Yatiraja Vimsati of MnaavLa Maamunigal

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Sri Ramanuja is the key Acharya , who followed

the tradition established by AaLavandaar and his grand father

Natha Munigal and established ,what we know today as

Sri Bhagavat Raamaanuja Siddhaantham. Great Acharyas

folowed him and enriched that Tradition .

 

1.Thiruvarangatthu AmudAnAr"s tribute to RaamAnujA

 

Many of the AchAryAs acknowledged their debt of gratitude

to Sri RamAnujA and offered their heart felt tributes to him.

Thiruvarangatthu AmudanAr, a contemproary of Sri RAmanujA

composed the RaamAnuja NooRRanthadhi , a work ,

which is part of the NaalAyira Divya Prabhandham.

He became a disciple of KooratthAzhwAn at

the suggestion of Sri RAmAnuja.

 

2. Sri NigamAntha MahA Desikan"s tribute to Lakshmana Muni

 

Swami Desikan blessed us with "Yati Raaja Sapthathi , a work

consisting of 70 verses. There he celebrated the ancient nature

of Sri Bhagavat RaamAnuja SiddhAntham. He pointed out the special

significance of LakshmaNAryA's(Raamaanuja"s) upadesam as

enshrined in his Sri Sookthis. Like Thiruvarangatthu AmudaanAr,

Swami Desikan also asserted that RAmAnuja"s holy feet are more

important than that of the Lord Himself.He explained his reason for this

strong Aacharya Bhakti for Yati Raaja. In the fifteenth verse of Yati Raaja

Sapthathi , he stated:

 

AMUNAA TAPANAATHISAAYEE BHOOMNAA

YATIRAAJENA NIBHADDHA NAAYAKA SREE : I

MAHATI GURU PANKTHI HAARA YASHTI:

VIBHUDHAANAAM HRUDHYANGAMAA VIBHADHI II

 

Here, Swami Desikan compares Sri RAmAnujA to the

beautiful center piece of a necklace made up of brilliant

gems. Each of the gem is a PoorvAcharya. The splendor of the

Center piece according to Swami outshines the radiance of the Sun.

That Naayaka Mani (Center piece) unlike the Sun removes the

inner darkness as opposed to the Sun, which removes only the

external darkness. Swami Desikan says that the entire Achaarya

Parampara is uplifted by the Nayaka Mani, Sri RaamAnuja. Such was

the reverence of Swami Desikan for Sri RAmAnuja.

 

3. ManavALa Maamuni's tribute to Yati Raaja

 

The focus of this posting will be the Yati Raja Vimsati

of Sri ManavALa Maamuni . In twenty beautiful verses, he

distilled the essence of his Bhakthi for Sri RaamAujA .

 

Maamuni was born in Azhwaar Thirunagari a year after

Swami Desikan ascended to Sri Vaikuntam. The Year was

1370 AD. He lived for 73 Years on this earth and rendered

great service by blessing us with commentaries on

Sri Pillai Lokaacharyar"s Rahasya Granthams .He was a

disciple of ThiruvaiMOzhi Pillai, who himself was a disciple

of Sri PiLLai Lokaacchaar . Maamuni"s Acharya sked him to

focus on Thirvaimozhi and give minimum attention to Sanskrit

sources and Sri Bhashyam. After his Guru"s death in 1410AD,

Maamuni spent some time at Kanchi and learnt Sri Bhashyam from

a disciple of Brahma Tantra Svatantra Jeeyar, a direct disciple of

Swami Desikan. Maamuni had high regard for Swami Desikan and

called Swami Desikan as Abhiyuktar or the Revered one.

 

After his return from Kanchi, he elected Sanyasa Asrama and was

known as Yatinra PravaNar, or the leader among Sanyasis. His reverence

for RamAnujA and Nammazhwar had no limits. He intrepreted Thiruvaimozhi

as per his Guru"s wish and wrote brilliant commentaries for the

Rahasya Granthas left to us by Sri Pillai Lokaacchaar. His first

work was his tribute to Rammanuja in twenty verses known as

Yatiraja Vimsathi. He blessed us with the commentaries on

Srivachana Bhooshanam, Tattvatrayaa, Mumkshuppati of Sri

Lokaacchaar.

 

He wrote a commentary for the RamAnuja Nooranthadhi .

He also wrote a commentary for AruLaLa PermuAL EmperumAnAr"s

Jnana Saara and Prameya Saara. He composed Thiruvaimozhi Nooranthadhi

to celebrate Nammazhwaar"s thousand verses . The other works by him

are Upadesa Ratna Maala, a summary of the Guruparampara and Alwaar"s

teachings, Thiruvaaradhanakramaa, in the spirit of Sri Ramanuja"s

Nitya Grantham.

 

Towards the end of his life, he created a beautiful

commentary on Acharya Hrudhayam, a work by the brother of Pillai Lokaacchaar.

He came to know that the white ants had damaged partly the Commentary of

Periyavaacchaan PLLai on Periyaazhwaar"s pasurams. He replaced

the missing four decades with his own commentary and filled the gap.

 

When he became too ill , he began to pray to Ramanuja to bless him with

entry to Sri Vaikuntam with great ardour and anguish (Aarthi). He dictated one

verse

a day. the collection of those moving verses came to be known as

Aarthi Prabhandham, which was his final work. He begged forgivenness of any

apacharams committed to his sishyaas and gave away all his books

and Araadhana Moorthis to Lord Ranganatha and entered Parama Padam.

His famous disciples were the eight elephants of the quarters(Dik Gajaams)

(VIZ) VanamAmalai Jeeyar, Bhattar Piraan Jeeyar, Thiruvenkata Jeeyar,

Koyil Kanthaadai Jeeyar , Prativadhi Bhayankaram ANNan, AppiLLan,

Erumbi Appa, and AppiLLai . They carried on the tradition established by

their illustrious Acharya.

 

In the next posting , I will summarize the highlights of the 20 Verses of

Yatiraja Vimsathi of MaNavALa Maamunigal.

 

Azhwaar , AchaaryaaL Thiruvadigaleh Saranam

 

Oppiliappan Koil Varadachari Sadagopan