Thiru Arangan Ula- the sojourn of the Lord ? 4. The AchAryAs after NampiLLai
Periya AchAn PiLLai?s genius was so great that even the Shiva worshippers used
to feel envious that they didn?t have a scholar of his stature to write
commentaries on the nAyanmAr?s works. The word ?AchAn (Ayan->Aychi->AchAn)? is
one of the names of Lord Krishna. The name PiLLai means ?scholar?. He got the
prefix ?Periya? in his name to signify his greatness. His original name was of
course, ?Krishnan?.
Vadakku Theeruveedhi PiLLai?s original name was also Krishnan and he was a
scion of the Mudumbai clan. He was a very devoted student of Swami nampiLLai.
Although an AchArya of the rAmaAnuja Sampradayam it is interesting to note that
he also comes in the literary disciplic succession (kAlakshepa AchArya
parampara) of the Ahobila Matam school of dEsika sampradaya. He was a
mahA-jnAni, a person who was completely surrendered to the Lord. Although he
was married, he had no attraction to marital affairs. His mother, ammi was
really worried that her son won?t yield any progenies; she wanted her son to
have illustrious kids who would only help the sampradayam grow. As we shall
see, how right was her vision!!! She approached Swami nampiLLai as she was
confident that her son won?t disobey his guru?s words. Swami nampiLLai
understood her plight, and hence he instructed his dear disciple Sri Vadakku
Thiruveedhi piLLai to show interest in marital affairs, which the disciple duly
followed. Sri
piLLai lOkAchAryan was thus born on the ascension of the ThiruvOnam star
during the tamil month of aippasi by the grace of Swami nampiLLai. As apparent,
Sri Vadakku Thiruveedhi piLLai christened his son after his divine guru.
After a year, Sri namperumAL, the processional deity of Srirangam, spoke to
Swami Vadakku Thiruveedhi PiLLai through the temple priest; he asked Sri
Vadakku Thiruveedhi PiLLai to beget another son- the second son thus born, was
christened with Sri namperumAL?s name, ?Azhagiya ManavALA perumAL nAyanAr?.
True to the expectations and joy of everyone, the two illustrious boys went on
to earn all glories to our sampradayam. They both decided to practice celibacy
in order to avoid any entanglements in materialistic things. For the same
reason they are considered to be greater than BheeshmA himself, as he chose
celibacy for political reasons.
The great Swami PiLLai lOkAchAryar, considered to be one of the greatest
AchAryAs after Sri Ramanuja, led a life dedicated to the cause of our
sampradayam. He preferred to not spend much time in travel; instead he spent
all his time on writing 18 divine works which are essential for every
SrivaishnavA to study. He lived for 105 long years. He was considered the
greatest genius ever, and one example of his numerous divine qualities is that
he brought the philosophy to every one, immaterial of caste or creed. Even
today, it is rare to find any advaitins in the non-brahminical sects. It is
only in Sri Vaishnavism that we honor every bhAgawAtha without caring for
his/her background.
It was indeed Swami rAmAnujA started the trend. He spread the branches of Sri
Vaishnavism far and wide, accepting disciples from even the so-called lower
castes. Never did he differentiate between two bhAgawathAs on the basis of
caste. He brought people from all castes under the vase umbrella of Sri
Vaishnavism. Those days, lakhs of people thronged Srirangam; it is unfortunate
that this sight can be seen only in a place like puttaparthi- sign of
degeneration of kali!!
The Brahmins in the SrivaishnavA fold are termed as ?sAthina SrivaishnavAs? and
the bhaktAs from other backgrounds are referred to as, ?sAthadha
SrivaishnavAs?. In a way, it is better to be a sAthAdha Srivaishnava as life
can be totally dedicated to bhagawath-kainkaryam, and there won?t be any
worries about performing SandhyAvandanam, tharpanam, etc.
Once a group of vaishnavAs from Andhra approached Swami rAmAnuja; they had
immense desire to perform bhagawath kainkaryam. rAmAnujA accepted them into the
fold. When the naysayer started questioning their castes, Swami rAmAnuja
answered that they belong to the same caste of the nityasUrIs of vaikuntha!!
Swami rAmAnuja honored even the smarthAs (for e.g. the traditional
veena-artistes) in Srirangam, MAdhwAs are given temple responsibilities, even
barbers, cobblers, washer men were all honored in Srirangam, and such is the
greatness of Swami rAmAnujA!!
Coming back to our story, Swami PiLLai lOkAchAryar?s fame spread far and wide.
One of his famous disciples was Koora kulothunga dAsar, who played a crucial
role in safeguarding our sampradayam as we shall see moving forward. His
descendants are still living in Thirukkannappuram, and it is our duty as Sri
VaishnavAs to honor the descendants of those great AchAryAs of the past. It is
indeed sad to know that some of them are wallowing in poverty. Other notable
disciples of Swami PiLLai lOkAchAryar would be manalpAkkathu nambi, kollikAval
dAsan, kOttur annan and the great vilAnchOlai piLLai.
Swami vilAnchOlai piLLai originally hails from KeraLA. He was born in the
lowest of the castes, and it is indeed unfathomable that he went all the way to
Srirangam and learnt all the sastrAs and philosophy from Swami piLLai
lOkAchAryar. How great was Swami vilAnchOlai piLLai or even how greater was
swami piLLai lOkAchAryar to have accepted a person from the so-called low-caste
and making him one of his stalwart disciples!! In fact, it is said that Swami
piLLai lOkAchAryar wrote his Sri VachanabhUshanam just for vilAnchOlai piLLai.
vilAnchOlai piLLai in return wrote saptha kAdhai, which every SrivaishnavA is
supposed to chant, but unfortunately it is grossly unnoticed, mostly because of
the caste of the author; how shameful is that! We will see the greatness of
Swami vilAnchOlai piLLai later on in this series, but let us all keep his name
in mind.
Another famous disciple of SwAmi piLLai lOkAchAryar is Sri Thirumalai AzhwAn,
who was later famously known as ThiruvAimozhi piLLai. He was a genius in both
the sAstrAs and governance. Hence, he was decorated as the Chief minister of
the pAndiya kingdom of present day Madurai. He was the person responsible for
preserving swami nammAzhwAr, he dedicated his whole life for propagating the
glories of thiruvAimozhi, and hence he later received the name ?thiruvAimozhip
piLLai?. His mother was totally devoted to the sampradayam, and was an ardent
disciple of Swami piLLai lOkAchAryar; he was raised by his maternal aunt. He
was born in a town called ?Kuntheenagaram?, present day ?Kondhagai? near
Madurai. What is the history behind kuntheenagaram??
To be continued.......
AzhwAr emperumAnAr jeeyar thiruvadigaLE Saranam.
Adiyen Dasan,
Kidambi Soundararajan.
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