ThirunArAyaNapuram SatAri Kaimkaryam : Two Questions-- Part II

[Guest guest]

Dear BhakthAs :

 

AdiyEn will address the significance of the name ,

SaThAri /Sri SaThakOpam (SatAri) in this posting.

The fund assembly for this Kaimkaryam will conclude

at the end of sunset today as announced earlier .

 

Terminology of the Sacred SatAri in our SampradhAyam

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At the outset , my thanks to the BhakthAs , who

helped me to gain a clearer understanding of

the Sri SatAri sambhandhams .

 

** The Lotus Thiruvadis of PerumAL mounted on

the ornamental cone pedestal are specially

consecrated and worshipped as " Sri SaTakOpam "

and " Sri SatAri " in the Sri VaishNavite

dhivya Desams only.

 

** " Sri SatakOpam " is in our temple worship

is an an " object -de-Sacre " or sacred entity

in itself and is verily like the SaLagrAma-

SrimUrthy or the ArchAvathAra Moorthys at

Dhivya Desams.

 

** There are two reasons for this special veneration

of Dhivya MaNi PaadhukAs as revealed to us by our

AchAryAs in general and Swamy Desikan in particular:

 

(1) Sri SatAri is the concretisaion ( realized ideal)

of our sacred Manthra Rathnam ( dhvayam ).

Sri SatAri is Swamy NammAzhwAr personified and

He is the one , who envisioned Manthra rathnam as

Manthra DhrashtA in His Tamizh MaRai (Vedham) , when

He proclaimed at the feet of the Lord " akallillEn

iraiyum enru AlarmElmangaiuRai MaarbhA " . In this

sacred paasuram ,SaTakOpar describes His svarUpam

clearly ( adiyEn, aruvinayEn--) and then discusses His

Seshathvam and Aakinchanyam as anga poorthi for

His SaraNAgathi and performs His SaraNAgathi

to the Lord of Seven Hills . In this celebrated

Paasuram , the entire meaning of Dhvayam is

captured . Swamy NammAzhwAr performs His SaraNAgathi

to the Lord through invocation of the PurushakAram

of Periya PirAttiAr . The NithyAnupAyini and

Her divine consort ,the ApAra KaaruNya Souseelya

Vaathsalya Nidhi , are approached for saraNAgathi

with MahA VisvAsam by Swamy NammAzhwAr here .

At the end of this Patthu , Swamy NammAzhwAr

declares : " Ivai patthum piDitthAr piDitthAr

VeeRRirunthu PeriyavaanUL nilAvuvarE "

( Those who master this decad will be

ordained to perform without doubt ,divine

kaimkaryam in Sri Vaikuntam to ThirunArAyaNan ;

adiyEn decalres that even those , who cling

to those , who cling to these BhagavathAs will

secure this boon as reward ).That then is

the Mahimai of Sri SatAri celebrated by

Swamy Desikan in His Sri PaadhukA Sahasram

at Srirangam .

 

(2) Given the fact that Sri SatAri(Swamy

NammAzhwAr ) is the Thiruvadi of PerumAL

Himself , we are tempted to ask who is

Swamy NammAzhwAr's Thiruvadi and who is

AchArya RaamAnujA's Thiruvadi in our

SampradhAyam . It is in this context of

referring to any person or object or

Sri Sookthi by its appropriate name ,

we have to serve , preserve and expound

on them with all reverence and humility .

For all of us , as followers of Bhagavath-

RaamAnuja Darsanam , the veneration of

One's AchAryA's sacred feet is the sine-qua-non

of our sampradhAyam . It is in this context ,

appropriate terminology has been arrived at

for our practise :

 

**PerumAL's satAri:

********************

Swamy NammAzhwAr is the Paadhukai

of SarvEswaran .Swamy Desikan salutes hence ,

the dhivya MaNi Paadhukai of the Lord as

" Mukundha-PaadhAmbhuja-DhAriNi " ( the sacred

Paadhukai of the Moksham-granting Lord ).

In every dhivya Desam , the paadhukai is

Swamy NammAzhwAr . Some of them are ancient

like the one at ThirunArAyaNan's sannidhi

at MelkOte/Yathi sailam . Others are from recent

times . For instance a Bhakthan from Melkote

advised me that the 2 Kilo , 24 carat Golden

Satari at ThirunArAyaNan's sannidhi is

a SamarpaNam by His Highness Sri Krishna

Raaja WodayAr , the former MaharAjA of Mysore

some 200 years ago .

 

Swamy NammAzhwAr's SatAri

**************************

** AchArya RaamAnujA is seen at the holy

feet of Swamy NammAzhwAr in His Archaa-

Vigrahams. Sri Nathamuni and Madhurakavi

AzhwAr are seen on the sides of NammaazhwAr.

We fully recognize the great Madhura kavi

AzhwAr as the principal sishyar of Swamy

NammazhwAr .Since AchArya RaamAnujA

is found at the sacred feet of Swamy NammazhwAr ,

it appears justified to call AchArya RaamAnujA

as the PaadhukAs of Swamy NammAzhwAr .

The " Polika Polika " Paasuram of Swamy NammAzhwAr

celebrating the vision of samruddhi ( the great revival

and growth) of Sri VaishNava Dharmam is thus linked

to " the Bhavishyath AchAryan " ( the future

AchAryan after Swamy NammazhwAr's times),

EmperumAnAr. Hence , the Paadhukais at

Swamy NammAzhwAr sannidhi at ThirukkuruhUr

is revered as " IrAmAnusan " .

 

AchArya RaamAnujar's SatAri

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** Who then is the Paadhukai of AchArya

RaamAnujA ? Mudali-ANDAN (Daasarathy )

represents the sacred feet of AchArya

RaamAnujan at His sannidhis such as in

MelkOte, Sri PerumbhUdhUr and Srirangam .

Among those four special sishyAs consecrated

in the archai of Sri RaamAnujA , Mudali-ANDAN

is pradhAnam in the sense that he is considered

as Sri RaamAnuja PaadhukA .He is also known as

Sri RaamAuja pavithram just as KuratthAzhwAn

is rcognized as Sri RaamAnujA's DaNDam (sacred

staff ).For us then, the bejeweled SatAri under

preparation with your generous support will

be Mudali-ANDAN, the Paadhukai of Sri RaamAnujA .

 

Sri Thirumanjanam Sundararajan Swamy of Srirangam is

visiting his family now in Virginia. By copy of this

note , adiyEn requests him to post on the Vaibhavam

of Mudal-ANDAN and thnak him in advance .

 

Subhamasthu,

adiyEn, Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan