After the mahabharata war , Yudhishthir was ruling the kingdom .
Bhimasena was assisting the King in public relations ministry . He used to help in solving the problems of people; therefore whoever had any questions/problems would come to Bhimasena and ask him for help.
One day, a person confessed Bhimsena that he noticed a strange thing . His fence near the house was moving into other’s place and he was wondering why it would have happened .
Bhimsena said ..
Look ! I can help if a demon is troubling you, but not these kinds of strange puzzles.
As a result , he asked him to approach Yudhishthir Maharaj.
On the same day, another citizen expressed another strange thing. He confessed that he had a big pot with full of water.
He distributed this water into small pots , for the citizens to be served .
However as there was not much crowd to distribute , he thought these small pots may leak so decided to pour back all the water from the small pots to the original big pot but surprisingly he could fill only half the big pot.
Bhimsena not knowing what to say, asked them to contact Yudhishthir Maharaj.
Another person too came to Bhimsena and said that he saw a strange thing – a big elephant was passing through a needle hole but surprisingly its tail got stuck in that hole. Bhimsena was getting irritated with these unusual stories narrated by them . He was loosing cool .
But as a last resort he again referred him to Yudhishthir Maharaj.
Suddenly ,another person also joined the group and said that he saw big rock on the street. Many strong people tried to push the rock out but were not able to move it.
Suddenly a saint entered the gathering and he waved his Sanyasa danda at the rock And lo !! It moved !
Bhimsena thought that it was a really a bad day for him as he was forced to hear to many cock and bull stories from the citizens . He commanded his assistant to take all of them to the King immediately ..
They all went to Maharaj Yudhishthir and put forth these questions. Yudhishthir Maharaj politely heard their versions and said that, all these happenings shows that kali yuga has entered .
He meticulously answers to the strange incidents and what they really meant ……
The first case is one of the citizen’s fence is moving into other’s area shows that people are interested in what other’s have and feel unhappy why they don’t have, then start thinking a way to acquire them either by hook or by crook.
The second case the big pot full of water. When it is poured into small pots and pour back into big pot, he noticed only half was getting full, which means that one can expect 50% love/affection/help from others compared what you did to the same person.
The third case is big elephant is going through a needle but the tail is stuck, it means that people are ready to spend a huge chunk of their income/strength/resource for the sense satisfaction of their family, friends and love (Personal sense gratification)but when it comes to Bhagavan and devotee-seva they are not ready to spend a little bit also.
The fourth case is, big rock not moved by persons who are having lot of strength but a sadhu moved that rock just by waving his danda, which means that one can get rid of all their unlimited sins, just by performing Namasankirtanam.
(Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.) Though there are so many faults in this kaliyuga, the good thing is, just by chanting the holy names of the lord, one can get up to the highest benefit of liberation as mentioned in Srimad Bhagavatham
kaler dosha-nidhe rajann asti hy eko mahan gunah kirtanad
eva krsnasya mukta-sangah param vrajet –”
My dear King, ….
although Kali-yuga is an ocean of faults, there is still one good quality about this age is by simply by chanting the holy name of SRIMANNARAYANA, one can become free from material bondage and be promoted to the transcendental kingdom.”
Just hold the HOLY NAME always and swim across this Kali….
Those were the days where Swamy Parasarabhattar was delivering discourses at his ashram in Srirangam . Many devotees used to attend in large numbers .
Amongst them a highly learned pundit and a srivaishnava used to attend the discourses daily .
The learned pundit was received with scant respect and the srivaishnava was received with great attention . One disciple who was watching swamy Parasara bhattar’s indifference reached his Guru and humbly submitted , Acharya !! This pundit is a famous scholar with high respect among the people in entire kingdom .
How could you be indifferent with him considering his scholarship amongst all the people assembled here . Bhattar replied , My child !! Listen to the discourse now . After the discourse you will be able to understand .
In the discourse Bhattar explained the importance of LORD RAMA’s avataram which was a divine gift of free grace to all . LORD irrespective of caste or creed or condition extended friendship with humble folk like Guhan , Sugriva , Vibhishana and many living beings . LORD went a step ahead in performing the obsequies of a brahman for jatayu the bird .
He was humble in accepting food from the hands of Sabari a tribal and partaking food along with hanumanjee. Bhattar continued , The Importance of LORD KRISHNA avatar was Lord delivering the Apocalypse of the epic Srimad Bhagavadgita with its charama sloka and in rejecting the hospitality of Bhishma and Drona for that of Vidura and so forth .
