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Upadesa Rathna Maalai: Part12 ( Paasurams 37-38)

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Sadagopan • November 7, 1999 


Paasuram 37: The loftiness of EmperumAnAr in AchArya paramparai
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Ohr AaNN vazhiyAi upadEsitthAr munnOr 
    yEr YethirAsar innaruLAl--paar ulahil
Aasai udayOrkku yellAm AariyakAL koorum yenRu
    pEsi varampu aRutthAr pinn 

(Meaning): Before EmperumAnAr's time , all the poorvAchAryALs
instructed the rahasyArthams of Sri Viashnavaa doctrines 
in a sequential manner to their successors one at a time .
EmperumAnAr , who came later in that chain of AchAryAs 
out of his immense mercy addressed all of those,
who took refuge at his sacred feet and removed that limitation
in instruction route and gave permission for his sishyAs
to teach the rahasyArthams to every one eager to know
about them .

(Comments): Sri MaNavALa MaamunigaL is going to salute
EmperumAnAr in his Aarthi prabhandham as " MaaRanuRai
seytha Tamizh MaRai VaLartthOn VaazhiyE " .Here MM 
recognizes the extraordinary Kaimkaryam performed by
RaamAnujA in making it possible to have the first 
commentary on ThiruvAimozhi by PiLLAn to expand 
the outreach of the rahasyArthams of ThiruvAimozhi .
Until then, neither Naathamuni or ALavandhAr or his 
sishyAs had not taught the rahasyArthams to all who
wanted to learn, but only to one sishyan at a time , who 
in turn passed it on to his sishyan in the AchAryaparamparai.
This was recognized as " Ohr AaNN vazhi " UpadEsam .
The upadEsam was thus confined to a very tight circle 
odf AchAryAs and there was the danger of Sri ViashNava
darsanam being lost to future generations as a result
of uncertainities in disciplinic succession .EmperumAnAr
recognized this danger and commanded his direct disciples 
to banish these traditional restrictions and asked them
to teach these rahasyArthams to every one, who yearned
to learn about them. The many granthams written by
Swami Desikan , PiLLai LOkAcchAr are a direct result of
EmperumAnAr lifting these restrictions.In this context ,
the AchAryALs are divided in to two categories:Anuvrutthi 
PrasannAchAryAL and KrupAmAthrA PrasannAchAryAL.The AchAryALs
before EmperumAnAr are known as Anuvrutthi PrasannAchAryALs 
and  RaamAnujA is known as the KrupAmAthrA PrasannAchAryAr .
EmperumAnAr made the Sri Vaishnava darsanam vikasitham ( Blossom)
instead of Sankuchitham (Shrinking ).

Paasuram 38: The reason for the Name EmperumAnAr Darsanam
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EmperumAnAr darsanam yenRE itharkku
   NamperumAL pErittu naatti vaitthAr --ampuviyOr
intha darisanatthai EmperumAnAr vaLarttha 
   antha seyal aRihaikkAha 

(Meaning): Lord RanganAthA named the siddhAntham 
grown by RaamAnujA as " Sri RaamAnuja darsanam "
so that people of the world will know clearly 
that it was RaamAnujA who played the pivotal
role in the growth and outreach of Sri VaishNava darsanam .

(Commnets): It is known that Sri VaishNava darsanam 
has been around from time immemorial , even before 
the avathAram of NammAzhwAr in kali yugam .There may
be questions as to why Lord RanganAthA named this
ancient darsanam as " RaamAnuja Darsanam ".There may
be questions as to the special features of this
"RaamAnuja darsanam " that qualifid it to have
this distinct honor. MM explains that Lord RanganAthA
honored RaamAnujA by naming this darsanam after him 
in recognition of the many ways in which he (RaamAnujA)
grew this sampradhAyam to reach out to His( the Lord's)
Bhaktha kOtis.

Daasan, Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan