NAMO NARAYANA

 
INDEX TABLE
 
Samarpanam
 
Srimukham
 
Introduction
 
Life and Works of Sri Manavaala Mamunigal
 
Thaniyan
 
Works of Manavala Munigal
 
Related Articles and URLS

 

 
 
sri:
srimate ramanjuaya namah:
sriranga nayika sametha sri rangantha prabrahmane namah:
 
AcharyaThaniyan on Sri Manavala Mamunigal
( based on the Bhakti Group Postings dated Nov 5th & 9th 1999 )
by
Sri U.Ve Velukkudi Krishnan Swami
 
 
An Image of Sri Manavala Mamunigal at Thiruvahindrapuram
 
SrisailEsa dayApatram dhIbhaktyAdi gunArnavam
yatIndra pravanam vandE ramyajAmAtaram munim.
 
It is known to one and all that the above srisukti was submitted to the feet of Swami MM by none other than Lord Ranganatha. Namperumal wanted to hear tiruvoimozhi kalakshepam from Swamy MM. He conducted kalakshepam of tiruvoimozhi starting on the paritapi year 31st day of avani sukla caturdasi friday. It continued for 1 year and the sattumurai was on aani moolam. For this one year all the utsavams of namperumal were stopped. During the sattumurai, namperumal appeared as a 5 year old archaka boy and recited this sloka in praise of his acharyan i.e. MM. Why did he choose MM as his acharyan.
 
 
Here is an interesting logic.During Ramavatara Viswamitra was Rama's guru who teached mantras. But was he the right guru for such a great being like Rama ? No. He himself was a person who fell prey to kama and krodha. We know that he became the father
of Sakuntala and in another instance he even forgot his nitya anushthana. So Rama was not fortunate enough to get a right guru who would be apt for his prabhavam. Rama waited till the next avatara.
 
Saandipana was Krishna's guru. When the vidyabhyasa was over , Krishna wanted to give guru dakshina anything that his guru wanted. Initially, saandipana refused to accept anything. When Krishna insisted, he consulted his wife and kept a request to Krishna. To search and bring back his lost son. (odu vaimayumuvaniyarpirappum unakku mun tanda anthanan oruvan - kaadal en magan pugalidam kanen - kandu nee taruvai - kodil vaymayinan). Krishna even though fulfilled the wish of his guru, was sad. Why ? Would it not be fitting for a guru to request Krishna for moksham and kainkarya. Leaving that he requested for a wordly pleasure - son. So, krishna had to again wait till his next avatara.
 
Lord Ranganatha is the representative of Rama and Krishna. Thondaradippodi alwar in his tirumalai first says " silayinal ilangai setra devane devanavan" then adds " kattrinam meytha endai kazhalinai panimineere".When we said to alwar that both are not possible because Rama and Krishna belong to a different yuga and we are in Kali yuga , alwar gives the solution " kaattinan tiruvarangam uypavarkku uyyum vannam". So Ranganatha is undoubtedly the representative of Rama and Krishna.Ranganatha decided not to miss the bus atleast in this avatara - i.e. to have a guru commensurate with his own mahima.
Thousand Pillared Mantapam at Srirangam
 
Thus, he selected MM as his guru. This is evident from the taniyaan that Ranganatha has submitted to the lotus feet of Swami MM. Srimannarayana is the prathamacharya in our sampradaya. MM is the acharya for the prathamacharya. Everyone prostrates before the Lord and say Namaha or vande.
 
The Lord himself is uttering "vande" towards MM here. Such is the greatness of MM in our sampradaya.Both the acharya and sishya stand out for their beauty (handsome). Sisya is azhagiya manavalan. Acharya is azhagiya manavala muni.Srisailesa dayapatram is praised as the mantra, stotram and pranamam recited of Ranganatha. I will write as to how it is a mantra ( as told by our poorvacharyas) and how it is held in high esteem than tirumantram.
 
