Long live ….Hundreds, thousands, and crores of years..my adorable LORD …

May for many hundreds, thousands and crores of years ,the Gem -Hued LORD with mighty wrestling shoulders, HIS bright red lotus feet be protected. This inseparable bond between us ,may it last many thousand years .To the GODDESS who ever adorns the Lord’s right chest many thousand years. To the fiery luminous sudharshan chakra on the right hand, many thousand years. To the Panchajanya ,the famous conch which stikes terror in the battle field ,many many thousand years…

The Acharyar who authored Suprabhatam to Lord Sreenivasa ( TIRUMALA ) 600 years ago….Bhayankaran for PrativAdIs (opponents). Servant of servants to Srivaishnavas

 Swamy  Mudumbai Nambee Ananthacharya  was one amongst the 74 Simhadipathees  nominated by Jagathacharyar  Swamy Ramanuja .

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Swamy Ananthacharyar  belonged to the illustrious family    of  the great srivaishnava stalwarts  Swamy Pillai Lokacharyar and Vadakku Thiruvidhi pillai . .

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   During 1360 , Swamy Ananthacharyar was blessed with a son who was named as Hasthagiri Ananthar Anna being ardent devotees of Lord Varadaraja . ( Lord Varadaraja has been giving darshan to the devotees at this holy place called “Hastha giri”.  ‘Hastham’ means elephant and “giri “ means hill) .    

    The young  boy  was very attractive  and  devotional right from his childhood  .The boy was admitted in to the school of  Swamy Nayana varadacharyar  ,  the direct descendent of Swamy  Vedanta Desikar . He received the Vedic inputs from his Acharya and progressed in leaps and bounds by his sheer devotion .

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During this  period  , a staunch Advaitin Narasimha Mishra had come to Kancheepuram .  He decided to  debate with the learned scholars in that area in proving the supremacy of Advaitam and thus  convert the opponent and his  followers into his fold .

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 As  his mission was incomplete , he invited  Swamy Nayana varadacharyar for a debate as was done during those days .The bet was announced that  the one who looses will follow others  faith along with his followers .  

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Swamy Nayana varadacharyar was not keen to interact with  the  scholar and  not able to decide how to ignore  his  request too . It was the last day .The young boy could see his Acharyar’s concern . He wanted to somehow make his Acharyar happy .

He understood  from his senior disciples what made his Acharyar sad . He never wanted the rich heritage of Vishishtadwaitam being taken for a ride by  the  vedantin .It was a high time to make the world believe the glorious sampradaya  Jagathacharyar Swamy Ramanuja had given us . The young boy approached his Acharya and pleaded him to be allowed to take upon the vedantin . 

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Swamy  Nayanavaradacharyar was glad that the young boy was also thinking in the same lines .Confident of his victory , he blessed the child with Sri Hayagreeva Upadesa mantra and wished him the best .

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The young lad  Hasthagiri Anna  with the blessings of his Acharyar  walked into the debate hall   which had  revered scholars from different places   . The locals also assembled  to watch the Vedantins arguments. He looked at the learned scholars and the great  vedantin Narasimha Mehta . 

He was amused with his looks and the arrogance in his speech . The vedantin chuckled at the boys entry  for his  age and size . He said this boy is of no match to me .Anyway as his guru has sent him on his behalf , let me bundle him up with simple questions  !! he thought .

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 Hasthagiri Anna looked at the vedantin and said ..

Hey Vedantin ..

Are you going to wage a war against me ?

Why does size or stature matter to you .

For a person like you  I am the best match .Let me not disturb my Gurudeva ..

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The debate is to convince you and all these so called scholars the illustrious sampradaya of Jagath Acharyar Swamy Ramanuja is supreme .

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If you have any doubts , questions ask me else accept the  sampradaya which will give you moksha .

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The Vedantin was surprised with the boys daring words .

He decided to quiz him in shastras and then take him  on about the sampradaya .

The outpouring of Vedic knowledge , apt recitation with intricate  meanings made vedantin shocked .

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The debate was almost looking like   a repeat of Swamy Yamunacharya debate with the Vedantin few hundred years ago and Swamy Yamunacharya was glorified as Alavandar  the King…

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 Few onlookers rushed to their Acharyar to inform him about Hasthagiri Annas  mastery in handling the vedantin with esoteric  truths  .

