THIRUKOLUR PEN PILLAI RAGASIYAM-69

Did I say that all great devotees of Vishnu are like the ocean and all their words are the sound of the ocean, like Periya Nambi who was referring to Maraneri Nambi?

My dear children, in the spiritually advanced world of Veda Patti, our friend Thirukkolur Pen Pillai's quote is - "kadal osai endreno perianambiyai pola" - in this, we are going to know about the immense value of Srivaishnava Sampradayam and the greatness of our Poorvacharyas.

We are going to meet a true sishya. He is the disciple of Swami Alavandar. He is from a backward community by birth. His livelihood was farming, and one day, when he was ploughing his land, he became hungry. He took some soil from his field, washed it thoroughly, and ate it. On seeing this, Alavandar asked him why he was eating the mud. He told Alavandar, "I am giving soil to the soil" - that is, for my body, which is made of pancha bhootha, I am giving this (prithvi).

Alavandar was surprised to hear such an excellent philosophy of life from an ordinary farmer. He is as great as Maran Kurugur Nambi (Nammalvar) and is equivalent to Maran; hence, he was named Mara Ner Nambi and asked to join Alavandar. Maraneri Nambi told Alavandar that he was from an oppressed class, to which Alavandar replied that for one who constantly lives with their soul full of divine thoughts, kulavedam (communal discrimination) would not be a concern. 

Upon hearing this, Maraner left his home, abandoning his farm, village, equipment, cattle, and family home. Alavandar carried out all the religious sampradaya prescribed for Vaishnavas and gave him the status of a Sri Vaishnavan. Maraner Nambi has constructed a small hut on the riverbank (ALAVANDAR PADI THURAI). He made a miniature replica of Alavandar out of clay and was performing pooja and worshipping it. He used to listen to Alavandar's religious discourses with rapt attention.  As Maraner used to feel that he was an untouchable man, he stayed away from other devotees and listened to the kalakshebam in isolation. But to make his lecture audible to Maraner, Alavandar used to deliver with a full throat, even though it was painful to speak out that loudly. 

People started thronging in large numbers to listen to Alavandar's discourse, and there was no proper space to accommodate the audience. A large hall space was constructed for this purpose. Alavandar has decided to conduct the housewarming on an auspicious day after performing punyakavachanam pooja. Meanwhile, Maraner Nambi went there to take a look at the place, and the staff over there took him around to all corners of the venue, and Maraner saw the venue very happily.  The next day, when Alavandar came for gruhapravesam, the staff said that Maraner had visited the premises the previous day.

Alavandar then told them, Where is the need for punyakavachanam for a place where Maraner stepped in, as he himself is an incarnation of Holiness. He made it true in words and spirit and called off the punyakavachanam as he considered Maraner as a PUNITHAN - a sacred human.

Due to the karma of his previous birth, Alavandar has got a huge tumour-like ailment called 'rajapilavai', which brought him pain and suffering. Once, the Lord appeared in his dream and told Alavandar to transfer his ailments to one of his disciples so that he would become normal. Alavandar replied that he could not tolerate his disciple suffering and refused to do so.

Perumal told 'Your services are more essential for our sampradaya.

Knowing this, Maraner approached Alavandar, asking him to offer his ailment as prasadam to the Acharya. Although Alavandar tried his best to refuse, Maraner forced him and obtained it. Maraner endured with the dangerous, serious and painful disease of Alavandar. 

As the years roll on, Alavandar has foreseen his end and called his disciple, telling them to extend all support to Maraner, just as they were doing for him, for Maraner is very important to him. A few years later, Alavandar passed away and left for the spiritual abode of Paramapadam.

One of the ardent devotees of Alavandar, Periya Nambi, felt extremely sad to see Maraner Nambi suffering in his cottage in loneliness. He took complete responsibility for looking after Maraner Nambi, doing all the services for him. Every day, he visited Nambi, bathed him, applied thiruman and sri choornam as dwadasa (12) urdvapundrams, offering food till leaving him to his bed etc., 

As Maraner Nambi realized that his end was approaching, he called Periya Nambi. He told him that as his body was purified by Alavandar and blessed with Panchasamskara done by him, he requested not to hand over his body to his community people after his death. To which Periya Nambi said, "Please don't worry, I'll take care." Maraner, by worshipping the self-made statue of his acharya Alavandar, breathed his last. 

Periyanambi performed all the funeral rites and rituals with utmost sincerity and without any lapse. However, the local public, seeing how Periyanambi performed the funeral of Maraner, took it as a complaint to Ramanujar. Ramanuja knew very well that his guru would never be wrong, but he wanted a suitable reply to come from Periyanambi himself, and he met Nambi to discuss it. The answer that Periaynambi gave was amazing.

You know who performed the final rites for Vidura, who is from a backward class? It is the great king, Yudhishthira. So also, Purushottama Srirama only performed the funeral rites of Jatayu. Now, is Maraner inferior to Vidura or Jatayu? Am I greater than Dharmaputra or Sri Rama?

From whichever caste or kulam one belongs to, if he is a Vishnubhakta, he is SWAMI for me as told by Nammalwar.

The pasurams of Alwars are meaningful and divine, and if you accept it, whatever I have done is right. In case you do not respect the value of the pasurams, the pasurams you are chanting daily are just like mere meaningless noise that huge tides produce on the seashore. 

'I never knew such valuable secrets of philosophy as those of Maraner Nambi, and what status I have achieved?' Penpillai asked.

Ramanujar gave a nice reply, 'If one masters the ideals and principles of Srivaishnava Sampradaya, irrespective of the caste, the kula, the society he belongs to, all will fall in line, without any difference, and follow the footsteps of an Acharya and worship Lord Vishnu. They, too, could aspire to moksha. 

It is always wrong to investigate the background of Bhagavathas because they are the devotees of Bhagwan and are very close to Perumal,' Ramanujar told very clearly.

When asked about whom he was going to speak next, Penpillai told Ramanujar. 

"Sutri kidantheno malaiandanai pola " - a fantastic subject.