Guest guest Posted October 23, 1995 Report Share Posted October 23, 1995 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 10, 1996 Report Share Posted October 10, 1996 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 10, 1996 Report Share Posted October 10, 1996 > 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 10, 1996 Report Share Posted October 10, 1996 >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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 11, 1996 Report Share Posted October 11, 1996 > 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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