pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar

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

nampillai-goshti1nampiLLai kAlakshEpa gOshti – pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar seated 2nd from left

nampillai-pinbhazakiya-perumal-jeer-srirangampinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar at the lotus feet of nampiLLai, srIrangam

thirunakshathram: ippasi, sathayam

avathAra sthalam: thirupputkuzhi

AchAryan: nampiLLai

Place where he attained paramapadham: srIrangam

Works: 6000 padi guru paramparA prabhAvam. He is also said to be the author of vArthA mAlai but there is lack of clarity in that.

pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar is a dear sishya of nampiLLai and is also known as pinbhazhagarAm perumAL jIyar. He documents the historical accounts of our AzhwAr/AchAryas lives in his 6000 padi guru paramparA prabhAvam. Similar to nanjIyar (a sannyAsi) serving bhattar (gruhastha), pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar (sannyAsi) served nampiLLai (gruhastha).

When pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar was ill, he asks other srIvaishNavas to pray to emperumAn for his speedy recovery – this is considered as improper per srIvaishNava etiquette – one should not pray to emperumAn for anything – even for recovering from illness (what to speak about going to doctor, etc). Seeing this, sishyas of nampiLLai come and enquire from nampiLLai on why jIyar was doing that. nampiLLai asks his sishyas to enquire from few swamys about jIyar’s behaviour. nampiLLai first says, go and ask engaLAzhwAn who is an expert in all sAsthram. engaLAzhwAn replies “may be he is attached to srIrangam and he wants to stay here for some more time”. nampiLLai then asks his sishyas to go and ask thirunArAyaNapurathu arayar – arayar says “may be he has some unfinished tasks which he wants to complete, so he is praying to prolonging his life here”. nampiLLai then asks his sishyas to ammangi ammAL who says “who would want to leave nampiLLai’s kAlakshEpa gOshti, he may be praying so he is here for some more time to listen to nampiLLai’s kAlakshEpam”. nampiLLai then asks his sishyas to go to periya mudhaliyAr and he says “may be he is too attached to namperumAL that he does not want to leave from here”. nampiLLai finally asks jIyar himself if any of these views are in line with what he himself is thinking. jIyar replies “No. You know everything. But out of your mercy, you want to reveal this by me. Let me say why I want to continue living here. Everyday, after  you taking bath, I get to have the divine dharshan of your form and serve you by fanning, etc. How can I give up that service and go to parampadham just yet?”. Thus, pinbhazhagarAm perumAL jIyar reveals the highest principle for a sishya – to be fully attached to the divine form of ones own AchAryan. Hearing this everyone was amazed by jIyar’s devotion towards nampiLLai.

He was instrumental in making naduvil thiruvIdhi piLLai bhattar a sishya of nampiLLai. This incident can be fully seen at https://acharyas.koyil.org/index.php/2013/04/20/naduvil-thiruvidhi-pillai-bhattar-english/.

In the vyAkyAnams, the following incident involving pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar are identified.

  • upadhEsa rathina mAlai 65 and 66 – piLLai lOkam jIyar vyAkyAnam – The principle of total surrender and attachment towards AchAryan’s divine form is explained by piLLai lOkAchAryar in srIvachana bhUshaNa dhivya sAsthram (sUthram 333) and maNavALa mAmunigaL in his upadhEsa rathina mAlai as well (pAsurams 65 and 66). In the 66th pAsuram, mAmunigaL identifies that pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar was so attached to nampiLLai that he will even discard the thought of going to paramapadham. piLLai lOkam jIyar compares pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar’s AchArya nishtai on nampiLLai to madhurakavi AzhwAr – nammAzhwAr, ANdAL – periyAzhwAr, vaduka nambi – emperumAnAr and mAmunigaL – thiruvAimozhi piLLai. These were the great stalwarts who were fully situated in AchArya nishtai which is the top most aspiration for a prapanna. piLLai lOkam jIyar also quotes appiLLai’s yathirAja vimsathi vyAkyAnam where he says “pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar had nampiLLai as his master, refuge and goal and was always fully focussed on nampiLLai”.

In vArtha mAlai, a few incidents involving pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar are identified.

