sri manavala mamunigal

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Sri Manavala Mamunigal

Sri ManavALa Maamunigal revered also under the names of Sri Vara Vara Munni,

YathIndhra pravaNar is one of the greatest Sri ViashNavite AchAryAs. He was born

in the village of Kidaram in the year 1370 AD and ascended paramapadham in the

year 1443 AD. He has blessed us with 19 granthams. Three of them are in

Sanskrit. The rest are in Tamil and ManipravALam. The three works in Sanskrit

are: YathirAja Vimsathi, Sri DevarAja mangalam and Sri Kaanchi DevapperumAL

SthOthram. His ninteen granthams can be classified under three major categories:

(A) VyAkyAna Granthams or commentaries on the works of earlier AchAryAs like Sri

PiLLai Lokaachaar, PeriyavaacchAN PiLLai and Thiruvarangatthu Amudanaar. These

eight VyAkhyAna granthams are:

1. Sri Vachana BhUshaNam

2. Mumukshuppadi

3. Tattvathrayam

4. AchArya Hrudhayam

5. Jn~Ana Saaram

6. PramEya Saaram

7. PeriyAzhwAr Thirumozhi

8. RaamAnuja NooRRanthAdhi

(B) Three granthams known as PramANa Thirattu are:

1. Eedu

2. Sri Vachana BhUshaNam

3. Tattvathrayam

© His Own Granthams in Sanskrit (3) and Tamil (5) add up

to the remaining Eight :

1. UpadEsa Rathna Maalai

2. ThiruvAimozhi NooRRanthAdhi

3. Iyalc ChaaRRu

4. ThiruvArAdhana Kramam

5. YathirAja Vimsathi

6. DevarAja MangaLam

7. Sri Kanchi DevapperumAL SthOthram

8. Aaarthi Prabhandham, his last grantham .

 

 

He lived for 73 years on this earth performing many Kaimkaryams and undertook

many pilgrimages to many Sri VishNavite Dhivya dEsams. Most of his life was

spent however at Srirangam. The work known as " YathIndhra pravaNa PrabhAvam "

records the life and accomplishments of this important AchAryA.

His devotion to AchArya RaamAnujA, Swami NammAzhwAr and NammperumAL was

extraordinary. He spent a significant portion of his life at Srirangam

worshipping Sri Ranganaathan and peforming KaalakshEpams on AzhwAr-AchAryAL

aruLiccheyalkaL.

When he was 60, Sri RanganAthA wanted to honor Sri ManavALa Maamunigal for all

his kaimkaryams in spreading the message of NaalAyira Dhivya prabhandham. He

commanded Sri MM to conduct an year long lecture series on SatAri Soori's

ThiruvAimozhi at Srirangam in His presence. All the regular uthsavams for the

Lord of Srirangam was cancelled that year, while He heard the pravachanams on

ThiruvAimozhi based on all the five commentaries starting from aRAyirappadi. At

the conclusion of these pravachanams, a small boy with dhivys tEjas came from

the back of the sadas and sang a verse that has come to be known as the Taniyan

for Sri MaNavALa MaamunigaL:

srIsailEsa dayaapaatram dhIbhakthyAdhi guNArNavam

YathIndhra pravaNam VandhE RamyajAmAtharam munim

The audience and Sri MM were wonderstruck after the small boy disappeared as

fast as he came on the scene. Later, through His archakAs, Sri RanganAthA

revealed that it was He who appeared as a boy to pronounce the famous Taniyan

for Sri ManavALa Maamunigal, who is considered as a reincarnation of AchArya

RaamAnujA. Earlier at Thirukkurungudi, the Lord had appeared before RaamAnujA

and requested for UpadEsams on rahasyArhtams and took on the name of Sri

VaishNava Nambi as a result of these upadEsams.

 

 

 

 

Thanian of Sri Manavala Mamunigal (Invocatory verse)

by Sri Sri U.Ve Velukkudi Krishnan Swami

 

It is known to one and all that the above srisukti was submitted to the feet of

Swami MM by none other than Lord Ranganatha. Namperumal wanted to hear

tiruvoimozhi kalakshepam from Swamy MM. He conducted kalakshepam of tiruvoimozhi

starting on the paritapi year 31st day of avani sukla caturdasi friday. It

continued for 1 year and the sattumurai was on aani moolam. For this one year

all the utsavams of namperumal were stopped. During the sattumurai, namperumal

appeared as a 5 year old archaka boy and recited this sloka in praise of his

acharyan i.e. MM. Why did he choose MM as his acharyan.

