ManavAla mAmuniyE ennum oru nootrAndu erum!!!

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Sri Parthasarathi thunai

Srimathe rAmAnujAya Namaha

Sri Vara Vara MunayE Namaha

Sri vAnAchala mahA MunayE Namaha

 

SrisailEsa dayA pAthram deebhakthyAdhi gunArnavam

Yateendra pravanam vandhE ramya jAmataram munim

 

Dear Bhagavatas,

 

Today (Feb.28 2003 mAsi dvAdasi) is the thiruvadhyayana dhinam of Sri Periya

Jeeyer, Sri ManavAla Mamunigal (the day in which the great acharya attained

paramapadam). There are some important responsibilities for any shisya. The

shisya has to act according to the words of the acharya, recite the thaniyan of

the acharya regularly and should spread the greatness of his acharya throughout

the world. On top of all these he should celebrate the thirunakshatram and

thiruvadhyayanam of his acharya.

 

Sri Periya Jeeyer is not only an acharya to all the mandha bhuddhi (dull headed)

jeevAtmas but he is an acharya to the lord himself. Lord ranganatha (Periya

perumal) considered to be the head and representative of all the archa moorthis

in the various divya desams decided to become a shisya and hence choose the

great acharya Periya Jeeyer to be his acharya and listened to the bhagavat

vishaya kalashepam for a year from the divine mouth of Sri Manavala mAmunigal.

On the last day, the lord honored the acharya with the SrisailEsa dhaniyan. Did

he stop with it? No. The responsibility of the shisya will not end with that.

So even today Sri ranganatha remembers the thiruadhyayana dhinam of his acharya

and fulfils the responsibilities of the shisya. On this day, the lord accepts

the acharya prasadams and refrains from having beetle leafs. The lord has never

stepped down from his responsibilities. Do we all follow him? Wherever we are

whatever we do, let us show our small regard for the revered acharya at least by

thinking of his greatness and doing mangalAsAsanams to the acharya saying,

“adiyArgal vAzha aranga nagar vAzha sadakOpan than thamizh nool vAzha, kadal

soozhiNdha mannulagam vAzha manavAla mAmuniyE ennum oru nootrAndu erum”.

 

Is there any other religion in this world, which prays for the welfare of all

like this? Only we, srivaishnavas pray for the welfare of the whole world

daily-kadal soozhiNdha mannulagam vAzha. A muslim says only a musalman reaches

the lord and a Christian says only a person who converts himself to Christianity

reaches the loka pitha, then what will happen to all others? Can a father (lOka

pitha) ignore some of his kids and be partial to others? There is no answer for

this with them. But we srivaishnavas have answer to everything. Because we

have a great lineage of acharyas who have made logical analysis with the help of

the vedas and of course bhagavat krupai and has given the answers for any

question in this world. When we are unable to answer to some questions just

don’t forget that it is due to our ignorance and nothing else. Try to go

through our alwar acharya works and you are sure to find answers to any of your

doubts. Is it not our responsibility to celebrate and honor such great alwars

and acharyas? If not possible daily let us try to show our regards at least on

the thirunakshatram days and the thiruvadhyayana dhinams of the acharyas.

 

Let us now see some incidents in the life history of the great Sri Manavala

mAmunigal.

 

1. One day one of the bhattars in Srirangam temple prostrated Sri Periya jeeyer

and said, “Your disciples do not regard me with respect but instead they ignore

me”. Jeeyer returned back to the mutt and enquired about the same while the

disciples told Jeeyer about the misdeeds of the bhattar and hence said, “Due to

the lack of athma gunams in that bhattar we are unable to honor him” Listening

to this mAmunigal politely replied, if that is the case then consider perumal

and piratti to be seated on the divya simhAsanam and prostrate him. In this way

swamy remained with great vaishnava lakshana where he saw goodness in everyone

and remained with great pradhipathi towards emperuman and his adiyars.

 

2. Two Srivaishnavas due to ego and pride argued with each other in front of Sri

Periya Jeeyer. Jeeyer kept quiet. At the same time two dogs quarreled between

each other. Immediately Jeeyer told to the dogs, “Are you two also well versed

in Srivachana bhooshanam to have so much ego and pride to quarrel between each

other?” Listening to this the srivaishnavas where embarrassed and they realized

their mistake. In this way, Swamy had a special talent to overcome the bad

qualities of his disciples and correct them.

 

3. One very old lady, one night wanted to stay in the mutt. But swamy very

strictly ordered her to leave saying, “kizhattu anilAgilum maramEra vallathanrO?

(Even if it is an old squirrel is it not still capable of climbing a tree?) Is

it not enough for people to blame and talk about us in a wrong manner?” In this

way swamy was very cautious and never slipped even a bit.

 

4. One day a srivaishnava got a special type of greens (tudhulang keerai) and

gave to the lady responsible for cutting the vegetables for the prasadam

prepared for mamunigal. But the lady just ignored the same. Coming to know

about this mAmunigal ordered the lady to leave and not to do the service for 6

more months. Further he told her to beg pardon to the srivaishna for the

apacharam done. Such was the bhagavatas abhimAnam of the great acharya.

 

There are so many such instances in the life history of Sri Periya Jeeyer, which

will teach us how we as an srivaishnava should actually be. His whole history

is a lesson to us in a simplified fashion. The above incidents have been quoted

from Sri pillilOkAm Jeeyer’s Yatheendra pravana prabhAvam. To know more adiyen

requests each one of you to get hold of this excellent book and go through the

same. We spent on many things for our day-to-day needs but spending on such

books is a treasure for all our future generations. Let us not leave our next

generations in darkness. Let us give them such great treasures and light their

lives.

 

Alwar EmperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharanam

Adiyen rAmAnuja dAsee

Sumithra Varadarajan

 

 

 

 

 

 

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