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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00053 Dec 2001

 
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Sri:
Srimathe Ramanujaya Nama:
Srimathe Vara Vara Munaye Name:
Srimathe Anantharya Mahagurave Nama:

Dear BhAgavtOttamas,

Continuing on the topic of acharya bhakti as shown by Sri
Anandazhvar, here is another episode from his life.

Sri Nanjeeyar after being taken into the Srivaishnava fold by Sri 
Parasara Bhattar continued on his gruhasthasrama life with his two 
wives. After an episode when his wives did not feed some hungry 
bhAgavatAs, Sri Nanjeeyar split his wealth into three parts, gave 
two parts to his two wives and took the third part to give to Sri 
Bhattar and live at his feet at Srirangam. He also took up sanyAsam 
before leaving for Srirangam. 

On the way to Srirangam, he met Sri Anandazhvar. Sri Anandazhvar 
knowing of his wealth and life in the past, said to him: "Had you 
taken a cool bath when warm and ate when hungry and lived while 
surrendered at Sri Bhattar's feet, would you have been rejected from 
Sri Vaikuntam? What was the need to take up sanyasa dharma? In any 
case, now that you have done it, may you be born in Tirumantram, grow 
in Dvayam and recite the Dvayam always and earn kainkrya sri from 
it". 

The message that Sri Anandazhvar is giving us all is that it is 
possible to live a normal life in this world, but without developing 
attachments to it, surrender at an acharya's lotus feet and thence 
reach Him. One does not have to go through severe austerities or 
follow other means to achieve this goal. 

Later Sri Manavala Mamunigal would express the same in his 
Upadesarattinamalai: 

gyAnam anuttAnam ivai nanRAgavE udaiyan
Ana guruvai adainthakkAl - man^ilaththeer!
thEnAr kamalath thirumAmagaL kozhunan
thAnE vaikuntham tharum 

Meaning: O people of this world! If you reach (surrender) to an 
acharya who has the true knowledge and follows the prescribed 
rituals, He who is the Lord of Sri who stands on a lotus, will give 
you Vaikunta without you having to do anything further. I request
the learned members of this list to give us the larger meanings of 
this pAsuram.

So, what does it mean that one has to do nothing further. Does it 
mean one does nothing at all after surrendering to an acharya? Not 
so. Sri Anandazhvar's life itself continues to be a lesson for us. He 
did not give up his duties to his acharya or to the Lord, even though 
he had great sambandham with his acharya Sri Ramanujar. Our 
pUrvAcharyAs have also indicated to us that it is the soul's journey 
that we surrender to our acharya. The body's journey in this world is 
to be surrendered to Him, by way of performing one's duties, thereby 
cleansing the karmas gathered by us.

I also want to echo Prof TAS Vijayaraghavan's message about the
Anandazhvar site that he maintains: 
http://ananthazhvan.freeservers.com 
This is an excellent site and I have refered to it often. Sri
Anandazhvar's vaibhavam is presented in chaste tamil with 
tremendous insights into his life and works. Please do check
the site when you get a chance.

Azhvar Emperumanar Jeeyar Tiruvadigale Saranam
Anandazhvar Nanjeeyar Manavala Mamunigal Tiruvadigale Saranam 

adiyEn madhurakavi dAsan
TCA VenkatEsan

--

Email: mailto:vtca@xxxx
TCA Venkatesan: http://www.acharya.cc
Srivaishnava Sampradhayam: http://www.acharya.org
For latest changes to this site, click on
http://www.acharya.org/whatsnew.html





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