Page 1 of 14

SRI RAMANUJA

AlarmEl mangai urai mArban-Srinivasan-Thirumala Thirupathi

E-Journal- 12 Purattasi Sarvajith

Page 2 of 14

amunA thapanAdhiSAyi bhUmnA yathirAjENa nibaddha nAyaka SrI: mahathI guru pamkthi hAra yashTi vibudhAnAm hridayamgamA vibhAthi ||

Page 3 of 14

Table of Contents
1. 2. 3. Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 5 Swamy Vedanta desikan ......................................................................................................................... 7 Sri PonnadikkAl Jeeyar ........................................................................................................................... 9

Page 4 of 14

Editorial
The RamAnuja E-Journal is being commenced from this divine month -Aippasi-vyAya varusham. The e-journal's main aim is to commemorate the Thirunakshathram-s of AzvAr-AchAryas in the form discussion of the historical events, dates of the current year, of their divine workscommentaries, texts,pictures and so on. It is hoped that this journal will act as a catalyst in kindling the emotions of the devotees and precipitate thier inner feelings to manifest into celebrations at their places of residence as we are geographically divided. The celebration can be united as we are electronically integrated-thanks to the web and net-services and groups.This perhaps, will quench the thirst for bhagavatha/bhagavAtha anubhavham. Sri ANDAL advocated group devotion rather than bakthi in isolated manner. We are achieving this here. This mutual 'anubhavam-s' is expected to enrich one and all and enhance the divine experience, in the weeks and months to follow: 'bOdhayantha parasparam' KUdi irundhu kuLirndhEalOAr EmpAvAi' vara vara muni dasargaL

Page 5 of 14

1.

Introduction

Just in one sight, one recognizes He is the Supreme kaNdavATRAl thanadhEa vulagena ninRAn .. ThiruvAimozhi 4-5-10; The BrahmOtsavam of this EmperumAn embedded with vAtsalyam is celebrated, culminating on the ThiruvONam.

ThirumalA BrahmOtsavam

Page 6 of 14

The Thirunakshathram of Sri vEdantha Desikan falls on the same day. PuraTTAsi sravaNam. The prime disciple of Sri maNavALa mAmunikaL -The ponnadikkAl jEyar- The first jEyar of Sri vanamamalai mutt - onnANa svAmi - is on the puNarvasu day -known as -kanni puNarvasu. Let us dwell through the glory of the AchAryas in the days to come Sarvajith PuraTTAsi mAsa piRAppu PuraTTASi day 1 PuraTTASi ThiruvONam kanni punarvasu

18.9.2007 23.9.2007 4.10.2007

Page 7 of 14

2. Swamy Vedanta desikan

Sri Vedanthadesikan-PuraTTASi ThiruvONam

Sri Vedanthachariar-Thiruvallikeni

SrimAn vEnkaTanAthhAryaH kavithArkkika kEsarI vEdAnthAchAryavaryOmE sannidhatthAm sadAhridi

