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
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
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.
Later proceeded towards Thirukolur with the thirst to serve the Lordships who were glorified by Swamy Nammazhwar as ” Sri Aravindalochana and Sri Vaithamaanidhee perumals.
It is said that one who has darshan of this holy dhaam and Perumal here will not wish to leave the place .
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
” 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 .”
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 .
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 ?
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 ..
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 .
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 .
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 .
This would increase the glory of the holy place and force the people to stay there forever .
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 .
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 .
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 .
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.
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
Yadavaprakasha one of the great vedantee of Kancheepuram was childhood Guru for Swami Ramanuja .
After the unfortunate incident that took place on the way to kashi ( Yadava Prakasa made a plot to kill Swamy Ramanuja on a pilgrimage tour and Sri Ramanuja escaped by slipping out into the forest as per his cousin sri Embaars advise ) ,
LORD VARADAR rescued Swamy Ramanuja in reaching Kancheepuram safely .
( Refer to the below linked post about this divine pastime )
Swamy Ramanuja serving the Lordships attracted many disciples for his philosophical thoughts and beliefs Swamy Ramanujas objective was to reconcile the Vedas, the Upanishads and the Gita with the Tamil Divya Prabandha. This new school of thought attracted many of them .
Yadavaprakasha was upset with the turn of events . Once it so happened Yadava Prakasa’s mother came to have darshan of Lord Varadaraja. She saw Swamy Ramanuja coming along his disciples inside the huge temple . Impressed with his divine thejas she offered obeisance’s instantly . She strongly wanted her son to take shelter of Swami Ramanuja and be of some use to the great personality .Praying Lord profusely she marched home to advise her son . She told her frank opinion of Swamy Ramanuja’s greatness and wanted him to become his disciple for his own up liftment .
Yadava Prakasa bluntly refused and told his mother that it was not possible for him to become disciple of his very own disciple who was much younger to him in all ways . He felt it was below his dignity to accept him as is guru as swamy Ramanuja himself was his disciple for a long time. Though he refused his mother’s suggestion initially , Yadava Prakasa became restless .
He was forced to recollect the incidents how Ramanuja used to contradict him when his definitions were wrong to some of the scriptures. ( Many occasions arose when the he used to clash with Swamy Ramanuja on vedantic statements. Swamy Ramanuja used to fearlessly point out the errors and corrected him. The ego in him was slowly shying away .
He also remembered that only Swamy Ramanuja was successful in curing the princess and driving away the evil spirit. His heart agreed to his mothers advise . But the mind was rigid . He was in a dilemma and was not sure what to do. He rushed to meet the great devotee Swamy Thirukachi Nambikal and solicited his advice. Thirukachi Nambikal advised him to to accept Swamy Ramanuja as his guru for he would progress spiritually to higher levels very soon . The tussel between his mind and heart went on . Yet Yadava Prakasa was not convinced.
That night he had a dream in which a saint appeared and told him to follow the advice of Thirukachi Nambikal for his own good. Next morning Yadava Prakasa decided to listen to his heart . He went to the mutt where Swamy Ramanuja was staying.
Swamy was very much pleased to see his guru and offered him a seat with great reverence. Observing the kashaya robes , the Urdhvapundram on his forehead , the shanku charka mudras on his shoulders swamy Ramanuja was glowing with divine thejas . Yadava Prakasa’s ego got shattered and he looked at Ramanuja with total surrender and admiration. Yet his mind wanted to clarify some of his doubts.
He asked Swamy Ramanuja whether there was any convincing evidence in sastras for wearing the Urdhvapundram and for initiating the insignia of sanku chakram at the shoulders. Swamy Ramanuja turned to Kurathazhvar one of his disciple and advised him to answer Yadava Prakasa’s question. Kurathazhvar replied to Yadava Prakasa, “ Sama veda is supposed to be the best of the Chatur Vedas. Even Lord Krishna announces that among Vedas he is Samaveda!
It is depicted in Sama Veda that Brahmins should initiate Thirushanku and Thiruchakram on the shoulders other than wearing sacred thread. They would attain Brahma lok through the blessings of Brahma.
