By and Large the avatars of the bhagavan happened mostly in Northern India, in the kshetrams of Mathura and Ayodhya itself. So Bhagavan made a sankalpam and sent the Acharyas to the world and made them mingle with the samsAris and bring the bhakthas to the lotus feet of the bhagavan. Before this, when the AzhwArs had come, although AzhwArs had deep bhakthi to the bhagavan, yet they could not mingle well with the samsAris. So whom to send. There was one who was deeply wanting to perform the kainkaryam to the bhagavan. In the Rama Avatar, he was the one who came as the lakshmanAzhwar and was the embodiment of the AdisEsha. LakshmanAzhwar never left the side of Rama.
We say that Rama had been to the forest for 14 years, the mention usually attributed to Rama, but indeed lakshmana also went alongwith Rama and stayed for the same period of 14 years. LakshmanAzhwar going alongwith Rama is a big thing, why because it is for Rama that KaikEyi asked for the boon and not for lakshmana. It was not demanded of KaikEyi that lakshmana should also go to the forest with Rama. Neither did Dasaratha ask of Lakshmana to accompany Rama to the forest. Rama also did not ask Lakshmana to accompany him and neither told him that he will feel lonely in the forest and that lakshmana could come with him. But even before Rama is ready to depart for the forest, lakshmana is ready by himself. He is ever ready with whatever is needed for the life in the forest. Accompanying Rama and with Sita, lakshmana also went to the forest.
We say that Rama had been to the forest for 14 years, the mention usually attributed to Rama, but indeed lakshmana also went alongwith Rama and stayed for the same period of 14 years. LakshmanAzhwar going alongwith Rama is a big thing, why because it is for Rama that KaikEyi asked for the boon and not for lakshmana. It was not demanded of KaikEyi that lakshmana should also go to the forest with Rama. Neither did Dasaratha ask of Lakshmana to accompany Rama to the forest. Rama also did not ask Lakshmana to accompany him and neither told him that he will feel lonely in the forest and that lakshmana could come with him. But even before Rama is ready to depart for the forest, lakshmana is ready by himself. He is ever ready with whatever is needed for the life in the forest. Accompanying Rama and with Sita, lakshmana also went to the forest.
For 14 years, lakshmanAzhwar was separated from his wife, Urmila. Although Rama went to each of the Queen's quarters and obtained permission from the Queen mothers, we do not know with whom lakshmana asked permission or whether he did ask in the first place. We do not know whether lakshmana visited his mother to ask permission or even with Urmila. Such a thyAgam was shown by lakshmana. In the forest, Rama would often say things to lakshmana and to all this, lakshmana would never get angry and always smiling, always being by the side of Rama, performed kainkaryam with extreme devotion. When Rama was in chitrakoota living in the paranshAlai, lakshmanAzhwar would be sleeping, under a tree holding his head with his hand and always in gaurd. If one thinks of performing the seva, it is indeed AdisEshan. LakshmanAzhwar did seva like that in the Rama avatar.
