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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00040 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

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After taking the tonic, the divine work of nammAzhvar what should we do?
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?MADURAKAVI SOL PADIYE NILAYAGAP PETTROM?

We have to act as per the words of madurakavigal. What did madurakavigal say?

Madurakavi is the only alwar who never sung about any of the divya desa 
emperumans. He has only one prabandham to his credit, the kanninun siruthAmbhu. 
But our acharyas consider this prabandham, consisting of 11 paasurams as the 
supreme. In these 11 paasurams nowhere does madurakavigal sings about bhagavan, 
he considers his acharya, Sri SaTakOpar as the only god to him.

Though the prabandham was sung on nammAzhvar still it has been included into 
the nAlAyira divya prabandham. Why? That is because these are the 11 paasurams, 
which actually got us back the other 4000 paasurams with us today.Nathamunigal 
under the instruction of parangusa dAsar recited this prabandham, kanninun 
siruthAmbhu 12000 times and obtained all the other paasuramsvia nammAzhvar in 
archai. So without these 11 paasurams we would have been left without the 4000 
paasurams.

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What is the so great about these paasurams and why is it regarded more 
important than even thiruvAimozhi and other prabandhams?
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For Srivaishnavas the panchamObhaya nishtai (charamObhAya nishtai) is very 
important. What is panchamObhaya nishtai? Bhagavan in geetha says the ways to 
attain moksha as, karma yoga, jnana yoga, bhakthi yoga and finally prapatti. 
But in our sampradayam there is one another important upaya that isthe 
panchamObhayam (fifth way), Acharya nishtai. The first person who showed this 
in practice is madurakavigal and hence Acharya nishtai is more frequently 
referred as madurakavi bhAvam. All the acharyas in our guruparamparai followed 
madurakavigal and remained with great prathipaththi towards their acharyas and 
mainly Sri EthirAjar. So mAmunigal says, we have to act according to the words 
of madurakavigal and remain with acharya bhakthi, very essential for a 
srivaishnava.  

Our PoorvAcharyas consider ThiruppallAndu to be equal to the pranavam 
(?vedaththukkE Omennumadhu pOl vulladhukkellAm surukkAi thAn mangalamAdhalAl?), 
since any vedam starts only with pranavam and our dravida vedam starts with 
thiruppallAndu. Whenever any prabhanda ghosti starts it is always with the 
thiruppallAndu. Madurakavi Alwar?s kanninun siruthAmbhu is regarded as equal to 
the ?nama:? padham in thirumanthram (?vAiththa thirumandiraththin 
madiyamAmpadham pOl seerththa madurakavi seikalaiyai?). Even while looking at 
the order of the prabandhams we find that the kanninun siruthAmbhu has been 
given the central position by our poorvAchAryas. Sri Manavala mAmunigal in his 
upadesa ratna mAlai says, ?pArulagil mattrulla AzhvArgal vandhuthiththa 
nAlgalilum uttrathemakkendru nenjE Or?.  

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Why is madurakavi greater than all other Azhvars?
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All alwars cried to reach emperuman and showed us his supremacy. They 
alsoadvised us to fall into the divine feet of emperuman. But can we really do 
that? No unless an acharya comes and puts us into emperuman?s feet we cannot do 
it ourselves. Madurakavigal was the only alwar who showed us theeasy and 
possible way to attain emperuman. Consider your acharya as everything and fall 
into his feet you are sure to attain the divine abode of emperuman, says 
madurakavigal. He didn?t just say it as an advice but showed it in practice. 
That?s the greatness of madurakavigal.

The topic we should now discuss is about what madurakavigal said and how 
weshould act accordingly but just writing the drop from the ocean of greatness 
of madurakavi Azhvar has taken almost a posting. Anyway, let us now proceed to 
see what madurakavigal has to say. Most of the words of madurakavigal have been 
repeated in mAmunigal?s Arthi prabhandam in the anushtana mode (as a practical 
procedure). We will see how the words of the two match. Madurakavi Azhvar 
considered his acharya, nammazhvar as everything and our swamy mAmunigal, 
yatheendra pravanar considered emperumAnAr as everything. Madurakavigal sung 
only one prabandham but our swamy has sung two to show his acharya bhakthi, his 
first and last prabhandams, the yethirAja vimsathi in Sanskrit and Arthi 
prabhandam in tamil.

Madurakavigal started his prabandham talking about kannan though he was 
notinterested in the same but for making his acharya listen. But our swamy 
starts the prabhandam with a pallandu to ethirAjar (?vAzhi ethirAjar 
vAzhiethirajar vAzhi ethirAjarena vAzhththuvAr?), since his mind was filled 
with only his acharya bhakthi and nothing else. Swamy says that he will stay 
only along with those who think ramanuja as everything and always stays in the 
thought of ethirajar, since such people are prostrated by even the nithya 
sooris.  

In the next posting we will see how the words of madurakavigal has been 
reflected by mAmunigal in his Arthi prabhandam.

(To Be Continued)

Alwar EmperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharanam

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasyai
Sumithra Varadarajan

 

 

 

 



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