SrI rAmAnuja vaibhavam

by
SrI:  SrImathE SatakOpAya nama:  SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama:  SrImath varavaramunayE nama:  SrI vAnAchala mahAmunayE nama:
mAmunigaL states in upadhEsa raththina mAlai
that our sath sampradhAyam is named as emperumAnAr dharisanam (rAmAnuja
dharsanam) by SrI ranganAthan himself so that everyone will forever remember
the contributions of emperumAnAr towards this eternal sampradhAyam. SrI
rAmAnuja was neither the founder of this sath sampradhAyam nor the only AchArya
of this sampradhAyam. But he anchored the sampradhAyam so firmly that it will
remain afloat forever which is why he is greatly glorified. If attempted, one
can some how try to comprehend and speak the glories of emperumAn. But
emperumAnAr’s glories are so limitless that, it is difficult for any one to
fully comprehend and speak about them too. But we are blessed to have his
sambandham through our glorious guru paramparai and with that strength let us
enjoy emperumAnAr’s glories, little by little.

Birth and early days

In
the well known slOkam “anantha: prathamam
rUpam lakshmaNascha thatha: param balabhadhras thruthIyasthu kalau kaschidh
bhavishyathi”,
Adhi
sEshan’s different forms in different yugas are explained and his incarnation
in kali yuga is also predicted. It is established in charamOpAya nirNayam that SrI rAmAnuja is that kali yuga avathAram of Adhi sEshan.
In
rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi, amudhanAr glorifies emperumAnAr’s birth as that which is
even greater than emperumAn’s birth by saying “maNmisai yOnigaL thORum piRanthu engaL mAdhavanE kaNNuRa niRkilum
kANagillA ulagOrgaLellAm aNNal irAmAnusan vandhu thOnRiya appozhuthE naNNaru
gyAnam thalaikkoNdu nAraNaRkAyinarE”. mAmunigaL explains this as “Even when
our master SrIman nArAyaNan himself appeared in various forms in this world,
worldly people did not accept him as master. But as soon as emperumAnAr
appeared in this world (and explained SrI bhAshyam, etc), the worldly people
understood the true knowledge and became real servitors of bhagavAn”.
mAmunigaL  also glorifies the birth of SrI rAmAuja in
his Arthi prabandham as “enaippOl pizhai
seyvAr ivvulagil uNdo, unaippOl poRukka vallAr uNdO anaiththulagum vAzhap piRantha ethirAsa mAmunivA Ezhaikku irangAy ini”
which means “Is there any one like me to commit mistakes and is there anyone
like you to forbear them? Oh king of mendicants who appeared to uplift all!
please help me”.
From
these, we can understand that bhagavath rAmAnuja appeared to eliminate the
sorrows of all and uplift them to the spiritual realm to serve emperumAn
eternally.
He was born as the son of kEsava sOmayAjiyAr and kAnthimathi
ammAL. periya thirumalai nambi, his maternal uncle names him “iLaiyAzhwAr” and
initiates him in SrIvaishNavam by performing thApa samskAram to him.
In his early days, he studied vEdhAntham under yAdhavaprakAsa who
was a proponent of a school of thought named “bhEdhAbhEdham” (brahmam/AthmA
being simultaneously different and same). A question may arise – why should he
study under a scholar of a different school of thought? Our elders explain that
he did that to understand their philosophy thoroughly to expose the defects in
them and establish visishtAdhvaitha (qualified monism) school of thought. This
principle can be understood by seeing how periyavAchchAn piLLai glorifies his
Acharya nampiLLai in his vyAkyAnam for periya thirumozhi 5.8.7 while explaining
“anthaNan oruvan” (unique brAhmaNa).
He says “muRpada dhvayaththaik kEttu,
ithihAsa purANangaLaiyum athigariththu, parapaksha prathikshEpaththukkudalAga
nyAyamImAmsaikaLum athigariththu, pOthupOkkum aruLicheyalilEyAmpadi
piLLaiyaippOlE athigarippikka vallavanaiyirE oruvan enbathu” (One who hears
dhvayam first, then learns purANams and ithihAsams, learns nyAyam and mImAmsai
to win over other philosophies through debate and spends all his time in
learning and teaching AzhwAr’s aruLicheyal and its meanings like nampiLLai can
be said as a unique scholar). From this we can understand the importance of
learning pUrva paksham (arguments of other philosophers) for establishing one’s
own sidhdhAntham.
During SrI rAmAnuja’s study under yAdhavaprakASa, some
disagreements arise between them. SrI rAmAnuja was also gaining popularity due
to his astute knowledge in philosophy and the ability to explain the same to
others. Unable to bear the rise of SrI rAmAnuja’s stature, yAdhavaprakASa’s
disciples plot to kill him during a yAthrA to kASi. But with the timely advice
of gOvindha (who will become embAr in future), rAmAnuja escapes their plot and
returns back to kAnchIpuram with the help of perundhEvith thAyAr and SrI
varadharAjap perumAL (dhEvap perumAL) who appear in the guise of a hunter
couple to guide SrI rAmAnuja during his escape in the forest. 

 

Undergoing
pancha samskAram

At this time, SrI rAmAnuja meets thirukkachchi nambi in
kAnchIpuram who is a confidante of dhEvap perumAL. nambi, a native of
pUvirunthavalli, serves dhEvap perumAL by fanning him regularly. He is a dear
disciple of yAmunAchArya. dhEvap perumAL had great affinity towards nambi that
he would regularly converse with him. SrI rAmAnuja accepts the guidance of
nambi and becomes engaged in fetching water from a nearby well everyday for
dhEvap perumAL. By this time, SrI rAmAnuja is married to rakshakAmbAL and
settled in kAnchIpuram. When he had some doubts and wanting to clarify with
dhEvap perumAL, he requests nambi to find out the answers for his doubts
(without spelling out what they are) from perumAL. nambi highlights SrI
rAmAnuja’s situation to perumAL and perumAL readily gives 6 instructions
through nambi to SrI rAmAnuja. They are:
●          I am the Supreme
●          jIvAthmA (soul)
and paramAthmA (God) are distinct and not the same
●          Total surrender is
the means to attain me
●          Such surrendered
persons need not think about me during their last moments (I will think
          about them)
●          At the end of this
life, such surrendered persons will be liberated
●          Accept mahA pUrNa
(periya nambi) as your AchArya
This incident ends up being the defining moment in SrI rAmAnuja’s
life.
thirukkachchi nambi explains the six instructions of dhEvap
perumAL to SrI rAmAnuja and enquires if it matches SrI rAmAnuja’s thinking. SrI
rAmAnuja offers his obeisances to nambi and confirms the same. nambi becomes
amazed at the synchronization of emperumAn’s and SrI rAmAnuja’s divine minds.
After hearing these instructions, SrI rAmAnuja starts his journey towards
SrIrangam to meet periya nambi.
periya nambi is one the prime Sishyas of ALavandhAr (yAmunAchArya)
who was the grand son of nAthamunigaL. Earlier, ALavandhAr, who was the
foremost leader of the sampradhAyam, graced SrI rAmAnuja during one of his
visits to kAnchIpuram and blessed him to become the great preceptor. SrI
rAmAnuja too, having heard about ALavandhAr, wanted to become his disciple. But
during his previous visit to SrI rangam to meet ALavandhAr, by the time SrI
rAmAnuja reaches the banks of cauvery river, ALavandhAr ascended to
paramapadham with three unfulfilled desires viz., 1) showing gratitude towards
vyAsa and parAsara rishis, 2) showing gratitude towards nammAzhwAr and 3)
having a commentary written for brahma sUthram. On seeing ALavandhAr’s divine
final form with 3 folded fingers, SrI rAmAnuja vows to fulfill those desires and
immediately the fingers become unfolded. SrI rAmAnuja, then dejectedly returns
to kAnchIpuram to continue his kainkaryam. Subsequently in SrIrangam,
SrIvaishNavas request periya nambi to bring SrI rAmAnuja into the fold through
initiation and nurture him to be the next leader. periya nambi, starts his
journey towards kAnchIpuram with the intent of accepting SrI rAmAnja as his
disciple.
They both meet at madhurAnthakam, a town located close to
kAnchIpuram. When SrI rAmAnuja arrives at the Eri kAththa perumAL temple, he
sees periya nambi with his family there, offers his obeisances and requests
nambi to accept him as a disciple. periya nambi indicates that they could all
go to kAnchIpuram and have it done there. But SrI rAmAnuja says that there is
so much volatility in this world that he lost the opportunity to become a
disciple of ALavandhAr and he does not want such things to happen again. So, he
insist nambi to perform pancha samskAram immediately and nambi obliges. Thus
SrI rAmAnuja personally demonstrated the importance of taking shelter of an
AchArya in the proper manner as directed in SAsthram. They all reach
kAnchIpuram after that and periya nambi along with his family decides to stay
there for some time.
periya nambi is welcomed by thirukkachchi nambi at kAnchIpuram and
he performs mangaLASAsanam to dhEvap perumAL. Subsequently, SrI rAmAnuja
facilitates periya nambi to stay in one portion of his residence. periya nambi
stays there with his family for six months and teaches dhivya prabandham,
rahasyams etc

