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Srivaishnavam (6)
śrīmate rāmānujāya namaḥ śrīmad varavaramunaye namaḥ
śrīśaileśa-dayāpātraṁ dhībhaktyādi-guṇārṇavam |
yatīndra-pravaṇaṁ vande ramya-jāmātaraṁ munim ||
Śvāmi Maṇavāḻa Māmuňigaḻ Vaibhavam
After the end of the tragic period of Turuṣka occupation comes the highest point in the glory of Śrīraṅgam, as Nampêrumāḻ returns home and lets Ādiśeṣan reappear as Svāmi Maṇavāḻa Māmuňigaḻ, entrusting him with the monumental task of taking up the work He started as the first ācāryan and carrying it to a state of completion, for the enjoyment and upliftment of posterity. Having been handed the entirety of all of our pūrvācāryars’s treasures, Svāmi Maṇavāḻa Māmuňigaḻ’s mission was to take them all, along with the various yojanais of these giant ācāryars, and show to the world how to line these up without conflict, right from basic sāmānya-śāstrams to saṁskṛta-veda-vedāntams to smṛti-itihāsa-purāna-āgamams to aruḻiccêyals to rahasyārthams and all the way to anuṣṭānam. Displaying more karuṇai than in his previous avatāram as Śvāmi Rāmānujar, Svāmi Maṇavāḻa Māmuňigaḻ is hailed to have written and taught with perfect clarity and accuracy, with utmost simplicity and explicitness, without a single inconsistency, and leaving nothing for deciphering by later generations. Svāmī is celebrated for his most refined style of discourse – full of sweetness and flow, yet tight and precise – unmatched even by other pūrvācāryars and appreciated over and over by ācāryas of extraordinary vidvat. Knowing Pêriyapêrumāḻ’s tiruvuḻḻam, Svāmi Maṇavāḻa Māmuňigaḻ authored detailed commentaries of the most important rahasya-granthams, topped by his glorious commentary to Svāmi Piḻḻailokācāryar’s all-encompassing, magnificent work, Śrī Vacana Bhūṣaṇam. This, combined with Svāmī’s insatiable indulgence in aruḻiccêyals, his caramaparva-niṣṭai towards his ācāryan Svāmi Tiruvāymôļippiḻḻai, and his atyanta-pāratantṛyam towards Svāmi Êmpêrumāňār, made Prathamācāryan decide to close the hāram(necklace) of pūrvācāryars with Svāmi Maṇavāḻa Māmuňigaḻ by taking him as His ācāryan. To unambiguously display this bhāvam of His to the world, he had Svāmi Maṇavāḻa Māmuňigaḻ conduct the famous year-long Īdu 36000paḍi pravacanam close to his āsthānam, directly experienced the pleasure of listening to it by physically being there at the expense of all his utsavams over the period, and reveled offering the taniyan ślokam above to Svāmī’s feet with the commandment that aruḻiccêyal sevai hereon be begun and ended with this taniyan. Ācārya-śreṣṭars of immeasurable pāṇḍityam and maṭhadhipatis of illustrious lineages recognized Svāmī’s greatness and sought his tiruvaḍi saṁbandham, thereby blessing the entire Śrīvaiṣṇava world with ŚrīRāmānuja Saṁbandham through this ācārya-sārvabhaumar. Fittingly, Svāmi Maṇavāḻa Māmuňigaḻ’s supremacy, sweetness and endless other divya-guṇams were extolled by great vidvāns through numerous literary works on him including Varavaramuni Dinacaryais, Varavaramuni Śatakams, Varavaramuni Suprabhātam, Varavaramuni Maṅgaḻam, several muktaka-ślokams and pācurams, Maṇavāḻa Māmuňigaḻ Kaṇṇinuṇciřuttāmbu, Maṇavāḻa Māmuňigaḻ Nūřřandādi, and kāvyams and vaibhava-granthams like Yatīndra-pravaṇa-prabhāvam.
Let us imbibe Svāmi Maṇavāḻa Māmuňigaḻ’s divine qualities and whole-heartedly surrender at his feet wishing for his maṅgaḻam.
