The Greatness of Sri Ananthazhwan - Part 1

It is impossible to think about Lord Srinivasa of Thiruvengadam without thinking about Sri Ananthazhwan; a prominent acharya in the Sri Vaishnava Guru Parampara who was steeped in acharya bakthi that he was considered to be another Madurakavi Azhwar. He has written many granthams like the Goda Chatusloki, Ramanuja Chatusloki and Sri Venkatesa Ithihasa malai. Adiyen wishes to present below the Vaibhavam of Sri Ananthazhwan.

The Appearance Of Ananthazhwan

The gentle breeze from the Cauvery River filled the air with divine fragrance of tulasi leaves and jasmine, the divine fragrance carried from the garland of Namperumal. The streets around the temple looked charming. The sweet smell of the agnihothram fire enhanced the serene atmosphere. Parrots and peacocks flocked to the surrounding orchards while, spotted deer played in the orchards and woods. Pious men and women walked through the streets well decorated with beautiful rangoli with eagerness to attend the kalakshepam rendered by Swami Ramanujar. The lecture hall was packed with eager disciples who concentrated on each and every word uttered by the great Acharya. They not only focused their mind on the words of their acharyan but, they also paid attention to the expression on Swami Ramanujar’s face in order to understand the essence of the commentaries on the Thiruvaimozhi pasurams.

Swami Ramanujar had started to explain the ten verses on Thiruvengadam composed by Swami Namazhwar with the intention of seeking nithya kaimkaryam (eternal service to the Lord). 

‘enthai thanthai thanthai* thanthai thanthaikkum munthai,*

vaanavar* vaanavarkOnodum,*

sinthupoo makizum* thiruvENG kadatthu,*

antha milpugazk* kaarezil aNNalE.'

 While reciting the above pasurams, all the disciples noticed tears flowing from Swami Ramanujar’s eyes. They looked at one another trying to decipher the reason for the tears in the eyes of the great acharyan. Was it tears of joy or sorrow? Which line in the above verse provoked the Acharya to shed tears? The attentive disciples correctly determined that the line,’ sinthupoo makizum* thiruvENG kadatthu’ had caused Swami Ramanujar to shed tears. They wished to know if Swami cried because he was feeling happy or because he was feeling depressed. 

‘We wish to know the reason for the tears in your eyes while reciting the line “sinthupoo makizum thiruveng kadatthu”'

‘I feel dejected at the thought of the flowers growing on the Thiruvengadam hills which fall to the ground because there is no one there who is dedicated to gather the flowers and offer them to the Lord of Thiruvengadam. Is there anyone amongst you who is willing to go to Thiruvengadam and do pushpa kaimkaryam to the Lord of Seven Hills?’ 

The disciples looked at one another. They understood the need for someone to do service to the Lord of Tirumala. In the time period of Swami Ramanujar, it wasn’t an easy task to travel to Thiruvengadam. The roads were treacherous, crawling with fierce thieves and wildlife. Some disciples refrained from volunteering as they were worried about living in a remote area quite far from civilization. Others felt distress even at the thought of leaving Sri Rangam. They felt great love for Lord Ranganatha and couldn’t bear the thought of not being able to worship Namperumal every day. The disciples who were very close to Swami Ramanujar felt concerned at the thought of leaving their acharyan. They would even give up Lord Ranganatha but, they couldn’t think about staying away from their dear acharyan. While the disciples were fidgeting and trying to avoid looking at their acharyan lest they should be nominated by him, Sri Ananta Suri got up, walked towards Swami Ramanujar, paid his obeisance and said, ‘if it would please you, I wish to go to Thiruvengadam and offer pushpa kaimkaryam (floral service) to Lord Srinivasa.’ His words struck wonder at the hearts of everyone who had gathered there. 

‘You are Ananthan Pillai!’ Swami Ramanujar exclaimed as he embraced Sri Ananta Suri. From that moment, Sri Ananta Suri came to be known as Ananthan Pillai or Ananthazhwan. ‘You are the only one in this assembly who is courageous enough to undertake this task.’

‘When do you plan to leave?’ asked a disciple. 

‘Immediately, with the permission of our acharyan.’ 

‘Don’t start immediately,’ advised another. ‘Wait till your wife gives birth as she is not in a condition to undertake a trek to Thiruvengadam.’ 

‘What you say is true but, it would be much difficult to travel with an infant and we shouldn’t put off following the command of our acharyan for even a second. I will start to Thiruvengadam immediately with my wife.’ 