  • 2 – pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar once asks nampiLLai about the svarUpam (nature of jIvAthmA), upAyam (process) and upEyam (goal). nampiLLai replies that jIvAthmA’s icchai (இச்சை – desire) is svarUpam, bhagavAn’s irakkam (இரக்கம் – mercy) is upAyam and inimai (இனிமை – bliss) is upEyam. jIyar says he thinks otherwise and nampiLLai wonders if he has a different philosophy. jIyar goes on to say “I consider the following as taught by you. To be surrendered to srIvaishNavas is my svarUpam; their attachment towards us is my upAyam; their bliss is my goal”. nampiLLai becomes greatly pleased by jIyar’s words. Thus he establishes the most important principle “bhAgavatha sEshathvam” in front of his AchAryan.
  • 69 – jIyar asks the meanings of dhvaya mahA manthram from nampiLLai. nampiLLai explains that in the first part we accept that srIman nArAyaNan is the total refuge and in the second part we crave to serve both of them (perumAL and pirAtti) and pray  that srIman nArAyaNan is the ultimate enjoyer and we have no tinge of self-interest in that bliss. The sishyas who were blessed by the Acharya to have such strong faith should have great gratitude towards the AchArya. Further jIyar asks, if pirAtti is always engaged in contemplating about emperumAn, how will she help the jIvAthmAs? nampiLLai replies, just like bhagavAn is constantly engaged in enjoying pirAtti‘s beauty yet takes care of creation, etc., thAyAr will also constantly engage in enjoying bhagavAn yet will recommend to emperumAn for suffering jIvathmAs to be uplifted being true to her nature of purushakAra bhUthai (recommendation authority).
  • 174 – This incident of pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar praying for his well-being to continue serving nampiLLai is already discussed in this article.
  • 216 – naduvil thiruvIdhi piLLai bhattar quotes a beautiful conversation between nampiLLai and pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar. jIyar asks a question “Every mumukshu should be like AzhwAr (fully depending on emperumAn and contemplating on emperumAn only). But we still have material desires. How will we get the same result (kainkarya prApthi in paramapadham) that AzhwAr got?”. nampiLLai answers “Even though we may not have the same advancement like AzhwAr in this sarIram, by the grace of our AchAryan who is pure, bhagavAn will create that same desire (as that of AzhwArs) in us between the time we die and we reach paramapadham. So, by the time we reach parampadham we will be fully purified and will only have the desire to do kainkaryam to emperumAn eternally.
  • 332 – pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar asks nampiLLai “When some one has some trouble, he goes and prays to a srIvaishNava for relief and eventually he gets relieved. Is this by the power of bhagavAn or the srIvaishNava?”. nampiLLai replies “It is by the power of bhagavAn only”. jIyar further asks “Can we not pray to bhagavAn directly to be be relieved of our suffering then?”. nampiLLai replies “No, we cannot do that. We should always go through a srIvaishNava when we approach bhagavAn”. jIyar further asks “Is there an example where bhagavAn fulfilled the desire of a vaishNava?”. nampiLLai replies “When arjuna vowed that he will kill jayathrathan before the sun-set, sarvEsvaran gave up his own vow of not touching any weapons during the battle, took up his sudharsana chakram and hid the sun. Seeing that jayathrathan came out in the open and bhagavAn withdrew his chakram indicating the sun had not set and thus arjunan was able to kill him. From this incident, we can understand emperumAn will fulfill a srIvaishNava’s words and so, we should always go through a srIvaishNava to emperumAn”.

Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar. He was a great scholar and was very dear to nampiLLai. Let us pray at his lotus feet that we too get a little bit of such bhAgavatha nishtai.

pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar’s thaniyan:

gyAna vairAgya sampUrNam paschAth sundhara dhEsikamm
dhravidOpanishadh bhAshyathAyinam madh gurum bhajE

ஜ்ஞாந வைராக்ய ஸம்பூர்ணம் பச்சாத் ஸுந்தர தேஸிகம்
த்ரவிடோபநிஷத் பாஷ்யதாயிநம் மத் குரும் பஜே

adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan

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Sources: 6000 padi guru paramparA prabhAvam, vyAkyAnams, vArthA mAlai, periya thirumudi adaivu