Srirangam Sri Ranganathaswamy Kovil
The reputation of Srirangam comes to LORD RANGANATHAR having mixed with Tiruppan Azhwar as intimately as body and soul . The reputation of LORD OF SEVEN HILLS was as LORD moved freely with the potter kurumbuatta Nambi and King Thondaman .
The reputation of LORD VARADARAJA was his friendship with his dear devotee Sri Thirukachi Nambee and our LORD NARAYANA of Melkote for accepting Swamy Ramanuja as his father and himself being called Yatiraja Sampath kumara . The discourse had a message for unconditional surrender to Lord Narayana with utmost faith .
Once the discourse was done all the people paid their respects to Bhattar and were leaving .The pundit also came along along with the citizens . Bhattar casually asked the pundit ..
Swamin !! whom have you settled to yourself as Ultimate Truth ? The pundit who was attentively listening the discourse answered ! Some authorities speak of Brahma as Ultimate , Few say It is Rudra and few schools claim it is Lord Mahavishnu .
How can we arrive at a conclusion with so many school of thoughts claiming the supremacy of one over other .
Meanwhile the srivaishnava arrived and paid obesiances to the assembly and took permission to leave . Bhattar casually asked the same question to the srivaishnava .
The srivaishnava politely replied Swamin !
Adiyen knows none others than whom devareer daily discusses ..
the only NARAYANA ..maam” EKAM” ….
Bhattar once again asked Swamin , Pray what other truth is available to you ? The srivaishnava replied …
For adiyen Means as well as end is Swamy Ramanuja ..
my end of salvation is the lotus feet of Swamy Ramanuja …forever and said ..
I seek the lotus feet of Swamy Ramanuja who considered all the worldly things and pleasures as mere nothing (grass) because of his love towards the lotus feet of Achchuta.
He is our Acharya since he possesses all the auspicious qualities (guNAs) and therefore dayAsAgara (ocean of mercy) for uplifting us .
Continuing , he quotes Embaar’s verse on the divine beauty [azhagu] of Swamy Ramanuja and declares in the end
To reaffirm the faith of HIS devotees, LORD conversed with HIS devotees time to time .
There are three incidents which our Elders keep saying about the compassion of the LORD in temples .
Srirangam Sri Ranganathaswamy Kovil
At Tirumala – Tirupathi, Lord Venkateshwara used to converse with the King Thondaman Chakravarthy . In Kancheepuram, Lord Vardarajar used to converse with his dear devotee Swamy Tirukachi Nambigal who used to fan him daily .
Similarly at Srirangam Lord Ranganathar used to converse with “Tiruvilakku pichan”the temple servant who used to light the lamps in the temple .
It is a general practice all the devotees surrender to LORD and express their gratitude pain and love for the LORD in this material world.
Few devotees develop extremely intimate relationship with the Lord conversing freely and interact almost daily treating him as a human friend.
At Srirangam , there lived a man who was serving at temple . His job was to light all the lamps at the huge temple of Srirangam .
He used to keep the lamps topped with oil and ensure they were maintained in perfect condition . Under constant vigilance he had to ensure the lamps are lighted effectively without any flaws.
He had free access to enter the temple and light all the temple lamps being the temple servant . He had a peculiar habit of addressing the LORD daily about how his day was and was he treated well .
It was almost routine especially during festivals when LORD had to be amongst HIS devotees . For his behaviour he earned a title Pichan ( mad person ) . Unmindful of whatever people spoke of him he continued to greet the LORD and converse with utmost sincerity and faith .
Lord Ranganathar also got used to HIS devotee’s greeting . Days became months .Months turned to years .Lord out of abundant mercy wanted to reply to HIS dear devotee .
It so happened one day Lord spoke from his Archa thirumeni ,and this also happened regularly .Lord was answering his dear devotees queries .It was more of vatsalya bhavam inquiring the well being of each other . There was no barrier in the divine exchange of speech .A lowly employee of the temple speaking to the LORD who was replying too .To the devotees who were witnessing this man standing before the LORD and apparently talking to himself appeared to be a mad person conversing with himself and they called him “Picchan” ( a mad man). Combining his job title and popularity of remaining , he came to be known as “ThiruviLakku Picchan”.
One day, while carrying out his daily chores , Picchan conversed with the Lord about the great people and the huge crowd attending the festival in the temple .