śrīmate ramyajāmātṛ-munīndrāya mahātmane |
śriraṅga-vāsine bhūyāt nityashrīh nitya-maṅgaḻam ||
śrīmate rāmānujāya namaḥ śrīmad varavaramunaye namaḥ
lokācāryāya gurave kṛṣṇapādasya sūnave |
saṁsāra-bhogi-saṁdaṣṭa-jīva-jīvātave namaḥ ||
Svāmi Piḻḻailokācāryar tirunakṣatram- Oct 21, 2015
It was a golden age in Bhūlokavaikuṇṭam, when Êmpêrumāňār Daricaňam was marching ahead beyond Svāmi’s own victories with Śrībhāṣyam and Gītābhāṣyam. On one front, Svāmi Nampiḻḻai’s Bhagavad Viṣaya pravacanams were being digested and documented as 36000paḍi by Svāmi Vaḍakkuttiruvīdippiḻḻai; on another front, Svāmi Pêriyavāccāňpiḻḻai had authored vyākhyānams to the entire Aruḻiccêyal corpus, in addition to other key commentaries including the one for important verses of Śrīrāmāyaṇam; and on yet another front, Āļvār-Ācārya vaibhavams, their vacanams, anubhavams, ācaraṇams and upadeśams were gloriously captured in detail by Śvāmi Pinbaļagarām Pêrumāḻ Jīyar in his 6000paḍi and Vārtāmālai granthams. In this setting, as a fitting receptacle to the confluence of all of this divine knowledge, appeared Svāmi Piḻḻailokācāryar. On the day of Pôigai Āļvār’s tirunakṣatram in the year 1205 CE, Svāmi Piḻḻailokācāryar was born to Svāmi Vaḍakkuttiruvīdippiḻḻai out of Svāmi Nampiḻḻai’s grace and as an amśam of Kāñcī Devappêrumāḻ Himself. Svāmi Piḻḻailokācāryar led a blessed life of a naiṣṭhika-brahmacāri-vedāntin devoting undivided attention to the core message of our Vedic sampradāyam – the Rahasyatrayam. As is well-known, Svāmī wrote 18 granthams on this topic catering to the various aspects of understanding the rahasyārthams and to the various adhikārins that yearn to understand. One might attempt to sense the greatness and importance of Svāmi Piḻḻailokācāryar’s rahasya works by reflecting on the fact that these have outshone the rahasya works of even the towering ācārya, Svāmi Pêriyavāccāňpiḻḻai!
Svāmi Maṇavāḻa Māmuňigaḻ points out that the greatest among Svāmi Piḻḻailokācāryar’s 18 works is Śrī Vacana Bhūṣaṇam – the sāratama (ie., of undiluted essence) anuṣṭāna-grantham instructing how exactly a Śrīvaiṣṇava should think and act. Svāmi Maṇavāḻa Māmuňigaḻ also says that after a rigorous Śāstraic analysis the jewels of Pūrvācārya-Vacanams were embedded in the golden words of Svāmi Piḻḻailokācāryar to make the ornament of Śrī Vacana Bhūṣaṇam that decorates one’s ātman. The work was authored to instruct as wells as establish with strong defense the highly refined Veda-Matam and Vaidika-Anuṣṭānam of our Pūrvācāryars. As opposed to verse or running prose, the grantham adopts the sūtra style of traditional mīmāmsā, vouching for and standing by every syllable and word spoken, and supporting it with pramāṇam. The seven pāsurams of Upadecarattiňamālai put the importance of this grantham in perspective by placing it right at the very top and as the very end of all Śrīvaiṣṇava granthams.
It is primarily for giving us Śrī Vacana Bhūṣaṇam that the taniyan above hails Svāmi Piḻḻailokācāryar as the jīvātu (life-giving medicine) to jīvātmans bit by the saṁsāra-serpent. Without Śrī Vacana Bhūṣaṇam, the teachings and practices of our Pūrvācāryars that challenged commonly-held misbeliefs would not have been brought over and established to posterity as strictly Vedic. Svāmi Piḻḻailokācāryar’s kaiṁkaryam in the form of authoring Śrī Vacana Bhūṣaṇam is held on par with his other kaiṁkaryam of immeasurable greatness – giving his life to protect Nampêrumāḻ Himself from the Turuṣka marauders.
