The Glory of Sri Thirukatchi Nambi
When Sri Thirukatchi Nambi was
living in Poovirundavalli (a suburb of Chennai now known as Poonthamalli), Sri
Varadaraja Perumal of Kanchipuram came in his dreams and instructed him to
proceed to Kanchipuram and do pushpa Kainkaryam to HIM. HE also showed Nambi how to reach HIS
place. In difference to the wishes of
Perumal Sri Thirukatchi Nambi created a Nandavanam in Poovirundavalli, spending
all his wealth bequeathed from his father Sri Veeraraghava Chettiyar. The place
was renamed as Poovirunthavalli (abound of flowers) on the basis of the
beautiful nandavanam (Garden of flowers) created by Sri Nambi. He used to make garlands out of the flowers
from the garden daily and went by walk all the way to Kanchipuram and offered
them to Perumal.
On seeing the tired
Nambigal while doing his pushpa kankaryam, Perarulala Perumal took pity on him
and instructed him to stay in Kanchipuram itself and do alavatta (Fan made of
palm leaves covered with silk cloth) kainkaryam to cool HIM down of the heat as
Perumal came out of the sacred Fire. Thereafter Sri Nambigal was regularly
doing Alavatta kaingaryam to Perumal and with great devotion, meticulously took
great care of HIM. Perumal Devathirajan was very happy of HIS ardent devotee
and decided to come out of HIS Archai posture (a prathista swaroopa of the
Sacred Form) to have conversation with Sri Thirukatchi Nambi side by side every
day. As ordered by Perarulalaperumal Sri Nambi
got Panja Samskaram (five
regulations followed to be a true Srivaishnavan, viz. (1) to have
*Samacharayanam by Acharya (2) to have
Thiruman (3) to get self surrendered to Iswar (4) to get (through Acharya) the three
sacred Mantras (5) to worship Bhagavan daily with bakthi)
One day when Sri Thirukatchi Nambi was conversing
with Perumal he asked HIM when he will get Moksha. Perumal replied that he would get Moksha when
he gets the Baghavada Abimanam (to get the influence of an Acharya by doing
kaingaryam to him).
Sri Thirukatchi Nambi decided to get
Baghavatha Abimanam from Sri Thirukotiyur Nambigal who was living in
Srirangam. But he could not straight
away request Sri Thirukotiyur Nambi to have him as his syshya. He first disguised himself as a cow keeper and
started working in the Ashramam of Sri Thirukotiyr Nambi. Sri Thirukatchi Nambi adopted a unique method
to attract Sri Thirukottiyur Nambiâs attention.
_____________________________________________________________________________
* to have the sacred seal of the
Chakra (Wheel) and the sacred seal of Sangu (Conch) on the upper portion of
either hand down the shoulder by oneâs Acharya)
One day Sri Tirukotiyur Nambi noticed that
Sri Thirukatchi Nambi had not returned to the
Ashramam with the cow. It was
raining at that time. Therefore Sri Thirukotiyur Nambi went in search of his
cow keeper. He found Sri Thirukatchi
Nambi in bare body lying on his cloths spread on the cow.
When Sri Thirukotiyur Nambi asked
the cow keeper why he was doing like that, Sri Thirukatchi Nambi
told him that if the cow was drenched it would
suffer from cold and if Sri Thirukotiyur Nambi drank the milk he would also
catch cold. Therefore he was protecting the cow from the rain in order to save
his master. On reaching the Ashram, Sri
Thirukotiyur Nambi very much impressed by the reverence shown towards him of
the cow keeper, offered him food. On
successfully getting the abimanam of Sri Thirukotiyur Nambi, the cow keeper
revealed him that he was none other than Sri Thirukatchi Nambi and told him
about the purpose of his visit.
There were innumerable incidents when Sri Perarulalaperumal came to the
rescue of Sri Thirukatchi Nambi. One day
the Rathna Haram (The Sacred Diamond Necklace) of Perumal was missing. When the King asked the Archakas how the
necklace was missing, they told the king that Sri Thirukatchi Nambi only was
always with Perumal and he is responsible for the missing necklace. The King arrested
Sri Thirukatchi Nambi as he could not give any explanation. After 7 Â hours,
Perumal came in the dreams of the Kind and informed him that HE only kept the
necklace hidden for 7 Â hours in order to reduce the
7 Â years of Sani Dasai which gripped Sri
Thirukatchi Nambigal. The King realizing
the attachment and closeness of Sri Thirukatchi Nambi with Perarulalaperumal,
released him immediately.
Thirukatchi Nambi rushed to
Devaperumal sannadhi and fell at HIS lotus feet and outpoured his heart with
tears of mystic feeling rendered the famous auspicious prabandham âDevarajashtagamâ
in praise of Sri Varadaraja Perumal.
Before Sri Ramanuja took sanyasam, he was called Ilayazhwar. Sri Ilayazvar used to get all his doubts
cleared by Perarulalaperumal through Sri Thirukatchi Nambi as he used to have
conversation with Perumal directly. Once
Sri Ilayazhwar was very upset over certain actions of his Devi (wife), he
sought the help of Sri Thirukatchi Nambi to get the matters churning his mind. When Sri Thirukatchi Nambi told Perumal about
Sri Ilayazwarâs predicament, Perumal asked Sri Nambi to convey the following
six words to Sri Ilayazhwar:
(1)
I
am the Paratathvam ( I am the Supreme Being) (2) My religion is divided ( I consist of Sith,
Asith and Iswar) (3) The solution is Saranagathi ( to attain Mukthi self
surrender at my feet) (4) No need to think (about ME) at the end of oneâs life
(There is no need to think about ME at the time of death) (5) Moksham at the
last stage body (Moksham will come at the end of this sareera (body) (6) Seek
Periya Nambigal as your Acharya (Get the Panchasamaskarathigal* from Sri Periya
Nambi)
Sri Thirukatchi Nambi lived for many more years doing alavatta kaingaryam to Perarulalaperumal and continued to have personal kataksham from Sri Varadaraja Perumal. In view of this our elder learned scholars say that Sri Thirukatchi Nambi had his Prathista Swaroopa (Archa Thirumeni) installed in Poovirundavalli even when he was alive.
Adiyen Ramanuja Dasan
Ranga Madabushi
You are invited to view photo album: Kanchipuram - Sri Varadaraja Perumal Koil and Sri P.B.A. Swamy Thirumaligai
If you are having problems viewing this email, copy and paste the following into your browser:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=chandra.madabushi04&target=ALBUM&id=5303422818226901041&authkey=D3kMGBry50E&authkey=D3kMGBry50E&feat=email To share your photos or receive notification when your friends share photos, get your own free Picasa Web Albums account.
|
Attachment:
email.jpg
Description: JPEG image
Attachment:
picasaweblogo-en_US.gif
Description: GIF image
Home Page
http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia |
ramanuja-subscribe@yahoogroups.com To subscribe to the list |