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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00026 Dec 2003

 
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Sri Parthasarathi thunai
Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha
Sri Vara Vara munayE Namaha
Sri vAnAchala mahA munayE Namaha

"vAzhi parakAlan vAzhi kalikandri
vAzhi kurayaloor vAzhvEndan vAzhiyarO
mAyOnai vAlvaliyAl mandhiram kol mangaiyarkOn
thooyOn sudarmAna vEl"

"pEdhai nenjE endrai perumai arindhilaiyO
A-dhu perumai endraikku endrennil OdhuginrEn
vAiththa pugazh mangayarkOn mAnilaththil vandhudhiththa
kArthigaiyil kArthigai nAl kAn"

"mAran paniththa thamizh maraikku mangaiyarkOn 
Arangam koora avadhariththa veerudaiya
kArthigaiyil kArthigai nAl endrendru kAdhalippAr
vAiththa malar thAlgal nenjE! vAzhththu"

This year this great day, kArthigaiyil kArthigai nAl, the thiruavathara dhinam 
of our dear kaliyan, thirumangai mannan, arulmAri, arattamukki, adaiyArseeyam, 
kalikandri falls on Dec.7th. As celebrated by Swamy Manavala mamunikal in the 
above quoted upadesa ratina mAlai paasurams this is the very day on which our 
kadaikutti azhvar (last in the group of Azhvars) took avatharam. MAran, 
nammazhvar took avatharam on vaikasi visAkam day to give the thamizh marai 
(vedas in tamil) and following him thirumangai mannan took avatharam on this 
great karthigaiyil kArthigai nAl to give the six angas viz., Periya thirumozhi, 
thirukurunthAndakam, thiruvezhukootrirukai, Siriya thirumadal, Periya 
thirumadal and thirunedunthAndakam, to the 4 vedas of nammazhvar, viz., 
Thiruviruththam, thiruvAsiriyam, Periya thiruvandhAdhi and thiruvaimozhi. 
ThirunedunthAndakam is the charama (last) prabhandam of thirumangai azhvar in 
which azhvar sings with joy after having the bhagavat sAkshAtkAram. In our
sampradayam, the words of tattva darshis (Azhvars) have more value than even 
the words of emperuman himself. Before diving further into the topic, let us 
get to mind one another greatness of this very day. This is the day on which 
one of our great acharyas, kalikandri dAsar, Sri Nampillai took avatharam (he 
was regarded as the punaravatharam of thirumangai azhvar). In the first 
avatharam thirumangai azhvar gave only the six angas to the vedas of nammazhvar 
but in his avatharam as nampillai he did a even greater job of given the 
unparalleled commentary to the thiruvaimozhi of nammazhvar, the Eedu ('Eedu 
enaiyillAdha Eedu'). Let us all sing the praise of these two great mahans on 
this karthigaiyil kArthigai nAl.

"kalandhathiruk kArthigaiyil kArthigai vandhOn vAzhiyE
kAsiniyil von kurayaloor kAvalOn vAzhiyE
nalanthigazh Ayiraththenbhaththu nAluraiththAn vAzhiyE
nAlaindhu maraiaindhu namakkuraiththAN vAzhiyE
elankezhu kootrirukkai eru madaleendhAn vAzhiyE
immoondril erunootrirubhadheendhAn vAzhiyE
valan thigazhum kumudavalli manavalan vAzhiyE
vAtkaliyan parakAlan mangaiyarkOn vAzhiyE"

"kAdhaludan nanjeeyer kazhal thozhuvOn vAzhiyE
kArthigaiyil kArthigai vudhiththa kalikandri vAzhiyE
pOdhamudan Azhvar sorporuluraippOn vAzhiyE
poodhoorAn pAdiyaththai pugazhumavan vAzhiyE
mAdhagavAl evvuyirkkum vAzhvaliththAn vAzhiyE
madhilarangar Olakkam valarthittAn vAzhiyE
nAthamuni Alavandaar nalam pugazhvOn vAzhiyE
nampillai thiruvadigal nAdOrum vAzhiyE".

Coming to our topic, in the last posting we saw the greatness of the geethA 
sastram. As it has already been seen, thirunedunthAndakam is the last 
prabhandam of thirumangai azhvar. Now you may all be wondering why then did 
adiyen name it as thirunedunthAndaka sAstram. Can a prabhandam be called as a 
sastram? Yes it has been considered to be a sAstram by our poorvAcharyas. Sri 
parasara bhattar won over nanjeeyer, earlier called as vedanthi, only using 
this sAstram. Since this prabhandam was sung after azhvar's bhagavat 
sAkshAtkAram it is filled with upanishadic meanings and hence there is nothing 
wrong to call it as a sAstram by itself. Swamy emperumanar had a deep 
involvement in 30 paasurams among the 4000. Which were those? They were the 
beautiful thiruppavai paasurams of nachiyar but Sri parasara bhattar, son of 
kooraththAzhvan and andal, regarded as a foster son of Sri Ranganachiyar had 
his deep involvement in another 30 paasurams. Those were none other than the 
great
paasurams of thirumangai azhvar, thirunedunthAndakam.

Sri Parasara bhattar went to mEl nAdu, to win over the famous vedanthi over 
there. Some people over there told bhattar that it was not possible to meet the 
vedanthi with the intention of arguments (tarkkam) so easily. Since before 
meeting him, bhattar will have to win over all his disciples. They also gave 
him an idea. The vedanthi used to do annadhAnam daily. Bhattar went to that 
place and stood infront of the vedanthi who had come to supervise the 
activities. While bhattar stood infront of him, the vedanthi directed him 
towards the place where food was given but bhattar refused the same and said he 
had come for tharkka bhiksha. Immediately the vedanthi understood that the 
person in front of him was none other than the great bhattar who he had heard 
about before, the one who knows the thirunedunthAndaka sastra (which was the 
only sastra the vedanthi hasn't learnt). After long arguments finally the 
vedanthi surrendered to the divine feet of bhattar and became his devoted
disciple. 

In this way, Sri Bhattar showed the greatness of kaliyan's charama prabhandam 
to the world. As soon as bhattar returned back to srirangam, ranganatha eager 
to know the result enquired about the same to bhattar. Bhattar replied that his 
journey was a success and that he had got the vedanthi into the sampradayam. 
Ranganatha was eager to know how bhattar won over the vedanthi. Bhattar then 
told ranganatha the way he won over using the thirunedunthAndaka paasurams and 
that event of bhattar's victory and ranganatha's joy is celebrated even today 
every margazhi month in srirangam as 'ThirunedunthAndaka thirunal' the day just 
before the commencement of adhyayana utsavam. At this point, it has to be got 
to memory that the adhyayana utsavam itself was started by thirumangai azhvar 
only with the help of thirunedunthAndakam.
In the next posting we will further enjoy the greatness of this excellent 
prabhandam/sAstram.

Azhvar EmperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharanam

Adiyen ramanuja dAsee
Sumithra Varadarajan




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