Sri Ramanuja, the Srivaishnava saint and social Reformer

Dear Bhargavi,
Though our Hinduism preaches co-existance of all religions, it is sad to note some religious fanatics indulge in violence. All religions preach love, harmony and peaceful co-existance only.
Love,
Pushpavalli

 

Ramanuja showing Jyana markam to Dhanur Dasan

Lord Ranganatha was having His Veedhi Ula on His Garuda vahanam. People were all engrossed in his rupa saundaryam and were chanting “Ranga, Ranga” and were singing bajans. But Dhanur Dasan was not paying any attention to the Lord or the devotees. He held an umbrella and was protecting his wife with that and was cleaning the sweat drops from her face and neck with a cloth. He was also fanning her and whispering sweet nothings in her ears. Though he was not ashamed to show his love to his wife in public, people who saw this scene turned their faces away.
Ramanuja was also coming with his disciples and he also saw Dhanur Dasan. He sent one of his disciples to bring him. Dhanur Dasan could not even hear that some one was calling him, but he came around only after the person raised his voice and called him. When he was told that Ramanuja called him, he went along with his wife and prostrated before Ramanuja.
Ramanuja asked,“Where are you from and what do you do for living?Are you not ashamed to behave like this in a public place? People are making fun of you and your wife.”
Dhanur Dasan replied, “I am from NigaLanagar and I am a boxer. This is my wife Hemambal.When I see her beautiful eyes I forget myself and the surroundings. I become so mad that I do not know what I am doing.”
Then Ramanuja told him that he would show him the most beautiful and enchanting eyes that he had ever seen before, if he came to his place in the evening.
In the evening he went to Ramanuja’s place and he took him to the temple. The archakas showed karpura harathi to the Lord. Dhanur Dasan saw the lotus eyes of the Lord which were filled with karuna kataksham with bewitching beauty. He was stunned with the beauty of the divine lotus eyes and could not take off his eyes. Tears of joy were flowing from his eyes. He fell at Ramanuja’s feet and thanked him for waking him up from the false paradise. His wife Hemambal also was very happy and then onwards he stayed at Srirangam and was doing service to Ramanuja. Ramanuja had given him the name “PiLLai Urangavilli.”
Daily he used to go with Ramanuja when he went to take bath in the river Kaveri. He used to hold him and escort him. He became a devoted disciple with true bhakthi, humbleness, and strong will power.
Ramanuja’s other disiciples became jealous of him. Ramanuja wanted to show them UrangaviLLi’s true devotion, humbleness and guru bhakthi. One night he told Urngavilli to stay with him longer than usual. He told secretly to his other disciples to go to his house and rob the jewels of Hemambal. Hemambal was waiting for her pathi, but fell asleep keeping the door open. The disciples got into the house easily and found Hemambal sleeping. They removed the jewels from one side and Hemambal woke up, but pretended to be asleep after seeing the disciples. She also turned on the other side so that they could remove the jewels on that side. But they got frightened when they saw her moving to the other side, thinking that she woke up. Hence they left the place at once. Ramanuja saw them returning and he told Urangavilli to go home. Afterwards he told his disciples to go back again and to see what took place when Urngavilli went home.
When Urangavilli went home his wife told him all that had happened. She told that the poor disciples had come to rob the jewels and when they took off the jewels form one side she turned to the other side thinking that they could take those jewels also, but they left hurriedly out of fear thinking that she woke up. Urangavilli scolded his wife that out of ego, thinking that she was doing them a favour, she had moved to the other side. If she had not moved they would have taken those jewels also. Hemambal begged him to forgive her and to teach her how to shed ego.
The disiciples heard the conversation and they narrated it to Ramanuja.
The next morning Ramanuja gave advice to all simhasanathipathis and disciples. He told them that they should learn a lesson from the previous night’s happening. A true brahmin is one who sheds his ego of high caste, high learning and high wealth. By birth all human beings are equal. Only those who possess good qualities were to be considered true Brahmins. Hence they all should try to enhance the good qualities.

