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SRI RAMANUJA

e-Journal- 3 -mArgazhi vyaya

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

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Table of Contents
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 5 adhyayana utsavam in srirangam ........................................................................................................ 7 periya nambigal ..................................................................................................................................... 10 thondaradippodi AzhwAr ................................................................................................................... 13 azhagiya manavAlap perumAL nAyanAr ........................................................................................ 17

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Editorial
We are too happy to bring out the third edition of our Sri Ramanuja e-Journal in the month of mArgazhi vyava year. The e-journal's main aim is to commemorate the Thirunakshathram-s of AzvAr-AchAryas in the form of 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

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1. Introduction
mAsAnAm mArgasErushOham (Of all the months, I will be the month mArgazhi). This is 'Sri GeethAchAryan vAkku'

geethAchAryan

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The timing of this month vis--vis constellations points towards brahma muhUrtham especially when it comes to dawn. The whole month is being celebrated as ThiruppAvai month and each day is dedicated to one paasuram. The adhyayana uthsavam The pagal pathu and irAppathu also is embedded in this margazhi. The day of ascention of SvAmi Nam AzvAr widely known as 'vaikunTa EkAdasi' also falls in this month. The final day of this irApathu - we see all of us retrieving svAmi Nam AzhvAr from the divine feet of EmperumAn. The Thirunakshathram of Sri Thondaradippodi AzvAr is mArgazhi kEATTai. The Thirunakshathram of Sri Periya nambikaL is mArgazhi kEATTai The Thirunakshathram of Sri Azhagiya MaNavALap perumAL nAyanAr is mArgazhi avittam. MArgazhi mAsap piRappu ThiruneduNthANdakath thirunAL pagal pathu vaikunTa EkAdasi irAppathu ThiruvAizhmozh ith ThirunAL sAthumuRai iyaRpA Thiruppallandu thodakkam ThoNdaradipppodi AzvAr thirunakshathram 16th Dec 2006. 19th Dec 2006. 20th Dec - 29th Dec 2006. 30th Dec 2006. 30th Dec 2006 - 8th Jan 2007. 8th Jan 2007. 9th Jan 2007. 10th Jan 2007. 20th Dec 2006.

periya Nambikal and Nalang thigazh nArAyaNa jEyar thriunakshathiram 20th Dec 2006. Sri Azhagiya MaNavALap perumAL nAyanAr thriunakshathiram nAlUr AchAn piLLai thirunakshathiram -mArgazhi baraNi ANDAL nErATTA utsavam 24th Dec 2006. 30th Dec 2006.

6th Jan 2007 - 14th Jan 2007.

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2. adhyayana utsavam in Srirangam

Srirangam is not just a place in Tamil Nadu, India. Srirangam is the epicentre of a glorious philosophy called Srivaishnavism. The history of this enchanting place is not restrained by the boundaries of planet Earth. Srirangam bears testimony to the larger picture, the grand order, the magnificence of creation itself, and of course, the brilliance of the Creator, who resides here in Archavataram, Sayana-ThirukkOlam, ever so majestic, poised and peaceful, in the midst of chaos, the order of Kali. An attempt is made here, most certainly in vain, to try and describe the enticing beauty of one of the many utsavams which take place in Srirangam. The Adhyainotsavam happens during the month of Maarghazhi, it is an experience that must not be missed by those who wish to get an idea of the grander picture, and those who wonder why the phrase 'Bhooloka Vaikuntam' adorns Srirangam, and Srirangam only. 'ADHYAINAM' The word 'Adhyainam' is synonymous to the word 'Parayanam'. Originally, Adhyainotsavam entailed 'Veda Parayanam' in front of Perumal. It was Thirumangai Azhwar who, stressing on the importance of Tamil, introduced the recitation of the Thiruvaimozhi (Essence of the Vedas composed in Tamil by Nammazhwar) along with the Vedas during the Adhyainotsavam. This forms only a part of the Adhyainotsavam, which is known as 'Raapathu'. It is so called because the recitation of the Thiruvaimozhi happens after sunset for a period of ten days, with the recitation of 100 pasurams each day. Our Purvacharyas also decided to introduce the recitation of Mudhalaayiram and PeriyaThirumozhi during Adhyainotsavam, and this part of the utsavam is called 'Pahalpathu'. It is also for a period of ten days, before the commencement of the Raapathu. (Pahalpathu happens during the daytime).