The word mantra means :
 
1. " mantAram trAyata iti mantra: " - 'that which protects one who chants or thinks about it.' i.e. we keep tirumandiram in our nitya anusandhanam and it protects us. Even the Lord himself is called as Mantra: . Tirumangai alwar in his tirunedunthandakam : "andanar mattu andi vaitha mandirathai mandirathal maravadu enrum vazhdiyel vazhalam mada nenjame." andanar - brahmin, madu - wealth (vedas are the wealth of brahmins-brahmanAnAm dhanam veda:) andi - vedantam. andi vaitha mandiram - bhagavan. mandirathal -
tirumandirathal vazhthavendum. In this song both bhagavan and tirumandiram are called as mantram by alwar - as both of them protect anyone who thinks about them. In sahasranama also we come across "mantra: candrAmsu: bhaskaradyuti:"
 
2. Mantra also means "matri guptabhashaNe" - that which is a rahashya. Of course we know, tirumandiram is the first of the rahasya.Now, Pillai lokam jeer and other poorvacharyas establish that Srisailesa mantram qualifies/excels in both these meanings. The similarities are :

1. Tirumantram and Srisailesa mantram are both told by Srimannarayana himself.
2. Both would protect one who chants them. The Lord protects us. Everyone prostrate before the Lord.
 
If he in turn says " ramyajamataram munim vande", it is clear that he shows us the feet of MM for our protection. Lord's upadesa is to salute Himself in tirumantram. But his anushtana is not so in Srisailesa mantram. He salutes MM. Will the world give weightage to upadesa
or anushtAna ? (preaching or conduct). Obviously anushtana. Thus, Srisailesa mantram protects even the protector himself.

3. Pranavam, the first word of tirumantram is recited before and after vedas it is also said omkara prabhava veda:. Srisailesa mantram is recited before and after the tamil vedas.
4. Om connotes seshatvam of the jIva i.e. jIvAtmA's servitude towards the Lord. akArArthO vishnu: ... makArArthO jIva:. Om says that jIvAtma who is said by 'ma' is the servant to the paramAtma who is said by 'a'. In each phrase of Srisailesa mantra this meaning (seshatvam) is found. Let us see how it is:

SrisailEsa dayapatram - SrisailEsa = Lord Srinivasa = 'a'. dayApAtram - one who is bestowed with His kripa = jIva = 'ma'. So 'ma' is the servant of 'a'. SrisailEsa would actually mean tiruvoimozhi pillai. Even in this case acharya is none other the Lord himself "sAkshAt nArAyanO deva:...". So he can also be denoted by 'a'

dhIbhaktyAdi gunArnavam - wisdom and devotion. In our sampradAya - jnAna would in fact mean seshatva jnAna only. Devotion would also come to a servant only. So both these denote seshatvam.

yatIndra pravanam - Who is a yatIndra ? one who unites the jIvatma with the paramAtma with his upadesa = a bhagavata or an acharya. pravanam - servitude to a bhagavata or an acharya. A person is acclaimed as a servant to the Lord only if he is a servant to a bhagavata. bhagavatseshatvam is fulfilled only if he is a bhAgavata sesha. This is the inner meaning of om. So this also connotes seshatvam.

ramyajAmAtaram munim - ramyajAmAta = azhagiya manavalan = ranganatha = 'a'. muni = one who meditates (mananam karoti iti muni:)= jIva = 'ma'. So one who always thinks about ranganatha as his Lord is His sesha. This phrase also denotes seshatvam.

Since all the four parts of SrisailEsa mantram explains the meaning of Om , this is praised as a mantram.SrisailEsa mantram is not only equal to tirumantram. In fact it excels. tirumantram is a rahasya. But since it is a part of veda - any one who has the right to chant veda can chant tirumantram. He may be a karma or jnAna or bhakti yogi. Hence in the true sense it is not a rahasya. But is that the case with SrisailEsa mantra? No. Only prapannAs chant this. So this truly is the rahasya. Moreover the Lord first propounded tirumantram. Realising its limitations, later on brought out SrisailEsa mantram in his anushtanam.

After all these, will anyone have a doubt that SrisailEsa dayapatram is THE MANTRAM. Let us all chant on Ippasi moolam the greatness of MM - acharya of the prathamacharya.
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