worship of Srivaishnava purvArcharyas

[Guest guest]

Sri:

SrimatE Rangaramanuja Mahadesikaya Namaha

 

Dear Sri Narasimhan:

 

After going through your message carefully, I get the

impression you have used "worship" as an equivalent term

for "saraNAgathi". More often, the term "worship" is used

by texts to connote "ArAdhanam".

 

-- Either way, it is my understanding that both (i) "saraNAgathi"

i.e. Total Surrender at the feet of Acharyas/Azhwars and

(ii) offering "ArAdhanam" to them is well-established and

strongly encouraged practice in the Srivaishnava tradition

and teachings.

 

Please bear with adiyen's rambling on both these issues-

 

(i) Let us first examine the validity of performing

"sharaNAgathi" at the feet of Acharyas/Azhwars --

 

In your message, you stated that

" we don't do sharanagathi to acharyas."

and that

"... they teach us how to do sharanagathi to the ultimate."

 

The first thing that comes to mind is our Sri Ramanuja's

thanian that is recited everyday by all Srivaishnavas:

 

"yo nityam acyuta-padAmbuja-yugma-rukma

vyAmohatas tad itarANi tRNAya mene

asmad guror bhagavato 'sya dayaika-sindho:

rAmAnujasya caraNau SARANAM prapadye "

 

Further, Sri Alavandhar, in his stOtra-ratnam, does

"saraNAgathi", in this world as well as parama-padam,

to his purvacharya - Sri Nathamuni.

 

"nAthaAya nAthamunaetra paratra chapi

nityam yadIyacharaNau saraNam madIyam ||

 

-->Are these not examples of a "saraNAgathi" at the feet

of an Acharya ?

 

In fact, this is type of sharanagathi is commonly found in the

tanians of many of our Acharyas.

 

But then, I could be misinterpreting the the "saraNAgathi"

in the above cases.

 

----------------

 

So perhaps let us should turn to Swami Desikan, whose

works always seem to have answer for every subtle query

 

"bhaktih prapattiratha vA bhagavan taduktih

tannishta samsreya itIva vikalpyAmanam

yam kimchit ekam upapaadhayataa tvaiyeva

trAtastarantyavasare bhavino bhavAbdhim "

--- Saranagathi-Deepika (16)

 

Here, Swami Desikan states that Bhakthi yoga and prapatti

yoga are the two paths to attain moksham. The different ways

in which Prapatti ( i.e. saraNAgathi for moksham) can be

done are : (i)Svanishte, (ii) Ukthi Nishte, (iii) Acharya Nishte

and (iv) Bhagavatha Nishte.

 

Svanishtai: Only one who has the complete knowledge

of the requirements for Saranagathi and has had

God-realization can hope to successfully perform

saraNAgathi to the Sarveswaran directly. Probably

Azhwaars and Sri Ramanuja come in this category.

 

Ukthi Nishtai: One who cannot do Svanishte, approaches

his Acharya. The saraNAgathi is accomplished by

repeating the words as instructed by the Acharya.

 

In Acharya Nishtai, the disciple SURRENDERS TO

THE ACHARYA HIMSELF. Out of his compassion,

the Acharya takes the entire burden (bhAra-samarpanam)

of the individual's Prapatti. The Acharya requests the

Lord to accept this disciple as His Prapanna.

 

Bhagavatha Nishtai: the saraNAgathi is performed

by a qualified Bhagavatha who is not the Acharya .

---------------

 

Of these 4 categories, my understanding is that

saraNAgathi through Ukthi Nishtai and through

Acharya Nishtai are really the only two possibilities

that are feasible.

 

But, then, for an ignorant person like adiyen, who is not

even capable of repeating his Acharya's words correctly,

perhaps saraNAgathi through "Acharya Nishte"- seems

to be the only option left. (This is also the only option

when the saraNAgathi is performed for babies, the fetus,

animals and birds.)