 

Here is an interesting logic.During Ramavatara Viswamitra was Rama's guru who

teached mantras. But was he the right guru for such a great being like Rama ?

No. He himself was a person who fell prey to kama and krodha. We know that he

became the father

of Sakuntala and in another instance he even forgot his nitya anushthana. So

Rama was not fortunate enough to get a right guru who would be apt for his

prabhavam. Rama waited till the next avatara.

 

Saandipana was Krishna's guru. When the vidyabhyasa was over , Krishna wanted to

give guru dakshina anything that his guru wanted. Initially, saandipana refused

to accept anything. When Krishna insisted, he consulted his wife and kept a

request to Krishna. To search and bring back his lost son. (odu

vaimayumuvaniyarpirappum unakku mun tanda anthanan oruvan - kaadal en magan

pugalidam kanen - kandu nee taruvai - kodil vaymayinan). Krishna even though

fulfilled the wish of his guru, was sad. Why ? Would it not be fitting for a

guru to request Krishna for moksham and kainkarya. Leaving that he requested for

a wordly pleasure - son. So, krishna had to again wait till his next avatara.

 

Lord Ranganatha is the representative of Rama and Krishna. Thondaradippodi alwar

in his tirumalai first says " silayinal ilangai setra devane devanavan " then

adds " kattrinam meytha endai kazhalinai panimineere " .When we said to alwar that

both are not possible because Rama and Krishna belong to a different yuga and we

are in Kali yuga , alwar gives the solution " kaattinan tiruvarangam uypavarkku

uyyum vannam " . So Ranganatha is undoubtedly the representative of Rama and

Krishna.Ranganatha decided not to miss the bus atleast in this avatara - i.e. to

have a guru commensurate with his own mahima.

 

Thus, he selected MM as his guru. This is evident from the taniyaan that

Ranganatha has submitted to the lotus feet of Swami MM. Srimannarayana is the

prathamacharya in our sampradaya. MM is the acharya for the prathamacharya.

Everyone prostrates before the Lord and say Namaha or vande.

 

The Lord himself is uttering " vande " towards MM here. Such is the greatness of

MM in our sampradaya.Both the acharya and sishya stand out for their beauty

(handsome). Sisya is azhagiya manavalan. Acharya is azhagiya manavala

muni.Srisailesa dayapatram is praised as the mantra, stotram and pranamam

recited of Ranganatha. I will write as to how it is a mantra ( as told by our

poorvacharyas) and how it is held in high esteem than tirumantram.

 

The word mantra means :

 

1. " mantAram trAyata iti mantra: " - 'that which protects one who chants or

thinks about it.' i.e. we keep tirumandiram in our nitya anusandhanam and it

protects us. Even the Lord himself is called as Mantra: . Tirumangai alwar in

his tirunedunthandakam : " andanar mattu andi vaitha mandirathai mandirathal

maravadu enrum vazhdiyel vazhalam mada nenjame. " andanar - brahmin, madu -

wealth (vedas are the wealth of brahmins-brahmanAnAm dhanam veda:) andi -

vedantam. andi vaitha mandiram - bhagavan. mandirathal -

tirumandirathal vazhthavendum. In this song both bhagavan and tirumandiram are

called as mantram by alwar - as both of them protect anyone who thinks about

them. In sahasranama also we come across " mantra: candrAmsu: bhaskaradyuti: "

 

2. Mantra also means " matri guptabhashaNe " - that which is a rahashya. Of course

we know, tirumandiram is the first of the rahasya.Now, Pillai lokam jeer and

other poorvacharyas establish that Srisailesa mantram qualifies/excels in both

these meanings. The similarities are :

 

1. Tirumantram and Srisailesa mantram are both told by Srimannarayana himself.

 

2. Both would protect one who chants them. The Lord protects us. Everyone

prostrate before the Lord.

 

If he in turn says " ramyajamataram munim vande " , it is clear that he shows us

the feet of MM for our protection. Lord's upadesa is to salute Himself in

tirumantram. But his anushtana is not so in Srisailesa mantram. He salutes MM.

Will the world give weightage to upadesa

or anushtAna ? (preaching or conduct). Obviously anushtana. Thus, Srisailesa

mantram protects even the protector himself.

 

3. Pranavam, the first word of tirumantram is recited before and after vedas it

is also said omkara prabhava veda:. Srisailesa mantram is recited before and

after the tamil vedas.

