srimathE rAmAnujAya nama:
srimadh varavaramunayE nama:
sri vAnAchala mahAmunayE nama:
In the previous article (https://granthams.koyil.org/2012/11/archavathara-anubhavam-vedhanthacharyar/) we enjoyed vEdhAnthAchAryar’s archAvathAra anubhavam.Let us now move on to see how azhagiya maNavALa mAmunigaL enjoyed archAvathAra emperumAns.
In our guru paramparai, NammAzhwAr, emperumAnAr and maNavALa mAmunigaL has a special place. That is why we recite AzhwAr, emperumAnAr, jIyar thirvadigaLe charaNam regularly.
Of these 3, mAmunigaL is considered as AdhisEshan’s amsam and emperumAnAr’s punaravathAram. Just like srI rAman and krishNan learnt sAsthram from vasihtar and sAndIpani mainly to preserve lOka mariyAthai and establish proper sishyAchArya kramam, emperumAnAr and mAmunigaL also undergoes studies under their AchAryas even though they already know everything. mAmunigaL is even more special compared to emperumAnAr, because while emperumAnAr focussed on samskritha vEdhAntham and bhAhya/kudhrushti nirasanam which was required for his times, mAmunigaL fully focussed on bringing out the divine glories of aruLicheyal.
mAmunigaL glorifies piLLai lOkAchAryar‘s srivachana bhUshaNa dhivya sAsthram in his upadhEsa rathina mAlai 55th pAsuram.
Ar
vachanabhUdanaththin Azh poruL ellAm aRivAr (ஆர் வசனபூடனத்தின் ஆழ் பொருள் எல்லாம் அறிவார்)
Ar athu chol NEril anuttippAr (ஆர் அது சொல் நேரில் அனுட்டிப்பார்)
Ororuvar undAgil aththanai kAnN uLLamE (ஓரொருவர் உன்டாகில் அத்தனை காண் உள்ளமே)
ellArkkum anNdAthathanRO athu (எல்லார்க்கும் அண்டாததன்றோ அது)
Simple translation:
Who
will understand the inner/deep meanings in srivachana bhUshanam? Who will live
by those meanings? Even to find one such person is difficult because these are
very difficult principles to follow for any one.
piLLai lOkam jIyar writes in his vyAkyAnam that mAmunigaL is the first adhikAri to live by these words.
Let us observe an important sUthram (274) from srIvachana bhUshaNam and understand how mAmunigaL lived by those words.
ippadi ivai anaiththum sadhAchArya prasAdhaththAlE varththikkumpadi pOthaikku vasthavyam AchArya saNNidhiyum bhagavadh saNNidhiyum, vakthavyam AchArya vaibhavamum sva Nikarshamum, japthavyam guru paramparaiyum dhvayamum, parigrAhyam pUrvAchAryarkaLudaiya vachaNamum aNushtANamum, parithyAjyam avaishnNava sahavAsamum abhimANamum, karththavyam AchArya kainGkaryamum bhagavath kainGkaryamum. (இப்படி இவை அனைத்தும் ஸதாசார்ய ப்ரஸாதத்தாலே வர்த்திக்கும்படி போதைக்கு வஸ்தவ்யம் ஆசார்ய ஸந்நிதியும் பகவத் ஸந்நிதியும், வக்தவ்யம் ஆசார்ய வைபவமும் ஸ்வ நிகர்ஷமும், ஜப்தவ்யம் குரு பரம்பரையும் த்வயமும், பரிக்ராஹ்யம் பூர்வாசார்யர்களுடைய வசநமும் அநுஷ்டாநமும், பரித்யாஜ்யம் அவைஷ்ணவ ஸஹவாஸமும் அபிமாநமும், கர்த்தவ்யம் ஆசார்ய கைங்கர்யமும் பகவத் கைங்கர்யமும்)
From sUthram 243 to 307, piLLai lOkAchAryar explains the dhinacharyai/activities of sidhOpAya nishtar (one who firmly believes in emperumAn as upAyam and upEyam). In this sUthram he explains how such sidhOpAya nishtar will be grateful to the AchAryan to have provided such an opportunity and summarizes the activities for such adhikAri. mAmunigaL beautifully explains each point and also lived by them. Let us see that now.
