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SRI RAMANUJA

(Swamy Manavala mAmunikal)

e-Journal- 7 sarvajith Chittirai

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amunA thapanAdhiSAyi bhUmnA yathirAjENa nibaddha nAyaka SrI: mahathI guru pamkthi hAra yashTi vibudhAnAm hridayamgamA vibhAthi ||

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................................................... 5 2. SRI VADUGA NAMBI .................................................................................................................................... 7 3. Sri Uyya koNDAr............................................................................................................................................. 8 4. SrI EngaLAzhvAn .......................................................................................................................................... 10 5. nadAthUr ammAL ......................................................................................................................................... 11 6. Sri Ramanujar ................................................................................................................................................. 13 7. swAmi mudhaliyANdAn ............................................................................................................................. 17 8. Madhurakavi Azhvar .................................................................................................................................... 21 9. AnanthAzhvan ............................................................................................................................................... 24

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Editorial
We are too happy to bring out the sixth edition of our Sri Ramanuja e-Journal in the month of panguni vyava year. The e-journal's main aim is to commemorate the Thirunakshathram-s of AzvAr-AchAryas in the form of discussion of the historical events, dates of the current year, of their divine workscommentaries, texts, pictures and so on. It is hoped that this journal will act as a catalyst in kindling the emotions of the devotees and precipitate thier inner feelings to manifest into celebrations at their places of residence as we are geographically divided. The celebration can be united as we are electronically integrated-thanks to the web and net-services and groups.This perhaps, will quench the thirst for bhagavatha/bhagavAtha anubhavham. Sri ANDAL advocated group devotion rather than bakthi in isolated manner. We are achieving this here. This mutual 'anubhavam-s' is expected to enrich one and all and enhance the divine experience, in the weeks and months to follow: 'bOdhayantha parasparam' KUdi irundhu kuLirndhEalOAr EmpAvAi' vara vara muni dasargaL

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1. Introduction
The chithirai mAsam is packed with utsavam-s and Thirunakshathram- s: madhurakaviyAzhvAr yathirAsarAmivargaL vandhuthiththa mAtham says mamunikaL in upadEsa rathnamAlai. The Tamil new year Sarvajith varsham first day -April 14th 2007 VuyyakoNDAR- Chithirai kArthikai - April 19th 2007 EmperumAnAr utsavam-April 13th to 22nd 2007 AtkoNdavilli jeeyar Chitthirai Thiruvathirai - April 22nd 2007 Sri Mudhali ANDAn-Chithirai punarvasu -April 23rd 2007 kiDambi AcchAn Chitthirai Hastham - April 30th 2007 Sri Madhurai kavi AzvAr -Chithirai-Chithira i-May 1st 2007 Thirumalai AnanthAzvAn -Chithirai Chithirai May 1st 2007 sundaratthOLudaiyAn chitthirai chitthrai thirumalaiyandan son NADathUr ammAL-Chithrai Chithirai May 1st 2007 EngaL AzvAn-Chithrai Rohini-April 20th 2007 piLLai lOkam jeeyar Chitthrai ThiruvONam kOyil SrirAma navami (Srirangam) 25th April 2007 Chithirai utsavam-s at vAnamamalai, Thiruvarangam, Thirunermalai, AzhvAr thirunagari, ThiruvallikkEANi ..the list goes on. The great grand procession of Sundarath thOLudaiyAn from Azhagar kOil to Madurai and back -the great ChithrA paurNami utsavam. Udaiyavar thirunakshatram -April 22nd 2007 EmperumAnAr who is affectionately termed so, is because of his immense auspicious qualities. Says Sri Thiruvarangathamudh anAr. Here is one who is Compassionate than the most compassionate. More merciful than the Lord Himself. 'paraNum parivu ilan Am padi..' irAmAnusa nUtrandhAdhi. RAmAnuja -The great AchArya. BAshyakArar- The one who established our faith -The VisishtAdvaithA- in unequivocal way. Udayavar-the one who has both the worlds. yathirAjar the king among the Monks EmperumAnAr -The most merciful of all. Yes, the Thirunakshathiram celebration is on 22.4.2007-Chithirai ThiruvAdhirai. The great celebration commences on 13.4.2007 and culminates on 23.4.2007

