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SRI RAMANUJA

Sri Krishna as pArthasarathi at thiruvallikEni

e-Journal- 11 sarvajith Avani

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amunA thapanAdhiSAyi bhUmnA yathirAjENa nibaddha nAyaka SrI: mahathI guru pamkthi hAra yashTi vibudhAnAm hridayamgamA vibhAthi ||

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Table of Contents
1. 2. Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 5 swamy Periya vAchAn pillai................................................................................................................. 6

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Editorial
We are too happy to bring out the eleventh edition of our Sri Ramanuja e-Journal in the month of Avani sarvajith year. The e-journal's main aim is to commemorate the Thirunakshathram-s of AzvAr-AchAryas in the form of discussion of the historical events, dates of the current year, of their divine workscommentaries, texts, pictures and so on. It is hoped that this journal will act as a catalyst in kindling the emotions of the devotees and precipitate thier inner feelings to manifest into celebrations at their places of residence as we are geographically divided. The celebration can be united as we are electronically integrated-thanks to the web and net-services and groups.This perhaps, will quench the thirst for bhagavatha/bhagavAtha anubhavham. Sri ANDAL advocated group devotion rather than bakthi in isolated manner. We are achieving this here. This mutual 'anubhavam-s' is expected to enrich one and all and enhance the divine experience, in the weeks and months to follow: 'bOdhayantha parasparam' KUdi irundhu kuLirndhEalOAr EmpAvAi' vara vara muni dasargaL

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1. Introduction
Ensuing ThiruVAdip pUram emerges the month of AVaNi. AvaNi is important for two great events. 1. Sri KrshnA Jayanthi and 2. The King of Commentators- Sri Periya VAchAn piLLai. Both on the same stars - AvaNi RoHini. The saulabyam of Sri KrshNA knew no bounds. AzvAr-s submerged in the auspicous qualities of Sri KrshNA. Being the latest avathAram missed AzvAr-s and AchAryas yearn more for KrshNA's vision due to the miss between the cup and the lip (pallilEa pattuth theRithAR pOlEA). Sri Nam AzvAr fainted for 6 months twice on recalling Sri KrshnA's saulabyam and divine deeds. ( pathudai adiyavar and piRandhavARum) The divine celestial psalm-s Bhagavath GITA narrating all the paths - neRi yellAm eduthuraitha- has been celebrated by AzvAr-s . The coming down of The Lord Almighty, down to earth and donning the role of an emissary -dhUthu has again and again been placed in high esteem by our pUrvAchAryAs. That was Supreme. In the realm of VyakyAnam-s Sri PeriyavAchAn PiLLai reigns as the king of commentator vyAkyAna Chakravarthy. Right from ThirupallANDu vyAkyanam to ThiruvAimozhi, the glory of the VyAkyAnam can be felt from the wonderful explanations. Let us celebrate the events on the days to come. The birth star of Sri NAyanAr Achan PiLLai also falls on AvANi ROhini. AvaNi 1st ---18.8.2007 AvaNi Rohini----4.9.2007- Sri Jayanthi

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2. swamy Periya vAchAn pillai

"yat padhAm bOruha dyAna vidvastA sEsha kalmasha: vasthuthAmupayA thOham yAmunEyam nAmAmi tam"

Sri periyavAchan pillai at sEnganUr

vyAkyAna Chakravarthy
Periya PerumAL-Periya vudaiyAr-Periya vAchAn PiLLai -Periya jEyar enbar avarar tham YEATRathAl* anbudaiYOar sAthuth thirunAmangaL thAn enRu nenjEA yEthathanai sollu nE inRu. The word Periya -representing greatness- is bestowed to elite and exalted class. Periya PermAL -The Lord majestically reclining at SrirAngam