 

4. Om connotes seshatvam of the jIva i.e. jIvAtmA's servitude towards the Lord.

akArArthO vishnu: ... makArArthO jIva:. Om says that jIvAtma who is said by 'ma'

is the servant to the paramAtma who is said by 'a'. In each phrase of Srisailesa

mantra this meaning (seshatvam) is found. Let us see how it is:

 

SrisailEsa dayapatram - SrisailEsa = Lord Srinivasa = 'a'. dayApAtram - one who

is bestowed with His kripa = jIva = 'ma'. So 'ma' is the servant of 'a'.

SrisailEsa would actually mean tiruvoimozhi pillai. Even in this case acharya is

none other the Lord himself " sAkshAt nArAyanO deva:... " . So he can also be

denoted by 'a'

 

dhIbhaktyAdi gunArnavam - wisdom and devotion. In our sampradAya - jnAna would

in fact mean seshatva jnAna only. Devotion would also come to a servant only. So

both these denote seshatvam.

 

yatIndra pravanam - Who is a yatIndra ? one who unites the jIvatma with the

paramAtma with his upadesa = a bhagavata or an acharya. pravanam - servitude to

a bhagavata or an acharya. A person is acclaimed as a servant to the Lord only

if he is a servant to a bhagavata. bhagavatseshatvam is fulfilled only if he is

a bhAgavata sesha. This is the inner meaning of om. So this also connotes

seshatvam.

 

ramyajAmAtaram munim - ramyajAmAta = azhagiya manavalan = ranganatha = 'a'. muni

= one who meditates (mananam karoti iti muni:)= jIva = 'ma'. So one who always

thinks about ranganatha as his Lord is His sesha. This phrase also denotes

seshatvam.

 

Since all the four parts of SrisailEsa mantram explains the meaning of Om , this

is praised as a mantram.SrisailEsa mantram is not only equal to tirumantram. In

fact it excels. tirumantram is a rahasya. But since it is a part of veda - any

one who has the right to chant veda can chant tirumantram. He may be a karma or

jnAna or bhakti yogi. Hence in the true sense it is not a rahasya. But is that

the case with SrisailEsa mantra? No. Only prapannAs chant this. So this truly is

the rahasya. Moreover the Lord first propounded tirumantram. Realising its

limitations, later on brought out SrisailEsa mantram in his anushtanam.

 

After all these, will anyone have a doubt that SrisailEsa dayapatram is THE

MANTRAM. Let us all chant on Ippasi moolam the greatness of MM - acharya of the

prathamacharya.

 

 

Sri:

Upadesa Ratnamalai (An Overview)

by Sri U.Ve .Oppilaippan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan

 

 

Structure and Content of Updesa Ratnamalai:

 

There are 73 paasurams and one Taniyan in URM.The individual paasurams fall into

Six distinctcategories (A-F) :

 

A)Paasurams (1-3): Introductory remarks

 

In the first paasuram , MM declares that he is performing upadesam for the

future generations in strict accordance with the upadesam that he himself

received from his Achaaryan, Thiruvaaimozhip piLLai and his AchArya

paramparai.In the second paasuram , he comments about the potential impact of

his URM on two categories of people . He says that the learned ones of

discriminating intellect will study URM and instruct other devotees of the Lord

on it with joy. The other category will reject his prabhandham out of jealousy

and no harm will come to him because of their rejection of his sadhupadesam .In

the third paausram , MM performs MangaLAsAsanam for the AzhwArs and AchAryAs ,

their Sri Sookthis and says pallANdu to them along with the VedAs , whose

essence they represented .

 

(B)Azhwar-AchAryAL birth details (Months/Stars/Places of Birth)

 

MM devoted 35 Paasurams to cover the details regarding the month of the birth,

the constellation in ascendance at the time of birth , the avathAra sthalams and

the unique glories of each of them ( paasurams 4 to 38). For some AzhwArs, he

devoted one paasuram (e.g)., ThiruppANar , Thirumazhisai , ThoNdaradippodi and

KulasEkarar . For NammAzhwAr , Madhura Kavi and Thirumangai , he dedicated two

paasurams . ANDAL and

EmperumAnAr received three paasurams and PeriyAzhwar had the unique distinction

of being saluted with five paasurams . The details on the affectionate tributes

by MM are covered in detail in his home pages .

