irAmAnusa nORRu anthAthi - part 3 - prapanna sAvithri

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Srimadh Azhagiya singar thiru vadikaLE saraNam

 

irAmAnusa nORRu anthAthi - part 3 - prapanna sAvithri

 

Dear bAgawathAs,

 

A prapannA considers himself as adiyAr's adiyAr. Sri iramAnuja

noRRu anthAthi is also known as the prapanna sAvithri. Sri

sAvithri means pradhAna manthiram for one'e ujjevanam. sAvithir

also means the word that gives us the life or tells us the purpose

of the life, the word that encourages us in our kainkaryam, the

word that corrects our life as a prapanna (thirutthip paNi koLLum

sol). Untill one is initiated into Srivaishnavam, Sri sAvitthri

(also known as Sri gAyathri) is the pradhAna manthram for one in

their nitya anushtAnam and karmAs. Once the jivAtmA is initiated

into Srivaishnavam thiru AshtAkshram becomes the PradhAna

manthiram. However once a Srivaishnava undertakes saranAgathi and

becomes a prapannA his or her AchAryA thanian is the pradhAna

manthiram or sAvithri for them. The most important manthram is his

or her AchAryA thaniyan for a prapannA. It is the protocol that

one chant their AchAryA thaniyan and think of their AchAryA

thiruvadi at the most crucial time of their departure to

Srivaikundam. When Sri Ramanuja ascended to Srivaikundam he

meditated on the thiruvadikaL of Sri Periya nambi. When Swami

Desikan ascended to Sri vaikundam he meditated on the thiruvadikaL

of Sri AppuLAr. There are scores of other poorvAchAryAL from whom

this niyamanam can be learnt. It is even the thiru uLLam of our

poorvAchAryALs to mediate upon the thiruvadi of their achAryAL

even though Sri Ramanuja himself is the thiru avathAram of

adiseshan and Swami Desikan the thiru avathAram of or temple bell

(maNi) of thiru vEngada mudaiyAn.

 

Since Sri rAmAnujar is the pradhAna AchAryAL for all

SriviashnavaLs, chanting his thiru nAmam and thinking of his

thiruvadi itself is considered as pradhAna manthram and yAgam. Sri

thiru arangatthu amudhanAr delivered this anthAthi in such a way

that each and every pAsuram has the "mantrhram" or manthrA

embedded in it. Such manthram is none other than the thiru namAm

of our pradhAna AchAryAn Sri irAmanusar. ie the name "irAmAnusan"

is placed in each and every pasuram and for a total of 108 times.

Many slOkams have the beeja manthrams embedded in it as similar to

being hard coded. Some examples are Sri Hayagreeva slOkam, Sri

Garuda panchAsat and so on. Since some of the beeja manthrams are

not advisable to be chanted by everyone these are embedded by our

poorvA chAryALs in slOkams that everyone can chant and derive the

palans of chanting these beeja manthrams. In the sameway,

"SrimathE rAmAnujAya namaha" is embedded in each pAsuram and so

for 108 times. Those who can recite this anthAthi gets the palan

of chanting the pradhAna AchAryA thaniyan 108 times. Thus it is

also known or called as prapanna sAvithri.

 

In Sri visnu purAnam it is said that during kaliyugam mere doing

nAma japam will itself lead one to mOksham (*). It is understood

that such chanting will lead one to doing saranAgathi through a

sadhAchAryAL. The reference to nAma japam in Sri Vishnu purAnam

can be considered as a direct reference to chanting irAmAnuja

nooRRu anthAthi. The name "rAmA" and "anujA" has the "rAma"

saptham in it. Every one knows the power our Sri rAma nAmam. In

addition to it this name also has anujA in it. anuja is generally

meant as younger brother. Since an younger brother is a dAsan to

elder brother (here it is empurumAn Sri rAmA is the elder brother)

the combined word also means the one is a dAsan to Sri rAmA. Thus

the word rAmAnuja itself becomes a secret code or manthra for

everyone. It is all the more important for prapannAs as it is the

thiru nAmam or the thaniyan of the AchAryAn. All our AchAryAs in

Srivaishnavam recited their AchAryA's thaniyan during their last

breath. Thus, reciting AchAryA thanian is so important and is

sAvithri or the pradhAna manthram for a prapannA.

 

Sri Ramanujar thiru vadigaLE saraNam

adiyEn irAmAnusa dAsan

thiruk kudanthai Sampath Rengarajan

 

* (Refer to some details of nAma japam mentioned in Sri

V.SadagopAn's article

http://www2.be.com/~mani/bhakti/archives/aug97/./0040.html)

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