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Srimathe ramanujaya Namaha                                                                                                                                                                                 Srimad Vara Vara MunayE Namaha

 

Sri Alavandaar – Aadi uttiradam – July 29 2007

 

"yat padhAm bOruha dyAna vidvastA sEsha kalmasha:

  vasthuthAmupayA thOham yAmunEyam nAmAmi tam"

 

Alavandaar, yAmunacharya (yamunai turaivan in poorvasrama ) the exemplary acharya in our Sri sampradayam, the grandson of Nathamunikal, Son of Ishvara muni and disciple of Manakkal nambi was born on a aadi uttirAdam day in the divine place of birth of nathamunikal, veeranarayanapuram or kattumannar koil.   Though Ramanujacharya did not surrender directly to alavandaar, he was like ekalavya to the master.

 

On this occasion of celebrating the annual thirunakshatram (birth star) of alavandaar let us sing mangalasanams to that great acharya who gave the jagadacharya to this world.   Let us immerse ourselves by meditating on the lines of the vazhi thirunAmam of swamy alavandaar as given by our poorvacharyas.

 

machchaNiyum madhiLarangam vAzhviththAn vAzhiyE

 

Long live the great soul who made the great srirangam surrounded by strong walls live long.

 

Srivaishnavism and Srirangam go hand in hand.  If Srirangam flourishes then Srivaishnavism survives and vice versa.   That is why Pillai ulagariyan and other acharyas strived so hard to save srirangam and ranganatha.  Around 12000 srivaishnavas sacrificed their lives for this purpose.   And even today every srivaishnava born in whatever place and living all over the world does mangalasasanams to Srirangam in his sattrumarai "AdiyArgal vAzha aranganagar vAzha".   Alavandaar with utmost care choose the right person to hand over srirangam and srivaishnavasri, jagatacharyan, Swamy Ramanuja. And that is why even today we say ,"ramAnujArya divyAgyA varthathAm abhi varthathAm" (the rules and regulations followed even today was framed only by swamy ramanuja).   This ramanuja was identified and got to srivaishnavic fold only by the divine grace of swamy alavandaar.

 

Marai nAngum Or uruvil magizhindhu kaRRAn vAzhiyE

 

Long live the great soul who learnt all the 4 vedas in just one sitting.

 

Swamy Alavandaar was a highly capable acharya.  His avatharam was well predicted by swamy nathamunikal who left all the treasures with his shisyas to be passed on to his grandson and also ordered his son Ishvara muni to name his grandson as yamunai turaivan.   With the divine blessings of his grandfather, a very great srivaishnavite, alavandaar was extremely talented.  He learnt all the 4 vedas in one shot (ekasandhAgrAhi).

 

Pachchai etta rAmar padham pagarumavan vAzhiyE

 

Long live the great soul who surrendered to the rAma, who gave him greens.

 

Acharyas correct the shisyas in different modes viz., advising, preaching, teaching, scolding and so on.   But ManakkAl nambi (rama misra) used a different technique to get alavandaar to the fold.  Everyday nambi used to go to the kingdom's (yamunai turaivan was a small king earlier) kitchen and present a type of greens (tootuvalai keerai) a favourite of yamunacharya.   Slowly he entered the heart of yamunai turaivan and got him into the srivaishnavic fold.

 

Kachchi nagar mAya eru kazhal paNindhOn vAzhiyE

 

Long live the great soul who surrendered to the divine feet of the mAyan (one with surprising acts) in kAnchipuram, devadhirajan, varadarajan.

 

Alavandaar was in extreme confusion thinking about the future of Srivaishnavism.  He wanted to choose his successor appropriately.  At that time coming to hear about a brilliant boy elaiyazhvar in kAnchi, alavandaar decided to visit kAnchi.   In kAnchi, near the kariyamAnikka perumal sannadhi, with the aid of thirukachchi nambi alavandaar placed his divine vision (aam mudalvan-kataksham) on elaiyAzhvar.  Not stopping with that he proceeded to aththigiri and surrendered to varadarajan to get elaiyAzhvar out of the ghosti of yadavaprakasa and get him into right track.

 

"yasya prasAdha kalayA padira srunOthi pangu pradhAvathi javEna cha vakthi mooka:

  Andha prayasyathi sutham labhathE cha vanthyA tham dEvamEva varadham sharaNam gadhOsmi"

[Due to whose divine grace, a deaf hears, a lame person runs, a dumb debates , a blind sees, and a child-less mother delivers a child, I surrender only to that lord, varada]

 

Thus alavandaar surrendered to the divine feet of varada and not making any of his efforts (didn't even talk to elaiyazhvar) returned back to srirangam.   In his last days, alavandaar anxious to get ramanuja to sampradayam used to turn to the direction of kanchi and remember his surrender to devadhiraja.   Thereby kanchi varadan gifted ramanuja to uplift the ramanuja darisanam.

 

Achcham aRa mamagizhchchi aNainthittAn vAzhiyE

 

Long live that great soul who overcame his fear and attained the ultimate bliss

 

Though ramanuja didn't surrender to alavandaar in his lifetime swamy alavandaar left all the treasures to be passed on to ramanuja with his 5 prime disciples.   Ramanuja reached srirangam just after swamy alavandaar ascended to paramapadam.  Hearing the sad news Swamy ramanuja fell to the grounds like an uprooted tree but consoled himself to have atleast got the blessings to have the divine darshan of the charamavimalathirumEni (divine body of swamy alavandaar).   While enjoying the divine darshan of the acharya's thirumEni ramanuja suddenly found that 3 fingers were folded.  He asked those around if it was like that before.   But to his surprise they replied that they have seen that only now.  Immediately ramanujacharya understood that there were some unfulfilled desires in the thiruvullam (divine thought) of swamy alavandaar.   Immediately the close disciples recollected and told that the acharya used to talk about 3 things:

  1. Spread the fame of parasara and veda vyasa by doing some distinct act;
  2. Write a commentary to brahma sutras as per the vishistadvaita philosophy;
  3. Write a commentary to thiruvaimozhi and spread it throughout the world;

 

When swamy ramanuja vowed to fulfill the above wishes of the acharya the three fingers became normal indicating that the acharya was happy satisfied that his desires will be fulfilled.   Thereby due to the swamy ramanuja taking up the responsibility alavandaar's fear of sampradayam becoming leaderless and deserted was wiped out and alavandaar attained ultimate bliss.

 

Alavandaar thiruvadigal anavaradham vAzhiyE

 

Long live alavandaar's divine feet for ever.

 

What other gratitude can we show towards our revered acharyas other than sing mangalasasanams to them forever?

 

The divine works of Swamy alavandaar are: (1) chatusloki (2) Stotra Ratnam (3) Siddhitrayam consisting of (i) AtmaSiddhi. (ii) Samvitsiddhi and (iii) Easwara Siddhi (4) Agama Pramanya (5) Maha Purusha Nirnayam and (6) Gitartha Sangraha (7) Nityam (8) Maayaa Vaadha Khandanam 

 

Alavandaar thiruvadigalE sharaNam

 

Vara Vara muni dAsargal

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