In Urdhvapundram (Thiruman kappu) the thiruman symbolize the lotus feet of Lord Vishnu and the red Srisurnam symbolizes Goddess Laksmi. Lord Sriman Narayan showers His Blessings on those who surrender to him and He is the one who could give moksha to all who surrender to Him.”
Swamy further elucidates the importance of the scriptures in the subject Kurathazhvar explanations makes Yadava Prakasa spell bound. Instantly he submits to the revered saint apologising for his foolish acts . He falls at the lotus feet of Swamy Ramanuja and pleads him to forgive him for all the sins he had committed.
He pleads him to accept him as his disciple and uplift him the right path.
Swamy Ramanuja with abundant compassion gives a warm hug and with affection initiates him to Sanyasa ashram after performing the Pancha samskaras . He rechristens his name as Govinda Jeeyar .
Swamy Ramanuja advises him to write a book on the subject , “The duty of sanyasis.” Becoming his disciple and following the guidelines of Swamy Ramanuja Govinda Jeeyar at the age of eighty Yadava submitted a book “ Yathi Dharma Samuchayam,” and dedicated it at the feet of Swamy Ramanuja.
It was really a cherish able event as a Guru became a disciple ..
All glories to Jagath Acharyar Swamy Ramanuja Adiyen Ramanuja dasan
Pics credits : Advanced devotees of Lord posted in google images
Lord Sriman Narayana incarnated in several avatharas in this world, for spreading the message of the liberation for the jeevatma from this material bondage .
Anathya swaroopam
Unsatisfied , LORD summoned His serpent couch, the nitya-soori (eternally free soul) .
Adisesha, and instructed,
My dear Adishesha !
“Go down to the mortal world and spend there for 200 years, and through your exhortations, empower the people with knowledge about their true nature and make them come to..
My world, so that they enjoy eternal bliss”.
Accordingly, Adishesha appeared as “Swamy Ramanuja” in the age of Kali, where adharma was in the forefront due to the karmic vasanas .
Swamy Ramanuja followed LORDs directives by spreading the divine message of Azhwars …..
and the true knowledge to seek Lord’s mercy and disappeared at the age of 120.
The Lord was not satisfied with the developments and felt the mission was not complete .
Hence he once again advised Swamy Ramanuja to complete the original assignment of remaining in this material world for complete 200 years and uplift the jivaatmaas .
With implicit obedience, Adishesha who appeared as Swamy Ramanuja once again appeared as Swami maNavALa mAmunikaL.
AdisEsha, in his previous incarnation as Swamy Ramanuja, was very much attracted to Nammazhvars’s appearance and his divine outpouring (thiruvAimozhi), and hence, earned the appellation “mAran adipaNindhu Uynthavan”.
In keeping with this overwhelming love for Nammazhvar, the second time around, AdisEsha selected Azhvar Thirunagari as the place most suited for his birth. He appeared in the month of Aipassi and star Moola falling on Nov 11th 2018 this year and was named “Azhakiya maNavALapperumAL nAyanAr .
It should be noted that Swami MamunikaL excelled as the disciple of none other than the famous SriSailesha (Tiruvaimozhi pillai), SrisailEsha erected a temple at Azhvar-thirunagari for Swami Ramanuja and installed Sri Ramanuja’s idol, which had been presented to Sri Madhurakavi Azhvar and lay buried at the foot of the famous Tamarind tree.
Sri Sailesha after clearing the wild vegetation at Azhvar-thirunagari took all initiatives in bringing back the sacred deity which was lost during invasions .
Sri SailEsha also brought out the buried deities of Swamy Ramanuja’s Bhavishyad Acharaya vigraha .
Sri Ramanuja’s temple at Azhvar thirunagari was handed over to Swami Manavala Mamunikal in due course of time, and daily thiruArAdhanam (ritual worship) was performed by Swami mAmunikaL.SriSailEsha ordered his ardent disciple Swami Manavala Mamuni, who had learnt all sastras from him to study and propagate the divya prabandham ( azhvar’s 4000 hymns and their commentaries).
