SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImadh varavaramunayE
nama:
Around that time, a person by the name of dhEvarAjar [also known as nambUr varadharAjar], was living near the padugai chakravarthy temple. He was liked by all, irrespective of the person being an expert or an ordinary one. He was very kind and was exhibiting the quality of sathvam (purely good qualities). nanjIyar had a dream one day, in which he was asked to call dhEvarAjar, to instruct him about matters relating to viSishtAdhvaitha philosophy and to ask him to make out copies of his onbadhinAyirappadi. nanjIyar thought that this was due to AzhwAr’s grace and enquired of his disciples about dhEvarAjar. They brought dhEvarAjar to him. nanjIyar blessed him, gave him a palm leaf and asked him to write on it. dhEvarAjar wrote “The divine feet of nanjIyar are the refuge, the divine feet of bhattar are the refuge” and prostrated before nanjIyar, holding on to his divine feet. nanjIyar was pleased, blessed him and mercifully told him the precise meanings of thiruvAimozhi, briefly. He offered plain palm leaves to dhEvarAjar and asked him to make neat copies of onbadhinAyirappadi. dhEvarAjar took leave of him and was crossing kAviri river when there was a flash flood in the river. Being an expert swimmer, dhEvarAjar tied the original manuscript of onbadhinAyirappadi as well as the blank palm leaves on his head and started swimming. Since the flood became severe, the manuscripts and blank palm leaves slipped from his head and were carried away by the flood waters. dhEvarAjar became very sad, thinking “I have committed a grave offence towards my AchArya (teacher)” and became inconsolable. Two SrivaishNavas saw his condition and took him to his thirumALigai (his residence). His wife too became sad on hearing about the incident. Both of them observed upavAsam (fasting) on that day. She then told him “We should not refrain from carrying out thiruvArAdhanam ” [thiruvArAdhanam is an established procedure for worshipping emperumAn]. dhEvarAjar then had a bath, applied the UrdhvapuNdrams (thirumaN kAppu, the symbol of emperumAn on parts of one’s body) and started his thiruvArAdhanam. Since he felt very enervated, sleep appeared to overtake him when SrI rangarAja perumAL, who was housed inside the kOyilAzhwAr (sanctum sanctorum of emperumAn in one’s residence), told him “Oh dhEvarAja! Come! Do not grieve. Take fresh palm leaves and start writing. I will remain with you”. Immediately, dhEvarAjar started with the words “SrIya: pathiyAy” (as the consort of SrI mahAlakshmi) and ended with the words “He mercifully blessed in a distinguished way” recalling the words of nanjIyar. Since all the teaching of nanjIyar had got firmly entrenched in his thoughts, he was able to recall them and to write them on the palm leaves. He offered food to emperumAn in kOyilAzhwAr, partook of that food, completed the entire SrIkOsam (divine work in book form) of onbadhinAyirappadi, went to nanjIyar, prostrated in front of him, offering him the manuscript. nanjIyar was much pleased, took the manuscript and started reading it. He found that in a few places where he had some doubt and had not completed the commentary fully, the meanings were nicely explained. He called dhEvarAjar and told him “What a wonder is this! What intelligence is this! How did this happen?” dhEvarAjar told him everything that had happened (from the time he left the assembly of nanjIyar). jIyar stood up pleased, embraced dhEvarAjar and told him “Are you nam piLLai?” (our great son) He then worshipped his thiruvArAdhanap perumAL “AyardhEvu”, gave dhEvarAjar the title of nampiLLai, made him the head of dharSanam and as desired by his AchArya, bhattar, presented the ring which is to be presented to the leader of dharSanam, given by bhattar, to nampiLLai. He told nampiLLai “In line with your intelligence, write a commentary for thiruvAimozhi and develop our rAmAnusa dharSanam (the philosophy of SrI rAmAnuja)” From then onwards, nampiLLai became a treasure for knowledge, devotion and detachment from worldly pursuits. Many SrivaishNavas started following him and looking at the crowd which would gather for his discourses, people would wonder whether it was “namperumAL’s assembly or nampiLLai’s assembly”.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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