Emperumanar ThiruvadikaLe SaraNam!​

To be continued​

 

Dear Sriniketan,
Ramanuja was blessed to have Guru's like Peria Nambikal and Thirukoshtiyur Nambikal and also diciples like Kurathazwar, Ananthazwar, Govindan and others. In the forth coming episode we are going to see the guru and shisya doing great sacrifices to save Ramanuja!
Love,
Pushpavalli

 

Periya NambikaL (Maha pooraNar) attaining Vaikuntha Prapthi​

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Ramanujar’s Guru Periya NambikaL had performed the last rites of a person who belonged to low caste. Hence the Brahmins and even his relatives cut off relations with him. His daughter had come and stayed with him and was attending to his needs. Ramanuja came to know about this and he felt very sad. He went to see Periya Nambikal. Periya NambikaL told Ramanuja that according to Sastras a Brahmin could not perform the last rites for a low caste person, but on humanitarian ground he did it and that he felt that he did not do any thing wrong. Even Lord Rama performed the last rites for Jatayu. He further told that for a true devotee caste was not at all a concern.
Ramanuja was glad to know Periya Nambikal’s humanitarian approach and broadmindedness. His admiration and respect for him grew more and more. Periya Nambikal also had great respect for Ramanuja. Once he prostrated before Ramanuja and when people asked him why he had prostrated before his disciple, he told them that he saw in Ramanuja’s image his Acharya Yamunacharya (Alavandar) before him.
During that period a king following saivism ruled over Chola kingdom. He was against Ramanuja for spreadingVisishtadvaida Philosophy. He wanted to bring Ramanuja to his place and to finish him off. He sent some people to bring Ramanuja to his court.

When Kurathazwar came to know this he felt that the king had sent for Ramanuja with some bad intention, He told Ramanuja that being a staunch saivite, the king was opposed to Ramanuja’s Visishtadvaida and if Ramanuja went to see him, he would come to harm. He beseeched Ramanuja to give him his Kashaya Vastra and to wear his white vasthra. He told him to leave Srirangam and he would go to see Chola king as Ramanuja. Though Ramanuja was reluctant, Periya Nambikal also persuaded him to listen to Kurathazwar’s advice for the sake of spreading Visishtadvaida. Ramanuja then left Srirangam with Govindan and other disciples wearing white dhothi. In significant to this incident, at Sriperumbudur during Ramauja’s Uthsavam, he would be worn with white Vasthram on sixth day and it is called Vellai Sathupadi.
Kurathazwar and Periya Nambikal reached Chola kingdom with the king’s sevakas. Chola king believed that Kurathazwar was Ramanuja. He told him that he sent for him to discuss the siddhantham of Saiva and Vaishnava samayams. Further he told him that Lord Siva was the God who got immense power and the people in his court (Sabha) would explain to him the greatness of Saiva samayam and he should also accept it. But Kurathazwar told him that Sriman Narayan was the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" /><st1lace>Superior</st1lace> one and without Him nothing could be manifested. He was the one who could give mukthi to Jivans.He explained Ramanuja’s Visishtadvaida Philosophy. But the king was not convinced and was stubborn and tried to force Kurathazwar to follow Saiva samayam. But both Kurathazwar and Periya Nambikal stood their ground and were not afraid even when the king told them that they would have to face the consequences for disobeying his order.
The king was furious to find that his words had no effect on them. He then ordered his sepoys to bind them and take away to a far off place and pull out their eyes. He told that it was the most severe punishment for them than killing them. When Kurathazwar heard this, he felt that it was better to pierce his eyes on his own instead of allowing those evil doers to pull them out and so he pierced his eyes on his own. The sepoys dragged both Kurathazwar and Periya Nambikal to forest and there they pulled out Periya Nambikal’s eyes. They also tortured both of them. But both of them were very patient and felt pity for the sepoys. They felt that there was no use of blaming the arrow instead of the one who targeted it. ( எய்தவன் ஒருவன் இருக்க அம்பைப் பழிப்பானேன்?)
The sepoys felt ashamed of their behaviour and wanted to do prayachitham. They found a beggar and they gave him some money and told him to escort them to Srirangam. But due to old age Peria Nambikal died on the way. Thus Periya Nambikal laid his life for the sake of his most beloved disciple Ramanuja and Kurathazwar lost his eyes.
The Chola king had to pay for his misdeed. He had suffered with Kanda malai a disease that affected the neck. Because of that he got the name Kirumi Kandan.
Kurathazwar’s guru bhakthi was paramount. He was willing to give up even his life for his guru, not only his vision. Both Periya Nambikal’s and Kurathazwar’s sacrifices are examples for a Guru’s benevolence and a disciple’s true guru bhakthi!

