SrimatE rAmAnujAya nama:
Upanyasam # 2 By Srinidhi Swamin on Uttara and Poorva dinacharya of Swamy
Erumbiappa. (Please note that this humble posting has been possible thanks to
the combined effort with Sri Anand Srinivasan of Houston and by the grace of
Alwars and AchAryAs)
---------------------------------------
SriSrinidhi Swamin had completed the avatArikai and the first 2 slokas in the
last upanyasam. In the second upanyasam of the series, he started with the
sloka # 3 describing the beauty of Swamy Maamunigal?s tirumEni.
Just like NammAlwar was known to be the personification of Krishna Bhakthi
(Krishna ThrishnA tatwam), Swamy EmberumAnAr was known to be the
personification of Bhakthi towards NammalwAr (pArAnkusha pAda bhaktham).
PrativAdi Bhayankara ANnan swamy says in Varavaramuni Shatakam that Swami
MamunigaL is the personification of Bhakthi towards EmberumAnAr (YatIndra
pravanam VandE).
Among the AchAryas who showed us the greatness of Alwars, Swami Manmunigal is
our prime acharya.
Dushyanta gave his ring to Shakuntala telling her to say one syllable of his
name per day (instead of directly saying 'after 5 days') by the end of which
his people would come and fetch her. Saying something indirectly is called
'PrayayOktha alankAram' . Using the same approach, Erumbiappa says to utter
each syllable of 'Sri Va raVa ra mu ni' which is 7 syllables for a week.
As described in the previous day's upanyasam, Erumbiappa, goes to Srirangam to
take refuge with MamunigaL after EmebrumAn ordered him to do so. Here P.B.Annan
swamy categorically denies that Erumiappa would not have gone to Kovil but
directly must have gone to MamunigaL's maTam -like someone with infatuation in
his mind is full of thirst to see MamunigaL. Then it looks to him as though
MamunigaL himself is coming to give him darshanam. Erumbiappa is mesmirized by
MamunigaL's charming personality and divine tirumeni.
Nammalwar says in "shonnAl virodham.? do not waste your time and energy for
praising ordinary human beings to get some material benefit (recall MamunigaL's
TVM noorthandAdi - shOru kooraikkAha ...mannAda mAnidarai) instead make best
use of the God-given tongue to recite Tiruchcheerai EmberumAn's kalyana gunAs.
In keeping with these advises Erumbiappa starts singing the Atma-gunA-filled
tirumEni soundaryam of his ACharyan MamunigAl here.
P.B.Annan Swamy says that EmberumAn who takes even the defects to His liking,
gave Erumbiappa the great Acharyan mamunigaL as in "shaida kuttram nattamAhavE
kOL" which shows the immense kripai of EmberumAn.
As Tirumalai AnandAlwAn beautifully says, AchArya does Jeeva-Para KalyAnam by
being the father of the bride (Jeevan) given away to the groom (who in this
case is EmberumAn Himself) who holds the hand of the Jeevan through the dvaya
mantram and explaining the greatness of the guru parampara. That way Acharyan
is an upakArakan (renderer of help) to EmberumAn also.
The Acharya - shishya sambhandham is unique. EmberumAN Himself likes the
concept of Achaaryatvam and that is why as GeetAchAryan He did GeetOpadEsham.
The Acharya takes care of the Atma rakshana of the shishya by preventing him
from swaroopa hAnIs such as going to dEvatAntara and refraining him from
dehAtma bhaavam. Whereas the duty of a shishya is to take care of the physical
comfort of the AchAryan because it is for his benefit that the AchAryan has
taken the divine birth. Recall Upadesha Ratna malai, " Acharyan shishyan
Aruyirai..."
In SriVachanaBhooshanam Swamy PLC further adds that Acharya should not be
involved in either his or shishya's bodily protection. When Swamy EmberumAnAr
came to take embAr with him, he observed that the latter slept and rolled in
Periya Tirumalainambi's bed before Nambi retired for the day. Agitated
EmberumAnAr asked Embar whether the latter knew the consequence of rolling in
his acharyas? bed. Embar said even if it lead him to hell itself he was not
worried - as long as Nambi had a comfortable night?s sleep in the bed which he
checked out. This is acharya bhakti.
Pillai PerumAl Iyengar says to EmberumAn " You have absolutely no need for
anything as You have everything in Paramapadam and in TirupArkadal - you have
all the gems and wealth and Your wife is SriMahalakshmi Herself. But I have
one thing which you do not have - your heart has been given away to five lakh
GopIs and hence a void is created there! So I will give mine! Since He steals
our heart He is "kaLvan" (thief). To such an EmberumAn our Acharyan offers us
(jeevans).
A shishya when he sees his Acharya should feel as if a hunger striken man has
found food to eat...( kanDaa pashiyin shOththaa kandaa pOle and VAsudEva ithi
sarvam...) and do all sorts of kainkaryams to the Acharyan.
It was EmberumAnAr?s practice to pace around after Bhiksham (amudusaiyal).