- vasthavyam AchArya saNNidhiyum bhagavadh saNNidhiyum – Residence is AchAryan’s thirumALigai/mutt and emperumAn’s sannidhi. mAmunigaL shows that AchAryan’s sannidhi is primary and only if it is not possible to be there, we should go to emperumAn’s sannidhi. He himself lived in AzhwAr thirunagari until thiruvAimozhi piLLai was present in this world and only after his AchAryan ascending to paramapadham, mAmunigaL left AzhwAr thirunagari to be in srIrangam (that too, to fulfill his AchAryan’s order).
- vakthavyam AchArya vaibhavamum sva Nikarshamum – A sishyan must always glorify his AchAryan’s greatness and his own faults. mAmunigaL identifies that we should be like madhurakavi AzhwAr who glorified NammAzhwAr and talked of his own faults in kaNNinuNchiruthAmbu pAsurams (4-10). mAmunigaL beautifully glorifies emperumAnAr and thiruvAimozhi piLLai and also spells out his (non-existing) defects
in yathirAja vimsath. - japthavyam guru paramparaiyum dhvayamum – A sishyan must be constantly reciting/meditating the guruparamparai and dhvaya mahA manthram. mAmunigaL shows that emperumAn will be pleased when we meditate on guruparamparai and he himself instructs bhAshaykArar to spend his time meditating on dhvayam and its meanings and happily live in srIrangam. mAmunigaL is known to be constantly reciting meditating on emperumAnAr and dhvaya mahA manthram and its meanings (as seen from his pUrva/uthara dhinacharyai and yathirAja vimsathi). Just like emperumAnAr, he also makes srIrangam his residence and constantly engage in bhagavath vishaya anubhavam there.
- parigrAhyam pUrvAchAryarkaLudaiya vachaNamum aNushtANamum – We should accept the instructions and lives of our AchAryas starting from NAthamunigaL as our main goal in life. mAmunigaL points out that our pUrvAchAryas lived by their instructions, i.e, there is no contradiction between their instructions and behaviours. mAmunigaL himself was fully situated in firm faith on his own AchAryan. He accepted thiruvAimozhi piLLai‘s instruction to perform thiruvArAdhanam in bhavishyadhAchAryan sannidhi (AzhwAr thirunagari) first and subsequently focussing fully on aruLicheyal (thiruvAimozhi).
- parithyAjyam avaishnNava sahavAsamum abhimANamum – We should reject the friendship of avaishnavas and their abhimAnam towards us. mAmunigaL explains that we should not perform any activity which will make an avaishnava consider us part of his group. mAmunigaL once simply rejected all vegetables which were supplied to his mutt because they were grown by an avaishnava farmer.
- karththavyam AchArya kainGkaryamum bhagavath kainGkaryamum – We must be doing kainkaryam to our AchAryan and emperumAn. Without kainkaryam there is no sEshathvam. mAmunigaL shows that we should be very grateful to our AchAryan for the biggest possible favour he has done us and should do kainkaryam with much affection towards him. He also identifies that we should engage in bhagavath kainkaryam that is sanctioned by our AchAryan. mAmunigaL himself performed all kainkaryams to thiruvAimozhi piLLai while living in AzhwAr thirungari. After thiruvAimozhi piLLai ascending to paramapadham, mAmunigaL performs his charama kainkaryam also and finally to fulfill his AchAryan’s order, he arrives to srIrangam and engages himself in bhagavath kainkaryam.
From the above, we can easily understand how mAmunigaL lived to fulfill the word “Ororuvar“. We have seen mAmunigaL’s glories in Srivaishnava lakshaNam series of articles https://granthams.koyil.org/srivaishnava-lakshanam-english/.
Let us see some of his archAvathAra anubhavam now.
sriranganAthan
mAmunigaL enjoys NamperumAL in his upadhEsa rathina mAlai.
In pAsuram 38, mAmunigaL identifies NamperumAL’s act of establishing the glories of emperumAnAr by naming our sampradhAyam as “emperumAnAr dharisanam”.