All knowing Compassionate Lord wanted to draw out his opinion about the great people. Pichan politely replied Oh Lord ! even all these great men had their own weaknesses and it was very confusing to follow them. He submitted that he was very happy with the small service gifted to him by his Elders and seek no favors other than being near HIM always .
There is another pastime which installs absolute surrender to LORD in Archathirumeni . The great Acharyar Swamy Nampillai was delivering a lecture in the mandapam inside the temple and as usual our Thiruvilakku Picchan was standing in front of the sanctorum with a lamp in his hand. Lord was so impressed hearing Swamy Nampillai’s divine discourse which made him get up and wished to be among the august gathering hearing the divine discourse
Suddenly , Thiruvilakku Picchan saw a huge personality near him and realizing that it was LORD himself , he requested LORD to relax and not do this and remain in his original Archa Swaroopam . LORD politely obeyed his devotees concern……………
All glories to this great devotee who had the fortune to enjoy such intimate relationship with the Lord himself who listened to Him .
This Srivaishnava Divya desam is located near the shores of Bay of Bengal. Mamallamallapuram now corrupted as Mahabalipuram is Varaha kshetram and a famous tourist centre.
The sculptures speak volumes about the contributions of Chola,Pandya , Vijayanagara kings to this place and it was an important trade center.
This holy place also glorified as Thirukadalmallai is the birth place of the great Bhoodath Azhwar which is 55kms away from Chennai and one of the 22 Thondai naadu divya desam
STHALASAYANA PERUMAL IN BHUJANGA SAYANAM(Reclining) FACING EAST
UTSAVAR ULAGU UYIYA NINDRAN
THAYAR NILAMANGAI THAYAR
THEERTHAM : PUNDRIKA PUSHKARINI, GARUDA NADHI, BAY OF BENGAL
VIMANA : PUNDARIKA
MANGALASAASANAM :
THIRUMANGAI AZHWAR(20 pasurams-1088-1107),
BHOODATH AZHWAR (7 pasurams),
THIRUMZAHISAIZHWAR( NO 861)
Legend reveals about a devotee Sage Pundarika who was on a piligrimage visiting various shrines, reached this place. He was amazed to see numerous 1000 petaled lotuses in a pond. He immediately desired to offer them to Lord Ksheerabadhrinathan lying at the milk ocean and this desire was also endorsed by asareeri( heavenly voice).
The sage was so immersed in bhakti that he started his way to Ksheerasagaram and as the ocean, Bay of Bengal was obstructing his path, he left the garland of flowers near the shore and in the divine mood , attempted to empty the ocean which was an impossible task. This is as similar to the devotion expressed by the the great Kulashekhara Azhwar who marched towards the sea to fight with the rakshasas along with Lord Rama .
Pleased with the sage’s devotion, Perumal appeared as an old Brahmin and took the audience of the sage . The sage requested the Brahmin to take care of the flowers and left to Mahabalipuram to fetch some food.
When the sage returned he was astonished to see Perumal lying on the floor on Adisesha with the garland of flowers near His Thiruvadi. The sage glorified Perumal and pleaded the Lord to continue to stay in this place and give darshan. Thus, we can see the Perumal lying on the floor and the sage seated near His Thiruvadi.The temple priests were kind to explain about the sthala puranam .Adiyen offers humble obeisances to them .
Sena Nayi was a barber by profession who lived near Pandharapur .A very pious and god loving used to get up early in the morning, have his bath, perform his poojas and only then look at his occupation and other domestic affairs. Sena was also the king’s barber and would have to go to the palace whenever the king called him. One day as Sena was performing his pooja in his house, the king’s messenger came looking for Sena.
Sena was immersed in his prayers . His wife knew he will not entertain anyone disturbing him during his worship to LORD . She politely told the king’s messenger that he was not at home.
Sena’s neighbor who was also a barber on seeing his wife lying , calmly went and complained to the king, that Sena was very much at at home . He also submitted to do the job himself.
The king got angry on listening to him .He sent the guards to arrest Sena. Knowing what was in the king’s mind LORD KRISHNA immediately appeared in the form of Sena and came to palace. The moment the king saw him, his anger disappeared.He got attracted to his magnetic personality . Without battling his eyelids he was watching the beautiful form of sena smiling cheerfully and working with the dressing kit .
