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Ramanuja and so were others who were great social reformers.

Thye lived in a world where industry as we know was absent.

The societ was feudalsitic and the economy was agricultural.

In countries like India, printing even was not common. Hence,

priestly class had a dominant part in the social groups.

So in their own way, they rebelled to point out that one need

not be bound by caste. Kapilar composed Tamil poetry

rejecting caste-based distinction.

The same was true of the "padres" of Spain, however they

did not have the magnanimity to accept other faiths.

In that sense, some of the Acaryas of old times deserve

great esteem.

Krish

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  • 11 months later...

Whether one reads the invocatory references in the Vedartha Sangraha,

Geeta Bhashya or the Gadya traya, Ramanuja pays His respects to

Yamunacharya, His Guru whom He never met.

 

While Ghoshtipurna, Mahapurna, Sailapurna and others may have taught

Ramanujacharya the various rahasyarthas etc, Ramanujacharya's

realization and understanding of these meanings was because of a

Prapatti done by Yamunacharya. Prapatti as is understood today is

done only for moksha. But Prapatti can be done for securing other

fruits as well, as in the case of Draupadi, who did so for the safety

of her husbands.

 

In the case of Yamunacharya, He did a special prapatti to obtain

Ramanujacharya as a successor and a leader of the Srivaishnava

community. All the Gurus that Ramanujacharya met in his lifetime and

the teachings obtained by Him were the result of this Prapatti.

 

In gratitude for this, Ramanujacharya meditated on Yamunacharya and

not on the feet of Ranganatha or Ranganayaki at the time of His

departure from Bhuloka.

 

Jaganath.

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> Ramanujacharya meditated on Yamunacharya and

> not on the feet of Ranganatha or Ranganayaki at the time of His

> departure from Bhuloka.

 

Are you certain of this? In the SaraNAgati gadyam,

Ranganatha tells Ramanuja:

 

dvayArtha anusandhAnena saha yAvat SarIra pAtakam

Srirange sukhamAsvA!

 

Until your body falls off, remain contented in Srirangam

meditating on the import of the Dvaya mantra.

 

Would this not imply that Ramanuja contemplated on

Perumal and Thaayaar as laid out in the Dvaya mantra?

 

Mani

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>Jaganath Bharadwaj said:

>> Ramanujacharya meditated on Yamunacharya and

>> not on the feet of Ranganatha or Ranganayaki at the time of His

>> departure from Bhuloka.

 

Mani Varadarajan <mani asked:

>

>Are you certain of this? In the SaraNAgati gadyam,

>Ranganatha tells Ramanuja:

>

> dvayArtha anusandhAnena saha yAvat SarIra pAtakam

> Srirange sukhamAsvA!

>

> Until your body falls off, remain contented in Srirangam

> meditating on the import of the Dvaya mantra.

>

>Would this not imply that Ramanuja contemplated on

>Perumal and Thaayaar as laid out in the Dvaya mantra?

 

 

According to Pi. Sri's book "Sri Ramanujar", wherein the various Guru

Parambara literature such as 6000 padi and 3000 padi are often cited,

Kooraththaazhvaar meditated upon the lotus feet of his acharya Sri Ramanuja

during his last moments here on earth with his head placed upon the thighs

(madi) of his disciple PiLLaip PiLLaiAzhvaan and his feet placed upon the

thighs (madi) of his wife ANdaaL. From this one can conjecture that

meditating upon acharya's thiruvadi while dying is perfectly in line with

sampradaya.

 

Pi. Sri's book goes on to say that on the day Sri Ramanuja ascended to

mOksham, he gathered his disciples and gave them 82 codes by which to lead a

Sri Vaishnava life. Finally, he gave three important directives to them:

 

[1] There is no upaya for mOksham except the good grace of Acharaya.

[2] There is no greater impediment for mOksham than bhaagavatha apachaaram.

[3] There is no higher purushaartham than kaingaryam.

 

Then, Sri Ramanuja asked the temple employees (paNiyaaLargaL) to forgive him

for any errors he may have committed knowingly or otherwise. Then the great

soul left the earthly frame.

 

[These are narrated in "Prapannaamrutham," says Pi. Sri.]

 

As far Sri Ramanuja's last thoughts, it would be interesting to see any

sampradaya evidence one way or the other. However, I am sure everyone will

agree that both versions are inspirational.

 

-- Dileepan

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> Ramanujacharya meditated on Yamunacharya and

> not on the feet of Ranganatha or Ranganayaki at the time of His

> departure from Bhuloka.

 

Are you certain of this? In the SaraNAgati gadyam,

Ranganatha tells Ramanuja:

 

dvayArtha anusandhAnena saha yAvat SarIra pAtakam

Srirange sukhamAsvA!

 

Until your body falls off, remain contented in Srirangam

meditating on the import of the Dvaya mantra.

 

Would this not imply that Ramanuja contemplated on

Perumal and Thaayaar as laid out in the Dvaya mantra?

 

Mani

 

All I know is what is stated in the books that I have read. However

I do not see meditation on one's Acharya as being inconsistent with

the instructions of Ranganatha. Swami Desikan describes the Sannyasi

Acharya as Narayana taking avatAra in the form of a human wearing

saffron raiements and giving us instructions. Since the Acharya is

totally controlled by Sriman Narayana, the two are obviously non

different as far as the shishya is concerned.

 

This can be the only explanation why we can worship a picture or

Padukas of our Acharya with flowers and other offerings in the same

fashion as we do for Sriman Narayana.

 

Jaganath.

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