We hear a lot about the goodness of the spinach leaf. It is a very sattvic food. The type of spinach called "vallArai keerai" gives one great memory power. Not only memory power it will bestow jnAnam as well. Because of that the vallArai keerai is also called "brahmi", "saraswathi" - it will give good studies, memory power and jnAnam. Also in the ponds of our villages we can find a small keerai called "oru yela thamare" - if we take a leaf and drink it with unboiled milk, it will remove the unwanted food we may have consumed present inside the intestine. Such deivika gunam possessing keerai is all present here in India. Similarly arugampool is also very good. Vilvam is very good including thulasi. That is why the process of including these in the poojas in some or the other manner is practised.
Even if we smell such types of leaves, that itself will give us great health including jnAnam and bhakthi. Certain keerais when eaten as food it has the power to give such a jnAna siddhi.
Even if we smell such types of leaves, that itself will give us great health including jnAnam and bhakthi. Certain keerais when eaten as food it has the power to give such a jnAna siddhi.
uyyakondan went to see manakAlnambi whose son was ishwari muni yAmunAcharyan yamunai thuraivan who went to mahAbhAshya bhattar to learn the sarvasAsatra abhyAsam. yAmunAcharyan who went to challenge the vidwAn AkiAzhwan in the court, now had become a king Azhavandan. But the sampradayam needed to be protected under yAmunAcharyan. To somehow bring manakAlnambi back to the sampradayam, uyyakondan strived hard before attaining the paramapadam. Now Azhavandar was a king. Given half of the kingdom and asked to rule, he was known as Azhavandan who ruled. ManakAlnambi on the other hand was a poor brahman. He did not get an opportunity to go and meet the king. He came to the palace and asked for an audience but was told that the king was in discussions with his ministers and was sent away. They either tell him the places where he can get some dhAnam, or leave an opinion or request anything but he never gets an opportunity to directly talk to the king himself. But his Acharya uyyakondan has left a great responsibility with manakAlnambi. Somehow yAmunAcharyan had to be brought back to the sampradayam, this Azhavandar. Being poor, even though he waited for long hours, manakAlnambi never got a darshanam of Azhavandar at all.
ManakAlnambi then found where the food for the king was being prepared and daily he used to bring "toothuvazhaikeerai" and tell the cook to make food for the king with this. He mentioned that this leaf is growing well in his garden and it is very useful for the health. He told the cook to daily serve this to the king. For some days the king looking at the keerai in his plate of food served daily enjoyed the taste of this "toothuvazhaikeerai". One day there is lots of rain and floods and passage from one place to another becomes impossible. Therefore manakAlnambi could not bring the "toothuvazhaikeerai" on this occassion and could not reach the madapalli on time for food preparation. The King looks at the his plate and notices that a familiar item which is the keerai is missing. Then he asks the cook about the keerai that would be served to him daily and why this is missing today. The cook says this keerai is not bought but given to us daily by an old brahman. The old brahman said that this is good for the health and a good vegetable and that is the reason why we added this to your meal daily. The king thinks that if someone wants to serve him like this then there is something in that persons mind to tell him. Since he desires to see me and because that has not materialised he has been doing this serving to me. What difficulty that old brahman has, whether he is looking for some monetary help or get rid of some difficulty or share some difficulty he has with me, the king ponders. So he tells the cook that when the old brahman brings the keerai tomorrow, he would like to see him and he should be brought before him. When the rains have subsided, manakAlnambi comes to the usual place where the food is being cooked for the king, the cook tells what all has happened about the fact that the king was wondering why the keerai was not served yesterday. The cook mentions to manakAlnambi that the king wants to see him and manakAlnambi can tell any issues he would like to share with the king. The king on seeing manakAlnambi asks what he wanted, whether money or solve any of his problems but manakAlnambi simply says that he needs permission to come often to his court and be there. The king surprised asks what he would do in the court. ManakAlnambi says that he would tell him a few things. The king agrees and accepts it. ManakAlnambi slowly tells the king whatever he needs to know about sampradayam slowly.
Azhavandar listens to all the sampradaya vishayam and asks if everything has been said or if there is something more.. "Your father is iswari muni and iswari muni's father is nadamunighazh and nadamunighazh has a great wealth that he had left to his descendants and I need to somehow pass on that wealth to be safely deposited in your hands." Azhavandar says he appreciates the truthfulness of manakAlnambi and says that as he is a king and therefore has so many properties and wealth, greatly appreciates this very much for the good thought and truthfulness in trying to give that wealth he had and said he fely really happy with him. He wished that the property be with him itself and did not want it. ManakAlnambi gently protested that even though Azhavandar denied this, it still has been commanded to be given to his good self and therefore certainly cannot take it back himself. Then Azhavandar says to manakAlnambi, "ok. please bring that property". ManakAlnambi says, "I cannot bring it, only you have to come and get it". Then Azhavandar decides upon a day to come and see this wealth. Arranging a palanquin and sitting on it, Azhavandar proceeds upon with the direction shown by manakAlnambi and comes to srirangam, performs circumambulation of the seven praharAs and going via the Garuda mantapam, Gayathri mantapam, coming up to the kulasEkara padi, pillars,
"Pachai mamalai pol meni pavala vai kamala senkan. Achuta amararere ayar tham" and then sees the ranga brahmam. Showing the ranga rAja, manakAlnambi says to Azhavandar, "This is the wealth your grandfather wanted to be deposited with you". Azhavandar looking at the kataksham of the perumal immediately takes up the sanyAsashrama then and there. He immediately dethrones from the kingdom, sends back all the palanquin and royalty not even deciding to do all this another day, at that instant itself he relinquishes everything.
