Thirukkolur Ammal Varththaigal - 79

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Sri: | Srimathe Ramanujaya Nama:

 

79. va:yil kaiyitte:no: emba:raip po:le:

 

The acharya Embar was known as Govinda Bhattar prior to getting the name Embar.

He was a maternal cousin to Ramanuja. In the early part of his life, he had gone

on a yatra to Kasi. There, as he was bathing in the river Ganges, a Shiva lingam

came into his hand. As such he became a devotee of Shiva, He seettled in the

town of Kalahasti and began maintaining the Shiva temple there.

 

At that time, due to the request of Ramanuja, Periya Thirumalai Nambi

engaged Embar, corrected him and returned him to the Srivaishnava fold. Embar

then moved to Thirumala and lived with his acharya Periya

Thirumala Nambi and performed services to him. At that time, Ramanuja

was also at Thirumala learning the inner meanings of Sri Ramayanam

from Periya Thirumalai Nambi. Therefore, he got opportunities to

observer Embar's characteristics.

 

One of the qualities of a Srivaishnava is feeling empathy for others.

This quality was complete in Embar. One time, Ramanuja noticed that

Embar put his hand inside a snake's mouth, then took a bath and

continued his services to his acharya. He asked " O Govinda! What did

you do with the snake? " Embar replied " I noticed that the snake was

keeping its tongue out and suffering. When I went near it, I saw

that a thorn was stuck in its tongue. So, I pulled the thorn out.

The snake then ran away " . Ramanuja was amazed about his sense of

mercy and blessed him.

 

Normally a snake instills fear in most people and they tend to keep

away from it. Yet, in this instance Embar did not fear it and was

more worried about its suffering.

 

Thirukkolur Ammal is asking " Am I capable of showing the level of

mercy that Embar did by sticking his hand in a snake's mouth? "

 

Azhvar Emberumanar Jeeyar Thiruvadigale Sharanam

adiyEn madhurakavi dAsan

http://www.acharya.org/vyakyanam/ThirukkolurammalVarththaigal/