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Source: The Hindu (http://www.the-hindu.com)

 

Ramanuja, torchbearer of Azhwars' teachings

 

CHENNAI, APRIL 30. There had been a period in the country when

people witnessed turmoil in all fields, particularly in religious

affairs. There had been abuses by one group against another.

During such times, God sent His representatives to guide people

on the proper path. Their responsibility was to systematise the

practices of worship at individual and collective levels besides

spreading spiritual knowledge. A code of conduct was also

formulated. Their aim was to see that tradition built over

centuries, faith in God and adoption of instructions contained in

the Vedas were upheld so that men may get liberation.

 

A great torchbearer who showed the easier path of submission,

toned up the administration of temples, prescribed proper steps

for personal worship and propagated the message of faith in the

Supreme Lord as the one Divine Principle from whom all emanations

start in the scriptural statements, was himself a target of

attack by some antagonists. On one occasion when attempts were

planned to destroy him, he had to temporarily discard his ochre

robes, usually worn to distinguish him as an ascetic, and get

away from the midst of such evil forces by wearing white dress.

That was Ramanuja, a revolutionary in ideas but faithful to

ancestral teachings.

 

Ramanuja had created 74 religious ``thrones'' in charge of

distinguished disciples and had left important works based on the

Vedas. He is called the spiritual torchbearer of Azhwars'

teachings. The ``Gadya Thrayam'' presented before devotees a

description of the Lord as He resides in His abode and of Lord

Ranganatha in Srirangam. The third has its theme absolute

surrender to God.His teachings are to a large extent drawn from

the writings of the Azhwars led by Nammazhwar and of his

(Ramanuja's) previous Acharyas.

 

In his discourse on Ramanuja Jayanthi, the Jeeyar Swami of the

Ahobila Math referred to the extraordinary attention which the

Acharya paid to the observance of the daily compulsory religious

duty which includes the ``offering of consecrated water'' to the

Lord and His creations. Even at the last stage of his life (at

nearly 120 years of age) he stood up, though with great

difficulty, with his staff in hand and zealously safeguarded this

tradition. Sri Adivann Satagopa Yateendra Mahadesikan, who

founded the Ahobila Math, six centuries ago, was equally keen on

devotees and disciples upholding the noble traditions of

Visishtadwaita philosophy handed down by Azhwars and Acharyas,

especially ``Ramanuja''.

 

 

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