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Periya vudaiyAr-Sri JaTAyU who sacrificed his life and elevated by Sri Chakravarthith Thirumagan; Periya jEyar-The great JEyar -Sri MAmunikaL are in this classified set and in this select group is placed our Periya vAchan PiLLai. Sri Periya vAchAn PiLLai is the King of commentators -The VyAkyAna Chakravarthi. The only one who had given commenatry for all the 4000 (vyAkyanam for first 400 pAsuram-s are mising for PeriyAzvAr Thirumozhi) The VyAkyAnam-s are incisive, probing and thought provoking. The year of birth of svAmi was Sarvajith and this year being Sarvajith-needs a befitting celebration and also apprecaiton of values of this svami. Born at SenakanUr near KumbakONam, Sri PeriyavAchAn PiLLai became a disciple of NampiLLai and did not just confine his works to aruLich cheyal but also gave commentaries to select slOkams of Sri RamAyanam -thani-slOki, Gadya vyAkyanam and so on. It is said that after Sri NampiLLai, several disciples of svAmi NampiLLai learnt from Sri PeriyavAchAn piLLai. Sri PeriyavAchAn piLLai transformed Sri vAdikEsari Azhagia MaNavALa jEyar, who was earlier bereft of education, into an erudite scholar who went on to become a great vyAkyAna karthA. The values and meanings of aruLIch cheyal could not have been realised had it not been for the priceless and invaluable commentaries of Sri Periya vAchAn piLLai. The aruLIch cheyal - divine works of AzvAr- became so only after these commentaries. PeriyavAchAn piLLai pinbuLLavaikkum theriya vyAkyaikaL seivAl- ariya aruLich cheyal pOrLai AriyarkatkippOadhu aruLich chyalAith aRindhu.-upadesa rethinamAlai Only after these vyAkyAnam-s came into being, the values of aruLich cheyal got unlocked. The proof of eating is in the pudding and the vyAkyanams -are full of coherence, macromicro meanings, logical analysis and excellent questions and answers.These probing questions and answers reiterates the greatness of the original works and unlocks value.

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A few samples:

ThirunedunthANdakam kal eduthu kal mAri kAthAi ennum...ThirunedunthANTakam 13; Thirumangai AzvAr while enjoying the vibhavAvathAra deeds of EmperumAn, enjoys the archAvatharam in between Sri PeriyavAchAn PiLLai gives a wonderful exampe ' pididhOARum neivArpAraippOlEA; ivarukku adi dhOARum archai' The prince needs ghee for every handful of food; Likewise, Kaliyan needs archavatharam every now and then.Other AzvAr-s talk about Supremacy of the Lord in ParathvAm and saulabhyam in archai. Thirumangai AzvAr needs archAvatharam for both. This example leads us to two things a. The logical conclusion of why archavathAram is mentioned in between each lines vekkAvil thuyil amarndha vEandhu (2nd line); The immense passion of AzVAR in archAvathAram and macro analysis of this pAsuram which we can never get from the meanings of the words. ThiurnedunthANdakam pAsurma 4 indhirarkkum brahmarkum mudhalvanthannnai.. ..andhaNanai andhaNan The term 'andhanan' refers to the community of pure brahmin-s. Thirumangai AzvAr describes EmperumAn as 'andhaNan' Here the meaning is to be taken as ' Pure ' and not as 'Brahmin'. Why the purity is mentioned here. Is it relevant to the context? The pAsuram talks of omnipresence of the Lord in all created lives and insentient beings.

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However, the presence does not inflict any defects to affect Him and therefore He is pure and this is specifically explained by Sri PeriyavAChAn PILLai 'bRAhmanan illai ' and AzvArgaL parama vaidhikargaL iREa. Thus the explanation, wonderful analysis in light of the context, the elimination process and the mindset of AzvAr-s are the hallmarks of the vyAkyAnam of this great AchAryA. These commentaries are to be read and understood word by word to realize the values. The above two are only two droplets of the ocean -thivalaigaL. Sri PeriyavAchAn piLLai ThiruvadigaLEA charaNam