bhagavathvishaya kAlakshEpam – gOmatam sampathkumArAchAryar swamy

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srI:
 

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

 periya perumAL – srIrangam

 

AzhwAr, emperumAnAr, piLLai lOkAchAryar, jIyar

 

bhagavath vishayam generally means any subject matter relating to srIman nArAyaNan. But, in our sath sampradhAyam bhagavath vishayam specifically means thiruvAimozhi and its meanings. srIman nArAyaNan, out of his causeless mercy, blessed nammAzhwAr (and other AzhwArs) with divine blemishless knowledge and devotion. nammAzhwAr, after being blessed by emperumAn, explained the essence of 4 vEdhams through 4 dhivya prabhandhams.
  • thiruviruththam – rig vEdha sAram
  • thiruvAsiriyam – yajur vEdha sAram
  • periya thiruvanthAdhi – atharvaNa vEdha sAram
  • thiruvAimozhi – sAma vEdha sAram
thirumangai AzhwAr presented the essence of vEdha angams (supplementary/parts) through his six dhivya prabhandhams. Other AzhwArs presented the essence upa angams (additional supplementary) through their dhivya prabhandhams. emperumAnAr compiled srIbhAshyam with the help of thiruvAimozhi to explain vEdhAntham precisely.
 
The essence of sAsthram is artha panchakam, i.e., to understand the nature of the five aspects – paramAthmA (God), jIvAthmA (Soul), upAyam (means), upEyam (goal) and virOdhi (hurdle) svarUpams. This artha panchakam is clearly explained in rahasya thrayam, i.e., thirumanthram, dhvayam and charama slOkam. dhivya prabhandhams in general and thiruvAimozhi specifically explains the artha panchakam in a detailed manner. thiruvAimozhi also discusses the divine auspicious qualities of bhagavAn in a great detail. This is why, our pUrvAchAryas spent their time fully engaged in discussing dhivya prabhandham and its meanings.
 
thiruvAimozhi has 5 different vyAkyAnams (commentaries).
padi is a type of measurement – usually one padi means 32 aksharams (letters).

nampiLLai – thiruvallikkENi

 

Of these nampiLLai‘s eedu mahA vyAkyAnam is the most comprehensive and detailed vyAkyAnam for thiruvAimozhi. nampiLLai being an expert in both samskritham and thamizh literature, presents the views of our pUrvAchAryas in relation to sruthi, smruthi, ithihAsams/purANams, etc., in the most relishable and authoritative way.
Out of the divine will, nampiLLai instructs eedu mahA vyAkyAnam to be kept confidential and highlights that in the future, emperumAn himself will reveal the same to everyone through the most apt AchArya. The history of eedu being transmitted from nampiLLai to mAmunigaL can be viewed at https://acharyas.koyil.org/index.php/2013/04/21/eeynni-madhava-perumal/.

 mAmunigaL’s eedu kAlakshEpa gOshti in front of srIranganAthan
maNavALa mAmunigaL learns the eedu mahA vyAkyAnam (and all other vyAkyAnams) through thiruvAimozhi piLLai and becomes fully attached to them. Though he was a great scholar in ubhaya vEdhAntham (samskritham and thamizh vEdhAntham) – he fully spent his energy in rejuvenating aruLicheyal and the various vyAkyAnams. He becomes such an expert in eedu mahA vyAkyAnam that he was famously known as “eettup perukkar” (the one who explains the divine meanings of eedu vyAkyAnam in the most detailed and precise manner). srI ranganAthan, wanting to hear the eedu vyAkyAnam through mAmunigaL, orders mAmunigaL to lecture the divine meanings of thiruvAimozhi with its vyAkyAnams for a whole year, right in front of his main sanctum in periya kOil (srI rangam). mAmunigaL accepts the orders of emperumAn and delivers his lectures with great enthusiasm. He lectures the eedu vyAkyAnam mainly and explains the principles in relation to sruthi, smruthi, ithihAsams/purANams, pAnchArAthram, other vyAkyAnams of thiruvAimozhi and other dhivya prabhandhams, etc. On the auspicious, Ani thirumUlam day, he performs sARRumuRai (completion) of his kAlakshEpam. periya perumAL himself appears as a small boy and submits “srIsailEsa dhayApAthram” thaniyan (a verse of glorification) to mAmunigaL and accepts him as his own AchArya. From then onwards, eedu kAlakshEpam has been carried out by our sath sampradhAya AchAryas regularly.
 
Thus, we have seen the glories of thiruvAimozhi, eedu mahA vyAkyAnam and mAmunigAL. emperumAn has great love for all 3 of them and thus he himself heard the thiruvAimozhi vyAkyAnam through mAmunigaL in periya kOil.
 
