Ramanujar 18 glorious visits to Thirukkoshtiyur Nambi for Rahasyartham

#azhwar #divyaprabandam #divyaprabandham #4000divyaprabhandam #pasuram #nalayiradivyaprabandham #sarangapani #kumbakonamtemples #kumbakonam #VaishnavaGuruParampara #Yamunacharyar #Ramanujar #Manakkalnambi #Uiyakkondar #Acharyar #srivaishnava #srivaishnavism #srivaishnavam #Vasudevakudumbakam #vaishnava #vaishnavam #tirukkachinambi #kanchipurna #kanchipuram #srirangam #tirupati #tirupathiperumal #perumal #lordvishnu #melkote #namazhwar #nalayiradivyaprabandham #tiruppavai #nalayiradivyaprabandham #hinduism #tirumala #tirupati #vaishnava #govinda #srivaishnava #harekrishna #hindu #perumal #ramanujan #swamiramanujacharya #temple #faith #ranganatha #srivaishnavasampradaya #acharya #divyadesam #krishna #sanatandharma #devotion #sriramanujacharya #brahmotsavam #tamil #purattasi #manavalamamunigal #ramanujadesikan #govindhaa #namperumal #ranganathaswamytemple #kaliyan #periyaperumal #namperumal #vaikuntham thriukkOshtiyUr is greatly glorified by periyAzhwAr in his periyAzhwAr thirumozhi 4.4 – nAva kAriyam padhigam. thirukkurugai pirAn, who was born in this beautiful dhivya dhEsam, becomes to be famously known as thirukkOshtiyUr nambi and is one of the prime sishyas of ALavandhAr. He is also known as gOshti pUrNar and gOshti purIsar. ALavandhAr instructs his 5 prime disciples to teach various aspects of our sampradhAyam to emperumAnAr. Of those, thirukkOshtiyUr is given the responsibility of teaching the meanings of rahasya thrayam – thirumanthram, dhvayam and charama slOkam. thirukkOshtiyUr nambi is the one who bestows the name “emperumAnAr” to srI rAmAnujar for his selfless act of sharing the meanings of charama slOkam with everyone who desired to learn that without any pre-conditions. nambi is constantly engaged in meditating on emperumAn through the divine meanings of rahasya thrayam (thirumanthram, dhvayam and charama slOkam) as he learnt from ALavandhAr and does not interact with anyone. In his own town (thirukkOshtiyUr) no one knew his glories. srI rAmAnujar, knowing the glories of nambi, walked 18 times from srIrangam to thirukkOshtiyUr to learn the most confidential meaning of charama slOkam. Finally at the 18th time nambi decides to instruct him the most confidential meaning of charama slOkam. nambi asks srI rAmAnujar to promise that he wont share this knowledge with anyone who is not qualified and who does not strive very very hard to know the same. rAmAnujar accepts that and promises at that time. nambi teaches the most confidential knowledge of charama slOkam. charama slOkam is gIthAchAryan’s “sarva dharmAn parithyajya” slOkam (gIthai – 18.66). In this slOkam, the most important principle is revealed through the word “Ekam” – which means only bhagavAn is upAyam. Any thing else such as karma, jnAna, bhakthi yOgams, our own prapathi (surrender), etc are not the real upAyam. This most confidential meaning when revealed to unqualified, can be easily misused in not performing ones own duties. So, the AchAryas until srI rAmAnujar protected it very carefully. But rAmAnujar, after learning this meaning from thirukkOshtiyUr nambi, immediately gathered the ones who were very eager to learn this secret meaning and explained the same in detail. nambi hears about rAmAnujar’s revelation and summons him at once. rAmAnujar arrive at nambi’s thirumALigai (residence). nambi enquires about rAmAnujar’s act and rAmAnujar accepts that he disobeyed his orders. When nambi asks why he did that, rAmAnujar says, “I may go to hell by disobeying your orders but many others (who learnt the meaning of charam slOkam) will get mOksham and be uplifted”. nambi becomes totally overwhelmed by rAmAnujar’s huge heart in providing true spiritual help to others and gives him a special name – emperumAnAr. emperumAn means my lord (bhagavAn) and emperumAnAr means one who is more merciful than bhagavAn. Thus, rAmAnujar becomes emperumAnAr after revealing the esoteric meanings of charama slOkam in thirukkOshtiyUr. This charithram (incident) is clearly and beautifully explained in mumukshuppadi vyAkyAna avathArikai (introduction) of maNavALa mAmunigaL for charama slOka prakaraNam (section). Note: In 6000 padi guru paramparA prabhAvam, it is explained that srI rAmAnujar learnt the meanings of thirumanthram from thirukkOshtiyUr nambi and revealed that and because of that nambi named him “emperumAnAr” and subsequently learnt the meanings of charama slOkam. But since mAmunigaL clearly explains that it is charama slOkam that was revealed by emperumAnAr and also since it fits many incidents in vyAkyAnams where “Ekam” shabhdham of charama slOkam is declared as the most confidential principle, we accept that as the authority (as heard from AchAryas).