You are here: SriPedia - Oppiliappan - Archives - Oct 2005

Oppiliappan List Archive: Message 00143 Oct 2005

 
Oct 2005 Indexes ( Date | Thread | Author )
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]


Thiru Arangan Ula- the sojourn of the Lord. ? 3. The glories of nampiLLai

 



NampiLLai was a mahA-AchAryar residing at Sri Rangam. His original name was 
VaradarAjan. His guru, Swami Nanjeeyar affectionately christened him nampiLLai 
which means, ?our dear one?. As Swami ManavALa MAmunikaL says in his UpadEsa 
Rathna MAlai, the prefix ?nam? signifies something very exalted. nammAzhwAr is 
the most significant AzhwAr, just like namperumAL, the processional deity of 
Sri Rangam; of course, nanjeeyar actually means ?nam jeeyar?. He was a 
philosophical stalwart, a champion of all SAstrAs. He was a king-maker, the 
king being vyAkyAna chaktravarti Swami Periya VAchAn PiLLai. Swami Periya 
VAchAn PiLLai glorifies nampiLLai in one of his works. Let us look how:

 

SAndipani Muni was the guru of Lord KrishNa during his gurukulam (schooling) 
days. The greatness of SAndipani Muni is that he taught Lord KrishNA all the 
sAstrAs and the 64 different art forms in just 64 days!! In fact, Thirumangai 
AzhwAr, out of reverence for such a great personality, doesn?t utter his name 
while referring to him in one of his works. Swami Periya VachAn PiLLai, when 
describing SAndipani Muni, portrays the great SAndipani Muni, the teacher of 
the Lord,  as ?somebody like my AchAryan!!?, alas, he goes a step more and says 
?just like nampiLLai, he might know everything, but my AchAryan knows 
tiruvAimozhi which SAndipani Muni did not? thereby stating that nampiLLai was 
even greater than SAndipani Muni!! 

 

Swami nampiLLai was an expert in tiruvAimozhi. Those days, the AchAryAs all led 
totally God-conscious lives without any external deviants bothering them, hey 
led comfortable lives for they had the patronage and encouragement of the 
kings. 

 

Whenever nampiLLai delivered lectures, the whole town including all the priests 
and temple staff used to congregate around him with awe to listen to his words 
filled with knowledge and Bhakti. They hired a person name ThiruviLakku Pichan 
as the guard for Sri RanganAtha, as everybody else would have gone to 
nampiLLai?s lectures.  Pichan was a person of low intelligence, and hence they 
hired him to stand guard, else even he?d come to nampiLLai?s discourses. It 
seems namperumAL would desire to listen to nampiLLai?s expert commentaries, so 
he would try leaving the Sanctum Sanctorum, but Pichan would catch Him, 
admonishingly remind Him that he was an archa avatArA, and hence he should get 
back into the Sanctum!! Look at the greatness of the Lord!! Even the greatest 
Rishis are waiting to communicate with Him, instead he talks to this apparently 
unintelligent person!!! 

 

Sri Rangam was flourishing during nampiLLai?s time. The ChOla dynasty was at 
its imperialistic best, with the empire extending till countries like Thailand 
and Indonesia. They built temples for Lord RAmA in Indonesia during the reign 
of the ChOla Kings. The Tamil people went to different parts of the vast 
kingdom and settled in those places. [As an interesting side note, ThiruppAvai 
is still being chanted by a small group of people in Thailand]. Merchants of 
the ChOla dynasty were involved in trading with the Chinese people. In fact, 
?peengAn?, the tamil word for porcelain, was first quoted by nampiLLai in his 
works.