When Sena touched him , the king was filled with amazement. The feeling was something new . He had never felt the soothing touch . He watched him without any words . the beauty attracted him . His glance was something divine . Sena went on with his job . He then shaved the king and shampooed his head. It was heaven for the King .The cool feeling along with the fragrance made the King top of the world .
The king felt very happy and told him that he was the best barber in town and should remain with him in the palace forever . Sena then started applying the fragrant oil to the body of the king.
As Sena was collecting the oil from a vessel , the king could see the reflection of Lord Krishna in the oil. He was amazed on seeing this and unable to understand whose reflection that blue eyed lad was being reflected in the oil . That cheerful divine smile made him ecstatic wanting him for more and more of his form . He lost all consciousness and was absorbed in the form of LORD that he was seeing in the oil bowl. The men in the kings assembly started laughing at the king looking at his stage and told him that it was already afternoon and that he should go and have his bath.
The king looked at Sena and politely pleaded him to remain forever . Sena requested the King for a break to inform his family home so that he would return quickly. The king pleased with him gave him a handful of gold coins . Lord took the coins, placed it in the bag in Sena’s house and disappeared.
The king after finishing his bath came and commanded his servants to get Sena at once as he was in a different state of mind and could neither eat nor dress up or sleep . The royal servants immediately went to Sena’s house and pleaded him to reach the palace immediately. The real Sena was too scared to see the King for his act of non reporting to the King . Taking his bag, Sena immediately came to the palace. On seeing Sena entering the palace the king got up and greeted him . He pleads him to reveal that divine form he exhibited few hours ago . Sena was astonished . He then ordered his servants to bring the bowl of oil and saw Sena’s reflection in it, but was disappointed that he could not see the form he had seen in the morning. Sena understood what had happened in the morning His eyes were filled with tears .Sobbing uncontrollably he told the king that it was LORD KRISHNA who had graced him .He was sad that LORD had to take his role to save him from King’s punishment .
The king rushed up to Sena and thanked him for his devotion and told him that he had the fortune to have darshan of the Lord due to his association . Sena then saw the coins that god had put in his bag and distributed them to the Brahmans. Sena then took leave from the king and decided to serve the LORD permanently at Pandharapur
All glories to the DIVINE BARBER ..
All glories to Sena …
Swamy Ramanuja out of deep devotion to LORD VENKATESHWARA instructed his disciple Anathazhwan to proceed to Tirumala and do service to Lord few hundred years ago .
Anathazhwan immediately proceeded to Tirumala with family.
Swamy grew a flower garden which would provide Tulasi and all the fragnant flowers for the daily worship of Lord .
Coming to know about the dedicated service being executed by his dear disciple Anathazhwan Swamy Ramanuja undertook his first trip to Tirumala via Kancheepuram along with his disciples .
Looking at the holy hills Swamy immediately falls like an uprooted tree offering obeisances .
Swamy Ramanuja calls his disciples and gives a discourse about the sanctity of the Hills referring several pasurams which our Azhwars have sung on Lord and the Hills .
Watching the gigantic hills , glorifying the animate and inanimate beings who are serving the Lord Swamy goes in a divine trance .
Coming to know Swamy Ramanujas vist to Tirumala , the local king Vittala Deva rushes to have Swamy’s darshan .
He offers obeisance’s and orders his troupe to take care of the saint and his disciples with royal treatment .
A colony named IlayaMandapam is instantaneously constructed . Around thirty families reside in the colony . Swamy also stay along with them for few days given sermons and gracing the villagers coming from far off places
.
Coming to know about Swamy Ramanuja s visit , Tirumala Nambi rushes to the village for welcoming Swamy Ramanuja .
.Both the Acharyas are overjoyed to be in the holiest place . Tirmala Nambi requests Swamy to join him for the afternoon prayers at the Hills and leaves quickly up the Hills
.
All the disciples request Swamy Ramanuja to lead them to the hills for having Lord’s darshan . Swamy refuses to trek the hills owing to its sanctity .
Swamy informs about all the Azhwars who had remained at the foot of the hills glorifying the Lord and they never attempted to trek the hills hence trekking the Hills amounts to overstepping their commands
.
All the disciples plead Swamy to reconsider his decision as so many disciples will be sad to return without having the divya darshan of Lord .
Swamy Ramanuja considering the disciples plea decides to trek the hills crawling thus not putting his feet on the sacred Hills .
It was those days when the route was very tough even to trek .
Crawling , Swamy reaches the steep Knee breaker Hills .