The Old Acharyar walked along with his disciples to see the brave boy’s confidence  . Hasthagiri Anna presented many verses in the Vedic texts  to demonstrate the supreme position of  Swamy Ramanuja’s  Vishishitadwaitam .

The debate ended with the vedantin accepting the supremacy of the sampradaya .

All the scholars  unitedly agreed  with jubilations about the young boy defeating the arrogant vedantin in his own den.

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 Overjoyed the  Acharyar hugged Hasthagiri Anna and said henceforth you will be called as Prathivadi bhayanakaram Anna .

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Meanwhile the Vedantin  along with his followers rushed to Anna  accepting defeat and pleaded to be taken in their fold .

The Acharyar blessed both of the disciples and handed over the reins of the school for him to take over due to his old age .

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Swamy Annan was carrying out the Theertha kainkaryam at Kancheepuram as done by our  Jagath Acharyar Swamy Ramanuja .

One day he took permission from Lord Vardaraja for having darshanam of Lord Sreenivasa at Tirumala after getting immersed in the Nammazhwar’s description of Tirumala and Lord Srinivasa  in Thiruvamozhi .

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Anna became associated with  Swami Ananthanpillai descendants and  was engaged in serving Lord Srinivasa by collecting and preparing the water required for His worship every day. 

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One day, while  returning from Akasha Ganga  after having  gathered  the holy water to be taken to the Lord, a devotee from Srirangam came across his path. 

As divine will would have it, they entered into a conversation. 

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The devotee from Srirangam narrated the  glories of the  revered saint Svami Mamunigal  and his extraordinary service in Srirangam. 

Anna was deeply moved on hearing  about Swamy’s devotion to Lordships and the zeal to carry out the mantle of Jagathacharyar Swamy Ramanuja’s philosophy  all over .

In the process of hearing the satsangath , he completely forgot about the  holy water he was supposed to deliver to the Lord.

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Having exhausted  with their patience, the priests from the temple  came out in search of Anna and hurriedly collected  the pots of holy water from him and rushed back to the temple to complete the worship according to established protocol .

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Anna was confused and hence  rushed to the temple to inform the priests that he had not yet prepared the water by mixing in it fragrant substances, as  was the norms . 

But as  it was too late  the worship had already begun and nearing  completion .

Anna was cursing himself for overlooking the protocol that was followed . He was dejected for not compiling with the procedures thus committing an offence . Standing all alone inside the temple Anna was seeking forgivance  .

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  Lord Srinivasa  , all compassionate Lord , broke his  silence  .

There was a divine voice coming  from the deity form,  addressing   him ,

“Oh My dear  Anna! 

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The  holy water you delivered today  had the best fragrance and quality.  I am pleased with your service!”  

Don’t be dejected !!!

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This was a shock to Anna, who had not added any fragrance at all  that day.  On pondering  , Anna realized that the water must have got  fragnant by the mere mention of the account of Swami Manavala Mamunigal vaibhavam  .

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 Realizing the glory of the saint, Anna took permission from Lord Sreenivasa and  left  Tirumala  heading towards  south to srirangam to have Swami manavala maamuni’s darshanam .

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On reaching Srirangam , Anna has darshan of the Lordships and  goes straight to attend  the discourse of Swamy Manavala mamuni  which impresses him  very much . He waits  patiently for having  Acharyar’s darshanam .

Amongst all the disciples , Swamy Manavala Mamuni calls him and asks  Oh! You are that srivaishnava called as Prathivadi Bhayankaran in a lighter vein .

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Anna humbly offers obesiances and replies  Swamy ,  that he is Prathivadi Bhayankaran to his opponents  and a servant of servants to srivaishnavas .

  Swamy is pleased with his commitment in protecting our rich sampradaya  and honours him with  another title “SrIvaishnava dAsan”.

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Later ,  Anna moves to Tirumala for   serving Lord Srinivasa . Swamy Manavalamamuni joins him at Tirumala  and  taken  by the glory of Lord Srinivasa,  he ordains his disciple Prathivadi Bhayankaram Anna to compose hymns on  Lord Srinivasa through which Lord’s  glory is well understood and enjoyed by all walks of people.  Anna taking his Acharyar’s command  composes  hymns on LORD   that shed light on the greatness of the Lord of the Seven Hills.

