Alavandar & Desikan

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Dear BhakthAs :

 

Today is a very sacred day . Sri AlavandhAr also known

as Yaamuna Muni was born this day at KaattumannAr Koil

near Thillai Thirucchitthirakootam in the year 916A.D .

He lived for 125 years prior to ascending Parama padham .

His illustrious works Sidhdithrayam ,GithArtha sangraham,

Aagama PrAmANyam , Chathus SlOki and STHOTHRA RATHNAM

provided the inspiration for AchArya RaamAnujA ,

KurEsar , ParAsara Bhattar and Swami Desikan as well

as a whole group of Sri VaishNava AchAryas to compose

noble granthams , which guide us every day .

 

AchArya Yaamuna Muni was the grand perceptor(PrAchArya)

for AchArya RaamAnujA . Our Revered Yaamuna Muni's

Sri Sookthis are the essence of VedAs , Upanishads ,

VaishNavite AagamAs , Saatvika purANams and

the blessed divya Prabhandams .

 

Among the revered works of AlavandhAr ,

SthOthra Rathnam is a model work for those

who followed his footsteps to strengthen

the fortress of Sri VaishNavam .

 

AdiyEn wrote an earlier article on the Life

and works of AlavandhAr and GithArtha Sangraham ,

which are archived in the Bhakthi archives .

 

On this day of his birth , which also happens

to be a PourNami day as well as the ChaathurmAsyam day

for SanyAsis , it is adiyen' bhAgyam to add few more

comments about the slOkams of SthOthra rathnam.

It is so very appropriate that our Revered Jeeyar of

Ahobila Matam has chosen ThiruvahIndhrapuram for

his ChaathurmAsyam to be close to Swami Desikan

and to the birth place of Sri AaLavandhAr .

 

Both Sri Periya VaacchAn PiLlai and Swami Desikan

have written extensive commentaries on this source

grantham for all sthOthrams to follow as a leader

in substance and style .

 

This sthOthram is so profound in meaning that

one has to spend hours and hours >going back and

forth between this pioneering

sthuthi and the derivatives , which are elaborations

by Sri VaishNava AchAryAs like Sri RaamAnujA ,

KurEsar , Bhattar and Swami Desikan . The many

SaraNAgathi granthams that Swami Desikan wrote

are elaborations of the tenets covered by

YaamunAchAryaa.

 

At the end of his SR BhAshyam , Swami Desikan

in his inimtable way summed up the contents

of SR as follows :

 

* AlavandhAr condensed the meanings of the manthra

Rathnam ( Dhvayam ) to create the slOkams of SR.

* Among the 65 slOkams , the first 5 are those, who

opened his spiritual eyes ; the sthothram commences

with the 6th slOkam .

* the 7th deals with the awesome Parathvam of the Lord ,

which can be intimidating and in slOkams 8-9 describes

the Lord's soulabhyam , which removes all fears about

His accessibility .

* From 10 to 21 , AlavandhAr dealt with the many

meanings of NaarAyaNa sabdham .

* In the 22nd SlOkam , AlavandhAr performed Prapatthi.

* From 23-27, he expressed his qualifications (adhikAram )

for Prapatthi at the sacred feet of the Lord .

* From 28-29 , he explained that great fruits come out

of the easy observance of prapatthi.

* From 30to 46 , AlavandhAr revealed the inner

meanings of the uttara KHANDam of Dhvayam.

The slOkams from 32-46 describes parama Padha Vaibhavam ,

which formed the basis of Sri VaikuNta Gadhyam .

* In slOkam 47 , he expressed his nirvEdham over

nonperformance of the upAyam to redeem him .

* From 48-51 , he showed us that Prapatthi alone

will give the fruits of Moksham .

* From 52-53 , he dealt with Bhara samarpaNa Tattvam .

SlOkma 52 is important in that it was used by

ThirukkOttiyUr Nampi to teach RaamAnujA that

Seshathvam is SvarUpa NirUpakam to a Jeevan .

SlOkma 53 is an echo of NammAzhwAr's ThiruvAimozhi2.3.4:

" YenathAvi YaaryaanAr tantha nee koNDAkkinayE " .

* From 54-57 , he begged for the Lord's anugraham

to lead the life of prapannA until dehAvasAnam .

He celebrated the glory of Bhaagavatha Sangham

in SlOkam 55.

* From 58-63 , AlavandhAr described with example

the protective qualiites of the Lord such as

KaaruNyam , Vaatsalyam , Bhandhuthvam et al

and sought refuge .SlOkam 60 is a moving

acknowledgement of the Sarva Vidha Bhanthuthvam

of the Lord in the context of Bhara SamarpaNam.

ParAsara Bhattar recited the 62nd slOkam of SR

before Sri RanganAthA and described himself as

" amaryAtha: Kshudhra: "

* In the 64th slOkam , AlavandhAr reminded the Lord

of his saraNAgathi Vratham .This is the Abhaya

PradhAna SlOkam and became the basis of Swami

Desikan's Abaya PradhAna Saaram and NishEpa Rakshai.

* In the final 65th slOkam , he celebrated the glory

of AchAryAnugraham and AchArya sambhandham

and prayed for the Lord's grace atleast for

the sake of his grandsire, Sri Naathamuni , the great

AchAryA .

 

* AlavandhAr's Sidhdi Thrayam expounds the nature of

the three siddhis : Aathama siddhi (the nature of the Soul ),

Isvara Siddhi ( The nature of the Lord),Samvit Siddhi

(the nature of supreme Knowledge). Togehter they deal with

the central doctrines of today'ds VisishtAdvaithA System

consistent with the teachings of the early commentators ,

BodhAyanA , TankA , DramidA et al.Sri RaamAnujA based

his Sri BhAshyam on that Sri Sookthi .

* The GithArtha Sangrahaa summarizes the teachiings

Of Lord KrishNA in a succinct manner . Both RaamAnujA's

and Swami Desikan's elaborations on GitA arise from

this work .

* The Aagama prAmANyA of AlavandhAr defends the Vedic

authority and the revelations of Paancha Raathra AagamA.

* SR and ChatusslOki deal with the saraNAgathi Tattvam

and rthe important role Sri Devi plays as one of

the Seshi Dampathis.Her PurushakAra role is underlined.

* The other two sookthis of AlavandhAr , MahA Purusha

NirNayam and KaashmirAgama PrAmANyam are no longer

available to us.

* AlavandhAr was very much influenced by the great

sookthi of his grandfather , Nathamuni revered as

NyAya Tatvam , which established the parathvam

of Sriman NaarAyaNA and the unfitness of advaitham

as a darsanam .

* the 21st slOkam is a beautiful prayer to the limitless

glories of Sriman naarAyaNA .

* the power of Anjali as a laghu upAyam is dealt with

in slOkam 28. Swami Desikan elaborated on this slOkam

and created a whole grantham known as rahasya SikhAmaNi .

* Additional information on AchArya Alavandhar are at Bhakthi

archives , 1998 (http://www2.be.com/~mani/bhakti/archives/

aug98/0047.html/This is an article adiyEn wrote for

Sri AlavandhAr's Thirunakshathram .Sriman B.N.Suresh has

also provided us the meanings of the SlOkams of SR recently .

 

Nammayum AalavandhAr ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,

Oppiliappan Koil VaradachAri Sadagopan