He pauses to take rest on the step of `knee-breaker’ hill (`mokalla mitta’).
Tirumala Nambi and Ananthazhwar, rush to receive him with the Lord’s prasada — holy tirta and fruits.
Swamy is glad to see them .
He honors the prasad offering the same to many of his disciples .
He takes one Mango fruit and buries the seeds there. In course of time, a big mango tree grew out of these seeds.
On reaching the abode of Lord Venkatesa, Swamy Ramanuja is received with temple honours.
Swamy offers obeisance’s and feasts his eyes on the majestic form of the Lord.
Later he walks along with his disciples to see the verdant ( garden) nandavana, established by Anantazhwar, with a beautiful tank.
He affectionately embraces his dear disciple, and announces “Valarthadhanal Payan Petren” (I have obtained the fruits of bringing you up).
Swamy Ramanuja decides to remain for few days to deliver discourses on the Upanishads.
The discourses were soon compiled in the form of a book, “Vedanta Sangraha”, Swamy Ramanuja’s first work on the Vedanta.
Swamy Ramanuja stayed almost for a year in Tirupati, to study the essence of Valmiki’s Ramayana under the guidance of revered Acharya Tirumalai Nambi.
Since he thought it was a sacrilege to live on the holy hill, which he revered as the body of Adisesha, and Tirumalai Nambi could not miss his service and worship of Venkateswara even for a day, they met at the foot of the hills everyday to study the epic..
Lord Venkatesa, did not want to miss the company of His ardent devotees, and joined them.
The imprint of his lotus feet ( Tiruvadi ) can be seen at the foothills where they studied the Srimad Ramayana…
It was Swamy Manavalamamuni who identified the spot where Swamy Ramanuja had rested, and wished to build a temple there.
Kandadai Ramanuja Iyengar (Muni), a trusted lieutenant of Mamunigal, built a temple there and consecrated a beautiful archa deity (moolavar) of Swamy Ramanuja and arranged for regular aaradhanai .
Manavalamamunigal had lovingly referred to this archa form as
It was Namperumal’s divine plan to make Swamy Ramanujar leave Srirangam for a short time , and purify other places by placing his holy feet in Melnadu and retrieve Thirunarayanan who was worshipped by Sri Ramar and Sri Krishna during Tretha and Dwapara yugas .
Peria Perumal thus created a difficult situation by which Swamy Ramanujar had to leave Srirangam after taking Peria Perumal’s consent and thus proceeded towards north accompanied by Sri Mudaliandan Swamy.
After many days of travel and undergoing various hardships following the course of Kaveri, Swamy Ramanuja finally arrived in Karnataka where the local tribals served them. En route he met his disciple kongu piratti and graced her
.
Check the url below for kongu piratti divine pastime with Swamy Ramanuja
The local people who were averse to Swamy Ramanujar conspired a plan to do away with him.
Swamy Ramanujar learning their evil intentions ordered Mudaliandan Swamy to place his feet in the drinking water pond in that area now called saligrama near Thondanur , which he politely obeyed.
At salagrama ,by partaking this Sripada theertham, the minds of the evildoers changed miraculously and they fell at Swamy Ramanujar lotus feet seeking forgiveness. Such was the greatness of Swamy Mudaliandan .
Ramanujar named this place as “Saligramam” which is near to Melkote.
Even today this pond is maintained by the archakar family .
There is a small temple opposite to this pond in which Swamy Ramanujar’s lotus feet are worshiped.
Swamy Ramanuja had a large number of disciples at Melnadu .
Vangipurathu Achi , Vangipurathu Nambi , Thondanur Nambi , Marudhur Nambi, Malur Nambi , Anathazhwan were some of them in the large group of disciples he had at Melnadu.
Thondanur Nambi was a great bhagavatha , a saint and most respected scholar as he was close to the Royal family .
Thondanur Nambi , during his pilgrimage to Srirangam was attracted to Swamy Ramanuja .
He loved his approach and the simple teachings which leads to self realisation that takes one to godhead. He was one among the 74 Simhadhipathees .
Thondanur was the summer capital of the Hoyasala kingdom ruled by King Vittala deva who was a staunch follower of Jainism .
They were tolerant to other religions too . The King had a daughter who was possessed with an evil spirit .
No treatment could cure her illness . She was always under the possession of the evil spirit which made her do unnatural things .