 

One of the attributes of a Srivaishnava is his humility and willingness to 
forgive. A Srivaishnava is someone who takes pity in others? miseries and tries 
to help them as much as he could. Even if somebody wishes evil, a Srivaishnava 
should only forgive that person and exhibit humilty. Swami nampiLLai displayed 
these qualities to the highest degree; in fact, he went a step higher, as we 
shall see in the next paragraph. He was extremely humble by nature, and would 
never harm any living soul; even if somebody wishes him evil, he was more than 
willing to forgive and continue to display humility to that person. This is the 
hallmark of a Sri Vaishnava, and Swami nampiLLai was an example.

 

Once, there was an event in the Sri Rangam temple, and Swami nampiLLai was 
expected to attend. On his way to the temple, Swami nampiLLai was stopped by a 
Srivaishnva who wanted Swami nampiLLai?s help to dispel some philosophical 
queries. Swami nampiLLai being a great teacher, spent some time to help the 
Srivaishnava, and hence he ended up arriving late to the event. KandhAdai 
thOzhappar was one of the scholars participating in that event, and he was 
(always) harboring envy towards Swami nampiLLai mainly due to his name and 
fame. He utilized this chance and started chastising Swami nampiLLai using 
rather brazen words, ?Do you think that you are too important for even the 
Lord?? Are you so proud and arrogant just because you have many disciples??? 
Swami nampiLLai was felt rather sad. But, what was the reason for Swami 
nampiLLai?s sadness? 

 

The same evening, KandhAdai thOzhappar was still angry with nampiLLai. His 
wife, who had received a lot of knowledge by listening nampiLLai?s lectures, 
started advising her husband, ?My dear husband, you have done the worst of the 
sins. Swami nampiLLai is not an ordinary person; people hail him as an 
incarnation of  Thirumangai AzhwAr himself. He has brought so much joy to the 
citizens of Srirangam by delivering excellent lectures on our sampradayam. How 
can you insult such a towering personality??? Hearing these words from his 
wife, KandhAdai Thozhappar felt extremely guilty. He was overcome with remorse, 
and felt really sad that he had insulted Swami nampiLLai. He decided to visit 
Swami nampiLLai?s ashram that same night, even if it was dark, as he could not 
control his sense of guilt. As he opened his door and was about to leave, he 
saw a person lying on the doorsteps of his house. When he went closer to see 
who that person was, Sri Thozhappar was shocked, as it was Swami
 nampiLLai!!

 

?I felt very sad that you were angry with me. Please forgive me for whatever 
actions I might have done for you to be angry me!!? says our nampiLLai, falling 
at the feet of KandhAdai Thozhappar, who started getting tears in his eyes. He 
hugs Swami nampiLLai and utters, ?Oh VaradarajA!! I thought you were the guru 
for the SrivaishnavAs in Srirangam, nay; you are the Guru for the whole world!! 
You are lOka AchAryA !!? and hence, nampiLLai was honored with a special name, 
?lOka AchAryAn?. A befitting name without doubt!!

 

NampiLLai honored everybody in his lectures. His audience ranged from kings and 
ministers to peasants and simpletons. He used to explain the philosophy for 
everybody to understand. Even the greatest scholars used to attend his 
discourses, and he led his discourses in a very democratic way; anybody could 
stand up and ask questions and nampiLLai would patiently answer those 
questions. nampiLLai was always accompanied in all his discourses by his 
stalwart disciples, Swami periyavAchAn piLLai and Swami vadakku thiruveedhi 
piLLai and they were worthy students of a worthy guru. (Can you imagine the 
glory of the sight?? Swami nampiLLai accompanied by Swami periya vAchAn piLLai 
and Swami vadakku thiruveedhi piLLai? what a sweet picture to imagine!!!)

 

(to be continued)



                
---------------------------------
 Yahoo! Music Unlimited - Access over 1 million songs. Try it free.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]





------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> 
Click here to rescue a little child from a life of poverty.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/rAWabB/gYnLAA/i1hLAA/XUWolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~-> 

 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Oppiliappan/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    Oppiliappan-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 



[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index ] [Thread Index ] [Author Index ]
Home Page
http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia
oppiliappan-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
To subscribe to the list