Thirumalisai Alwar Vaibhavam 4

Continued

After visits from the Lord Siva, the Siddha and the Rasavaadhi, Thirumalisai Alwar decides to move to a place where none would disturb him. He leaves Thirumalisai and after looking for an ideal place for penance, finally finds one in a cave of a mountain. Alwar immediately sits for penance and leads a very spiritual life, undisturbed by anyone.

Meanwhile, the Mudhal Alwars who were in a Divyadesa Yatra reach the cave where Thirumalisai Alwar had been living. They immediately see Alwar’s greatness and decide to spend some days in Alwar’s company and the four Alwars live together for sometime in the cave. During these days, the Alwars spoke, sang and thought of only Sriman Narayana. They had no worldly issues to worry about. After days of enjoying each others presence, the Mudhal Alwars leave the cave to continue their Divyadesa Yatra. Thirumalisai Alwar too returns to Thirumalisai.

Thirumalisai Alwar Vaibhavam 3

Continued

After the debate with PeiAlwar, Thirumalisai Alwar became a devout Sri Vaishnava and moved to Thirumalisai where he lead a life of Poojas, Kainkaryams & Meditation. Some incidents during this period show Alwar’s greatness.

Once Alwar was sitting in his Ashram and stitching a cloth when Lord Shiva and his consort Parvathi were crossing him in their divine vehicle on sky. Seeing a divine glow in Alwar face, Parvathi enquired about it. Shiva explains that the person was Thirumalisai Alwar who had once been his devotee but now was Sriman Narayana’s devotee. Hearing this Parvathi was happy and said to Shiva that they should get down to Alwar and present him a boon. Lord Shiva accepted and both appear before Alwar. But Alwar inspite of having noticed them, doesn’t welcome or even react to their presence. Lord Shiva then announces his arrival to Alwar and asks why he had not reacted to their presence. Alwar replies that he doesn’t require anything from Him and so he didn’t mind to do anything. Shiva insists that he had decided to give him a boon and so he should ask for something. Alwar then asks Shiva to give him the Moksha. Lord Shiva replies that He can’t give anyone Moksha and only Sriman Narayana is capable of giving Moksha. Shiva asks Alwar to ask for some other boon. Alwar then asks him to give him a long life so he can do all the Penace, Poojas& other things required to attain Moksha. Shiva explains that a persons life time is determined based on his Karma’s and that cannot be changed by him. Again Shiva asks Alwar to seek any other boon. With a funny smile Alwar asks for a boon, wherein the thread should follow the needle with which he is stitching. Lord Shiva is enraged by Alwar’s reply and opens his third eye to bring out a fire and burn Alwar.

Thirumalisai Alwar Vaibhavam 2

Continued…

Thirumalsai Alwar grew up without any attachment to worldly issues, like Nammalwar. He hardly ate or drank, but he remained healthy. Hearing his greatness, an elderly couple from a nearby village came to meet him. They offered Alwar milk which they had brought from their place, just for alwar. Though Alwar hardly drank or ate anything, he was moved by the affection of the elderly couple and accepted their offering. Then on, the couple brought milk for alwar daily. Seeing their devotion alwar wanted to give them something. Once he drank half the milk and asked the couple to have the remaining. The couple became young and due to the greatness of Alwar, the couple who untill then were childless had a child too. The child was named as Kanni Kannan. The couple brought the child to Alwar and thanked him. The child grew up as a sishya of Alwar and went wherever alwar went.

But until now Alwar was not into Sri Vaishnavam. Infact he was known as Thirumalisayaar before he became a alwar. He had been like a mystic. Alwar wanted to know about all religions and follow the one that was true & showed the path to real God & moksha. So, alwar went on a long journey and met many people and studied many religions. He met and spoke to people who didn’t believe in God itself, people who believed in God & the Vedas but never followed them, people who strictly followed them and people of all the religions he knew of.