She was almost dressed like a madwoman and was a big embarrassment to the Royal family . There was another tragedy , during a war the King lost his finger.
This earned him the name Bitti deva .
The King was very upset due to the deformity and the new worry of his daughter that took shape .
No treatment either medicines or tantric rituals could cure her .
The Jain monks also tried their best but nothing seemed possible to relieve her from the evil spirit .
Thondanur Nambi, the disciple of Swamy Ramanujar suggested to the queen that his spiritual master who arrived recently and staying at Saligrama was capable of restoring the princess to normalcy.
The Jain king pleaded Nambi to invite Swamy Ramanuja to his palace .
He even promises that If his daughter is cured he will adopt Srivaishnava faith and surrender to Swamy Ramanuja..
Thondanur Nambi goes to Saligrama and surrenders to the lotus feet of Swamy Ramanuja and briefs him about the Jain Kings intentions .
It was a wonderful opportunity to grace the King and his people and induct them in the great srivaishnava sampradayam .
Swamy Ramanuja and Thondanur Nambi look for an auspicious time and leave to Thondanur to the Royal palace .
The Royal couple have the divya darshan of JagathAcharyar Swamy Ramanuja .
Both of them fall like uprooted trees looking at Swamy Ramanujas divine aura .
They welcome Swamy to their Royal chambers .
The whole Royal family pay their obeisance’s to Swamy Ramanuja .
The mad princess who was irritating the members few minutes back suddenly leaves into another room when Swamy enters the chambers . With some cajoling the princess who is shabbily dressed is brought before Swamy Ramanuja .
Looking at the pitiable state of the princess , Swamy gives the holy water that was offered to his Lordships and applies the holy turmeric paste offered to Lord on her forehead .
The moment she sips the holy water and makes an eye contact with the great Acharya the evil spirit vanishes and she almost faints before him .
The princess is slowly brought back to senses by sprinkling some water on her .
To everybody’s surprise she gets up , looks at herself feels shy and runs away to her chambers . She dresses herself elegantly and offers obeisances to Swamy Ramanuja amongst all the people .
The Royal couple are amazed with the sudden happenings . They accept that the great seer who is with them is a very pious soul who has incarnated to uplift them . Instantly they surrender to his lotus feet and beg to be taken into his fold .
Swamy Ramanuja asks them to offer prayers at Nambi Narayana Temple and meet him there .
At Swamy Nambi Narayana temple , Swamy Ramanuja conducts a discourse attended by many people . The King along with his Royal family too attend the discourse which speaks about the ultimate purpose of life as a srivaisnava .
. Attracted to his simple teachings the entire crowd adopt srivaishnavism . Amongst the citizens the King , Queen and all his family members are given Panchasamskara initiation .
The King is given a name a Vishnu vardhana after due initiation by Swamy Ramanuja himself . The celebration among st the citizens is multi fold .
All the citizens hail Swamy Ramanujas discourse and accept him as their Jagath Acharya .
Somewhere down the lane the Jain monks are upset with the happenings .
All of them march to the Royal Palace and argue with the king for taking such a foolish step
They convince the King that their proposed debate with Swamy Ramanuja will prove Jainism superiority and he must agree to their command .
The King knew very well that such thing can never happen .
However he along with the Jain monks in huge numbers walk up to the Yoga narasimhar temple located on a hillock as Swamy Ramanuja was staying there .
The Jain monks along with the King meet Swamy Ramanuja and invite him to a debate on the esoteric truths . All the Jain monks assemble and start posing questions .
The euphoria around makes Swamy Ramanuja to command his disciples to surround him with a curtain . Almost 1000 jain monks shoot questions on him without any break .
It is was ONE vs ONE THOUSAND .
The divine incident of Swamy Ramanuja taking over one thousand Jain monks was relished by the disciples . Inside , Swamy Ramanujar was covered by a curtain and with his original form as Adisesha with 1000 hoods, he answers every question of the monk with patience and clarity .
Thus he defeats all the 1000 Jains at a time. One monk was inquisitive to find out why the curtain was put .He slowly managed to peep inside the curtain .
To his shock he could see JagathAcharyar’s viswaroopam and fainted . The Jain monks had no reply and were forced to accept defeat and adopt to srivaishnavism .This incident happened at Lord Narasimha swamy temple in Bhakta nagari (presently known as Thondanur).
Swamy MudaliAndaan who gave us the nectarian sloka DHAATI PANCHAKA in praise of Swamy Ramanujar at this place. This place is on the way to Melkote(about 16 kms) from Srirangapatinam.
