Sri VaishNavam

Sri VaishNavam- 1

From: Madhavakkannan V (srivaishnavan_at_hotmail.com)
Date: Tue Mar 31 1998 - 22:06:25 PST

_________________________
SRI:

SRIMATHE RAMANUJAYA NAMAH:

SRIMATHE NIGAMANTHA MAHADESIKAYA NAMAH:

SRIMATHE GOPALA DESIKA MAHA DESIKAYA NAMAH:

SRIMATHE RANGANAYIKA SAMETHA SRI RANGANATHA PARABHRAHMANE NAMAH:

Dearest Sisters and Brothers, the bhakthAs of Sriman NarayaNA!

Ennuyir thandhu aLitthavaraich charNampukki/ yaanadaivE avargurukkaL
niRai vaNanghi/
PinnaruLaal perumpudhUr vandha vaLLal/ periya nambi Alavandhaar
maNakkal nambi/
NanneRiyai avarkku uRaittha uyyakkoNdaar/ nathamuni sadagOpan sEnai
nAthan/
Innamudhath ThirumagaLenRu ivarai munnittu/ Emperumaan ThiruvadigaLai
adaiginREnE!

It is my humble attempt to jot down all that I have heard and read about
Sri VaishNavam. Though it is nothing new for our Bhakthi Group, all of
these topics have been covered sometime or the other, it is still my
sincere intent to reach the beginners and novices like me who are just
in Kinder gardens of Sri VaishNavam; Today being the Most Auspicious day
of Panguni RohiNI, The Thirunakshatthiram of my Most revered His
Holiness Srimad Poundareekapuram ParavaakOttai Andavan Sri Gopala Desika
MahA Desika Swami, it is my offering to His Lotus Feet. I have also
tried to cover here at various places Swami's upadEsam also (when I was
blessed with the performance of saraNAgathi at Swami's Feet.). Of
course, it is all my free translation; It is most likely to have lot of
errors; Please forgive me; It is all mine; any positive and good points
in them- the credit goes to all AchAryALs and our rich
traditions/scriptures. (It is requested that we should stick and abide
by what our scriptures and AchAryALs say to the greatest possible
extent).

This may extend to a series of about 4  posts, I suppose. It is
Emperumaan ThiruvuLLam and krupai for enabling me to undertake this
naapAsai. (It is also 

Introduction

There are lots and lots of lives on this earth. Human beings, Animals,
birds, insects, trees, plants, creepers, etc., etc., - there are so many
varieties of lives living in this world. Every day- every minute, there
are so many births of such lives and so are deaths.

After taking so many lives (they say about 8,400,000 lives), we have
come to this human life. Avvayaar, The Tamil poet, says : "aridhu aridhu
maanidaraayp piRatthal aridhu"- It is extremely rare and precious to be
born of human being. It is quite true that it is our fortune to be born
a human being with the capacity of sixth sense. Let us make use of it
for our upliftment further. What is good and bad- what to do and what
not to do- only human beings are blessed with such discriminating
capabilities- We have been given that capacity by Emperumaan. Shall we
not make full use of it?

Bhagyam:

Even out of human beings, it is our pUrva janma puNyam and that of our
ancestors for our being SrivaishNavAs. There are so many religions in
the world; Even in Hindu religion, there are many sects; and there are
hindus who worship many dEvatAs as their Gods.

For us SrivaishNavAs, Sriman NarayaNan along with His consort Sri
MahAlakshmi alone is the God (Deivam). He is the Primordial Chief. He is
the Chief of all dEvAs, including Sivan and BrahmA. Vedas proclaim that
Sriman NarayaNan is the ParamAthmA, PeramporuL and ParanjOthi. VedAs
also say that except Him all including dEvas, Sivan, BrahmA and Indran
are all jIvans. Being born a SrivaishNavA and/or a bhakthA of Sriman
NarayaNA, we need not worship other devatAs. We are related to the Great
King Himself; why to go and beg the army chief, minister or the Gate
keeper? No doubt, all dEvAs are also His great bhaktAs sometime or the
other; but they are NOT God. Sriman Narayanan is the God. 

