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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00045 Apr 2002

 
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srImathE rAmAnujAya namah


dear bhAgavathAs,

I would like to present some information on some
portions of the mail that was forwarded from
another net. The intent is to provide factual
information only, and not to prolong any kind
of discussion.

---excerpt from the forwarded posting----
MadhurAntakam SwAmi states that the SamASrayaNa
AchArya is not 
mentioned in this tanian; But the "SrIsailEsa" (in
connection
with Thirumalai of Lord SrInivAsa) word connotes both
of his 
kAlakshEpa AchAryas. ThiruvAimozhi PiLLai's name is 
SrIsailEsar. He taught ThiruvAimozhi with eeDu
vyAkyAnam.
------

The above is correct. We do recite "nama: srIsaila
nAthAya kunthee nagara janmanE" everyday. One thing
to be noted here is that a big deal is being made
out of "samAsrayaNa AchArya" not being mentioned in
the thaniyan. The fact is that it is not mandatory
for samAsrayaNa AchARyAs name to be present in the
thaniyan - eg: emperumAnAr's has no mention of
periya nambi; nanjIyar's has no mention of bhattar;

The issues of different AchAryAs "samAsrayaNa
AchArya", "bhagavad vishaya AchArya", "srI
bhAshya AchArya" etc.,and trying to derive this
lineage or that lineage based on one aspect of 
learning alone is being brought up very recently.
There is a reason for it.

In those days, there were different AchAryas who
hailed from different places. So, naturally their
samAsrayaNa was performed by their father etc.,
but generally they learnt differnt things from
specialists. So, it was very natural to have 4/5
AchAryAs. But, there was a universally accepted
leader for the sampradAyam based out of srIrangam 
that everyone deferred to and followed. This has 
been the case right from svAmi ALavandAr's time 
through svAmi maNavALa mAmunigaL's time. And that 
lineage of leaders is our guruparampara -
emperumAnAr/embAr/bhattar/nanjIyar/nampiLLai/
vadakku-th-thiuveedhippillai/pillai lOkAchAriAr/
thiruvAymozhippiLLai/maNavALa mAmunigaL.

You will see in the above that AchAryas like
kUrattAzhvAn, nadAdUr ammAL, engaL AzhvAn,
mudaliyANdAn, periyavAccAn
piLLai, svAmi vEdAnta dEsika is not present
in the above lineage. The reason is NOT because
they were in any way lesser! The reason is
because there was an established leader at
that time in srIrangam, and that succession
took its own course. (e.g. emperumAnAr
was the undisputed leader of his time - so
no question of kUrattAzhvAn in the list!).
Similarly when svAmi dEsikan came to srIrangam,
svAmi piLLai lOkAchAr was the leader in
every sense of the word. 

The fact is the svAmi dEsika was an undisputed
leader in his own right hailing from kAnchipuram.
Once he moved to srIrangam, it is
clear (history, even a cursory analysis of
his works shows that) that he followed the
guruparampara (svAmi piLLai lOkAchAriAr) at
that time. I do not say the above to create
any sort of impression that PL > SD. There
were just different roles, and they were
followed.

And svAmi dEsika was accepted by the
srIvaishNavAs there as well as a great
AcharyA. Else, there would not be a sannadhi
for him inside the temple. He is the last
AchAryA to have a sannadhi inside the temple.
So, there is no question of all the
"fights/abuses etc." that svAmi dEsika
apparently had to undergo having happened.
All are just concoctions. One just has to
read something called the 3000-ppadi
guruparampara to have a glimpse of all
these concotions. If not for the import of
the subject, the stories are just laughable.
{e.g. svAmi azhagiya maNavALa perumAL
nAyanAr is portrayed as somekind of a thug
who picked fights/abused svAmi dEsikan! -
it will make a good movie story. The sad
part is most people believe the story 
nowadays)

This following lineage through samAsrayaNam, or
srI bhAsyam etc. is being projected just to
get a "different and unique" lineage from
emperumAnAr to svAmi dEsika so that there
can be a "WE", rather than an "US". 

A prime example of the "US" approach is most of
the 74 simhAsanAdhipathis. Many of us belong
to such lineages. In my case, for example, 
I belong to the lineage descending from
svAmi anantAzhvAn (whether I am doing justice
to that or not is a differnt question)..
If I trace my "samAsrayaNa" lineage back,
then it will go through my AchArya, his
father, his father etc.. all the way
to anantAzhvAn and aruLaLa-p-perumAL
emperumAnAr and emperumAnAr! - There is no
trace of the guruparampara, if I take this
approach! - But, our elders at all times have
accepted the "AchAryaship" of the leader in
srIrangam at every stage, and hence, we recite
ALL the guruparampara thaniyans everyday and
take everyone to be our AchAryA. 



-----excerpt from the forwarded mail-----
Another
SrIsailEsar is the SrI-BhAshya AchArya of MAmunigaL.
It was 
Thirumalai-AzhvAn alias KiDAmbi Thirumalai Iyengar /
PurushOttama
DAsar, a disciple of Bramhatantra-Svatantra JIyar,
the stalwart 
disciple of SwAmi DESikan. MAmunigaL is referred to
have had the 
dayA of his Ubhaya-VEdAnta AchAryas, in the tanian.
----------

the above implies that srI thiruvAymozhi-p-piLLai
was NOT familar with the sanskrit vEdAnta! - That is
so untrue. kidAmbi thirumalai iyengAr wasthe one
who taught svAmi maNavALa mAmuni srIbhAsyam because
he happened to be the specialist in that. This just
shows the "US" approach again.


------excerpt from the forwarded mail
MadhurAntakam SwAmi also points out that MAmunigaL
had a name
called "thUppil kulamuDayAr dAsar" because of the
above reason
(connection with SwAmi DESikan, known as thUppul
piLLai). SwAmi
cites some source for the same which is
interconnected with other
texts/book which I don't have.
----

of the 16 accepted names of svAmi maNavALa mAmuni,
none even comes close to the above. Obviously, this
is a new concoction that is very recent. In fact,
this is the first time I have heard of this. But,
if there was such a name, it is a welcome name.


----excerpt from forwarded mail
All the thenkalai SrI VaishNavas do recite the tanian
of 
SwAmi DESikan viz. "SrImAn VE~nkaTanAthAryaH ..."
when they 
perform SrI-BhAshya kAlakshEpam - Because SwAmi
DESikan is 
an Acharya for them in their SrI-BhAshya parampara.
-----

This just proves that there was just ONE sampradAya!
minor differences/interpretations were magnified
and unfortunately, lesser learned people took over
and now we have this ugly split and fights. 
If one does some research into the split, the
saddest part comes to light. The split was not
caused because of philosophical differences. It
was caused due to petty temple control, "WE
are differnt and superior to YOU", kinds of issues
on both sides. Effectively, the universality and
kindness of ALL of our AchAryAs teachings were
let go.


AzhvAr emperumAnAr jIyar thiruvadigaLE saraNam,

adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan,
varadhan


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