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The wonderful opportunity given by Swamy Ramanuja to Mudaliandaan is remembered even today . “Dhati Panchakam” speaks of the victory of Swamy Ramanuja over other philosophies – both those that accept Vedas and those that don’t – and his establishing the Visishtadvaita philosohpy that was built by Azhvars and Purvacharyas.
As the name suggests, it comprises of five slokas The word “DHATI” means “attacking” – as this work shows the attack that Ramanuja carried over the other philosophies that were widespread at that time, it is an appropriate name for it.
Swamy out of his love composed a wonderful composition on Swamy Ramanuja called “DHATEE PANCHAKAM” which starts with the introductory sloka ..
Our Varthamana swamy descendant of Swamy MudaliAndaan was kind to recite this sloka at our residence during his recent visit , a clip presented below and the sloka
It is only he who can command and all our acharyas and we follow his command .
Swamy Ramanuja is the only acharya who was referred with respect and followed by all other schools in vaishnavism like chaitanya, vallabhacharya, Swamy narayan as the margadayee .
Uyya Ore Vazhi Udayavar Thiurvadi!
(only way for spiritual up liftment is to take refuge in Yathiraja Padhuka)
Adiyen Ramanuja dasan
Pictures courtesy : Google images uploaded by several devotees
King Thondaman Chakravarthy was a great devotee of Lord Venkateshwara .He was ruling the region of Tamil Nadu including Tirumala several hundred years ago . The King used to speak to Lord and by the mercy of LORD he was ruling the kingdom to the satisfaction of the people by all means .
During this period an Asura Simhada started torturing the people which made the king upset .No amount of resistance could drive out this Asura .The unusual happenings in the kingdom was causing fear among the people . The King was annoyed and hence surrendered to Lord Venkateswara to save the people from the calamity .
The Lord out of compassion to the King appeared to him and lent his ThiruSankha and Sri Chakra and commanded the King to vanquish the enemy with the divine weapons . The King obediently followed the Lord’s commands and won the battle . After the victory, He kept the sankha and chakra in his palace and worshiped them daily as they were the representation of the Lord on the Hills!
Later , Jagathacharyar’s Swamy Ramanuja’s contribution earned him the title ” Appanukku Sangaazhi Alittha Perumaal” in Tirumala .
Poet Arunagiri also sung in his poem “Ulageenra Pachai umaiyanan, Vada Venkadathil Uraibhavan, Uyar Sanga Chakra kara Thalan” .
During this period there lived another great devotee by the name Kurumbarutha Nambi near the foot of the holy hills .He was a potter by profession . A sincere devotee of the Lord , he made a deity of Lord Venkateshwara and worshipped daily with flowers made of ‘left over clay’ .
Kurumbarathu Nambi was worshiping with the mud flowers , King Thondaman chakravarthy was worshipping Lord with golden flowers. The King was surprised to observe every time he entered the sannithee of Lord he used to see the mud flowers crafted wonderfully lying , instead of the golden flowers that he was offering .
He was keen to find out the reason for the unusual happening . No amount of vigilance worked for him to get an answer . He hence decided to plead LORD to help him in revealing the identity of that intruder .
The King prayed LORD for helping him to reveal his identity . Lord out of abundant mercy spoke to the King about the poor potter , his dear devotee service to him in offering the mud flowers . The LORD said the mud flowers offered by Nambi contained rich fragrance of love than the golden flowers he was offering .
Elders say that generally a person develops EGO if he is good looking ,well educated, has administrative power and enormous wealth.
A person birth in upper caste etc also contributes to his ego and Kurumbarutha Nambi was not attached to all the above which placed him above everything . The divine pastime shows that the Lord attaches no importance to our wealth or position.
The devotee’s love for the Lord was like the maternal love of Periazhvar, who worried over the Lord, when he sang his glorious Pallandu pasuram , to ward off evil eyes from the Lord.
It is bhakti that the Lord values; it is often the humblest of us who gets the grace of Lord. While men may value wealth and bow before the rich, why would the Master of the Universe even care for such impermanent things?
The great saint Annamaya sings a wonderful kirtana in which he mentions the devotees pastime …
Looking at the holy hills Swamy immediately falls like an uprooted tree offering obeisances . 
He takes one Mango fruit and buries the seeds there. In course of time, a big mango tree grew out of these seeds.