Svāmi Maṇavāḻa Māmuňigaḻ declares that it is near impossible to find a person that fully comprehends the deep meanings of Śrī Vacana Bhūṣaṇam, internalize them, and then bring them to the level of anuṣṭānam. Just like how Ādiśeṣan had to come down as Svāmi Rāmānujar to bring out the vedāntārthams captured in the Brahmasūtrams, Svāmi Rāmānujar had to be reborn as Svāmi Maṇavāḻa Māmuňigaḻ to bring out the hard-to-intuit arthams of Drāviḍavedāntam captured in Śrī Vacana Bhūṣaṇa sūtrams. Svāmi Maṇavāḻa Māmuňigaḻ’s vyākhyānam is universally revered for its lucidity and precision, without which, ācāryas say, the profound meanings of this all-important work of Svāmi Piḻḻailokācāryar would never have been understood.
Ramanuja Nootrandhadhi in Music Format -- Rendered by Smt. Usha Padmanabhan
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Significance of Kaishika Ekadasi
In our Sri Vaishnava Sampradaya every Ekadasi (the 11th day of bright & black fortnight) has a special name. Accordingly during the Krittika month, the Ekadasi during the bright fortnight is called Kaishika Ekadasi. Learn about the significance of this Ekadasi day and listen to the story of Nambaduvan. This year Kaishika Ekadasi falls on the 28th of November, 2009.
Sri:
Srimathe Ramanujaya Nama:
Srimad Varvara Munaye Namah
Srimathe Ramanujaya Nama:
Srimad Varvara Munaye Namah
Significance of Kaishika Ekadasi
By Sri U.Ve. Mahavidhwan Elayavilli Srinivasa Bhuvarahachariar Swami
M.A (Retd) Prof of Sanskrit, Alwar Thirunagari
M.A (Retd) Prof of Sanskrit, Alwar Thirunagari
(This year Kaishika Ekadasi falls on the 28th of November, 2009)
In our Sri Vaishnava Sampradaya every Ekadasi (the 11th day of bright & black fortnight) has a special name. Accordingly during the Krittika month, the Ekadasi during the bright fortnight is called Kaishika Ekadasi (today some use the term Koushika Ekadasi, which is wrong; Sage Vishwamitra has nothing to do with this Ekadasi). Kaishika is a raga in music. How is this raga related with this Ekadasi will become clear in the course of this article! Sri Varaha Puranam has this episode in its body. Once upon a time the earth got submerged in water. Lord Sriman Narayana assumed the garb of a wild boar and without hesitation entered the muddy water and brought out the earth from the deluge. Sri Bhoomi Piratti, who is the presiding deity, was very much upset by this tragic event. She was consoled and comforted by Lord Sriman Narayana, keeping Her on His lap. At that time she was very much worried about Her children on the earth. Their sufferings gave Her great sorrow and she desired to know a means (Upaya) for their deliverance from the worldly bondage. The Lord narrated the episode that took place in the village Thirukkurungudi near Thirunelveli in South India and assured Her that the sole means of salvation is singing His glory (Gana Rupa Upayam).
The story is as follows: Once there lived a man at Thirukkurungudi. He was fondly called Nampaduvan” (We do not know his Original name). He was born in a Chandala family who were known for their merciless nature and activities. But quite contrary to his family behavior he was very pious and deeply devoted to Lord Sriman Narayana. He used to fast during every Ekadasi day. Getting up very early in the morning on the next day he used to go to the vicinity of the temple with his veena in his hands and remaining at a distance from the temple as per the prescription of the shastras he used to sing songs in praise of the Lord going around the temple.
