Ramanuja

Dear BhagavathAs,

after looking into the mail of Sriman Narasimhan
swamin about the enquiry of “Varadaraja Sthavam”
by Swamy KoorathAlwan, adiyEn had the thought of
that SlOkam. Actually it is one among the “Pancha
Sthavam” composed by Swamy KoorathAlwan. THe other
were:

1)Sri VaikunTa Sthavam on Sri Paramapada nAthan

2)Sri Sthavam on Sri Mahalakshmi PirAttiyAr

3)AthimAnusha Sthavam on VibhavAvatAram emperumAn

4)Sri Sundara bhAgu Sthavam on ThirumAlirun chOlai

Kalazhagar-archAvatAram

5)Sri VaradarAja Sthavam on Sri Hastigiri pErarulAlan

Sri Sundara bhAgu sthavam was composed by ALwan when
he was in ThirumAlirunchOlai after he lost his eye
sight due to the atrocity committed by the cruel
King Kirumikanda Chozhan-Sri Vaishnava thvEshi-.

After the return of Swamy EmperumAnAr from ThirunArA
yana puram, Swamy Ramanujar requested Alwan to compose
one Sthavam on behalf of Hastigiri pErarulAlan to get
back his sight again.

Instead Alwan requested PerarulAlan to grant mOksham
to NAlUrAn (his sishyA) who committed bhAgavatha
apachAram, since NaalUrAn is responsible for lost of
his AchAryan eyesight. Such is the greatness of Swamy
KooratAlwan!! Thats why AmudanAr says that “Its
difficult to explain the vaibhavam of Alwan in any
language” in Ramanusa NooTTrandhAthi.

The above five Sthavams are together known as “Pancha
Sthavam”. The greatness of these five were stated
by Sri ParAsara Bhattar in Swamy KooratAlwan’s
thaniyan as:

“SrivathsachinhamisrEbhyONama ukthim adheemahE

yadhukthyas-thrayeekaNDE yaanthi MangaLasoothrathAm”

Meaning:

KooratthAzvAn’s Sri Sookthis have attained the state of
ThirumAngalyam (auspicious thread worn by Sumangalis)
around the Vedha Maadha.We recite the word of Nama:for
the MahA PaNdithar,KurEsar with the same reverence as
we recite the sacred Veda manthrams.
————-

From the above thaniyan, inspite of ALwar Sri Sookthis,
other AchArya Sri Sookthis, IthihAsam such as Ramayanam
Mahabharatam, PurAnams such as Vishnu Puranam,etc.,
Only Swamy KooratAlwan Sri Sookthis have attained the
state of ThirumAngalayam to Vedha Maadha. Such is the
greatness of the Pancha Sthavams and the composer Swamy
kooratAlwan !!

His works has to be read by all SriVaishnavites which
is delicious and sweet to recite. While reciting Sri
Varadaraja Sthavam, the experince brings Hastigiri
PerarulAn in fronts one’s eye.

The following is the post from one group member regarding
Sri VanamAmalai OnnAna Jeeyar Swami. Adiyen would like
to share it with others..

