangam

called " Taanaana TirumEni " (meaning His very own physical body). This physical

body of Ramanuja is preserved even today in a sitting posture in the Sannidhi

(Sanctum Sanctorum) dedicated to him on the southwest corner on the fifth round

within the Srirangam temple as ordered by Lord Ranganatha himself.

 

HIS BODY PRESERVED

 

The whole world is aghast at the feat of preservation of the mummies of Egypt

and the body of St.Xavier in Goa in India and makes so much fuss about them.

Even some Srivaishnavas are not aware that here in Srirangam, their holiest

place hailed as `Bhuloka Vaikuntam' (Heaven on Earth) lies preserved the body

of Sri Ramanuja in all its pristine state unostentatiously, without any fanfare

or publicity and without using any of the chemical preservatives employed by the

Egyptian and Goan models.

 

Ramanuja nominated 74 Acharyas to succeed him. It is he who instituted the

13-day " iyal Goshti in Srirangam.

 

RAMANUJA'S ASCENT TO PARAMAPADAM

With his head on the lap of Embar and his feet on the lap of Vaduga Nambi,

Ramanuja breathed his last in 1137 A.D. listening to the recitation of the Divya

Prabandam.

 

It is interesting to note that Bhagavad Ramanuja was born in the year " PingaLa "

in the asterism of " Tiruvaadirai " (corresponding to 1017 AD) and attained

Paramapadam on another " PingaLa " year also in the asterism of " Tiruvaadirai "

(corresponding to 1137 AD) exactly on completion of 2 X 60 year cycles = 120

years recognized in our almanac- A very rare event, indeed!

 

Let us celebrate his Jayanthi every year starting from now and gear ourselves up

for the grand millennium celebrations in 2017.

 

Dasoham

Anbil Ramaswamy

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