Once during the month of Krittika on a bright fortnight Dwadasi i.e the 12th day, he went to the temple early in the morning as usual. On the way he was met by a Brahma Rakshasa who was very hungry and who therefore expressed his desire to eat him up. Nampaduvan was very happy to offer his body for the food of Brahma Rakshasa. That was because his suffering in this world would come to an end and he would reach the abode of the Lord. But he prayed to the Brahma Rakshasa to spare some time so that he may go to the temple and sing the songs and return. But the Rakshasa was not ready to grant his request, as he would never return having made this false excuse. But Nampaduvan made 18 oaths to the effect that he would certainly return.
- If I do not return as per my promise let me get the sin of a man who is a liar.
- Let me get the sin of a person who commits adultery, if I don’t return.
- While eating in the company of a person if a man differentiates in menu (i.e. serving inferior or less quantity of food to the guest), he gets a great sin (Papam). Let me get that sin, if I don’t return.
- If a man donates a piece of an earth to a Brahmin and takes it back after some time he will certainly accrue sin. Let me get that sin, if I don’t return.
- If a man enjoys the company of a woman during her youthful age and subsequently rejects her when she becomes old he is sure to get sin. Let me get that sin, if I don’t return.
- Having performed ablution rite (Tharpanam) on Amavasya day and then recourse (physical relationship) to his wife the same day, he will entertain great sin. Let me get that sin, if I don’t return.
- Having dined delicious dishes in the house of a host and then if a person showers heaps of abuse on his host, he is sure to meet with great sin. Let me get that sin, if I don’t return.
- A man makes a solemn promise that he would give away his young daughter in marriage to a youth but later on breaks his promise, which would entertain sin. Let me get that sin, if I don’t return.
- A man is prohibited from eating without taking bath on Shashti (the sixth day of both fortnight), Ashtami (the eighth day), Chaturdashi (the fourteenth day) and Amavasya (the fifteenth day of bright fortnight). Let me get that sin, if I don’t return.
- A man promises to donate something to another man but he doesn’t keep up his promise. Let me get the sin of breach of promise if I fail to come back.
- If a person tries to allure the wife of a friend who has helped him in manifold ways, he is sure of reaching hell. I will get that sin, if I fail to return.
- If a person, afflicted by lust, enjoys the company of his revered teacher’s wife who is responsible for his salvation; and so also the company of the wife of a king who endows all worldly pleasure to him - he will be the worst sinner. I will suffer that sin by not keeping up my promise.
- A man marries two girls without being impartial to both of them. If he evinces greater pleasure in the company of one rejecting the other, he is sure to accrue very great sin. Let me get that sin, if I don’t keep up my promise.
- If a man divorces his wife who is very chaste and has no one to care for her, he will become a sinner. Let me be equated to him for not returning.
- If a man causes obstruction to the cattle that are afflicted very much by thirst to drink water, he will get a sin. Let me also get that sin by breaking your faith in me.
- Killing a Brahmin, addiction to liquor, stealing gold, breaking a vow are considered to be heinous crimes. Severe punishments are prescribed for a sinner, who commits all these crimes. Let me suffer all these punishments in case I fail to get back to you.
- If some people worship only other deities and not Sri Vasudeva who is easily accessible to His votaries and is Omnipresent, they will get a great sin. Let me get that sin, if I do not return.
- Sriman Narayana is the supreme deity. He is the inner soul for all created beings, both sentient and insentient. He is worshipped by all karmas (i.e. by all holy rites prescribed by the Shastras). He is to be meditated by all who are desirous of liberation. He alone has the ability to grant salvation. He is to be reached by all the liberated souls. Having understood the supreme qualities of the Lord, if a man equates Him to all other angels who are bound by karma, He will be born in this world again and again. Let me get that sin by breach of this promise.
All these promises did not convince or satisfy the Brahma Rakshasa, but the 18th one totally convinced him about the certainty of Nampaduvan’s return. We therefore have to understand that the last sin is the greatest sin of all sins. Hence it is to be meticulously avoided.
The Brahma Rakshas became pleased by all these promises and saluted Nampaduvan and bade him farewell so that he may fulfill his vow and come back to him.