Leaving everything, singing in a beautiful stotra ratnam, Azhavandar says, "na dharma nishtOsmi na chaatma vEdi na bhaktimaan tvaccharaNAravindE akinchanOananyagatih saraNya! tvat paadamoolam saranam prapadye". Just one of these stotra ratnam is enough, so wonderful! Looking at Sriman Narayana, he says in certain villages there will be certain Gods and to that temple everyone will go and if asked what the name of this God is, they will mention some name. Even if asked as to why this name is not known generally, they will tell that this God is famous only in these parts. Thus for some 10 places, a particular GOD will be the most prominent. When speaking to certain others, they will say that this God is for our family, others may not know it. Say there will be about 10 families and this God will be the deivam for them. At certain times, kings like Hiranyakashipu themselves were the Gods of the earth itself. "There is a God for groups of families, for specific places and specific times but for all places, times and for everything, you, Lord Ranganatha has been the GOD eternal" is the essence of this stotram performed by Azhavandar. Spanning across time, place and earth, "eko vishNur mahathbhUtam", the only GOD Sri Ranganathar himself is present everywhere is the stotra ratnam sung by Azhavandar. Such was the bhakthi of Azhavandar and he took Sri Ranganathar to himself like this.
Learning all the sampradaya vishayam from manakAlnambi, Azhavandar asks if there is something else to learn. ManakAlnambi tells that his Acharya being uyyakondan and uyyakondan acharyar being nadamunighazh, they mentioned that yOga rahasyam is not required for manakAlnambi, only the azhwArghazh blessings and sayings are sufficient but there is one named kurugai kAvalappan's who has learnt all the yOga rahasyams. ManakAlnambi says that he did not learn yoga rahasyams as his Acharya uyyakondan did not teach him that. So ManakAlnambi suggests Azhavandar to meet kurugai kAvalappan and learn from him all the yOga rahasyams. When Azhavandar goes to meet kurugai kAvalappan, he is at that time completely immersed in yoga. kurugai kAvalappan being the direct disciple of nadamunighazh and being in dhyAnam, Azhavandar feels that when one is in dhyanam, yogam, performing namakeerthanam one should not trouble them. Trying to remain unobtrusive, Azhavandar with deep humility stands aside from across the wall hidden out of sight, when suddenly for kurugai kAvalappan the samadhi is disrupted and what he then asks, one would be blatantly amazed with wonder at this statement. "Has someone from the nadamunighazh family come here?" asks kurugai kAvalappan directly. Azhavandar could not control his surprise at this. Azhavandar wonders at this thinking that even though he was standing hidden from kurugai kAvalappan trying not to disturb him in his yoga nishtai, when suddenly coming out of samadhi such a question has been asked. Azhavandar comes running to him and says adiyEn, this is me! He is surprised as to how kurugai kAvalappan came to know this? How did he come to know that nadamunighazh grandon will be here, is this the power of the yOga sakthi or the prabhAvam. He asks kurugai kAvalappan slowly, first by very humbly describing how he had come and how he did not want to disturb him in yoga nishtai and having stood hidden behind the wall and then asking how did he come to know that Azhavandar indeed had come.
kurugai kAvalappan replies, "Whenever I went to see the perumal, whatever be the uthsavam or vaibhavam there, even if sakshath pirAtti is next to HIM, perumal will only speak to him looking at him and the bhagavans face would become filled with brightness. The bhagavan's happiness would be great whenever he sees me not even considering the pirAtti, he would be happy to see me. Such a perumal today told me that when he was near me, HE was looking out to see who was this person who has come here and hiding behind the wall and bhagavan was stooping out to look. More than that, if the bhagavan wished to see someone with great interest and happiness, it would definitely be someone from the family of nadamunighazh only and that is how I came to know that it should be you". Hearing about the love the bhagavan had on nadamunighazh, Azhavandar felt a shiver of happiness running through him. Having the yOgyatha that he is the grandson of nadamunighazh, what else would he need more than that and Azhavandar feels that is just enough for him.
Subham
Radhe Radhe
Read more translations of the other episodes at: http://aranganinarumai.blogspot.com/
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