Sri Manavala Mamunigal

Sri Manavala Mamunigal

► Life History

► Vaibhavam

► Thanian (Explanation)

Works

► Upadesa Ratnamalai

► Yathiraja Vimsathi

► Arthi Prabhandham

SrisailEsa dayApatram dhIbhaktyAdi gunArnavam
yatIndra pravanam vandE ramyajAmAtaram munim.

Thanian of Sri Manavala Mamunigal (Invocatory verse)
by Sri Sri U.Ve Velukkudi Krishnan Swami

It is known to one and all that the above srisukti was submitted to the feet of Swami MM by none other than Lord Ranganatha. Namperumal wanted to hear tiruvoimozhi kalakshepam from Swamy MM. He conducted kalakshepam of tiruvoimozhi starting on the paritapi year 31st day of avani sukla caturdasi friday. It continued for 1 year and the sattumurai was on aani moolam. For this one year all the utsavams of namperumal were stopped. During the sattumurai, namperumal appeared as a 5 year old archaka boy and recited this sloka in praise of his acharyan i.e. MM. Why did he choose MM as his acharyan.

Here is an interesting logic.During Ramavatara Viswamitra was Rama's guru who teached mantras. But was he the right guru for such a great being like Rama ? No. He himself was a person who fell prey to kama and krodha. We know that he became the father
of Sakuntala and in another instance he even forgot his nitya anushthana. So Rama was not fortunate enough to get a right guru who would be apt for his prabhavam. Rama waited till the next avatara.

Saandipana was Krishna's guru. When the vidyabhyasa was over , Krishna wanted to give guru dakshina anything that his guru wanted. Initially, saandipana refused to accept anything. When Krishna insisted, he consulted his wife and kept a request to Krishna. To search and bring back his lost son. (odu vaimayumuvaniyarpirappum unakku mun tanda anthanan oruvan - kaadal en magan pugalidam kanen - kandu nee taruvai - kodil vaymayinan). Krishna even though fulfilled the wish of his guru, was sad. Why ? Would it not be fitting for a guru to request Krishna for moksham and kainkarya. Leaving that he requested for a wordly pleasure - son. So, krishna had to again wait till his next avatara.

Lord Ranganatha is the representative of Rama and Krishna. Thondaradippodi alwar in his tirumalai first says " silayinal ilangai setra devane devanavan" then adds " kattrinam meytha endai kazhalinai panimineere".When we said to alwar that both are not possible because Rama and Krishna belong to a different yuga and we are in Kali yuga , alwar gives the solution " kaattinan tiruvarangam uypavarkku uyyum vannam". So Ranganatha is undoubtedly the representative of Rama and Krishna.Ranganatha decided not to miss the bus atleast in this avatara - i.e. to have a guru commensurate with his own mahima.

Thus, he selected MM as his guru. This is evident from the taniyaan that Ranganatha has submitted to the lotus feet of Swami MM. Srimannarayana is the prathamacharya in our sampradaya. MM is the acharya for the prathamacharya. Everyone prostrates before the Lord and say Namaha or vande.

The Lord himself is uttering "vande" towards MM here. Such is the greatness of MM in our sampradaya.Both the acharya and sishya stand out for their beauty (handsome). Sisya is azhagiya manavalan. Acharya is azhagiya manavala muni.Srisailesa dayapatram is praised as the mantra, stotram and pranamam recited of Ranganatha. I will write as to how it is a mantra ( as told by our poorvacharyas) and how it is held in high esteem than tirumantram.

The word mantra means :

1. " mantAram trAyata iti mantra: " - 'that which protects one who chants or thinks about it.' i.e. we keep tirumandiram in our nitya anusandhanam and it protects us. Even the Lord himself is called as Mantra: . Tirumangai alwar in his tirunedunthandakam : "andanar mattu andi vaitha mandirathai mandirathal maravadu enrum vazhdiyel vazhalam mada nenjame." andanar - brahmin, madu - wealth (vedas are the wealth of brahmins-brahmanAnAm dhanam veda:) andi - vedantam. andi vaitha mandiram - bhagavan. mandirathal -
tirumandirathal vazhthavendum. In this song both bhagavan and tirumandiram are called as mantram by alwar - as both of them protect anyone who thinks about them. In sahasranama also we come across "mantra: candrAmsu: bhaskaradyuti:"

2. Mantra also means "matri guptabhashaNe" - that which is a rahashya. Of course we know, tirumandiram is the first of the rahasya.Now, Pillai lokam jeer and other poorvacharyas establish that Srisailesa mantram qualifies/excels in both these meanings. The similarities are :

1. Tirumantram and Srisailesa mantram are both told by Srimannarayana himself.

2. Both would protect one who chants them. The Lord protects us. Everyone prostrate before the Lord.

If he in turn says " ramyajamataram munim vande", it is clear that he shows us the feet of MM for our protection. Lord's upadesa is to salute Himself in tirumantram. But his anushtana is not so in Srisailesa mantram. He salutes MM. Will the world give weightage to upadesa
or anushtAna ? (preaching or conduct). Obviously anushtana. Thus, Srisailesa mantram protects even the protector himself.

