An Azhwar & An Acharya

Sreemathey Ramanujaya Namaha
Sreemadh Varvara Munaye Namaha
Sree Venkata Gurave Namaha


Respected Bhagavatha Bandhus,


Today is Vaikasi Visagam, which has to its credit being the Thirunakshatram of an Alwar and an Acharya

Swamy Nammalwar and Thiruvaimozhipillai, both were born under the auspicious star of Vaikasi Visagam, The following are some similarities between this alwar and acharya

1)Swamy Nammalwar is present in the alwar goshti and also in the acharya goshti,Nammalwar is the leader among the alwars,(because alwar being ("Vedam tamil seidha Maaran")and other alwars are considered as his angas (angangal) and his presence in the acharya goshti is due to his act of
giving Naalayeeram to Nadhamunigal, Similarly Thiruvaimozhi Pillai, is present among the acharya goshti in our Guruparampara

2)Swamy Nammalwar gave us the Thiruvaimozhi, the essence of Samavedam, and Similarly acharya Thiruvaimozhi Pilllai,(his other names were Srisailesarand Thirumalai alwar) was so called out of his infinite devotion towards nammalwar and his thiruvaimozhi and bringing back the Magnum opus Eedu 36,000 padi to public from its hidden treasure ground.

3)The Archa Vigraha of Bavishyad Acharyan (Ramanuja) & Swamy Nammalwar was gifted to Madhurakavigal, by the grace of Alwar itself, Similary, it was due to the tireless efforts of Thiruvaimozhi Pillai who was ruling from Madurai as a regent, through his counterpart at Cochin brought back Nammalwar from his hidden place, and located its origin in Alwar Thirunagari, where it was earlier installed, Removed all the bush and wild growth etc (kaadu Thirutthi Naadu Aaki) and reinstalled Nammalwar after renovating the temple(this is recorded in Yatindra Pravana Prabhavam) for this Nammalwar gave the title Satagopadasar" to Thiruvaimozhi Pillai, and to mark the monumental services of Pillai, his descendants are greatly honored even today with the remnant of Thirumankappu worn by Nammalwar's idol after Thirumanjanam

Thiruvaimozhi Pillai, apart from renovating in the shrine of Nammalwar and installing him therein brought out the Bavishyad Acharya Vigraham himself which wasdug out from the bottom of the Tamrind tree(Thiru Puli Alwar)and installed Ramanuja Chaturvedhi Mangalam to the west of Aadhinathan Temple at Alwar Thirunagari. It is also said, that a scar sustained while digging out the idol is visible even now on the Bavishyad acharya's vigrahaviz Ramanuja's idol (learned people please pardon and enlighten if this is a mistake). and appointed
Swamy Manavala Mamunigal to do aaradhanai( A grahasthaa at that time known by the nameof Azhagiya Manavala Nayanar) & also asked himto compose a sthuthi on Ramanuja , Thus was born"Yathiraja Vimsathi" of Mamuni


4)Swamy Nammalwar could foresee, Swamy Ramanuja as Bavishyad acharyan, and gave the vigraham to Madhurakavigal and instructed to do aaradhanaiand indirectly explained through "Poliga Poliga" pasuram, Similarly Pillai lokacharya could foresee and premention the rise of. Sri Thirumalai AzhwAn
and his great services to come for Darsana Nirvaham and he gave instructions to his disciples (all instructions focused only on Sri Thirumalai AzhwAn)

a)koorakulOthamma dAsar to bring Sri ThirumalaiAzhwAn ,into vaishnava fold

b) He instructed Sri Thirukkannangudi piLLai and Sri Thirupputkuzhi Jeeyar to teach the meaningsof ThiruvAizmozhi to Sri Thirumalai AzhwAn.

c) He instructed Sri nAloor piLLai (who was from Kanchipuram) to teach the meanings of the remaining 3000 pasurams of the divyaprabandam to Sri Thirumalai AzhwAn who was a great scholar in VedAs and Smrtis, but yet to master the divyaprabandam.

d) Last, he called upon the great vilAnchOlai piLLai.to teach him the meanings of Sri Vachana Bhooshanam and the divine work of sapta kAdhai, when
approached

5) Lord of Sri rangam, affectionately called alwar as"Nam Alwar" through his vakku (words) and thus thistitle stood forever, Simiarly, when Lord Ranganatha,after hearing the eedu lecture from Swami Manavala Mamunigal for about a year and on the concluding day, much impressed and lost his heart in the madura vakkuof Mamuni (parama rasiganai, nenjam parikoduthu)Lord Ranganatha, came in the disguise of one Sriranganayakam, a five year old son of an Archaka,uttered the thanian and accepted Swami Manavala Mamunigalas his acharya

"srisailesa daya patram dhi bhaktyadi gunarnavam
yathindrapravanam vande ramya jamataram munim"

The interpretation is

I offer my salutations to the beautiful MaNavALa mAmuni ,
who is the object of the Daya of Sri Sailesa ( Thiruvaimozhi
PiLLai , his Acharya ). I worship that ocean of Jnanam and
Bhakthi , who revered Sri RaamAnuja.

Thus the Lord identifies Swamy Manavala Mamunigalas sishya
Of Sri SailesarThiruvaimozhi Pillai and thus the Lord approved ThiruvaimozhiPillai through his vakku(words)


6)Nammalwar's sishya Madhurakavigal, was so much devoted to hisGuru Nammalwar that he held him much higher than even Lord Narayanacomposed a hymn of 11 pasurams "Kanninum Siruthambu" SimilarlyThirvaimozhi Pillai's sishya Swamy Manavala Mamunigal salutes his acharyain "Upadesa Ratinamala" and"Aarthi Prabandham" dedicates that all whathe has got is only through the grace of his acharya and built"kalaksheba mantapam in his Thirumaligai in Sri rangam in the name of his
acharya "Thirumalai Alwar Mantapam"

Thus they are many similarities between Nammalwarand ThiruvaimozhiPillai,only these few comes to adiyen's gyanam, on this auspicious day let usall pray to their lotus feet to bless us to take us to the right path of dharma & to induce in us maha vishvasam with regards to our sampradayam, alwars and acharyas and grace our younger generation to be future carriers of Emperumannar Darshnam

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasan

Geetha Vasudevan