by Sri TA Varadhan

svami manavala mamuni spent his time, after becoming a sanyasi, in srirangam, teaching his sishyas, living a life that is considered to be the epitome and the highest example of a life that a servant of god can lead. He further ensured that the services to lord ranganatha were happening as per the norms set by svami ramanuja.

Several srivaishnavas, many of whom belonged to some acharya purusha lineage, became sishyas of svami manavala mamuni - thirumanjanam appa, bhattarpiran jiyar, kandadai annan, singarayar are a few key names.

svami manavala mamuni undertook the permission of the lord of srirangam, and proceeded to azhvar thirunagari to do mangalasasanams to svami nammazhvar. on the way, svami went to kuntee nagaram (the birthplace of svami thiruvaymozhip pillai) and other divya desams. in azhvar thirunagari, he stayed for sometime, giving upadesa to sishyas in that area of the Lord's land.

At this time, there was one sutra of a work called acharya hrdayam, which svami manavala mamuni wanted to understand deeper. acharya hrdayam is a work by svami azhagiya manavalap perumal nayanar, the brother of svami pillai lokachariar. This work contains the concepts that were expressed by nammazhvar in thiruvaymozhi, and is entirely composed in manipravalam, with words that are part of thiruvaymozhi. this is a standard rahasya grantha for srivaishnavas, as it elucidates the inner meanings of thiruvaymozhi in a concise format. svami manavala mamunigal was looking for an acharya that could elucidate on the meaning of that paricular sutra which he wanted to understand deeper. many elders gave a suggestion that people in thirunarayanapuram (melkote) will be able to give him that meaning, and he started towards thirunarayanapuram.

Meanwhile, in thirunarayanapuram, an acharya called aay jananyachar had heard about the prabhavam of the avatara of adisesha, and wanting to see him, had already started from thirunarayanapuram to azhvar thirunagari. svami janayachar was an expert in acharya hrdayam, and had further written a commentary on thiruppaavai (3000ppadi).

Both the acharyas met halfway, and after mutual exchanging of respect and affection, returned to azhvar thiruganari, where svami manavala mamuni learnt the meanings of acharya hrdaya from aay jananyachariar svami. here yatindra pravana prabhavam narrates an incident that shows us the greatness of aay janayachar svami -

When svami was in azhvar thirunagari, some jealous people in thirunarayanapuram spread a rumour saying that he had attained paramapadam, and all of his belongings should be given to the temple. the local people did so. after some time aay jananyachar svami returned to thirunarayanapuram. on hearing the happenings there, svami became esctatic that the owner of all the universe had taken his belongings back, and that selvapillai takes the material wealth of someone that He wishes to Grace. He requested selvapillai to give him the vigraha of gnyanap piran alone, and left all of his remaining wealth with the temple.

In azhvar thirunagari, where svami manavala mamuni was staying, some jealous people laid fire to the matam where svami was staying. all the sishyas and the local people were enveloped in sorrow that svami might be hurt, and it is said that svami took his sesha form, shielding the fire from harming him, left the matam and came among his sishyas. the perpetrators were found. svami, with his infinite grace, requested the king not to punish the perpetrators, and gracefully allowed them to perform service to srivaishnavas and took them as his sishyas.

svami performed numerous renovations, and built several additions to the temples at azhvar thirunagari and thiruk kurungudi. all these were accomplished on svamis commande by the local chieftain of that area. then, svami returned back to srirangam and continued the administration of the ramanuja sampradaya.

In a village called erumbi, near sholingar, there was a great learned person called appa svami. he had heard about svami manavala mamuni's pravhavam from many people, and wanted to see svami. his (erumbiappa's) father also gave him permission to go to srirangam and see svami. he reached srirangam. svami manavala mamuni, knowing about the scholarship of erumbiappa, gave him the due respect. erumbiappa was staying at koil kandadai annan's residence.

One day, svami manavala mamuni gave to erumbiappa, an upanyasam on the first pasuram of thiruvaymozhi- uyarvu ara uyar nalam - it is recorded that erumbiappa was surprised and remarked about his hearing only about svamis's knowledge of tamizh, and having heard this upanyasam, he felt the svami was a complete ubhaya vedanta scholar. svami manavala mamuni further invited erumbiappa to have food at the matam.

erumbiappa, at that time was a samanya sastra scholar - as per the samanya sastra, he did not eat at the matam, and left for erumbi. [there is a sastra vakya that states that one who eats the food of a sanyasi, or the food sent by a sanyasi, or the food that is in a vessel of a sanyasi, should undergo penance in the form of chaandrayana vratham].

In erumbi, erumbiapps tried to open the doors of his perumal sannadhi to perform thiru aradhnam, but no matter how he tried, the door would not open. with this, he was very concerned and was worried about why the lord was playing this leela on him. to him, his Lord (rama) then told that the real reason was the He was unhappy that erumbiappa had committed a sin by not eating at svami manavala mamunis matam, and that He did not want thiruaradhanam performed by erumbiappa till the time he becomes a sishya of manavala mamuni and obtains forgiveness for his sin.

erumbiappa, realising his mistake, and the greatness of svami manavala mamuni went to srirangam, and became a sishya of svami. after that, he wrote many many works on svami manavala mamuni, the most importnat of those being purva dinacharya, uttara dinacharya and vara vara muni sathakam.