He wished that living in Sri Rangam and propagating the true tenets of the Sri Vaishnava Sampradaya as given in the hoary aruLiccheyal (divya prabandham) was the need of the hour.
The devoted disciple that he was, Swami Mamuni did act according to the commandments of his teacher. So Sri Rangam, the citizens of Srirangam & the Lord of Sri Rangam – all of them begot the good fortune of counting Swami Mamuni as one amongst themselves.
Swami Manavala Mamunikal came to Sri Rangam as a gruhastha (householder). Swami Manavala Mamuni accepted asceticism (sanyAsa Ashrama) later for a total involvement in the spreading of his Acharyars desire .
Lord Ranganathar ( Peria Perumal ) had a desire which he wanted Swami Mamuni to accomplish in Srirangam.
He seized the golden opportunity of Mamunikal’s arrival to the city of Sri Rangam & ordered him to give a public discourse on the Eedu (36000 padi), the super-commentary of Swami Nampillai on Thiruvaimozhi along with other commentaries, in alluring style for having the good fortune of being trained by the esteemedAcharya Sri SailEsha (Thiruvaimozhip pillai).
In order to accommodate unhindered conduct for the kAlakshEpam (discourse) all festivities of the temple was kept in abeyance . History tells us that for a whole year, Namperumalhad enjoined cessation of all festivals at Srirangam, world renowned by the name kOil, a temple that is considered to be the foremost amongst the 106-Divya desams.
The above-mentioned, spiritually uplifting event occurred on the final kalakshEpa (discourse)-day, the day adorned, interestingly, by the Ani thiru-moola star. So, SriVaishnava-world attaches equal importance to this Ani moola auspicious day also, in a manner akin to the day of Sri Mamunikal’s appearance, SriAippasi Thirumoola day. Swami mAmunikaL, with implicit obedience, accepted LORDS directives to perform service to the Lord.
On the concluding day of Swami mAmunikaL’s wonderful lectures on thiruvAimozhi and Eedu, Lord appeared amidst the august assembly of mAmunikaL and sri vaishnavas, in the guise of an archakar’s (priest) a small boy from getting proximate presence to Swami mAmunikaL’s seat, recited the following stanza in His inimitable, majestic voice resembling the thunder of a rumbling cloud,
He kept a palm leaf containing the above sloka on a golden plate full of flowers, fruits, coconuts and other sacred components of guru dakshiNa (token of appreciation) and after offering it at the holy feet of Swami mAmunikaL, ran towards the sanctum sanctorum & disappeared.
To add to this magnificent miracle, Periya Perumal, the Lord Ranganatha Himself, immediately ordered through the archaka –‘let this slOka be recited at the beginning of all divya prabhanda recitations; just as a Vedic recital begins and ends with the sacred ‘Om’, so also all recitals of the tamil veda, the divya prabhandam, shall commence and end with ‘srI SailESa dayA pAtram’.
These holy lines extols Swamys contributions to continued existence and prosperity of Sri Vaishnavaism, the followers, their holy temples, scriptures, traditions, and the well being of the whole world, and concludes with the prayer, that the great Manavalamaamuni live for another hundred years for that purpose.
The apparent conflict between 100 years and perpetuity is resolved, when one understands the key link of devoted Sri Vaishnava devotees, their ongoing practice of the prayer and traditions as a “Vaazhaydi Vaazhai”, for the perpetuation of the faith. So 100 and more years down the line there will be faithful chanting the same for the future.
At an advanced age Swamy Mamunigal hearing the Divya prabandam from his disciples left his eternal body and became the Nitya Asuri.
He attained Thirunadu on Ruddothkari year (1444), Masi Month, Krishna Paksha Dwadeshi on Thiruvona Nakshtram, Saturday. His ardent disciples carried the eternal body in Pushpa Pallaku and keeping in Padmasana posture and brought it a place in Cauvery River they did the Addakam on the banks of river Cauvery .The place was known as Dwarasan Porpadukai.