It is also common practice to explain thiruppallANdu and kaNNinuN chiru thAmbu vyAkyAnams before explaining thiruvAimozhi.
  • mAmunigaL highlights that “vEdhaththukku Om ennumathu pOl” – just like praNavam (OmkAra) is the essence of vEdham and is thus recited at the beginning of any vEdha pArAyaNam, thiruppallANdu highlights the identity of jIvAthmA and paramAthmA. So, thriuppallANdu is explained first to understand the sambandha gyAnam (knowledge about the relationship between jIvAthmA and paramAthmA).
  • mAmunigaL highlights that “vAyththa thirumanthiraththin madhdhimamAm patham pOl” – just like the “nama:” which explains the upAyam and is in the middle of thirumanthram, kaNNinuN chiru thAmbu explains the upAya gyAnam (knowledge about the means to reach emperumAn).
  • nArAyaNAya sabdham in thirumanthram explains the auspicious qualities of bhagavAn and kainkaryam. thiruvAimozhi is filled with narration of bhagavAn‘s auspicious qualities – every paththu (centum) is focussed on a particular quality of emperumAn, every padhigam (decade) is focussed on a particular quality of emperumAn and even every pAsuram is focussed on a particular quality of emperumAn. So, thiruvAimozhi explains the upEya gyAnam (knowledge about the ultimate goal – performing eternal kainkaryam after being overwhelmed with the auspicious qualities of bhagavAn).
Thus bhagavath vishaya kAlakshEpam means learning the meanings of thiruppallANdu, kaNNinuN chiru thAmbu and thiruvAimozhi with the help of the vyAkyAnams of our pUrvAchAryas.
 
gOmatam srI U. vE. sampathkumArAchAryar swamy comes in the thiruvamsam (family lineage) of mAmunigaL himself. He studied under various scholars of our sath sampradhAyam such as perumAL kOil srI U. vE. prathivAdhi bhayankaram aNNangarAchAryar swamy, vELukkudi srI U. vE.varadhAchAryar swamy, sathAbishEkam srI U. vE.gOvindha narasimhAchAryar swamy, etc. Right from a young age, gOmatam swamy learnt the various aspects of our sath sampradhAyam and devoted a lot of time teaching the same to others. He was appreciated greatly by the above said scholars for his shrewd nature in understanding the principles and presenting it to others.
 
By the divine will of rukmiNi samEtha vEnkatakrishNan emperumAn of thiruvallikkENi, in April 2010, with the initiative of palapUr srI U. vE. vIrarAgavAchAr swamy and acceptance of kOil kandhAdai srI U. vE. thirumaNi appan (dhAsarathy) swamy to host the kAlakshEpam in his thirumALigai, gOmatam swamy commenced the bhagavath vishaya kAlakshEpam in thiruvallikkENi. gOmatam swamy, personally took upon so much hardships to share this divine wealth of knowledge to others. Though he learnt these principles under various scholars, he spent many hours every day preparing for the lectures. Also, he travelled a fair distance and arrived on time (even before us) for the kAlakshEpam. He also emphasised the importance of understanding thirumanthram before going into thiruvAimozhi and explained piLLai lOkAchAryar‘s mumukshuppadi as grantha kAlakshEpam with mAmunigaL‘s vyAkyAnam for the same. Even the most difficult principles, he would explain them in a simple manner so that even some one new to the sampradhAyam can easily understand the same. One of the special qualities of him is to constantly highlight the explanations of scholars/AchAryas from whom he learnt these principles and also credit them for his learnings regularly.
 gOmatam sampathkumArAchAr swamy with scholars
 
Last sunday (Sep 22nd), he performed sARRumuRai (completion) of bhagavath vishaya kAlakshEpam. It was a grand event where many scholars, AchArya purushas and adhyApakas participated. srI U. vE.V V Ramanujam swamy, srI U. vE.N S Krishna iyengar swamy, etc are some of the notable guests. gOmatam swamy explained the meanings of the last 2 pAsurams of thiruvAimozhi and completed his kAlakshEpam. Guests also gave small speeches aptly glorifying gOmatam swamy and his dedication. dhivya prabhandha sARRumuRai and srIpAdha thIrtham followed shortly after the kAlakshEpam.swamy-dhivyadhesa-prasadhams

 gOmatam sampathkumArAchAr swamy with dhivya dhEsa prasAdhams
mAlai/parivattam (garland/vasthrams) prasAdham from various dhivyadhEsams had arrived and gOmatam swamy was honoured with those prasAdhams. prasAdhams from srI rangam, thiruvallikkENi, kAnchipuram, thirukkurungudi, thirumAlirunchOlai, srIvilliputhUr, nava thiruppathi, thirunAngur, srIperumbUthUr, etc., were offered to gOmatam swamy. Finally, vidhwath sambhAvanai was offered to gOmatam swamy which was followed by sumptuous prasAdham to every one attended.
 
We take this opportunity to bow down at the lotus feet of gOmatam swamy and show our gratitude to gOmatam swamy for dedicating his time and effort in performing this wonderful bhagavath vishaya kAlakshEpam over the past 3 years. We also thank thirumaNi appan (dhAsarathy) swamy for graciously accommodating this grantha kAlakshEpam in his thirumALigai.Full Set of pictures of the sARRumuRai event:

adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan

archived in https://granthams.koyil.org, also visit https://acharyas.koyil.org, https://sriperumbuthur.blogspot.comSource: The first part of this article explaining the glories of bhagavath vishayam is based on articles by srI U. vE. TA krishNamAchAryar swamy and vELukkudi srI U. vE. varadhAchAryar swamy published in srIrangadhanam by srI U. vE. kOil AthAn ranganAthan swamy.

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