— Varadarajan Sourirajan <varadarajan_tcs@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Srimathe Ramanujaya namaha
>   Srimad Vara Vara MunayE Namaha
>   Sri vAnAchala mahA munAyE Namaha
>   
>   Punarpoosam thirunakshtra significance
>   
>   Of all the twenty-seven Nakshatrams of the Tamil
> calendar, ¡§Punarpoosam¡¨ deserves a special
> mention.  This nakshatram boasts of the
> thiruavatAram of the following divinities:
>   Sri Chakravarthi Thirumagan (a) Sri Ramapiran
> Chittirai month
>   Sri Kulasekara Azhwar (a) Sri Kulasekarap perumal
> ¡V mAsi month
>   Sri Embar (a) Ramanuja padhachchAya ¡V thai month
>   Sri Mudaliyandan (a) Sri DAsarathi ¡V Chittirai
> month
>   Sri Vanamamalai onnAna JEEyar swamy (a) Sri
> Ponnadikal Jeeyar swamy ¡V purattAsi month
>   Sri kArapankAdu venkatAchariyar swamy (a)
> kArapankAdu swamy. ¡V panguni month.
>   
>   Significance of the title PonnadikAl Jeeyar
>   
>   Owing to the vicinity of the kanyA punarvasu or
> the PurattAsi punarpoosam which falls on 14th of
> October 2006, this posting aims to bring out the
> prabhAvam of Sri vAnamAmalai onnana Jeeyar swamy.
> The pseudonym ¡§Ponnadi-kAl Jeeyar¡¨ draws a
> distinctive attention.  It¡¦s only after the advent
> of this achArya, swamy manavAla mAmunikal¡¦s sishya
> sampath (Wealth of Sishyas), grew multifold and
> hence the name ¡§ponnadikAl¡¨ (meaning feet of
> gold).
>   Swamy rAmAnuja spread Srivaishnavism through 74 of
> his disciples called simhAsanAdhipathis. Likewise
> manavAla mAmunikal spread it through eight of his
> disciples called Ashta Diggajas. The first and
> foremost amongst them is Vanamamalai onnAna Jeeyar
> swamy who established innumerable Mutts, throughout
> India called thOthAdri/Vanamamalai mutts.
>   
>   Thiruvadi of Swamy manavAla mAmunikal
>   
>   When the devotees (adiyArs) go to any of the
> Srivaishnva temples, we have the practice of,
> archakAs placing the lotus feet of the lord (sri
> SatAri or sri satakOpam) on the heads of all the
> presents in the gOshti (Assembly of adiyArs).  This
> is how the relationship is established between the
> adiyArs and the archA moorthi of the emperuman in
> any divya desam.  Getting the thEErtha prasadam and
> sri satakOpam is the primary duty of any
> srivaishnava.  This holds good for all the azhwars
> and achAryas sannadhis. To elaborate,
>   
>   „«      emperuman¡¦s lotus feet  (thiruvadi nilai)
> is sri satakOpam (swamy nammAzhwAr)
>   „«      swamy nammazhwAr¡¦s thiruvadi nilai is
> swamy rAmAnuja
>   „«      swamy rAmAnuja¡¦s thiruvadi nilai is swamy
> mudaliyAndAn
>   „«      all other achAryAs (after swamy ramanuja)
> thiruvadi nilai is swamy manavAla mAmunikal.
>   „«      Swamy manavAla mAmunikal¡¦s thiruvadi
> nilai is swamy ponnadikAl jeeyar or swamy onnana
> vanamAmalai jeeyar commonly called as ponnadiyAm
> sengamalam.
>   (There are certain exceptions to the above, such
> as
>   ƒæ     swamy ramAnujA¡¦s thiruvadi nilai in
> thirumalai is swamy anandAzhwAn
>   ƒæ     swamy nammAzhwAr¡¦s thiruvadi nilai in
> azhwAr thirunagari is swamy madhura kavi azhwAr )
>   
>   Hence to get the sambandham (relationship) of
> swamy manavAla mAmunikal, ponnadikAl jeeyar swamy¡¦s
> importance becomes an unspoken niyamanam (rule).
>   
>   PonnadikAl Jeeyar swamy¡¦s association with Periya
> Jeeyar
>   PonnadikAl jeeyar swamy was very close to periya
> jeeyar (swamy manavAla mAmunikal). Swamy always
> wanted Vanamamalai Jeeyer to have all the fame and
> fortune he possessed.  Hence he blessed Vanamamalai
> swamy also with ashtadiggajAs similar to his great
> ashtadiggajAs.  Thereby, he appointed the following
> ashtadiggajAs to Vanamamalai swamy:
>   
>   mahAryar
>   saramapungavar
>   Suddha sathvam anna
>   appAchiyAr anna
>   rAmAnujam pillai
>   ghostipuraththayar
>   pallakkAl siththar
>   Jnana kan-AththAn.
>   
>    Then, Periya Jeeyer also allotted the appropriate
> kainkaryams to each one of them.  From then on,
> Vanamamalai ponnadikkAl swamy remained with great
> fame along with his ashtadiggajAs, as a krupApAthram
> of periya Jeeyer.  Periya Jeeyer also instructed
> mahAchAryar to compose a thaniyan on his acharya
> which would proclaim his acharya¡¦s greatness for
> ever.  Hearing such an order from periya Jeeyer,
> mahAryar concentrated on the divine qualities of his
