The six assertions - Introduction

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Dear all,

Humble praNAms from Ramanuja dasan Vishnu.

As we know, Kanchipurna conveyed six messages to Ramanuja under divine inspiration. These six messages known as "Aru vArthaigaL" became the foundation of our philosophy known as Ramanuja Darsanam.

A few learned devotees spread the simple concepts of our sampradAyam with energy and enthusiasm. Sriman TA Varadhan is one such learned youngster who needs know no introduction to many of us.

From this posting, I will be posting a series of emails on the six messages given by Kanchipurna to Ramanuja. The content is originally prepared by Sriman TA Varadhan for the lecture in English he delivered at Sri AdhikESava emberumAnAr temple, Narsapur, AP, organized by Ubhaya Vedanta Sabha, Pentapadu, AP.

We at Yatirajadasa, have edited Sriman Varadhan's article under the guidance of Sriman Embar Rangacharya swami of Triplicane. This article will be later hosted at Yatirajadasa website.

The prologue is as follows:

Prologue

 

 

rAmAnuja was performing service (of bringing water from the holy well for the daily thiru ArAdhana use in the temple) at Lord varadarAja's temple in kAnchipuram. He had already learnt an interpretation of vEdAnta from yAdava-prakAsa, which was a variant of advaita. During his studies, he had on various occasions, corrected yAdava-prakAsa’s interpretations of vEdAnta, which was not liked by yAdava-prakAsa and ultimately led to rAmAnuja leaving his gurukulam. Though he knew that the interpretation of vEdAnta taught to him by yAdava-prakAsa was faulty, he was not clear about the true religion. He was searching for the true religion, and the true means to salvation.

Thiru-k-kachchi nambi (or kAnchipUrNa), a disciple of srI AlavandAr, was a great devotee of Lord varadarAja. He was performing the service of fanning the Lord - (thiru Alavatta-k-kainkaryam in tamizh).

rAmAnuja knew about the greatness of thiru-k-kachchi nambi, and requested his guidance in understanding the true religion. Not belonging to the Brahmin community by birth, thiru-k-kachchi nambi refused to be the teacher of rAmAnuja due to the prevalent social circumstances at that time. Inspired by Lord Varadaraja, Thirukkacchinambi conveyed six messages to Ramanuja. These assertions have been the guiding lights not only for rAmAnuja, but also for anyone that wants to understand the true religion.