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THE THIRUNEDUNTHANDAGAT H THIRUNAL The Adhyainotsavam goes on for twenty-two days. Even before the Pahalpathu commences, i.e., on the preceding day of the first day of the utsavam, the first thirtypasurams of Thirunedundandagam (composed by Thirumangai Azhwar) are recited in front of the Lord. Though it is customary, to start a Naalayiram recital with Thiruppallandu, here it starts with Thirunedundandagam because of an incident which adds to the glory of this utsavam. In Swamy Ramanujar's time, there lived a great advaitha pandithar (scholar) called 'VEdanti'. The time had come when Swamy Ramanujar had to leave for Paramapadam. It was then that he told Swamy Parasara Bhattar to defeat this pandithar in debate, and establish the superiority of Vishishtadvaitha. In the guise of a person seeking alms, Parasara Bhattar defeated Vedanti, and did so by referring to the last prabandham (thirty pasurams) of Thirumangai AzvAr -The Thirunedundandagam. Parasara Bhattar arrived at

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Srirangam after this glorious feat on the day before the Pahalpathu was to start. Lord Ranganathar communicated to the Araiyar of Srirangam at the time to start the Adhyainotsavam with a recital of these thirty pasurams. To this day the same chronology is followed, the Adyainotsavam commencing with thirty pasurams of Thirunedundandagam on the first day, followed by Pahalpathu for the next ten days, followed by Raapathu for the next ten days- concluding with iyaRpA. AZHVAR MOKSHAM The last night of Raapathu is the climax of the Adhyainostavam. The last ten pasurams of the Thiruvaimozhi are to be recited. It is on this day that Nammazhwar (composer of Thiruvaimozhi) attains Moksham. The atmosphere is almost unearthly as we witness Nammazhwar's Thirumudi being placed on Lord Ranganathar's Thiruvadi Thamaraighal. As this happens the Araiyar will recite the last ten pasurams of Thiruvaimozhi. Nammazhwar Moksham is a divine event which erases from our minds everything else, which makes us forget our habitation of Bhoolokam and transports us to Vaikuntam itself. The atmosphere is loaded with Bhakthi and the collective shudders of excitement running through everyone spill over everywhere and create a different world. IYARPA After Nammazhwar Moksham, the next night signals the end of the Adhyainotsavam. 'Iyarpa', is the part of the Naalayiram which remains. It consists of a thousand pasurams, composed by various Azhwars, and is recited through the course of that night. IYAL-ISAI-NATAKAM There are several aspects of the Adhyainotsavam in Srirangam which gives it a unique character. The most significant aspect is that over the years, this Adhyainotsavam has come to showcase the three types of Tamil, i.e., Iyal (prose), Isai (poem) and Natakam (drama). Iyal is the style in which the pasurams are recited by the Ghoshti. Isai and Natakam are demonstrated by the Araiyars. Isai involves incorporating raga and tala into the pasurams, and the Araiyar sings them along with actions. The various Vibhavaavatars of the Lord are also demonstrated by the Araiyars using Natakam form of Tamil. In addition, the Araiyars demonstrate in the form of Natakam, how Thiruvaradhanam for Lord Ranganathar happens in Srirangam. All these aspects make Adhyainotsavam a special, unique and revelatory event, which must be witnessed by all Srivaishnava adiyars who want to experience the divine beauty of our Sampradayam, our Ramanujar, our Azhwars, our Acharyas and all our glory.