Page 8 of 14

Swami vedantha desikan was born on 1269 CE at Thuppul near kAnchipuram as a son of Ananta Suri and Totaramba. He mastered all the sasthras under his acharya kiDambi appuLLAr. His level of upasana and devotion is well known. In 1323 CE when srirangam was sacked, it was Sri Vedanthadesika who saved the two small kids of Sruthaprakasika bhattar along with the masterpiece Sribhashyam and its Commentary Sruthaprakasika. Without his immaculate effort on this we might have lost our cornerstone work of Srivaishnava philosophy. He ascended to paramapadam on 1369 CE and the place where he breathed his last is still under debate. Guruparamparas state he was chiefly involved in restarting adhyayanothsava in kanchi as well as in Srirangam. He was the only one after ParaSarabhattar to owe the title, Sarvathanthra swathanthra. His works form a vast ocean and there was not even a single field left in the Manipravala-TamizhSanskrit language without being touched by vedanthadesika. He authored the masterpiece Rahasyathrayasaram which is the most wide read work and forms part of rahasyathraya. The Sriramayanam 'abhayapradana saram' is a work containing the essence of sriramayana. Out of innumerable Tamil prabandhams adikkalappatthu and adhikarasangraham stands in a wonderful position. The works adhikarana saravali and thathva tiKKA compliment the Sribhashyam and sruthaprakasika along with SathadUshani ( and paramadha Bangam in tamil) elaborating the points against other religions. He wrote supplementary commentary to bhagavad githa bhashyam of Emperumanar known as Thathparyachandrika. Apart from that he has done a bhashyam for chathusloki and sthothrarathnam of swami alavanthar. He wrote a commentary known as githartha sangraha raksha for the githarthasangraham of alavanthar. Apart from the innumerable tamil prabandhams, and Sanskrit sthothras AchyuthaSathakam- written with a nayaki bhava on Devanathan of Thiruvahendirapuram stands in a special status. It was written completely in Prakrith for which if he himself had not given a Sanskrit version we would never dared to understand it. Apart from that, isavasya Upanishad bhashyam, munivahana bhogam a commentary to amalanadipiran, sampradaya parisuddhi, nyAya siddhAnjanam, dramidhopanishad thathparya rathnavali, dramidopanishad sara (both on thiruvaymozhi), works on nyasam etc are of remarkable nature. The works PAdukA sahasram, SubhAshitha nIvI and yAdavAbhyudayam are indeed mahakAvyAs.. The SankalpasUryOdayam and hamsa sandesa are two dramas. Pages and pages are not enough to write about this great acharya and he was always at the footsteps of our poorvacharyas trying to lift us from the samsara. Swami himself says about his attachments to his acharyas in munivahana bhogam

ven piriya viri thirai neer vayyatthulle vedanthariyanentru iyamba nintrom nAmm PeriyOmallOm nAmm nanRum theethum namakkuraippAr uLarenRu naaduvOmE

Page 9 of 14

3. Sri PonnadikkAl Jeeyar

KaNNi puNarvasu Punarpoosam thirunakshtra significance Of all the twenty-seven Nakshatrams (Stars) of the Tamil calendar, "Punarpoosam" deserves a special mention. This nakshatram boasts of the thiruavatAram of the following divinities: Sri Chakravarthi Thirumagan (a) Sri Ramapiran - Chittirai month Sri Kulasekara Azhwar (a) Sri Kulasekarap perumal - mAsi month Sri Embar (a) Ramanuja padhachchAya - thai month Sri Mudaliyandan (a) Sri DAsarathi - Chittirai month Sri Vanamamalai onnAna JEEyar swamy (a) Sri Ponnadikal Jeeyar swamy - purattAsi month Significance of the title PonnadikAl Jeeyar Owing to the vicinity of the kanyA punarvasu or the PurattAsi punarpoosam which falls on 4 th of October 2007, this posting aims to bring out the greatness of Sri vAnamAmalai onnana Jeeyar swamy. The pseudonym "Ponnadi-kAl Jeeyar draws a distinctive attention. It is only after the advent of this achArya, swamy manavAla mAmunika's sishya sampath (Wealth of Sishyas), grew multifold and hence the name "ponnadikAl (meaning - feet of gold). Swamy rAmAnuja spread Srivaishnavism through 74 of his disciples called simhAsanAdhipathis. Likewise manavAla mAmunikal spread it through eight of his disciples called Ashta Diggajas. The first and foremost amongst them is Vanamamalai onnAna Jeeyar swamy who established innumerable Mutts, throughout India called thOthAdri/Vanamamalai mutts.

Page 10 of 14

Sri PonnadikkAl Jeeyar-Sri Vanamamalai mutt-Thiruvallikeni

Thiruvadi of Swamy manavAla mAmunikal When the devotees (adiyArs) go to any of the Srivaishnva temples, we have the practice of, archakAs placing the lotus feet of the lord (sri SatAri or sri satakOpam) on the heads of all the presents in the gOshti (Assembly of adiyArs). This is how the relationship is established between the adiyArs and the archA moorthi of the emperuman in any divya desam. Getting the thEErtha