 

Accepting
sanyAsa ASramam 

Once, when a SrIvaishNava visits SrI rAmAnuja’s residence and says
he was hungry, he asks his wife to give him some food but his wife says there
is none left. The SrIvaishNava leaves dejected and when SrI rAmAnuja goes to
the kitchen he finds lots of food remnants. He becomes very angry and shows
that anger to his wife. Previously too, rakshakAmbAL (SrI rAmAnuja’s wife)
behaved improperly towards thirukkachchi nambi. When SrI rAmAnuja invited
thirukkachchi nambi to his residence to consume prasAdham of which he could
accept the remnants, his wife feeds nambi but throws out the remnants and
sanctifies the place where nambi accepted prasAdham without understanding
nambi’s greatness and SrI rAmAnuja’s desire. Finally, once there occurs a
quarrell between rakshakAmbAL and periya nambi’s wife while fetching water from
the well. periya nambi, being deeply offended, with his family, leaves to
SrIrangam quietly without informing SrI rAmAnuja. SrI rAmAnuja learns about it
later and becomes deeply hurt.
He at once became very firmly situated in his mission of total
commitment to bhagavAn and thus decided to take up the renunciate order of
sanyAsa ASramam. He performed a sacred bath in anantha saras tank in
kAnchIpuram dhEvap perumAL temple, went to dhEvap perumAL, accepted him as
AchArya and requested him to present him thridhaNdam, kAshAyam etc which are
suitable for sanyAsis. dhEvap perumAL acknowledged SrI rAmAnuja’s desire,
presented him sanyAsa ASramam, named him “rAmAnuja muni” and gave him a mutt
too. On hearing this mudhaliyNdAn and kUraththAzhwAn swiftly reached
kAnchIpuram and accepted pancha samskAram from him and started serving him
constantly. yAdhavaprakASa too, becomes a Sishya of him, on the advise of his
mother. Thus SrI rAmAnuja became rAmAnuja muni and started conducting sanyAsa
life in a glorious manner.
SrI rAmAnuja becomes to be famously known as yathirAja (king of
ascetics), magnanimously accepts yAdhavaprakASa as his disciple, initiates him
into the sanyAsa ASramam (ascetic order) and names him gOvindha jIyar.  He
also makes him write a detailed treatise named “yathi dharma samuchchayam”
which is considered as the authority for the conduct of SrIvaishNava sanyAsis.
This shows the magnanimous nature of SrI rAmanuja who accepted yAdhavaprakASa
(who even tried to kill him earlier) and engaged him in valuable kainkaryam.
Statying in kAnchIpuram, He teaches essential portions of SAsthram
to kUraththAzhwAn and mudhaliyANdAn.

Arriving in SrIrangam

SrIranganAtha, wanting to bring SrI rAmAnuja to SrIrangam to
nurture the sampradhAyam into great heights, sends a request to kAnchIpuram SrI
varadharAja to send SrI rAmAnuja over. SrI varadharAja does not heed to SrI
ranganAtha’s request. Plotting a trap, SrIranganAtha sends thiruvarangap
perumAL araiyar over to kAnchIpuram to sing divine songs in front of SrI
varadharAja, please him and accept SrI ramAnja as the prize. araiyar reaches
kAnchipuram, approaches emperumAn through thirukkachchi nambi, sings in front
of SrI varadharAja and emperumAn becomes mesmerized by araiyar’s singing. He
then says “Whatever you ask for, that shall be granted”. At once, araiyar asks
emperumAn to send SrI rAmAnuja along with him to SrIrangam. emperumAn becomes
very morose that he had to lose the company of SrI rAmanuja – but since he had
given the word, he sends yathirAja along with araiyar.
On reaching SrIrangam, araiyar and yathirAja get a cheerful
welcome. They both go to periya perumAL (SrIranganAtha mUlavar) and periya
perumAL receives them with great joy. He bestows the title “udaiyavar” (owner
of both spiritual and material realm) to yathirAja, allocates him a mutt to
stay and orders him to reform the temple activities fully. He also assures
liberation for all those who are related to SrI rAmanuja. udaiyavar, feeling
greatly indebted to periya nambi, thanks him. periya nambi too feels great joy
in seeing good times ahead for the sampradhAyam. udaiyavar then starts
reforming the temple activities with great expertise spending his time in SrIrangam.
SrI rAmAnuja, thus stays in SrIrangam and manages the temple
activities efficiently. Wanting to reform gOvindha (his cousin who saved his
life when they were going on a pilgrimage along with yAdhavaprakASa) who became
a devotee of Siva and stayed in kALahasthi, SrI rAmAnuja requests periya
thirumalai nambi to instruct him and bring him back to our sampradhAyam. periya
thirumalai nambi visits kALahasthi and intercepts gOvindha who had become an
ardent devotee of Siva and was serving him sincerely. He explains the supremacy
of SrIman nArAyaNan based on ALavandhAr’s teachings in sthOthra rathnam and
dhivya prabandha pAsurams. On hearing those instructions a few times,
gOvindha’s mind becomes purified and he gives up his attachment to rudhra and
at once falls at the lotus feet of periya thirumalai nambi. nambi, accepts him
with great happiness, performs pancha samskAram to him and brings him along.
gOvindha stays with nambi in thirumalA, learns all the essential meanings and
fully serve nambi. Eventually gOvindha would come back to SrIrangam to
permanently stay with SrI rAmAnuja (we would see this in subsequent episodes).