In Srimad Bhagavatham, unable to bear the weight, Bhoomidevi perform saranagathi to Brahma. What is heavy for Bhoomi, is it the big Himalayas or the great oceans or the trees, no, it is indeed the lack of people who do not have bhagavath bhakthi. What is the reason for the lack of bhagavath bhakthi, it is because of the domination of asuras like Kamsa. Brahma says "I am in the process of creation and cannot stop it, we will go to the one who has commanded me to do the process of creation", "ksheeram teeta payOnidhE". When we go to the ksheerabdham, will the bhagavan immediately speak? No it was via telepathy, via the mind. Brahma comes and tells the purusha suktham. Bhagavan immediately makes it known via telepathy, directly in the minds that he would be born as Krishna in the krishna Avatar. All devas who came accompanied are also being told so. "Vasudeva grihE sAkshat Bhagavan" - In the home of Vasudeva, "janishyate Tatpriyartham sambhavanthu surastriyah!", Bhagavan tells all the devas to be born as "surastrutah" (Gopis) in the world, why because in this krishna avatar, the womenfolk will be given an exalted position. The moment it was known that bhagavan is going to be born, someone went in haste into the womb of devaki quickly in the fear that he may lose the kainkaryam, who else but the AdisEshan. He came as the younger brother in Rama avatar whereas in the Krishna avatar he came as the older brother. Now bhagavan, noticing that AdisEsha went in haste to be born of devaki and in the fear that he would be killed by Kamsa, went to Durga and requested her to extract balarama from the womb of devaki and impant that into the womb of Rohini. Without leaving Rama for an instant, as an younger brother did AdisEsha perform seva and likewise in the krishna avatar as Balarama he performed seva to the bhagavan. If we were to say the greatness of ananthAzhwar, we will need to say "senrAl kudaiyAm", when Vasudeva was taking Krishna to Gokul, no one asked but ananthAzhwar came as an umbrella to protect krishna. "senrAl kudaiyAm irunthAl singAsanamAm", when perumal is sitting, the simhAsanam is the three rounds of snake as the seat and the hood on top. Even today in srivaikuntam, as paravAsudevan, the perumal is sitting upon ananthAzhwar. "irunthAl singAsanamAm ninRAl maravadiyAm" - If perumal stands, the paduka is the AdisEshan. "ninRAl maravadiyAm nILkadaluL enRum puNaiyAm" - In ksheerAbdhi, the perumal is sleeping and does he not need a bed, the bed is indeed the snake AdisEsha. "enRum puNaiyAm maNiviLakkAm pUmpattAm pulgum aNaiyAm thirumARk aravu" - Bhagavan in the thiruvenkatam, intending to bless the devotees in the kali yuga as thiruvenkatamudayAn, there the whole mountain is itself the adisEsha. That is why we call seshan, seshadri or seshagirivAsa. In Thiruvenkadam, AdisEsha is in the form of a mountain whereas in Srirangam, AdisEsha is in the form of a bed. AdisEsha will never leave the perumal even for a second. Being as a sesha with the Perumal is the swabhAvam and therefore called AdisEshan. Bhagavan says he gave the vedas, sastras and the puranas and HE himself performed the avatars of Rama and Krishna and this did not yield much, the AzhwArs themselves were in the respective divyadesham and sang with deep bhakthi. What is the idea by which to make these samsAris attain liberation? Therefore the bhagavan makes a prErana that ananthAzhwar has to come down to the earth. AnanthAzhwar feels happy about this. All this time, he was the seat for the perumal alone, but now performing an avatAram like this, he can be the sesha for all the previous achAryas - periyanambi, AzhavandAr, manakAlnambi, uyyakOndan, nAdamunighazh, nammAzhwar, vishwakshEnan, sakshAth pirAtti and above pirAtti, narayanan himself.
That is the most humble swabhAvam of ananthAzhwar and to be able to serve all the acharyas including the bhagavan. Nammazhwar was sitting in samadhi and all the composed songs he had sung were taken by almost all the divyadesha perumal. He himself had sung that ananthAzhwar as EnperumAnar, udayavar and as Ramanujar would take avatar.
"Poliga Poliga Poliga Poitru valluyir saabam naliyum naragamum naindha namanuuku ingu yaadhonrumillai kaliyum kedum kandu konnmin kadal vannan boodhangal mannmel Maliya pugundhu isai paadi aadi uzhi tharakkandom" - in this pAsuram, Nammazhwar mentions that Ramanujar is going to be born.
"kaliyum kedum kandu konnmin" - this Kali is going to be destroyed. Once Ramanujar has come, all the 4000 prabhandhams will be heard everywhere and namakeerthanam performed as well as the narayana gOsham. Therefore nammAzhwar has told before itself that EmperumAnar, udayavar is going to come. In foresight, nammAzhwar says this in the pAsuram as "kaliyum kedum kandu konnmin kadal vannan boodhangal mannmel Maliya pugundhu isai paadi aadi uzhi tharakkandom". Such an ananthAzhwar arose as the avatar in the form of Ramanujar.
The uncle of Ramanujar was always in thiruvenkatam performing kainkaryam and he was called thirumalainambi. He named Ramanujar as izhaiAzhwar. Devaperumal called him as ethirAjar after he took sanyasam. When Ramanujar came to Srirangam, Periyaperumal named him as udayavar. ThirukOshtinambi gave Ramanujar the name of EmperumAnar. Nachiar gave the name of Chudi Kodutha nachiar kOil annan. In the sharada peetam at Kashmir, Saraswathi gave the name of Sri BhashyakArar. As a result of performing the 100 chathurmasam anushtAnam, he was called by the name of ethirAjar. Periyanambi gave the name of Sri Ramanujar.