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Annan,  pens the   morning song suprabhatham  slokas comprising of             (29 verses , stotram  11 verses ,  prapatti  16 verses  and mangalam  14 verses) .

The holy verses has four  aspects Suprabhatam, which is the actual awaking of  Lordships Sree and Vishnu,  Stotram, which is essentially a  glorifications and the last  Prapatti through Sree and the beautiful  Mangalam to Lordships  which serves as a conclusion.

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These  four hymnal renditions of Anna are the hallmark of worship that are  conducted  in Srivaishnava parlance.  The Vaishnava Agamas require the Lord to be worshipped and honoured at least as much as a king is. 

The Suprabhatam or wishing of  an auspicious dawn is not only analogous to the service offered normally to the royalty but also an expression of Mangalasasanam. Mangalasasanam is the highest virtue recognized in Srivaishnavism. 

It is It is the exalted state of devotion where the devotee is not worried about his own welfare or the welfare of others, but only about the welfare of the Lord (which automatically ensures the well being of everyone and everything else). 

He serves the Lord, sings His benediction and longs for His auspiciousness always   and the Prapatti is another core concept of Srivaishnavism that teaches the complete resignation to the saving grace of the Lord.

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The final goal of a Srivaishnava is to please the Lord with one’s services.  One of the most important forms of service is the service of singing the Lord’s praise.  He is sthavapriya: or one who is pleased with stotrams.  The Venkatesa Stotram serves this purpose. Through the four works, Anna captures the entire essence of Srivaishnavism as he sings the glory of Lord Venkatesa.  The pleased Lord listens to these hymns several times every day during the course of His worship in several temples…

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 Swamy Manavala  Mamuni then ordered his disciples  , that every day except in the month  of Margazhi, these four stotras must  be recited at the time  of opening of the temple sanctorum  in the morning which is being religiously followed till date .

Thus we have an advanced  Acharyar  Swamy Prativadi Bhayankaram Annan of Tirupati Suprabhatam fame  who was a disciple of both  Swamy Vedantha Desika’s son and Swamy Manavaala Maamunigal, indicating that there was no remarkable differences in following  between the  two sects . His treatises establishing the unifying nature of all of our acharyas are a treasure for several generations .

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A detailed description of THIRUMANJANA SEVA at Tirumala is appended in the below linked post

At Tirumala …. Lord Venkateshwara Abhisheka vaibhavam …….. VenkaTAdri samam sthAnam brahmANDe nAsti kinchana … venkateSa samo devo …. na bhUto na bhaviSyati……..

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Swamy Prativadi Bhayankaram Annan  Thiruadigale sharanam

Adiyen Ramanuja dasan

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Picture credits : Google images/antaryami.org/varavaramuni /TTG/ISKCON and enlightened devotees who uploaded the beautiful pictures in social media web sites

Video credits   : Thallapaka Annamacharyulu garu /  Keerthi / Baba and other devotees

Robert Clive at Kancheepuram Temple

During the years 1690 to 1800 , the Nawabs of the Carnatic (also referred to as the Nawabs of Arcot), ruled the Carnatic region of South India. They  had their capital at Arcot near Vellore  region  in Tamil Nadu . The temple town Kanchipuram was ruled by the Arcot Nawabs  .

 

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Robert Clive  from East India was  serving as a clerk could not digest the  French expansion taking place at different parts of India .He was too upset with the British response to the French onslaught during the Carnatic wars .

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He could see the French advancing in the areas around Madras  with the Muslem kings . He was moved and hence  proposed a plan to the governor at Madras to somehow defend  this .  He wished he could somehow  challenge the strong Franco-Indian forces at Trichinopoly by taking a  strike at Arcot, Chanda Sahib’s capital city, with the goal of forcing Chanda Sahib to lift the siege at Trichinopoly.

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The plan was brilliant .Though they did not have  enough forces  , Saunders agreed . He commanded the  200 of the 350 British soldiers  to charge under Robert Clives command. Those 200 soldiers and a further 300 sepoys along with artillery  marched towards Arcot from Madras .  It was a tough terrain .

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Robert Clive was unwell due to the heat and was severely de hydrated .  They  somehow  reached  Kancheepuram  which was at a distance 68 km from Madras. 