His AchAryas

SrI rAmAnuja then goes periya nambi’s thirumALigai (residence) and
requests him to teach him all the important topics. nambi being pleased,
teaches the divine meanings of the most divine dhvaya mahA manthram to SrI
rAmAnuja. He then instructs SrI rAmAnuja “there is still more to learn in this
topic; please go to ALavandhAr’s dear disciple thirukkOshtiyUr nambi and learn
that from him”.
SrI rAmAnuja at once ventures to the divine town thirukkOshtiyUr.
On entering the town, he asks the whereabouts of thirukkOshtiyUr nambi’s
thirumALigai to the residents of the town. Once they showed the direction, he
reaches the thirumALigai by fully offering praNAmams (obeisances) at every step
to the astonishment of the residents of the town who came to know the glories
of nambi then. SrI rAmAnuja falls flat at the lotus feet of nambi and prays him
to teach the confidential meanings. But nambi does not show much interest to
teach him the meanings and thus SrI rAmAnuja returns dejected to SrIrangam.
After SrI rAmAnuja returns to
SrIrangam, he longs to learn the secret teachings from thirukkOshtiyUr nambi.
nambi once visits SrIrangam and while returning back, namperumAL orders nambi
to instruct the secret teachings to SrI rAmAnuja. nambi says to namperumAL that
according to SAsthram, these secret meanings cannot be instructed to those who
have not rendered dedicated service. namperumAL says that as SrI rAmAnuja has
all qualifications to be a good Sishya, there is nothing wrong in instructing
him. nambi then tells SrI rAmAnuja to come and visit thirukkOshtiyUr to learn
the meanings. SrI rAmAnuja then visits thirukkOshtiyUr and nambi asks him to
come again later. This happens for 18 times. Unable to bear the situation, SrI
rAmAnuja informs through a Sishya of thirukkOshtiyUr nambi that he desperately
wants to learn those meanings. Finally nambi agrees to teach those meanings and
SrI rAmAnuja learns to the secret meanings of gIthA charama SlOkam. nambi
requests SrI rAmAnuja not to reveal the meanings to undeserving individuals.
But SrI rAmAnuja reveals the meanings to those who desire to know the same.
Hearing this nambi becomes furious and summons SrI rAmAnuja. SrI rAmAnuja
explains to nambi that by those who learned the secret meanings would be
greatly benefited by gaining true knowledge. Understanding the magnanimous
nature of SrI rAmAnuja, nambi hails him as “emperumAnAr” (greater than emperumAn
SrIman nArAyaNan). Subsequently, our sampradhAyam too become to be popularly
known as “emperumAnAr dharisanam” (SrI rAmAnuja dharSanam). emperumAnAr then
teaches the secret meanings to kUraththAzhwAn and mudhaliyANdAn too on their
request.
Subsequently, thirukkOshtiyUr
nambi instructs thirumAlai ANdAn to teach the meanings of thiruvAimozhi to
emperumAnAr. emperumAnAr enthusiastically starts learning all the necessary
meanings from ANdAn. Few times, ANdAn and emperumAnAr end up with different
opinions on certain pAsurams and while learning thiruvAimozhi 2.3.3 “aRiyAk
kAlaththuLLE” pAsuram, ANdAn becomes upset with emperumAnAr giving different
meaning and stops his lecture. thirukkOshtiyUr nambi hears about the incident
and at once rushes to SrIrangam. He explains the greatness of emperumAnAr to
ANdAn and instructs him to continue the lectures whatever it takes to do so.
ANdAn agrees and continues his lectures to emperumAnAr. Yet again, there was a
disagreement and emperumAnAr says “ALavandhAr would not explain like this”.
ANdAn asks “How would you know if you have never met ALavandhAr?” and
emperumAnAr says “I am like Ekalavya for ALavandhAr”. Hearing that ANdAn
realizes thirukkOshtiyUr nambi’s description of emperumAnAr’s stature matches
what he hears from emperumAnAr himself. He then realizes that emperumAnAr is a
special incarnation and feels that he would hear those meanings which he may
have missed to hear from ALavandhAr directly and treats emperumAnAr with great
respect.
After completing
thiruvAimozhi lecture series, he goes back to periya nambi and periya nambi
instructs emperumAnAr to go and serve thiruvarangap perumAL araiyar and learn
some confidential meanings from him. emperumAnAr goes to araiyar and sincerely
serves him for 6 months by preparing milk and grinding turmeric paste. Once the
turmeric paste that was submitted by emperumAnAr was not pleasing enough to
araiyar and araiyar reveals his displeasure. emperumAnAr at once prepares a new
batch and submits that for the full pleasure of araiyar. Araiyar being very
pleased, instructs the confidential principle of “charamOpAyam” (the ultimate
means) of being fully dependent on the AchArya for everything.
One
may wonder why emperumAnAr should learn from many AchAryas,. Just like a king
would appoint many of his ministers to groom the prince, ALavandhAr gave wealth
of knowledge to many of his Sishyas and ordered them to teach that knowledge to
emperumAnAr at the right time. All these Sishyas of ALavandhAr too had great
attachment and respect towards SrI rAmAnuja, since he was very dear to
ALavandhAr himself. That is why the AchAryas before emperumAnAr gained great
fame by being the AchArya of emperumAnAr himself and needless to say,
empermAnAr’s Sishyas achieved great fame due to their connection with him. Just
like a center-piece in a necklace would add glory to both the sides of the
necklace, emperumAnAr adds glory to both AchAryas before and after him.

gadhya thrayam recital

Subsequently,
emperumAnAr recites gadhya thrayam on a wonderful panguni uthram day in front
of SrI ranganAyaki and SrI ranganAthan in SrIrangam. He also compiles nithya
grantham which details the method of worshiping emperumAn at home.
At
this time, emperumAnAr was accepting bhikshai (food by alms) in SrIrangam and
consuming them. Some people who did not like his reforms in the SrIrangam
temple, arrange for one of the women to give poisoned rice to him. She
unwillingly follows the order and shows great discomfort while offering alms to
emperumAnAr. emperumAnAr realising somethng is not wrong, throws out that food
in to the cauvery river and starts fasting. thirukkOshtiyUr nambi hears about
this incident and at once rushes to SrIrangam. emperumAnAr goes to welcome him
in very hot sunny day to the banks of cauvery. Seeing nambi, he falls flat on
ground and offers his obeisances and wait for nambi to order him to rise up.
nambi hesitates for a moment and kidAmbi AchchAn, a disciple of emperumAnAr, at
once lifts up emperumAnAr saying to nambi “how can you let such great AchArya
suffer in this heat?”. nambi said to AchchAn “I have found that you are the
best person to care for him since you lifted him even disrespecting me. So, you
should prepare his prasAdham every day”. This way, everyone showed their care
and concern towards emperumAnAr.

Defeating yagya mUrthi

Once
a great mAyAvAdha scholar named yagya mUrthi who won over many scholars in
vAraNAsi and became a sanyAsi there and had great wealth of accolades and
disciples, heard about the glories of SrI rAmAnuja and arrived in SrIrangam. He
challenged SrI rAmAnuja for a debate. SrI rAmAnuja agreed for the debate. Yagya
mUrthi said “If I lost the debate, I will carry your sandals on my head, accept
your name and embrace your philosophy”. udaiyavar said “If I lost I will give
up indulging in literary efforts”. Both had a fierce debate which went on for
17 days. On the 17th day, yagya mUrthi started winning and left with great
pride. SrI rAmnuja became aggrieved and said to his peraruLALap perumAL (his
mutt deity) “The great sampradhAyam which was nurtured by stalwarts from AzhwAr
to ALavandhAr is losing ground because of me; now it is being destroyed by a
mAyAvAdhi; if this is your desire, so be it” and go to rest without consuming
prasAdham. In the night, perumAL appeared in his dream and instructed him to
use the works of ALavandhAr and win over yagya mUrthi. Waking up, SrI rAmAnuja
became rejuvenated, performed his daily routines and took leave from his mutt
perumAL. Seeing his majestic arrival, yagya mUrthi being very knowledgeable,
realises the divine intervention in the matter and at once falls at his divine
feet and declares “I have lost the debate”. Being surprised, SrI rAmAnuja asks
“don’t you want to debate further” and yagya mUrthi says “Since periya perumAL
have spoken to you, I have understood that you are not different from periya
perumAL himself. I cannot open my mouth in your presence any more”. Still SrI
rAmAnuja explains the great qualities of brahmam and destroys the mAyAvAdha
principles. yagya mUrthi, being convinced breaks his EkadhaNdam (the single stick,
which are carried by mAyavAdha sanyAsis) and requests SrI rAmAnuja to confer
him thridhaNda sanyAsam (the ascetic order of SrIvaishNava sampradhAyam). In
remembrance of pEraruLALap perumAL’s divine intervention and fulfilling yagya
mUrthi’s vow of accepting his name, SrI rAmAnuja names him “aruLALAp perumAL
emperumAnAr”. He personally teaches his him dhivya prabandham and the in-depth
meanings. aruLALAp perumAL emperumAnAr stays with emperumAnAr thereafter and be
greatly devoted to him.

