Sri Periya Jeeyer's Arthi Prabhandam-3

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Sri Parthasarathi thunai

Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

Sri Vara Vara MunayE Namaha

 

SrisailEsa dayA pAthram deebhakthyAdhi gunArnavam

Yateendra pravanam vandhE ramyajAmataram munim

 

In the last posting we saw that Sri Manavala mAmunigal, Periya Jeeyer requested

or begged Ethiraja to grant him moksha. Is Ethirajar capable to grant the same?

 

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Yes. Our swamy ethirajar has the full power to grant us all moksha. That’s why

we srivaishnavas consider rAmanuja sampandham (relationship with ramanuja) very

very important. Let us see how.

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According to prapannAmrutham, a book outlining the life history of Ethirajar,

written by one Sri Ananthasoori, who comes under the shisya paramparai (lineage)

of Sri kOil Annan, one of the ashtadiggas of mAmunigal, before the avatar of

emperumAnAr a small dialogue occurred between perumal and ananthan in

Srivaikundam.

 

SrivaikundanekEthanan, bhagavan told his beloved thiruvananthAzhvan, “Oh!

Anantha. I have taken birth myself to change this world. But didn’t succeed

completely. Then I sent the azhvars who sang praise of me and changed people to

an extent but now that it has been long since the time of azhvars divya avatars,

people have now been affected by kali and are grieved very much by the same. So

now you take avatar as an acharya and spread and establish the correct path for

people so that they attain my divine feet. “

 

Anantha replied, “Oh! My lord I will be elated to do the same but you should

assure me that you will give me the powers to control, the ubhayavibhuthi (the

two wealths bhagavan has, the leela vibhuthi and the nithya vibhuthi) so that I

will be able to bring everyone to your divine abode without any hinderance”

 

Emperuman accepted for the same and hence anantha took avatar as Sri Ramanuja.

To show to everyone that emperuman has given both the vibhooti’s, he had under

the control of ethirajar, namperumal says the same in front of everyone when

ethirajar steps inside Srirangam and gives him the name “Udayavar”. So now it

is proved that Udayavar, Sri ethirajar has power to grant moksha to one and all.

One may think how it differs whether perumal has the control or ethirajar. The

difference lies in the qualities of both. Emperuman has nirangusa svatharyam

(unquestionable independence) and grace, so it depends on his wish to either

grant us moksha or not but emperumAnAr is filled with krupai alone and hence he

is capable to wash all our sins and grant moksha.

 

This has been excellently portrayed by Sri Periya Jeeyer swamy in arthi

prabhandam (26) as follows:

 

“thennarangar thamakkAmO? DEviyarkat kAmO?

SEnaiyarkOn mudalAna sooriyarkatkAmO?

Manniya sErmAran arulmAri thamakkAmO?

Mattrumulla dEsikargal thangalukkumAmO?

Ennudaiya pizhai porukka yAvarukku mudiyum?

EthirAsA! Vunakkanri yAn oruvark kAgEn

VunnarulAl enakku rusi thannaiyumundAkki

Olivisumbil adiyEnai orupaduththu virainthE.”

 

Meaning: Can Sriranganatha in Srirangam forgive my mistakes? Can the piratti’s

forgive them? Can senai mudaliyAr (vishvaksEnar) and all the nithya sooris

forgive? Can mAran (sadagopan) who is praised as arulmAri (ocean of grace)

forgive? Can any of the other acharyas forgive? Oh! No. My mistakes are

infinite and hence no one can ever forgive them other than our beloved

ethirAjar. On EthirAja! I cannot take refuge from anyone else other than you.

So please shower your divine grace on me and create a interest in me and take me

to the divine abode of emperuman and put me into the divine feet of bhagavan for

his nithya kainkaryam.

 

In this paasuram, mAmunigal says that Sriranganatha cannot forgive his mistakes

because he has to act equally to all and hence seeing his mistakes, perumal’s

svathantriyam will override his grace and prevent him from granting moksha to

this sinner. Due to the amount of sins committed by us even the devi’s who are

always filled with krupai turn their faces away from us. Similar is the case

with nammAzhvar or the nithyasooris but amidst all of them there is one sole

refuge for souls like us, filled with only sins, he is our emperumAnAr,

ethirajar who wipes out all our sins just by his sambhandam and takes us all to

the divine abode of perumal, Srivaikundam.

 

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Now, it is clear that ethirajar is capable of granting moksha. Then what about

the people who remained before the period of emperumAnAr. How did they get the

sambhandam (relationship)? Then are the other acharyas in the guru paramparai

not capable of taking us all to the divine abode of emperuman?

 

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Let us see in the next posting.

 

(To be continued)

 

Alwar EmperumAnAr jeeyar thiruvadigalE sharaNam

 

Adiyen Ramanuja dasyai

Sumithra Varadarajan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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