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3. periya nambigal
Thirunakshatram : Margazhi kETTai

kamalApathi kalyANa GuNAmrutha niShEvayA pUrNa kAmAya sathatham pUrNAya mahathE namaH

Even though emperumanar had 5 acharyas periya nambikal only finds his place in the OrAnvazhi acharya paramparai, because of his uniqueness as the acharya who did pancha samskaram to swami emperumanar. Periya nambikal's thirunamam was paraankusa dasa and is also known as mahApUrNar. In the ARU VARTTHai (6 words) of DevaperumAL to emperumanar the last command was PURnAchArya samASRayaH : Surrender to periya nambikaL And akin to this by the command of swami alavandar, periyanambikaL, did pancha samskaram to swami emperumanar at the wonderful divya kshetram of madhuranthakam. This year marks the 1010th Thirunakshtram of this Great Acharya, who is a martyr for our sampradayam during the AbhayavadEsyan's (He that shall not be named) doomed acts against emperumanar and to the srivaishnava sampradayam.

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Idhihyams about Sri periyanambikal found its place in many paasurams commentaries. And we will focus on few instances among them. In the commentary of the ThirunedunthAndakam pasuram "vaLArtthathanAl payan peRREn varukavenni maDakkiLiyai kaikUPPi vaNanginALE " swami PVP recollects the incident that once when emperumanar was on the streets of srirangam, going for his sacramental bath in kaveri, the complete sishya goshti was following him. Seeing empeurmanar amidst this grand goshti periyanambikal even though he was the acharya to emperumanar, he immediately prostrated emperumanar. Emperumanar understood the feeling of periyanambikal so he did not respond to the prostration neither accepted it nor did prathiabhivadanam (reciprocation) but just moved without any response. When asked by the sishyas, emperumanar turned to periyanambikal and asked nammai ippadi seyvathen ? (why did devareer do this?) For that periya nambikal replied : ALavanthar entru ninaitthEn (Thought that you were Alavandaar) PVP adds a wonderful line in the commentary which goes like this

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"puthrarkalAhavumAm sishyarkaL AhavumAm bhagavad vishayatthil Oradi ittavarkaL gauravyarkaLirE " (Whether it is son or shisya those who have a placed a step in bhagavat vishayam are to be respected) In the unthumathakaLitthan paasuram commentary another wonderful aidhihyam is presented. The thirunamam thiruppavai jeeyar was given to emperumanar by periyanambikal himself. Emperumanar used to chant thiruppavai always and once it happened that he went in front of periyanambi thirumaligai while knocking the door, he was chanting unthumadhakalitthan pasuram. Suddenly he heard the sound of bangles on the other side of the door and it was opened to him by athhuzhay, daughter of periyanambikal the coincidence of the pasuram and door opening was so much that the moment emperumanar saw athuzhai he fell prostrated. Athuzhay was wonderstruck and she ran to periyanambikal telling "Ayya jeeyar ennai sevitthAr" (Oh! father jeeyer prostrated me)periyanambikal immediately understood the mood of his sishya and asked "Oh! thiruppavai jeeyar! you are having unthumathakalitthan paasuram in mind isn't it" such was the understanding between the acharya and sishya. (There is also a school of interpretation that this is ThirukOshTiyUr nambi) The most befitting tribute to periyanambikal is written in the golden letters of SrivachanabhUshanam and AchArya hridayam mAraneri nambi vishyamAka periyanambi uDayavarkkaruLicche ytha vArtthaye smarippathu 234 SrivachanabhUshanam mLEchchhanum bhakthanAnAl aivaril nAl_varil mUvaril murpaTTavarkaL sandEhiyAmal sahajarOTE purODASamAka cheytha puthrakrthyavum,. aRivArkkirE janmOthkarshApakars hankaL therivathu. 85 AchAryahridayam The incident goes like this: Sri MAranEri nambi who was by birth not a high caste was a devout srEvaishNavite. When he left this world to ThirunADu, Sri Periya Nambi, performed the last rites for him. To reveal the greatness to the society, EmperumAnAr approached Sri Periya Nambi and asked him 'When I am meticulously laying fence for our faith on one side, are you not removing it from the other side?" How can a high caste person perform last rites to a low caste born.

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Sri Periya Nambi quotes precedences. Sri Chakravarthith Thirumagan performing to Periya vudaiyAr, Sri dhArmarajar performing last rites to Vidhurar and zeroing in aruLichyeal : 'payilum sudaroli' and nedumARkadimai' kadal OsaiyOA! The sound of the waves in a ocean goes a waste. If we are not going to follow what AzvAr's have preached us, these aruLicheyal will also become like that. AzvAr-s preached, devotion to devotees of ThirumAl is the ultimate in 'payilum sudaroli' thiruvAimozhi 3-7 and 'nedumArkadimai' 8-10; One should practise what one preaches and Sri Periya Nambi demonstrated what cannot be dreamt those days. When ritualistic practices are still considered to be a prime act even today, think of those days.