Simple translation:
NamperumAL established that our srivaishNava sampradhAyam should be identified as “emperumAnAr dharisanam” to ensure that the people of this world will understand emperumAnAr‘s efforts to nourish this sampradhAyam.
piLLai lOkam jIyar shows that because emperumAnAr propagated prapathi mArgam and wrote srIbhAshyam, gIthA bhAshyam, etc to protect the deep meanings of our sampradhAyam, NamperumAL named this sampradhAyam as emperumAnAr dharisanam so every one will understand his glory.
He also shows that, while many AchAryas like Nathamuni, yAmunAchAryar, etc existed before emperumAnAr, they were protecting the rahasya arthams looking at the value of them. But emperumAnAr, looking at the suffering of the jIvAthmAs, established a system through every one who has the desire (ruchi in bhagavath vishayam) can be liberated. It is because of his extreme mercy and full focus on upliftment of jIvAthmAs and removing the loneliness of emperumAn by bringing more and more jIvAthmAs towards him, emperumAnAr was glorified as such by NamperumAL himself. piLLai lOkam jIyar highlights emperumAnAr’s merciful nature where he himself was willing to suffer to uplift others by giving out rahasya arthams which were given to him by thirukkOttiyUr Nambi.
In the 50th pAsuram, mAmunigaL identifies that NamperumAL is special amongst all the emperumAns and also identifies similar concept in AzhwArs and AchAryas.
NamperumAL NammAzhwAr NanYchIyar NampiLLai enbar (நம்பெருமாள் நம்மாழ்வார் நஞ்சீயர் நம்பிள்ளை என்பர்)
avaravar tham ERRaththAl (அவரவர் தம் ஏற்றத்தால்)
anbhudaiyOr chARRu thiruNAmanGgaL thAnenRu NannenYchE (அன்புடையோர் சாற்று திருநாமங்கள் தானென்று நன்னெஞ்சே)
Eththathanaich cholli NI inRu (ஏத்ததனைச் சொல்லி நீ இன்று)
Simple translation:
NamperumAL, NammAzhwAr, NanjIyar, NampiLLai where named as such (identifying close proximity with the “Nam” prefix) due to their glories by their loved ones and understanding that, oh dear heart! you also glorify them today by chanting them.
piLLai lOkam jIyar in his vyAkyAnam first brings out what is so special about the 4 personalities specifically identified in this pAsuram.
- NamperumAL is special because all AchAryas flocked to srirangam to enjoy srIrangaNAthan per mumukshuppadi sUthram 141 – “ivaiyellAm Namakku NamperumAL pakkalilE kAnNalAm” (இவையெல்லாம் நமக்கு நம்பெருமாள் பக்கலிலே காணலாம்). piLLai lOkAchAryar explains in dhvaya prakaraNam that all great qualities like vAthsalyam (motherly forbearance), svAmithvam (ownership), sauseelyam (magnanimity) and saulabhyam (easy approachability) are all fully manifested in archAvathAra emperumAn and we can see them clearly in NamperumAL. A popular incident of NamperumAL being carried away by a king from the North and
- NammAzhwAr is special because, he is “mugilvanNnNan adiyinNaiyai adaiNtharuL chUdi uyNtha” (முகில்வண்ணன் அடியிணையை அடைந்தருள் சூடி உய்ந்த) satagOpan. Also, when NamperumAL was on a sojourn during kalAba kAlam (muslim invasion), AzhwAr also arrives at the same place along with other AzhwArs. At that time NamperumAL calls him NammAzhwAr, invites him over to his own simhAsanam and honors him affectionately.
- NanjIyar is special because he was accepted fondly by parAsara bhattar who is the son of NamperumAL himself. When NanjIyar gave up all his comforts, accepted sannyAsam and arrived at srIrangam, bhattar himself calls him Nam jIyar and then onwards he popularly becomes to be known as such.
- NampiLLai is specical because he was performing his divine lectures in srIrangam and every one wonders if it is NampiLLai gOshti or NamperumAL gOshti. Every one was flocking to his lectures and being uplifted to become eternal servitors of emperumAn. He was also fondly accepted and glorified by NanjIyar after re-writing 9000padi vyAkyaAnam based on what was heard from NanjIyar in his lectures.
mAmunigaL also enjoys srIranganAthan in his Arthi prabhandham in many pAsurams but all of them in context with his relationship with emperumAnAr. In this prabhandham, mAmunigaL is crying out loud to emperumAnAr to lift him up from this samsAram immediately. Just like srI rAman worshipped periya perumAL (who is none other than himself) in thiruvayOdhi to show us how to worship him, mAmunigaL is praying to emperumAnAr (who is none other than himself) to teach us how to pray to him and what to ask for.
