AchArya thiruvadi, what does it mean?

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Sri:

Sri Lakshmi nrisimha parabrahmaNE nama:

Sri Lakshmi nrisimha divya paduka sevaka

srivan satakopa sri narayana yatindra mahadesikaya nama:

 

adhikaara sangraham #38:

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ERRi manaththezhil jnAna viLakkai iruLanaiththum

maaRRinavarkku oru kaimmaaRu maayanum kaaNakillaan

pORRi ugappathum punthiyil koLvathum pongupugazh

saaRRi vaLarppathum saRRallavO munnam peRRathaRkE.

 

Rough translation:

Even the Lord cannot adequately compensate

the Acharya - who dispels all the darkness

from our minds, with the light of wisdom he ignites;

the joyful praise, the grateful thoughts and the

ever rising tide of veneration are nothing but

a speck of dust against what

the Acharya has already given us.

 

Srimad Azhagiya Singar explains the term “prathi upakaram” as much more

than simple repayment of debt/assistance When we pay back a debt only

monetary equilibrium is reestablished. But, to truly compensate our

debt, it is not sufficient to just repay the debt, but we must extend

the same help in return twice over. For example, if a friend lends you

$1,000 in your hour of need, just repaying the debt of $1,000 will not

make you even. A true expression of gratitude to the friend will occur

only when you get a chance to lend that friend $2,000 in his hour of

need, twice as much as what he did in your favor. Until then you will

remain in his debt even of you pay back the $1,000 you borrowed.

 

Now, what our Acharyas have given us is ubhaya viboothi. They have

given us not just the other world, but this world as well. True

gratitude for this generosity cannot be demonstrated unless we give two

pairs of ubhaya vibhoothi to our Acharya. Obviously, this is

impossible, even for the Lord who possesses only one set. This is why

Swami Sri Desikan says, “maayanum kaaNakillaan” in the above paasuram.

Then, whatever we may do as prathi-upakaram, like praise and service to

Acharya in the three modes, i.e. thought, speech, and action, will

amount only to a speck of dust (saRRu allavO!) in comparison to what

the Acharya has already done for us.

 

Indebted in this life and for ever in our next life in paramapadham to

our Achaaryaas, we cannot have any likes and dislikes independent of

our Achaaryaas. The ever benevolent PeriyavAchAn piLLai in the

avathaarikai to KaNNinuN siruththAmbu describes an incident involving a

lady disciple of Sri Emperunmaanaar. Someone questioned the lady about

the authority upon which she worships only Sriman Narayana. She

answered that if Emperumaanaar worships the “kaadichchal moolai

dEvathai”, i.e. Sivan, then he shall be her lord too. In other words,

for this lady, Emperumaanar was all the authority that was needed. No

other authority was necessary.

 

Similarly, for us, our AchArya must be the only authority. We must

totally and unconditionally follow our Achraya. In Srimad RTS, Swami

Sri Desikan says it is superior to think of us as our Acharyaa’s

thiruvadi than even a Sri Vaishnava. As the thiruvadi of our Acharya

we go where ever the Acharyaa goes. If we are truly our Acharya

thiruvadi then we cannot have our own ideas about where we want to go.

In other words, there is no question of approaching our AchArya with

our own ideas about changes to our sampradayam. In stead, we ought to

understand our AchArya’s thiru uLLam and follow that.

 

The above does not mean we stay mute in the presence of our Acharyas.

We often see scholarly sishyaas engaging in sincere discussion of

knotty questions in the theory and practice of our Sri Ramanuja

siddhAntham. Our AchAryas do encourage critical questions. However,

when we ask these questions it must be with the attitude that we are

HH’s thiruvadi. Our disposition must be completely free of even a

trace of arrogance. For example, we know how much Srimad Azhagiya

Singar loves to answer our questions. But it is up to us to approach

HH with the overwhelming thought that we are HH’s thiruvadi. Our

approach must not be, “let me see whether the answers are acceptable to

me.” Such arrogance can easily lead one to even judge the caliber of

Srimad Azhagiya Singar, positively or negatively. If HH’s message is

to one’s liking he/she may declare Srimad Azhagiya Singar measures up

to his/her standard. The flip side of this attitude is expressing or

at least thinking disagreeable thoughts about Srimad Azhagiya Singar if

he/she does not like what HH says for whatever reason. In stead, our

attitude when we approach our Acharya with our questions must be a

sincere desire to understand HH’s thiru uLLam and the resolve to follow

HH’s thiru uLLam.

 

Irrespective of affiliation, we all must strive to understand our

Acharya’s thiru uLLam and follow it. Specifically, those of us who

are Sri Sannithi sishyas, our only ambition must be to understand

Srimad Azhagiya Singar’s thiru uLLa,m and follow it. Approaching the

Jeeyar for HH’s blessing to make changes to our traditional practices

betrays a level of sovereignty/arrogance that spells danger for our

esteemed status as Srimad Azhagiya Singar thiruvadi. This will only

destroy our budding disposition of absolute devotion to Acharya marked

by complete and unconditional dependance upon Acharya.

 

Some with western way of thinking may reject the ideal of dissolving

our individuality into our Acharya’s vaibhavam. But we have the likes

of Shathrugnan and Madhurakavi on our sides. We also have the

teachings of Sri Ramanuja and Swami Sri Desikan on our sides. Let us

not waste our intellectual energies in pursuits of redefining

sampradaayam, let us channel them towards the proper understanding of

our Sampradayam and following it.

 

srimad azhagiya singar thiruvadigaLE saraNam

 

-- adiyen ramanunja dasan