vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai

by

sri:
srimathE rAmAnujAya nama:
srimadh varavaramunayE nama:
sri vAnAchala mahAmunayE nama:

In the previous article (https://acharyas.koyil.org/index.php/2012/09/16/nampillai-english/) we discussed about nampiLLai. Now we will move on to the next AchAryan in the OrAN vazhi guru paramparai.

vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai – kAnchipuram

Thirunakshathram: Ani, swAthi

avathAra sthalam: srirangam

AchAryan: nampiLLai

Sishyas: piLLai lOkAchAryar, azhagiya maNavALa perumAL nAyanAr, etc

Place where he attained paramapadham: thiruvarangam

Works: eedu 36000 padi

Born as sri krishna pAdhar, he became to be famously known as vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai. He was one of the prime disciples of nampiLLai.

vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai was completely situated in AchArya nishtai and even after entering gruhasthAshramam he was not showing any interest in begetting any children. Worried about that, his mother goes to nampiLLai and complains about vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai’s nature. Hearing that, nampiLLai invites both vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai and his wife, blesses his wife with his krupai and instructs vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai to engage in the process of begetting a child. Accepting his AchAryan’s instructions vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai does so and soon enough vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai’s wife gives birth to a child. vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai names that child piLLai lOkAchAryan since he was born out of the mercy of nampiLLai (lOkAchAryan). Hearing that, nampiLLai says he wanted to name the child azhagiya maNavALan. namperumAL also heard this and blesses vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai with another child soon after and that child is named azhagiya maNavALa perumAL nAyanAr since he was born out of the grace of azhagiya maNavALan (namperumAL). Thus vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai gives two great gems to our sampradhAyam. He can be compared to periyAzhwAr:

  • AzhwAr and vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai both are born in Ani swAthi.
  • AzhwAr wrote thirupallAndu and periyAzhwAr thirumozhi by the grace of emperumAn. vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai wrote eedu 36000 padi by the grace of nampiLLai.
  • AzhwAr gave ANdAL to our sampradhAyam and he raised her feeding krishnAnubhavam. vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai gave piLLai lOkAchAryar and azhagiya maNavALa perumAL nAyanAr and raised them feeding bhagavath anubhavam.

vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai while hearing thiruvAimozhi lectures from nampiLLai, spends the time with his AchAryan in the day time and spends the time recording them in palm leaves regularly in the night time. Thus he writes the eedu 36000 padi vyAkyAnam based on nampiLLai’s lectures without the knowledge of nampiLLai. Once vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai invites nampiLLai to his thirumAligai for thadhiyArAdhanam and nampiLLai accepts that and visits his thirumALigai. nampiLLai himself starts the thiruvArAdhanam and in the kOilAzhwAr he sees the bunch of palm leaves with the vyAkyAnam. Being interested, he starts reading a few of them and asks vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai what is that. vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai explains that he recorded nampiLLai’s lectures and nampiLLai instructs vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai to do the thiruvArAdhanam while he starts reading the palm leaves. He also asks periyavAchAn piLLai and eeyuNNi mAdhava perumAL to go through the same and they both read and glorify it very much. nampiLLai asks vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai why he did this without his permission and also asks if he did it as a competition to periyavAchAn piLLai’s vyAkyAnam. vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai completely upset with himself, falls at the lotus feet of nampiLLai and explains that he wrote that so that he can refer it for the future. Convinced with his explanations, nampiLLai glorifies the vyAkyAnam and says vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai is an avathAra visEsham to be able to do such work without missing anything from his lectures. nampiLLai also says he would give the vyAkyAnam to eeyuNNi mAdhava perumAL (who carries nanjIyar’s pUrvAshramam name – mAdhavar) to teach it to his descendants eventually to be revealed to every one by maNavALa mAmunigaL. By the grace of emperumAn, nampiLLai was able to foresee the appearance of mAmunigaL and he informs the same to eeyuNNi mAdhava perumAL that through him and his descendants, it will reach mAmunigaL and it will be revealed to the entire world at the right time.

vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai became the leader of the sampradhAyam after nampiLLai attaining paramapadham. He teaches all the meanings to both piLLai lOkAchAryar and azhagiya maNavALa perumAL nAyanAr. In srivachana bhUshaNa dhivya sAsthram piLLai lOkAchAryar refers to vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai’s instructions in a few places:

  • In sUthram 77, it is said that when the ahankAram is given up, AthmA can only be called adiyAn. It is shown in yathIndhra pravaNa prabhAvam that this instruction was explained by vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai.
  • In sUthram 443, piLLai lOkAchAryar says that vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai explains always that, for jIvAthmAs who have been in this samsAram since time immemorial due to their sva svAthanthriyam, the only way to relieve themselves from the samsAram is by surrendering to a sadhAchAryan.

After some time vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai gives up his charama thirumEni thinking about his Acharyan nampiLLai and attains paramapadham.

Let us pray at the lotus feet of vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai that we also develop such attachment towards emperumAnAr and our AchAryan.

vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai’s thanian

srI krishNa pAdha pAdhAbjE namAmi sirasA sadhA
yath prasAdha prabhAvEna sarva sidhdhirabhUnmama

ஸ்ரீ க்ருஷ்ண பாத பாதாப்ஜே நமாமி ஸிரஸா ஸதா
யத் ப்ரஸாதப் ப்ரபாவேந ஸர்வ ஸித்திரபூந்மம

In our next article, we will see piLLai lOkAchAryar vaibhavam.

adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan

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Sources: yathIndhra pravaNa prabhAvam, periya thirumudi adaivu, vyAkyAnams