4. thondaradippodi AzhwAr
thirunakshatriram: mArgazhi kEttai TvamEva matvA paravAsu dEvam RangEsayam rAja vadarhaneeyam PrAbhodhakeem yogruta sookthi mAlAm BhakthAngrunEham bhagavantha meedE The moment we hear about the month "mArgazhi" the unparalleled composition of our GodhA pirAtti, thiruppAvai engulfs our mind. Behind the scenes, this month boasts of hosting the births of three other divine personalities in the kEttai thirunakshatra namely: Sri ThonN-aradippodi azhwAr, sri periya nambigal and sri koora nArAyana jeeyar. ThirumaNdangudi a small village near the divyadesam thirupullambhootham gudi, roughly 40 kms from the famous temple town kumbakonam, is the birthplace of the first in the above esteemed list, Sri Thondaradippodi azhwAr. He was born in a chaste Brahmin family on mArgazhi kEtai day. Elders on seeing his greatness compare him to be an amsa of vaijayanthi (vanamAlA of the lord). The original name given to this AzhwAr as given by his parents is " vipranArAyana". He grew up to be an expert in the vEdAs and the vEdAntas. It was said that sri vishwaksEnar appeared from srivaikunta and performed panchasamskaram to him. On learning the divine meanings of thirumantram, vipranArAyana slowly started developing detachment towards the worldly affairs and a deep interest towards the Supreme Being. He

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immediately started his journey towards various divyadesams and first reached Srirangam. Vandinam muralum sOlai, mayilam Alum sOlai Kondal meedhanavum sOlai, kuilinam kOOvum sOlai AndarkOn amarum sOlai ani thiruvarangam.
(Thirumaalai- 14)

Having performed managalAsasams to periya perumAl, he got immensely attracted to the divine beauty of Him and decided to spend rest of his lifetime in Srirangam itself by doing pushpa kainkaryam like periAzhwAr. Kudadisai mudiyai vaiththu gunadisai pAdham nEEti Vadadisai pinbukAti, then disai yilangai knOkki Kadalnirak kadavul endhai aravanai tuyilumAk kaNdu
(Thirumaalai- 19)

He developed a full-fledged garden for performing pushpa kainkaryam to periya perumAl on a daily basis and lived on the biksha (alms) given by the people as per his varnasrama dharma. Peculiar, are the ways of the lord in conducting this leelA vibhUthi. One fine day, a damsel by name dEvadEvi from the adjacent town urAiyUr visited Srirangam and she happened to pass through this garden along with her sister. She offered her respects to vipranArAyana by prostrating him. He was so immersed in his pushpa kainkaryam, that he hardly took notice of her action. Failing to see his reciprocation, she felt insulted and vowed to her sister that she would turn the tables towards her by making vipranArAyana fall for her beauty. Though her sister warned her of adverse reactions because of his saintly character, it only fell on her deaf ears. After this incident, she enacted a beautiful drama before vipranAryana by making a request to him to offer her a share of the kainkaryams, which he is doing to the lord. The latter fell into her trap and in due course, got so attracted towards her that whole of his attention turned towards dEvadEvi away from lord Ranganatha. Seeing the sorry state of affairs of vipranArAyana, our ever-compassionate piratti made a purushakaram (recommendation) to perumal to bring back his dear devotee

