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Respected Bhagavatottamas

 

Adiyen's best wishes for the new group named after the great Acharya Ramanuja.

We all take pride calling ourselves as Sri vaishnavas and more as Ramanuja Dasan

/ Dasi. When there were so many acharyas before and after Swamy Ramanuja, what

is the uniqueness about Ramanuja. Let me share some of them with you.

 

a.. All acharyas before Ramanuja were called anuvritti prasanna acharya i.e.

one who imparts knowledge to sishyas who have passed all the criteria in terms

of basic knowledge, anushtana, perseverence etc. But Ramanuja broke this chain

(oraNvazhi) and introduced a simple criterion - " Desire to know". (This was a

boon to people like us) Hence he was the first one to be hailed as Kripa mAtra

prasanna acharya. Manavala Mamunigal in Upadesa Rattina malai - "Asai

udayorkkellam AriyarkAl kUrumenru pEsi varambaruttAr pin"

 

a.. Ramanuja was the only one to whom Sri Ranganatha submitted both his

vibhUtis , nitya and leela and gave the authority of granting moksha. Quote

"Vishnu lOka maNi mandapa mArga dAyi" Kanchi Devaraja has reinforced this

authority by advising Tirukkachi nambigal that moksham for nambigal is due to

his connection with Ramanuja.

 

a.. Ramanuja was the only one whom Nammalwar acknowledged. He has given the

divine statue of Ramanuja to nAthamunigal. And this divine vigraham is the deity

at Ramanuja sannidhi at Alwartirunagari even today. Quote " bhavishyadAcharya

varaswarUpam sandarsayamAsa - tam kAri sUnum Saranam prapadye". This vigraham

was held by all our pUrva acharyas in their tiruvaradhanam.

 

a.. Ramanuja is the only one to whom the revered title "Swamy" is apt. We do

call many other acharyas also with this title. But see this - All temples are

koils but just the word "koil" will stand for Sri Rangam only. All birthdays of

perumal are jayantis but "jayanti" would stand only for Sri Krishna Jayanti. All

jeers are jeers but just "jeer" or "Peria jeer" is only for Manavala Mamungal.

(At the beginning and end of every santhai session, we all chant "Alwar

emperumanar "jeer" tiruvadigale saranam"). Similarly, just "Swamy" stands for

Ramunja alone. For others we must add their name also to identify them.

 

a.. Ramanuja was the first to document in as many terms the VisishtAdvaita

sampradAya. The works of all other acharyas followed his footsteps. Thus our

darsanam is till today called as "Emperumanar darsanam" or "Ramanuja Darsanam".

The concept of Sarangati as developed by alwars, nathamunigal and Alavandar was

also documented by Ramanuja both in text and practice.

 

a.. Ramanuja is the only acharya who was referred with respect / followed by

other schools in vaishnavism like chaitanya, vallabhacharya, Swamy narayan .

 

a.. All the acharyas after Ramanuja have pointed their fingers and sung in

praise of Ramanuja only. Even though acharyas like Swamy Pillai lokacharya,

Swamy Desikan and Swamy Manavala Mamunigal 1. are much later in time to

Ramanuja, and 2. have their own acharya, still they refer to Swamy Ramanuja only

as the ultimate acharya. Pls note this point " Our moksham is not guaranteed

only with the sambandham of any other acharya - but Ramanuja". Our daily chant

is " RamanujArya divyAgya vardhatAm abhi vardhatAm. " It is only he who can

command and all our acharyas and we follow his command.

 

a.. Whoever has samasrayanam he is first taught to chant (by his own acharya)

"Adiyen Ramanuja dasan" when he prostrates before elders.

 

a.. Ramanuja was the only one adept in all fields like vedanta, rahasyas,

vaishnavism, politics, upliftment of downtrodden, arts, culture and what not. He

was a perfect mix of gnana and bhakti after alwars.

 

a.. Finally, let me cite a happening from Koorathalwans life. Once there was a

debate near kaveri as to who would be the greatest acharya on earth. there were

arguments and counter arguments. Koorathzhwan could not bear this any more. He

walked in to kaveri water and vowed with raised hands " satyam satyam puna:

satyam yatirAjo jagatguru: - sa eva sarva lokAnam uddharta na samsaya:" Yatiraja

is the only Acharya to this world. He is the only one who can bring us out of

the sufferings of this materialistic world.

 

So let us take pride that we are Ramanuja dasa, let us be without any confusion

as we are Ramanuja sishyas, let us be assured of a birth in Sri vaikuntha as we

are Ramanuja sambandhis. I pray to divya dampatis for Ramanuja groups to reach

greater heights in the service to humanity.

 

Srimate Ramanujaya Namaha.