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Kovil SrirAma navami April 25th 2007, Srirangam Srirama navami is celebrated in Chitthirai suklapaksha navami. On that Divine day namperumal, goes for another serthi with a nacchiyar. In Srirangam one can witness four serthis with five different thayars. He is always in serthi with ubhaya nacchimars. During panguni Ayilyam, namperumal performs serthi with Kamalavalli nAcchiyar of ThiruvuRaiyoor. On Panguni Uthram, the fameous, SErthi of PeriyapiraTTiyar with namperumal happens. The last sethi is on Koyil Srirama navami. Kulasekharapperumal azhvar had a girl child named Cherakulavalli and kulasekharapperumal gave her in marriage to namperumaL, like periyazhvar did for AndaL. On Sriramanavami, namperumal comes to Arjunamandapam, and performs Serthi with Cherakulavalli nacchiyar. This is the only one day one can have the darsan of cherakulavalli nacchiyar

namperumaL serthi with Cherakulavalli nacchiyar (courtesy Sri Murali Bhattar)

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2. SRI VADUGA NAMBI

Thirunakshathram: Chitthirai Aswani: April 17th 2007 Sri VaduganambikaL was one of the closest sishyas of emperumanar. Once Sri NamperumAL was coming on a grand procession and Sri VAduga Nambi was called to view this grandeur. However, he told, if i come there, the milk which is boiling will get spoilt and who will take care of my EmperumAn -EmperumAnAr. Therefore, my EmperumAn is EmperumAnAr. Once one srivaishnava came and sat near vaduga nambi and said "narayana!" nambi moved away from that place. While questioned why he said, "Why should adiyen sit some one who is catching hold of anyone other than the charmOpayam- emperumAnAr" He considered Sri RamAnuja as his AchArya and Lord. AchArya Kainkaryam- BhAgavatha kainkaryam-Bhagavat h Kainkaryam VADuga Nambi-s vArthai AchArya kainkaryam - thanakkku pasi viLaithu vuNgai -Service to AchAryan is like most tasty (bOghyam) food for oneself. BhAgavatha kainkaraym -thAikkuch SoR idugai- Service to Devotees is like serving/giving food to ones own mother. An indispensable duty. Bhagavath kainkaryam- mUppukkuch sOr idugai- Service to the Lord is like serving to the old people and satisfies them. Swami piLLai lOkAcharyar, while explaning the AcharyabhimAnam, quotes vaduganambi. Vaduga nambi azhvAnaiyum AndAnaiyum erukaraiyar enbar At Thirukkurunkudi, thirukkurungudi Nambi posed as Vaduga Nambi and became sishya of Sri RamAnujA and became VaishNava Nambi. Vaduga Nambi, thus had this great privilege Nanavarkku nallEan Sri Vaduga Nambi always was particular about EmperumAnar in preference to even the Lord Almighty. Questioned on this, he replied Sri Madhura kavi AzvAr considered only Sri Nam AzvAr as his Lord and did not turn his eyes towards EmperumAn. 'DhEVu maTRariyeAn' Likewise, i have got the blessings of Sri EmpeurmAnAr and therefore my stand is right and he told this in two words 'nAn avarkku nallEan'. I am in the books-good books of EmperumAnAr and therefore there is nothing wrong in ignoring EmperumAn. A befitting tribute to SrIvaduganambi is found in mAmunikal's arthi prabhandam

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"vunnai ozhiya oru deivam maRRariyA mannu pugazh sEr vaduga nambi-tannilaiyai enthanakku nee thandhu ethirAsA! ennALum vun tanakkE yAtkoL vugandhu" Vaduganambi left us with a chronicle called YathirAja vaibhavam detailing every incident of emperumAnAr's life. In yathirAja vaibhavam last sloka vaduga nambi contemplates the mercy of emperumanar who gave him the kainkaryam of boiling milk for him. kAmSchithkasmimaSch idarthE prIrthiniyathathaya sanniyOjyAntharangA n thathra kshIrArthhakruthyE prIthinityamahO dAsamapyathyanarham kurvan SrImAn yathirassvapadavina thathaddAsyadAsA nudAsa mAmapyathyanthabhak tham svahithamiva sadA gOpayEnam sOpi jIyAth

3. Sri Uyya koNDAr

Thirunakshathram Chitthirai KArthikai - April 19th 2007 Namah: pankaja nEthraya Natha SripAda PankajE Nyastha SarvaparAyAsmath kulanaadhaaya DhimathE In the Guruparamparai, SrI uyyakkoNdAr adorns the position next to SrIman nAthamunikal. The Great words of Sri Vuyyak-koNDar. Marriage alongside the Corpse When Sri NAdhamunigaL gave the option to this AchArya whether he wants 'yOga sAsthram' meditating within oneself or to have Divyaprabandham and bhagavadanubhavam to this Sri Vuyya-koNDar replied 'piNam kidakka maNam puNaralAmOA!' When corpse is lying can one enter into marriage? meaning thereby that when souls are suffering in the cylce of births, can one just think of oneself. Sriman NAdhamunikaL directed him to learn sAsthram-s, Divya Prabhandham- s and ThiruvAimozhi and spread the great secrets. Thus this decision of Sri Uyya koNdAr has saved us from everlasting darkness and elevated into the arch of knowledge and devotion.