thirumalA
yAthrA and kainkaryams

udaiyavar
continues to teach AzhwAn, ANdAn, aruLALAp perumAL emperumAnAr et al, in a
grand manner in SrIrangam. Many scholars hear about the glories of udaiyavar
and arrive at SrIrangam to take shelter of him. When ananthAzhwAn, echchAn,
thoNdanUr nambi and marudhUr nambi arrive to accept udaiyavar as AchArya, he
directs them to become disciple of aruLALAp perumAL emperumAnAr. They happily
do so and aruLALAp perumAL emperumAnAr instructs them to be fully dependent on
emperumAnAr’s lotus feet.
Subsequently,
udaiyavar was lecturing the meanings for thiruvAimozhi. When he started
explaining “ozhivil kAlam” decad, he asked “if there is anyone willing to go to
thirumalA thiruppathi to setup a garden and prepare garlands everyday for thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn”.
ananthAzhwAn at once raises and agrees to take up this kainkaryam. emperumAnAr
blesses him to do so. ananthAzhwAn goes to thirumalA, constructs a garden and a
pond, names the garden “irAmAnusan” and starts serving thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn.
Udaiyavar
too wanting to go on a pilgrimage, requests namperumaL permission for the same.
On receiving permission, he then travels to thirumalA after performing
mangaLASAsanam at thirukkOvalUr and kAnchIpuram.
udaiyavar started travelling towards
thirumalA thiruppathi along with his disciples and at one point they lost the
route. He noticed a farmer and asked him the route. As the farmer explained the
route clearly, udaiyavar became overwhelmed with gratitude and offered him
obeisances considering him to be amAnavan (one who leads us in the path to
SrIvaikuNtam). He finally reached thiruppathi and at the foothills worships the
AzhwArs. He stays in thiruppathi for some time, accepting the king as his
disciple and settling many of his Sishyas there. Hearing this news,
ananthAzhwAn and many others come and welcome udaiyavar and ask him to climb
the hill to perform mangaLASAsanam to thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn. At first he refuses
citing AzhwArs who have not climbed the hill due to its sanctity, but as the
Sishyas insist, he goes to the foothill, bathes there to purify himself and
climbs the hill with great subservience as he would climb the divine throne of
emperumAn in paramapadham.
On arrival, thirumalai nambi welcomes him
with honours from thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn. udaiyavar, feeling awkward that
thirumalai nambi who is one his AchAryas, arrive to welcome him, asks “did you
not find some common person who is not very superior like you to welcome me?”
and nambi humbly replies “as I searched around I did not find any one inferior
to me”. Udaiyavar and his Sishyas became amazed hearing that. Subsequently, all
jeeyars, EkAngis, temple kainkaryaparas et al come and welcome udaiyavar.
Udaiyavar then goes around the temple, bathes in swAmi pushkaraNi, applies
dhvAdhaSa Urdhva puNdrams, worships varAha perumAL, enters the main temple,
worships sEnai mudhaliyAr and performs mangaLASAsanam to thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn.
He then decides to return to thiruppathi (foothill) as he said that this is the
abode of nithyasUris and we cannot stay there in the night. But nambi and
others convince him to stay there for 3 days. Udaiyavar obliges and stays there
without consuming any praSAdham and simply by enjoying the divine beauty of
thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn. He then seeks permission from thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn to
leave and at that time emperumAn re-affirms udaiyavar as the owner of both
nithya vibhUthi and leelA vibhUthi and bids him farewell.
He then leaves thirumalA and stays in
thiruppathi for the next one year. He learns SrI rAmAyaNam from thirumalai nambi
during this time with the in-depth meanings of the same. At the end of the
lecture series, he seeks permission from nambi to return to SrIrangam. Nambi
wants to offer some gift to udaiyavar, and udaiyavar prays that gOvindhap
perumAL (who is serving thirumalai nambi with great dedication) is sent along
with him to assist him in his efforts to establish the sampradhAyam. Nambi
happily sends gOvindhap perumAL along with udaiyavar and udaiyavar starts his
journey towards SrIrangam.
udaiyavar along with gOvindhap perumAL
reaches gadikAchalam (Sholingur) and performs mangaLASAsanam to akkArak kani
emperumAn. Then they reach thirupputkuzhi and perform mangaLASAsanam to jatAyu
mahArAjar, maragaathavalli thAyAr and vijayarAgavan emperumAn. Then they visit
various dhivya dhESams around kAnchi and arrive in front of thirukkachchi
nambi. In the mean time, gOvindhap perumAL became very pale due to his
suffering in separation of his AchArya periya thirumalai nambi. Understanding
his grief, udaiyavar tells him to go and have dharSan of his AchArya and sends
him along with a couple of SrIvaishNavas. He remains in kAnchIpuram and
worships dhEvAdhirAjan emperumAn along with thirukkachchi nambi. gOvindhap
perumAL reaches thirumalai nambi’s residence and waits at the entrance as the
doors were shut. When on-lookers informed thirumalai nambi about gOvindhap
perumAL’s arrival, he refuses to open the door and tells him to return to
udaiyavar and consider him as the only refuge. gOvindhap perumAL fully
understanding his AchArya’s divine will, returns to udaiyavar.  The SrIvaishNavas who accompanied gOvindhap
perumAL narrated the incidents to udaiyavar and he became very pleased on
hearing the insturctions of thirumalai nambi.

Back in
SrIrangam

Subsequently, they leave kAnchIpuram and
arrive at SrIrangam. They were welcomed ceremoniously by the local
SrIvaishNavas and udaiyavar goes to periya perumAL in proper sequence (of
sannidhis). periya perumAL welcomes him with great love, enquires about his
journey, offers his honours such as thIrtham, SrI SatakOpam etc. Then,
udaiyavar mercifully conducts his routines teaching everyone in SrIrangam about
the great philosophy etc.
gOvindhap perumAL too joyfully
participates in the kAlakshEpams (lectures) and kainkaryams. When once a few SrIvaishNavas
were praising gOvindhap perumAL, he acknowledged the same and felt happy.
Seeing that, udaiyavar tells him “When some one praises you, you cannot simply
accept it. Instead you should say that you are not qualified to receive any
praises”. Hearing this, gOvindhap perumAL replied “I was in kALahasthi in a
lowly state. If any one praises me, that is because of your great compassion
which reformed me and brought me to this state – so all the praises really
belong to you only”. emperumAnAr heard this and approved gOvindhap perumAL’s
great nishtai. He then embraces gOvindhap perumAL saying “You pass of your good
qualities to me also”. gOvindhap perumAL was very detached from all aspects of
worldly pleasure and emperumAnAr finally orders him to take up sanyAsASramam.
gOvindhap perumAL accepts sanyAsASramam and was named by emperumAnAr as embAr.
Subsequently, aruLALap perumaL
emperumAnAr composes gyAna sAram and pramEya sAram which brings out the essence
of our sampradhAyam.

kAshmIr
yAthrA and SrI bhAshyam

Wanting to establish vEdhAntha principles
clearly, emperumAnAr along with kUraththAzhwAn and other Sishyas goes to
kAshmir to get bhOdhAyana vruththi grantham (a commentary for brahma sUthram).
He collects the same and starts heading towards SrIrangam. On the way, some
miscreants from kAshmir snatches the grantham and run away. emperumAnAr becomes
grief-stricken since he had not read the grantham fully but kUraththAzhwAn
consoled him and said that he had fully read the same while emperumAnAr was
resting. After returning to SrIrangam, emperumAnAr orders AzhwAn to document
the commentary for brahma sUthram as dictated by him. He tells AzhwAn that if
ever there is disagreement in the principles explained, AzhwAn can stop
writing. Once, while explaining the true nature of AthmA, emperumAnAr explains
it to be gyAthruthvam (abode of knowledge) without emphasis on SEshathvam
(servitude). AzhwAn stops writing since gyAnam about SEshathvam is most
important nature of AthmA. emperumAnAr becomes angry and insists AzhwAn to
write what he says. AzhwAn still refuses and emperumAnAr manifests his anger
greatly. When others ask AzhwAn what he thought about emperumAnAr’s actions,
AzhwAn simply said “He is the owner and I am the owned. He can do whatever he
wants to me”. After a while, emperumAnAr analyzes the situation, realizes his
mistake, asks AzhwAn for forgiveness and continues dictating with the proper
meaning. In this manner, SrI bhAshyam, vEdhAntha dhIpam, vEdhAntha sAram,
vEdhArtha sangraham, gIthA bhAshyam were blessed by emperumAnAr and thus
eliminated the grief of ALavandhAr who wanted these principles to be clearly
explained.

