Koorathaalwar Darshan Part 2

Kuresan's wife Andalamma expressed fear about the robbers. Kuresan was puzzled, he asked back "what do we have with us that can be taken away by the robbers?". Andalamma hesistantly pulled out a golden vessel from inside her dress and said that she carried it primarily to relieve Kuresan of thirst on the way. Kuresan explained her wife "Renouncing everything includes this vessel too". Saying so he threw the vessel back into the jungle and proceeded his journey to Tiruchi.

Kuresan became the shisya of Ramanujar once again and helped a lot in writing the famous "Sri Bashyam" book. As Ramanujar's glory was spreading all over the country, so did enemies spread from all circles. Once the Chola king of Chidambaram summoned Ramanujar to appear in court for a scholarly debate with the cruel intention of killing him. Kuresan volunteered to go in place of Ramanujar to the king's court. Chola king being Saivite fanatic wanted Kuresan to sign that Shiva is the only god and nothing higher than him exists. The king threatened that if he fails to do it, his eyes will be pierced with the quill. Kuresan without hesitation grabbed the writing quill and pierced his eyes saving trouble for the king and expressed that instead of meeting a person like you, it is better I live without my eyes.
He lived a long life thereafter serving Ramanujar more vigorously despite his blindness.
His life history is really touching and the affection and respect he showed towards Ramanujar is the greatest example of Acharya Bhakthi. Despite coming from an affluent background, the way he renounced everything to attain the feet of Acharya and ParamAcharya(Perumal) tells us how one should be detached in life to attain eternal glory.
Kuresan is popularly called as Koorathaalwaar. Koorathaalwar temple is located in his birthplace Kooram. Jan 17th 2009 marks the beginning of1000th birth anniversary of this great soul.
We had the luck of visiting the temple on this special occasion get the blessings of Kesava Perumal and Koorathaalwaar. Enjoy the alankaram of Koorathaalwar in the photo, you could easily spot him in temple carvings, he will always be near to Ramanujar and has a beard. Next time when you visit Kanchi, do plan for this temple and enjoy the aaravamudham.

Koorathaalwar Darshan Part 1

Jan 17th 2009 is a very special day for the bhaktas to recollect and cherish the memories of Koorathaalwaar, may be a familiar name to you. If not don't worry, let me give a quick background on this great man and the significance of Jan 17th 2009.
For detailed story of koorathaalwaar, bhaktas can find many reading materials on the internet, especially you can refer to saranagathi.org for a beautiful narration of the life history of the various aalwaars and acharyas.

Kooram is a village near Kanchipuram, birth place of Kuresa. He was born in a rich family, grew up to be a great vishnu devotee and frequently visited Varadaraja Perumal temple in Kanchipuram. During this period, Ramanujar stayed in Kanchi and preached Vaishnavism. Kuresan joined as Shishya to Ramanujar and very soon developed good relationship. This didn't last for long, Ramanuja due to personal reasons had to leave Kanchi and settled in Srirangam. Kuresan felt very lonely but continued to lead usual life in Kooram, that is when one day Namperumal reminded in dream to proceed to Srirangam and join Ramanujar. Kuresan immediately responded and proceeded to Srirangam after leaving all his belongings in Kooram. There is an interesting incident here. Kuresan and his wife traveling past a dense jungle in the night. Let us see what happened in the next post.