Gurupournima Series: Part 1: Obedience to the Guru: Daasharathi

July 24, 2021 is the day of Gurupournima . This is the special day in the life of all saadhakaas (spiritual aspirants) to honor their Guru or Acharyar. To do this in the most effective way, it is critical to develop in ourselves the qualities of a shisya or disciple. As a buildup to that, by the Guru’s grace, I will be putting up one blog post every day from today till July 24. I pray that the Guru tattva blesses us all to be able to understand, imbibe and practice these qualities in our life to be able to make maximum spiritual progress.

Quality 1: Obedience to the Guru

Atthuzhai, a newly-wed young girl, came to her father Periya Nambi in tears. “My mother-in-law taunted me today because you did not send a servant maid as part of my dowry.”

The stoic Periya Nambi replied, “I have no solution for this. Ask your Acharyar.”

So Atthuzhai approached Swami Ramanujar. He instructed his shisya Daasharathi to accompany her to her home and to stay there as the bride’s maid, doing all the necessary tasks. Daasharathi dutifully followed his Guru’s instructions and performed all the work entrusted to him earnestly with sincerity.

One day, someone in Atthuzhai’s house was reciting the scriptural texts in an erroneous manner. With great humility, Daasharathi demonstrated the correct manner of recitation. Everyone who heard him was shocked to realize that he was such a learned person! Until that moment, everyone in that house had thought him to be just a nondescript person sent from Swami Ramanujar’s matham as Atthuzhai’s servant!

Atthuzhai’s mother-in-law was extremely repentant and went to Swami Ramanujar to apologize and requested him to call back Daasharathi to the matham.

Image courtesy: http://www.mudaliandan.com/images/dasarathi/Mudali%20Vaibhav%202014%20-%2023%20copy.jpg

Points to ponder

Daasharathi, was Swami Ramanujar’s nephew (sister’s son) and his first disciple (so he was also called Mudaliaandaan).

Against this background of Daasharathi, let us put ourselves into his shoes.

Can we try to imagine the feelings that may be invoked in a person who has to move from such a ‘prestigious’ position to working as a servant in someone’s house?

What was the quality that made Daasharathi able to happily render service in Atthuzhai’s house?

What was the quality that prevented him from indulging in a display of his actual calibre to Atthuzhai’s family?

When I heard this story first, it taught me how intense one’s Gurubhakti has to be to allow one to blindly obey the Guru’s instructions and to do it in the most effective way possible without letting one’s ego interfere in the process. Indeed, this is the definite pathway to destruction of our ahambhaav or sense of ego.

Image courtesy: http://www.mudaliandan.com/images/dasarathi/Mudali%20Vaibhav%202014%20-%2023%20copy.jpg

Reading this anecdote, it is not surprising that Mudaliaandaan was so dear to Swami Ramanujar. In the Srivaishnava Sampradaayam, the Acharyars carry a ‘Tridandam’ made up of three small wooden sticks to symbolize the Tattvatrayam (three components of the Vishistaadvaita philosophy) – chit (sentient beings), achit (insentient matter) and Eashwara (Brahman or the Supreme God). Swami Ramanujar always called Mudaliaandaan as his Tridandam!

So impeccable and blemish-less was the service of Mudaliaandaan to his Acharyar that he is considered as the paadukaa (lotus feet) of Swami Ramanuja’s paadukaas!

Here is what the humble Mudaliaandaan said about his Acharyar,

"Oru malaiyil ninru, oru malaiyil thaavum simha shareeraththil janthukkaL pole bhaashyakaarar samsaaralanganam paNNa avarOdundaana kudalthudakkaale naam udhdheerdaraavuthomenru muthaliyaandaruLi-ch-cheytha paasuram"

Rough translation: “When a lion leaps from a mountain to another, all the creatures that live on his body go with him. Even so, when Swami Ramanujacharyar transcended this world, all of us who are associated with him benefit from this as well.”

Let us pray for divine grace to develop such intense obedience and Gurubhakti like Mudaliaandaan!

To know more about Mudaliaandaan, read here:

http://www.mudaliandan.com/dasarathi.php

https://anudinam.org/2016/10/19/guru-parampara-series-bhaghavadh-ramanujacharya-part-6/