 

Thus, the aspirant who is seeking moksham through

Acharya Nishte (since he is probably not qualified for

any other method), does an unconditional saraNAgathi,

i.e. total surrender, at the feet of his Acharya !

 

The best example of Acharya Nishtai is that of

Madhurakavi Azwaar's saraNAgathi to his

Acharyan - thEvu maRRaRiyEn kurukoor nampi.

 

------------------------

 

(ii) "aradhanam" of Acharyas/Azhwars --

 

"ArAdhanAnAm sarvEshAm VishnO: ArAdhanam param

tasmAt parataram prOktam tadIya ArAdhanam param"

-- pAdmOttara purAna

 

-->Worship of Vishnu is indeed the Greatest forms of all

possible worship, however, even greater than that is the

Worship of His devotees.

 

And don't you agree that Azhwaars and Acharyas are His

greatest devotees?

 

As I had mentioned in my previous message, Swami

Desikan states in Nyasa Vimshati, that one is obliged to

worship his Acharya in the same way as one worship

Sarveswaran Himself.

 

The worship can be through nAma-samkIrtanam, achArya

stuthI, argyam-pAdyam-ityAdi, naivEdyam, etc.

 

But, the greatest form of worship, is that offered to the

sadAcharya's padukA.

 

All these modes are certainly in practice, today, by some

of the most traditional and parama-ekantin followers of

EmperumAnAr Darsanam.

 

Let us not forget that the worship of thamar-ugandha-mEni

and thamar-ugandha-mEni, was fully sanctioned by Ethirajar

Himself during His avatAram.

 

---------

 

Further you wrote,

> Ramanujar had disregarded and burnt the first Ramanuja

> Nootrandhadhi that was written by

> Thiruarangatthamudhanar. The reason being, it was

> completely in praise of Shri Ramanujar. Shri Ramanujar

> was totally against the

> nara-sthuthi and that included himself too.

 

The very first pasuram of Ramanuja Nootrandhadhi

(as 'approved' by Sri Ramanujar) runs thus:

 

"poomannu maathu porunthiya maarpan pukazmalintha

paamannu MAARAN ADI PANINNTHUYNTHAVAN- palkalaiyOr

thaammanna vantha iraamaNnuchan charaNaaravindham

Naammanni vaazha neNchE! CHOLLUVOM AVAN NAAMANGALE."

 

(Please refer Sri KV Narayanan's excellent on-going series on

Ramanuja Nootrandhadhi based on Sri U. Ve Velukkudi

Swamy's upanyasam)

 

Is this not an example of Azhwar sthuthi and Acharya-sthuthi ?

 

Further in paasuram 7, Sri Tiruvarangat-tamudhanar offers

saraNAgathi to Sri Ramanuja's disciple, Sri Kooratazhwan.

 

Or consider paasuram 45:

 

"pERonRu maRRillai nin charaN anRi, ap pERaLiththaR

kaaRonRu millaimaR RachcharaN anRi,en RipporuLaith

thERum avarkkum enakkum unaiththantha chemmaichollaal

kooRum paramanRu iraamaa Nnuchameymmai kooRitilE."

 

Here Sri Ramanuja's thiruvadi are described as both the

Ultimate upAyam and the upEyam!

 

-------------------

In summary, both saraNAgathi at the achArya'a tiruvadi and

sadAcharya-arAdanam are essential concepts of the

Srivaishnava tradition.

 

If you are not convinced about this, I request you share your

thoughts giving references, from the Srivaishnava literature or

an Acharya's upanyasam, that supports your opinion.

 

There were some other issues about comparing worship of

Srivaishnava acharyas with anya-devata aradanam which I will

address later in a separate mail.

 

Please note that all errors here are mine alone.

If anything here is accurate, it is only due to Acharya and

bhagavatha sathsangam .