3. Pranavam, the first word of tirumantram is recited before and after vedas it is also said omkara prabhava veda:. Srisailesa mantram is recited before and after the tamil vedas.

4. Om connotes seshatvam of the jIva i.e. jIvAtmA's servitude towards the Lord. akArArthO vishnu: ... makArArthO jIva:. Om says that jIvAtma who is said by 'ma' is the servant to the paramAtma who is said by 'a'. In each phrase of Srisailesa mantra this meaning (seshatvam) is found. Let us see how it is:

SrisailEsa dayapatram - SrisailEsa = Lord Srinivasa = 'a'. dayApAtram - one who is bestowed with His kripa = jIva = 'ma'. So 'ma' is the servant of 'a'. SrisailEsa would actually mean tiruvoimozhi pillai. Even in this case acharya is none other the Lord himself "sAkshAt nArAyanO deva:...". So he can also be denoted by 'a'

dhIbhaktyAdi gunArnavam - wisdom and devotion. In our sampradAya - jnAna would in fact mean seshatva jnAna only. Devotion would also come to a servant only. So both these denote seshatvam.

yatIndra pravanam - Who is a yatIndra ? one who unites the jIvatma with the paramAtma with his upadesa = a bhagavata or an acharya. pravanam - servitude to a bhagavata or an acharya. A person is acclaimed as a servant to the Lord only if he is a servant to a bhagavata. bhagavatseshatvam is fulfilled only if he is a bhAgavata sesha. This is the inner meaning of om. So this also connotes seshatvam.

ramyajAmAtaram munim - ramyajAmAta = azhagiya manavalan = ranganatha = 'a'. muni = one who meditates (mananam karoti iti muni:)= jIva = 'ma'. So one who always thinks about ranganatha as his Lord is His sesha. This phrase also denotes seshatvam.

Since all the four parts of SrisailEsa mantram explains the meaning of Om , this is praised as a mantram.SrisailEsa mantram is not only equal to tirumantram. In fact it excels. tirumantram is a rahasya. But since it is a part of veda - any one who has the right to chant veda can chant tirumantram. He may be a karma or jnAna or bhakti yogi. Hence in the true sense it is not a rahasya. But is that the case with SrisailEsa mantra? No. Only prapannAs chant this. So this truly is the rahasya. Moreover the Lord first propounded tirumantram. Realising its limitations, later on brought out SrisailEsa mantram in his anushtanam.

After all these, will anyone have a doubt that SrisailEsa dayapatram is THE MANTRAM. Let us all chant on Ippasi moolam the greatness of MM - acharya of the prathamacharya.

Article reproduced from: http://www.mamunigal.freeservers.com

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Sri:

Srirangam
Photo Courtesy: acharya.org

Upadesa Ratnamalai (An Overview)
by Sri U.Ve .Oppilaippan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan

Structure and Content of Updesa Ratnamalai:

There are 73 paasurams and one Taniyan in URM.The individual paasurams fall into Six distinctcategories (A-F) :

A)Paasurams (1-3): Introductory remarks

In the first paasuram , MM declares that he is performing upadesam for the future generations in strict accordance with the upadesam that he himself received from his Achaaryan, Thiruvaaimozhip piLLai and his AchArya paramparai.In the second paasuram , he comments about the potential impact of his URM on two categories of people . He says that the learned ones of discriminating intellect will study URM and instruct other devotees of the Lord on it with joy. The other category will reject his prabhandham out of jealousy and no harm will come to him because of their rejection of his sadhupadesam .In the third paausram , MM performs MangaLAsAsanam for the AzhwArs and AchAryAs , their Sri Sookthis and says pallANdu to them along with the VedAs , whose essence they represented .

(B)Azhwar-AchAryAL birth details (Months/Stars/Places of Birth)

MM devoted 35 Paasurams to cover the details regarding the month of the birth, the constellation in ascendance at the time of birth , the avathAra sthalams and the unique glories of each of them ( paasurams 4 to 38). For some AzhwArs, he devoted one paasuram (e.g)., ThiruppANar , Thirumazhisai , ThoNdaradippodi and KulasEkarar . For NammAzhwAr , Madhura Kavi and Thirumangai , he dedicated two paasurams . ANDAL and
EmperumAnAr received three paasurams and PeriyAzhwar had the unique distinction of being saluted with five paasurams . The details on the affectionate tributes by MM are covered in detail in his home pages .

