Sri Parthasarathi thunai
Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha
Sri Vara Vara MunayE Namaha
Sri vAnAchala mahA munayE Namaha
[The chat continues]
Adiyen: One day nambigal came to you and asked, "Oh! Lord devadhirAja my
disciple wants to know if he is assured moksha" and you replied, "What is the
doubt in that? When he has the abhimAnam of a great bhagavata like you will he
not attain moksha?" [maranamAnAl vaikundam, "jnAna anushtAnamivai nandrAgavE
udaiyanAna guruvai adaithakkAl ... thirumAmagal kozhunan thAnE vaikundam
tarum"] The next day nambigal returned back with another question,"Oh! my lord
now my disciple has another question. Is moksha assured for me?" and you
replied, "Why should I grant you moksha you haven't got the abhimAnam of any
bhagavata" "But emperumAnE I have been fanning you for so many days shouldn't
adiyen be granted moksha?" asked nambigal but you blankly said, "neer veesineer
nAm pEsinOm adukku edu seriyAgivittadhu" (You did fanning service to me and I
talked with you why should I grant moksha?) Immediately understanding your
thiruvullam, nambigal rushed to get the abhimAnam of a bhagavata.
PErarulAlan: Poor innocent Nambi
Adiyen: Nambigal posed himself to be a bullock-cart driver and did service to
periya Nambi for 6 months. When one day due to heavy rain his clothes got wet
and with krupai on the poor sincere driver periya nambigal decided to give his
dry clothes to him and hence called, "Oh! My boy!" The very instant this fell
in nambi's ears he started to dance in joy ("aliyal nam payyal ennAr ammavO
kodiyavArE"). Periya Nambigal saw the face of the driver and was taken aback
"Oh! Nambi where you in service to adiyen?" and thirukachchi nambi told periya
nambi about the talk with you. Then nambigal continued his kainkaryam to you
with greater enthusiasm since now he has been credited with the abhimAnam of a
parama bhAgavata and hence surely assured of nithya kainkaryam in the divine
abode of emperuman.
PErarulAlan: Do you know how nambi first came to do fanning service to me?
Adiyen: Sure Oh lord! That bhagavata didn't forget to tell us that too.
Nambigal who developed interest in doing kainkaryam first went to namperumal
and requested him to grant him his thirualavatta kainkaryam. But namperumal
refused saying that he already stays in between two kaveris and hence there was
no necessity for anyone to fan, the air already being cool. Though namperumal
refused nambi's service due to his affection towards nambi he came to
poovirundhavalli and gives divya darshan lying beautifully on the divine
serpant along with Sridevi and bhoodevi with brahma in the nAbi kamalam. The
serpant is placed on top of the koormAsanam indicating the way emperuman lay on
the thiruparkadal and the very same emperuman took koormAvadhAram during the
amrutha mathanam to help the devas. The bhagavata told us all these only
infront of ranganatha inside the sannadhi. Not only us but also the ranganatha
listened about the greatness of the great bhagavata/acharya with immense
pleasure.
PErarulAlan: I have no regret since I am listening the same now from your mouth.
Adiyen: Oh! Lord, Next nambigal went to thiruvEnkatamudaiyan and requested for
kainkaryam but thiruvenkata mudaiyan refused saying that he is staying in
"kuliraruvi venkatam" which is already cold and hence fanning will cause only
more trouble. So he finally sent nambigal to you. But not being able to get
separated from nambi thiruvenkatamudaiyan came to poovirundhavalli and gives
divine darshan even today.
PErarulAlan: I am amidst the agni kundam. I had to emerge out of brahma's hOma
kundam. So it is very hot here.
Adiyen: True emperumAnE! And that is why thirukachchi nambigal from that day
started to do fanning service to you this being the very apt place for that
service. Oh Lord nambigal has shown that kainkaryam is for your pleasure and
not just do something for the sake of doing it. What is the need of fanning
when it is already cold just because we want to do some kainkaryam?
PErarulAlan: That's right But I happily accept any kainkaryam my bhaktha does
with love.
Adiyen: That is why kulasekara azhvar says, "padiyAi kidandhu vun pavalavAi
kAnbEnE"
PErarulAlan: Oh! How sweet is the arulicheyal of my dear azhvar.
Adiyen: And that is why you go at the back of arulicheyal ghosti like a
mesmerized person with great thirst to listen to azhvar's paasurams.
PErarulAlan: Yeah! Now continue with your experience with our dear Nambi
Adiyen: Yes my lord. Then the bhagavata told us about the prime matter.
PErarulAlan: What? What?
[Emperuman now seemed to be very excited, as he knew what was going to come
next]
Adiyen: EmperumAnE! Adiyen is able to sense your enthusiasm ("soozhindhadhanil
periya en avAvara soozhindhAyE") but what to do adiyen finds no words to really
talk about our dear emperumAnAr. While thinking about the great acharya my
tongue ceases to talk. What can mere words convey and what can adiyen say when
even great mahans like thiruvarangathamudhanar and mAmunikal say that they are
not eligible to talk about swamy emperumAnAr. But still let me purify myself by
repeating the thirunAmams Ramanuja! ethirAjA! udaiyavarE! emperumAnArE!
PErarulAlan: Oh! Leave alone your eligibility. Just tell me about my dear
ramanuja. You know that ranganatha cheated me by sending araiyar here and took
away my near dear ramanuja from me. I was helpless but the face of my dear
child on that day when he left me Oh! It still comes in front of my eyes. Only
then did I realize the mental state of dasaratha when vishvAmitra requested him
to send me (Rama) with him. But for lOka kshEmArtham all this was necessary.
Adiyen: Oh! Lord adiyen wanted to talk about the way swamy ramanuja reached you
but you are talking about his departure to srirangam.
PErarulAlan: hmm! Ok tell me what the bhagavata told,
Adiyen: While thirukachchi nambi remained in your kainkaryam he used to daily
pass through sriperumbudur while he travelled from poovirundhavalli to kanchi.
At that time, due to your divine sankalpam the kataksham of nambi fell on a
shrewd Srivaishnava boy, elaiyAzhvar. Slowly both of them got involved with
each other and started discussing about bhagavat vishayams. Nambi used to tell
the boy about his kainkaryams to you and all about your kalyana gunas.
PErarulAlan: hmm...
Adiyen: After his father attained paramapadham, elaiyazhvar decided to continue
his studies in kanchi and requested nambigal for advice regarding the same.
Nambi told him that it was a good decision. While in kanchi elaiazhvar
developed a ruchi for kainkaryam and requested thirukachchi nambigal to request
you to grant him some kainkaryam. Nambigal requested you the same and you
replied that "theertha kainkaryam from the sAlai kinaru" was your favorite
service. From that day onwards, elaiyAzhvar continued to do the same.
PErarulAlan: It was all good old time that lies fresh in my memory even today.
I cherish those days.
Adiyen: Then elaiyAzhvar had some philosophical doubts that he cleared from you
through nambigal.
PErarulAlan: Yes those 6 verses
Adiyen: That bhagavata with great joy told us all these and finally completed
that after such great kainkaryams at the end nambigal was unable to go to
kanchi due to bad health but varadan (you) came running to meet thirukachchi
nambigal like a son rushing to see his father in bed.
PErarulAlan: How can I keep quiet when my dear nambi was in sorrow (Arthi)?
("aham smarAmi math bhaktham nayAmi paramAm gathim")
[The chat will continue in the next posting]
Azhvar emperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharaNam
Adiyen ramanuja dAsee
Sumithra Varadarajan
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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