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Udaiyavar Thiruvadikale SaraNam!​

 

Dear Bhargavi,
Thank you for your prompt FB. Kurathazwar and Periya Nambikal were great souls and very much blessed!
Love,
Pushpavalli

 

King Vittaladeva discarding Buddhism and following Vaishnavism

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Sri Ramanuja wearing white robe on heeding the request of Kurathazwar and Periya Nambikal left Srirangam to escape from Chola king. He was joined by his disciples Mudaliyandan, Govindan, Dhanurdasar and several others. They had to pass through forest as they did not want to be spotted by the king’s sepoys. They continued to walk for two days without taking rest as they wanted to be out of Chola kingdom. On the second night they all felt very tired and slept near a dwelling place of a hunter’s tribe.
The hunters saw them and they were very kind people. They thought that being Brahmins they would not accept food from them. They collected variety of fruits and left them near the place where they were sleeping. They also lighted a fire to keep them warm as they were sleeping in cold open space. They were waiting nearby until they got up.
In the morning they all got up and were surprised to see the people and the fruits. They were overwhelmed with love and affection for the hunters’ kindness and hospitality. They all took bath in the river nearby and ate the fruits. Sri Ramanuja blessed them and then continued his journey. They went to the agraharam in the near by village and stayed in the house of a srivaishnava called Ranga Dasar for two days. Sri Ramanuja gave him manthra diksha and then left the place. Then he stayed for two days a place called Vanni Pushkarani and then reached a place called Saligramam. At Saligramam there was a Vaishnava called Vaduka Nambi and he was a great scholar. He remained a brahmachari and Ramanuja had accepted him as his disciple. He was also called Andhra PooraNar. He had become very much devoted to Ramanuja and was doing service to him. He felt that he was very lucky to do service to him and was also blessed to have him as his guru.
After spending a few days with him Ramanuja went to Narasimha Shethra and stayed at the house of a bhaktha. At that time the Andhra kingdom was ruled by a king named Vittala Deva. Hr used to do anna dhanam to thousands of followers of Buddha. He had a daughter and she was possessed by an evil spirit. The Buddha sanyasis were not successful in driving away the spirit. When Vittala Deva came to know that Ramanuja was in the city, he sent for Ramanuja to cure his daughter. Ramanuja went to the king’s palace and as soon as he saw the princess the evil spirit fled away and the princess became normal. Vittala Deva was very much delighted and he felt that Ramanuja had divine power. He became his true devotee and discarded Buddism and started following Ramanuja’s Visishtadvida philosophy.

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Yathirajar Thiruvadikale SaraNam!​

To be continued​

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Kurathazwar regained his vision

Sri Ramanuja was always thinking about Kurathazwar and his sacrifice. He came to know the atrocity committed to him by the Choza king. He was thinking deeply to find a way to restore his sight.
Here Kurathazwar left Srirangam and was residing at Thirumalirunjsolai with his wife. When he stayed there he composed Sristhavam, Sundara Bahusthavam, Athi Maanushasthavam and VaikuNtasthavam.
Ramanuja sent word to Kuresar through his Disciple to go to Kancheepuram and pray to Lord PeraruLaaLa Perumal to restore his sight. Kuresar was very much delighted to know that Ramanuja was very much concerened about him. He had full faith in his Acharya and according to his advice he went to Kancheepuram with his wife. Thinking about his Acharya’s kindness and compassion he stood in front of Lord Varadaraja, and prayed to him with deep devotion with tears flowing from his eyes.
Lord PeraruLaaLa PerumaL, who is the ocean of mercy and kindness was very much pleased with Kuresar’s Acharya and Bagavad bakthi, told Him, “I am really overwhelmed to see your acharya bakthi and the selfless sacrifice even to give your life to save your Acharya and I am present in this world in Archa rupam to protect sincere and true devotees like you. I am pleased to restore your vision even though you possess the vision of wisdom.”
Lo! To everybodys astonishment Kuresar got his vision back and he started dancing and singing in praise of Lord PeraruLaaLa PerumaL and his Acharya Ramanuja! The devotees who were present were spellbound to witness the Lord”s benevolence. They all started praising his earlier act of abandoning his wealth and his service to his Acharya and the Lord.

Kuresar ThiruvadikaLe SaraNam!​

To be continued​