SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
Instruction 22
vishNOr dhivya vimAnAni gOpurANi jagathpathE | dhrushtamAthrENa sahasA kArayEth anjalim thadhA ||
Simple explanation: bhagavAn who is jagannAtha. When we see his divine gOpura or vimAna (tower), we should immediately join our palms and perform anjali. bhagavAn’s divine abodes, that is the temples which are seen in the dhivyadhESams, AzhwAr AchArya abhimAna sthalams, other villages, cities, wherever bhagavAn has taken a place as his divine abode, if there are vimAna or gOpura; that is we see tall structures in and around the temples usually; immediately we must worship those because anything connected to dhivyadhESams, anything connected to bhagavAn’s divine abode they are all worshipable. We see an incident in the life of our pUrvAchAryas, parASara bhattar and other AchAryas- when they go around SrIrangam dhivya dhEsam, they would usually walk very slowly enjoying each part of the temple whether it’s a mandapam or gOpuram or vimAnam or sannidhi. In all those cases, AchAryas would greatly enjoy just seeing them because they are connected to bhagavAn in a very divine manner. bhagavAn eagerly comes to samsAra to be in the temples in archAvathAram (in deity form). When he comes here even nithyasUris come here and assume forms like trees or a maNdapa or a gOpura; nithyasUris may exist in any form. So, all of these aspects in and around temples, dhivyadhESams, AzhwAr AchAryas’ avathAra sthalams, abhimAna kshEthrams, are all divine. And as devotees, as bhAgavathas, when we see any of those connected to bhagavAn directly, we must enjoy their presence and worship them.
Video link: https://youtu.be/hT2X2BGHx6M?si=SOGG1CC0VboYNSTu
Instructions 23
dhrushtvEthara vimAnAni vismayam naiva kArayEth
Simple explanation: When we see the vimAnam or gOpuram, i.e. temple towers of other dhEvathAs, we should not be amazed. So here an important aspect is identified. When we see bhagavAn’s gOpuram, or vimAnam we have to show our reverence and worship them. But, when we see the gOpurams, vimAnams of other dhEvathAs we should not even bother about them because we have nothing to do with them and hence, we should neither show any reverence towards them nor we should be amazed at them. This is because, when we get amazed, we may look at it one more time and then we may develop some attachment; “Oh this is nice let us look at that one more time” and so on. So, we should simply ignore them and move on. There is an incident in the life of our pUrvAchArya piLLai urangAvalli dhAsar, who had two nephews. Once when they were going along with the king, the king showed them the temple tower of a Jain temple. He said, “look there is a vishNu temple, look at the gOpuram”. Hearing that piLLai urangAvalli dhAsar’s nephews showed great reverence and worshipped those towers. Immediately the king made fun of them saying “look I have made you worship other dhEvathAs’ temple towers”. Immediately the nephews became very upset and they fainted. They became unconscious just thinking that they have worshiped another dhEvathA’s temple tower. piLLai urangAvalli dhAsar had to be brought there and his lotus feet’s dust had to be taken and applied on those two nephews of dhAsar. And finally, they regained their consciousness. So, this is how our AchAryas have shown that we should just be indifferent towards other dhEvathas towers because we have nothing to do with the other dhEvathAs, their temples and towers.
Video link: https://youtu.be/ouX8f8VhXsE?si=zhiuvQd-E7lGqYlv
Instructions 24
SruthvA na vismayam gachchEth dhEvathAnthara kIrthanam ||
Simple explanation: When others praise other dhEvathAs, if we happen to listen to them, we should not be amazed at that. As SrIvaishNavas we have nothing to do with other dhEvathAs. Let other people worship other dhEvathAs. But we as SrIvaishNavas should not worship them and should not engage with them. And when others praise such dhEvathAs we should not become amazed thinking, “Oh, this dhEvathA is so great”, because in comparison to bhagavAn’s greatness, the greatness of other dhEvathAs is nothing. They are not even a fraction of bhagavAn’s greatness. We see in our pUrvAchAryas granthams many statements like that. When we look at the greatness of brahmA, rudhra, indhra, varuNa, vAyu, they all certainly have some greatness. But when we look at bhagavAn’s greatness, bhagavAn’s greatness is like a huge ocean. As for other dhEvathAs, their greatness is like small droplets in that ocean. So as SrIvaishNavas, we should not be amazed at hearing the praises of other dhEvathAs. Not that we have hatred against any dhEvathA. It’s just we are not related to any of them, so we have nothing to do with them. In thirumAlai, thoNdaradippodi AzhwAr says in thirumAlai 7 “kANbarO kEtparO thAm” – “The praises about other dhEvathAs given in their literature, will a SrIvaishNava go and see or listen that?” asks thoNdaradippodi AzhwAr (bhakthAngri rENu swAmy). Because as a SrIvaishNava we have nothing to do with other dhEvathAs. Other people may glorify and worship other dhEvathAs but we have nothing to do with them.
Video link: https://youtu.be/vXRRs7mSdpI?si=RP6gf7uPvY7TA01B
adiyEn vidhyA rAmAnuja dhAsi
Proofreading done by – vEnkatESa rAmAnuja dhAsan
archived in https://granthams.koyil.org
pramEyam (goal) – https://koyil.org
pramANam (scriptures) – https://granthams.koyil.org
pramAthA (preceptors) – http://acharyas.koyil.org
SrIvaishNava education/kids portal – http://pillai.koyil.org