75. yAn siRiyEn enREnO thirumalai nambiyaip pOlE

One of Ramanuja's five acharyas was Thirumalai Nambi. He was Ramanuja's maternal uncle as well. When Ramanuja came to Thirumalai for the first time, his disciples wished him to climb the hills and perform mangalashasanam to the Lord there as well as see the garden that his disciple Anandazhvan had built there. Ramanuja was hesitant to place his feet on the hills as it is Adisesha himself who was present in the form of the hills. However, due to the insistence of the disciples he agreed to climb the hills.

As he went up the hills, Thirumalai Nambi came down with the divine water from the Lord and other prasadams and met him on the way. Ramanuja asked Thirumalai Nambi "O! Swami. For the sake of this small person, did you have to come personally this far? Could you have not send a lesser person?" Thirumalai Nambi replied "I searched the entire Thirumalai hills and I did not see anyone lower than me".

This is known as 'paraspara nIcha bhAvai:' - every Srivaishnava considers himself as the lowest person when meeting another Srivaishnava. Azhvar too calls himself "sIlamillA siRiyan".

Thirukkolur Ammal is saying "Did I show the Srivaishnava quality that Thirumalai Nambi exhibited?"