56. ingu pAl pongum enREnO vaduganambiyaip pOlE

Vaduga Nambi (Andra Purna) was one of the close disciples of Swami Ramanuja. His faith in his acharya was unshakeable and superceded even bhagavad bhakti. This is known as Madhurakavi nishtai (also known as Charamopaya nishtai) - the acharya bhakti shown by madhurakavi Azhvar toward Nammazhvar. It is said that he would call Mudhaliyandan and Kooraththazhvan as "iru karaiyar" - meaning that they believe in both their acharya and the Lord. His take was that one should place their faith completely in one's acharya alone (as both the means and the end) and no one else.

One time while he was engaged in preparing milk for Ramanuja at Srirangam, Namperumal's veedhi procession was occuring. As Namperumal came outside Ramanuja's mutt, everyone went out to have His darshan. Ramanuja was outside and noticing Vaduga Nambi's absence called him to come outside. Vaduga Nambi refused saying that if he stepped out, then the milk he was preparing for Ramanuja would overheat, overflow and lose its flavor. Such was his acharya bhakti.

Thirukkolur Ammal is asking "Did I show the kind of acharya bhakti that Vaduga Nambi did?"