Ramanuja

Dear BhAgavathAs,

adiyEn want to remember the great sishyA of emperumAnAr, Sri ArulAlapperumAl EmperumAnAr on the account of his thiruavathAra nakshatram on Karthigai, Bharani - 3^rd Dec. He is one of the important sishyA of emperumAnAr. While allotting different kainkaryams to different sishyAs, emperumAnAr allotted performing thiruvArAdhanam to his thiruvAradhana perumAl-Sri pErarulAlan to Sri ArulAlapperumAl EmperumAnAr. That was his greatness.

We know that, ArulAlapperumAl EmperumAnAr was an advaita sanyasi with the name-yajNya mUrthi, and he wants to debate with Swami EmperumAnAr. They agreed to debate for 18 days and both came to an agreement that if one fails to win, then what should be done on that side. YajNya mUrthi agreed that, he will enter into Swami EmperumAnAr’s siddhAntham and will change his name to Swami EmperumAnAr’s name if he fails to win. Similarly Swami EmperumAnAr agreed that, he wont touch grantham – Grantha SanyAsam – if he fails to win in the debate.

Till the 16^th day, there was no result of winning on either side. On 17^th day, yajNya mUrthi became stronger in his debate and appeared that he would win. On the same day, Swami EmperumAnAr returned to his SrimaTam with extreme grief and poured his feelings to thiruvAradhana perumAl pErarulAlan. The next day, Swami EmperumAnAr while entering into the debate hall, by seeing Swami’s majestic appearance, yajNya mUrthi surrendered in the lotus feet of EmperumAnAr.

With the help of tips given by pErarulAlan in Swami’s swapnam, Swami defeated the mAyAvAdha siddhAntham. Since Swami defeated yajNya mUrthi in the debate, according to the agreement, yajNya mUrthi had to enter into our Swami EmperumAnAr’s siddhAntham by changing his name into EmperumAnAr’s name. But Swami realized the help of PerarulAlan, without HIM it won’t be possible for Swami to defeat yajNya mUrthi. Also in swapnam, pErarulAlan said that, “Oh! IlaiyAzhweer, Don’t worry. I had brought you a sishyA who is on par with you in all aspects”. Hence EmperumAnAr gave the new name to yajNya mUrthi as “ArulAlapperumAl”, then Swami according to the agreement added his name which results in “ArulAlapperumAl EmperumAnAr”. After became the sishyA of EmperumAnAr, ArulAlapperumAl EmperumAnAr performed nithya kainkaryam to his AchAryar Ramanujar. He was one of the gift to our sampradhAyam given by pErarulAlan – Varadha PrasAdham. Again pErarulAlan proved that “HE IS VARADHAN” - - dhEvarAja! dhayAsindHO! dhEva dhEva! JagathpadhE!

yatirAja dayApAtram yatipankti viBUSaNam |
dayApAla munim vandE desikAgrE saram saDA ||

Dear BhAgavathAs,

Sri NampiLLai’s thiruavathAra uTsavams is going to be celebrated on 4^th-Dec the same day of Thirumangai Azhwar’s thiruavathAra day. Vadakkuth-th-thiruveedhi piLLai is one of great sishyA of Sri NampiLLai.

When Vadakkuth-th-thiruveedhi piLLai was doing nithya kainkaryam to the lotus feet of his achAryar Sri NampiLLai, his mother named Ammi complained to Sri NampiLLai that, her son is not interested in gruhasta life and appealed Sri NampiLLai to advice him, so that his gn~Anam would be transferred to his descendents. Sri NampiLLai ordered Ammi to bring Vadakkuth-th-thiruveedhi piLLai and blessed him to enter into gruhasta life. Through achArya’s bless, Vadakkuth-th-thiruveedhi piLLai presented a santhAnam to Sri Vaishnava sampradhAyam named Sri PiLLai lOkAchAryar.

