Upadeśa
He belonged to another clime and age, wrote T.C.A. Ramanujam, but it was not blind faith. Crane, cock, salt — and the refusal of ochre when kainkarya would do.
01
The flowers were Ramanuja’s order, not the Lord’s request.
Ananthalvan’s centre is not a rivalry between God and guru. It is the Madhurakavi vow: the Lord is served because that service pleases the Acharya who sent him. He told Srinivasa he would rather be banished than leave the Hills against Emberumānār’s word. The satari of Ramanuja’s shrine is therefore named Ananthalvan — as Embar and Mudaliyandan named themselves the Acharya’s feet.
02
Dvayam is the bamboo with two knots. Tirumantra and Carama śloka are the honey beside it.
When Ramanuja was asked only for Dvayam, he taught Tirumantram and Carama Slokam as well, and the discourse became lengthy. Ananthazhvar stated that on that day he understood Bhoothatthazhvar’s paasuram: the male elephant in musth is Sri Ramanujar; the female elephant, the devotees; moongil with two knots, Dvayam; the honey nearby, Tirumantram and Carama Slokam; neettum, the lengthened discourse. Amongst Tirumantram, Dvayam, and Carama Slokam, Dvayam is the most delicious to Sriman Narayana’s devotees.
The elephant of Tiruvenkatamperugu mathavEzham maappidikku munninRu irukaNiLamoongil vaangi arugiruntha thEn kalanthu neettum thiruvEngadam kaNdeer vaan kalantha vaNNan varai
The description of nature in this paasuram is, in the Tirumalai hills, a male elephant in musth, pulls off a bamboo shoot, dips it in a honeycomb nearby and extends it to its female elephant.
Sri Bhoothatthazhvaar, Tiruvandaadi
03
Liberation is work in the garden, not ochre on the road.
He chided Nanjiyar: sannyāsa is hard to keep and not required. Surrender, svarūpa-jñāna, and kainkarya are enough. To Srivaishnavadāsa he said: give wealth to the servants of God; the Carama śloka will then be kept. He himself refused a brahmachari’s help with the spade — the labour was the offering.
gyAnam anuttAnam ivai nanRAgavE udai yanAna guruvai adainthakkAl - man^ilaththeer! thEnAr kamalath thirumAmagaL kozhunan thAnE vaikuntham tharum
O people of this world! If you reach (surrender) to an acharya who has the true knowledge and follows the prescribed rituals, He who is the Lord of Sri who stands on a lotus, will give you Vaikunta without you having to do anything further.
Sri Manavala Mamunigal, Upadesarattinamalai
04
Wait for the jñāni. Eat the grain Nammāḻvār picked. Disappear.
Purity and patience; living on the Drāviḍa Veda rather than every karmakāṇḍa fruit; self-effacement in Bhagavad, bhāgavata, and ācārya kainkarya. Bhattar added a fourth: the guest who could be moved from sitting to sitting without ahaṅkāra already was the thing defined.
05
Two parrots, one clutch — the house decides the tongue.
To ageing disciples who wished to go home, he told the Upaniṣadic tale of Śaunaka’s rainy night: a hunter’s parrot that insulted sages, and a ṛṣi’s parrot that offered water and Vedic honour. Same parents; different company. Evil saṅga is to be dreaded; sat-saṅga yields brahmānubhava. “Association cultivates the good or bad in the character.”
A chieftain, Valarttāṉ Mangalamuḍaiyāṉ, followed southern pilgrims up the Hill and asked for upadeśa. Ananthalvan would teach only one who had conquered the senses — then relented on a condition: the man’s wealth must go to the servants of God. The chieftain divided his property, kept a third, and laid it at the Acharya’s feet. Ananthalvan took him into the sanctum and reminded the Lord of the Carama śloka. Srinivasa promised paramapada. A few days later, in procession, the man heard “nayāmi paramāṃ gatim,” and Ananthalvan performed his caramakainkarya.
Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṃ śaraṇaṃ vraja Ahaṃ tvā sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ
Abandoning all dharmas, take refuge in Me alone. I will release you from all sin. Do not grieve.
Bhagavad Gītā 18.66 — as Ananthalvan recited it before Srinivasa