anthimOpAya nishtai – 8 – Ani thirumUlam – ramyajAmAthru and ramyajAmAthrumuni

srI:

srImathE rAmAnujAya nama:
srImadh varavaramunayE nama:
srI vAnAchala mahAmunayE nama:

In the previous article (https://granthams.koyil.org/2013/06/anthimopaya-nishtai-7/),
we observed nampiLLai‘s greatness through several incidents in his life. We will now observe the most wonderful incident in the lives of our pUrvAchAryas.

malai kuniya ninRa perumAL (AzhwAn/bhattar lineage) is the leader of our sampradhAyam and is living in srIrangam now. His father had great attachment towards our jIyar (mAmunigaL) as he observed that mAmunigaL had memorized the whole of eedu 36000 padi vyAkyAnam of thiruvAiozhi and other vyAkyAnams. He used to affectionately call our jIyar as “36000 perukkar” (one who nurtures eedu 36000 padi vyAkyAnam”, and joyfully cherish his moments with mAmunigaL. At that time, on parIthApi year, AvaNi month, namperumAL arrives in the thiruppavithrOthsava mandapam. In front of the big assembly, namperumAL himself invites our jIyar (mAmunigaL) separately and blesses him with srI satagOpam and his garlands, thIrtham, prasAdham, etc. He then instructs mAmunigaL as follows “From tomorrow onwards, in our periya thiru maNdapam (in front of the periya perumAL sannidhi), explain the divine meanings of thiruvAimozhi with the help of nampiLLai‘s eedu 36000 padi vyAkyAnam”. On the following day, namperumAL along with his nAchiyArs, sEnai mudhaliyAr, nammAzhwAr, yathirAjar (and all other AzhwArs, AchAryas) arrives at the maNdapam and periya jIyar formally starts listening to the kAlapkshEpam in the maNdapam amidst a great assembly of srIvaishNavas. This incident is explained in the following pAsuram:

nallathOr parIthApi varudanthannil nalamAna AvaNiyin muppaththonRil

chollariya chOthiyudan viLangu veLLikkizhamai vaLarpakkam nAlAmnALil

chelvamigu periya thirumaNdapaththil chezhum thiruvAymozhipporuLaich cheppumenRu

valliyudai maNavALar arangar nangaL maNavALa munikku vazhanginArE

நல்லதோர் பரீதாபி வருடந்தன்னில் நலமான ஆவணியின் முப்பத்தொன்றில்
சொல்லரிய சோதியுடன் விளங்கு வெள்ளிக்கிழமை வளர்பக்கம் நாலாம்நாளில்
செல்வமிகு பெரிய திருமண்டபத்தில் செழும் திருவாய்மொழிப்பொருளைச் செப்புமென்று
வல்லியுடை மணவாளர் அரங்கர் நங்கள் மணவாளமுனிக்கு வழங்கினாரே

Thus, namperumAL and others heard thiruvAimozhi kAlapkshEpam (with 36000 padi and all the other 4 vyAkyAnams) for a whole year (10 months), without any interruption. Again, on the final day – on Ani mUlam day, namperumAL arrived with everyone in the maNdapam and hears jIyar performing the most grandeur and wonderful sARRumuRai. It is world-renown that After that, namperumAL, being very pleased with jIyar, he gave great honors to mAmunigaL (Translator’s note: by offering him his own sEsha paryankam and srIsailEsa dhayApAthram thanian – thus accepting mAmunigaL as his AchAryan and immediately propagating this thanian to all the dhivyadhEsams). This is why jIyar says with great humility and gratitude reflecting on the divine/special blessing which was given to him by namperumAL for engaging him in this great kainkaryam.

nAmAr! periya thirumaNdapamAr!

namperumAL thAmAga nammaith thaniththazhaiththu

nI mARan chenthamizh vEdhaththin chezhum poruLai nALumingE vanthurai

enREvuvathE vAynthu

நாமார்! பெரிய திருமண்டபமார்!
நம்பெருமாள் தாமாக நம்மைத் தனித்தழைத்து
நீ மாறன் செந்தமிழ் வேதத்தின் செழும் பொருளை நாளுமிங்கே வந்துரை
என்றேவுவதே வாய்ந்து

Who am I? What are the glories of this periya thirumaNdapam? It is a great blessing for namperumAL himself, with great affection, to ordain me to explain the divine meanings of dhrAvida vEdham (thiruvAimozhi through 36000 padi) every day (for the whole year).