Sri piLLai lOkAchAryar was born to Vadakkuth-th-thiruveedhi piLLai through the bless from NambUr VaradhAchAryar alais Sri NampiLLai. This is AchAryar Varadha PrasAdham. Another Varadha PrasAdham is by Lord PerarulAlan himself. We know, PiLLai lOkAchAryar is amsam of Kanchi PerarulAlan. Hence PiLLai lOkAchAryar is said to be “Varadha Dwaya PrasAdham”

One Varadhar – NambUr VardhAchAryar (Carama parva AchAryan)

Another Varadhar – Kaanchi VaradharAja perumAl (Pradhama parva AchAryan)

So, Lord DevaperumAl at thiru-k-kachchi is said to be PerarulAlan as HE is famous for HIS boons showered to our SampradhAyam and to HIS adiyArs - “arTithArTa paridhAna dhIkshithan”

“dhEvAdhi dhEvanai chenRU nAm sEvithAl

AvAvendru ArAinthu arul”

Dear BhAgavathAs,

adiyEn after looking into the Sri Ramanuja Journal Issue 2 Volume 2, the avatAra day of Eyunni mAdhavap perumAl, disciple of Swami NampiLLai falls on the same day of ArulAlapperumAl EmperumAnAr thiruavatAra day.

UpadEsa rathina mAlai – 48, 49, clearly explains the flow of “Edu” from AchArya NampiLLai to the remaining through Sri ManavAla mAmunigal.

Edu was written by Vadakku-th-thiruveedhi-pillai and since he had written that without obtaining perimission from his AchAryar, Swami NampiLLai didn’t allowed Edu to be read by anybody. Eyunni mAdhavap perumAl received anugraham from NamperumAl, then Edu was given to him by Sri NampiLLai. Then it was given to his son PadhmanAbap perumAl. The lineage was as follows:

Sri NampiLLai –> Eyunni mAdhavap perumAl –> PadhmanAbap perumAl –> nAlUr piLLai –> nAlUrAchchAn piLLai

(Excerpt from PBA Swamins DivyArtha Dheepikai , UpadEsa rathina mAlai – 49)

Now adiyEn likes to start with the vaibhavam of nAlUr piLLai. Because, only nAlUr piLLai gave Edu to the world (allowed everyone to read) which was held by only one person till PadhmanAbhap perumAl.

The following is the excerpt from Sri.U.Ve.Velukkudi Krishnan Swamin’s “Thiru-k-kachchi – DivyadEsa Vaibhavam” upanyAsam.

PadhmanAbhap perumAl gave Edu to nAlUr piLLai. Till PadhmanAbhap perumAl, “Edu” exists in this world under only one person. It was not released publicly which allowed everyone to be read. Edu was transformed from one person to another person and not to be read by anyothers except the one who owns.

When nAlUr piLLai was standing infront of Sri PerarulAlan sannidhi at thirukkachchi to receive the Edu from PadhmanAbhap perumAl, he prayed to pErarulAlan while satAri was placed on his head that, “Only YOU have to help in releasing this Edu, so that everyone will be benefitted in reading this. If not, after accepting the AchAryan’s word, adiyEn can’t change that. This is the right time that You have to help adiyEn”. By understanding the nAlUr piLLai’s manOratham, Sri PerarulAlan through archaka ordered PadhmanAbhap perumAl to give Edu to nAlUr piLLai and through him release it to the world so that everyone can learn and be benefitted.

Everyone can give their own words. But here Sri VaradharAja perumAl gave the words of others - “Edu” - to the world. Again he proved that “HE is VARADHAN”. HE is known to be a rakshagar of Sri Vaishnava SampradhAyam by giving so many boons to his adiyArs.

Srinidhim nidhim-apAram-arTinAm 
arTithArTa paridhAna dhIkshitham
Sarva-bhUtha-suhrutham  dhayAnidhim 
DevarAjam adhirAjam AasrayE |

Sri:||

Dear BhagavathAs,

Adiyen after analysing for so many days, yesterday
when adiyEn was listenening to the UpanyAsam of Sri.U.Ve.
Velukkudi Krishnan Swamin on “Devaperumalin
aaruvaarthaigal” , immediately struck with the answer
for the question of “Can’t our Lord take one more
Avatara?”