Thus, without wavering for even a second, Sri Ananthazhwan left behind the beautiful island town of SriRangam which hosted the blue sapphire called Ranganatha. He volunteered to leave his acharyan behind in order to put his acharyan’s mind at peace by offering service to Lord Srinivasa. The couple trekked to Thiruvengadam with joy. After all, they had been given a chance to serve their acharyan. They soon arrived at Thiruvengadam.

The Lord’s Pranayakopam

They gathered flowers from the surrounding hills and Sri Ananthazhwan would tie them into a beautiful garland for Lord Srinivasa. He had a beautiful garden constructed close to the temple. The seedlings grew very fast nourished by Sri Ananthazhwan. He grew jasmine, rose, Spanish Cherry (Magizham poo), Screw Pine (Thazham poo), Ylang-Ylang (manoranjitham), Indian Magnolia (shenbagappoo), marukozhundhu (sweet marjoram) and holy basil (tulasi).He raised flowers in neat rows. He spent his mornings gathering the flowers with great care and by tying them into huge flower garlands with the help of strings taken from the banana tree. 

One day, it occurred to Sri Ananthazhwan that the trees would stop flowering once the rainy season comes to an end. He felt concerned at the thought that after a few months with no rain, there wouldn’t be any flowers to offer to the Lord. He decided to construct lakes and pond to store the rain water for his garden. The water from the artificial lake would be sufficient to water the garden to nourish the flowering plants. It was one thing to make plans about digging a lake and totally another to actually carry out the plan. With no help available, Sri Ananthazhwan himself had to dig the lake while his wife volunteered to carry the excavated dirt in baskets to be dumped at a far off site. Lord Srinivasa watched with joy the services the couple were performing to please their acharyan. He looked with compassion at the wife of Sri Ananthazhwan who was pregnant and in no condition to haul the dirt away from the excavated lake. The compassionate Lord Srinivasa decided to help the couple by taking part in the service which was being carried out with the intention of pleasing Swami Ramanujar. 

Sri Ananthazhwan filled a basket with excavated earth and passed the basket to his wife. Sri Ananthazhwan’s wife started to walk with the basket to the site which had been selected by them for dumping the earth. It was quite far from their garden. She had to walk along the weather-beaten pathways that wound through the hills. As she turned a corner, she heard someone who asked her to stop. As she turned around, she saw a hunter. He looked as dark as the rain bearing clouds. He wore peacock feathers on His hair. He carried a bow with a quiver bag for His arrows. On His waist belt hung a conch and a sword. 

‘You shouldn’t be carrying such heavy load in your condition. I have been watching you. I know where to dump the earth.’ Without waiting for her response, He snatched the basket from her and ran towards the dump site. 

Ananthazhwan’s wife returned to the excavation site. 

‘You have returned very soon. Did you dump the earth in the location I showed you or did you dump it somewhere nearby?’

 ‘I didn’t get a chance to go to the site. A hunter snatched the basket from me saying that, I shouldn’t be working in my condition and ran away towards the dump site. I didn’t have the strength to stop Him.’ 

‘I will deal with the hunter,’ said Sri Ananthazhwan as he tossed his spade down. ‘Let us go and find Him.’ 

‘There He is,’ pointed Sri Ananthazhwan’s wife. 

They saw the hunter walk towards them with the empty basket. 

‘Why did you snatch the basket from this lady?’ questioned Sri Ananthazhwan. ‘Don’t you know it’s wrong to prevent people from serving the Lord?’ 

‘I do not know anything about your rules. All I know is that it is not right to let a woman in her condition to do such laborious task.’ 

‘What do you know about us?’ thundered Sri Ananthazhwan. ‘Don’t pretend to be compassionate and hinder the service we are performing for the Lord. I command you to leave us alone. If you further thwart our work, I will hit you with my spade!’ 

The hunter hurried away without arguing with Sri Ananthazhwan. 

‘He won’t hamper you anymore. I have filled another basket for you to carry.’ 

Sri Ananthazhwan’s wife carried the second basket and walked slowly towards the dump site. As she neared the same corner where she had met the hunter earlier, she was startled by Him as He once again grabbed the basket from her without giving her a chance to speak. She once again, returned and complained to Sri Ananthazhwan. 

‘Is He still troubling you?’ roared Sri Ananthazhwan. ‘I will teach Him a lesson.’ So saying, he grabbed his spade and went in search of the hunter. 

He soon came across the hunter along the forest path. ‘Didn’t I warn you to leave us alone? How dare you show your face here again?’ 