VedAs and SaastrAs say that even to think of Sivan and BrahmA and other
dEvas as equal to God is a great sin (mahApaapam). For that matter,
Sivan and BrahmA themselves are great bhaktAs of Sriman NarayaNA. I am
sure They themselves DO NOT RELISH being considered anywhere near the
Adhimoolam- The Primordial Chief. When GajEndrA shouted for help
"AdhimoolamE!" it is NOT any name of God-please note! It is just calling
the Primordial Chief, the first one- the Parathvam! Nobody dared come
claiming for "Adhimoolam" post, it is our Sweet Lord Sriya: Pathih
Sriman Naraynan who appeared IMMDEIATELY on GarudA and saved the
elephant. You may tell that it is only the name and rose by any name
will smell as sweet. But it is vEdAs (which are eternal and
apaurushEyam) that proclaim that Sriman Naraynana is the Supreme
Godhead. It is not just a name. It is kaaraNa peyar; name with a meaning
in it; naaram + ayaNam is Narayanan. Hence, we should worship only
Sriman Narayanan. Even uttering His name alone will yield tremendous
benefits both in this world and in the next. (as also vouched by the
Great Adhi SankarAchArya sang the Bhaja Govindham song wherein he
advises us to think of KrishNA and the Parama BhakthA of Sriman
NarayaNA, Sivan, when he himself tells Parvathi to utter Rama naamam,
which is equal to the Thousand names of VishNu. - Do we need any other
proof?)

For us, only vEdAs are the moola pramaaNam. (The proof). VedAs were not
created by anybody. They are apaurushEyam. Vedas proclaim the Glories of
Emperumaan Sriman NarayaNan.

AZHWARS:

AzhwArs, 12 AzhwArs appeared in South India and composed Tamil pAsurams
(about 4000) that are considered EQUAL to vEdAs. The Naalaayira Divya
Prabhandham were composed for us to learn and understand the vEdAs in
Tamil. As mentioned by Swami Vedanta Desikan "theLiyaadha maRainilangaL
theLiginROmE!". By reading  these 4000 pAsurams, our concepts get
clarified and we get to understand the incomprehensible vEdAs clearly.
They are hence, called Tamil vEdam. 

AzhwArs were 12. Since they always were immersed (aazhndhu) in kalyANa
guNAs (the Most Auspicious attributes) of Emperumaan Sriman NarayaNan,
they are called AzhwArs. They were PoigaiAzhwAr, BhUthathAzhwAr,
PEyAzhwAr, ThirumazhisaiAzhwAr, NammAzhwAr, PeriyAzhwAr,
MadhurakaviAzhwAr, ThondaradippodiAzhwAr, KulasEkharAzhwAr,
ThiruppANAzhwAr, AndAL, & ThirumangaiAzhwAr.

NammAzhwAr is considered the Most important and the Greatest AzhwAr; for
his prabhandham (of Thiruvaaimozhi of 1000 pAsurams) which glorifies the
prapatti (the surrender concept). He took refuge at the Lord's feet and
performed prapatti. Hence, for all of us, VaishNavAs, NammAzhwAr is the
Chief, since he leads us by example for performing prapatti at the
Lord's Lotus Feet. He is Moola purushar. He is also addressed as the
Prapanna santhaana koodasthar. His Thiruvaaimozhi's commentary is called
Bhagavadh Vishayam. It is a Grantham that one has to do kAlakshEpam
under the feet of his AchAryA.


Guru paramparA:

Sriman Narayanan is the first AchArya for all of us. He is the Adhi
Guru. Next comes Periya Piratti MahAlakshmi. VishvaksEnar (Senai
Mudhali)( -no connection with Mudhaliar caste of present times) is the
next AchAryan. He is the Chief of the Lord's army (sEnai). Next is
NammAzhwAr. VishvaksEnar, it appears had come down to the earth to teach
NammAzhwAr. Nathamuni is His sishyA. UyyakkoNdaar, MaNakkaal Nambi,
Yamuna Muni (Alavandhaar), Periyanambi come in that lineage. Periya
Nambi's sishyar is Our Most reverred YathirAjar, Sri RamanujAchAryA
(lakshmaNa Muni). He is the Most important AchArya of VaishNava
Siddhantham. He is also called Bhagavadh RamanujA. Rest is all that you
are aware of and we can trace down to our present AchAryA. (ask your
parent, if you are not sure who your present AchAryA is.)

Next part, we will talk about the Siddhaantham- tatvam - (if time
permits, ) sarIra Athma bhAvam.

AchAryAL ThiruvadigaLE saraNam

Ram Ram

With Best Regards

NarayaNa dAsan madhavakkannan