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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00049 Aug 2002

 
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srImathE rAmAnujAya namaha

Dear Smt. Varadarajan:

Thank you for your wonderful write up on our beloved emperumAnAr and 
godha pirATTi. It eloquently brings out the close association extant 
(nerungiya sambandham) between Swamy and gOdhA pirATTi.

I have a minor bone to pick in this article though :-)

> --- In ramanuja@xxxx, sumithra varadarajan <sumivaradan@xxxx> wrote:

> So in this day of thiruvadirai, during the Adi poora utsavam let us 
> all sing the praise of both our beloved nAchiyAr(who is both an 
> azhvar(only female azhvar) and a nAchiyar) and our beloved acharya 
> emperumAnAr.

Sri Velukkudi varadachar swamy would say that ours is the only 
sampradAyam which provides multifarious paths to reaching perumAL and 
mOksham, and in that step wise progression, the path to perumAL's 
ugappu is represented in terms of bhakti -- prapatti - sharaNagathi - 
AchArya abhimAnam (thiruvaDigaL)

The essence of kaNNinuN siruthAmbu and thiruppAvai is the importance 
of charama parva nishTA (the ultimate vazhi to perumAL) as 
exemplified by the spirit of swamy madhura kavi AzhwAr and AnDAL's 
ariLiccheyals. It is a spirit that holds bhAgavatha sEshatvam as the 
ultimate upAyam and purushArtham, to getting to perumAL. It is in 
this context that swAmy maNavALa mAmunigaL identifies only ten 
azhwars (mudhal AzhwArgaL) in upadEsa rathnamAlai, only because the 
ten azhwArs pursued bhagath sEshatvam and bhagavath kainkaryam as the 
chosen vazhi, where as both madhura kavi Azhwar and AnDAL (mEleyAr 
seyvanagaL) held bhAgavatha sEshatvam to be superior to bhagavath 
sEshatvam.

And that is why, within the orthodoxy of srI vaishNavam, there are 
only ten Azhwars. Just because swamy madhura kavi or AnDAL are not 
amongst the ten in no way lessens their standing. In a sense, swamy 
maNavALa mAmunigaL's thiru uLLam would probably be offended, because 
he held them at a paDI (step) above that of even the mudhal AzhwArs.

In the vaDakalai sampradAyam, somehow, this essential (and critical) 
difference (mEnmai) of charama parva nishTA has been over looked, and 
the Azhwars have been numbered as twelve. Further, several then-
Acharya upanyasakas, just to keep with the times, tend to use the ten 
or twelve azhwars number depending on the audience and the occasion. 

However, in order to lend credence and respect to something every sri 
vaishNava chants every day (poyyilAdha maNavALA mAmuni pundhi vAzhi 
pugazh vAzhi vAzhiyE), it is appropriate, at least within the 
orthodoxy of our sampradAyam, to not include AnDAL or madhura kavi 
Azhwar amongst list of Azhwars (who will always be only ten)

There is a separate (thani siRappu) state of exaltedness to madhura 
kavi Azhwar and soodikkodutha nAcchiyAr, one that captures the 
essential spirit and soulabhyam of srI vaishNava siddhAntham.

aDiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan,

sridhar

--- In ramanuja@xxxx, sumithra varadarajan <sumivaradan@xxxx> wrote:
> 
> Sri Parthasarathi thunai
> 
> Srimathe RamanujAya namaha
> 
> Sri Vara Vara munaye namaha
> 
> 
> 
> Pranams,
> 
> 
> 
> Today is ThiruvAdirai, monthly thirunakshatram of our beloved 
acharya Sri Ramanuja. This is month of Adi and in many of the divya 
desams in India the 10 day thiruvAdi Pooram festival is grandly 
celebrated now. The festival has special significance in the birth 
place of goda devi, srivilliputtur and in srirangam, her inlaws 
place. And in divya desams like thiruvallikeni also these ten days 
are celebrated specially. Though we miss the enjoyment of the adi 
poora utsavam sitting in a far of place away from our homeland let us 
all just have the anubhavams sitting right here.
> 
> 
> 






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