Acharya Raamanuja Vandhanam

[Guest guest]

Dear BhakthAs :

 

During the occasion of this year's

celebration of AchArya RaamAnujA's

Thirunakshathram , I was asked to

write an one pager on the Vaibhavam

of this great AchAryA . That brief article

is attached . I have also included a brief

write up on a CD ROM on AchArya RaamAnujA

that will be released with the blessings

of Sri Vann SatakOpa Sri NaarAyaNa YathIndhra

MahA Desikan , the current , Revered Jeeyar

of Sri Matam and the support of the Ahobila

Matam of North America .Both Professor Alwar

of Mysore and AdiyEn are grateful

to the Sri matam for their blesings and

most welcome support .

 

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradachAri SadagOpan

 

Sri Yathiraaja Vandhanam

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Some 982 years ago , Sriman's Naaraayanaa's

pancha aayudhams formed an integrated essence

and incarnated at Sri Perumbhudhur on a Chitthirai-

Thiruvaadhirai day and took on the name of Raamaanujaa .

That divine incarnation considered by some as

Visvaksena avathaaram and by others as Adhiseshaavathaaram

grew up to become a great Sri Vaishnavite Achaaryan

and blessed the people of this world by his presence

amongst them for 120 years prior to rejoining his parents

at Parama Padham.His divine Sri Sookthis live on forever.

 

We will celebrate and salute here this Achaaryan's

Sri Sookthis that adorn the Upanishads and highlight

his cardinal contributions to the glorious

Sri Visishtaadvaitha Siddhaantham during the occasion

of this year's Raamaanuja Jayanthi celebrations .

 

The greatness of His Sri Sookthis

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Swami Desikan in his Yathiraaja Sapthathi

summed up the uniqueness and significance

of the Yathi Saarvabhoumaa's Sri Sooktis

as the river of life-sustaining nectar flowing

in our ears( srothra kuhare sudhaa-saaram

nishinjanthi ).He elaborated further about

the ultimate effect of that nectar this way :

the Sri Sookthis of Yathiraajar serve as a

cloud pouring down the copious rain of eternal moksham

(Yathi Purandarasya ukthaya: aksharam amrutham ksharanthi).

These Sri Sookthis serve us further as the means of tastimg

the delectable nectar of Bhagavdh anubhavam that chases away

any potential narakaanubhavam ( Lakshmana ukthi: naraka-

mathana sevaa aasvaadha naadimdhamaa na: ).

 

Our Yathiraajaa's Sri Sookthis are rooted in

the four Vedaas and in Upanishads that serve

as the crown of the Vedaas ( Sruthi Sirasi vidheeptha

kireetam ).In one of his Yathiraaja Sapthathi

slokams , Swami Sri Desikan explains the roles

played by our Paramaachaaryan's Sri Sookthis :

they act as the essence of the ancient Rg vedam ;

they serve as the meanings of the Saama vedam ;

they serve as a brilliant commentary for the

Yajur vedam ; they stand as the saaraarthams

of the Atharva veda manthrams and finally they

serve as the radiant lamp that illuminates

the tattva thrayams ( Isvaran, Chethanam and

Achethanam )and their integral relationship .

 

Our Achaaryan's Sri Sookthis celebrate

the Supreme reality revealed in the Upanishads

( Aupanishada Parama Purushan ) through

Sri Bhaashyam , Vedaantha Dheepam , Vedaantha

Saaraa and Vedaartha Sangraham and establish that

the Upanishads proclaim a coherent doctrine of Brahman .

In these four Sri Sookthis , Acharya Raamaanuja lists

the different source texts from Upanishads and

Brahma Soothraas constituting the essence of Upanishads ,

comments clearly on their meanings ,gives due significane

to them and demonstrates the underlying unity of doctrine

among these upanishads ;through such a rigorous analysis ,

our Acharyan established unambiguosly that the Brahman of

the Upanishads is the Para Tattvam ,Para Hitham and

Parama Purushaartham (the supreme reality ,the supreme way

to salvation and the supreme goal and fruit) for all of us .

He established further that this Brahman holds all things

in itself and abides in all things as sarva Vyaapi .

Acharya Raamanujaa's greatest conclusion based on

the reconciliation of the different texts of the Upanishads

through Sri Bhaashyam is that these Upanishads stand summed up

in the grandest concept known as Sriman NaarAyanaa .