C. The Glories of the Commentators on AruLiccheyalkaL (34-50)

MM's salutation starts with a tribute to Naatha Muni, who restored Dhivya prabhandhams to circulation with the anugraham of Swamy NammAzhwAr. He continues with his salutation to EmperumAnAr , the krupAmAthra pradannAchAryar,and thanks him for his exquisite help in spreading the messeage of ThiruvAimozhi through the niyamanam to Thirukkurhai PirAn PiLLAn to write his scholastic commentary on it. next, MMexpresses his gratitude to the five renowned commentators on ThiruvAimozhi: Thirukkuruhai PirAn PiLLAn , Namjeeyar , PeriyavAcchAn PiLLai, Vadakku Thiruveethi PiLLai and Vaadhi Kesari Azhagiya MaNavALa Jeeyar .MM also refers to the blessings of Azhagiya MaNavALa PerumAL NaayanAr, the brother of Sri PiLLai LokAcchAr through his commnetarieson ThiruppAvai, AmalanAdh PirAn , KaNNInuNN SirutthAmpu and ThiruvAimozhi of Swamy NammAzhwar (AchAryaHrudhayam ).

D. Tributes to Sri PiLLai LokAcchAr and His Rahasya Granthams(51-70)

Among the 18 Rahasya granthams of PiLLai LokAcchAr , MM focuses on Sri Vachana BhUshaNam(SVB) as a dhivya saasthram and points out that it is " SaangAkhila Dhramida-samskrutha roopa Ved SaarArtha sangraha mahArasa Vaakhya jaatham ( the essence of the Sanskritic VedAs and their six angAs in Tamil).He instructs
us that the understanding of the deep meanings of SVB through a sadAchAryan and conducting one's life according to those percepts would be the best of blessings that can come one's way.

From paasurams 60-70, MM elaborates on the key messages of SVB. Some of these messages are: (1) Those without AchArya Bhakthi will not enter Sri Vaikuntam (2) A sishyan, who fully understands theimmensity of his AchArya upakAram will not live away from his AchAryA's sacred feet ; here , MM points out the importance of AchArya kaimkaryam(3) AchAryan will protect the Aathma SvaruPam of his sishyan and latter in turn will tend with devotion the deha samrakshaNam of his AchAryan .The importance of nithya kaimkaryam at the feet of one's AchAryan is emphasized here and the example of the devoted service of Pinpazhakiya Jeeyar's kaimkaryam to his AchAryan, nampiLLai is cited here.(4) the pursuit of the anushtAnams as established by poorvAchAryALs is emphasized instead of following noothana VishNavam . MM states that the spiritual growth should be through climbing the steps of the ladder of anushtAnam established by PoorvAchAryALs (5) AasthikAs following the true way shown by our AchAryAls are the only ones for us to follow (6)sathsangam is the most important cause for the enhancement of our Aathma guNams.

E and F : Upadesa Nigamanam and Phala sruthi (71-73)

In paasuram 71, MM condemns the pseudo scholars , who twist the meanings of SVB according to their own will as Moorkkars and instructs us to stay away from them . In the 72nd paasuram , MM gives us the Upadesam that those who seek a sadAchArya and follow the golden way shown by the SadAchArya paramparai will get rid of the afflictions of samsAram and for them even this earth will be like Sri Vaikuntham .He paraphrases NammazhwAr's Sri Sookthi: " ippatthum Uraikka VallArkku VaikunthamAhum tammUrellaam ".In the concluding Seventy third paasuram , MM invites us to study and reflect on the upadesams housed in this prabhndham and informs us that such an effort will grant us the parama krupai of EmperumAnAr without fail.

The 74th Paasuram of URM

MM had the intention of creating 74 paasurams for URM as a measure of his respect for the anugraham of AchArya RaamAnujA in appointing 74 simhAsanAdhipathis to grow "EmperumAnAr darsanam ". At hat time one great AchAryan , who had revered MM as " the NadamAdum Dhaivam" composed a paasuram known as " MannuyirkaL inkE MaNavALa Maamunivan " and begged Lord RanganAthA to include this paasuram along with the 73 composed until then by MM and as a result of Bhagavaan"s niyamanam (Command ), the above paasuram was included as the 74th paasuram of URM for our daily recitation . This paasuram addresses the Mumkshus ( those desiring Moksham ) and states: " Oh Mumkshu ChethanAs ! If you hold on to the lotus feet of MM on your heads during your earthly stay as your sole refuge , You are assured in being blessed with the sparsam (touch) of the hand of amAnavan , as a prerequisite to your entrance in to Sri Vaikuntam .

Article reproduced from: http://www.mamunigal.freeservers.com

SrisailEsa dayApatram dhIbhaktyAdi gunArnavam yatIndra pravanam vandE ramyajAmAtaram munim.

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SrisailEsa dayApatram dhIbhaktyAdi gunArnavam
yatIndra pravanam vandE ramyajAmAtaram munim.