Guest guest Posted May 17, 2007 Report Share Posted May 17, 2007 Srimathe ramanujaya Namaha Srimathe Varavaramunaye namaH Vaikasi, Sarvajith Azhvar 8, Acharya 2 ThirukkoTTiyUr nambi " vaisAka rohiNyudhitham gOshteepoorNam samAsrayE charamaslOka tAtparyam yathirAjAya yOvadhat " " Sri vallabha padhAmbhOja dheebhakthyAmrutha sAkaram Srimat gOshteepuripoorNam dEsikEndhram bhajAmahE " Thirukkotiyur Nambi was born in kAsypa gothram in the divya desam thirukkotiyur on a vaikasi month in the divine star rohini. He was one of the prime disciples of Swamy yamunacharya and one of the 5 acharyas of Swamy Ramanujacharya. Nambi's modesty Ramanujacharya underwent samasrayanam under periya nambi as per the directions of alavandaar. Periya nambi then directed him towards thirukottiyur nambi to learn the divine meanings of charama slokam. Ramanujacharya reached thirukkotiyur and met a short srivaishnava on the way. Ramanujacharya enquired, " Adiyen- can you please let me know where nambi thirumaligai is? " The person replied with indifference, " Oh! Why are you asking about some nambi, first go to the temple and have darshan of the real nambi (paripoorNan – one who is filled with all divine qualities). Depressed with these words, Ramanujacharya proceeded towards the temple. He was in right time for the thiruveedhi purapadu. Srivaishnavas were ready for the arulicheyal ghosti (to recite the divya prabhandams in front of the lord in procession). Ramanujacharya with deep thirst to meet his acharya asked the person nearby, " can you please tell me who thirukkotiyur nambi is? " To the great surprise of ramanujacharya that person pointed towards the same short srivaishnava who he met first on the way. After the procession, Ramanujacharya started towards nambi's thirumaligai doing danda pranamams all through the way. Only that day people in thirukoshtiyur realized the greatness of nambi. On reaching nambi's thirumaligai ramanujacharya asked, " Why did devareer tell like that when adiyen met you first? " Nambi replied, " Everyone coming here enquires about me, a servant even before having the darshan of nambi, the king of this place. So adiyen got irritated and said so " Nambi's qualities as an acharya Though nambi had instructions from alavandaar to give the rahasya arthas to swamy Ramanuja still he didn't give the same right away. Thirukkotiyur nambi was an anuvriththi prasannacharya (acharya gives the divine meanings to the disciples only after confirming that they are fully qualified to receive the same). Krishna gave the divine bhagavat geetha to arjuna without any second thought but at the last instructed him not to do the same. Krishna says, " edham tE nAthabaskAya nAbhakthAya kadhAchana " (18-67) Don't give these divine arthas before testing that the person is really qualified to listen to the same. Thirukkotiyur nambi made ramanujacharya visit thirukkotiyur 18 times. Each time he instructed Ramanuja to develop a specific quality and come. During the 17th time though Ramanujacharya came along with the recommendation from ranganatha still nambi asked Ramanuja to come the next time and only on the 18th visit nambi gave the divine charama sloka arthas to swamy Ramanuja that too with a strict order that these should not be told to anyone. Em-PerumAnAr But Ramanujacharya was a krupamAtra prasannacharya, who knew that it is very difficult for common ignorant people to get these divine arthas after so much difficulty. So filled with grace for the upliftment and benefit of all the interested but incapable jeevatmas he gave the thirumanthram ( " AsudaiyOrkellAm " ). Nambi rushed to ramanuja and asked, " Don't you know the result of going against the words of an acharya? " Ramanujacharya calmly replied, " Yes Swamy. But even if adiyen alone goes to naraka all these ignorant people will reach moksha " Nambi was filled with ecstacy on the act of his dear disciple. He embraced Ramanuja and celebrated him saying, " em-peruman-AneerO " (you have become my lord!) From that day Ramanujacharya got the name " EmperumAnAr " . That is why nambi's vAzhi thirunamam says, " emberumAnArennum pEriyabhumavan vAzhiyE " . Inspite of knowing the greatness of swamy Ramanuja, just to show the qualities of the good acharya and a good shisya nambi, did the above act. Selection of a care-taker KidAmbi AChAn Few miscreants tried to kill swamy