Paying Obeisance to Sri Ramanuja

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>

> Narasimhan, Arvind (CTS)

> Tuesday, April 13, 1999 4:15 PM

> 'bhakthi'

> Paying Obeisance to Sri Ramanuja

>

> Dear devotees,

>

> On the eve of Ramanuja jayanthi falling in this month we would like to

> post this article on Bhagavath Ramanujar by Dr. J. Parthasarathy published

> in "Ramanuja Vani" magazine.

>

> *************************************************************************

> The asterism of Ardra( Tiruvadirai) in the month of Caitra(cittirai)

> brings Sri Ramanuja Jayanthi and its associated celebrations in our

> temples and other institutions. Sri Ramanuja came on earth and lived a

> full life of a hundred years and more, establishing the vedic religion of

> Sriman Narayana on unshakable foundations as rooted in the upanishads and

> the Gita and revivified the spontaneous experiences revealed in Tamil

> prabandhams by Dravidian seers called Alvars. Sri Parasara Bhatta a

> contemporary of Sri Ramanuja praises him as the solicituous foster mother

> who nourished the Tamil Veda of Tiruvoymozhi given birth by its mother

> Sri Satagopa, known in enduring terms as our Alvar(Nammalvar)

>

> We have another great contemporary tribute - the inimitable garland of 108

> verses of praise in the Ramanuja Nutrantati of Amutanar wherein he dwells

> on Ramanuja's personal involvement in the hymns of the Alvars, especially

> his realization of the Tamil Veda of Maran(Satagopa) as our immeasurably

> great wealth., our father and mother, our great guru and even our supreme

> Lord of Lakshmi of the fragrant lotus flower.

>

> Sri Ramanuja's pre-eminent position in the line of preceptors of the

> SriVaishnava faith has manifold facets. He led exemplary life of the

> renounced Sri Vaishnava ascetic; the king of ascetics(Yatiraja) he

> continues to be means of liberation to all on earth. The concluding verse

> of Kurattalvan in Vaikunta stavam attributes that the spiritual preceptors

> before Sri Ramanuja attained ParamaPadam due to Ramanuja's 'Thirumudi'

> sambandham while the followers of Sri Ramanuja attain Sri Vaikuntam by

> virtue of Emperumanar's 'Thiruvadi sambandham' Such was the ascetic

> Ramanuja......

> Kurattalvan's own tribute included in our daily prayers is well known 'yo

> nityam acutyapadambuja yugma rukma vyamohatas taditarani trnaya mene....'

>

> The uniqueness of Sri Ramanuja's ascetic life of dedicated devotion to

> Lord Narayana went with the uniqueness of his contribution to the

> doctrinal and the practical sides of the faith. On the former side his

> magnum opus of the Sri Bhashya reconciled the apparent conflicts in the

> Upanishadic statements with the concept of the inseparable body-soul

> relationship of all things with their prime mover indicated in the

> upanishads themselves and forcibly celebrated in ecstatic poisy by

> Nammalvar in many verses of his Thiruvoymozhi. One can also find echoes

> and reminiscences of his fascinated study of the Alvar-hymns in several

> contexts of the Sri Bhashya.

>

> On the practical side , Sri Ramanuja,s unsurpassed abilities in organising

> and consolidating worship and settling disputes in Vishnu- temples and

> spiritual leadership of men who voluntarily joined his faith , inspired by

> his example and teachings are seen in his long religious ministry at Sri

> Rangam and Thirunarayanapuram and other places. The many hogiological

> works in Tamil and Sanskrit speak eloquently of all his golden deeds for

> the spiritual uplift of mortals to the eternal liberation to Sri

> Vaikuntam.

>

> Praises of Sri Ramanuja have proved forth from contemporaries and

> successors in Sanskrit and Tamil and other languages as well. These

> deserve to be collected in a separate corpus and placed before the large

> public for their enlightement and inspiration to strive, to serve and be

> blessed by this grace. Among these the praises of Yatiraja Saptati( 70

> verses ) and Yatiraja Vimsati (20 verses) are well known. We may describe

> the former as powerfully elevating poem in the grand style, rich with

> colourful mighty -mouthed harmonies emphasising the greatness and the many

> sided glories of Sri Ramanuja as the Expounder Propagator and the high

> mountain from which the rivers of all worth while knowledge flow giving

> redemption. The latter poem much smaller in size is a humble petition of

> an spirant aware of all his insufficiencies and unworthiness to the

> Preceptor of Preceptors to accept his prayer and grant him the refuge

> sought for.

>

> Both Sri Vendata Desika and Sri Ramya-Jamatrumuni(Sri Manavala Mamunighal)

> have composed verses in Tamil on Sri Ramanuja and we find the same

> difference of emphasis in them. The latter's Tamil poem entitled 'Arthi

> prabandham' is literally a long appeal and a moving cry addressed to the

> king of ascetics, Yatindra Ramanuja to enfranchise the supplicant from the

> ills of the body and grant him eternal bliss. We many end with citing of

> two memorable verses from the two Acharyas :

>

> Jayati sakala vidyavahini janna sailah

> Janepatha-parivritti-sranta visranti sakhi

> Nikhila kumati - maya sarvari balasuryah

> Nigamajaladhivela purnachandri yatindrah - Yatiraja Saptati 28

>

> Vijanapanam yad-idam adya

> mamakinam angikurushva yatiraja dayamburuse

> Ajnoyam - tma guna lesa vivayitasca

> tasmad ananya-sarano bhavati - itimativa - Yatiraja Vimsati 20

>

> ********************End of Article********************************

>

> Adiyen Ramanuja dasan

> Aravinda Lochanan.

>

>

>