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Sri UyyakkoNdAr- Azhvar Thirunagari Life history: Very little is known about the life history of srI uyya-k-koNdAr, also called srI puNdarIkAksha. SrI uyya-k-koNdAr was anointed as the leader of all devotees by srIman nAthamuni. After srIman nAthamuni left for the abode of the Lord, srI uyya-k-koNdAr continued to reach the great concepts (the esoteric meanings, the thiruvAymozhi etc.) to his disciples who included srI rAma miSra (srI maNakkAl nambi). It is known that he anointed srI maNakkAl nambi as the next preceptor. srI uyya-k-koNdAr's place of birth is thiru-veLLarai, a place near srIrangam. He was born on the day of the star kriththika, in the month chaitra. The other names by which he is referred to are padmakAksha, rajIvAksha and aravindAksha. His prominent disciples were srI maNakkAl nambi, thiru-alli-k- kEni pAn perumAl araiyar, chEtlUr sendAlankAradAsar, kOmadam thiruvinnakappan and ulagaperumAL nangai. We should be ever indebted to this AchArya who took upon himself the task of learning and spreading the Divyaprabhandham

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which pervaded through ALavandhAr and then to Sri EmperumAnAr and finally spread into a big big area. Later ThiruvAymozhipiLLAi came in the same thiruvamSam of uyyakkoNdAr. During the time of riots, the uthsavar from thiruveLLarai was taken to azhvar thirunagari and was installed there. One can still see this uthsavar of uyyakkoNdAr in the thiruvAymozhi piLLai sannidhi. NamasyAm Aravindhaksham Nathabhave Vyavasthitham Sudhdhasththvamayam SowreravathAramivap aram

4. SrI EngaLAzhvAn
Thirunakshathram : Chitthirai rOhiNi: April 20th 2007 SrI vishNuchittha padapankaja samSrayAya chethO mama sapruhayathE kimatha parENa nOchEnmamAoi yathi SEchharabhArathInAm bhAvaH kathham bhubithumarhathi vAgvidhEyaH Sri Engalazhvans name is vishnuchittha. He was one among the prime disciples of swami Emperumanar. He wrote the visishTadwaitha commentary for Sri VishNupurANam in the name of VishNucchitthiyam. He got the name engalazhvan by emperumanar, looking at his skills of writing. It is believed that it was engalazhvan who completed documenting sribhashyam last chapter after kuratthazhvan lost his eyes. Looking at the striking similarity to the kuratthazhvan's style of writing, emperumanar embraced him and called engal azhvanO! He was acharya to naDAdur ammAL. The Death of 'I' naDAdUr ammAL was asked to go to Thiruvellarai to learn SrIbhAshyam from engalAzhvan. He reached engalazhvan's house and knocked the doors. Engalzhavan asked from inside who is it? ammAL replied "nAn" "I" engalazhvan replied immediately nAn setthittu vArum" "come after I die" ammAL wondered how one can teach him, after he is dead, and returned back to kanchipuram and explained everything to his father. His father asked him to go to Thiruvellarai again, and this time to refer his self as "adiyEn". This time engalazhvan opend the doors and accepted ammAL as his sishya. Nadadur Ammal learnt Sri Bashya, from EngalAzhwAn. Because of this, EngalAzhwan came to be known as Ammal Acharyan.

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5. nadAthUr ammAL
Thirunakshathram: Chitthirai Chitthirai: May 1 2007 Sruthaprakasika bhattar was disciple of ammal. He is the grandson of SrImath varada guru who is a nephew of bhagavath rAmAnuja (pUrvASramam) . He did sampradAya pravachanam in Sri kacchi vAithAn maNdapam and instructed his disciple SrI SudarSana sUri to document the magnificent grantam named Sruta-prakASika (commentary on SrI bhAshyam). He is an author of many granthas like TattvasAara , PrapannapArijaata , PrameyamAla , AahnikacuudAmaNi, AarAdhanakramam , MangaLASAsanam , JayantidarpaNam , HetirAjastavam, Rahasyasangraham , Caturlakshanasangra ham, ParatattvanirNayam, DramiDOpainishatsan graham, SrIbhAshyasangraham , yatilinga samarthana etc.

