viLanchOlai piLLai

srI:
srImathE satakOpAya nama:
srImathE rAmAnujAya nama:
srImath varavaramunayE nama:
srI vAnAchala mahAmunayE nama:

AzhvAr EmperumAnAr jIyar thiruvadigaLE charaNam

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sri viLAnchOlai piLLai is one of the sishyAs of sri piLLai lOkAchAriar.

His dAshya nAmam is ‘nalam thigazh nArAyANa dhAsar’.

His place of birth is the village of ‘ARanUr’ near thiruvanandhapuram.

This is in the shores of a river called ‘karaimanai’.

His thirunakshathiram falls on aippasi uthirattAdhi (Saturday October 27 in 2012, Nandhana).

He was born in EEzhava kulam. Due to his kulam he was not able to go inside the temple, so he used to climb ‘viLam’ trees in his village to get darshan of the gOpuram of thiruvanandhapuram anantha padmanABhan temple, and do mangaLasAsanam.

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thaniyans

thulA..hirbuDhnya samBhootham srIlOkArya padhAshritham |
sapthagAThA pravakthAram nArAyaNa maham BhajE ||

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srI lOkArya padhAravindhamakilam SruthyarthTha kOSAmsthaThA
gOshTInjchApi thadhEka lIna manasA sanjithayantham mudhA |

srI nArAyaNa dhAsamAryamamalam sEvE sathAm SEvDhim
srI vAgBhUshaNa gUDaBhAva vivruthim yas sapthagAThAm vyaDhath ||

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துலாSஹிர்பு³த்⁴ந்யஸம்பூ⁴தம் ஸ்ரீலோகார்ய பதா³ஸ்ரிதம் |
ஸப்தகா³தா² ப்ரவக்தாரம் நாராயணமஹம் ப⁴ஜே ||

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ஸ்ரீலோகார்ய பதா³ரவிந்த³மகி²லம் ஸ்ருத்யர்த்த² கோஸாம்ஸ்ததா²
கோ³ஷ்டீ²ஞ்சாபி ததே³கலீநமநஸா ஸஞ்சிதயந்தம் முதா³ |

ஸ்ரீநாராயண தா³ஸமார்யமமலம் ஸேவே ஸதாம் ஸேவதி⁴ம்
ஸ்ரீவாக்³பூ⁴ஷண கூ³ட⁴பா⁴வவிவ்ருதிம் யஸ்ஸப்தகா³தா²ம் வ்யதா⁴த் ||

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More about viLAnchOlai piLLai

viLanchOlai piLLai learned EEdu, sri bhAshyam, etc., thathvathrayam and other rahasya granthams, etc., from sri azhagiya maNavALa pErumAL nAyanArAcharyar, who is the younger brother of sri piLLai lOkachariar.

He learned srI vachana bhUshaNam from his AchAryan sri piLLai lOkAchariar, and was considered an expert in its meanings (adhikAri).

sri viLAnchOlai piLLai wrote ‘saptha gAThai’, which gives us the essence of his Acharyan’s sri vachana bhUshaNam.

Note: mUlam for saptha gAThai is available in Sanskrit, English, and Thamizh at:
http://acharya.org/sloka/vspillai/index.html

One of the biggest kainkaryams he did to his AchAryan is to follow his AchAryan’s instructions which was given during his Acharyan’s charama dhasai –  sri piLLai lOkAchariar wanted his sishyAs to reach out to thiruvAimOzhi piLLai (then thirumalai AzhvAr) and prepare him to be the next AchAryar in this golden lineage; sri piLLai lOkAchariar instructed viLAnchOlai piLLai to teach thirumalai AzhvAn (thiruvAimOzhi piLLai), the meaning of srI vachana bhUshaNam.

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viLanchOlai piLLai and thiruvAimOzhi piLLai

When thiruvAimOzhi piLLai reached thiruvananthapuram, he was welcomed by the namboodhiries, and did mangaLasAsanam to ananthapadhmanAbhan through the three windows, and then looked for srI viLAnchOlai piLLai.

When he found his place and reached there he was in for a big surprise!  viLanchOlai piLLai was in yOga meditating on his AchAryan piLLai lOkAchAriar’s thirumEni, and about the greatness of all his sishyAs and their whole presence in thiruvarangam during those days.

viLAnchOlai piLLai’s thirumEni (divine body) was covered in spider webs.

thiruvAimOzhi piLLai fell on his feet and stood silently in front of him. viLanchOlai piLLai immediately opened his eyes and his grace fell on thiruvAimOzhi piLLAi. He was happy to see the sishyA that he has been waiting for.

