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 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax http://taxes.yahoo.com/
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