Similarly, the great AchAryas/srIvaishNavas of those days who were greatly attached to mAmunigaL declared as follows.

valampuriyAyiram chUzhtharavAzhi marungoLuru chelamchelaninRu muzhunguga pOl

thanathu thoNdar kulam pala chUzh maNavALa mAmuni kOyilil vAzha

nalangadal vaNNan munnE thamizh vEdham naviRRananE.
thArAr arangar munnAL thanthAmaLiththAr chIrAr periya thirumaNdapaththuch chiRanthAi

en ArAvamuthanaiyAn maNavALa mAmuniyaiyazhaiththu ErAr thamizh maRai ingEyirunthu chol enRananE

வலம்புரியாயிரம் சூழ்தரவாழி மருங்கொளுரு செலம்செல நின்று முழுங்குக போல்
தனது தொண்டர் குலம் பல சூழ் மணவாள மாமுனி கோயிலில் வாழ
நலங்கடல் வண்ணன் முன்னே தமிழ் வேதம் நவிற்றனனே.
தாரார் அரங்கர் முன்னாள் தந்தாமளித்தார் சீரார் பெரிய திருமண்டபத்துச் சிறந்தாய்
என் ஆராவமுதனையான் மணவாள மாமுனியையழைத்து ஏரார் தமிழ் மறை இங்கேயிருந்து சொல் என்றனனே

mAmunigaL who was surrounded by many thousands of his disciples lived in srIrangam and explained the meanings of thamizh vEdham in front of emperumAn. To do this, first, the beautiful srIranganAthan, invited maNavALa mAmunigaL into his periya thirumaNdapam and benedicted him to reveal the most beautiful meanings of thiruvAimozhi there.

Thus, his sishyas showed their gratitude towards mAmunigaL and also cherished the divine act of namperumAL where he did great favours that were not done to any one other than our jIyar (mAmunigaL).

Now, I (paravasthu pattarpriAn jIyar) started speaking the glories of my own AchAryan (in-between nampiLLai vaibhavam) since it is said that

gurum prakAsayEn nithyam (குரும் ப்ரகாசயேந் நித்யம்) – One should glorify his/her AchArya/guru always

kaNNinuN chiru thAmbu – eNdisaiyum aRiya iyambukEn oNtamizhch chatagOpan aruLaiyE (எண்டிசையும் அறிய இயம்புகேன் ஒண்டமிழ்ச் சடகோபன் அருளையே) – I (mathurakvai AzhwAr) reveal and glorify the mercy of nammAzhwAr in all directions (everywhere)

srIvachana bhUshaNam – vakthavyam AchArya vaibhavam (வக்தவ்யம் ஆசார்ய வைபவம்) – It is ones duty to speak about the glories of AchAryan

Translator’s note: Thus, we have seen the divine incident of namperumAL‘s glorification/honoring of periya jIyar on Ani thirumUlam day by submitting unto him, accepting him as his AchAryan, offering him his own sEsha paryankam and more than anything else offering the most glorious thanian “srIsailEsa dhayApAthram dhIbhakthyAdhi guNArNavam, yathIndhra pravaNam vandhE ramya jAmAtharam munim” (ஸ்ரீசைலேச தயாபாத்ரம் தீபக்த்யாதி குணார்ணவம், யதீந்த்ர ப்ரவணம் வந்தே ரம்ய ஜாமாதரம் முநிம்) and propagating the same to all the dhivyadhEsams, etc. namperumAL himself practically demonstrating his anthimOpAya nishtai towards his AchAryan (mAmunigaL) for the whole world to see and follow the same.

To be continued…Full series can be viewed at: https://granthams.koyil.org/anthimopaya-nishtai-english/.

adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan

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