dhivya
dhESa yAthrA

The SrIvaishNavas approached udaiyavar and told him “Your highness
have established our philosophy and defeated other philosophies. Now, please go
on a pilgrimage and worship the various dhivya dhESams too”. Agreeing with
them, udaiyavar goes along with them to namperumAL and prays for his permission
to commence his pilgrimage. namperumAL gives permission to do so.
Along with many SrIvaishNavas, udaiyavar commences his pilgrimage
and visits many dhivya dhESams and kshEthrams across the bhAratha dhESam. He
starts with chOLa nAdu and visits thirukkudanthai and many dhivya dhESams in
that region. He then visits thirumAlirunchOlai and other temples, goes to
thiruppullANi and visits sEthu samudhram, and arrives in AzhwArthirunagari. He
performs mangaLASAsanam to nammAzhwAr polindhu ninRa pirAn. nammAzhwAr becomes
very pleased on seeing emperumAnAr and gives him all honors. udaiyavar then
visits all other temples in nava thiruppathi. All along he defeats many
opposing philosophers and establishes viSishtAdhvaitha philosophy.
He then arrives at thirukkuRungudi. nambi welcomes udaiyavar and
speaks to him through archakar. He asks “While I was not able to gather many
disciples even after descending in various incarnations, how are you able to
reform many?”. udaiyavar says “I can explain it to you only if you ask as a
disciple”. At once, nambi, offers a simhAsanam to udaiyavar and stands next to
him submissively. udaiyavar sits next to the throne, meditating upon his
AchArya periya nambi on the throne and explains the greatness of dhvaya mahA
manthram to nambi and tells him that it is through the power of dhvaya mahA manthram
he convinces everyone to accept this sacred path. nambi becomes very pleased
and accepts SrI rAmAnuja as his AchArya and emperumAnAr happily names him
“SrIvaishNava nambi|”.
Subsequently, udaiyavar goes to thiruvaNparisAram, thiruvAttARu
and thiruvananthapuram. He establishes a mutt in thiruvananthapuram and wins
over many philosophers in that region. He then worships the emperumAns in other
dhivya dhESams in the region and goes along the west coast and reaches northern
part of bhAratha dhESam. He performs mangaLASAsanam at mathurA, SALagrAmam,
dhvArakA, ayOdhyA, bhadhrikASram, naimiSAraNyam, pushkaram and also visits
gOkulam, gOvardhanam, vrindhAvanam etc., and defeats many scholars of various
other philosophies.
He then arrives at kashmIr and goes to sarasvathI bhaNdAram
(literary center) which is presided over by sarasvathI dhEvi herself. She
herself welcomes udaiyavar and asks him to explain the meaning of “thasya yathA
kapyAsam” SlOkam from chAndhOgya upanishath [It is this SlOkam which caused rift
between Sri rAmAnuja in his childhood with his teacher yAdhava prakASa].
udaiyavar gives detailed explanation for that and establishes the proper
meaning of the same. sarasvathi becomes very pleased with that explanation and
holds his SrI bhAshyam (commentary for brahma sUthram) on her head and praises
him. She then glorifies him with the title “SrI bhAshyakArar” and presents him
a deity of SrI hayagrIva. When udaiyavar asked why she was so delighted, she
says, previously Sankara visited her and when she enquired the meaning for the
same SlOkam, he was unable to explain it precisely and gave an incoherent
explanation. She said “since you explained the correct meaning which pleases
me, I am so delighted”. The scholars who witnessed this became agitated and
came to debate with him. He defeated all of them in debate and established the
philosophy. Seeing this, the king becomes amazed and becomes a disciple of
udaiyavar. The defeated scholars become angry and they try to kill udaiyavar
through black magic. But it backfires and they start fighting each other. The
king comes and requests udaiyavar to save them all and finally they become
pacified and they all become disciples of udaiyavar.
He then travels to vAraNAsi, takes a holy dip in gangA and
worships kaNdamennum kadi nagaram dhivya dhESam.. He then arrives at
purushuOththama dhAmam (jagannAtha puri) and performs mangaLASAsanam to
jagannAthan emperumAn. He defeats the mAyAvAdha philosophers and establishes a
mutt in there. He then visits SrI kUrmam, simhAdhri and ahObilam.
He finally arrives at thiruvEnkatam. At that time, some Saivas
were causing a dispute saying the main deity thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn is rudhra.
udaiyavar then says “You can place the weapons/symbols that are unique to your
lord and we will place Sanka and chakra in front of him. Let the lord himself
decide who he is by picking up the right weapons”. They sent everyone out of
the sanctum, locked it down completely and left for the night. When they came
back and reopened the door in the morning, to the great pleasure of udaiyavar
and other SrIvaishNavas, emperumAn adorned the Sanka and chakra. After that
udaiyavar descended to thiruppathi and started his journey from there.
He then visits kAnchIpuram, thiruvallikkENi, thirunIrmalai and
dhivya dhESams in that region. He then arrives at madhurAnthagam and then
defeats many mAyAvadha scholars in the thoNdai maNdalam. He then visits
thiruvahindhrapuram and kAttumannArkOyil.
In this manner, he visits many dhivya dhESams,
completes his pilgrimage and returns to SrIrangam. He then worships periya
perumAL reciting amalanAdhipirAn. periya perumAL enquires his well-being and
udaiyavar says “we who are constantly meditating upon you, have no worries”. He
continues to reside in SrIrangam and conducts his daily routines mercifully
there.

Birth of bhattars

During this time in SrIrangam, kUraththAzhwAn could not go out for
his alms one day due to rain. He completed his evening anushtAnams and did not
accept any prasAdham. In the night, namperumAL’s temple bell rang indicating
bhOga offerings to him. His wife ANdAL, feeling upset about his husband’s state
told namperumAL “When your devotee is fasting here, you seem to feasting”.
Understanding her feelings, namperumAL at once sends his servitors to AzhwAn’s
residence with his prasAdham. AzhwAn being very surprised on their arrival
looked at his wife and she revealed what happened. AzhwAn was not too pleased
about imposing upon emperumAn for his situation. Yet he accepted 2 handfuls of
prasAdham, took some and gave the remnants to his wife. These two handfuls of
prasAdham eventually lead ANdAL to give birth to two beautiful children. After
11 days of Asoucham, on the 12th day, emperumAnAr along with embAr and other
SrIvaishNavas eagerly arrived at AzhwAn’s residence to bless the children.
emperumAnAr asks embAr to bring the children to him. embAr, took bhattar in his
hand and brought him over. emperumAnAr lovingly takes the child in his hand and
blesses him. He says to embAr “I see some divine glow in this child and smell a
divine fragrance. What did you do?”. embAr replies “I recited dhvaya mahA
manthram as protection for the child”. emperumAnAr says to embAr “Oh, you are
well ahead of me. Let you be the AchArya for this child”. He then names the
child “parASara bhattar” in memory of sage parASara and fulfils his second
obligation to ALavandhAr. He oversees embAr performing samASrayaNam to the
child. He also orders AzhwAn to give parASara bhattar in adoption to periya
perumAL (SrI ranganAthan) and periya pirAttiyAr (SrI ranganAyaki) themselves.
AzhwAn obliges. In his infancy, parASara bhattar was taken care of periya
pirAttiyAr herself and also when bhOgam is kept in front of periya perumAL, he
would put his hand straight in to the pot and eat of it before perumAL does so,
and periya perumAL would joyfully consume the bhOgam after that. bhattar grew
to be most intelligent at a very young age and became the leader of our
sampradhAyam after emperumAnAr and embAr’s days.
embAr’s pUrvASrama brother, siRiya gOvindhap perumAL’s wife begets
a child and emperumAnAr names him “SrI parAnkuSa nambi” in memory of
nammAzhwAr, fulfilling his third obligation to ALavandhAr.
mudhaliyANdAn had great attachment towards emperumAnAr and
emperumAnAr too showed great affection towards him. When he was ordered to go
as the maid-servant for periya nambi’s daughter aththuzhAy, without hesitation,
he followed the orders of emperumAnAr.
When emperumAnAr’s AchArya, periya nambi performed ALavandhAr’s
great Sishya, mARanEr nambi’s final rites, the local SrivaishNavas did not
approve that action since periya nambi was a brAhmaNa and maRanEr nambi was
from an outcaste family. They go and complain to emperumAnAr. emperumAnAr
summons periya nambi and asks for an explanation. periya nambi explains the greatness
of mARanEr nambi and insists that his action was justified. emperumAnAr becomes
pleased and tells everyone that, he was always in agreement with periya nambi,
but only requested explanation from him to convince everyone else.