Let us enjoy one of the most beautiful pAsurams from this great prabhandham.
thennaranGgar chIraruLukku ilakkAgap peRROm (தென்னரங்கர் சீரருளுக்கு இலக்காகப் பெற்றோம்)
thiruvaranGgam thiruppathiyE iruppAgap peRROm (திருவரங்கம் திருப்பதியே இருப்பாகப் பெற்றோம்)
manniya chIr mARan kalai unNavAgap peRROm (மன்னிய சீர் மாறன் கலை உணவாகப் பெற்றோம்)
mathurakavi cholpadiyE NilaiyAgap peRROm (மதுரகவி சொல்படியே நிலையாகப் பெற்றோம்)
munnavarAm Nam kuravar mozhigaL uLLap peRROm (முன்னவராம் நம் குரவர் மொழிகள் உள்ளப் பெற்றோம்)
muzhuthum Namakkavai pozhuthupOkkAgap peRROm (முழுதும் நமக்கவை பொழுதுபோக்காகப் பெற்றோம்)
pinnai onRu thanil NenYchu pErAmal peRROm (பின்னை ஒன்று தனில் நெஞ்சு பேராமல் பெற்றோம்)
piRar minukkam poRAmai illAp perumaiyum peRROmE (பிறர் மினுக்கம் பொறாமை இல்லாப் பெருமையும் பெற்றோமே)
mAmunigaL nicely summarizes his life and shows exactly how we should be living ours.
- He says he became the target of the divine blessings of srIranganAthan. NamperumAL who ordered him to nithya vAsam in srIrangam after his arrival, gave him the dhivya AchArya simhAsanam and enjoyed mAmunigaL’s eedu kAlakshEpam without any interruptions for a full 11 months. He also offered a thanian and established mAmunigaL’s glories everywhere. Actually, the archAvathAra emperumAn fully enjoyed mAmunigaL and continues to perform his thiruvadhyayanam even today in thiruvarangam as it is the duty of every sishyan to perform the same for his AchAryan.
- Per the orders of NamperumAL and following the footsteps of the pUrvAchAryas he arrived at srIrangam and stayed there for the rest of his time in bhUlOkam. He also identifies in the 60th (last) pAsuram of Arthi prabhandham that the instruction gave by NamperumAL to emperumAnAr that he should stay in srIrangam happily thinking about dhvayam and its meanings fits for himself as well, since the property of the father automatically belongs to the son as well (he is considering himself as the son of emperumAnAr here).
- While AzhwAr’s uNNum chOru is kaNNan emperumAn, mAmunigaL’s uNNum chOru is NammAzhwAr‘s pAsurams. mAmunigaL was always meditating on thiruvAimozhi and eedu vyAkyAnam and propagated the same everywhere. He became to be popularly known as “eettup perukkar” (ஈட்டுப் பெருக்கர்).
- mAmunigaL is a pure AchArya nishtar like madhurakavi AzhwAr. He was called as yathIndhra pravaNar due to his extreme attachment towards emperumAnAr. He engaged in bhagavath kainkaryam as per the orders of AchAryan (thivAimozhi piLLai) to please him.
- mAmunigaL spent his time in collecting/recovering many of the pUrvAchArya granthams which were lost during the invasion, studying them, re-writing them himself in palm leaves, teaching them to others and applying the instructions in practice. It was because of his tireless efforts we now have all these granthams alive. He spent all his time in aruLicheyal, their vyAkyAnams, rahasya granthams and pUrvAchArya sthOthra granthams.
- he thus spent his time fully in learning and teaching aruLicheyal and pUrvAchArya srIsUkthis and performing mangaLAsAsanam to archAvathAra emperumAns.
- It is quite obvious that with the above, mAmunigaL did not focus on any other granthams. He learnt srIbhAshyam once but subsequently he did not spend much time on it. But due to his great intellect (and being an avathAram of AdhisEshan/emperumAnAr), he was naturally able to explain all the concepts of vEdhAntham in aruLicheyal very easily. Great scholars like prathivAdhi bhayankaram aNNan, etc. where spell bound hearing mAmunigaL’s explanation of vEdhAntham in thiruvAimozhi.