Swami EngaLAzhvAn and NadAdUr ammAL at ThiruveLLarai

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WinZip/pkzip NO! World Zip!UNiverse Zip! Entire Zip! Zip one and All In the Azhiyezha pathigam, Edu, nampiLLai recalls a nirvaham by nadAthtUr ammAL, in the pasuram AppanULiyezha ulakamuNdavUNE 7.4.4, where the roaring sound of the Athyanthika praLayam, is described nadAthUr ammAL used to say, look, at the sound when the entire leelavibhUthi is being zipped inside emperumAn's stomach, Ivattrai urichukiRapOthai thvani kAN endru ammAL paNikkum paDi endraruLiccheyvar Sri NaDAdhUrammAL's anushtAnam Once Sri NadAthUr AmmAL and ALI pillAn - a low caste SrevaishNavite BhagavathA- had food together. On seeing this, Sri PerumkUdAr piLLai expressed that without seeing this anushthAnam he would have strictly gone by sAsthram-s. For this Sri NAdAthUr ammAL replied "Those who are in the fold of SrEvaishNava sadhAchAryan and their's are indeed the best things one can take into ones practice' The emphasis is on the desirability of BhAgavatha Sambhandham. EngaL AzvAn and NAdAdhUr AmmAL When EngaL AzvAn was explaining Charama slOkArtham to NAdAdhUr AmmAl and when the learner observed that EmperumAn prescribes leaving every DhArma which The Lord Himself had laid down, Sri NADAthUr AmmAL exclaimed that "What svAthanthriyam! The person who had prescribed Himself now removes the prescriptions" For this EngaL AzvAn replied ' Oh! It is not that Lord tells this because of svAthanthriyam but because it is not compatible to the AtmA's nature' Let us all join and celebrate all these divine days and do mangalasasanams to all these great acharyas.

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6. Sri Ramanujar
Chittirai Thiruvathirai-April 22 2007 Sathyam sathyam punaH sathyam yathirAjO jagathguru emperumAnAr darSanamennE itharkku namperumAL pEriTTu nATTi vaitthAr ambuviyOrintha thariSanatthai emperumAnAr vaLArttha anthaseyalaRikaikkA - UpadESaratthinamalai

VeLLAi sAtthuppaDi uthsavam at Sriperumputhur

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990th Thirunakshathram of swami EmperumAnAr

Swami emperumanar At Thirunarayanapuram during Thirunakshathra Uthsavam: Please note the Pavithrams on both Ring Figures.

Emperumanar at Srirangam

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Chitthiraiyil seyya thiruvAdhirai April 22nd

BhavishyadAchAryan: Emperumanar at Azhvar Thirunagari. Look for the yajnopavItham.

Emperumanar and nammazhvar Sayanathirukolam: Azhvar Thirunagari

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yOnithyamachyutha padAmbuja yugmarugma vyAmOhathaSchathira thrANi thrNAyamEnE asmadgurOr bhagavadOScha dayaika sindhOH rAmAnujaScha charaNau SaraNam prapadyE "kayyil kani enna kaNNanaik kAttith tharinum vundhan meyyil piRangiya seer anRi vEAnDilan yAn"

BhavishyadAchAryan- RAjangam during the Emperumanar Uthsavam sAtthumuRai pAShaNDasAgramahAba DabAmukhAgniH SrIramgarAjacaraNam bujamUladAsaH SrIvishNulOkamaNima NDapamArgadAyii raamaanujO vijayathE yathirAjarAjaH