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back in the track of kainkaryam. Periya perumAl appeared as a servant of vipranArAyana in front of dEvadEvi's house and offered her a golden vessel as given by his master vipranArAyana. The very next day, the news spread to the king that one of the golden vessels from the temple was missing and on enquiry, it was found in dEvadEvi's house and was explained to the courteers as given by the servant of vipranArAyana. Immediately, vipranArAyana and dEvadEvi were jailed in spite of them pleading innocence. Again due to pirAtti's request, lord appeared in King's dream and said that all the happenings are due to his leela and all the sufferings of vipranArAyna so far, are due to his karma. The king realized his mistake and released them. On his release, vipranArAyana also realized his mistake and felt very bad for what all had happened. He took the sripAtha theertham of the devotees and got himself purified from the sins he had committed. Thereafter, he cherished himself being the dust in the feet of the lord's devotees and hence he was celebrated as thondar adip podi AzhwAr. Compositions of Thondar adip podi AzhwAr Thirupalliezhucchi: The lord after the pralaya, awoke all the jeevathmas and gave them the required senses (karna kalEbara) to live in this leela vibhUdhi. After this the lord settled down into a yOga nidhrA (divine sleep). Thondar adipodi AzhwAr stands out in the AzhwAr goshti, since he awakens the lord by this composition of 11 pAsurams. ThirumAlai: There is a famous tamil saying "thirumAlai ariyAr thiru mAlai ariyAr" (people who don't know this divine composition Thirumalai, don't know thiru mAl (lord Vishnu)). Not just stopping with poo mAlai (flower gArland) he composed this divine pAmAlai of 45 pAsurams which gives the whole srivaishnavic essence. Salient features Paasuram 2: BhUloka vaikundam vs parmapadam : Achuvai peRinum VEANDEAnImmersed in beauty of Thiruvarangan, Sri ThoNdaradippodi preferred bhUlOka vaikunTAm to paramapadham. Paasuram 4: ThirunAma magimai: 'moitha val vinaiyuL ninRu' highlights the efficacy of ThirunAmam Paasuram 9: Supremacy of Emperuman : 'mathumOAr dheivam vuNDEan' -This paasuram unequivocally indicates that He is the Supreme and points to the fact that

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He is sulaban (filled with saulabhyam) 'kaTrinam mEaitha endhai kazhaliNai paNiminErEA'-Lord KrshNA Paasuram 19: The archAvathAram is highly commended in the pAsuram 'kuda disai mudaiyai vaithu' and EmperumAn's beauty is devoured. Since, vibhavAvathAram has gone long long back, AzvAr advocates for Thiruvarangam 'vaNdina muralum sOlai' and the beauty of arangan in 'kudadhisai mudiyai vaithu' . Paasuram 23: Purity :If yamunA is pure because of Sri krshNa sparisam (touch of krishna's divine body), kAvEri is pure because it surrounds the Lord - and so naturally becomes purer than GangA - GAngaiyil puNidhamAya kAviri naduvu pATTu. Paasuram 29: Thiruvarangan TheUltimate Refuge: AzvAr talks of The Lord as his refuge and has no other relatives 'vuravu maThoruvar illai' -Oh! Lord You are my only relative and Your divine feet is my refuge 'pAril nin pAdha mUlam paTRu' . Paasuram 38: DhvayArtham: That Lord EmperumAn is upAya/upEyam is underscored in the pAsuram 'mEamporuL pOgavittu..vAzhum sOambarai vugathi pOlum'. Like Srimad bhagavat geetha to Mahabharatha and charama sloka to Srimad bhagavat geetha this paasuram is the essence of thirumaalai. mEamporuL: The nature of soul to Look at Him for refuge and He has to lift us up. This is crystallised as pAsuram 'mEam poruL pOga vittu' The fundamental principles of SrevaishNavisam being 'Birth is not the criteria but devotion to Sriman NarAyaNA is' spelt out in the pAsuram-s following the mEmporuL pAsuram mEamporuL mEAliR pATTil visadhamAgak kANaLAm. (Srivachanabhooshan am 227) The bhAgavatha shEshathvam is highlighted in these pAsurams and AzvAr thus came to be known as the speck of dust of devotee's divine feet - anbar thAL thUliThoNDar aDip podi. This azhwAr has another uniqueness since he performed mangalAsAsanam only to Srirangam and no other divyadesam. Due to this, Srirangam attained the 'Number One position' among all the srivaishnava divyadesams, having the uniqueness of having the mangalasasanams from all the 10 AzhwArs.