- The pinnacle of his qualities is his sudhdha sAthivika nature. He was so advanced that he did not have any ill-feelings towards any one, even towards the ones who personally insulted him (like uththama nambi in front of periya perumAL who was subsequently reformed by periya perumAL himself) or the ones who tried to kill him in AzhwAr thirungari by setting his mutt on fire (subsequently when the king was about to punish him, he asks the king to pardon them). It is also shown in his charithram that when some of his sishyas were disrespecting other AchArya purushas in srIrangam, he insisted that they must be respected – such was his magnanimity.
This started as mAmunigaL’s archAvathAra anubhavam but with srIranganAthan it is always difficult to stop with just that without enjoying the divine relationship between mAmunigaL and srIranganAthan – the moment we start thinking about it, there is so much to relish, but due to our own limitation we have to stop somewhere.
thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn
mAmunigaL performs mangaLAsAsanam to thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn twice.
First time, he visits when he was a gruhasthar along with ponnadikkAl jIyar (who was already a sannyAsi) and performs mangaLAsAsanam to thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn. Subsequently, he visits thirumalai after accepting sannyAsAshramam. This time, looking at the nature of the continuous kainkaryam done by the existing jIyar swamy (periya kELvi appan jIyar – this AchArya pItam was established by emperumAnAr himself) for both thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn (thirumalai) and gOvindharjAjan (thiruppathi), mAmunigaL himself serves there for some time (as chinna kELvi appan jIyar) and while taking leave from thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn he appoints another srivaishnava in this pItam and that lineage continuous even today.
prathiviAdhi bhayankaram aNNan who is a great scholar and a confidential servitor of thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn hears the glories of mAmunigaL. He was bringing thIrtham from AkAsa gangai for emperumAn. Once when he was bringing thIrtham, he meets a srivaishnava from srIrangam on his way and that srIvaishnava explains to aNNan about mAmunigaL’s jnAnam, vairAgyam, etc. aNNan is ecstatic in hearing about them and forgets to add thIrtha parimALam in the thIrtham. After submitting the thIrtham to the archakar, he remembers and rushes back to the archakar. At that time, the archakar says the thIrtham was having a special fragrance and aNNan immediately realises that mAmunigaL’s charithram itself is adding fragrance to the thIrtham. He takes leave from emperumAn and visits mAmunigaL. mAmunigaL accepts aNNan with a warm welcome and allows him to participate in his kAlakshEpam. aNNan hearing the bhagavath vishaya kAlakshEpam of mAmunigaL himself witnesses and understands the intellect of mAmunigaL and becomes a sishya. mAmunigaL thinking about the lack of a suprabhAtham for thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn, instructs aNNan to write one such. aNNan with great joy accepts that task, and writes sri vEnkatEsa suprabhAtham, sri vEnkatEsa sthOthram, sri vEnkatEsa prapathi and sri vEnkatEsa mangaLam. aNNan in srI vEnkatEsa mangaLam, shows his gratitude towards mAmunigaL and glorifies him as follows.
srI vEnkatEsa prapathi (slOkam 15)
sathvOttarais sathatha sEvya padhAmbujEna
samsAra thAraka dhayArdhra dhruganjchalEna
saumyO payanthru muninA mama dharshithau thE
shrIvEnkatEsa charaNau sharaNam prapadhyE
I surrender unto the lotus feet of srIvEnktatEsan which is shown to me by maNavALa mAmunigaL out of great compassion. mAmunigaL is worshipped and served by parama sAthvikas with pure heart. Such mAmunigaL showed me that it is the divine feet of emperumAn which lifts us from this samsAram and places us in paramapadham.
srIvEnkatEsa mangaLam (slOkam 13)
srImath sundharajAmAthrumuni mAnasa vAsinE
sarvalOkanivAsAya srInivAsAya mangaLam
Let all auspiciousness prevail on thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn who is omni present, whose chest is the residence of srImahAlakshmi and the one who eternally lives in the heart of azhagiya maNavALa mAmunigaL.