Let us start from the beginning with five forms of our
emperuman. As we know, Lord exists in five forms as
follows:

1)Param – Paramapada nAthan at Sri Vaikuntam
2)VyUham – Sheerabdhi nAthan at ThirupAr kadal
3)Vibhavam – Rama, Krishna avatAram
4)AntharyAmi – Inside jeevAtma (?)
5)Archai – Divyadesams such as Sri Rangam, Aththigiri,
Thirukkannapuram, etc.,

In the above, Param is the home for our emperumAn
where He gives sEva to pirAttiyArs, nithyasUris such
as VishvaksEnar, KarudAlwar, Ananthan(AthisEshan ),
etc.,

VyUham is place where emperumAn sleeps above
AdhisEshan on ThirupAr kadal gives sEva to Brahma,
RudhrAdhi’s and other Devars (“ayarvarum amarargal
athipathi” - Nammalwar)

Vibhavam had happened once up on a time, during that
time we were not there. During RamavatAram, Rama gave
sEvai to AyOdhyA peoples Krishna for gOpikAs and
bhakthAs like Arjuna, Vithurar, etc., This avatAram
has time limit which is unlike Param, VyUham,
AntharyAmi, and Archai.

AntharyAmi – He lives inside everyone, but none
capable to recognize Him.

Archai – Only in this form, our beloved Emperuman
gives sEvai to all irrespective of whether he/she has
yOgyadhai to attain salvation. Eventhough if we had
committed mahApApams, emperumAn due to His nirhEthuka
krupai gives His sEvai (visible to us) only in this
ArchAvatAram.

1) If you attain salvation, then only you can have
nithya sEva of Paramapada nAthan.
2) If you are one among dEvar’s, you can have sEva of
SheerAbdhi nAthan.
3) Vibhavam – no way for us to take birth during
VibhavAvatAram which happened once up on a time.
4) AntharyAmi – eventhough He resides inside us, we
don’t have that much gn~anam to recognize Him.
5) Archai – easier for everyone to have His sEva in
this world who lost His sEva in the above four forms.

Now our poorvAchAryars compared the above five forms
with 5 water bodies.

The first form Param is like “Avarana jalam”. It is
said that, each andam is covered with saptha (seven)
Avarana jalam. We didn’t know about how Avarana jalam
would be? We dont have knowledge about it. Similarly,
we don’t know about how Paramapada nAthan would be.

The second form VyUham is like “pArkadal”. We know
about the milk. We have the knowledge of how milk
would be, it’s colour, taste, roopam, etc., But we
haven’t seen the ocean filled up with full of milk. We
can ONLY imagine how would be an ocean of milk.
Similarly, we can only IMAGINE how SheerAdbdhi nAthan
would be. We can’t see Him.

The third form Vibhavam is like “perukkAru”. During
rainy season, due to heavy floods, new river streams
and water bodies will emerge. After some time, there
won’t be paths of that newly developed streams. All
will vanish. Only at some places we can see water
stagnating at some places. Similarly, Rama Krishna
avatAram had taken once upon a time, but now, we are
having only the divyadesams like AyOdhya, DwAraka,
etc., which is like the stagnating water after the
avatAram had finished.

The fourth form AntharyAmi is like “thrivEni”. At
thrivEni sangamam, peoples says that, the third water
body which is not visible to human eye, will join
(sangamam) with the two river under the ground.
Similarly AntharyAmi – eventhough it is said that He
is inside us, He is not visible to us easily.

The fifth form Archai is like everflowing river like
Ganga, Cauvery where peoples like us can see at all
times. Whether he/she is sandAlan or punyAthmA, these
holy rivers removes their sins. Similarly, in
archAvatAram our bhagvAn gives His sEvai to all
peoples irrespective of their punyam / pApams and due
to nirhEthuka kripai He removes all their sins.

Our Azhwars and poorvAchAryars all dwelled up on with
ArchAvatAram only. Thondaradipodi Azhwar, in his
ThirumAlai, says:

“…achuvai perinum vEndEn……”

Azhwar simply rejects anubhavam at Sri Vaikuntam
(Paramapadham) .

ThirupAnAzhwAr says:

“andarkOn aniyarangan en amudhinaik-
kanda kangal maRonrinai kAnAvE “ (AmalanAthipirAn)

Azhwar simply rejects darshan of any after having
darshan of Periya Perumal Sri Ranganathar at Sri
Rangam.

BhoodhathAzhwAr says:

“manathullAn vEnkatathAn mAkadalAn…”
(IrandAm thiruvanthAdhi, 28)

Azhwar says, Only archai (vEnkatathAn) resides
inside him – manathullAn, then only azhwar says
about mAkadalAn – vyUham.