 

EmberumAnAr tiruvadigaLE SaraNam.

adiyen ramanuja dasan,

-Shreyas

[Guest guest]

>

> Let us not forget that the worship of thamar-ugandha-mEni

> and thamar-ugandha-mEni, was fully sanctioned by Ethirajar

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Correction:

I meant thamar-ugandha-mEni and thaan-ugandha-mEni.

dasan,

-Shreyas

[Guest guest]

Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

Dear Shri Shreyas,

That was an excellent post. I have couple of questions for you before even I

put forth my comments on the same. Thanks for helping me to understand

these.

 

1. Acharya Nishtai - If a person can do a complete sharanagathi to an

acharyan, why not the person do the same to the ultimate? A person who

cannot surrender himself to the ultimate cannot surrender himself to anyone

else right? So, we should really see what the word Nishtai means!

 

2. Ramanuja Nootrandhadhi - What I had mentioned was based on Shri U.Ve.

Velukkudi Krishna Swamy's upanyasam. If you actually see, Amudhanar would

have praised the lord in the first two lines and then the azhwar acharyas in

the next two lines. This upanyasam by Shri U.Ve. Velukkudi Krishna Swamy is

in the www.ramanuja.org website as a real media file. It is accessible for

everyone. In the upanyasam, Shri swamy has explained the nara-sthuthi and

the burning of the first composition by amudhanar and the reason WHY the

second composition was accepted by Shri Ramanujar.

 

3. Acharyas see the paramatma in everyone(and so does a Bhagavatha). All the

thaniyans were composed by prapannas who were acharyas. They worshipped

their own acharyas as per the tradition - Guru Vandhanam(once again I repeat

the quote - Munnor Mozhindha Muri Thappamar Kettu). So, out of their

affection and respect to their acharyas, they composed/sung those thaniyans.

Once again, there is a difference between acharya vandhanam and the

paramathma sharanagathi. Please quote me one slokha in Bhagavad Gita where

Bhagavan Shri Krishnar says that Acharya Vandhanam will give moksham to a

jeevathma. He proudly says, "MAAM EKAM SHARANAM VRAJA - SARVA DHARMAAN

PARITHYAJYA". And this is the ONLY slokha that Shri Ramanujar has taken up

for the prapatthi margam. The one and only slokha. To me, there are two

things. One is the tradition - which is more of a discipline and rules and

regulations that evolve and are modified depending on the way of life in

that particular yuga/varsham etc... i.e a time period. The other one is

spirituality i.e the philosophy. The former has the Karma Kandam as the

basis and is popularly known as RELIGION(in the modern world) and the rules

and the disciplines change based on the yuga dharma. The

latter(spirituality) is based on the Brahma Kandam. It never changes. It is

just a simple philosophy(but the most difficult one to follow). All that it

says is brahmam is one and only one and we should have maha-vishwasam on him

and we should follow the RELIGION to perform our duties as service to the

brahmam and we are only for his ISHTA VINIYOGAM. Acharya Vandhanam is more

of a tradition. It has nothing to do with the philosophy. Based on the

yuga(this kali yuga), our acharyas have adapted few ways that could be

easily followed by everyone. Please do quote me a single pasuram where the

azhwars have mentioned that one should do sharanagathi on an acharya("vaai

kondu maanidam pada vandha kaviyenallom"). Madhura kavi azhwar was in full

praise of Nammazhwar, but he never preached to anyone that one should do

Sharanagathi to Nammazhwar. Prapatthi is mahavishwasam and that should be

only on the ULTIMATE. Everyone CAN do prapatthi. But the reality is, some

do! some don't! Some don't even understand it! The third category goes for

the acharya vandhanam or saranagathi whatever people may call. It is only

for getting the ACHARYA KADAKSHAM through which one will be able to

understand prapatthi. That is the whole idea of samashrayanam. Once again,

if one does Acharya Saranagathi, it is only to understand or know how to do

the Paramathma Saranagathi. Shri Ramanujar approved the

Thamarugandha/Thanugandha Thirumeni, only because Shri Vaishnavas wanted

their future generations to see him as he was and NOT FOR THE WORSHIP. I am

not against Acharya Vandhanam, but if we are able to understand the

Paramathma Sharanagathi then it doesn't matter - is my point.