 

C. The Glories of the Commentators on AruLiccheyalkaL (34-50)

 

MM's salutation starts with a tribute to Naatha Muni, who restored Dhivya

prabhandhams to circulation with the anugraham of Swamy NammAzhwAr. He continues

with his salutation to EmperumAnAr , the krupAmAthra pradannAchAryar,and thanks

him for his exquisite help in spreading the messeage of ThiruvAimozhi through

the niyamanam to Thirukkurhai PirAn PiLLAn to write his scholastic commentary on

it. next, MMexpresses his gratitude to the five renowned commentators on

ThiruvAimozhi: Thirukkuruhai PirAn PiLLAn , Namjeeyar , PeriyavAcchAn PiLLai,

Vadakku Thiruveethi PiLLai and Vaadhi Kesari Azhagiya MaNavALa Jeeyar .MM also

refers to the blessings of Azhagiya MaNavALa PerumAL NaayanAr, the brother of

Sri PiLLai LokAcchAr through his commnetarieson ThiruppAvai, AmalanAdh PirAn ,

KaNNInuNN SirutthAmpu and ThiruvAimozhi of Swamy NammAzhwar (AchAryaHrudhayam ).

 

D. Tributes to Sri PiLLai LokAcchAr and His Rahasya Granthams(51-70)

 

Among the 18 Rahasya granthams of PiLLai LokAcchAr , MM focuses on Sri Vachana

BhUshaNam(SVB) as a dhivya saasthram and points out that it is " SaangAkhila

Dhramida-samskrutha roopa Ved SaarArtha sangraha mahArasa Vaakhya jaatham ( the

essence of the Sanskritic VedAs and their six angAs in Tamil).He instructs

us that the understanding of the deep meanings of SVB through a sadAchAryan and

conducting one's life according to those percepts would be the best of

blessings that can come one's way.

 

From paasurams 60-70, MM elaborates on the key messages of SVB. Some of these

messages are: (1) Those without AchArya Bhakthi will not enter Sri Vaikuntam (2)

A sishyan, who fully understands theimmensity of his AchArya upakAram will not

live away from his AchAryA's sacred feet ; here , MM points out the importance

of AchArya kaimkaryam(3) AchAryan will protect the Aathma SvaruPam of his

sishyan and latter in turn will tend with devotion the deha samrakshaNam of his

AchAryan .The importance of nithya kaimkaryam at the feet of one's AchAryan is

emphasized here and the example of the devoted service of Pinpazhakiya Jeeyar's

kaimkaryam to his AchAryan, nampiLLai is cited here.(4) the pursuit of the

anushtAnams as established by poorvAchAryALs is emphasized instead of following

noothana VishNavam . MM states that the spiritual growth should be through

climbing the steps of the ladder of anushtAnam established by PoorvAchAryALs (5)

AasthikAs following the true way shown by our AchAryAls are the only ones for us

to follow (6)sathsangam is the most important cause for the enhancement of our

Aathma guNams.

 

E and F : Upadesa Nigamanam and Phala sruthi (71-73)

 

In paasuram 71, MM condemns the pseudo scholars , who twist the meanings of SVB

according to their own will as Moorkkars and instructs us to stay away from them

.. In the 72nd paasuram , MM gives us the Upadesam that those who seek a

sadAchArya and follow the golden way shown by the SadAchArya paramparai will get

rid of the afflictions of samsAram and for them even this earth will be like Sri

Vaikuntham .He paraphrases NammazhwAr's Sri Sookthi: " ippatthum Uraikka

VallArkku VaikunthamAhum tammUrellaam " .In the concluding Seventy third paasuram

, MM invites us to study and reflect on the upadesams housed in this prabhndham

and informs us that such an effort will grant us the parama krupai of

EmperumAnAr without fail.

 

The 74th Paasuram of URM

 

MM had the intention of creating 74 paasurams for URM as a measure of his

respect for the anugraham of AchArya RaamAnujA in appointing 74

simhAsanAdhipathis to grow " EmperumAnAr darsanam " . At hat time one great

AchAryan , who had revered MM as " the NadamAdum Dhaivam " composed a paasuram

known as " MannuyirkaL inkE MaNavALa Maamunivan " and begged Lord RanganAthA to

include this paasuram along with the 73 composed until then by MM and as a

result of Bhagavaan " s niyamanam (Command ), the above paasuram was included as

the 74th paasuram of URM for our daily recitation . This paasuram addresses the

Mumkshus ( those desiring Moksham ) and states: " Oh Mumkshu ChethanAs ! If you

hold on to the lotus feet of MM on your heads during your earthly stay as your

sole refuge , You are assured in being blessed with the sparsam (touch) of the

hand of amAnavan , as a prerequisite to your entrance in to Sri Vaikuntam .

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