thirunArAyaNapuram yAthrA

At this time, when everyone was living joyfully in SrIrangam under
the guidance of emperumAnAr, the evil king who had affiliations with Saiva
philosophy desired to establish the supremacy of Siva. He called out for all
scholars and forced them to sign off of Siva’s supremacy. nAlurAn, a Sishya of
AzhwAn, told the king “What is the use of many ignorant people accepting it?
Only if you can get SrI rAmAnuja and AzhwAn to agree upon it, it will become
truth”. Hearing this, the kings sends his soldiers to SrI rAmAnuja’s mutt, to
bring him to the court. At that time SrI rAmanuja had gone for his bathing and
AzhwAn who was at the mutt, understood the intentions of the king, dressed like
SrI rAmAnuja in saffron robes, carries his thridhaNdam and goes to the court
along with the soldiers. On his return to the mutt, SrI rAmAnuja found out
about this, and was warned to leave the place due to imminent danger. He wore
the white robes of AzhwAn and escaped from SrIrangam along with his disciples.
When some soldiers found out about his escape, they started chasing him. But
SrI rAmAnuja picked up some sand, sanctified them and gave that to his
disciples who sprinkled that on the way. The soldiers felt acute pain on
stepping over that sand and withdrew from their chase.
emperumAnAr then statrs travelling towards mElkOte
(thirunArAyaNapuram) which is considered to be a safer location. On the forest
way, they meet some hunters who were instructed and initiated by nallAn
chakravarthi (who is a disciple of emperumAnAr). They welcomed everyone who
have been travelling by foot for 6 days by then and were very hungry. They
enquired about the well-being of emperumAnAr and when the SrIvaishNavas told
them, emperumAnAr is here and showed him, the hunters were blissful. They offered
some honey and millets which were accepted by everyone but emperumAnAr. They
also lead them to nearby village where a brAhmaNa family lived, and provided
raw-materials for their food.
The wife of the brAhmaNa (kongilAchchAn) there offered praNAmams
to everyone and requested them to accept cooked food. The SrIvaishNavas refused
to accept food saying they cannot accept from everyone. She at once said, she
is also a disciple of emperumAnAr and explained that she got initiated by
emperumAnAr when she was in SrIrangam some time ago. She said – Those days when
I was in SrIrangam, the kings and ministers used to come and take the blessings
of emperumAnAr. But he would everyday go to collect alms. I asked him “Why is
this contradiction?” and he said “I give them knowledge about bhagavAn”. I
asked him to give the same instructions to me and he then initiated me into the
sampradhAyam. When we had to return to our home town, I asked for his blessings
and he gave his divine sandals to me. Then we returned here. Hearing all of
these, emperumAnAr (without revealing his identity), told the SrIvaishNavas to
accept food prepared by her. But he told one SrIvaishNava to watch her efforts.
She finished her cooking, went into the pUjA room and meditated in front of the
kOyilAzhwAr (deity room). The SrIvaishNava observed a deity like object which
looked different from normal deities. He informed the same to emperumAnAr.
emperumAnAr then asked her “What did you do inside?”. She replies “I offered my
prayers to the divine sandals given by emperumAnAr to me and offered the food
to them”. He asks her to bring them out and she does so. He realizes that they
are his own. He then asks her “Do you know if emperumAnAr is here?” and she
lights a lamp and checks everyone’s feet. When she looks at emperumAnAr’s
divine feet, she becomes amazed with joy and tells “this looks like
emperumAnAr’s divine feet, but since you are wearing white robes, I am not able
to identify”. emperumAnAr then reveals his identity and asks her to repeat his
instructions. She happily tells them and he then allows everyone to consume the
prasAdham. He himself does not consume, saying that the food was not offered to
bhagavAn. She then offers some fruits, milk and sugar blocks and he offers them
to his perumAL first and then consumes them. She then takes the food remnants
of all the devotees and presents them to her husband but she herself does not
consume the same. When her husband asked why, she says “you have not accepted
emperumAnAr as your AchArya. He has come all the way to our home. Only, if you
promise to accept him, I will consume prasAdham”. He agrees and then she
consumes prasAdham. In the morning, he goes to emperumAnAr and surrenders unto
him. emperumAnAr instructs him and accepts him as Sishya. emperumAnAr then gets
saffron robes and thridhaNdam, stays there for a few days and then starts
travelling further west.
He reaches sALagrAmam, which is filled with baudhdhas and jainas
who ignore him. He orders mudhaliyANdAn to wash his divine feet in the common
pond and everyone who consumed water from that sanctified pond became attracted
towards emperumAnAr. vaduga nambi, accepts emperumAnAr as everything for him
and becomes to be a great example of AchArya bhakthi. He then reaches thoNdanUr
where he cures the daughter of vitala dhEva rAya (the king of the region) who
was possessed by a ghost. The king and the family become disciples of
emperumAnAr and emperumAnAr names the king vishNu vardhana rAya. Hearing this,
12000 jaina philosophers come to debate with emperumAnAr, and emperumAnAr
debates with all of them at once having a screen in between them and him.
Behind the screen, he assumes his original thousand hooded AdhiSEsha form and
answers all of their questions at once. Many of the defeated scholars become
his disciples and he shows them his greatness. The king too glorifies
emperumAnAr.
In this manner, while emperumAnAr was
living in thoNdanUr, he exhausted his thirumaN and hence he becomes grieved.
While he was sleeping, thirunArAyaNApuram emperumAn appears in his dream and
tells him “I am waiting for you in thiruNArAyaNapuram. Here, we have thirumaN
too”. With the help of the king, emperumAnAr reaches thiruNArAyaNapuram and
goes to worship emperumAn. But to his sorrow, he observes that there is no
temple there. Out of fatigue, he rests for a few moments and emperumAn again
appears in his dream and shows him the exact location where he is buried under
ground.  emperumAnAr then brings
emperumAn out of the ground, submits him “oru nAyagamAy” decad from
thiruvAimozhi in which nammAzhwAr greatly glorifies thirunAraNan emperumAn. He
then finds thirumaN and applies that in twelve places on his body.
Subsequently, he clears the town, re-constructs the temple and arranges many
servitors for emperumAn there.
Due to lack of uthsava vigraham
(processional deity), there was no possibility of conducting uthsavams. When
emperumAnAr was worried about that, emperumAn again appears in the dream of
emperumAnAr and tells him “rAmapriyan (uthsavar) is present in Delhi Badshah’s
palace”. emperumAnAr at once leaves to Delhi and requests the king to return
the vigraham. The king brings him to the private quarters of his daughter and
shows him the vigraham. The daughter of the king was fondly attached to the
vigraham and was lovingly caring for the emperumAn. Being very pleased seeing
emperumAn, emperumAnAr calls him out “chellappiLLai come here”. emperumAn at
once jumps out and sits on the lap of emperumAnAr. The king became amazed at
that and submits many ornaments etc to emperumAn and sends him along with
emperumAnAr. The daughter of the king becomes greatly grieved due to the
separation from emperumAn and starts following emperumAnAr’s entourage. At
the border of thirunArAyaNapuram, emperumAn accepts her in him like he accepted
ANdAL. emperumAnAr names her thulukka nAchchiyAr and performs her prathishtA
(installation) at emperumAn’s divine feet. He then re-consecrates uthsava
vigraham inside the temple and conducts all the uthsavams there.