Embar once when he was watching him doing this from behind a pillar,
EmberumAnAr suddenly turned around. Embar asked if he was contemplating on
"madiTTEN manavALeyum..?(tirumaalirancholai paashuram). Swamy Emberumanar was
surprised at this, as he was not uttering the paashuram loudly. This made
EmberumAnAr happy to know that Embar was really a perfect shishya to be able to
recognize what was in his achAryan's mind. Erumbiappa was in the similar
fashion towards MamunigaL.
Swamy Maamunigal?s tirumeni was very fair. He is called veLLai Jeeyar. Swamy
Emberumanar?s tirumeni was of wheat complexion. Let us keep in mind that a
snake's hind is of wheat color and the front is white. So here are the two
parts of the avatara.
Swamy Mamunigal?s tirumeni is compared to the amudha kadal (ocean of amrutam-
pure white). This ocean word is also used in his tanian Sri Sailesha daya - -
- - - -guna aarNavam. In His avatara leelais, Chakravarthi Tirumagan (Sri
Rama) did sharanagati to Sailesha (Sugreeva). In Sri Krishna avataram He
accepted Sandeepani as his guru. Both these people did not seem to be filled
with gunas. Besides Sri Rama also did sharanagati to the Samudra Rajan (lavaNa
aarNavam). After all these instances, the disappointed Emberuman, decided to
choose the guNaa-aarNavam personality as his acharya who is none other than
Mamunigal
There are many instances in Mamunigal?s charitram that show us that HE was the
aparaavataaram of Adisesha. Once a bhaagawata named Uttama nambi remarked that
Maamnugal was so fair and a skin disease was the reason for his fairness. He
happened to swoon and fall down, and Emberuman in the dream told him that
Mamunigal is none other than seshan (divine serpant). Once a lady saw and
heard Maamunigal in his matam in the swayam tirumeni form (snake). In
Yatoothakaari temple Maamunigal did Sri Bashya for 1 year. His teacher was
convinced that Maamunigal was not an ordinary human but a divine avatar that
was to fulfill some incomplete task (completion of Swamy Emberumanar?s avatar)
Just like Emberuman?s tirumeni is not made of the common elements, Swamy
Mamunigal?s tirumeni too was special. Mamunigal came only for us. Although we
cannot see the Sun directly, Mamunigal is a surya with the coolness of the Moon.
Sloka # 4
When Mamunigal came out of the ashram and Erubiappa saw this divine form he was
enthralled. Mamunigal?s divine hands were lotus like, holding two sishyas. He
would hold their hands (Koil aNNan and Vaanamaamalai Jeeyar). His tirumeni was
very sukumaaram. The vaazi tirunaamam we chant every day at Divya Deshams and
homes, tells us all about the beauty of Mamuingal?s tirumeni soundaryam (seiya
taamarai taaLina vaaziye - - -)
Discussing about the lotus, there is a reason why Emberuman stands on a lotus.
The lotus once thought that she was the most beautiful thing in this world.
Emberuman stood on her to show her that HIS tiruvadi are more beautiful than
her. This is the reason we always see a lotus under the tiruvadi of archa
roopi perumals and also a part of the Sri ShaTaari (the padukas that are placed
on a lotus platform)
Just like Emberuman?s tiruvadi and Swamy Emberumanaar?s tiruvadi, Swamy
Maamunigal?s tiruvadi is very special for us. The incident of the dumb lady
who Kooratalwan saw is recalled here. Once a deaf-mute lady came to Swamy
Emberumanar. He took her into the matam and placed HIS tiruvadi on her head.
Seeing this from outside, Kooratalwan cried and began to repent having had all
the knowledge he had. He wished he was also deaf-mute..
As Erumbiappa sang the glory of Maamunigal?s tiruvadi he also began to sing
pallandu to them. Like the worried Perialwar, Erumbiappa also sings pallandu.
Just like Singa Perumal (Narasimha) patted Prahlada?s head with affection
assuring His karunai just after tearing open Hiranya, Maamunigal holds the two
sishyas? hands assuring moksha.
Sloka #5
Here the beauty of Maamunigal?s kaashaayam (ochre), broad vakshastalam, long
beautiful divine hands are described. His chest was so broad because it had to
house Thaayaar, Emberuman, Alwar and Swamy Emberumanar (the whole parivaara!).
P.B.Annan Swamy in Tiruvengada mudeyAn suprabhatha/prapathi shlokas says
?srimatsundara JamAtrumunivAsinaVAsinE? meaning the One who is happily residing
in the tirumArbu of mAmunigaL. The kripa flowing out of the acharya?s eyes is
said to exceed the kripa from the 3 eyed one (Shiva Peruman), 8 eyed one
(Brahma), and the 1000 eyed One (supposed to mean DevEndran but according to
P.B.Annan, it stands for EmberumAn Himself as in ?sahasraSheersha? ?)
To be continued - - - -
Vedics Team.
Iramanuja Adiyargal
Sheela V.Belur
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