ramanujacharya by giving him poisoned bhiksha. Coming to know of the same swamy ramanujacharya stopped taking bhiksha and hence didn't eat anything. Nambi came running to see ramanuja. Nambi and swamy ramanuja met in the banks of kaveri. Immediately on seeing the acharya ramanujacharya fell to his feet in sAshtanga pranamams. It was burning hot and nambi stood simply without lifting ramanuja up. All shisyas were troubled. They couldn't stand swamy ramanuja's thirumeni being burnt due to the hot sands. But they couldn't talk as nambi was acharya's acharya. But Kidambi Achchan, couldn't keep quiet. With great anger he commented, " What is this acharya, shisya lakshanam? " Nambi immediately lifted ramanujacharya and told Achchan, " I was waiting to find the person like you who has the ultimate concern towards the physique of Ramanuja. So from now on you alone will do ekabhiksha to Ramanuja " . Such was nambi's divine way of tackling a crisis. Correcting ThirumAlai Aandan Thirumaalai Aandan was giving the divine meanings of thiruvaimozhi to Swamy Ramanuja. At many places Swamy Ramanuja had different anubhavams that he shared with the permission of the acharya. Thirumaalai aandan became a little upset with ramanuja as he gave new interpretations not given by his acharya aalavandaar and one fine day he stopped the kalashepam. Coming to know of this nambi rushed to srirangam and told aandan, " Don't think that you are the acharya and ramanuja your disciple; you are like sandeepani and vasista to Krishna and Rama to ramanuja; they are not ignorant students but pursuing the lessons just for the sake of doing it. Moreover he is like ekalavyan to swamy alavandaar and no meaning not acceptable to swamy alavandaar's mind will come out of ramanuja's mouth " . Such was the great understanding of nambi about Ramanujacharya and our sampradayam. KoorathAzhvan and thirukkotiyur Nambi Once swamy ramanujacharya sent koorathAzhvan to nambi to get a clarification on the nature of the jeevatma, whether the seshatvam is prime or if jnAtritvam is the foremost quality of a jeevatma. Azhvan reached nambi thirumaligai and was doing all the services but couldn't get any clarification from nambi. One month passed. Azhvan felt sick due to the separation from swamy emperumanar and hence he decided to return back even without getting the doubt clarified. Azhvan went to nambi to take leave when nambi calmly said, " Don't you remember azhvar's words, 'adiyEnullan vudallullAn' " ThiruvAimozhi 8-8-2 and then gave permission to azhvan to leave. Azhvan returned back and told the same to emperumanar. We all will feel confused not knowing the purport of this incident. Here are the details. Though emperumanar himself knew the answer he sent azhvan to nambi to get the answer from his acharya. Nambi not just giving the answer made azhvan realize the answer. How was that? Q: Jeevatma has 2 main qualities – Seshatvam (servitude) and jnAtritvam (possesser of knowledge). Which of these qualities is the foremost? Nambi's answer: As per azhvar's words in thiruvaimozhi 'adiyEnullAn vudalullAn' (He is there inside the atma (chit) and inside the body (achit)). While talking about the jeevatma azhvar says 'adiyen' implying that sEshatvam is the indicative quality of a jeevatma. The knowledge of jeevatmas being a sesha of the lord (servants of Sriman narayana) is the ultimate jnAtritvam. If Nambi had given this explanation before azhvan would not have experienced the difficulty of separation from swamy emperumanar (arising due to seshatvam towards the acharya). For the sake of reaching the divine feet of his acharya azhvan even decided to forego the clarification of his doubt. Hasn't seshatvam won over jnAtritvam? Thus nambi did not make azhvan know the answer but he made him realize the same. Let us sing mangalasasanams to that great acharya on this day and forever. " manniyaseer Alavandaar malarpadhaththOn vAzhiyE vaikhAsirohiNinAL vandhudhiththOn vAzhiyE enniLa vanjikkini duraiththAn vAzhiyE emberumAnA rennum pEriyabhumavan vAzhiyE tannaNiyAm kAsipa kOththirathudiththOn vAzhiyE thirukkurukaippirA nennumpEr thigazhavandhOn vAzhiyE munnararum perumbhoodur munikkuraiththOn vAzhiyE mozhindha thirukkOtti nambi moodhulagil vAzhiyE " Vara Vara muni dAsargal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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