Arthi Prabandham-3 (Part-2)

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Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha | Sri Vara Vara MunayE Namaha |

 

God accepted anatha's request(to grant the powers of the ubhayavibhuti to swami

ramanujacharya) and hence anantha took avatar as Sri Ramanuja. To show everyone

that Lord has given both the vibhuthi’s, (wealths) to the control of ethirAja,

namperumal says the same in front of everyone when ethirajA steps inside

Srirangam and gives him the name “Udayavar”. So now it is proved that Udayavar,

Sri ethirajA, Swami Ramanujacharya, has power to grant moksha to one and all.

One may think how it differs whether perumal has the control or ethiraja. The

difference lies in the qualities of both. God has nirankusa sva:thanthryam

(unquestionable independence) and grace, so it depends on his wish to either

grant us moksha or not but Swami Ramanucharya is filled with krupa alone and

hence he is capable to wash all our sins and grant moksha.

 

This has been excellently portrayed by Sri Periya Jeeyer swamy in arthi

prabhandam (26):

 

Can Sriranganatha forgive my mistakes? Can my mother forgive my mistakes? Can

vishvaksEna and all the nithya sooris forgive? Can mAran (sadagopa muni) who is

praised as arulmAri (ocean of grace) forgive? Can any of the other acharyas

forgive? Oh! No. My mistakes are infinite and hence no one can ever forgive

them other than our beloved ethirAja. On ethirAja! I cannot take refuge from

anyone else other than you. So please shower your divine grace on me and create

an interest in me and take me to the divine abode of Lord and put me into the

divine feet of bhagavan for His nithya kainkaryam.

 

In this paasuram, Sri Manavala mahAmuni says that Sriranganatha cannot forgive

his mistakes because he has to act equally to all and hence seeing his mistakes,

perumal’s svathantriyam will override his grace and prevent him from granting

moksha to this sinner. Due to the amount of sins committed by us even the devi’s

who are always filled with krupai turn their faces away from us. Similar is the

case with nammAzhvar or the nithyasooris but amidst all of them there is one

sole refuge for souls like us who are filled with only sins and he is none other

than our Swami Ramanujacharya, ethiraja who wipes out all our sins just by his

sambhandam (relationship) and takes us all to the divine abode of perumal,

Srivaikuntam.

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Now, it is clear that ethiraja is capable of granting moksha. Then what about

the people who remained before the period of Swami Ramanujacharya? How did they

get the sambhandam (relationship)? Then are the other acharyas in the guru

parampara (lineage) not capable of taking us all to the divine abode of God?

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Let us see in the next posting. (To be continued)

Jai Sriman Narayana | Adiyen Ramanuja dasyai, Sumithra Varadarajan |