Our AchAryar Sri ParAsara Bhattar, longed for
anubhavam with Sri Renganayaki sametha Sri RenganAthar
only. He used say with Namperumal that, “ I will go
and see in Paramapadam. I dont want your sEvai as like
your sEvai with nithyasUris. If you are not like as in
Sri Rangam, I will stand at the end of Paramapadam and
JUMP from there to this world.” It shows clearly how
our Acharyar Bhattar loved ArchAvatAram of NamperumAl
at Sri Rangam.

When our

Hastigiri pErarulAlan,
Thirukannapuram Sowri rAja perumAl,
Sri Rangam Namperumal,
ThiruvallikEni pArthasArathi,
Thirukudanthai ArAvamudan were present,

did adiyEn need any more avatAra of Him?
DEFINITELY NOT!!!

 —————————————————————

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.

In VaradarAja Sthavam, Swamy KoorathAlwan explained about pErarulAlan
in his second slokam beautifully as follows:
(This slokam is adiyens favourite slokam which can be recited always which
gives amrutham like feelings on pErarulAlan)

Slokam 2

*********

Srinidhim nidhim-apAram-arTinAm 
arTithArTa paridhAna dhIkshitham
Sarva-bhUtha-suhrutham  dhayAnidhim 
DevarAjam adhirAjam AasrayE |

       He is the wealth of PerumdEvi ThAyAr (Thiruvukkum 
thiruvAhiya selvA –Kaliyan). Already mahalakshmi is great nidhi 
for all. Here in Hasthigiri, HE (pErarulAlan) is nidhi to Mahalakshmi
(PerundEvi ThAyAr). He is like the deep mine of treasures!

He has taken a vow that, by standing on Hasthigiri he will bless one 
with whatever they pray for the desired goals of life (purushArthams) 
– arTithAaTa paridhAna dhIkshitham. HE has taken a dhIkshai that, 
he will grant the boons to the bhakthAs whatever they requests 
(purushArthams) at HIM. He always thinks about conferring 
auspiciousness on all living beings (sarva bhUtha suhruth).

He is a treasure house of DayA – DdayAnidhim - DayaiyE 
kadaintheduthArpOl iruppan – HE is made up of Dayai. He  
is the Swamy to all dEvAs, He is the King of dEvAs – 
dEva rAjam – adiyEn seeks refuge at His sacred lotus feet 
– adhirAjam AsrayE – 

(If there is any mistake plz excuse adiyEn – as adiyen is poor in
sanskrit)

There was an interesting story, how thirukkachchi nambigal

came to do aalavatta kainkaryam at thirukkachchi. Thirukkachchi

nambigal went to Sri Rangam first, and started doing aalavatta

kainkaryam to periyaperumAl. But periaperumAl said that,

“Since I am lying in middle between two ubaya kAveri rivers,

it’s so cool here. Your aalavatta kainkaryam is not required and

suitable for me here!”

Now thirukkachchi nambigal moved to thirumalai to do

aalavatta kainkaryam for thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn. There

also thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn said that, “the water from falls

already produces chillness as alwar says “kulir aruvi vEnkatam”

in one of pAsuram. PerumAl who lies on river bed itself, where summer

will be very hot, doesnt need your kainkaryam. Whereas here,

only for some days you can see sun. Hence your kainkaryam is

not suitable for me !”.

Now thirukkachchi nambigal moved to thirukkachchi to do

aalavatta kainkaryam to pErarulAlan. Only here aalavattam

is necessary because of heatness in pErarulAlan since HE

came from yAgakuntam performed by Brahma. HE sacrificed

HIMSELF all the way from Sri Vaikuntam to appear infront

of Brahma in yAga kuntam. Not only to appear for Brahma but

also to give darshan to poor AthmA’s like us who can not

visualize HIM directly. So HE proved again as “varadan”!!!

ShrimathE rAmAnujAya namaha||

According to archAvathAram, emperumAn is not going to talk

or response to anyone. The only response is HIS beautiful smile

always. This what our poorvAchAriyars states as,

“archAvathAra samAthiyai tholaiththu kondu avan oru naalum

yaarudanum pEsuvathillai, pEsa pOvathumillai ! ”

But at some instances, our beloved emperumAn losed HIS

archAvathAra samAthi, and started talking with some of HIS

close antharangargaL.