All the sthOthrams of prathivAdhi bhayankaram aNNan on thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn are available in different languages at https://acharya.org/acharya/pbanna/index/.
dhEva perumAL
mAmunigaL performs mangaLAsAsanam to dhEvaperumAL twice.
First time he visits as a gruhasthar and hears srI bhAshyam kAlakshEpam under kidAmbi nAyanAr. It is at this juncture mAmunigaL shows his svayam thirumEni (AdhisEshan) to kidAmbi nAyanAr when requested by him.
Subsequently, mAmunigaL visits hasthigiri and performs mangaLAsAsanam after accepting sannyAsAhramam.
mAmunigaL has done a beautiful sthOthra grantham on dhEva perumAL named dhEvarAja mangaLam.
Let us see a few slOkams from this grantham.
slOkam 11
srI kAnYchIpUrnNamichrEnNa prIthyA sarvAbhibhAshanNE (ஸ்ரீ காஞ்சீபூர்ணமிச்ரேண ப்ரீத்யா ஸர்வாபிபாஷணே)
athIthArchchAvyavasthAya hasthadhreesAya manGgaLam (அதீதார்ச்சாவ்யவஸ்தாய ஹஸ்தத்ரீஸாய மங்களம்)
mangaLAsAsanam
to dhEva perumAL who resides in hasthigiri and who out of great love
towards thirukkachi nambi, broke his archA samAdhi and regularly had
conversations with him.
We have already enjoyed this slOkam in thirukkachi nambi’s anubhavam – https://granthams.koyil.org/2012/11/archavathara-anubhavam-thuirukkachi-nambi/. This shows that even while enjoying archAvathAra emperumAn, we should do that through the anubhavam of our pUrvAchAryas.
slOkam 12
asthu srIsthaNa kasthUri vAsaNAvAsithOrasE (அஸ்து ஸ்ரீஸ்தந கஸ்தூரி வாஸநாவாஸிதோரஸே)
srIhasthigiriNAthAya dhEvarAjAya manGgaLam (ஸ்ரீஹஸ்திகிரிநாதாய தேவராஜாய மங்களம்)
In this slOkam, mAmunigaL beautifully enjoys pirAtti’s relationship with emperumAn. For prapannas, pirAtti is the purushakAra bhUthai (recommendation authority) and we always get her help to approach emperumAn. Here mAmunigaL shows that how pirAtti’s fragrance reflects on the dhEvarAjan emperumAn since she is always with him and thus he happily resides in hasthigiri for the upliftment of all jIvAthmAs. After all, as we have already seen before in nAyanAr’s anubhavam (https://granthams.koyil.org/2012/11/archavathara-anubhavam-nayanar-anubhavam/ – see chUrNikai 175), emperumAn takes archAvathAram to capture the heart of NammAzhwAr and stays put in there because NammAzhwAr likes emperumAn’s dhivyadhEsams because through them he got the mercy of emperumAn.
slOkam 13
manGgaLAsAsaNaparai: madhAchAryapurOgamai:
sarvaich cha pUrvairAchAryai: sathkruthAyAsthu manGgaLam
Following in the footsteps of my AchAryan (thiruvAimozhi piLLai) and all the pUrvAchAryas who are fully focussed on nothing but mangaLAsAsanam to emperumAn, I also pray for all auspiciousness for emperumAn.
Brief meanings of all the slOkams from this prabhandham are available at https://antaryami.net/darpanam/2012/10/02/devaraja-mangalam/.
rAjagOpAlan (mannArgudi)
Like emperumAnAr submitted “oru nAyagamAy” padhigam of thiruvAimozhi (4.1) to thiruNArAyaNan, it is well known that mAmunigaL submitted “thIrpAraiyAmini” padhigam (4.6) to mannArgudi rAjagOpAlan emperumAn. Specifically, mAmunigaL was very much moved emotionally by “unniRRu maRRoru dheyvam thozhAL” (உன்னிற்று மற்றொரு தெய்வம் தொழாள்) pAsuram where AzhwAr enjoys kaNNan emperumAn as “vanN thuvarApathi mannan” (வண் துவராபதி மன்னன்) and mAmunigaL relates this with rAjagOpAlan emperumAn here. It is also said that mAmunigaL lived in this dhivyadhEsam for some time and established proper worship for the emperumAn.