He gave the deep meanings of srI vachana BhUshaNam to thiruvAimOzhi piLLai.  In addition he wrote 7 pasurams that is saptha gAThai which gives the essence of srI vachana bhUshaNam, and explained about saptha gAthai too to thiruvAimOzhi piLLai.

This was a prime example for ‘kodumin koNmin’ as said by thONdaradip podi AzhwAr – viLanchOlai piLLai of EEzha kulam gave, and thiruvAimOzhi piLLai of brahmin kulam received, the essence of sri vaishNavam.

After some time, thiruvAimOzhi piLLai took leave from viLAnchOlai piLLai, and went on to become a dharsana pravarthakar of srI rAmAnuja dharisanam.

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viLanchOlai piLLai’s charamam

One day namboodhris were doing thiruvArAdhanam to anantha padmanAbhan, and viLanchOlai piLLai entered the temple through east entrance; cross the dhwaja sthambham; went past narasimhar, and entered through the north entrance of sanctum sanctOrum (garbha gruham), climbed the stairs near ‘ORRai kal maNdapam’, and out of the three windows that give sEvai to peruman, he stood near the window that gives dharshan to His lotus feet.

When namboodhiris saw this, according to the custom of the time, did not want to be in the sanctum sanctorum due to the cast of viLanchOlai piLLai and so they closed the doors of the sannidhi, and started to go out of the temple.

At the same time, some of the local sishyas of viLanchOlai piLLai approached the temple and announced that their AchAryan viLAnchOlai piLLAi has reached the thiruvadi of his AchAryar piLLai lOkachariar!! And they wanted ‘thiru pariyattam, and flower garlands’ from perumAn, for the charama thirumEni of viLAnchOlai piLLai!! They stood near the temple entrance and were reciting irAmanusa nUtrandhAdhi iyal etc.

When namboodhris saw this, they were surprized about the happenings earlier near the sanctum sanctOrum and informed about this to every one!

Like how thiruppANAzhvAr reached the thiruvadi of pEriya pErumAL in pEriya kOil, here viLAnchOlai piLLai had reached the thiruvadi of anantha padmanAbhan!

thiruvAimOzhi piLLai after hearing this news, did all charama kainkaryams that sishyas would do for their AchAryan, and did thiruvadhyayanam too in a complete manner.  Reminds us of pEriya nambi’s kainkaryam to mAranEri nambi.

His thirunakshathiram of aippasi uthirattAdi, and it falls on Saturday, October 27, in nandhana year, 2012.

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Following was given by the sishyas who celebrated the greatness of thiruvAimozhi piLLAi having sishya bhAvam towards viLAnchOlai piLLai.

patRAdha engaL maNavALa yOgi padham paNindhOn
naRREvarAsa-nalanthigazh nArNa thAdharudan
kaRRArenkUrakulOthama thAdhan kazhal paNivOn
maRRArum ovvA thiruvAimozhip piLLai vAzhiyavE

பற்றாதவெங்கள் மணவாளயோகி பதம்பணிந்தோன்
நற்றேவராசனலந்திகழ் நாரணதா தருடன்
கற்றாரெங்கூரகுலோத்தமதாதன் கழல் பணிவோன்
மற்றாருமொவ்வாத் திருவாய்மொழிப் பிள்ளை வாழியவே.

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Following vAzhi was given by thiruvAimozhi piLLAi on viLanchOlai piLLai.

vAzhi nalam thikazh nAraNathAdhan aruL
vAzhi avan amudha vAymozhigaL – vAzhiyave
ERu thiruvudaiyAn enthai ulagAriyan sol
thERu thiruvudaiyAn sIr

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வாழி நலம் திகழ் நாரணதாதன் அருள்
வாழி அவன் அமுத வாய்மொழிகள் – வாழியவே
ஏறு திருவுடையான் எந்தை உலகாரியன் சொல்
தேறு திருவுடையான் சீர்.

Sources:

1. “mannu pugazh maNavALa mAmunivan”, irA. arangarAjan, 2011.

2. “nithAyAnusandhAnam” from srI vaishnava srI; srI sudharsanar trust.

3. yathIndrapravaNa prabhAvam by srI piLLailOkam jIyar, published by Sri. U.Ve. Dr. V.V. Ramanujan, 1992, 2000, 2006.

4. mUlam of saptha gAThai found at http://acharya.org/sloka/vspillai/index.html taken on Oct 27, 2012.

5. ‘srI Ramanuja E-Journal’ edition found at http://www.docstoc.com/docs/2437367/Sri-Ramanuja-E-Journal – taken on Oct 27, 2012.

6. Picture courtesy through Sri Sarathy Thothadri swami.

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adiyen ragurAm srInivAsa dasan

Originally written at https://acharyar.wordpress.com/2012/10/26/vilancholai-pillai-vaibhavam/

archived in https://guruparamparai.wordpress.com

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