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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00031 Nov 2002

 
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Sri Parthasarathi thunai
Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha
Sri Vara Vara MunayE Namaha

SrisailEsa dayA pAthram deebhakthyAdhi gunArnavam
Yateendra pravanam vandhE ramyajAmataram munim

Sri Pillai perumal iyyengAr was a great ranganatha bhaktha. He lived in a 
village very near to Srirangam. He was working as an accountant under a 
landlord. On an occasion of ranganAtha rathOstavam pillai requested the 
landlord to grant him a days leave so that he can go and have darshan of Sri 
Ranganatha on the divine ratham. But the landlord refused saying that there 
were lot of accounts work pending, to be done. Pillai had no other go thanto do 
his work but his mind circled around the beauty of ranganatha and how by this 
time he would have got into the divine ratham. At that time suddenly, Pillai 
uttered ?Oh! Oh!? and crumbled his shoulder cloth (uttareevam) and threw it 
aside. The landlord couldn?t understand the meaning ofpillai?s gesture but 
didn?t care much to enquire about it and just ignored it.

The next day some villagers who have gone to Srirangam, came to the landlord 
and said, ?Your accountant is a very good man. He only put off the fire, which 
caught the divine ratham of ranganatha yesterday. We all saw him over there in 
Srirangam.? Now the landlord understood the reason for pillai?s gesture and he 
realized his mistake. He told Pillai, ?I have considered you as my servant and 
made a great mistake. You are really a greatbhaktha. So what should I do for 
you now?? Pillai replied, ?I want to stay in Srirangam itself and be near 
rangan always. So it will be nice if you could make arrangements for me to get 
a little prasadam from the temple daily?. Such was the deep devotion of pillai 
perumal iyyangar. Though he was not physically present in srirangam still he 
remained there due tohis mental meditation. Pillai was in the nearby village 
but we are all very far off. But the distance never matters, only the mental 
devotion matters. Sri Pillai perumal Iyyangar has made excellent prabhandams, 
with greatdevotion towards the lord that is collectively called as ?Ashta 
prabhandams?.

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Due to perumal?s nirheduka krupa we have got a good place to stay and spend our 
time in a useful way till we live in this world. But what do the Srivaishnavas 
eat to sustain their body?
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Many people in this world live to eat. They are always worried about theirbody 
and even when they meet others they only talk about eating and about different 
varieties of food. But does the food we take in our body stay inside more than 
a few hours? Whatever we eat is only to sustain this body in good health. So 
Srivaishnavas never consider eating alone as life. Theyare happy with what 
little prasadam perumal grants them each day. 

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But they do have a tonic, which keeps them healthier than a person who takes 
care of his body day in and day out without anyother thought. What is the tonic 
for the Srivaishnavas?
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Sri Periya Jeeyer says the tonic to us as, ?MARAN KALAIYE VUNAVAGAP PETTROM?. 
NammAzhvar considered kannan as food, water and everything. ?vunnum sOru, 
parugu neer, thinnum vettrilai ellAm kannan? One may interpretthis as, eat 
whatever you want and drink different type of drinks and enjoy and consider all 
of them to be kannan. But that is not what which is behind the minds of our 
saTakOpar. He never ate anything or drank anything. He just meditated on kannan 
and thereby his hunger and thirst were quenched. Similarly for we srivaishnavas 
the divine work of nammAzhvar (mAran kalai, the thiruvAimozhi) is the food, the 
tonic to make us all healthy and involved in the divine kainkaryam of emperuman 
always with great enthusiasm. 

Sri manavAla mAmunigal doesn?t just stop with advices but has put all hiswords 
in actual practice. While defining a good acharya mAmunigal says, ?jnAnam 
anuttAnamivai nandrAgavE udaiya guru?. He says an acharya is one who not only 
has the intelligence but also puts whatever he says to practice. Mamunigal is 
one such acharya who put everything he said to practice. Here he says, the food 
for Srivaishnavas is the work of nammazhvar. Mamunigal really lived almost his 
whole life in doing kalashepams on the divine work, thiruvAimozhi and is 
praised as ettuperukkar (one who spreads the Edu, the commentary on 
thiruvAimozhi by vadakku thiruveedhi pillai). The love Sri Periya Jeeyer had 
for nammAzhvAr and his work is enormous and that is why even ranganatha wanted 
to hear the commentaries on thiruvAimozhi from the mouth of yatheendra 
pravanar, Sri Mamunigal.  

Sri Manavala mAmunigal also wrote an excellent commentary to the divine sutras 
of ?Acharya hrudhayam? a book written by Sri Azhagiya manavala perumal nAyanar, 
the younger brother of Sri pillai lOkAcharya. This book totally gives the 
essence of the dravida vEdam, the thiruvAimozhi and how it is to be considered 
as the essence of sAma vEdam. All the divine arthas of thiruvAimozhi have been 
given in the form of sutras by nAyanar in his divine work. Mamunigal did this 
vyakhyanam in a very old age. He was even unableto write at that time still he 
didn?t stop this kainkaryam. While the shisyas asked why he was troubling 
himself so much swamy replied, ?This kainkaryam of mine will be useful for the 
future generations to understand these difficult sutras. Kainkaryam is part of 
all Srivaishnavas which shouldcontinue in some form or the other till his last 
breath?. Such was the dedication of swamy to the poorvAcharya works and in the 
upliftment of we jeevatmas.

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Now that we have gained good strength after taking the tonic what should wedo 
next. Let see what mAmunigal says in the next posting.
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(To Be Continued)

Alwar EmperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharanam

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasyai
Sumithra Varadarajan

 

 


 



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