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IlayAzhvAr habitually took an oil massage and had a ShrI Vaishnavaite be his masseuse. One day, as usual the helper came to assist him with this task. He said that he was hungry and that he would appreciate if he could have something to eat before starting on his task. RAmAnujar went and asked his wife if there was anything to eat and she replied that there wasn't anything. Incidentally RAmAnujar went into the kitchen to wash his hands and he saw that there was indeed some food left over. He took it and served it to the helper and chided his wife for hiding the truth from him.
On another occasion, he had to go to ShrI PerumbUdUr. He got the blessings of his AachAryan and left. When he had gone, a dispute ensued between his wife and Periya Nambi's wife: they fought over a silly pot used to draw water from the well. When Periya Nambi came to hear of this, he got angry with his wife and scolded her for picking a fight. He decided that it was not wise for them to stay there anymore and before RAmAnujar could come back from his trip, he vacated the house and left for SrI Rangam periya kOil. When RAmAnujar came back, he was distraught to find his AachAryan missing. He asked his wife what the matter was and she told him about the fight that had ensued between them. RAmAnujar did not want to hear those words and the anger towards his wife was limitless. He then told her that she should leave him immediately and go back to her parents' house. He explained that she had committed 3 grievances:
1. Cleaning up the area that Tirukkachchi Nambigal sat on
2. Refusing to offer food to a hungry Vaishnavaite when there was food available
3. Not respecting AachArya patni and picking a fight with her
So saying, he asked her to pack all her belongings and saw to it that she left immediately.
RAmAnujar becomes YatirAjar
Once he separated from his wife, RAmAnujar decided that it was a good idea for him to take up sanyAsam. He went before PerumAL's sannidi and asked for his orders to do so. He then bathed in the waterbody nearby and uttered the "PrEsha" mantram that had been taught to him previously and embraced asceticism.
"Tridandam UbavIdamsa VAsaha GoupInavEshtanam
Sikyangkavasa MityEtat PipruyAt yAvatAyusham"
According to those lines, he embraced the tridandam and the yagnyopavItam. PEraruLALan blessed him with the name of YatirAjar as his "Archchaka mukam".
According to the wishes of Yatigal, YatirAjan carried out his rituals dutifully. He them remembered the wishes of AalavandAr and wished to carry them out. He wanted someone to aid him in these tasks and his cousin GOvinda Battar came to mind immediately. He remembered that he had done good by him and was not materialistic and wished to get him to join as his aide immediately. The only person who could correct Govinda Battar, according to him was Tirumalai Nambi. He sent a Vaishnavar who was known to him to Tirumalai Nambi for this purpose who explained that "Govinda Battar is perfect to study the Sashtrams with me and help me carry out all my tasks. He has fallen prey to some illusion and is now doing DEvatAntram. You have to show him compassion and correct his ways".
On hearing that RAmAnujar was now a sanyAsi, he was approached by NadAtUr AazhvAn, KUraththAzhvAn and MudaliyAndAn who joined him. RAmAnujar did the 5 samskArams for them. They were all very loyal and stayed with AachAryan and helped him out in his daily duties.
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