Accordingly Nampaduvan went to the neighborhood of the temple and sang the songs as usual. Afterwards the day dawned. Having completed the vow pertaining to Ekadasi (i.e. spending sleepless night) Nampaduvan surrendered to the Lord. With great speed, he returned to the Rakshas as his heart was filled up with pleasure owing to his desertion of his body, which was inimical to his attaining salvation.
On his way a person met him. That man questioned him “Hello, where are you going with such speed?” Nampaduvan replied him in a sweet manner – “I am going to Brahma Rakshas. If I don’t find him where I met him before, and departed having made several promises, I will go in search of him and offer my body as food for him.”
That man desired to test his mind on hearing his steadfast resolve. He said "There stands a Rakshasa by birth. He is not righteous minded like Vibeeshana, but a worst criminal. You cannot escape from his cruel clutches, as he is a cannibal. Don’t go to that strong devil." Though exhorted by that man, Nampaduvan refused to listen to him and was very adamant in keeping up his promise. That stranger, who obstructed him and advised him, was none other than Sri Varaha (the Lord Himself). Nampaduvan found Brahma Rakshas at the same place and offered his body as a carcass (meat) for him, but the Rakshas, remembering his previous birth did not accept it. He narrated his previous life history. He was a Brahmin by name Somasarma in his former birth. While performing a sacrifice, he committed all sorts of blunder, as he was niggardly. Moreover a fatal disease in the course of performing sacrifice afflicted him. The result was his birth as Brahma Rakshasa.
Having given a detailed account of his previous life the Rakshasa knelt before Nampaduvan to grant him the merit of all these songs that he sang in praise of the Lord for a long time but the songster refused sternly. Finally being moved by pity he granted him the merit (Punya) of one song, which he sang that day morning which was in the raga named “Kaishika”. The Brahma Rakshas was relieved of his bond. Later he was born in a family of Vaishnava and at the end of the birth he reached Vaikunta.
This is the story narrated by Sri Varaha Perumal to Sri Bhoomi Devi. The whole episode as found in “Sri Varaha Puranam”, is taken up by Sri Parasara Bhattar for an elaborate commentary in Tamil. Every year the whole episode with all Sanskrit shlokas and commentary of Sri Bhattar is read out in all the Vishnu temples especially at Thirukkurungudi where the event actually took place. This is enacted on the stage even today. Those who take part in the festival or who hear the episode will be rid of their sins. Hence I gave this story in an abridged version.
What do we understand from this episode? Somasarma though a Brahmin became a Rakshasa, but Nampaduvan though a Chandala was able to expiate him of all his sins. Hence caste is not a criterion for us to salute a person. His deep devotion to the Lord, knowledge of the Lord and a total renunciation of all worldly pleasures are very important criteria. The caste is physical. It does not belong to the soul. Hence Nampaduvan was elevated to the highest order. In case of such holy men of that high order, consideration of the caste is an offence. They are equal to Nithyasooris. Hence our Acharyas equate Nampaduvan with Vishwamitra, Sri Vishnuchitta and ThondarAdiPodi Azhwar, all of whom sang divine songs in order to wake up the Lord (Thiruppalliyezhuchchi). The Lord (Sri Varaha) also showered on him love and affection and called him Nampaduvan (My Singer). Let us therefore be very careful in not committing Bhaagavata Apachara. This is what we learn from Kaishika Puranam.
Listen to Sri.U.Ve. M.A.Venkata Krishnan Swami reciting Kaishika Mahatmyam {audio}media/KaisikaEkadasi/KaisikaPuranam.mp3{/audio}
Listen to a upanyasam by Sri.U.Ve. P.T. Seshadri Swami on Kaishika Mahatmyam {audio}media/KaisikaEkadasi/KaisikaMahathmyamAndVarahaCharamaSlokam.mp3{/audio}
Azhvar Emberumanar Jeeyar Thiruvadigale Sharanam
Jeeyar Thiruvadigale Sharanam
Jeeyar Thiruvadigale Sharanam