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7. swAmi mudhaliyANdAn
Chittirai punarpoosam Birth and nomenclature A child was born to swamy emperumanar's sister in the vadhoola clan on a chittirai punarpoosam day, in the small village of pEttai (pachchai varana perumal sannadhi) inbetween the avatara stalam of thirukachchinambi (poovirundhavalli) and the avatara stalam of Swamy emperumanar (Sriperumbudur). His parents were Vaadhoola Kula Thilaka Sri Anantha Naarayana Dikshithar and Nachiyaramman. The child was named dAsarathi as he was born on the day of avataram of Sri chakravarthi thirumagan (ramapiran). ElaiyAzhvar, the avatara of adisesha and balaramanuja, sri parthasarathi was born on a chittirai thiruvadirai day. His nephew was born in the next star on the avatara dhinam of Sri rama. Sambhandam (Relationship) with emperumAnAr In our srivaishnava sampradayam, athma sambhandam (Relationship due to Athma) is more regarded than the deha sambhandam (physical relationship) still it is seen from our guruparampara legends that our acharyas did cherish the deha sambhandam with bhagavatas mainly the acharyas. Mudaliyaandan and koorathAzhvan were both very close to Ramanujacharya and were considered as the danda and pavithram of emperumanar (without which a yethi should not be). Still koorathAzhvan used to feel bad for not been blessed with a deha sambhandam with ramanucharya that mudaliyaandan enjoyed ("Padakku Atma Sambandham Irundhalum, Uzhakku Deha Sambandham Illaye"). Even while taken up sanyasa ramanujacharya vows that he sacrificed all the relationships except mudaliyaandan due to the bhagavata sambhandam he cherished with mudaliyaandan. Role in Sampradayam Mudaliyaandan is considered as the paduka of Sri Ramanuja. When we go to the sannadhi of perumal we all want to be blessed with his divine feet called as the srisadagopam/ srisatari. What will we ask for when we stand in the sannadhi of ramanujacharya? We cannot call his divine feet as Srisadagopam as ramanuja is the divine feet of nammazhvar (satakopar). We have to say, "mudaliyaandan sAdhikka" (please bless me with the divine feet of ramanuja, mudaliyaandan). Emperumanar invested the very important role of taking care of the administration of the srirangam temple (srirangasri, the head quarters of Srivaishnava sampradayam) in the hands of Mudaliyaandan. Aandaan was responsible for maintaining the ramanujArya divyAjyA in the Srivaishnava talai nagaram. "Sriranganaatha Divyaalaya Nirvahana Dhurandhara"

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Swami muthaliyAndAn at peTTai As he ruled the temple staff like Senai Muthaliyaar (Sri Vishvaksena) , he was given the name Muthali-Aandaan. He is mentioned in the Koyil Ozhugu, the chronicle of Srirangam temple, in glowing terms: "muthaliyaandaanum kurattilirunthu koyil kariyaththaiyum uLLe karuvulaka vaasalileyirunthu thirumeni upachaaraththayum, sannathiyile irunthu thiruppavaLa upchaarangaLayum udayavar niyamanappadi aaraaynthu kondu anaiththazhagum kaNdarula paNNIk-kondirunthaar". The Ramanuja Divya Charitam says that as Ramanuja's chief disciple, he was deputed to Belur (Velupura-Velur) to inaugurate the Keshava Narayana Temple there. Acharya bhakthi The first type of servitude is seshatvam like lakshmana to do all kainkaryams to emperuman at all times. The second type is parathantriyam getting ready to even sacrifice being with the lord/acharya for the sake of lord/acharyas pleasure. Very good example for parathantriyam is bharatha. In guruparampara the best example is ananthAzhvan who left ramanuja and went to do pushpa kainkaryam for thiruvenkatamudaiya n since his acharya aspired it. But atleast

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ananthAzhvan left ramanuja and went only to thirumala but mudaliyaandan went to the extent of serving some normal persons (inlaws of aththuzhAi) just for fulfilling the words of his acharya. Periya nambigal's (the acharya of ramanuja) daughter aththuzhAi faced some problems in her in-laws place which she told to periya nambi. She had to go to fetch water from a tank in the evening, which was little away from their house and by the time she returned it would be dark so she wanted someone to accompany her. But her inlaws neglected her request and commented "have you got any servant from your father's place to send along with you?" While she told this to periya nambi he said, "Don't say anything to me the responsibility of taking care is with udaiyavar". AththuzhAi went to the sannadhi of udaiyavar and put forth her problem infront of ramanujacharya. He immediately looked at mudaliyaandan who at once started with aththuzhAi to her inlaws place. Mudaliyaandan did all the house hold work at that place. Can anyone imagine a great scholar in ubhaya vedantha going and working as a servant maid in some house? This carried on for some months when one day some guests have come to that house who were discussing about Ramayana and gave all wrong interpretations. Mudaliyaandan couldn't stand that and tears rolled down his eyes. Seeing that the head of the house thought that he was crying due to dissatisfaction of doing the household work told aandan "Oh! Don't do the work with dissatisfaction which will not be good to the house" aandan replied, "I am not troubled by the work but I am trouble by the wrong interpretations given for those great slokas of Ramayana" The people gathered were puzzled and with great ego said, "oh! If you are such a great vidwan to find fault with our interpretations why don't you give yours?" aandaan politely replied,"If you order me so listen to the meanings given by adiyen's acharya" and aandan outpoured number of wonderful sastra arthas. Overwhelmed by the expertise of aandan but worried due to the apacharam done till today they ran to periya nambi and asked, "Oh! Periya nambi why do you want us to be punished by commiting such a great bhaagavata apacharam" Nambi calmly replied, "Adiyen is no way connected to all these go and ask udaiyavar". They ran to the sannadhi of udaiyavar did sAshtAnka pranAmam apologized for their misdeeds and requested to pardon them and take mudaliyaandan back. Thus aandan served even some unknown people considering it to be acharya kainkaryam. Effect of Bhagavata Sripadatheertham When koorathAzhvan went to the court of kirimikanda chola to defend our sampradayam and protect ramanujacharya mudaliyaandan left along with ramanujacharya to melkote. On the way, there was a small village called tottiyam salagramam where the villagers showed great indifference to ramanuja and Srivaishnava sampradayam. They were influenced by the jains. Ramanujacharya immediately instructed mudaliyaandan to dip his legs in the tank from where the whole village took water for drinking. The next day morning the mentality of the whole village changed. They came and prostrated emperumanar and with great regard honoured swamy. How could all the people change in a single night? It was all due to the greatness of the sripadatheertham of the great bhagavata Sri Mudaliyaandan.