Page 11 of 14

prasadam and sri satakOpam is the primary duty of any srivaishnava. This holds good for all the azhwars and achAryas sannadhis too. To elaborate, 1. emperuman's lotus feet (thiruvadi nilai) is sri satakOpam (swamy nammAzhwAr) 2. swamy nammazhwArs thiruvadi nilai is swamy madurakavi azhwAr/swamy rAmanuja 3. swamy rAmAnujas thiruvadi nilai is swamy mudaliyAndAn all other achAryAs (after swamy ramanuja) thiruvadi nilai is swamy manavAla mAmunikal. 4. Swamy manavAla mAmunika's thiruvadi nilai is swamy ponnadikAl jeeyar or swamy onnana vanamAmalai jeeyar commonly called as ponnadiyAm sengamalam. (There are certain exceptions to the above, such as

swamy ramAnujA's thiruvadi nilai in thirumalai (Thirumala) is swamy anandAzhwAn swamy nammAzhwAr's thiruvadi nilai in azhwAr thirunagari is swamy rAmAnuja)

Hence to get the sambandham (relationship) of swamy manavAla mAmunikal, ponnadikAl jeeyar swamy's importance becomes an unspoken niyamanam (rule). PonnadikAl Jeeyar swamy's association with Periya Jeeyar (swamy manavAla mAmunikal) PonnadikAl jeeyar swamy was very close to periya jeeyar (swamy manavAla mAmunikal). Swamy always wanted Vanamamalai Jeeyer to have all the fame and fortune he possessed. Hence he blessed Vanamamalai swamy also with ashtadiggajAs similar to his great ashtadiggajAs. Thereby, he appointed the following ashtadiggajAs to Vanamamalai swamy: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. mahAryar saramapungavar Suddha sathvam anna appAchiyAr anna rAmAnujam pillai ghostipuraththayar pallakkAl siththar Jnana kan-AththAn.

Then, Periya Jeeyer also allotted the appropriate kainkaryams to each one of them. From then on, Vanamamalai ponnadikkAl swamy remained with great fame along with his ashtadiggajAs, as a krupApAthram of periya Jeeyer. Periya Jeeyer also instructed mahAchAryar to compose a thaniyan on his acharya which would proclaim his acharya's greatness for ever. Hearing such an order from periya Jeeyer, mahAryar concentrated on the divine qualities of his acharya and immersed himself in the ocean of his acharya's qualities and submitted the following to his acharyas divine feet:

Page 12 of 14

RamyajAmAtru yOgeendra pAdha rEkhA mayam sadhA ThathAyath thAthma sadhdhAthim rAmAnuja munim bhajE Listening to the above, Periya Jeeyer was astonished. He felt that the verse not only got out the greatness of Vanamamalai Jeeyer but it was also honey flowing to the ears of the listener and hence very admirable. Pleased with the thaniyan told by mahAryar, Periya Jeeyer swamy ordered as follows: Like the "SrisailEsa dayApAthram thaniyan, which was submitted by periya perumal himself in the garuda mandapam with three kandams, this thaniyan should also be regarded equally important and should be recited by all Srivaishnavas. Like starting with " pallandu pallandu and ending with "appAnjasanniyamum pallAndE considering the first and second paasurams of thirupallandu to be like a single paasuram and recited together; and like the varaha charam slokam which has two parts (padhyadvayam) but still considered as a single mantram; and like the mantra ratnam, which though considered as a single mahA mantra rahasyam, still has two parts detailing about the angam and angi; and like the "Hari padham" which has 2 aksharas; Consider "SrisailEsa thaniyan and "ramya jAmAthru yOgeendra thaniyan to be connected to each other and to have equal importance. This is the reason why even today in the southern divyadesams in and around AzhwAr thirunagari, the above two thaniyans form a part together in all Divyaprabanda recitations. Greatness of vAnamAmalai jeeyer swamy Swamy was responsible for acting as purushakaram (recommendation) for annan and others to surrender to the divine feet of Sri Periya Jeeyer and also accepted a few of them as his shisyas as per the order of Sri Periya Jeeyer. Swamy was responsible to bring appillai and appullAr to the divine feet of Sri MamunikaL. First swamy convinced periya jeeyer to accept them as his disciples and then he went to the banks of kaveri and along with the help of erumbiappa, swamy brought both appillai and appullAr to the divine feet of Periya Jeeyer and made them the two among the ashtadiggajas of Sri Mamunikal. Sri Periya Jeeyer himself used to praise and call Swamy as "PonnadikkAl Jeeyer. Periya Jeeyer considered swamy his very close disciple and also an atma bandhu and also wanted vanamamalai swamy to get all the pleasure and treasure he obtained. Hence, He made swamy sit on His seat and presented his thirukkai Azhvars in the hands of vanamamalai swamy and asked him to do samAsrayanam just like him. Then Periya Jeeyer appointed ashtadiggajas for vanamAmalai Jeeyer swamy just like his own ashtadiggajas. Further Periya Jeeyer sent vanamamalai swamy to tour in the northern states as his representative and fulfill his wish to uplift all jeevatmas over there and bring them to our sampradayam by giving them ramanuja sambhandam through samAsrayanam. During his last days, Periya Jeeyer instructed his upadandam, thiruvAzhimOdhiram and thiruvadinilai of his own acharya thiruvAimozhi pillai

