Sri
Parthasarathi thunai
Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha
Sri Vara Vara MunayE Namaha
Sri VanAchala mahA munayE Namaha
SrisailEsa dayA pAthram deebhakthyAdhi gunArnavam
Yateendra pravanam vandhE ramya jAmataram muni
RamyajAmatru yOgeendra pAdha rEkhA mayam sadhA
thathAyath thAthma sadhdhAthim rAmAnuja munim bhajE
Today
being a special day, being celebrated as the thirunakshatram(kanni punarvasu) of
ponnadikkAl jeeyer in all the vanamamalai mutts in India (tomorrow in America)
let us all think about the great mahan, pay tributes to him and learn how
Vanamamalai Ramanuja jeeyer became ponnadikkAl Jeeyer in this posting.
In
the previous posting we saw that vanamamalai jeeyer swamy, submitting his
responsibilities to one another srivaishnava planned to go to alwar thirunagari
to do service under the divine feet of his acharya, nAyanAr.
At the very same time, nAyanar sent a srivaishnava to fetch Jeeyer swamy
for some important work. Thereby
jeeyer started immediately and reached, ”mAda mAligai soozhindhu azhagiya
thirukurugoor” and did sAshtAnga danda pranAmams to his acharya, nAyanar who
remained with divine excellence. After
a long time, jeeyer had the darshan of his acharya and hence he with great joy
enjoyed the divine thirumEni from bottom to top (pAdhAdhi kEsam) trying to
nullify all his grief due to separation all these days.
NayanAr was also highly pleased to see Jeeyer and with great love he
lifted jeeyer and looked at him with eyes filled with grace.
Nayanar
welcomed jeeyer like a mother/father welcoming their son returning home after
many days and then uttered the words “NAM PONNADI ANEERO PONNADIKKAL JEEYARE!”
and thereby blessed vanamamalai jeeyer swami with the name “ponnadikkAl Jeeyer”.
NayanAr then enquired about the kainkaryams in DeivanAyakan sannadhi.
With the graceful look nAyanar then told to Jeeyer, “Oh! Jeeyer I
planned to take up sanyasa and then grant you the same.
But then you opted it even before me so I lost the good fortune”.
Jeeyer then fell into the feet of his acharya and requested him to bless
him with his sreepAda theertham. Nayanar
blessed him with the same and jeeyer took it with great regard and also
distributed to all the srivaishnavas over there.
Nayanar
then got ready to start the thiruvArAdhanam to perumal and went to the yagasAlai
(perumal sannadhi). After the yAgam
(thiruvArAdhanam) nAyanar took Jeeyer along with him to anuyAgam (dhadhiyArAdhanam).
Jeeyer requested nAyanAr to bless him with his prasAdam and obtained the
same. Then the other Srivaishnavas
had prasAdam. Following this,
nAyanAr started with his kalashepam on thiruvAimozhi.
By bhagavat krupai, that days paasuram happened to be “nOttra nOnbillEn”
(Nammazhvar’s first sharanAgathi under the divine feet of vanamamalai
deivanAyaka perumal). Jeeyer
immensely enjoyed the divine nectar of the thiruvAimozhi paasuram as delivered
by his Acharya (eettu perukkar). At
the end, nAyanAr told the Srivaishnavas in front him about the greatness of
vanamamalai jeeyer swamy, his jnana, bhakthi and virakhyam and completed the
kalashepam.
Later,
nAyanar decided to go to Srirangam (“SubEna manasA dyAyan”) and stay over
there for rest of his life doing kainkaryam under the divine feet of lord
ranganatha, considered to be the soul for all srivaishnavas. Thereby nAyanAr went to take the permission of alwar to do
the same. Getting alwar’s
permission, nAyanAr along with ponnadikkAl Jeeyer proceeded towards srirangam
(“emperumAn thiruvarangam engE ennum”).
In the middle, wanting to have the divine darshan of Rangamannar (“villiputtur
vuraivAn than ponnadi kAnbhadhOr AsaiyinAl”) they went to Srivilliputtur.
(To
be continued)
Alwar
EmperumAnAr jeeyar thiruvadigalE sharaNam
Adiyen
Ramanuja dasyai
Sumithra
Varadarajan
"thiruvirundha malar
thAlgal vAzhiyE!
sirandha sendhuvarAdaiyum vAzhiyE!
tharuviruntha kai mukkOlum vAzhiyE!
thadam puyaththinil sanghAzhi vAzhiyE!
maruvukondal manavAla yOgiyai Vazhthi
vAintharul vAimalar vAzhiyE!
karunai mEvum rAmAnusa muni kanaga mouli
kalandhoozhi vAzhiyE!"