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Lake at Saligramam: muthaliyandans Sripadatheertham MudaliyAndan's words of wisdom 1. "oru malaiyil ninru, oru malaiyil thaavum simha shareeraththil janthukkaL pole bhaashyakaarar samsaaralanganam paNNa avarOdundaana kudalthudakkaale naam udhdheerdaraavuthom enru muthaliyaandaruLi- ch-cheytha paasuram" (When a lion leaps from a mountain to another, all the creatures that live on his body go with him. Even so, when Udayavar transcended this world, all of us who are associated with him benefit from this as well.) 2. In the Thiruvaaymozhi eedu (2.9.2), the words "gnyaana kai thaa" - (extend to me the helping hand of wisdom) - are illustrated as follows. "embaarukku aaNdaanaruLi- ch-cheytha vaarthayai smarippathu; athaavathu oru kiNatril vizhunthavanukky iraNdu pEr kai koduththaal etukkumavargaLukkum eLithaay erumavanukkum eLithaay irukkumire; appadiye aagirathu enru". Once when mudaliyaandan was in thirunarayanapuram, one of his disciples went and prostrated embar. Embar was doing panchasamskaram to few disciples at that time. Due to the deep interest

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to get acharya samasrayanam this disciple also underwent panchasamskaram under embar. Not knowing that he was a shisya of mudaliyaandan embar also did panchasamskarams to him. Then when mudaliyaandan returned back embar came to know of the same and felt very bad. But mudaliyaandan calmly replied, "When a man has fallen into the well and if two people come to his rescue then it will be easy for the rescuers and the person who is rescued. The same has happened we have now joined hands to lift one who is fallen into the ocean of samsara. So don't feel bad about it" "aththigiri aruLALar adipaNindhOn vAzhiyE Arulpachhai vAranath thil avadhariththOn vAzhiyE Chittiraiyil punarpoosam siRakkavandhOn vAzhiyE seepAdiya meedu mudal seer peRuvOn vAzhiyE vuththamamAm vAdhoolam vuyaravandhOn vAzhiyE voor thiruindha seerpAdham oondRinAn vAzhiyE muththiraiyum senkOlum mudipeRuvOn vAzhiyE mudaliyAndan poRpadhangal voozhidhOrum vAzhiyE"

8. Madhurakavi Azhvar
Thirunakshathram : chitthiraiyil chitthirai nAL pANdyakshmAyAm prathhithAvathAram chaithrasthhachithr OTijamUrthhvachU Dam khagaamSajam mathhuram kavInthram SaThhribhaktham SaraNam prapadyE Like the dawn for a sunrise-vakula bhooshaNa bhaskarodayam- madhurakavikal took his divine birth in chitthirai chitthirai thirunakshathram, much earlier to nammazhvar. We learn about charamaparva nishtai from madhurakaviyazhvar. While equating bharathazhvan- ilaya perumal and sathrughnazhvan, madhurakavikal gains the position of sathrughnazhvan, who always stayed in bharatha kainkaryam. In Srivachana bhooshanam piLLai lokacharya speaks thus while discussing anthimopaya nishtai 408:" vuNda pOdhu oru vArthaiyum, vuNNAdha pOdhu oru vArthaiyum solluvar pathu pEar vuNdiREa; avargaL pAsuram koNdanRu ivvartham aRudhiyiduvadhu. 409:" avargaLai pArthtuch sirithiruppAr oruvar vuNdiRea; avar pAsuram koNdu ivvartham aRudhiyidak kadavOam"