Robert Clive was  completely  dehydrated in the journey  .He was  seriously ill and  the doctors had  given up hope.

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The entire army was demotivated with his illness .   Meanwhile at Kancheepuram  ,the temple was busting with festival time .

Many pilgrim’s had camped at the outskirts of the temple seeking Lord’s darshan .  

Robert Clive’s forces were camping near the present day  Ekambareshwara temple  which  was used as military camp.

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The Lordships are taken in procession accompanied by huge temple elephants , Nadaswaram ,Kolattam  along with other festive customs  .

 The mood was ecstatic as the crowd were eagerly awaiting for the Lord’s shower of mercy on them . The unusual activities that was happening around was very new to Robert Clive .

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 During festivals Lordships arrive to meet the people . Clive summoned his soldiers to brief him about the unusual music and the crowd .

The soldier was overjoyed to praise the Lordships and briefed him about the Emperor of Emperors Lord Vardarajan .

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Robert Clive was immersed in his description and the divine pastimes . One soldier braved to meet the Procession priests for the holy water and the sataari for  Clive  to honour them who was unwell .  Being too tired and completely de hydrated he decided to submit to the Lord’s  lotus feet for him to recover after having the holy water  .

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The prayers were with utmost faith . Oh Lord! I am new to your place . I have come here on a mission .Please help me in succeeding in   the mission .To everybody’s surprise Clive had completely recovered by next   morning.   Thanking the Lord he marched along with his men to Arcot  .

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Clives’s intelligence informed him that the enemy garrison at Arcot was twice the size of his marching forces.   Clive  however decided to proceed to Arcot  which  was  43 km and the troops of Clive, in spite of a delay caused by a tremendous storm of thunder and lighting, reached Arcot  .

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The garrison left by Chanda Sahib to defend Arcot, struck with panic at the sudden  arrival of Clives forces .  They at once abandoned the fort, despite their larger number of sepoys  and rushed to safe pastures .  Clive and his forces took over the city and the fort without firing a single shot and  went on to capture Arcot . He was amazed with the unusual events .

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A blessing from Lord Varadarajar made the task so simple . He was so much impressed with Lord’s mercy that even without harming a single soldier the war was won .   Being deeply indebted to Lord’s benevolence and mercy in gratitude, he decided that he would present to Lord Varadaraja the most valuable thing he captured from Arkad’s treasury.  Clive while returning went to Lord Vardarajar’s temple and gifted  most famous Arcot  necklace to Lord and told the priests to offer the same to the Lord . This  necklace  Clive makarakandi is  decorated to  the Lord on ceremonial occasions even to this present day .   Later  once ,  on the way to Arkad, Clive stopped in Kanchi to  have Lord’s darshan  He observed the priests  were fanning   Lord Varadaraja  amidst recitation of divine sukthis .

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Clive expressed his doubts about the deity feeling hot.  Upon hearing this, the priest fanning the Lord wiped the deity’s face with a small towel and gave it to Clive, who was amazed to find  the wet cloth with divine  fragnance .   He had special regard for the Lord and made it a point to have his darshan whenever he visited Arcot .

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Robert Clive later became an ardent devotee of the Lord , an Emperor of Emperors

Adiyen Ramanuja dasan…

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Pictures ; COURTESY Google images

Ekadandee to Tridandee – “ Arulala Perumal Emberumanar vaibhavam “

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Yagnyamurthy’  was a  great scholar  who  lived near  a place called “Vinjimoor” near to Tirumala hills.  The  scholar he  was  ,   highly successful in tarkha vaadam   which  forced the opponent  to accepts defeat in an argument  and  accept  the philosophy of the winner at once. 

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He had many victories during his encounters amongst learned men  . As days progressed, his victories grew by leaps and bounds. Overjoyed , the great scholar decides to proceed to  different parts of the country  to win over his contemporaries and propagate Advaitam . Thus he  moves towards Kasi and on the  banks of river Ganges  defeats  many vidwAns in argument  and as per the agreement  converts them  into  advaitans .For his authorative knowledge he was   almost  being worshipped as one of Advaitin icon.

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There were few devotees  who somehow wished the  learned scholar is corrected  soon . They were just praying the Lord to correct the scholar who was a genius in tarka vadham . 

