SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
ANdAL pAtti greets the children, who all are excited to learn and hear about maNavALa mAmunigaL .
pAtti : Welcome children, how did you all enjoy your summer vacation?
parASara : pAtti , vacation was good. We are now eager to hear about maNavALa mAmunigaL. Can you tell us about him?
pAtti : Sure children. He was born in AzhwAr thirunagari to thigazhak kidanthAn thirunAvIrudaiya pirAn and SrI ranga nAchchiyAr as an avathAram of AdhiSEshan and punar avathAram (reincarnation) of yathirAjar. He was named azhagiya maNavALan (also azhagiya maNavALap perumAL nAyanAr). He learns all sAmAnya SAsthram (basic principles) and does vEdha adhyayanam under his father’s guidance .
vyAsa : pAtti, wasn’t thiruvAimozhip piLLai his AchAryan?
pAtti : yes vyAsa, hearing about thiruvAimozhip piLLai’s greatness, He surrenders unto him. He becomes expert in aruLichcheyal (dhivya prabandham) especially thiruvAimozhi and eedu 36000 padi vyakyAnam. He was also greatly attached SrI rAmAnuja and served him in bhavishyadhAchAryan sannidhi in AzhwArthirunagari. Due to his overwhelming affection towards yathIndhra (SrI rAmAnuja), he was fondly known as “yathIndhra pravaNa” (one who is very attached to yathIndhra).
Later on, recollecting his AchAryan’s niyamanam he goes and lives in SrIrangam to propagate our sampradhAyam. After reaching SrIrangam, he also accepts sanyAsa ASramam and becomes to be popularly known as azhagiya maNavALa mAmunigaL and periya jIyar.
He writes beautiful commentaries to rahasya granthams such as mumukshuppadi, thathva thrayam , SrIvachana bhUshaNam with many references from vEdham, vEdhantham, ithihAsams, purANams and aruLichcheyal .
He writes commentaries to rAmAnuja nURRanthAdhi , gyAna sAram and pramEya sAram which explains the charama upAya nishtai (understanding AchAryan is everything). mAmunigaL wrote thiruvAimozhi nURRanthAdhi which highlights the meanings of thiruvAimozhi and greatness of nammAzhwAr, based on the request from few SrIvaishNavas. He even recorded the valuable teachings of our pUrvAchAryas by writing upadhEsa rathina mAlai which highlights AzhwArs’ birth places, thirunakshathrams, thiruvAimozhi and SrIvachana bhUshaNam .
mAmunigaL also performs dhivya dhESa yAthrAs and performs mangaLAsAsanam to all the perumALs and AzhwArs.
vEdhavalli : pAtti, amazing to hear about mAmunigaL, and his hard work for our sampradhAyam.
pAtti : yes vEdhavalli, even namperumAL was very interested to hear the kAlakshEpam of nammAzhwAr’s thiruvAimozhi with eedu 36000 padi vyAkyAnam from mAmunigaL. mAmunigaL was very pleased and performed kAlakshEpam of the same for 10 months and finally performed sARRumurai on Ani thirumUlam.
Once the sARRumurai was completed, namperumAl assumes the form of a small child named aranganAyakam comes in front of mAmunigaL and starts reciting “SrISailESa dhayApAthram dhIbhakthyAdhi guNArNavam” with anjali mudhrA (joined palms). Everyone becomes amazed and understood that it was none other than namperumAl himself.
parASara : Wow – that’s great to be honoured by namperumAL himself. pAtti, is that why we start all of our sEvAkAlam with this thaniyan?
pAtti : yes parASara. emperumAn sends this thaniyan to all dhivya dhESams and ordered that it is recited during the commencement and at the end of the sEvAkAlam. Even thiruvEnkatamudayAn and thirumAlirunjOlai azhagar instructed that this thaniyan is recited at the beginning and at the end of aruLichcheyal anusandhAnam.
During his final days, mAmunigaL was writing the commentary for AchArya hrudhayam with great difficulty. Finally he decides to give up his thirumEni (divine form) and go to paramapadham. He recites Arththi prabhandham crying out to emperumAnAr to accept him and relieve him from this material realm. Subsequently, mAmunigaL, by the grace of emperumAn ascends to paramapadham. ponnadikkAl jIyar, who was away during that time, returns to SrIrangam on hearing the news and completes all the charama kainkaryams for mAmunigaL.
aththuzhAy: pAtti , all of us benefited immensely by speaking about him. Thanks for sharing the divine charithram of mAmunigaL with us.
pAtti : Pleasure is mine too aththuzhAy , last but not the least, as he was accepted as AchAryan by periya perumAL, he completes the AchArya rathna hAram and the OrAN vazhi guru paramparai which started from periya perumAL himself.
In our next discussion we will discuss about Sishyas (ashta dhik gajangal) of mAmunigaL.
adiyen janani rAmAnuja dAsi
