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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00032 Nov 2002

 
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Sri Parthasarathi thunai
Srimathe Ramanujaya namaha
Sri Vara Vara munaye Namaha

Sri ILaiyAzhwAr Vaibhavam-2

IlaiyAzhwar came to know about a Ekadandi sanyasi, named yAdhavaprakasa, 
inthiruputkuzhi near perumal koil (kAnchi), teaching poorvapaksha vedantham.He 
immediately went and joined the class along with the other students.  

Meanwhile in mazhalai mangalam a son was born to kamala nayana bhattar and 
periya pirattiyAr in the tamil month of thai, on a poornima day, sOmavAr 
(Tuesday), in the star of punarvasu. Periya thirumalai nambi, coming to know 
about the good news came to greet the parents and bless the child. On looking 
at the newborn child he said, ?This boy will be a good person in character and 
will get well educated and will become a good vaidhikan (personinvolved in 
vedantha)?. Then Nambi suggested the name, ?Govindan? to kamalanayana bhattar, 
who accordingly did nAmakaranam (naming ceremony) to the child. Govindan also 
grew up, with all the religious ceremonies doneat appropriate times and after 
his elementary education he subsequently entered gruhastAshramam (got married). 
After that, coming to know about ilaiyAzhwar in the classes of yadhava prakasa, 
govindan also joined the same with great enthusiasm and joy.

One-day yadhava prakasa was giving explanation to the vedic verse ?Sathyam 
jnanam anantham brahma?. The explanation of yadhava was as follows: The 
qualities of sathyam, jnanam and anantham will fit Brahman, only when the 
qualities of having a long horn, short horn and no horn fit simultaneously to a 
single cow.? IlaiyAzhwar was taken aback by such an explanation and hence he 
came forward to say his own interpretation of the same as follows and strongly 
objected to the explanation given by yadhava prakasa. IlaiyAzhwar explained, 
?The word ?sathyam? denotes kshanika vyAvriththi (different from the living 
things which has short period of existence), theword ?Jnanam? denotes Achit 
vyAvriththi (different from the non livingthings, which do not have 
intelligence) and the word ?anantham? denotes parichinna vyAvriththi (different 
from an entity which has limits). Hence the verse actually means that Brahmam 
is different from chetanam and achEthanam and it is a permanent limitless 
entity.? Yadhava prakasa releaseda sigh of dismay listening to the above.

Another day, IlaiyAzhwar was doing service to his master yadhava prakasa, 
applying oil to his hair and body. During the same, yadhava was teaching 
ilaiyAzhwar some lessons in vedantha. At that time, yadhava gave a 
misinterpretation to the verse, ?Thasya yethA kapyAsam pundareeka mEva 
makshini?. The twist in the meaning told by yadhava put ilaiyAzhwar to deep 
sorrow,which made tears role down his eyes. The hot tears due to sorrow fell to 
the lap of yadhava who jumped to his feet on feeling the hot tears on his lap. 
He asked ilaiyAzhwar what had made him to cry?

IlaiyAzhwar replied, ?kam pipathee ethi kapi:? and ?Asa upavEsanE? refers to 
the lotus which blossoms at sunrise. Thereby the meaning indicated by the verse 
is ?the eyes of Brahman blossoms like a lotus which blooms on seeing the sun?. 
Seeing such an excellent metaphor being misinterpreted I was struck by grief.?

Yadhava couldn?t accept his shisya giving better interpretations than himand 
hence with anger he said, ?if you wish to listen to my lessons stay here and 
learn, else leave this place this very moment?. IlaiyAzhwar obliged and stayed 
away from the class.

Then yadhava called his other loyal shisyas and asked, ?You all respect me and 
accept my lessons. But IlaiyAzhwar always refutes and argues againstmy 
teachings. I fear that due to him the whole philosophy of advaita willloose 
power; so what is the way to finish him off?? Each one of them gave different 
ideas. Yadhava felt that all those ways will credit sins and the blame will 
fall on him only. So he made a master plan to take ilaiyAzhwar with him on a 
divine journey (yathra) and kill him in manikarnika. Everyone accepted the plan 
to be a good one and hence yadhava like duriyOdhanawho acted to be good to 
dharmaputra to finally cheat him, called back IlaiyAzhwar and posed a drama 
before him saying that the class didn?t look healthy without ilaiyAzhwar and 
requested him to join again.

Then yadhava prakasa, started to arrange for the ganga yAthra along with his 
shisyas. All along the way the shisyas somehow prevented IlaiyAzhwar andgovinda 
in talking personally with each other as govinda had come to know their plan. 
But finally when they were in the vindhya ranges while talkinga dip in a river, 
govinda grabbed a right moment and hinted IlaiyAzhwar about the plan of yadhava 
and his shisyas and asked ilaiyAzhwar to run away in a different route. Then 
govinda came and joined the crew again.

(To be continued)

AzhwAr emberumAnAr jeeyar thiruvadigaLE saraNam
Adiyen,
Varadarajan Ramanuja Dasan
Sumithra Ramanuja Dasyai

 

 



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