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Mamunikal hails the thirunakshathram of madhurakaviyazhvar as ErAr madhurakavi ivvulakil vanthudittha sIrArum chitthiraiyil chitthirai nAL pArulakil mattulla AzhvArkaL vanthudittha nALkaLilum utthathu emakku entru nenchE Or THE SECRET BEHIND THE SMILE (PHILSOPHICAL SMILE ) Emphaising the importance of following one's AchAryan, Sri PiLLai lOkAchAryAr in his srE vachana bhUshaNam suggests that we should take refuge in the AzhwAr who followed this aspect meticulously. Other Azhwars in fact, toed the Lord who is swathanthran. Hence, whenever He gave His divine vision/ encouraged, they talked in glee. Whenever, He vanished or played hide and seek, they talked in misery. sri madhurakavigaL who took refuge in "nam-AzhwAr" as AchAryan and talked HIm as His Lord, never had this problem. He explicitly told 'dhEvu maRRaRiyEan avan pon adi meimayEa" in his kaNNi nun siruthAmbu. Thus, the AzhwAr's prabhandham which transforms as per the fluctuating moods of AzhwAr's due to separation from the Lord or happy when they are with the Lord should not be taken as a premise.

Madhurakaviyazhvar- ThirukkOLUR

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sri madhurakavigaL whose steadfast devotion towards AchAryan and singleminded pAsuram-s should in fact be taken as the premise for this purpose. That is what is mentioned by piLLai lOkAchAryar when he says "we should take madhurakavigaL's prabhandham as the guiding beacon. He is the one who laughs at the other azhvars, as his means secured him unfluctutating fortunes" In the above sutras, to emphasize the importance of taking refuge in AchAryan in preference to the Lord, the words "avaraip pArthu sirippAr oruvar vuNdiRea" is mentioned. This is philosophical than literal. Mamunikal recalls in arthi prabandham "Madhurakavi chorppaDiyE iruppAka pettrOm" Madhurakaviyazhar blessed us with one prabandham kaNNinuNchirutthAmp u, which speaks only about his acharya nammazhvar. This is the only one prabandham apart from iramAnusa nUttanthathi, which is written in present past tense. Rest all the prabandhams are mostly written in future tense, expecting the moksham. But madhurakaviyazhvar says kuntramAda thirukkurugoor nambi ennum ennai ikazhvilan kAnminE mamunikal says in upadEsarathinamalai vAyttha thirumanthiratthin matthimamam padamPol sIrttha madhurakavi seykalayai Artthapugazh AriyarkaLthAngal aruLiccheyal naduvE sErvitthAr thathpariyam thErnthu Let us all sing mangalasasanams to that great madhura (sweet) kavi (poet) who has shown us the charama parva nishtai (AcharyAbhimAnamE uttArakam) through his short and sweet tamil paasurams, the most easiest way to attain moksham.

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9. AnanthAzhvan
Chitthirai- Chitthirai akhilAtma guNAvAsam agyAna timirApaham | AshritAnAm sucaraNam vandE anantArya dEshikam || Millions of devotees throng the Tirumala Hills practically round the clock throughout the year. There was a time when there were hardly few people around, in Thirumalai, for kainkaryam. Emperumanar had visited the Hills thrice. His maternal uncle, Peria Thirumalai Nambi gave him education on the Sri Ramayana for several months at the Hills. Once in the Bagvad vishaya kalakshepa goshti at Srirangam, emperumanar was teaching ozhivilkAlamellAm padhikam, where azhvar expresses the deep anguish to do kainkaryam at Thiruvenkadam. Emperumanar deeply moved by this, asked "is there some one in this goshti who can go to thirumalai and do pushpa kainkaryam? The climate in thirumalai was so bad those times, fearing the hard life up the Hills filled with tigers, snakes and other wild animals and also not wanting to miss Swamy emperumanar and his ghosti no one was ready to go. There was Anantharya, among the gOshti He rose to his feet and prayed, "With your grace, adiyen will be happy to undertake this service." Ramanuja was mightily pleased and embracing Anantharya, declared before the congregation, Anantharya, You are truly the man (Aanpillai)." Anatharya chose to settle down on the Hills in fulfillment of the command of his Acharya and went on to lay the garden of flowers dug up the lake and named it after Ramanuja. Anantharya was so much obsessed with zealous personal service to the Lord that on one occasion, he hit with a crowbar a young man who was trying to help his wife in laying the garden. Anantharya was chasing him when the young man disappeared into the temple. The priests found blood oozing from the chin of the Lord as Anantharya entered the sanctum sanctorum. He applied camphor on the chin and prayed for forgiveness. The crowbar can even today be seen at the entrance to the temple as a momento to the dedicated devotion of Anantharya. Anantha Suri was some sort of a chronicler. His Venkatchala Ithihasamala represents to Tirupati what Koil Olugu is to Srirangam. The Holy triumvirate of Saint Ramanuja, Anantharya and Peria Thirumalai Nambigal at a conference at the third visit of Ramanuja set up the Pedda Jeeyangar Mutt to regulate the vaikansa agama form of worship. His devotion to Andal was so great that on one occasion he was seen diving deep down the Srivilliputtur temple tank to search for the remnants of holy turmeric if any used by Andal. He composed the Ramanuja Chautsloki showing how Srirangam, the Tirumalai Hills, Kanchi and Melkote were dear to Ramanuja. His Goda Chatusloki is a work of great art, rich in lines whose depth of thought , warmth of feeling , glow of imagery and grace of phrases will ring for centuries in every land where the glory of Andal is cherished.