 

In his other five Sri Sookthis--Bhagavadh Gitaa Bhaashyam ,

three moving Gadhyams-Saranaagathi , Sriranga and Sri Vaikunta

gadhyams -- and the Nithya grantham , Achaarya Raamaanujaa

elaborated for us Bhakthi and Prapatthi yogams ,wherein

Sriman Naaraayanaa is both the means (upaayam ) and

the supreme object of attainment ( upeyam ) and the fruit

(phalan ) of our efforts . In the three gadhyams , he

performed Saranaagathi at he lotus feet of the divya

dampathis of Srirangam and gave us also a divine view of

Parama Padham , the eternal ,celestial abode of

the Saranya Dampahtis and prayed for the boon of

nithya kaimkaryam there .In the Nithya grantham ,

our most merciful Achaaryan showed us the way of

performing Aaraadhanam here on their Leelaa Vibhuthi

to the Divya Dampahtis , prior to reaching their Nithya

Vibhuthi, Sri Vaikuntam from where one never returns.

Magnificient indeed are the blessings of Sri Raamaanujaa

and his Sri Sookthis !

 

Achaarya Raamaanujaa's stay at Thirunaarayanpuram

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Exactly 900 years ago , at the age of 82 , our Achaarya

arrived at Thirunaarayanapuram to be close to the mangala moorthy

in archaa form carrying the name of Sriman Naaraayanan

( Thiru Naaraayanan ).He stayed there for 12 long years ,

the longest period that he has resided outside Srirangam and

Kaanchipuram .He had already completed his magnum opus ,

Sri Bhaashyam and related works on the elucidation of

Brahama soothraas to establish that the Brahman of

the Upanishads is the supreme reality , who is by nature ,

free of all inauspiciousness and is possessed of innumerable(anantha)

kalyaana gunaas . Through his austere tapas , Achaarya Raamaanuja

prayed to Thirunaaraayanan to bless the land with another

great Achaarya , Adhivann Satakopa Yatheendhra Mahaa Desikan ,

who would receive sanyaasam directly from the holy hands of

Sri Lakshmi Nrusimhan Himself at Ahobila Kshethram .That Achaarya

paramparai flourishes even today magnificiently under

the divine guidance of H.H. Sri Naaraayana Yatheendhra

Mahaa Desikan of Ahobila peetam.

 

Our Tribute to Achaarya Raamaanuja in the new media

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With the blessings of H.H. Sri Vann Satakopa

Sri Naarayana Yathindhra Mahaa Desikan , a pionering

project on the glorious life and magnificient

Sri Sookthis of Achaarya Raamaanuja has been completed.

 

This project plans to release the first ever CD ROM

dealing at length with the vaibhavam of Achaarya Raamaanuja .

This CD ROM is being sponsored by the Sri Matam and

is awaiting release on April 21 , Achaarya Raamaanuja's

birthday . Some of the topics covered in this CD ROM

are :Bhagavadh Aaraadhana prayogam , the nine Sri Sookthis

of the Achaarya , his Thirumanjanam at Thirunaaraayanapuram (video) ,

images of number of archaa moorthys worshipped by

our Achaaryaa and his digh vijayam across the length and breadth

of India to spread the uplifting message of Sri Vaishnavam

as the most ancient Vedic religion deriving its authority from

Upanishads , Aagamaas , the two epics , Puraanaas and the

divya prabhnadhams of the twelve Azhwaars .

 

The first four copies of the pioneering CD ROM

on the Vaibhavam and Sri Sookthis of AchArya

RaamAnujA will be arriving here during the week

of April 19 for ceremonial release . Professor

Alwar of Mysore Sanskrit College and AdiyEn have been

working on this project for the past few months and

number of BhakthAs from USA, Singapore and Bahrain

have provided seed funds to design , develop and release

the first of these series of CD ROMs on Sri VaishNavite

AchAryAs .Sri Ahobila Matam will be blessing this

project through their sponsorship of this pioneering

CD ROM .We are particularly grateful for the encouragement

and support of the Executives of Ahobila matam of

North America during the evolution of this project .

It is our hope that this CD ROM on AchArya RaamAnujA

with inputs from distinguished Scholars such as

Dr.V.N.Vedantha Desikan and scholars from

ThirunArAyaNapuram would help the overseas Sri VaishNavite

Families at every level to grow their ruchi

for the tAraka-pOshaka Sri Sookthis of

one of the greatest AchaaryAs of Sri VaishNavam .

 

Please contact myself for additional details

on this CD ROM .

 

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil Varadachari Sadagopan