Fwd: Acharya-abhimanam

[Guest guest]

Dear all,

 

Jai Srimannarayana.

 

The clarification I got from Prof. M.S.Rangacharya swami on AchArya abhimAnam.

will be soon kept in yatirajadasa website

http://www.geocities.com/yatirajadasa

 

Ramanuja Dasa

Vishnu

[Guest guest]

Jai Srimannarayana

 

Introduction of the author :

 

Sriman Prof. M.S.Rangacharya swami is an AchArya purusha in the disicplic

succession of rAmAnuja thru embAr, and is one of the authorities on divya

prabandham, its philosophical and linguistic aspects, commentaries of

pUrvAchAryas and influence of the teaching of our Lord i.e. SrImad bhagavad gItA

on AzhwArs. Swami is an eminent mathematician and his approach is simple and

scientific.

 

adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsa

Srimahavishnu Vinjamuri

 

ACHARYA – ABHIMANAM

 

Acharya abhimanam can have two vigraha-vakyas. Acharyasya abhimanam and

sishyasya acharye abhimanam (or sishyasya Acharyamprathi abhimanam). In the

context of the choornikai 443 of Srivacanabhushanam, in their commentaries, both

Ay and Manavalamamunihal have adopted sishyamprathi acharyasya abhimanam, i.e.,

the great concern of the (righteous) preceptor (for the disciple's salvation),

as the relevant vigraha. If it were the other way, viz. the great regard (of the

disciple) towards the acharya, there is inconsistency with the main tenet of

the Azhwars, neri vasal thaneay ninran, the Supreme Being is both the means

(upaya) and goal (upeya). Most of the people do not look into this inconsistency

and advise the latter interpretation with a recommendation that the

Srivaishnavites should recite the thaniyan of the acharya daily and offer

rewards to the acharya even in the context of their day-today welfare.

 

This is also the practice with almost all Srivaishnavites conforming to the

existing system. More than salvation, it is the worry about the continuing cycle

of sorrow and happiness which creates fear during the life time of an

individual. That this cycle will be terminated by the Supreme Being with

unsurpassed kindness and with no expectation on His part from the individual is

THE message which eliminates this worry.

 

The true Acharya passes on this message amounting to the aphorism that "the

Supreme Being is the sole goal and means" out of his great concern for his

disciple. It is, thus, this great concern of the acharya (Acharya abhimanam)

which uplifts the soul of the disciple ( acharyabhimaname uddharaham –churnikai

447) and makes him `nirbhara' (relieved, so peaceful) and `nirbhaya' (fearless,

confident) about his atmayatra (spiritual existence). The Srivacanabhushanam

also makes it clear that the right acharya for a chetana is a gift by the

Supreme Being (chu: 437).

 

However quoting the sloka :

arvancho yatpadhasarasija dhvandhvam asrithya purve

murdhna yasya anvayam upagatha: dhesika: muktim apu: -soyam

ramanujamunirapi sviyamuktim karasstham yatsambandhat amanutha katham

varnyathe kuranatha:

(By getting to the lotus feet of whom the present people (got their

salvation),and by having connection with whose head the earlier acharyas got

salvation, such a saint Ramanuja considered his salvation on hand by his

association with Kuresa. How can the latter be described? )

 

For quite some time upanyasakas try to create confidence in their audience that

with their Ramanuja sambandha they are assured of moksha and sometimes they even

go to the extent of saying that only those having such sambandha get moksha . If

the whole sloka were to be cared for, it is because of Kurathazhvan Ramanuja

considered moksha on hand and there is an inconsistency that Azhwan was to get

his moksha by his seshatva to Ramanuja while his association afforded moksha to

Ramanuja, creating a vicious circle. The first two lines can only convey the

message that Ramanuja made his predecessor, preceptors like the azhwars,

Nathamunihal, Alavandhar well-known to his followers and to the world (i.e., but

for Ramanuja their greatness would not have been brought to light) and by his

abhimanam made his followers shed their worry about salvation, `moksha (which is

assured by the Lord- e.g. "inrip-poka iruvinaiyum kedutthu onri yakkai pukamai

uyyak-kolvan ….. Thiruvaimozhi 9-3-8.) It is the sacrifice of Azhvan which

helped Ramanuja to survive a crisis so that he could pass on the message of

upaya- upeyatva of the Supreme Being conveyed in the charamasloka to the people

at large. For him this was more than moksha, viz. bhagavatha kainkaryam superior

to moksha. (Ref. Urumo paviyenukku …….avanadiyar cirumamanicarai ennaiyandar

inke thiriyave . Thiruvaimozhi 8-10-3.)

 

Thus to portray that moksha is because of great regard towards acharya or by

connection through several links with Ramanuja is not consistent with the

Azhwar's works or their interpretation by the acharyas. That Madhurakavi points

out the acharyasya abhimanam in Nammazhwar is clear from his statement "arul

kondadum….". `arul' on the part of the Azhwar is nothing but his concern for the

entire humanity which swells larger than the world. Periyavachanpillai points

out that the azhwar strives to show his concern even on those who are delayed in

receiving the blessings of the Supreme Being on the knowledge of His upaya

upeyatva. Likewise Amudhanaar pointed out the concern of Ramanuja for the world

by his verses `periyavar pesilum…….. (87) and unninru uyirkalukku…..(95). for

instance again pointing out acharya abhimanam.

 

Some have been mislead that `E' in Tamil at the end of a word is a stress or

avadharanam always. It is used in twenty different contexts (Vide Tholkapiam-

Chol Adhikaram- Idai Iyal-Sivalinganar Edn. International Institute of Tamil

Studies, Chennai. 600 113 pp 70-72) and for example "navukkethirivane" in

Kanninun cirutthampu have `E' just as `asai' for verse form.

 

Some anecdotes in the Guruparamparaprabhavam are to be explained properly. For

instance the naming of Ramanuja as "emperumanar" (our Swami) by

Thirukkoshtiyurnambi is because of Ramanuja's concern for the common man as

revealed by his haranguing from the temple top on the purport of the charama

sloka (the ashtakshara does not give explicit confidence to the listeners in

this context). It showed his abhimanam towards the entire humanity as an

acharya and Nambi went to the extent of saying that Ramanuja was the acharya

even for him and not vice versa. Ramanuja is also known as Udayavar. The term

udayavar is a shortened form of upayavibhoodhi udaiyavan. This is attributed to

him for his propagating the message of the azhwars that the Supreme Being is so

kind to shower His blessings inclusive of moksha on His subjects without any

expectation from them. By his preaching and practice Ramanuja could instill such

a faith in the common folk as also with the scholars that made them to deem

even paramapadham of the Supreme Being to be in his possession. His compassion

for the humanity was so great, that made the people to feel even the concern of

the Supreme Being as secondary to his.

 

It is this concern – abhimanam- of the acharya imbibed by the disciple that

generates the acharya-visvasam in the disciple. A total faith in the preaching

of the acharya enlightens the disciple on the isvarasvarupa – the unsurpassed

kindness of the Supreme Being without any expectation. This confidence develops

and grows to the extent of even relinquishing the Supreme Being, to regard the

acharya as everything for the soul, as Madhurakavihal , Vaduhanampihal and

others have done. Thus it is the abhimanam of the acharya that really matters

for the salvation of the soul, so much as nothing can ever be done in return by

the ignorant and inept ones for such a grace.