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 Days passed  and the count  of his followers were increasing . Lord had a divine plan for uplifting this great scholar  . It so happened few devotees from Srirangam  and Kanchi  had come for a pilgrimage to North .

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They were glorifying Swamy Ramanuja’s commendable knowledge on shastras and his devotion to Lord  propagating  Vishishtadvaita  . Yagyamurthy’s  came to know about Swamy Ramanuja’s greatness through his disciples .Puffed with ego he decided to leave to South to confront on the scholars living there .Enroute , he was imagining the great knowledge he possessed  which could  nullify even the intellectuals .   

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 After reaching  Kancheepuram  he invited  Swamy Ramanuja for a debate on  sasthras and Vedanta .  Swamy Ramanuja  with a smile  told him , Swamy ! Adiyen accepts you are a genius  and have no questions for raising a debate to avoid any unpleasant confrontations. 

 Yaghnamurthi  was pleased  at Swamy Ramanuja’s reply  but took the opportunity  to declare  in that case   you  accept  my philosophy  instead of   propagating  Vishishtadvaita  .

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Swamy Ramanuja  replied ..   your  philosophy  kept people in a confused  state. Hence , adiyen can  neither accept it nor follow it.  The scholar   , took this as a nice opportunity to bow down Ramanuja and overtake him by forcing him for a debate.And it was destined that the debate was to happen .  Swamy Ramanuja accepted  for the same .

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 Finally the big debate was about to begin with the authoritative scholars of the era . Advaitam …Visishistadvaitam…at the famous divyadesam Pandavathootha perumal temple at Kancheepuram.

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  As usual, the rules of the debate were laid clearly before it began . The one who looses shall accept the others faith . The debate started and both the  great philosophers  put their revered points before . Attacks, counter attacks  ensued from both the  sides . At  some point it looked that the battle would never end. The debate entered the seventeenth day .

The scholar challenged Swami Ramanuja on a key point for which Swami could not retaliate immediately. The day’s battle was regarded as “Over” and was set to continue the  next  morning .  

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Swami  Ramanuja  went back to his Ashrama and  offered  humble prayers to  his “Aaradhana Perumal –Varadarajan” (AruLaLa perumal) .

Putting his request before the Lord he said    Oh Lord ! The great Vishitadvaita sampradhayam   nurtured and propelled by the revered  Acharyas  and Azhwars  would have to come to an end  for the only reason that  an ignorant person like  me is countering this vedantin  .

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It will be  a disgrace to the entire followers of our sampradaya  for a defeat . He was confident that Lord  “PerAruLaLan” would always come to his rescue as done throughout his life .

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 And sure HE did. The same night, AruLaLa perumal came in Swami Ramanujar’s dream and pointed out some of the arguments he could use for winning over Yagyamurthy.

Specifically, HE suggested to take excerpts from “Maayavaandha Kandanam” chapter from Swami Alavandar’s Sidhithrayam. He told Ramanuja not to lose heart and instead said he was going to give him a nice disciple  which was HIS plan only .

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It was the final day .Almost 17   days of  debate was about to end  .  Swami Ramanujar  offered his prayers and cheerfully marched towards the debate hall .He was  looking with divine tejas   Swamy’s  face looked like a freshly bloomed lotus.  The scholar   was shocked to see  Swamy Ramanujar  divine  tejas . There was a divine aura around him that could neutralise the  surroundings .He repeatedly kept watching Swamy’s Tejas . He  just did not have any words .. He felt that  Swamy Ramanuja  was no ordinary human being .He knew  he has possessed divine qualities and great wisdom.

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He  felt belittle  and  ashamed to think that  he was a scholar and that false ego which puffed over his wisdom  all these days  which  he  did not realize . The debate was about to start .

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 Even before Ramanuja  could put  his points of contention , the scholar  prostrated before the great Acharyar  saying the debate is closed . He pleaded Swamy !  Adiyen   am left with  no words . Please forgive me for the foolishness to enter into this debate  with an advanced seer and how foolish I was to argue on issues which are unworthy .

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Swamy Ramanuja  was  surprised  with his behaviour .He  asked him  with love , Oh Seer what was  so sudden  that made you submit ?  Yaghnamurthi  humbly replied , Swamin  I  was  a fool blinded  with ego thinking   that I was the most learned man in the world . But looking at your  simplicity ,humility  and abundant wisdom my ego has been shattered .Swamin !! Please accept my obeisance’s and Kindly accept me as your disciple .Please enlighten me with wisdom .