> acharya and immersed himself in the ocean of his
> acharya¡¦s qualities and submitted the following to
> his acharya¡¦s divine feet:
>   
>    RamyajAmAtru yOgeendra pAdha rEkhA mayam sadhA
>   ThathAyath thAthma sadhdhAthim rAmAnuja munim
> bhajE
>   
>   Listening to the above, Periya Jeeyer was
> astonished.  He felt that the verse not only got out
> the greatness of Vanamamalai Jeeyer but it was also
> honey flowing to the ears of the listener and hence
> very admirable.
>   Pleased with the thaniyan told by mahAryar, Periya
> Jeeyer swamy ordered as follows:
>   
>   ¡§Like the ¡§SrisailEsa dayApAthram¡¨ thaniyan,
> which was submitted by periya perumal himself in the
> garuda mandapam with three kandams, this thaniyan
> should also be regarded equally important and should
> be recited by all Srivaishnavas.  Like starting with
> ¡§pallandu pallandu¡¨ and ending with
> ¡§appAnjasanniyamum pallAndE¡¨ considering the first
> and second paasurams of thirupallandu to be like a
> single paasuram and recited together; and like the
> varaha charam slokam which has two parts
> (padhyadvayam) but still considered as a single
> mantram; and like the mantra ratnam, which though
> considered as a single mahA mantra rahasyam, still
> has two parts detailing about the angam and angi;
> and like the ¡¥Hari¡¦ padham which has 2 aksharas;
> Consider ¡§SrisailEsa¡¨ thaniyan and ¡§ramya
> jAmAthru yOgeendra¡¨ thaniyan to be connected to
> each other and to have equal importance.¡¨
>   
>   
>   Greatness of vAnamAmalai jeeyer swamy
>   Swamy was responsible for acting as purushakaram
> (recommendation) for annan and others to surrender
> to the divine feet of Sri Periya Jeeyer and also
> accepted a few of them as his shisyas as per the
> order of Sri Periya Jeeyer.
>   Swamy was responsible to bring appillai and
> appullAr to the divine feet of Sri Periya Jeeyer
> swamy.  First swamy convinced periya jeeyer to
> accept them as his disciples and then he went to the
> banks of kaveri and along with the help of
> erumbiappa, swamy brought both appillai and appullAr
> to the divine feet of Periya Jeeyer and made them
> the two among the ashtadiggajas of Sri Mamunikal.
>   Sri Periya Jeeyer himself used to praise and call
> Swamy as ¡§PonnadikkAl Jeeyer¡¨. Periya Jeeyer
> considered swamy his very close disciple and also an
> atma bandhu and also wanted vanamamalai swamy to get
> all the pleasure and treasure he obtained. And hence
> made swamy sit in his seat and presented his
> thirukkai Azhvars in the hands of vanamamalai swamy
> and asked him to do samAsrayanam just like him. Then
> Periya Jeeyer appointed ashtadiggajas for
> vanamAmalai Jeeyer swamy just like his own
> ashtadiggajas.
>   
>   Further Periya Jeeyer sent vanamamalai swamy to
> tour in the northern states as his representative
> and fulfill his wish to uplift all jeevatmas over
> there and bring them to our sampradayam by giving
> them ramanuja sambhandam through samAsrayanam.
> During his last days, Periya Jeeyer instructed his
> upadandam, thiruvAzhimOdhiram and thiruvadinilai of
> his own acharya thiruvAimozhi pillai to be given to
> vanamamalai Jeeyer, though swamy was not near periya
> Jeeyer at the time when periya jeeyer attained
> paramapadam.  Periya Jeeyer had his special grace on
> vanamamalai swamy.
>   
>   Vanamamalai swamy also was blessed specially by
> Periya perumal, and that is why he gifted him the
> aranganagarappan and himself went with him to
> vanamamalai.  There is no need to say that
> vanamamalai perumal, who have got his divine
> consort, srivaramangai nAchiyar as kannikAdAnam from
> swamy had his special wishes for swamy and that is
> why he gave all the responsibilities of the
> deivanAyakan sannadhi kainkaryams to swamy himself.
> Next thiruvEnkatamudaiyan, showed the greatness of
> swamy and his acharya bhakthi in the dream of
> thiruvEnkata periya kElvi Jeeyer and thus showed his
> love for Vanamamalai Jeeyer.  And nAchiyar in
> thirumalai accepting swamy as her father shows
> largely the great mahimai of PonnadikkAl Jeeyer
> swamy.
>   
>    With the blessings of all the perumals swamy did
> a lot of kainkaryam in the deivanAyakan sannadhi,
> thirukkurungudi nambi sannadhi and also in spreading our ramAnuja darshanam
all over India .