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Thirumalai Ananthazhvan Bhattar, the successor to Saint Ramanuja at Srirangam, once sent a disciple to Ananthalwan to ascertain who a true Vaishnava was. Ananthalwan told the Brahmin from Srirangam, "A true Sri Vaishnavite is like a crane, like a rooster, like salt and He will be like you." - kokku pOla irukkum, kOzhi pOla irukkum, vuppu pOla irukkum, vummaip pOla irukkum" Bhattar later on explained the four different ideas of Ananthalwan. The Srivaishnava ignores ordinary mortals and awaits the arrival of a true Gnani so that he may surrender to that Mahatma through devotion to service. Not for him the different parts of the Vedas which are not always of universal appeal. Like the rooster picking up the good grains from the chaff, the Vaishnava will swear by the Dravida Veda of Nammalwar. Just as the salt dissolves itself in food and becomes useful thereby, the Srivaishnava effaces himself in Bhagavath, Bhaagavatha and Acharya Kainkarya. Like the Brahmin from Srirangam, he is free of ego or arrogance, always humble and devoted to the Srivaishnava clan. Ananthalwan's final sacred gift to the pilgrims visiting the Hills was the shrine for Ramanuja. Everywhere swami emperumanar's divine feet is known as MudhaliyANdAn, except in Thirumalai where it is called AnanthAzhvAn. Ananthalwan joined eternity Lord's kainkaryam on

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the sacred Thiru Adi Pooram day. Even today, Lord Venkateswara visits the garden and bestows honours on the Magizha Tree. In iraNdAm Tiruvandaadi, Sri Bhoothatthazhvaar describes an event occurring in the hills of Tirumalai as follows. perugu mathavEzham maappidikku munninRu irukaNiLamoongil vaangi arugiruntha thEn kalanthu neettum thiruvEngadam kaNdeer vaan kalantha vaNNan varai The description of nature in this paasuram is, in the Tirumalai hills, a male elephant , pulls off a bamboo shoot, dips it in a honeycomb nearby and extends it to its female elephant. On one occasion when Sri Ramanuja visited Tiruvengadam, the devotees there requested that he give a discourse on the meaning of Dvayam. Sri Ramanuja agreed and did so; however, he also included the meanings of Tirumantram and Carama SlOkam in the discourse and as such the discourse became lengthy. Upon seeing this, Ananthazhvar stated that on that day he understood the true meaning of Bhoothatthazhvar's paasuram, as follows. The male elephant in mast is a description of Sri Ramanujar the mast is the tears in his eyes as he enjoys the divine words of Swami Nammazhvar ("paNdaru maaRan pasunthamizh aanantham paaymathamaay viNdida engaL raamaanusamuni vEzham"). The female elephant represents the devotees in the gathering. Moongil represents a delicious substance. Here it stands for dvayam. Amongst Tirumantram, Dvayam, and Carama SlOkam, Dvayam is the most delicious to Sriman Narayana's devotees. Also, since Azhvar said a moongil with two eyes (knots), it represents dvayam with its two parts. The honey in the comb nearby refers to Tirumantram and Carama SlOkam near Dvayam. The word neettum (extend) refers to the fact that the discourse was extended because Sri Ramanuja added the meanings of Tirumantram and Carama SlOkam to the meaning of Dvayam. Thus the description of TiruvEngadam was that of Sri Ramanujar extending a lengthy discourse to His devotees on the meanings of Dvayam, Tirumantram and Carama SlOkam. While delivering a thaniyan for ThiruvAymozhi, AnanthAzhvan had no second thought to dedicate it via emperumAnAr. If you want to learn SathakOpans senthamizh vEdam, get blessing of emperumanar. Azhvar emperumAnAr Jeeyar thiruvadigalE sharaNam