Sri Periya Jeeyer's Arthi prabhandham-11

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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

 

Sri Pillai perumal iyyengAr was a great ranganatha bhaktha. He lived in a

village very near to Srirangam. He was working as an accountant under a

landlord. On an occasion of ranganAtha rathOstavam pillai requested the

landlord to grant him a days leave so that he can go and have darshan of Sri

Ranganatha on the divine ratham. But the landlord refused saying that there

were lot of accounts work pending, to be done. Pillai had no other go than to

do his work but his mind circled around the beauty of ranganatha and how by this

time he would have got into the divine ratham. At that time suddenly, Pillai

uttered “Oh! Oh!” and crumbled his shoulder cloth (uttareevam) and threw it

aside. The landlord couldn’t understand the meaning of pillai’s gesture but

didn’t care much to enquire about it and just ignored it.

 

The next day some villagers who have gone to Srirangam, came to the landlord and

said, “Your accountant is a very good man. He only put off the fire, which

caught the divine ratham of ranganatha yesterday. We all saw him over there in

Srirangam.” Now the landlord understood the reason for pillai’s gesture and he

realized his mistake. He told Pillai, “I have considered you as my servant and

made a great mistake. You are really a great bhaktha. So what should I do for

you now?” Pillai replied, “I want to stay in Srirangam itself and be near

rangan always. So it will be nice if you could make arrangements for me to get

a little prasadam from the temple daily”. Such was the deep devotion of pillai

perumal iyyangar. Though he was not physically present in srirangam still he

remained there due to his mental meditation. Pillai was in the nearby village

but we are all very far off. But the distance never matters, only the mental

devotion matters. Sri Pillai perumal Iyyangar has made excellent prabhandams,

with great devotion towards the lord that is collectively called as “Ashta

prabhandams”.

 

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Due to perumal’s nirheduka krupa we have got a good place to stay and spend our

time in a useful way till we live in this world. But what do the Srivaishnavas

eat to sustain their body?

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Many people in this world live to eat. They are always worried about their body

and even when they meet others they only talk about eating and about different

varieties of food. But does the food we take in our body stay inside more than

a few hours? Whatever we eat is only to sustain this body in good health. So

Srivaishnavas never consider eating alone as life. They are happy with what

little prasadam perumal grants them each day.

 

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But they do have a tonic, which keeps them healthier than a person who takes

care of his body day in and day out without anyother thought. What is the tonic

for the Srivaishnavas?

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Sri Periya Jeeyer says the tonic to us as, “MARAN KALAIYE VUNAVAGAP PETTROM”.

NammAzhvar considered kannan as food, water and everything. “vunnum sOru,

parugu neer, thinnum vettrilai ellAm kannan” One may interpret this as, eat

whatever you want and drink different type of drinks and enjoy and consider all

of them to be kannan. But that is not what which is behind the minds of our

saTakOpar. He never ate anything or drank anything. He just meditated on

kannan and thereby his hunger and thirst were quenched. Similarly for we

srivaishnavas the divine work of nammAzhvar (mAran kalai, the thiruvAimozhi) is

the food, the tonic to make us all healthy and involved in the divine kainkaryam

of emperuman always with great enthusiasm.

 

Sri manavAla mAmunigal doesn’t just stop with advices but has put all his words

in actual practice. While defining a good acharya mAmunigal says, “jnAnam

anuttAnamivai nandrAgavE udaiya guru”. He says an acharya is one who not only

has the intelligence but also puts whatever he says to practice. Mamunigal is

one such acharya who put everything he said to practice. Here he says, the food

for Srivaishnavas is the work of nammazhvar. Mamunigal really lived almost his

whole life in doing kalashepams on the divine work, thiruvAimozhi and is praised

as ettuperukkar (one who spreads the Edu, the commentary on thiruvAimozhi by

vadakku thiruveedhi pillai). The love Sri Periya Jeeyer had for nammAzhvAr and

his work is enormous and that is why even ranganatha wanted to hear the

commentaries on thiruvAimozhi from the mouth of yatheendra pravanar, Sri

Mamunigal.

 

Sri Manavala mAmunigal also wrote an excellent commentary to the divine sutras

of “Acharya hrudhayam” a book written by Sri Azhagiya manavala perumal nAyanar,

the younger brother of Sri pillai lOkAcharya. This book totally gives the

essence of the dravida vEdam, the thiruvAimozhi and how it is to be considered

as the essence of sAma vEdam. All the divine arthas of thiruvAimozhi have been

given in the form of sutras by nAyanar in his divine work. Mamunigal did this

vyakhyanam in a very old age. He was even unable to write at that time still he

didn’t stop this kainkaryam. While the shisyas asked why he was troubling

himself so much swamy replied, “This kainkaryam of mine will be useful for the

future generations to understand these difficult sutras. Kainkaryam is part of

all Srivaishnavas which should continue in some form or the other till his last

breath”. Such was the dedication of swamy to the poorvAcharya works and in the

upliftment of we jeevatmas.

 

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Now that we have gained good strength after taking the tonic what should we do

next. Let see what mAmunigal says in the next posting.

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(To Be Continued)

 

Alwar EmperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharanam

 

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasyai

Sumithra Varadarajan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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