Return
to SrIrangam

In this manner, he stayed in
thiruNArAyaNapuram for twelve years engaging in many kainkaryams and nurturing
many SrIvaishNavas to cultivate our sampradhAyam. He hears from SrIrangam
through mAruthi siRiyANdAn that the Saiva king died and becomes joyful. He
decides to start to SrIrangam. His disciples became drowned in an ocean of
sorrow hearing about his departure to SrIrangam. emperumAnAr consoled them and
to fulfil their desire, agrees to the consecration of his own vigraham (deity)
there.  It is this deity which is
famously known as “thamar ugandha thirumEni”.
Subsequently, he leaves thiruNArAyaNapuram and arrives at SrIrangam. He
performs mangaLASAsanam to periya pirAttiyAr and periya perumAL and continues
to nurture our sampradhAyam from SrIrangam.
In SrIrangam, after performing
mangaLASAsanam to periya perumAL and rejuvenating himself by going around the
temple, udaiyavar along with the SrIvaishNavas visited kUraththAzhwAn’s
residence. AzhwAn with great devotion, falls at the divine feet of udaiyavar,
holds on to the divine feet and stays put there. udaiyavar picks him and
embraces him with overwhelming emotions, remains dumbfounded with great sorrow
looking at AzhwAn who lost his eyes. With tears in his eyes and a broken voice,
He says to AzhwAn “For our dharSanam (sampradhAyam), you have lost your
dharSanam (eyes)” and AzhwAn humbly says “It is a result of my apachArams
(mistake/fault) only” and udaiyavar consoles him saying “How could you have
committed any apachAram? It should be my apachAram which should have caused
this”. Eventually everyone steadies themselves and udaiyavar returns to his
mutt.
At this time, some SrivaishNavas come to
udaiyavar and inform him that thiruchchithrakUtam (now famously known as
chidhambaram) temple was destroyed by miscreants [of Saiva faith]. He came to
know that the uthsava vigraham of the emperumAn was safely carried to
thiruppathi. He at once left to thiruppathi, ordered the construction of SrI
gOvindharAjap perumAL, consecrating a new mUla mUrthi who resembles
gOvindharAja bhagavAn of thiruchchithrakUtam [This is the gOvindharjAr sannidhi
we see in the foot hills of thiruppathi these days]. He performs mangaLASAsanam
to thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn on thirumalai, starts his journey towards SrIrangam,
stops on the way at kAnchIpuram, performs mangaLASAsanam to dhEvap perumAL and
returns to SrIrangam. He continues leading the sampradhAyam from there.
Subsequently, udaiyavar invites AzhwAn
and tells him to praise dhEvap perumAL who would fulfil all prayers and orders
him to request dhEvap perumAL that his vision is reinstated. AzhwAn hesitates
but udaiyavar forces him to do so. He then compiles varadharAja sthavam and in
the end prays that he sees emperumAn with his internal eyes. emperumAn happily
bestows him that boon and AzhwAn explains that to udaiyavar. udaiyavar, not
being satisfied with that, brings along AzhwAn to kAnchIpuram and asks AzhwAn
to recite the varadharAja sthavam fully in front of dhEvap perumAL. udaiyavar
goes to attend another matter and AzhwAn completes the recital at that time.
dhEvap perumAL asks AzhwAn to reveal his desire and AzhwAn says “nAlUrAn should
attain the same goal as I do” and dhEvap perumAL obliges. udaiyavar returns and
hears about this and becomes upset with both perumAL and AzhwAn and chastises
both for not following his desire. dhEvap perumAL then blesses AzhwAn with the
vision that will make him see dhEvap perumAL and udaiyavar. AzhwAn, being
blessed, visualizes dhEvap perumAL’s divine decoration, ornaments etc to
udaiyavar and udaiyavar feels satisfied.

Becoming
kOyil aNNar

When udaiyavar was lecturing nAchchiyAr
thirumozhi meanings, he starts explaining the meaning of “nARu naRum pozhil”
pAsuram which relates to ANdAL’s desire to present 100 vessels of sweet rice
and 100 vessels of butter to thirumAlirunjOlai emperumAn. udaiyavar at once
commences his journey to thirumAlirunjOlai
dhivya dhESam and offers the same on ANdAL’s behalf. He then visits
SrIvillipuththUr and performs mangaLASAsanam to ANdAL and rangamannAr emperumAn.
ANdAL being very pleased with udaiyavar’s act of fulfilling his desire as a
brother would do, calls udaiyavar as “nam kOyil aNNar” (my elder brother from
SrIrangam). He then goes to AzhwArthirunagari and performs mangaLASAsanam to
AzhwAr and AdhinAthar and returns to SrIrangam to continue his activities in
leading the sampradhAyam.

His
Sishyas

He had innumerable Sishyas and also
established 74 simhAsanAdhipathis (AchAryas who would lead the sampradhAyam and
teach the principles to everyone). During his time, many SrIvaishNavas were
engaged in different kainkaryams:
·
kUraththAzhwAn, mudhaliyANdAn, nadAdhUr AzhwAn, bhattar et
al would help him in propagating SrIbhAshyam.
·
aruLALap perumAL emperumAnAr performs thiruvArAdhanam for
emperumAnAr’s personal deities.
·
kidAmbip perumAL and kidAmbi AchchAn managed the
thirumadaippaLLi (kitchen).
·
vaduga nambi prepared oil for udaiyavar’s use.
·
gOmadaththAzhwAn would carry pots and sandals of udaiyavar.
·
piLLai uRangA villi dhAsar managed karuvUlam (ornaments,
etc).
·
ammangi prepares milk and ukkalAzhwAn distributes
prasAdham.
·
ukkalammAL performs thiruvAlavatta (fan) kainkaryam.
·
mAruthip periyANdAn holds the small pot for udaiyavar’s
use.
·
mAruthich chiRiyANdAn manages the groceries for the mutt.
·
thUya muni vEzham brings holy water.
·
thiruvarangamALigaiyAr manages SrI baNdAram (provisions
stores).
·
vaNdar and seNdar (nephews of piLLai uRangA villi dhAsar)
would earn huge salary from the king by serving him and give that wealth to the
mutt.
·
irAmAnusavELaikkArar performs the duty of a bodyguard for
udaiyavar.
·
agaLanga nAttAzhwAn would debate with other philosophers.

His
greatness revealed by many

udaiyavar’s greatness was revealed by periya perumAL,
thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn, pEraruLALan, thirunArAyaNap perumAL, azhagar,
thirukkuRungudi nambi, nammAzhwAr, SrIman nAthamunigaL, ALavandhAr, periya
nambi, thirukkOshtiyUr nambi, thirumalai nambi, thirumAlai ANdAn, AzhwAr
thriuvarangap perumAL araiyar, many of his own disciples, brahma rAkshas and
the mute person.
Let us see them briefly.
·
periya perumAL (SrIrangam) bestowed both spiritual and
material realms to udaiyavar and allowed him to freely distribute the same to
his followers.
·
thiruvEnatamudaiyAn (thirumalA thiruppathi) reconfirmed the
title conferred by periya perumaL to emperumAnAr and established him as “udaiyavar”.
He also gave mOksham to thumbaiyUrk koNdi, a lady who sells curd, on the
mandate of udaiyavar.
·
pEraruLALan (kAnchIpuram) helped udaiyavar defeat yagya
mUrththi in debate and ordered yAdhava prakASa (previously from different
sidhdhAntham, and a teacher of udaiyavar) to become the Sishya of udaiyavar and
accept sanyAsASram (ascetic order) from udaiyavar.
·
thirunArAyaNan (mElkOte) allowed udaiyavar to re-establish
the divine kshEthram and became the dear son of udaiyavar allowing him to pick
up and embrace selvap piLLai (uthsavar).
·
azhagar (thirumAlirunchOlai) revealed udaiyavar’s greatness
in two incidents – by ordering periya nambi descendants to join the udaiyavar’s
disciples group when they thought they were coming in the AchArya paramparai of
udaiyavar and by highlighting to kidAmbi AchchAn that one who is surrendered to
udaiyavar is never an orphan.
·
thirukkuRungudi nambi accepted udaiyavar as his AchArya and
became to be famously known as SrIvaishNava nambi.
·
nammAzhwAr became anguished thinking about the suffering
souls in this world but then foresaw the appearance of emperumAnAr and became
happy singing “poliga! Poliga! poliga!”.
·
SrIman nAthamunigaL said “If we teach, only a few souls
will be helped, but if SrI rAmAnujar teaches, it will benefit everyone, like
the reservoir of vIra nArAyaNapuram lake benefits everyone in the town”.
·
ALavandhAr declared udaiyavar as “Am mudhalvan” (he is the
apt leader for our sampradhAyam).
·
periiya nambi offered obeisances to SrI rAmAnujar
considering his greatness, even though they shared an AchArya Sishya
relationship.
·
thirukkOshtiyUr nambi conferred the title “emperumAnAr”
(greater than emperumAn) to udaiyavar, knowing his magnanimity in sharing the
secret teachings to those who desire to learn the same.
·
thirumAlai ANdAn had some disagreements with udaiyavar.
Once he realized the greatness of udaiyavar, he praised him greatly and ordered
his son to become udaiyavar’s disciple.
·
thiruvarangap perumAL araiyar explained the most
confidential teachings of “AchArya abhimAnam” to udaiyavar and ordered his son
to become udaiyavar’s disciple.
·
udaiyiavar’s disciples declared total faith at his divine
lotus feet and considered them to be the means and goal.
·
amudhanAr compiled rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi which became part
of 4000 dhivya prabandham eventually.
·
brahma rakshas (the demon which entered into the body of
the daughter of the local king) ignored yAdhavaprakASa and highlighted that SrI
rAmAnuja is the leader of nithyasUris.
·
A mute person who became blessed by udaiyavar disappeared
for a few years, reappeared and said “udaiyavar is none other than vishvaksEna
himself”. He then disappears again.
·
In this manner, many great personalities revealed
udaiyavar’s greatness.
While there are many AchAryas starting from SrIman
nAthamunigaL, why is there special greatness for udaiyavar? This is because –
·
Though there are many incarnations, SrI rAma and krishNa
are considered to be special – due to their specific activities of providing
refuge, instructing gIthA etc.
·
Though there are many dhivya dhESams, kOyil (SrIrangam),
thirumalai (thiruppathi), perumAL kOyil (kAnchIpuram) and thirunArAyaNapuram
are considered to be special due to the special relationships with AchAryas
there etc.
·
Though there are many sages, vEdha vyAsa bhagavAn, parASara
bhagavAn, Saunaka bhagavAn, Sukha bhagavAn, nAradha bhagavAn et al are special
due to their contribution in vEdham, vEdhAntham, purANa and ithihAsam
revelations.
·
Though there are many AzhwArs, nammAzhwAr is special due to
revealing the essential truths, philosphies etc clearly.
·
Similarly, udaiyavar is special that he has contributed in
all these aspects and provided a strong platform to our sidhdhAntham and
sampradhAyam and paved the way for the great growth of our sampradhAyam.

