Tag Archives: alwars

Introduction (contd)

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

In the previous article (https://guruparamparai.wordpress.com/2012/08/16/introduction/), we started discussing our guru paramparai.

emperumAn sriman nArAyaNan who is sriya:pathi (husband of sri mahAlakshmi), one who lives eternally in srivaikuntam with his divya mahishis (sri, bhoo, nILA dhEvis) where he is served by nithysUris like ananthan, garudan, vishwaksEnar, etc is full of auspicious qualities. Srivaikuntam (paramapadham) is a place of eternal bliss, but when emperumAn is enjoying there, his heart is with the jIvAthmAs in samsAram (since they are suffering there). All jIvAthmAs, a) nithyan – always in paramapadham (never been to samsAram due to karma), b) mukthan – one who was in samsAram but liberated now and c) badhdhan – one who is in samsAram bound by karma, are subservient to emperumAn and have the same relationship with emperumAn (owner – owned and father – son relationships primarily). It is out of this relationship alone emperumAn is helping all badhdha jIvAthmAs constantly to bring them to srIvaikuntam and engage them in eternal kainkaryam.

As sAstram explains, one needs to have real knowledge to be liberated. Real knowledge is clearly/crisply explained in rahasya thrayam. The one providing this real knowledge that liberates the jIvAthma from this bonding in samsAram is called AchAryan. Since this position of AchAryan is very glorious, emperumAn himself wants to be an AchAryan. That is why he became the prathama (first) AchAryan. It is explained by our pUrvAchAryas that emperumAn took the position of AchAryan in 3 places:

  • emperumAn took the form of nArAyaNa rishi (AchAryan) in badrikAshramam and revealed thirumanthram to his own avathAram Nara rishi (sishyan).
  • emperumAn revealed dvaya maha manthram to periya pirAtti (sri dhEvi nAchiar) in vishnu lOkam (thus starting our srivaishnava guruparamparai).
  • emperumAn, as pArtha sArathy, revealed charama slOkam to arjunan in kurukshEthram.

View comprehensive guru paramparai chart: http://kaarimaaran.com/downloads/guruparambarai.jpg.

periya perumAL and periyapirAtti in thiruvarangam are the same as srIman nArAyaNan and srI mahAlakshmi. So, starting with periya perumAL, our OrAN vazhi guru paramparai goes in this order:

  1. periya perumAL (srIman nArAyaNan)
  2. periya pirAtti (srI mahAlakshmi)
  3. sEnai mudhaliAr
  4. nammAzhwAr
  5. nAthamunigaL
  6. uyyakkoNdAr
  7. maNakkAl nambi
  8. ALavandhAr
  9. periya nambi
  10. emperumAnAr
  11. embAr
  12. bhattar
  13. nanjIyar
  14. nampiLLai
  15. vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai
  16. piLLai lOkAchAryar
  17. thiruvAimozhi piLLai
  18. azhagiya maNavALa mAmunigaL

AzhwArs and several other AchAryas also are considered to be part of our srivaishnava guru paramparai.

The AzhwArs in order are:

  1. poigai AzhwAr
  2. bhUdhathAzhwAr (bhUdhaththAzhwAr)
  3. pEyAzhwAr
  4. thirumazhisai AzhwAr
  5. madhurakavi AzhwAr
  6. nammAzhwAr
  7. kulasEkarAzhwAr
  8. periyAzhwAr
  9. ANdAL
  10. thoNdaradippodi AzhwAr
  11. thiruppANAzhwAr
  12. thirumangai AzhwAr

The AchAryas (who are not in OrANvazhi guru paramparai) include (but not limited to):

  1. selva nambi
  2. kurugai kAvalappan
  3. thirukkaNNamangai ANdAn
  4. thiruvarangapperumAL arayar
  5. thirukkOshtiyUr nambi
  6. periya thirumalai nambi
  7. thirumAlai ANdAn
  8. thirukkachi nambi (thirukkachchi nambi)
  9. mARanEri nambi
  10. kUrathAzhwAn (kUraththAzhwAn)
  11. mudhaliyANdAn
  12. aruLALa perumAL emperumAnAr
  13. kOil komANdUr iLayavilli AchAn
  14. kidAmbi AchAn
  15. vaduga nambi
  16. vangi purathu nambi
  17. sOmAsi ANdAn
  18. piLLai uRangAvilli dhAsar
  19. thirukkurugaippirAn piLLAn
  20. kUra nArAyaNa jIyar
  21. engaLAzhwAn
  22. ananthAzhwAn
  23. thiruvarangathu amudhanAr
  24. nadAthUr ammAL
  25. vEdha vyAsa bhattar
  26. srutha prakAsikA bhattar (sudharsana sUri)
  27. periyavAchAn piLLai (periyavAchchAn piLLai)
  28. eeyuNNi mAdhava perumAL (this includes the history of nampiLLai’s eedu mahA vyAkyAnam)
  29. eeyuNNi padhmanAbha perumAL
  30. nAlUr piLLai
  31. nAlUrAchAn piLLai (nAlUrAchchAn piLLai)
  32. naduvil thiruvIdhi piLLai bhattar
  33. pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar
  34. azhagiya maNavALa perumAL nAyanAr
  35. nAyanArAchAn piLLai
  36. vAdhi kEsari azhagiya maNavALa jIyar
  37. kUra kulOthama dhAsar
  38. viLAnchOlai piLLai
  39. vEdhAnthAchAryar
  40. thirunArAyaNapurathu Ay jananyAchAryar

After (and during) the period of maNavALa mAmunigal, many glorious AchAryas lived in our sampradhAyam including (but not limited to):

  1. ponnadikkAl jeeyar
  2. kOil kandhAdai aNNan
  3. prathivAdhi bhayankaram aNNan
  4. pathangi paravasthu pattarpirAn jIyar (paththangi paravasthu pattarpirAn jIyar)
  5. eRumbi appA
  6. appiLLai
  7. appiLLAr
  8. kOil kandhAdai appan
  9. srIperumbUthUr Adhi yathirAja jIyar
  10. appAchiyAraNNA
  11. piLLai lOkam jIyar
  12. thirumazhisai aNNAvappangAr
  13. appan thiruvEnkata rAmAnuja embAr jIyar and more

In the subsequent articles, we will go through the lives of these AchAryas as much as possible.

adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan

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