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kOthaNdE jyEsta nakshatrE mandangudi purOthbhavam chOLOrvyAm vanamAlAmsam bhakthabhatrENumAsr ayE

5. azhagiya manavAlap perumAL nAyanAr

thirunakshathram : mArgazhi aviTTam

dhanur jyEshTha samudbhUtham lOkAchArya padASritham vandE varaguNAvAsam varajAmAthr dESikam

drAviDAmnAya hridayam guruparvakramAgatha m ramyajAmAthru dEvEna darSitham krishNasUnunA

AchArya swAntha vakthAram abhirAmavarAditham SrIkrishNa thanayam vandE jagadguruvarAnujam

In the divine year 1205 CE swami piLLai lokacharyar took birth in aippasi thiruvonam nakshthram, to sri vadakkuth thiruvIthi piLLai. During the first birthday of swami piLLai lokacharyar, the child was taken to periyaperumal sannidhi for mangaLASasanam. When all the maryadais (honors) were given to piLLai lokacharyar, namperumal through the archaka (archaka mukhEna) said to nampillai " ummai pOlE oru piLLai kodutthIrE ini nammai pOlE oru piLLai kodum" (you gave a child to vadakkuthiruvithi piLLai who is like you, now give him a child who is like me). So it has to be counted that swami took his birth in 1207 CE.

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In accordance to that swami azhagiya maNavALapperumAL nAyanar took his divine birth on margazhi aviTTam. nAyanAr had his panchasamskAram from his father Sri vaDakkuthiruvithipi LLai, Sribhashyam from swami nampiLLai and thiruvAymozhi and rahasyas from swami piLLai lOkAchAryar. Both stayed as naishTika brahmacharis throughout their life. It is well known that swami ulagAriyar composed 18 rahasya granthas. Among the 18th granthas mamunikal says in upadESarathnamAlai yAr vachanabhUshaNatthi n AzhpoRuLellAm arivAr yAr athu sonnErilanuTTippAr OruruvaruNdAkil . Sri vachanabhUshana divyasAsathram became an unparalleled work. Also known as vakuLabhUshaNa sAsthra sAram. It is said in yathIndrapravanapra bhAvam that at that time some people out of jealousy went to namperumAL and complained thus. "perumALE! piLLai lOkAcharyar through composing srivachanabhUshanam is going against the darSanam". lOkAcharyar was summoned but since he was away from his thirumaLigai nAyanar represented instead. When questioned by namperumAL, nAyanAr gave an appropriate answer to namperumAL. It is said that this was done during a veedhi puRappAdu (divine procession around the streets), and as namperumAL was moving in procession, nAyanAr kept on lecturing. Hence was born the immaculate

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AchAryahridayam. In AchAryahridayam nAyanAr expressed that swAmi piLLai lOkAchAryar did nothing wrong but only wrote what he imbibed faithfully from the traditional succession of preceptors, that thiruvAymozhi has more sanctity than vedas and it contained what is taught in geetha itself and it unparallels bhagavad geetha also.

swAmi dEsikan in lOkAcharya panchASath pays homage like this vANI puNya sudhApagAm SaThajithaH savairam vigAhyAdarAth AnIyAmrithamathra chakrathurubhau pAnIyaSAlAthmakam Yau vAgbhUshaNa dESikEndra hridayAbhikya prabandha dwayam Thau vandE bhuvanArya sundaravarau krishNAthmajau dESikavu 10 lOkAchArya panchASath I Prostrate to two AchAryas piLLai lOkAcharyar and azhagiyamaNavALappe rumAL nAyanAr the sons of Krishna padar for the two famed compositions by them, the ornament of sri sukthis (SrIvachanabhUshaNa m) and the heart of the fore most AchArya (AchArya hridayam), as if the nectar brought here like the cool drink in a stall from the flood of nectar called the sacred utterances of SaThakOpa with exhilaration of plunging in it with abandon. (The authorship of lokacharyapanchasat h is reportedly swami desikan Courtesy BSS Iyengar's English translation of Acharyahridayam)

Works of swami AMP nAyanAr can be divided in to two types, Esoteric works and Commentaries. Esoteric works 1. AchArya hridayam 2. aruLicheyal rahasyam Commentaries 1. Thiruppavai 6000ppaDi 2. amalanAdipirAn 3. kaNNinun chirutthAmbu