There are three antharangargaL at three important divya dEsams.

As stated by nAyanAr in his great “Acharya Hrdayam”

“panipoovum aalavattamum veenaiyum kaiyumaaga

pushpa thyAga bhOga mandapangalil………………….”

at Tirumala — pushpa mandapam

at permAl kOil — thyAga mandapam

at kOil — bhOga mandapam

At kOil, there was an antharanga paniyAl called Thiruvilakku

Pichchan. His duty was to hold deepam near Sri RenganAthar

sannithi. When Nampillai was delivering discourse to his

sishyAs, periyaperumAl got interest in Nampillai’s upanyAsam

and thereby losing HIS archAvathAra samAthi, periyaperumAl

stood up from resting on AadhisEshan. When HE was about

to cross the karbhagriham, HIS sowkumArya thirumEni

touched Thiruvilakku Pichchan. PeriaperumAl says that,

“I heard that Nampillai is doing kalAkshebam about me!, I

stood up just to hear that”. On seeing PeriyaperumAl

stood near him, as collection of large dark clouds -kariya

thiranda uruvam pOlE - Thiruvilakku pichchan says that, “Swamin,

You are not supposed to get from your AdhisEshan and come

out of this garbhagriham. So go and be there in your form.

If you want to listen Swamy Nampillai’s upanyAsam, listen from

inside itself”. From that day onwards, still now PeriyaperumAl never

lost HIS archAvathAra samAthi!!. This is well explained in

Swamy Nampillai’s vaibhavam.

At thirumalai, thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn lost HIS archAvathAra

samAthi and discoursed thirumanthra rahasyam to a King called

ThondaimAn Chakravarthi which is also sang by Thirumangai alwar

in his pasuram.

At thirukkachchi, our pErarulAlan, lost HIS archAvathAra

samAthi and started speaking with Thirukkachchi Nambigal

at many times. Whenever doubt arises, thirukkachchi

nambigal would ask pErarulAlan, and pErarulAlan would

also respond to thirukkachchi nambigal through archAvathAra

thirumukham. That was the close relationship between the

thirukkachchi nambigal and pErarulAlan. This was well

explained by Swami ManavAla mAmunigal in DEVARAAJA

MANGALAM.

“srikAnchee pUrnamisrEna preethyaa sarvaabhibashinE |

adheetharchaavyavasthaaya hasthyathreesaaya mangalam ||”

Sri ManavAla mAmunigal states that, “ srIkAnchee

pUrnamisrEna preethyaa……”. PerarulAlan out of

HIS preethi on Kanchi pUrnar alais Thirukkachchi

nambigal, starts speaking with him by losting HIS

archAvathAra samAthi. By knowing this, our

emperumAnAr apart from his five Acharyans, considers

Thirukkachchi Nambigal also as one of his Acharya.

Through Thirukkachchi Nambigal, emperumAnAr

enquired answer for his doubts from pErarulAlan.

EmperumAnAr also didnt revealed what were his

doubts to thirukkachchi nambigal. Usually after

aalavatta kainkaryam, thirukkachchi nambigal would

left immediately. But on that day, he was standing near

pErarulAlan with some thing in his mind. Now our

pErarulAlan starts asking thirukkachchi nambigal,

“Why are you waiting for ?”. Thirukkachchi nambigal

says that, “ my sishyA, has some doubts and he wants the

answer from YOU for that!”. As soon as hearing this

from thirukkachchi nambigal pErarulAlan started telling

six words as if HE was expecting this doubt would arise

from Shrimath Ramanujar earlier itself!

PerarulAlan answered important “SIX WORDS”

(“Aaru vaarthaigal”) to Thirukkachchi nambigal, as

answers for emperumAnAr doubts. This six words

forms a base (as foundation) for establishing

VishistAdvaita SidhdhAntham by Swamy Ramanujar.

So, without pErarulAlan’s six words, its difficult to imagine

our sampradhAyam! HE saved our sampradhAyam by

giving these words from HIM (namm sampradhAyaththai

rakshiththu koduthavar dEva perumal alias pErarulAlan)

By this pErarulAlan proved that HE is VaradarAjan again!!

- King among giving boons (varam tharuvathil rAjA)!!!

(To be continued in next article)

Shrimathe rAmAnujAya namaha||