dheivanAyakan (vAnamAmalai)
ponnadikkAl jIyar was the first and very dear disciple of mAmunigaL. He accepted sanyAsAshramam even before mAmunigaL and constantly served him. mAmunigaL considered him as his prANa sukruth (life breath and well wisher) and revealed his glories many times. When mAmunigaL and ponnadikkAl jIyar were living in srIrangam, dheivanAyakan emperumAn from vAnamAmalai sends an invitation to mAmunigaL through sEnai mudhaliAr to send ponnadikkAl jIyar to vAnamAmalai (which is ponnadikkAl jIyar’s avathAra sthalam). mAmunigaL happily accepts that and instructs his dear disciple to take leave from him. mAmunigaL along with ponnadikkAl jIyar arrives at periya perumAL sannidhi and that day it happens to be thirumozhi sARRumurai in nithyAnusandhAna kramam. When “anNiyAr pozhil chUzh aranGgaNagarappA” (அணியார் பொழில் சூழ் அரங்கநகரப்பா) is recited, perumAL presents aranganagarappan (lakshmi NArAyaNan) vigraham to mAmunigaL and ponnadikkAl jIyar for thiruvArAdhanam and mAmunigaL in turn presents that emperumAn to ponndaikkAl jIyar and gives him a grand send off.
ponnadikkAl jIyar arrives at vAnamAmalai, establishes a mutt (vAnamAmalai mutt/thOthAdhri mutt) and takes care of dheivanAyakan emperumAn and subsequently also brings srIvaramangai nAchiyAr uthsava vigraham from thiruppathi and performs the marriage cermony for srIvaramangai nAchiyAr and dheivanAyakan emperumAn. Thus, by the divine arrangement of emperumAn and mAmunigaL, vAnamAmalai dhivyadhEsam is beautifully served by the AchArya paramparai of vAnamAmalai mutt even today.
mAmunigaL also personally instructs/arranges many of his sishyas to perform various kainkaryams at various dhivyadhEsams like srIvilliputhur, thirumAlirunchOlai, thirukkurungudi, thirumalai, kAnchipuram, etc.
With this, we come to the end of this series of archAvathAra anubhavam by AzhwArs and AchAryas. As ever, we end with mAmunigaL since it is said that “madhurEna samApayEth” – “end it sweet”. We can also observe that through out this series, mAmunigaL was enriching our anubhavam through his dhivya srIsUkthis (vyAkyAnams and upadhEsa rathina mAlai, Arthi prabhandham, etc). Without him, as it is said by scholars that, thiruvAimozhi would have become “ARRil karaiththa puLi” (ஆற்றில் கரைத்த புளி) – tamarind dissolved in a river (such that we cannot even spot any trace of its existence). Blessed are us who have the thiruvadi sambandham of mAmunigaL and also relishing that thiruvadi sambandham.
Let us commit ourselves to constantly engage ourselves in performing mangaLAsAsanam to archAvathAra emperumAns (including our gruhArchai) and participating in as many kainkaryams as possible for us for dhivyadhEsams. Many dhivyadhEsams are in need of people and archAvathAra emperumAn is waiting for his adiyArs to come and visit him. All we can do is to simply go and recite thiruppallANdu in front of him which will bring all auspiciousness and happiness to him.
adiyen
would like to thank many who were constantly motivating me to write
these articles. There may be mistakes in this series of articles caused
by adiyen, but the srIsUkthis of pUrvAchArayas are so divine and powerful that they
will shine brightly, fading away adiyen’s mistakes.
srImathE ramyajAmAthru munIndhrAya mahAthmanE
srIrangavAsinE bhUyAth nithyasrI: nithya mangaLAm
manGgaLAsAsaNaparai: madhAchAryapurOgamai:
sarvaich cha pUrvairAchAryai: sathkruthAyAsthu manGgaLam
emperumAnAr Jeeyar thiruvadigaLE sharaNam
thiruvadigaLE sharaNam
thiruvadigaLE sharaNam
adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan
sources: vyAkyAnams, yathIndhra pravaNa prabhAvam, kAnchi swamy vyAkyAnam for dhEvarAja mangaLam
archived in https://granthams.koyil.org, also visit https://acharyas.koyil.org.
Swami, What a beauty!!