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swAmi nAyanAr instructed AchAryahridayam to thirunArAyaNapuram Ayee jananyAcharyar which was later helpful to swami mamunikal's commentary. Without mamunikal's commentary one would not have dared to open this wonderful rahasya grantha. As the author of the English translation of acharya hridayam states, one's understanding of thiruvAymozhi is incomplete with out the study of AchAryahridayam. aRuLicheyal rahasyam is a less studied work, in which swami nAyanAr uses words from aruLicheyals its self to explain the meaning of rahasya thrayam. It has three prakaranams and it is a very complicated work as well. The commentaries of nAyanAr are unparalleled. ThiruppAvai 6000ppaDi commentary is a wonderful one and is a gem when compared to the 2000ppaDi/4000ppaDi of Ayee swami, and 3000ppaDi of periyav AchAnpiLLai. So is the commentary to amalanAdipirAn. "Tham sIrAr vayya guruvin thambi mannu maNavALamuni seyyum avaithAnum sila" says swami mAmunikaL in upadESarathnamAlai AchArya hridayam: its style and commentary After the times of emperumanar there was a hike in the number of commentaries for divyaprabandham, even though emperumAnAr did not comment personally for a single prabandham. nAyanAr states in AchArya hridyaam chUrnai 65 bhAshyakArar idhukoNdu sUthrangaL orungaviDuvar only with the help of thiruvAymozhi in mind, emperumAnAr could explain the brahmasUthrAs and write the sArIrika mImAmsAbhAshyam called SrIbhAshyam. Hence the foundations of vishishTAdwaitha sampradAyam was made on the basis of wonderful aruLicheyals but what was left was to comment on aruLicheyalkals itself. Hence five generations of AchAryas from thirukkuRukai pirAn piLLan, namjIyar, nampiLLai, peiryavAcchAn piLLai and piLLailOkAcharyar and azhagiyamaNavALappe rumAl nAyanAr did compensate for this by their commentaries and rahasya granthas. AchArya hridayam is the crowing glory which substantiates both vaDakalai (sanskrit) and thenkalai (Tamil) together. chenthiRattha thamizh engayAlE Agasthyamum AnAdi (AchArya hridayam)

AchArya hridayam is a sUthra grantham, with four prakaraNas akin to brahamasUthras, with 234 suthrams all together. The beauty of the suthram lies in the play of his words, the way of taking Tamil words from aruLicheyalkaL and Sanskrit words from Upanishads, ithihasas and purAnAs combining them with his own words like 'ikk', 'ichhu' ,

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'ennum' etc. swami thirunArAyaNapuram Ayee jananyAchArya swami wrote the first commentary which was the torch for periyajeeyar for writing the commentary on it. thantharuLavENum thavaththOr thavappayanAy vanda muTumbai maNavALA ! sinthaiyinAl nIyuraiththa mAran ninaivin poruLanaiththen vAyuraiththu vAzhum vagai

AchAryahridayam a glimpse

Falling into the category of suthra literature, Acharya hridayam is an unparalleled work and without The periya jeeyar commentary one will not even understand a word from the suthras.

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A total of 234 suthras divided into 4 chapters constitutes a step by step approach to thiruvaymozhi.