Page 13 of 14

to be given to vanamamalai Jeeyer. Though swamy was not near periya Jeeyer at the time when periya jeeyer attained paramapadam, ONNAna Jeeyer got this special grace .

HH Sri Kaliyan Vanamamalai Ramanuja Jeeyar swamy adorning Swamy Mamunikals Thirumudirai mOdhiram (divine ring) given to Sri Onnana swamy

Vanamamalai swamy also was blessed specially by Periya perumal, and that is why he gifted him the aranganagarappan and Himself went with him to vanamamalai. There is no need to say that vanamamalai perumal, who have got his divine consort, srivaramangai nAchiyar as kannikAdAnam from swamy had his special wishes for swamy and that is why he gave all the responsibilities of the deivanAyakan sannadhi kainkaryams to swamy himself. Next thiruvEnkatamudaiyan, showed the greatness of swamy and his acharya bhakthi in the dream of thiruvEnkata periya kElvi Jeeyer and thus showed his love for Vanamamalai Jeeyer. NAchiyar in thirumalai, accepting swamy as her father shows largely the great mahimai of PonnadikkAl Jeeyer swamy. With the blessings of all the perumals swamy did a lot of kainkaryam in the deivanAyakan sannadhi, thirukkurungudi nambi sannadhi and also in spreading our ramAnuja darshanam all over India. The greatness of swamy lies mainly in his acharya nishtai (charamOpAya nishtai). Though he took sanyasa even before his acharya, nayanar (Sri Manavala mamunigal) still he remained with great prathipaththi towards his acharya and considered mAmunigal to be upaya and upEyam (as per the

Page 14 of 14

well known verses, "DevumattrariyEn (Madhurakavi bhAvam); "GururEva param brahma gururEva paramdhanam l gururEva param kAma: gururEva parAyanam ll gururEva parA vidhyA gururEva parAyathi: l yasmAth sadhupadhEshtasow thasmAth gurutharO guru: ll theemanam keduththAi maruvithozhum manamE thandhAi" "ariyAdhana ariviththa" "peedhagavAdaipirAnAr piramaguruvAgi vandhu" ) . Though swamy was blessed with a birth in a high caste Brahmin family ("therulkol nAnmarai vallAr, "thEru jnanaththar "senthozhilavar, "thelliyAr thirunAnmaraigal vallAr,seidhavElviyar vaiyaththEvar") and also a wealthy family and remained with great knowledge and intelligence still swamy didn't possess even a little bit of pride due to all these. His mind was clear from the mukkurumbhu ("vidhyAmathO dhanamatha: thrithEyO bhijanOmatha") With all these and many more greatness, swamy remained with parama krupai on everyone and established our sampradayam in the world as per the wish of his acharya. Swamy showed love and care towards all including plants and animals and wanted to uplift each and every jeevatma without any barriers to the divine feet of emperuman. In this way swamy remained acting as the bridge between the paramatma and jeevatma for sometime. Wanting to go to the divine abode of emperuman, swamy shed all his interest in this world and finally attained the nithya kainkaryam of of emperuman. Let us perform mangalasasanams to this great Acharya and contemplate on his kalyAna gunas (Divine qualities) Vazhi thirunAmam "thiruvirundha malar thAlgal vAzhiyE sirandha sendhuvarAdhaiyum vAzhiyE tharuvirundha kai mukkOlum vAzhiyE tadampuyaththinil sangAzhi vAzhiyE maruvu kondal manavAla yOgiyai vAzhththi vAintharul vAimalar vAzhiyE karunaimEvum erAmAnusa muni Kanaka mouli kalandhoozhi vAzhiyE" Sri Vanachala mahA munibhyO Nama: Azhvar emperumAnAr Jeeyar thiruvadigalE sharaNam