 

Well, bhagavadha sevai, acharya sevai and acharya vandhanam all these will

get one the acharya/bhagavatha kadaksham and that will show the path to

moksham. So, acharya/bhagavatha kadaksham is one of the upayam. According to

me, if one does sharanagathi to his acharya and not to the ultimate(this may

not happen in the Shri Vaishnava tradition, but may definitely happen in

other traditions, right?) then it is of no use. Since this list is common to

everyone(not just for the ShriVaishnavas), I tried to explain the same, in

common terms. For Shri Vaishnavas, Acharya Sharanagathi makes sense. For

others? There is no hard and fast rule that they should do Sharanagathi to

our Acharyas. If I just explain things that are applicable only to Shri

Vaishanvas then I would fail in my duty of explaining Shri Ramanujar's

Prapatthi to everyone. I just tried to make sure my mail targets everyone.

 

Learned scholars, please feel free to correct me if I am wrong. Any

misinformation is only due my agnyanam and anything that is right is only

due to my swamy's kadaksham.

My humble apologies in case I am wrong and I request all the great Shri

Vaishnavas to pardon me for my agnyanam.

 

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasan,

Lakshmi Narasimhan

>"Shreyas Sarangan" <sarangan

>bhakti-list

>bhakti-list

>Re: worship of Srivaishnava purvArcharyas

>Mon, 25 Nov 2002 16:22:36 -0000

>

>Sri:

>SrimatE Rangaramanuja Mahadesikaya Namaha

>

>Dear Sri Narasimhan:

>

>After going through your message carefully, I get the

>impression you have used "worship" as an equivalent term

>for "saraNAgathi". More often, the term "worship" is used

>by texts to connote "ArAdhanam".

>

>-- Either way, it is my understanding that both (i) "saraNAgathi"

>i.e. Total Surrender at the feet of Acharyas/Azhwars and

>(ii) offering "ArAdhanam" to them is well-established and

>strongly encouraged practice in the Srivaishnava tradition

>and teachings.

>

>

[Guest guest]

Namaskars!

>From Bhagavad Gita:

....about Guru Parampara:

 

we have to understand the philosophy through the sampradaya.

Sampradaya-vihina ye mantras te nisphala matah. If you don't

accept... In ordinary life also, in political field, to develop, one

has to accept a party, this party or that Congress Party, or Jana-

sanga Party, or this party. So the aim is the same. Aim is the same,

to serve the country, to develop your country, but still, there are

parties. Similarly, the aim is the same: to understand what is our

relationship with God. But the development is made by different

parties. So the parties are, must be bona fide. As Krishna says, His

party:

 

imam vivasvate yogam

proktavan aham avyayam

vivasvan manave praha

manur iksvakave 'bravit

 

evam parampara-praptam

imam rajarsayo viduh

 

Krishna said that "First of all, I described, I instructed this yoga

system, bhakti-yoga system, Bhagavad-gita, to Vivasvan, the sun-god,

and the sun-god, whose name is Vivasvan..." The particular name is

also given. It is not vague, that... At the present moment, the

predominating Deity in the sun planet is called Vivasvan. So he spoke

this Bhagavad-gita philosophy to his son, vivasvan manave pra...,

Manu. Manu is the original person of the human society. Manusya. Man.

So Manu spoke to his son, Iksvaku. Maharaja Iksvaku. He's the first

person of the surya-vamsa. There are two ksatriya families: one,

candra-vamsa, coming from the Moon, and the other from the Sun,

Vivasvan. So Maharaja Iksvaku is the original personality in the

surya-vamsa ksatriyas in which Lord Ramacandra appeared. So in this

way, there is parampara system.

 

If we want to understand the real fact, then we must receive from the

parampara system. Just like we have got our genealogical table.

 

So we have to follow the foot steps of a guru to understand the

process of saranagathi....

 

Sorry if Im wrong.

 

Humbly,

Rajesh