Finally, Alwar decided that Saivism {Saivam} was the highest of all the religions and became a Saivaite. Pei Alwar heard of this and wanted to bring Thirumalisayaar into Sri Vaishnavam. Pei Alwar left his place and built a small ashram near Thirumalisayaar’s ashram. PeiAlwar to get Thirumalisayaar attention and bring him to a debate, did an interesting thing everyday. He planted Thulasi saplings upside down and watered them with a broken pot. Just as Alwar expected, Thirumalisayaar was intrigued and asked if he was mad. Pei Alwar replied, “if my actions are foolish, yours are more foolish”. Thirumalisayaar was flabbergasted and asked the reason for Alwar saying so. Pei Alwar explained that, “though planted upsided down, my saplings might grow, but you will never attain moksha in Saivism. The vedas, puranas, the epics Mahabharata & Ramayana, all clearly show that Sriman Narayana is the Ultimate God and the only one capable of giving Moksha”. This was followed by a lengthy debate and Pei Alwar showing instances from vedas & all the holy scriptures proved his point and won over Thirumalisayaar. He does Pancha Samaskharam for Thirumalisayaar {and comes to be known as Thirumalisai Alwar} and teaches him all the principle of Sri Vaishnavam. With his jobe done, Pei Alwar leaves the place. Thirumalisai Alwar then on becomes a very avid Sri Vaishnava…

To be Continued…

Thirumalisai Alwar Thirunakshatram

Today is the Thirunakshatram of Sri Thirumalisai Alwar, the next alwar after the 3 Mudhal Alwars. Starting today, we will have posts on the Vaibhavam {Life History} of  Sri Thirumalisai Alwar.

869200 years had passed since the advent of Dwapara Yuga. Some Brahma Rishis including Athri Rishi, Bhargava Rishi & Vashista Rishi were in search of the ideal place for their meditation. They asked the Brahma to guide them to the ideal place to which Brahma said them to do their meditations & yagnas in a place called Thirumalisai {a small town near present day Chennai}. As said by Brahma, the rishis went to Thirumalisai, built small ashrams and did their meditations & yagnas. One among the rishis, Sri Bhargava Rishi, an ardent devotee of Sriman Narayana undertook a rigorous meditation on Sriman Narayana. Indra mistook Bharagava Rishis intention that he was meditating to be the king of Swarka Loka. Indra, so sent down Rambha, Urvasi & Thillothama to deviate Bhargava Rishi from his meditation. But none of them werre able to influence Bhargava Rishi and they went back to their Loka. Then another apsaras by name Kannangi, with a lot of effort managed to divert Bharagava Rishi from meditation towards her.

Bhargava Rishi &  Kannangi later had a baby. But the baby was in a incomplete form {pindam} without hands or legs or any proper parts. Bhargava Rishi realised his folly and went back to meditation. Kannangi threw the incomplete baby in a bush and went back to her loka. Then, Sriman Narayana blessed the kid with beauty & wisdom and instantly the baby developed all organs. A while later the baby cried out due to hunger and a farmer who was nearby saw the baby and took it home. He & his wife brough up the baby like their own. But the kid was never interested in worldly affairs and hardly felt hungry.

With this the birth & childhood days of Sri Thirumalisai Alwar is complete.

To be Continued…

Sri Anandazhvan Vaibhavam 7

Part 7 of Sri Anandazhvan Vaibhavam written by Sri TCA Venkatesan [www.acharya.org]

A disciple of Ramanuja called Sri Echchan asked Anandazhvan “What does the acharya do for a sishya?”

Anandazhvan replied “The Jivatma is a girl and the acharya is the father of this girl. Through the mediation of Guru Parampara and chanting the Dvaya mantra, he offers this girl’s hand to her husband who is the Lord Sriman Narayana”.

This explains the handing of a disciple to the Lord by an acharya through the example of a father offering his daughter to his son-in-law by pouring water. Just as there are match makers for marriages of this world, the acharyas act as match makers for the marriage between the jIvAtmA and the paramAtma.

This concept is detailed in great length in the Acharya Hrudayam sutra “vidhyai thAyAgap peRRup … aNaiyum vasthuvukku maNivallip pEchchu vandhERiyanRu”. In Mumukshuppadi, Pillai Lokacharyar says “ettizhaiyAy mUnRu saradAy iruppadhoru mangala sUthram pOlE thirumanthram”.