The kshetram of Sriperumbudur was also known as "Bhootapuri". Since most of the avataram of the bhagavan was in the North of India, ananthAzhwar, desirous of being born in the dravidadesham of South India, took birth in the place of Bhootapuri, being the present Sriperumbudur. Knowing that AdisEshan is going to be born here, perumal came to be in Sriperumbudur who is called the kesavaperumal. Many people have sung about the kshetram of Sriperumbudur itself and have also talked about as well. Even if one has entered the kshetram of Sriperumbudur it is enough, "kaliyum kedum kandu konnmin". It is only due to the glory and presence of this kshetram called Sriperumbudur, that there is a vaishnava around, the namagOsham of Narayana is being heard now, the ashtAkshara is there, dwayAm is there, the charamaslokam, all the 4000 divyaprabhandam is sung, the thiruvArAdhanam of the 108 divya dEshams is happening and the kalakshEpams are happening even today. Due to this kshetram of Sriperumbudur only, in all the perumal temples, the thiruvArAdhanam and the 4000 divya prabhandam seva is happening. Even today the namakeerthanam is happening and the reason for this is because in this kshetram of Sriperumbudur, Sri Ramanujar was born. Although Sriperumbudur being synonymous with emperumAnar, udayavar, Ramanujar and izhaiAzhwar, suffice to say it is enough to look at the direction of Sriperumbudur or just think about this kshetram in the mind itself or just go on a pilgrimage to this kshetram. Because of both the perumal and AdisEsha having been born here, "kaliyum kettupoirkku". Why will Kali get destroyed, it is mainly due to the power of the namakeerthanam and mainly due to harinamakeerthanam. Bringing harinamakeerthanam and establishing the greatness of the archAvatar is attributed to udayavar.
Here in this kshetram of Bhootapuri, there lived the father of Sri Ramanujar, Kesavasuri and mother bhoomipiratti Kanthimathi, who were childless for a long time. This is how the avatArapurushas would usually be born. Even sakshAth Sri Rama himself was born only after the putrakAmeshti yAga was performed. But there arises a question as to why Sri Rama was born only after a putrakAmeshti yAga whereas Sri Krishna was born for Devaki and Vasudeva without any yAga. This can be attributed to the fact that in the prison, whatever Devaki and Vasudeva underwent under Kamsa was far greater than a yAga. That is why bhagavan did not expect a condition in this instance. In Chennai, the divyadesha perumal, Sri Parthasarathy is with the varadahasta, any perumal who has the varadahasta is one with whom our prayers will be answered immediately. The reason why all our prayers are answered immediately in the Thiruvenkatam, is that thiruvenkatamudayAn is with the varadahasta. HE is a perumal who can grant any boon and ready to give whatever is being asked. Here Sri Parthasarathy is with the varadahasta too. The parents of Sri Ramanujar, adept at performing yAgas and equal to a rishi, therefore performed a purushasuktha homam to Sri Parthasarathy perumal for granting them a child. Due to the yagnam performed so well and as a present from Sri Parthasarathy perumal, in the month of chithra, sukhlapaksha, panchami thithi on a thursday in day time of kataka lagnam and arudhra nakshathram, Sri Ramanujar was born. Only after Ramanujar came into being, Kali was destroyed. The main goal of the avatar of Sri Ramanujar was to bring out the greatness and fame of the archAvatar perumal. That is why Sri Ramanujar travelled far and wide and all his life, strived hard in order to setup the greatness of the mahimai of Sri Narayana in this world and this was the main goal of udayavar. Sri Ramanujar was brought up in Sriperumbudur. The first sangam udayavar made was with Thirukatchinambi. We have said several times about Thirukatchinambi. He was born in poovirandhamallee and there were lots of flower gardens there. Taking all these flowers, Thirukatchinambi used to walk to kanchipuram and perform flower seva to pEraruzhAlan, to our devaperumal there and this has already been told earlier.