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Just one day back the scene was totally different  Swamy  Ramanuja felt that the sea-change in Yaghyamurthi’s behaviour was due to the benevolence of  Lord PeraruLaLa PerumaL only. He accepted Yaghyamurthi as his disciple . He  rechristened him as “ AruLaLaperumanar Emberumanar .” thanking Lord for his grace on him .  Yaghyamurthi  was now called by the name AruLaLaperumanar  .  He settled in a  mutt  near to Swamy Ramanuja’s ashrama and serving his Acharya with utmost devotion  .  

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He  became a Tridandee sanyasi from Ekadandi sanyasi  . Swamy Ramanuja used to direct  few  srivaishnavas as his disciples. When Ananthazwhan  seeked the lotus feet of Swamy  Ramanujar for the first time, they were directed to  surrender to Swami Arulala Perumal Emberumanar and seek refuge under him. Swami Arulala Perumal Emberumanar  was taken back and he could not deny too  since it was his Acharyan’s order again.  He politely told them that even though you all  surrender to me, there will be only one acharyan to you and  me and to the whole world.

He is  our Jagath Acharyar Swami Ramanujar.

  He will take care of you just like he takes care of me”.

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Ramanujar also established a separate mutt for Arulala Perumal Emberumanar. Once few  strangers had come to have darshan of Swamy Ramanuja at his mutt  Since they were new to the place, they asked one of the locals  “Where is Emberumanar’s mutt?”.

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The local person politely replied  ,Swamin please let me know  “which Emberumanar mutt are you  talking about?

Is it  our Swami Ramanujar who is also called  as Emberumanar, Ethirajar,Udayavar, Godhagrajan

                                                OR 

 Swami “Arulala Perumal Emberumanar’s mutt”?

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 While this conversation was going along, Swami Arulala Perumal Emberumanar accidentally happened to listen . He  was shocked with the local’s reply . He wept terribly hearing that his mutt had caused confusion in the minds of people to an extent that they started  believing  that  there is another Swamy who can be compared to his own Acharyar  .   Swami Arulala Perumal Emberumanar  was very upset .  He  immediately went ahead and  pulled down his mutt  then and there .

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 He took the strangers along with him to Acharyar and seeked his blessings to serve them .He decided to serve Swamy Ramanujar  in his mutt itself from then on .  In Srivaishnava  parlance, when we say “Swami”, it can refer to only one person. He is none other than Swami Ramaujar himself. Just like when we say “kovil” it refers to Srirangam, when we say “Swami”, it is our Ramanujar only

All glories to JagathAcharyar  Swamy Ramanuja

Swami Arulala Perumal Emberumanar  thiru adigale sharanam

   Adiyen Ramanuja dasan

 

The glory of Thirukkolur…

Swamy Ramanuja along with his disciples proceeded on a pilgrimage to divyadesams glorified by Azhwars . He reached Thirunagari the holy place where Swamy Nammazhwar appeared .He prostrated the Lordships  at Sri Aadhinathar swamin.

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Later proceeded towards Thirukolur with the thirst to serve the Lordships who were glorified by Swamy Nammazhwar as ” Sri Aravindalochana and Sri Vaithamaanidhee perumals.

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It is said that one who has darshan of this holy dhaam  and Perumal here will  not wish to leave the place .

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 Swamy Ramanujar  proceeded  further to the holy spot with entourage .He was overjoyed to  reach the  divine place where  Sri Madhurakavi azhwar   appeared . He recollected Swamy Nammazhwar pasurams  in the sixth  sataka of Thiruvaimozhi –..”Unnum soru parugu neere  pasuram ..