Churnais 1-15 carries out an introduction deals with the compassion of Emperuman towards us who bestowed us with the scriptures and gave us the power of discretion between good and bad deeds. Churnais 16, 17-38 deals with the importance of manthra rahasyam and its prAmAnyam Churnais 39-74, 75-93 deals with the uniqueness of Thiruvaymozhi and Nammazhvar Churnais 94-117 deals with the result of mayarvaramathinalam aruLukai on nammAzhvar. Churnais 118-121 122-132 and 133-158 deals with nAyika bhAvam, unparalleled nature of nAyika bhavam, swapadesams for the usage of names of birds, ornaments, instruments the subject for 4 dUthu pathikams etc. Churnais 159-186 deals with the different ArchA divyadEsams about the gunams of different divyadesa emperuman as visualized by azhvar. Notable thing is that even though Nammazhvar did mangaLASAsanam to 30 divyadesams all are summarized into 27 chUrNais. Since in one pasuram azhvar does mangaLASAsanam to 3 divyadesams, puLinkuDikkiDanthu varaguNamangai irunthu SrIvaikunthatthuL nintru. This is summed to one chUrNikai in AchAryahridayam Churnais 187 and 188 deals with archavaibhavam and its influence on thiruvaymozhi Churnais 189-194 deals with bhagavad githA prAmANyam, thiruvAymozhi's unparallel nature compared to bhagavad githa Churnais 195-207 Exclusive features of thiruvaymozhi, their implications swapadesams. Churnais 208-212 rahasyathraya vivaranam Churnai 213-215 ThiruvAymozhi's spontaneity as a SAsthra and reasons divisions as for ten tens, etc Churnai 216- 217 positioning of anubhavam, parOpadEsam etc among the ten tens Churnai 218 summarizes the kalyanagunas in each ten pasurams Churnai 219-228 summery of Each Tens-1 to ten -one chUrnikai each.

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Churnai 229-234 Concluding session, reasons for azhvar being kept for so long and make him sing thiruvAymozhi, explanation of progressive growth of parabhakthi, paranjAna and paramabhakthi in azhvar, and with the final suthra the nirhEthuka kripa of the Sriyappathi is the only cause for moksham is the sole conclusion of thiruvaymozhi, is summarized. Swami maNavALA mAmunikal says in the aavatharikai " AdhyaSchana kulapathE" enkiRapaTiyE vadikika santhAnatthukku prathhamAchAryarAna Azhvar aruLiccheytha divya prabandhankaLil avaruDaya thiruvuLLa karutthukkaLai chollukaiyAlirE eeprabandhatthukku Acharyahridayam entru niRUpakamAytthu" In chUrNai 83 nAyanar says the way the world got redeemed because of the avatharam of Nammazhvar Adithya rAmadivAkara achyuthabhAnukkaLuk ku pOkAtha uLLiruL nInki SOshiyAtha piRavikkaTal vatti vikasiyAthapOthil kamalamalarnthathu vakuLabhUshaNa bhAskarOdayatthilE mamunikaL commentary follows.. When sun rises the east the physical darkness of the outer world is removed (bAhyAndhakAram) but sun cannot remove the ajnjAna andhakAram (ULLIruL). like that rAma divakara dried up the sea of rakshassas but not the sea of samsara. Ehrn achyutha bhanu took birth in the early twilight of the horizon called devaki the worlds got blossomed but not the heart lotus "pOdhil kamalavannencham" All these happened only when the Nammazhvar who adorns the garland of vakuLa flowers took birth as a bhaskara with the 1000 rays of Thiruvaymozhi keeping the emperuman in the heart. The lotus hearts blossomed, and the sea samsara got dried. Yad gOshahasramapahamth i thamAmsi pumsAm narAyaNO vasathi yathra sa Samkha chakra yanmaNdaLam Sruthi gatham praNamanthi viprAH thasmai namO vakuLAbhUshaNa bhAskarAya Once PBA svami wanted to perform daily rituals in AzvAr Thirunagari. He enquired about the time of sunset and sunrise, there. The womenfolk asked him ' We thought you were learned scholar. This vaguLa bAskara shEthram. Can there be sunset here?" vaguLa BAskaraUdhayathAlEa

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The words 'Rama divAkara' is used because of SUrya vamsam, 'achutha bAnu' is used as it is chandra vamsam and bhAskara is used as a specialty to Nammazhvar. The vyakyanam of This Great AchAryan is replete with analytical terms. It can be cherished only by studying and reading the text. The ThiruppAvai ARAyirappadi is an outstanding example of such a threadbare analysis. For Example, the 14th pAsuram commences with the word 'vungaL' and the commentator questions how can this be used by those who have realized that 'vungaL' 'engaL' and the like terms connote ahankAram. The reply comes from the author himself, mentioning that the ahankAram springing out of bodily connection is to be shunned whereas the pride blossoming from Bhagawadh Sambandham is to be welcomed. Azhvar emperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharanam