SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImadh varavaramunayE nama:
nAyanAr embraces sanyAsASramam
During that time, a few people from the southern direction, came and conveyed to nAyanAr about bereavement in his family which made his service to perumAL inappropriate. He felt that for him who had kept the divine feet of SrIranganAthan on his head and was sustaining himself through that act, these separations from emperumAn were causing sorrow; just as it has been said “thvadhpAdhapadhma pravaNAthma vrudhdhEr bhavanthi sarvE prathikUlarUpA:” (for adiyEn who is engaged with dhEvarIr’s divine lotus feet, all these are inimical to experiencing matters relating to dhEvarIr), he immediately went to meet his friend during student days, SatakOpa jIyar. In line with the SlOkam
chandham thasyaisha vigyAya nandhan nandhan nirantharam
sarvam sangam parithyajya thungam prAviSadhASramam
(azhagiya maNavALa nAyanAr, knowing the divine mind of SatakOpa jIyar, became very happy. Renouncing all attachments, he entered the noble sanyAsASramam stage (the stage of being a sanyAsi)), renounced his attachment with every person and everything and with complete renouncement, mercifully became a sanyAsi. With SatakOpa jIyar offering him the thridhaNdam [a pole made of three sticks representing the three entities of chith (sentient entity), achith (insentient entity) and ISvaran (emperumAn)] and the saffron robe through his divine hands, he donned them. He went to perumAL’s sannidhi, with SatakOpa jIyar and worshipped him. He recited the SlOkam
mangaLam rangadhuryAya nama: pannagaSAyinE
mangaLam sahyajAmadhyE sAnnithyakrutha chEthasE
(Let auspiciousness reach SrIranganAthan. I bow to the divine feet of perumAL who is reclining on the mattress of AdhiSEshan. Let auspiciousness reach the perumAL whose divine mind is firmly established in residing permanently between the two kAvEri rivers). perumAL too cherished him mercifully and told him to have his previously held divine name itself (maNavALan) as his sanyASrama name. He said “We are offering you the pallavarAyan matam. Until your body falls down, stay here just like emperumAnAr” [This pallavarAyan matam was earlier built by kandhAdaiyANdAn (son of mudhaliyANdAn, who was nephew and disciple of rAmANujar) for his AchAryar, AtkoNdavilli jIyar. For his thiruvArAdhanap perumAL (the vigraham for whom he used to carry daily worship) called as ennaith thImanam keduththAr (a divine name for krishNa, since he removes the evil thoughts from the mind), he arranged in the SrIrangam temple for prasAdham (food offered) and ghee lamp [jIyars are not allowed to have any connection with fire; hence they cannot cook food and light lamps]. His descendants, around that time, had given that vigraham to the temple store house due to mutual misunderstanding. In earlier times, the most distinguished rAmAnuja kUtam became pallavarAyan matam since pallavarAyan was managing it]. perumAL offered that matam and the thiruvArAdhana vigraham ennaith thImanam keduththAr to manAvALa mAmunigaL, and as said in “nisrushtAthmA suhruthsucha” (one who hands over his responsibilities to his friends), perumAL too let go of his responsibility, offered him sacred water and prasAdhams as well as parivattam and SrI SatakOpan. He then told uththama nambi and others to “accompany our azhagiya maNavALa jIyar to his matam”. They too did the same and worshipped him saying “adiyArgaL vAzha aranga nagar vAzha . . maNavALa mAmuniyE innumoru nURRANdu irum” (for uplifting the followers as well as the city of SrIrangam .. . . . Oh azhagiya maNavALa mAmuni! Live for another hundred years).
With the help of vAnamAmalai jIyar and others, he renovated the entire matam. He built a vyAkyAna maNtapam (kAlakshEpa kUtam or hall where he would give discourse), calling it as thirumalaiyAzhwAr (after his AchAryar). He then brought soil from the divine residence of piLLai lOkAchAryar, calling it as “rahasyam viLaindha maN” (the soil where esoteric meanings came forth) and spread it in front of the place where he would sit, as a protection. Treating that place as his gurukulavAsam (residing in the divine place of his AchAryan), he dwelt there amidst the two divine lotus-like feet of his AchAryar and gave regular discourses. Just like piLLai (thiruvAimozhip piLLai) had shone with the divine name of nammAzhwAr, mAmunigaL too shined well, with the divine name of namperumAL. During the time that he was wishing well and bringing in auspiciousness to the temple as per the saying “rangamangaLa dhuryAya ramyajAmAthruyOgina:” (let auspciousness happen to maNavALa mAmunigaL who is the mangaLASAsanaparar (one who carries out mangaLASAsanam) for the temple), people said of him
AchAra gyAna vairAgyai rAgArENacha thAdhruSa:
SrImAn rAmAnujas sOyamithyASam sanmitha: prajA:
(Since mAmunigaL was similar to rAmAnujar in form, conduct, knowledge and detachment from worldly pursuits, people would praise to each other that he was that SrImAn (one who had the wealth of kainkaryam) rAmAnujar). They were very firm in their minds that he was the reincarnation of emperumAnAr. They took refuge under his divine feet, becoming distinguished as a result. They said “paramapadhanivAsa paNipungava rangapdhEr bhavanamidham hithAya jagathO bhavadhAdhigatham ”(Oh thiruvananthAzhwAn (AdhiSEshan) who resides in SrivaikuNtam! This SrIrangam which is the dwelling place for this azhagiya maNavALan (periya perumAL) has been attained by dhEvarIr [reference here is to maNavALa mAmunigaL] for the protection of this world). They also pointed out to the perumAL thirumozhi pAsuram 1-10 “vanperu vAnagam uyya amararuyya maNNuyya maNNulagil manisaruyya thunbamigu thuyar agala ayarvonRillAch chugam vaLara agamagizhum thoNdar vAzha anbodu thendhisai nOkkip paLLi koLLum ” (periyaperumAL has taken residence in SrIrangam, looking in the southern direction for uplifting svargam and other upper worlds, celestial entities, earth, people living in the world, for abundant growth of well being without any trace of sorrow, and for his followers to feel blissful) saying that just as periya perumAL has taken residence in SrIrangam for the protection of world, maNavALa mAmunigaL too has taken residence there and they were very venerable towards him.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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