Nammazhwar knew none other than  Lord Krishna  true to his divine pasuram

 uNNum sORu paruhu neer thinnum VeRRilaiyumellAm
KANNAN , yemperumAnenruenrE kaNkaL neer malhi
maNNInuL Avan seer vaLam mikkavanoor vinavi
tiNNa menniLa maan puhumoor ThirukkOloorE  “

” Here the mother of ParAnkusa Nayaki decribes the KrishNA- conscious state of her daughter : ” My dear young daughter  has gone to ThirukkOLoor . She would not have gone anywhere else. To her , ALL is KrishNA . Food (eaten to satisfy the appetite), water (drunk to quell the thirst ) and betel leaves (chewed for digestion  after partaking of food ) are all KrishNA only in her case. Saying KrishNA,  speaking of His (auspicious ) qualities , thinking (always ) of Him , she would feel she has eaten and enjoyed . She would not eat food at all since  KrishNA-consciousness is enough food for her . Reciting the Lord’s  names and inquiring of every one that she comes across , ” Am I on  the right track for ThirukkOLoor ? How far is it from here ? ,  she would be going. The very thought of the place (of the Lord of ThirukkOLoor ) serves as her (total ) nourishment in her walking- journey .”

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Immersed in the divine thoughts of Nammazhwar , Swamy Ramanuja   saw a lady leaving the village with all her belongings near the boundary of the Thirukolur village .
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Swamy was surprised and  hence asked her why she was leaving such a holy place when many come from far distances to render service the the Lord here worshiped by the great Nammazhwar ?

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Even if people do not have adequate food or clothes  because of famine etc  , they still come on a pilgrimage and  ensure they serve the all compassionate Lord here . In that case what made you leave this holy space ?  my child asked Swamy Ramanuja ..

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The lady replied eloquently in a free flowing and unimpeded manner citing the history of various great devotees  There are about Eighty  one sayings  ( small sentences ) uttered by her which are all full of great spiritual significance  .
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A vessel of nectarine sayings full of essence for a devotee ( a must for all  devotees to en chew )  She said that it was her misfortune to leave this holy place as she did not have the fitness or eligibility of any of the great devotees she had quoted in the 81 sayings .

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Swamy Ramanuja was wonderstruck at her candid reply and wondered her utter helplessness in leaving the holy space . Swamy delivered a sweet discourse so that her mind would be in peace and reconsider her hasty decision in leaving the holy place .

The lady very respectfully offered obeisance’s to Swamy Ramanuja and requested Swamy to initiate a system to be adopted at the temple where the Lord is  offered traditional poojas daily ,  fortnightly ,monthly and annual festivals with pomp and show .
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This would increase the glory of the holy place and force the people to stay there forever .

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Both of them along with the disciples entered the holy place  Thirukolur .The pious  lady invited Swamy Ramanuja to her house and offered prasada to be honoured by Jagathacharya  . Swamy gladly accepted the same .  Later all of them went to the  temple at thirukoloor and initiated the process of systematic seva to the Lordships .

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Thus the glory of Thirukolur spread and the great spiritual treasure Thirukolur Penpillai rahasyam (Thirukkolur Ammal Varththaigal ) became a legendary guideline  for ardent devotees   seeking Lords lotus feet .

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Brief details of the temple are mentioned below ..

LOCATION

2 miles to the east of   Alwar Thirunagari near Thirunelveli  , Tamilnadu

PERUMAL

VAITHAMANIDHI PERUMAL , NIKSHEPAVITHAM  IN RECLINING POSTURE

THAYAR

KOLURVALLI NACHIYAR, KUMUDAVALLI NACHIYAR

VIMANAM

SRIKARA

THEERTHAM

KUBERA

PRATHEKSHAM

KUBERA, MADURAKAVI AZHWAR

IMPORTANCE

BIRTH PLACE OF MADURAKAVI AZHWAR

 

“THIRUKOLUR”   signifies  in tamil (  THIRU + KOLUR )  which means this is a treasure house of wealth.  As per Puranas ,  Kubera was cursed by Parvathi to loose all his nava nidhis (9 types of wealth) , his beauty and one eye during one divine pastime .

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As the nava nidhis felt insecure, they too came to this place and sought Perumal’s protection .


Kubera  also came to this place during his course of wandering , took a holy dip  in the temple tank and offered prayers to Perumal.

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 In response to Kubera’s prayers, Perumal gave a part of navva nidhis to kubera by measuring the wealth with marakkal( a unit used to measure commodities).  Hence, Perumal is seen in sayana posture with marakkal as a pillow .

video Credits :  4000 Divya Prabhandam and Sri Padmanabhan

Photos : Google images

Adiyen Ramanuja dasan