His final days

All of udaiyavar’s Sishyas were fully
faithful at his divine feet due to their AchArya nishtai and due to emperumAnAr
being the divine feet of nammAzhwAr and since nammAzhwAr himself foretold the
appearance of emperumAnAr in his thiruvAimozhi “poliga poliga poliga” decad.
Also, udaiyavar is considered as direct Sishya of nammAzhwAr as he established
our sampradhAyam based on AzhwAr’s thiruvAimozhi. He is also considered as the
direct Sishya of ALavandhAr since he fully understood ALavandhAr’s divine heart
and fulfilled ALavandhAr’s desires, though they did not meet each other.
When udaiyavar was explaining the
principle of SaraNAgathi through SrI rAmAyaNam, vibhIshaNa SaraNAgathi
incident, piLLai uRangA villi dhAsar became perplexed. udaiyavar observed that
and asked why dhAsar looked worried. dhAsar said “if vibhIshaNa who gave up
everything and surrendered to SrI rAma, was made to wait before being accepted,
what is our state? Will we get mOksha?”. udaiyavar replied “Listen my son! If I
get mOksha you will get mOksha;if periya nambi gets, I will get; if ALavandhAr
gets, periya nambi will get and it goes on upto nammAzhwAr who already declared
in thiruvAimozhi that he got liberated; so you are sure get mOksha” and
consoles dhAsar.
It is established by amudhanAr through
the divine prabandham rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi that emperumAnAr is the only means
for us to get mOksham and serving him and his devotees are the goals for us.
mudhaliyANdAn requests such emperumAnAr
to allow them to prepare a deity of emperumAnAr and consecrate the same in
SrIperumbUthUr, his birth place, so that every one can worship him even in the
future. On receiving emperumAnAr’s orders, a beautiful deity is prepared by a
devoted sculptor. The deity was made in SrIrangam to the full satisfaction of
emperumAnAr that he embraced the same and sent it to SrIperumbUthUr to have it
consecrated on guru pushyam (thai pUsam) day.
udaiyavar continued to live a glorious
life for 120 years in this manner. He felt the urge to leave the material realm
and reach the spiritual realm to be along with the nithysUris. He approached
periya perumAL through periya pirAttiyAr by reciting gadhya thrayam and prayed
to periya perumAL that he is released from the material coil immediately.
periya perumAL then agreed to liberate emperumAnAr 7 days from that day and
informed the same to him. emperumAnAr then requested to perumAL “all those who
are related to me directly/indirectly should get the same benefit as myself”
and perumAL joyfully obliges. udaiyavar then walked out majestically accepting
farewell from periya perumAL and reached his mutt. He then showers wonderful
meanings to his Sishyas for the next 3 days and they all started wondering “why
is your highness suddenly giving out a lot of wonderful instructions?”. Unable to
hide the information anymore, emperumAnAr mercifully revealed “I am thinking to
ascend to paramapadham four days from now and perumAL too agreed for the same”.
Hearing that, the Sishyas became broken hearted and declared they will all give
their lives as soon as udaiyavar leaves them.udaiyavar said “if you did that,
you will not be considered as related to me, so you cannot do it” and consoled
them.
Then emperumAnAr continues to give
valuable instructions to everyone and appointed many of his Sishyas in
different roles. He also ordered everyone to be favourable towards parASara
bhattar, the dear son of kUraththAzhwAn. He then begs for pardon from everyone
for any offenses committed and again gave his final instructions. He mainly
instructs everyone to appreciate each other’s qualities and work together
cooperatively like brothers. He instructs everyone to focus on kainkaryams
(selfless service) instead of engaging in work in return of any favour. He also
highlights the importance of not hating SrIvaishNavas ever and not glorifying
worldly people ever.
He then brings bhattar to periya
perumAL sannidhi, gets his thIrtham and other honorus and informs others that
bhattar will lead the sampradhAyam after him. He orders bhattar to go to
mElkOte and reform vEdhAnthi (who will be called nanjIyar in the future). embAr
being the senior most AchArya guides his Sishya bhattar until his presence.
On the day of ascending to
paramapadham, he performs his nithyAnushtAnushtAna kramam such as bathing,
wears 12 puNdrams (thilak), sandhyAvandhanam etc, offer thiruvArAdhanam to his
personal deity, meditating upon the guruparamparai, sitting in padhmAsanam
(lotus postion), focussing his mind on paravAsudhEvan and meditating upon the
divine form of ALavandhAr, reclining, opening his eyes widely, placing his head
on the lap of embAr and his divine feet on the lap of vaduga nambi and ascended
to paramapadham in a radiant form which resembles his AdhiSEsha form. Seeing
that all his Sishyas fall on the ground like a rootless tree and starts crying
their heart out. After a while they consoled themselves. periya perumAL
realizing his loss (and paramapadhanAthan’s gain), became dejected and refused
to accept betel leaves/nuts. He then sends all his paraphernalia through
uththama nambi. In the mutt, the vimala charama thirumEni (final divine form)
of emperumAnAr was bathed, applied with 12 puNdrams, and was offered all
upachArams (like dhIpam, dhUpam etc). piLLAn, being the abhimAna puthra (like a
dear son) performs the final sacred rites for empeurmAnAr. The SrIvaishNavas of
SrIrangam arrange the ceremonies with great pomp and fervour by reciting
upanishaths, reciting dhivya prabandham, .arranging band and musical
instruments, araiyar sEvai, reciting sthOthrams, with lots of flowers and roasted
rice thrown in the streets where he was carried around. As per the orders of
periya perumAL, emperumAnAr was placed under the ground as per yathi samskAra
vidhi (rules pertaining to burying ascetics) inside the vasantha maNdapam of
namperumAL. Subsequently, mudhaliyANdAn consecrated a special deity of
emperumAnAr on top of where his divine form was buried as per the orders of
periya perumAL.
Subseuquently, many SrIvaishNavas hear
about the news of emperumAnAr’s ascending to paramapadham and become very
anguished. Some even instantaneously gave up their life being unable to bear
the separation from him. Those who arrived at SrIrangam were consoled by the
presence of bhattar and rejoiced themselves.
In this manner emperumAnAr lived a
fulfilled life for the upliftment of everyone. Even if one can explain the
glories of emperumAn, there is no way anyone can explain the glories of
emperumAnAr. Leading up to the sahasrAbdhi (1000th year celebrations) of
emperumAnAr, we have enjoyed his life and glories. Let that experience remain
in our heart forever and let us be a faithful rAmAnuja dhAsa matching up to the
expectations of our AzhwArs/AchAryas from us.
SrIman
mahAbhUthapurE SrImath kESava yajvana: |
kAnthimadhyAm
prasUdhAya yathirAjAya mangaLam ||
SrImathE ramyajAmAthru
munIndhrAya mahAthmanE |
SrIrangavAsinE bhUyAth nithyaSrIr nithya mangaLam ||
adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan
 
Note: This was originally published as series of editorial articles in “SrI rAmAnuja dharSanam” monthly e-magazine which can be seen at https://www.varavaramuni.com/home/sriramanuja-dharsanam-magazine.archived in https://granthams.koyil.orgpramEyam (goal) – https://koyil.org
pramANam (scriptures) – https://granthams.koyil.org
pramAthA (preceptors) – https://acharyas.koyil.org
SrIvaishNava Education/Kids Portal – https://pillai.koyil.org

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