The hunter did not wait to reply. He threw down the basket and started to run towards the temple with Sri Ananthazhwan pursuing Him through the jungle path. They soon came within the temple premises. The hunter started running around the temple. Unable to keep up with the hunter, Sri Ananthazhwan threw his spade at the hunter with the intention of stopping him. The spade hit the hunter on His jaw. The hunter rubbed His jaw as He ran away without stopping to look at Sri Ananthazhwan. The hunter turned a corner and vanished from view. He was nowhere to be seen. Sri Ananthazhwan gave up his pursuit and returned to his wife. ‘The hunter won’t trouble us anymore.’

He looked at the Sun and realized that the excavation had to wait till the next day since he had to tie the flowers he had gathered from the garden for Lord Srinivasa. Lord Srinivasa, who had appeared in the form of a hunter before Sri Ananthazhwan, wished to reveal His leelai to Sri Ananthazhwan. He commanded a Sri Vaishnava at the temple to bring Sri Ananthazhwan with him to the sanctum. The Sri Vaishnava found Sri Ananthazhwan in his garden tying flowers. He paid his obeisance to Sri Ananthazhwan and conveyed the Lord’s message. He expected Sri Ananthazhwan to start with him to the temple immediately, but, to his surprise, Sri Ananthazhwan refused to come. 

‘I have to tie these flowers for the Lord. If I delay, they will wilt before they can be offered to the Lord. Please let Perumal know that I will see Him when I come with the flower garland.’ 

The messenger stood speechless. He looked at the mound of flowers which by themselves resembled a hill.’ How long will it take to tie these flowers?’ wondered the messenger. He did not know of anyone who would refuse to obey the lord’s command. The messenger returned to the temple and conveyed that Sri Ananthazhwan would only pay the Lord a visit after he had tied together all the flowers into a garland. 

‘Go tell Him that, the flowers can wait. I do not care if they wilt. Tell him that I order him to appear before me immediately!’ 

‘I have already told you once that I cannot abandon my pushpa kaimkaryam. Let the Lord know that I cannot come before Him now!’ replied Sri Ananthazhwan to the perplexed messenger.

Once again the messenger carried Sri Ananthazhwan’s refusal to Lord Srinivasa. Perumal feigned anger and responded heatedly. ‘Ask him for whom is he tying the garland? If he doesn’t come this instant, tell him that I will not accept his garland!’ 

‘Tell Lord Srinivasa that I do not care if He accepts my garland or not. It is my duty to tie the garland and I will not neglect my duty!’ 

The Lord once again responded angrily. ‘Ask him; to please whom, is he tying the garland?’ 

‘I am only tying this garland to please my acharyan Swami Ramanujar!’ 

The messenger once again brought Lord Srinivasa’s message in reply to Sri Ananthazhwan’s. ‘The lord doesn’t want you to stay at Thiruvengadam for even a second; since, you do not obey His divine command.’ 

To the messenger’s surprise, Sri Ananthazhwan remained cool and composed. ‘Tell the Lord that He too is a visitor to these hills like me. He has come here few thousand years ago from Vaikuntam while I have come here recently. This makes both of us visitors to this hill which means that He doesn’t have the right to evict me. Moreover, I came here to serve my acharyan. Unless my acharyan asks me to return, I will not leave these hills, even if it is the will of the Lord to send me away!’ 

Lord Srinivasa smiled when He heard Sri Ananthazhwan’s reply. He felt very happy to witness Sri Ananthazhwan’s acharya bakthi. He waited eagerly to see Sri Ananthazhwan. After tying the garlands, Sri Ananthazhwan walked to the temple carrying the garlands in a basket on his head. 

‘The Lord will be very angry with me,’ he thought. ‘It is better that I do not meet the Lord’s eyes today. I should give Him a chance to cool down.’ 

Sri Ananthazhwan entered the sanctum, but, without even looking at Lord Srinivasa, he left the basket at the Lord’s feet and turned to go. 

‘Don’t you wish to see me wear your garland?’ 

Sri Ananthazhwan turned around when he heard the divine voice and to his shock, saw a gash on the Lord’s jaw. 

‘I wished to show you that I had appeared before you as the hunter.’

 Sri Ananthazhwan felt horrified when he realized that he had hit the Lord with a spade. ‘I can get a doctor to cure human beings whose bodies are Prakruthik in nature, but, how can I find a cure to heal your aprakruthik Divya Managala Vigraham? Oh! What have I done! I came here to please my acharyan by serving you but, alas! I have instead hurt you! What will I tell my acharyan?’ 

Lord Srinivasa consoled Sri Ananthazhwan. He asked for a paste made out of the foot dust of His devotees to be applied on His chin to heal the wound. To this day, this paste is offered to devotees and is called “Sripada Renu”. 

Continued On: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2016/06/the-greatness-of-sri-ananthazhwan-part-2.html